Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1891 — Page 4

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

‘ £n nrmmiiili ntlnrT (or th-i papor should ba ihoo yaallad by the nan* ot the author; not necaesurfljkg publication, but u eu erideoce of rood faith on th» M the witter. Wrlta 001/ on one aide ot the pnpac. Be ytxtftpeUci/otrafaUin firing n*i«»a« and data*, toIM |altar* flgnrM plain *nd distinct.

j tr war in Europe does cwtne Unci Sam will go right along raising pigs and selling corn and wheat. 41 The statesman whom the office seeks must be a pretty large pattern of a man. They’re rarer than hot snow. Uncle Bull is swinging his torch dangerously near the European powder magazine. A spark might set off tremendous fireworks. M Notwithstanding the organization of the fruit-jar trust, there Is agrowing opinion among housekeepers that few of the fruit-jars are trustworthy.

The number of persons who are bent on reforming somebody is equaled only by the number of persons who are not bent on reforming themselves.

They say King Humbert is an accomplished cook, and the recent boiling of some Persians who didn't pay their taxes shows that the Shall is something of a chef himself. Russia finds it hard to borrow moneft, is short of food, much of its population is very hungry, and .vet it is getting ready for war with well-fed peoples whose credit is excellent. Uncle Sam is out on a C. O. D.. picnic this year. If the nations of the world want anything that is good all they have to do is to ask for it. I Your uncle has it on hand and to spare.

If you want to find out whether or not your son has been robbing peach trees, set a dish of peaches before him. If he ignores the fruit, he is guilty. If he eats heartily, he Is either Innocent or a hog.

Rudini has made up his mind that China must be disciplined, if he has to do it himself. He might send Oorte over first, though, to scare the guileless Chinamen with the story of his prowess at New Orleans.

The French law makes a husband responsible for the support of his wife’s parents. For information concerning the enforcement of the law inquire of the parents of any Yankee girl who has lately become a French countess.

An old maxim advises us to deliberate with caution and act with celerity, Ordinarily that is good enough advice, but when a bee gets between you and your trousers it Isn’t a bad Idea to deliberate with celerity and act with caution.

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, where, it is generally believed, he pulled out a plum, with certain expressions of satisfaction as to his own magnitude. Whereas some other people are pulled out of a “corner” by an assignee. “When some men pay their preacher they feel as though they were paying a gas bill, ’’.remarks the Ram’s Horn. Well, with all due respect to the many brilliant clergymen who occupy American pulpits, • possibly some of these men are right regarding the others. v: i ' The Prince of Wales says he would like to see Chicago. In’his blissful Ignorance of the magnitude of the cities we build in this country his royal highness is probably unaware that to see Chicago, and to see it all in princely style, would require the remainder of his natural life.

About 150 women have taken timber claims within the last few months In the State of Washington. It has long been the wail of the press of that region that the woods were full of lonely young bachelors pining for wives, and we trust there is nothing wrong in putting these two announcements into juxtaposition. Unless there has been musical progression in heaven, the music of earth 1* far superior to that of the world above. Let all pious people hope tliafc the music of heaven has kept pace with that of the earth, and that they will hear something more musical than a ram’s horn when they awake on the resurrection morn. Xva Mann’s alleged theatrical company has disbanded in Shamokin because of lack of support. Let us hope that the disgraceful woman may not be heard of any more, and her nbtoijpus deeds be forgotten as speedily as possible, or be remembered only as warnings to all who may be inclined to follow in her footsteps. William Penn, it may not be too late to observe, was not a steel pen, •ince he did not steal the land from the Indians; he might have been a gold pen, because he gave them gold for their lands; and he might have been a quill pen, because he has been for many generations a feather in the eap of Pennsylvania. And so forth. It now appears that England did not actually seize the Island of Mytilene, but simply made a demonstration to show what she could do if she chose. The European situation Just now resembles a friendly bout with the gloTes. It’s a sham fight at present, but soon one or the other of the •jmrrers will get too hard a tap and the gloves will come off. Women have scored another suc-

Miss Leale, of the Guernsey Rifle' Corps, has been adjudged the honor of being a Crack rifle-shot. Ha! the-man-afraid-of-a-burglar cap now take heart, with a wife skilled in the use of a Martini rifle. This is a much more useful accomplishment than making rick-rack insertion. Balmaceda secured for his memory a place it might not otherwise have had in the charitable consideration of mankind. Suicide affords so good a basis for the presumption of insanity that there will be a strong disposition to make the presumption in his behalf and date it back to the time when he forced the freedom-lov-ing people of Chili into rebellion.

An exchange makes the remarkable statement that “a huge crop of tramps is loose in New Jersey.” While it is a statement in little danger of contradiction that tramps are naturally loose in their habits, yet it is very singular that New Jersey tramps are not tight, since they can so easily get hold of such very effective “Jersey lightning.”

Whoever has observed the flight of a .hawk or condor will scarce have failed to wonder if here was not illustrated a principle the application of which would make aerial navation possible and practical for man. The great bird not only sails in lines and circles without moving muscle, but mounts higher and higher at will for long periods, maintain: ig the same immobility of muscle a■ d pinion.

If the United States should determine to take a larger financial interest in the World’s Fair it might be well to insist, as one of the conditions, upon a change of the name “Board of Lady Managers of the World's Fair” to “Board of Women Managers. ” There is no nobler term than woman to designate the female sex, while that of “lady” is so much overworked that its skirts show signs of wear.

There is a row about Patti’s age. The Bible in her castle has been stealthily consulted, and the date of her birth is fixed at Feb. 18, 1847. Then she must have been less than 10 years old when she sang in Cincinnati at Smith and Nixon’s Hall, near Viap street, on the north side of Fourth, with her sister, Mrs. Strakosch, and Ole Bull drew his magic bow with the diamond in it over his ancient violin.

A woman boarder in a New York boarding house went into her closet before retiring, *to hang up her dress. As she did so she .was aware of a strong odor of musk, a perfume she never used. Instinctively she closed the door and locked it before calling for help. Sure enough, a dudish burglar was discovered hidden among the clothes, and the loud perfume used had betrayed him. Musk, like murder, will out.

The horrible murders that recently occurred at West Bay City and Port Huron recall attention to the fact that Michigan offers no severer penalty for willful murder than for some crimes which do not involve the taking of human life. The worst punishment it Is possible for Michigan to inflict on murderers is to lodge them in State prison and furnish them with quarters, from which to begin at once petitioning for pardon.

A recent cablegram from London states that Americans returning from Germany are complaining bitterly that a crusade of “cutting” was made against them at Ilolmberg by the Prince of Wales set. Nobody in America will attempt to resent the “crushing” these toadies merited, This same class would probably get snubbed at home as quickly as abroad by the prince of baccarat. The tufthunter gets cold comfort all around.

Tiiere is always a large pecuniary stake on the isspe of civil war in South America, as there usually is'in the election of a President In a South American republic. The President who Is in and the ring tfho surround him find it necessary to elect a friendly successor to cover up their own jobbery and plunder. Failing in this, there is usually a bold grab made for any funds accessible in the Treasury, and safety is found in flight. Balmaceda did his best to live up to the rule of defeated Spanish-American Presidents, but the million of dollars recovered from a fleeing deputy was so nearly all his pile and his chances of a comfortable residence in Paris for the rest of his days appeared to be so slim that he concluded to end the struggle.

Life Made Comfortable.

Borem—Still living in Jersey, eh? Hustler—Yes; I have no thought of coming back to the city. “But it must be very inconvenient, forty minutes by train and fifteen by boat every day, and you’ve got to catch both right on the minute.” “That’s what I like about it. You see when people buttonhole me and get to talking, all I have to do is to jerk out my watch, mutter something about train time, and I get away without giving offense. See?” “Ha, ha! That’s good. That reminds me of a little thing Saphead was telling last ” “By the way, it’s train time now. Ta-ta!”—New York Weekly.

The Difference.

“My darling, you do not bestow upon me so much affection as you did before we were married,” remarked a pouting bride of four years to her husband. “Don’t I,” he replied. “No, Charles, you do not; you pay very Utile attention to me,” said his wife. “Well, my de*r," observed the wicked husband, “did you ever see a man run after a horsfe-car after be bad -caught it?”—National Weekly.

MOUNTAIN RAILROADS.

HOW THE NIMBLE LOCOMOTIVE CAN CLIMB. Wonderflil Progress of Railroading Since the Days of George Stephenson and the ••Jacket"—The Famous Road Up the Rlgl and the Cable Road to the Summit of Vesuvius. , Up the Alps and Andes. If George Stephenson, when he p’accd ♦he first locomotive on the track and yuaran eed it a speed of six miles an hour, co.ild have foreseen that In less than eghty \ears the sue essors of h s rude machine wou d be cl mb ng the jjides of moanta n ranges, p'erc ng gorges hitherto deemed inaccessib’e, ;ross ng ravines on bridges higher than **.ie dome of St. Paul's, and traversing •'he bowels of the earth by means of >unnels, no doubt h's big b'ue eyes would ?avo stood out with wonder and amazement. But he foresaw nothing of the #ind; the only prob.em presented to his jiind was how to get goods from the ;ea ports in Western Eng and to LonJon as easily and cheap y as poss be, to do th s he substituted for I orses, tyhich had for 150 years being drawing along wooden or iron track-, the *vond rful mach no which lias revolutionized the freight and passenger traffic sf the world. It was Indeed impossible lor any one to foresee the triumphs of •nvineering which have accompanied the advances in transportation. To the •ngineer of t' c present day there pro no imp issibilities. The engineer Is a utl/ard at wh.se command space pnd matter are annihi iated. The highest mounta’n, the deepest valley, lias no terrors for him: he can bridge the latter and encircle or tunnel the former. The only requisites which he demands are that something in his line ho needed, and that the money is forthcoming to defray the expense, and the thing will be done. But the railroad he is asked to construct must be necessary, and the necessity must be plainly Shown, or no funds will be advanced; #'id, although the theory does not in-

variably hold good, especially when a craze for railroad building is raging, as a rule no expense for the construction of a road will be incurred without a prospect of remuneration. Hence tho need of railroad communication has caused lines to be constructed through districts whero only a few years ago the thing would have boon deemed impossible. The Pacific roads of this country, says the Globe-Pemocrat, were a necessity long before their construction, and in face of difficulties almost insuperable were carried to successful completion. 8o also of

THE BEGINNING Of THE RIGI LINE.

the railroads in the Andes of South America. The famous road from Callao through the heart of Peru Is one of the highest mountain roads in the world, as well as of the most difficult construction. The grades aro often 300 feet and piore to the mile, and when the mountains were reached so great were the difficulties the engineers were forced to confront that in some places laborers were lowered from cliffs by ropes, In order that, with toil and difficulty, they might carve a foothold in order to begin the cutting for the roadway. In some sections .turjwjls are more numerous than open cuts,' and so far as the road has gone tunnels, great and small, have been constructed, aggregating over 20,000 fce‘ In length. The road attains a height of 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and at the highest point of the track, about as high as the topmost peak of Mont Blanc, it pierces the range above it by a tunnel 3,847 feet long. The stern necessities of business compelled the construction of this road, otherwise it never would have been begun. The tuunels of the Andes, however, do not bear comparison with the tunnels, bridges and snow sheds of the Union Pacific, nor do even these compare with the vast undertakings in the Alps, the three great tunnels of nine to eleven miles in length which have been prepared lor the traifs t of travelers and freight. The necessities of business hecess tated the pierciDg of the Alps, and as soon as the ne ess ty was shown funds In abundance were forthcoming for the enterprise. But tunneling a mountain is a different thing from climbing it Many years a;o the attention of inventors was directed to the practicability of constructing a railroad bp tho side of a mountain on grades which to an ordinary engine were quite impossible. The improvements in locomotives twenty-five and thirty years ago rendered them capable of climbing grades which in the early days of railroad engineering were deemed outfof the |uce«ton. These Improvements proved a serious stumbling-block in the way of inyentors, who fo-md

that an ordinary locomotive was able to climb a much tteeper grade than wag commonly supptsed. The first railroads were laid almost level, but It was soon discovered that a grade of a few feet to the mile was no impediment to progress, and gradually the grade was steepened The inventors of mountain railroad transportation might

have been discouraged by this discovery, but it is a characteristic of an inventor that he is not set back by opposition, which, in fact, only serves eo stimulate his zeal. The nrojectors of inclined roads and mounltnn engines kept steadily on, and in France, German, England and tho United States many experimental roads were constructed, each of a few hundred yards in length, and locomotive models were built and put in motion to the amazement of the general public, who jeered alike at the contrivances and the contrivers, deeming the former impracticable and the latter crazy. But the idea of building a road up the side of a hill was not to be dismissed. There

A REAVY GRADE UP THE ANDES.

! was money In it for the successful man, so tho cranky inventors kept on at wor.< in spite of the jeers of the rabble and tho discouragements of capitalists loath to inv» st th -ir money in an uncertain scheme. To the energy and perseverance of railroad Inventors the success of the mountain railroad is due. as also Is the construction of the various mountain roads of which the road up Mount Washington, finished in 1868, was the first, and tho road up Pike’s Peak, completed the other day, was the last. Of all the mountain roads which have bpen (onstructed since the one up Mount Washington was finished, tho best known is that which a«cends the world-famous Kigi. With the exception of Mont Blanc, Rigi is perhaps the be-t known of any peak In the Alps, though it is by no means the highest, its summit being but 5,905 feet abnve the level of the sea. Although scarcely mor* than a third the height of some other mountains in the Alps, it seems much higher becausi of its isolated position. Standing as it does between lakes Lucerne, Zug, and Lowerz, it commands a series of fine views in every direction, and he who looks from the summit of Rigi, if he does no other traveling in Switzerland, can gain a fair idea of the Swiss mountain scenery. Many of the most noted peaks are in sight, and from the Rigi can be seen the tbreo lake-i beneath, the villages which hero and there dot their shores, and further on the mighty masses of the Alps, with their glaciers and eternal snow. Many years ago a hotel was built on the summit of the Rigi for tho benefit of the tourists who daily flocked to this remaikablo peak to enjoy the benefit of its wonderful scenery The mountain is densely wooded save where the trees have been cut away to clear the land for pastures The ease of its ascent by the six or eight mule paths which have been made, the gradual and almost regular slope, tho throngs of travelers who resorted to it, made it a favorable place for an experiment, and to Rigi w'e'nt the. the engineers in order to ascertain the practicability of such a road. The credit of the design is due to a German engineer named Reggenbach, who, about tho year 1861, designed the Idea of a mountain road, and drew up plans not only for the bod but also for the engine and cars. The scheme dragged. Capitalists were slow to invest their money in what they deemed a wild and impract cal undertaking, and even owners of land on the Rigi were reluctant for such an experiment to be tried. But Reggenbach persevered, and toward the close of the decade, the inhabitants of Vit nau, at the base of the Rigi, were astonished to see gangs of laborers begin the work of making a clearing through the forest on the mountain

slope. They inquired what it meant, ajd were told that a road up the Uigi was to be made. The Vitznauers were delighted, ior they had no roads and there was not a wheeled vehicle in the town nor a highway by which It could be brought thither. The Idea of a railroad in their desolate ; mountain region, and above all. a rai rfcad up the Rfgi, never entered their heeds, and a report which some time as t e r,dhj.aipedcurrency in the. town,'tbittnrHcofers were beginning the construction es a railroad was

greeted with a shout of derision. Nevertheless that was the beginning of the Rigi line, and in May, 1871, the road was opened lor traffic. It begins at Vitznau, on Lake Lucerne, and extends to the border of the canton and almost to the top of the mountain. It is IP,OOO feet long, and daring that distances rises 4,000 feet at an average grade

THE CABLE ROAD UP VESUVIUS.

of one foot in four. Though steep, it is by no means so much so as the Mount Washington road, which rises 5.285 feet above the sea at an average of one foot in three. There are stretches of the Sigi road at which the grade is about one foot in two and onehalf, which l i believed to be the steepest in the world. The Rigi road has several special features aside from its terrific slopes, which entit’e it to be considered' a triumph of the engineer's skill. About midway up the mountain the builders came to a solid mass of rock, which presented a barrier that to a surface road was impassable. They determined to tunnel it, and, after an enormous expenditure of labor, finished an inclined tunnel 225 feet in length, of the same gradient as the road. A gorge in the side of the mountain where a small stream, the f»chnurtobel, had cut itself a passage, also hindered their way, and was crossed by a.bridge of lattice girder work in three spans, eighty-five feet long. The entire road-bed from beginning to end was cut in the solid rock. A channel was chiseled out to admit the centra! beam, which contains the cog% fitting the driving-wheel of the locomotive. The <n;ine is in ti e rear of the train, and presents the exceedingly curious feature of a boi'er great’y inclined, in order that at the steeper gradients it may remain a’most perpendicular. Tue coal and water are contained in boxes over the driv ng-whee s, so that all the weight of the engine is really concentra'ed on the cors—a precaution to prevent their slipping. The cost of the road, including three of -thesa sirangeiy constructed locomotives, three passenger coaches and three open wagons, was 8260,000, and-it is a good-pay-ing investm-nt. The fare demanded for the trip up the mountain is five lrancs, while half that sum is required for the downwaid passage, and tho road is annually traversed by from 20,060 to 50,000 passengers. Curious sensations are produced by a ride up this remarkable line. The seats of the cars are inclined like the boiler of the locomotive, and so long as the cars are on a level the seats tilt at an angle which renders it almost Impossible to use them. Rut when the start is made the frightful tilt places the body in an upright position, and with the engine iu the rear, the tiain starts off up tho hill with an easy, gliding motion, passing up

the ascent, somewhat steeper than the roof of a. house, without the slightest apparent effort But If the going up excites tremor, much more peculiar are the feelings aroused on the down grade. The trip begins with a gentle descent, and ail at once the' traveler-looking ahead-sees th<s"road apparently come to an end On a nearer approach he is undeceived, and observes before him a long decline which appears too steep even to walk down. Involuntarl y he c.atches at the seats, expecting a great acceleration of speed. Very' nervous are his feelings as the train approaches this terrible slope, but on coming to the incline the engine dips and goes on not a whit faster than before, and not more rapid y on the down than on the up grade. Many people are made sick by the sensation of falling experienced on the down run. Some faint, and a few years ago one traveler, supposed to be afflicted with heart disease, died of fright when the train was going over the Schnurtobel bridge. The danger is really very slight, there

THE SCHNURTOBEL BRIDGE AND TUNNEL.

not having been a serious accident since the road was opened. The attendants are watchful, the brakes, are strong, but, even with all these safeguards, men of the steadiest nerves cannot help wondering what would become of them in case anything went wrong. Bold as was the project of a railroad on the Rigi, a still bolder scheme was broacheQ ten years when a daring genius proposed a railroad _up Mount Vesuvius. A railroad up of an. ordinary mountain seemed hkwdoas enough, but

A SUSPENSION BRIDGE ON THE RIGI.

to build a line on the slope of a volcano which in ils eruptions had buried cities and every few years was subject to a violent spasm, seemed as hazardous as to trust the rails of an ordinary line to the rotten river ice in springtime. The proposal was not, however, so impracticable as it looked. While the summit of Vesuvius changes from time to time from tho frequent eruptions, and it varies iu height and in the size of the crater, the general slope and contour of the mountain are about the same to-day as when Vesuvius, a wooded hill, with a valley and a lake in the (enter of its quiescent crater, served as the stronghold of Spartacus and his rebel gladiators. There have been scores of eruptions since that in which Herculaneum and Pompeii were overthrown, but the sides of the mountain have never been seriously disturbed. A road on Vesuvius gave promise of good speculation. NapJe< and the other re orts of the neighborhood annually attracted many thousands of visitors, : and a considerable number of ! these every year ascended the volcano. • even when forced to contend with ail ; the difficulties of the way. Many, liow- ; ever, desiring to ascend, but being unable or unwilling to walk up, a chair service was established, a peculiar chair being slung on poles and borne by porters. In course of time the chair service proved inadequate for the numbers who desired to make the a cent, and the time was deemed fit for the establishment of a more speedy communication. tho necessity, the proposal to’ establish a railroad met with .general derision, but the scheme was soon shown to be perfectly practicable, and a beginning was made in 1879. The road is what is known as a cable load, there being a single sleeper with three rails, one on the top, which really bore the Weight, and one on each side near the bottom, which supported the wheels, which, coming out from the axle at a sharp angle, prevented the vehicle from being overturned. The road covers the last 4,000 feet of the ascent, and the power house is at the bottom, a steel cable running up, passing round a wheel at the top and returning to the engine in tho power house. The ascent to the lower terminus of the road is made on mules or donkeys; then in a comfortable car the t-aveler is carried to a point not far from the crater

THE VESUVIUS GRIP CAR

The car is a combined grip and passenger car, similar in some points to the grip car of the present day, while the seats of the passenger portion are inclined as in the cars on the Rigi road. Rut tho angle of the road being from thirty-three to forty-five degrees, makes both ascent and descent seem fearfully perilous. Every precaution, however, is taken to insure the sa'ety of passengers; each car is provided with several strong and indep ‘ndent brakes, and thus far no accident worth recording has occurred. The road was opened in June, 1880, and although then have been several considerable eruptions since that date, none of d d any damage to the line but what was repaired in a few hours. The fashion thus set will no doubt be lollowed in many other quarters Whe ever there is sufficient travel to pay working expenses and a profit on a steep grade mountain road, it will probably bo built. Already there is talk of a road on Mont Rianc, of another up the Yungfrau, and several have been projected in the Schwartz and Hartz mountains. A route on Ren Nevis, in Scotland, is already surveyed, and it is said surveys have also been made up Snowden, with a view to the establishment of a road to the summit of the highest Welch peak. Sufficient travel is all that is needed, and, when that is guaranteed, whonevor a mountain - possesses sufficient interest to induce people to make Its ascent in considerable numbers, means of transportation safe and speedy will soon be provided. The modern engineer is able, willing, and ready to build a road to the top of Mount Everest, in tho Himalayas, if he is paid for doing so.

Sammy Short was a vain little boy; He pretended to be a man. But who ever saw a man hike this Since the time when the world began?

How Marbles Are Made.

Almost all the “marbles” with which boys amuse themselves in season and out of season, on pavements and in shady spots, are made at Oberstein, Germany, says the Cornbill Magazine. There ars many large agat£ quarries and mills in that neighborhood, and the refuse, is turned to good account in providing the small stone balls for experts to “knuckle down” with. The stone is broken into small cubes by blows of a light hammer. These small blocks of stone are thrown by the shovelful into the hopper of a small mill, formed of a bedstone having its surface grooved with concentric furrows; above ttys is a “runner,” which is of hard wood, having a level face on its lower surface. The upper block is made to revolve rapidly, water being delivered upon the grooves of the bedstone where the marllles are being rounded. It takes about fifteen minutes to finish a bushel of good marbles ready for the bpys’ knuckles. One mill will turn out» 160,000 per week.

In France a little more than 100 years ago it was impossible for anybody to work unless he joined the union of his particular trade and submitted to ita rules.

HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERNS.

What Can Be Done by Ingenious Amateur Photographers. Amateur photography has brought the magic lantern into prominence, as the making of slides has been much facilitated by the improvements in dry plates. Anybody can make one at home at a little expense that will answer for all ordinary purposes, says the New York Herald. The lantern to be described is showjj in Fig. 1, the side being removed. The body is made of ordinary white wood, with a sheet-iron top, and an ordinary kerosene lamp is used. The only thing necessary for the ajnateutf photographer to purchase will be a pair of condensing lenses, as the lens from the camera will do for a projecting lens. Condensers are very reasonable in price, and a pair of very good four-inch lenses can be obtained for from $4 to $5, unmounted. They can be mounted at home as follows: Place the convex sides of the lenses nearly together, allowing only a small space, say one-eighth of an inch, between them, and measure the distance between the edges of them. Then have the tinsmith cut a strip of tin long enough to encircle them, and about half an inch wider than the distance measured. Then make a couple Of grooves along the edges of these Strips for the edge of the lenses to fit into. These grooves can be made by running the tin through the tinsmith’s beading machine. Set the condensers in the grooves, wrap the tin tightly around them and wind a piece of wire around the outside to hold the tin in place. Figure 2 is a cross section of the condensers as they appear when mounted. Before the body of the lantern is made the lamp to be used should be selected. In the illustration (Fig. 1) an ordinary house lamp is shown. Take a piece of board about a foot wide and stand it up iu front of the lamp and cut it off about three inches longer than the' height of the lamp and chimney. Mark a spot on the board opposite where the flame of the lamp comes and make this spot the center of a hole large enough to hold the condensers in their box. Make side pieces of the same length and about the same width as the front and nail them to

the latter. The back should be made open. Bore a row of half-inch ventilating holes across the bottom of- the back. Now fasten the mounted condensers into the hole in the front, having one side flush or nearly so with the outr side and extending back into the body. Have a cover of sheet iron, so arranged that th& light will be kept in and still allow tne air to circulate. On the front of the box fasten an arm at right-angles with it for holding the lens. This can be done with a small bracket. A slot is cut in this strip to allow the screw which holds the block carrying the lens to move to and- from the condensers. Cut a hole in the center of a piece of thin wood large enough to screw the lens into and make it hold securely. Fasten this at right angles with a small block having a hole in it. Put a small carriage bolt through this hole and the slot in the horizontal strip and a small thumb screw or nut on the under side will hold the lens stationary. When focused the bracket holding the horizontal strip would not be fastened to the front of the body until the arrangement for holding the lens is completed. Then fasten it at a height so that the light from the condensers will be focused on the lens.

To complete the lantern fasten cleats on the front to hold the slides. These should be arranged 3J inches apart, as the standard slide is 3J by 4 inches. The cleats should hold the slide directly over the condensers and as near them as possible. Place the lantern on a table in front of a white wall or screen, and set the lighted lamp inside the box, moving it back and forth until aaolear disk oi light is thrown on the ftxeen. The distance from the screen will regulate the size of the disk. If a single flab wick burner is on the lamp the flame should be at right angles with the condensers, in order to give the best .light. The round-wick burners are also good.

The splendid Mozart centenary festival at Salzburg recalls to the mem ory how the great composer died Id December, 1791. He finished his days in the top flat of a house in one of the poorest streets of the city. He left 60 florins in money, and the sale of hjs effects realized about $9. He was laid in a pauper’s grave, marked by a plain wooden Cjross, and nobody knows now where that grave is. William Hayes has just retired from the Brooklyn police force with a pension of $550 a year and a fortune oi $40,000. Officer Hayes appears to have clubbed the tree of prosperity as vigorously as the heads of the viotims. Instead of wearing silk robes, the judges of the new Federal Court oi Appeals might better consider the pro priety of sitting in their shirt sleeves. Seersuckers are not to be sneezed at n the summer time. A letter-carrier in Kansas City, named Jefferson A. Harlow, feU asleep near an open window, with the moon shining on his face. On awaking, he made the appalling discovery that he was totally blind. Plate glass for mirrors was first made in London by Venetian artists in 167 a