Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1891 — Page 6

jlljegfmocrotit Sentinel RENSSELAER, INDIANA. J. W. McEWEN, - - - Pubushee.

NEVER MENTION# NAMES. leaves her breakfast dishes standin’ In the middle of the floor, Hurries off 1o do an irrand at the little country store. Makes about a dozen calls on as many patient dames, Lets a flood of Rossip loose, but never mentions names. Knows what couple’s settin’ up most every Sunday night— ; House just across the way from her’n, and bleeged to see the light; Tells where the dress is being made to honor Cupid’s claims. And when the weddin’s coming off, but never mentions names. Heard, just now, a certain deacon not a thousand miles away— Right on hand to every service, and the fust to speak and pray— Recently was catched at cheatin’, and a various oilier games; For her part she doesn’t wonder, but she ■ j never mentions names. Been a most unwillin’ witness to a dretful family row— Woman wouldn’t give an inch, and hu-Cnind wouldn’t bow— Peace an' comfort all gone up In auger's rlsin’ flames, Lookin' for a separation, but she never mentions names. Such a one is mean and stingy and another puts on stylo; Half the folks are proud and haughty nnd the rest low-down and vile; Nothin’ in creation suits her, so she frets and scolds, and blames, Mighty sly and underhanded, for she never mentions names. You and I have seen this person, and have listened to her tongue Going like a barrel of water that Is running at the bung; And wo know just where to place her, with her petty, groveling aims, But we’ll follow her example and refuse to mention names.

HIS WOOING.

“Kitty, Kitty, run and turn the white cow out of the clover-field.' And, bless me, there are all the tur- | key chicks out draggling themselves In the dew, and the pony has broken his halter, and is kicking up his heels In the middle of the pansy bed!” Kitty Kipson ran, first this way and then that, now scolding and now 'laughing in the extremity of her be’Wilderment, until the cow was safe •in her paddock once more, the pony •tethered in his stall, and the turkey 'brood restored to the sunny quiet of the farm-yard. And then she came In, flushed and rosy, and resumed the beating of eggs and sugar for a cake. Mrs. Kipson sighed. She was rather a plaintive little woman, with a fresh complexion like a girl’s, blue eyes, and a trim figure, which still retained its youthful curves. “It seems as if everything went wrong this morning,” she murmured. "And it’s all Mr. Ross’ fault.” “Oh, mother!” “Yes, it is,” persisted Mrs. Kipson. “He left the garden gate open when he went out this morning. I declare I don’t see what brings him here so much.” “Neighborly kindness, perhaps,” said Kitty, demurely, beating away at the creamy mass that surged to and fro beneath her wooden spoon. “Neighborly nonsensej” retorted her mother. “I do hope, Kitty, that you’re not seriously encouraging that •man?” "Why shouldn’t I seriously encourage that man, mother?” “He’s twice as old as you are,” said Mrs. Kipson, pausing in the act of •buttering the pans, and wistfully gazdng at Kitty’s round, rose-like face. “Well, he might be that, mother, ••without being so very old, mightn’t the?" “He’s a widower,” resumed Mrs. •Kipson. “And widowers have no business to marry again.” “Nor widows neither, mother?” wrchly. “No,” snapped Mrs. Kipson, “nor widows neither. Now, if you are through with the cake, Kitty, the oven is ready.” Kitty went singing about her baking that morning—and as she sung •she cast a glance ever and anon at *the weary-looking little woman who was mending the torn spots in the iparlor curtains. “I won’t get married, if I have to leave mother here all alone,” she thought. “Mother’s life is hard anough without being deserted by her only child. If she only would like Mr. Ross a little. Presently old Deacon Jackman name along from his daily jaunt to 4,he postoffice. “Here’s a letter for you, Sister Kipeon,” said he, “with the York post•mark on it.” Mrs. Kipson took the letter and •held it in her hand, while she and the •deacon discussed the chances of a plentiful peach crop, and sighed over •tm epidemic which had lately broken out in the poultry-yards of the neighborhood. And when the old man had •trudged slowly away, she broke open •the buff-oolored missive. “It’s from Delia Jane,” she thought, ■“to let me knuw how she gets along in the dyeing and scouring business.” But it was not from “Delia Jane.” ft was short and curt, in a lawyer’s •band, notifying her that the old Kip■aon Farm would be solcLat auction on the following Tuesday, at the Merchants’ Exchange in New York City, on behalf of the holder of a foreclosed mortgage. “Foreclosed!” gasped Mrs. Kipson. “Why, it was only a few months ago that they wrote us to know what we Intended t» dd about it.” “And we did—nothing," said Kitty, who, over her mother’s shoulder, had read the letter with sorrowful, startled eyes. “What could wc do? I meant to ask Deacon Jackson’s advice,” said Mrs. Kipson, v or fc> borrow monev from Cousin Hunt’HalHday out in Jersey. H But somehow" there never seemed to he it good chance. I don’t see why on earth these people should be in such a lHfrrv.?. . . And she began to cry in a weak, convulsive manner. “Ddn't fret, mother, dear,” said thing not! Don’t you think we «stgHt talk to Mr. Boss about it?” *1 don’t- want Me. Ross prying into

i ery one says what excellent judgment I he has, and how ” “Oh, everybody, everybody!” reitorted Mrs. Kipson. “And you, I 'suppose, are Willing to fall down and ! worship him with the rest!” “Indeed, I’ve no idea of doing any 'such thing!” said Kitty, bursting out laughing in spite of herself. And she felt, more than ever, that this was no propitious opportunity to broach the subject of her engagement. “Next • Tuesday! .At the Merchants’ Exchange, New York! Sold at auction!” Mrs. Kipson unconsciously repeated the words to herself as she wandered up and down the rooms, viewing the familiar, nooks and corners which she should see no more. It was a plain, unpretending farm-house, but it was her home. She had no other place to go. Kitty might get married to Mr. Ross —she thought it more than likely that such a thing might transpire—but she wasn’t going to play mother-in-law in any man’s house. The Ross place was a fine one, she knew—they had recently built on a two-story addition, with a dairy at the back, and put in spring water and a gas machine. But the house never yet was built that was big enough for a man and his mother-in-law. Poor Mrs. Kipson! She was lonely enough now. She was losing home, Kitty, everything! “It isn’t as if I were young,” she thought. “I’m over forty now, and there’s only the downhill of life left for me.” In her mind’s eye she beheld herself, like old Hester Morris, passed on from relation to relation, an unwelcome guest everywhere—a dependent on grudgingly given charity. “It would be better to live with Kitty and Mr. Ross than that,” she thought. “Kitty is at least my own child. And then, if Dear me, Mr. Ross, how you startled me! I’m sure I never heard you knock.” Mr. Kipson sunk, pale and conscious of heavy eyelids and red eyes, into a chair. It was all coming now —Mr. Ross was.going to ask her for Kitty! And of course she must be prepared with some answer or other on the instant. “I did not knock,” said “I found the great door open, and so I came directly in. Am I disturbing you?”

“N—no,” said Mrs. Kipson, faintly. “Won’t you sit down?” “I don’t wonder Kitty likes him,” she thought.

“I have called to see you, Mrs. Kipson, about myself,” said Mr. Ross, plunging abruptly into his subject. “I am thinking of marrying again.” “Yes?” faintly murmured the widow.

“I hope you do not think it unwise.” “N—no, not if you have carefully considered the matter,” said Mrs. Kipson. “Of course I am not in the flush of youth,” said Mr. Ross; “but then, neither are you quite a young girl.” “Me!” almost shrieked Mfrs. Kipson. “Mr. Ross, what on earth are you talking about?” “About you!” said the widower. “I want you to be my wife, Mrs. Kipson.”

“I—thought—it—was Kitty!” cried Mrs. Kipson. “Do you mean to say that it isn’t Kitty you want?” “What should I want of Kitty?” said Mr. Ross, changing his seat to one close beside the little widow, and resolutely taking possession of her hand. “Does October mate with April? Should I be happy with a child like that, as long as there was the least possible chance of winning you for my own?” “I never dreamed of such a thing,” said Mrs. Kipson, hysterically. “But —but—if you really think'l could make you happy ” And so they became engaged then and there. Kitty was delighted, and kissed her stepfather-elect with the most cordial, affection. “Didn’t I foresee it all along?” said she. “When mother, there, was as blind as a bat, bless her dear little heart. And now, mother, what do you think about widowers getting married?” “Don’t, Kitty,” said little Mrs. Kipson, blushing just as prettily as if she were eighteen instead of fortyone. “Or widows either?” “Now, Kitty, that isn’t fair." And then Kitty deemed it a fitting opportunity to confide to her mother her own engagement to one Mr. Nicholas Allen. Under other circumstances, Mrs. Kipson would probably have pleaded that the swain was too young or too old, too this or too that. But in the new sunshine that had streamed into her life Mrs. Kipson saw everything couleur de rose. And she kissed Kitty, and hoped she would be happy. Mrs. Kipson was married the first of the two. She wouldn’t have consented, only Mr. Ross suggested that it would be such a fine plan to have Kitty’s wedding from the Ross house. “And,” said Kitty, “if anything could make me more glad than I am now, it would be seeing my dear little mother so happy.”

Men that Women Abhor.

The chivalric gentleman never boasts of his popularity with the ladies, but the coxcomb has the ineffable meanness to brag of favors that he never has received, and that he is an object of admiration in quarters where he is regarded as a nuisance. Now and tljen one of these pretenders gets a horsewhipping from the indignant brother or lover or husband of some lady whose taste as well as character he has libeled, but many of the tribe—more’s the pity—go unwhipped of justice. We recently heard of one of the genus who is In the habit of procuring the cartes de visite of ladies at photographic establishments for the purpose of exhibiting them to his male acquaintances as portraits sent to him by the fascinated originals. There are some vilenesses which can only be reached and adequately punished by the right arm of a private avenger, and this is, we think,; one of them. Only fools qf the lowest caliber seek popularity in this tray. All women, without exception, abhor such men.—New York Ledger. • —rz The Chinese do not permit, their women to be photographed.

HELLESPONT AS IT IS.

AGEAN ISLAND WHERE THE SAILORS LANDED. A Turkish Outpost Which Would TuU Easily In Case of War-The Key to the Dardanelles—Treaty Concerning; Navigation—Where the English Disembarked. Europe’s Political Chess-Board. The whole civilized world was startled at the report that a detachment of blue jackets and marines from a British ironclad, accompanied by a battery of field-pieces and several Gatling guns, had landed on the Turkish island of Mitylene, formally occupying it in the name of the Queen of England. There was an element of truth in the report. The landing had taken place, but the British force remained on the island but two days. Nevertheless it had the effect of attracting attention to the ’{•erennial Eastern question and making the world wonder what would be the next move on the European political chess-board. The whole matter resolves itself into a very simple proposition: Shall Russia have Constantinople and drive the Turk back into Asia whence he came? Since the year 1566, nearly a hundred years after Mohammed the 11. stormed Constantinople, the Rus-

sians and Turks have been fighting. The various wars have been complicated by different issues, but the plain object on the part of Russia has been to obtain command of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmora, and thus have an outlet for her vessels into the Mediterranean. During these centuries there has been varying success on both sides. Russia has never lost an opportunity of provoking a quarrel. In 1853 she was the aggressor, and made war on the trivial pretext that the holy places in Palestine were improperly

THE BOSPHORUS, SHOWING CASTLES OF EUROPE AND ASIA.

looked after. Turkey was joined in this struggle by England and France, and peace was proclaimed after the fall of Sebastopol in 1855. This peace treaty of Paris neutralized the Black Sea, Russia and Turkey alike engaging to keep no warships and to maintain no arsenal there. The overthrow of France in the war of 1870 and the consequent isolation of England led Russia to declare the provision of the treaty of Paris,

TURKISH ASIATIC VOLUNTEER.

which excluded its ships of war and its arsenals from the Black Sea, to be ao longer in force. In 1877 the administration of government in Turkey had grown more corrupt than ever. Some Turkish provinces had revolted, and massacres of the most fearful character had taken in Bulgaria. Turkey could give no real security for better government, so Russia took the opportunity of declaring war. - The Balkans were passed in midwinter, Adrianople was occupied, and the Turkish armies were captured or annihilated. The victorious Russians marched to the very suburbs of Constantinople, to St. Stefano, where peace was conclude# Match 3, 1878. Great Britain refused to agree to the provisions of the treaty and sent her fleet to the Dardanelles. This had the desired effect and the treaty was modified by a European congress assembled at Berlin.: Great Britain will hot allow Russia to trfke possession of Constantinople, because it would be a menace to British power in the far East. It is the high road to India, that “brightest jewel of the English crown.” England carries on an enormous trade with Asiatic countries, and this she considers tvould’ be endangered as well as her influence impaired by Russian occupation of Constantinople. For this

reason there is always a powerful British fleet in the Mediterranean, and the English chain of outposts, Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, also the Suez Canal—the latter being controlled by Great Britain—are kept fully equipped and garrisoned and ready for any emergency. The Dardanelles, the narrow channel separating Europe from Asia and uniting the Sea of Marmora with the Grecian archipelago, is the bone of contention that has caused the British naval demonstration at Mitylene. Several treaties between the five great powers and Turkey have confirmed the provision that no ship of war belonging to any nation save Turkey should pass the Dardanelles without the express consent of Turkey, all merchant ships being also required to show their papers to the Turkish authorities. A Bussian vessel coming from the Black Sea recently was not permitted to pass, on the ground that she was a war transport and had soldiers on board. Russia protested, the ship was allowed to go through, and the Sultan of Turkey practically apologized. England views this action on the part of Russia as an effort to get in the thin end of the wedge that the provision of the treaty may become a dead letter. The Mitylene incident is to show both Turkey and Russia the British lion is going to look after his own interests at all hazards.

There is probably no part of the world that so teems with historical and mythical associations as the Dardanelles. While sailing through the channel and stopping at the forts, as all vessels are obliged to, one feels in sacred waters. It is the ancient Hellespont, widely known from the story of Hero and Leander and from Lord Byron’s successful attempt to rival the ancient swimmer. Here Xerxes crossed by means of a bridge of boats, and Alexander the Great performed a similar exploit. Xerxes crossed 480 B. C. to enter Europe, and Alexander almost at the same spot to enter Asia nearly 158 years later. Now the Dardanelles is strongly defended on both sides with fortifications mounting many guns of more or less power, but some of them being of immense caliber.

Easily as this narrow passage is defended, nevertheless in 1807 the English Admiral Duckworth made his way past all the fortresses into the Sea of Marmora. The feat was also accomplished by a Russian squadron in the wars of the last century, but it is probable that modern artillery well directed would make it an al-

most impossible attempt. The British fleet in 1878 had orders to force its way through if permission were refused by the Turkish authorities* There are several forts and castles on both sides of the Dardanelles, but the two most important ones are Chanak Kalessi and Lilid Bahr. They are distant but a short mile from each other. From the entrance the European bank is the higher, rising abruptly but not precipitously from the water’s edge to a height of from 100 feet to 200 feet. At Kilid Bahr there is low ground between the water and the hill behind, and metal glistening in the sunlight reveals the fact that there are powerful batteries almost flush with the water. On these are 40-ton Krupp guns* some of which are mounted on earthworks, others on barbette. Above ca the crest of the hill some hundred feet above the water are most formidable batteries. Theso Constitute the greatest danger to an advancing fleet, as from their elevation the shot of the fleet would pass over them, while they would be able to play upon the-decks, the most vital part of ironclad ships. The current, too, is in favor of the forts. An ascending squadron would find the heads of the vessels tending toward the powerful guns of the Chanak batteries. Merchant steamers going up the Dardanelles pass under the very mouths of the guns of Kilid Bahr. A fleet would be met as it advanced by the fire of Kilid Bahr and Chanak, it would pass the guns of the former within pistol shot, as it crossed toward Chanak. it would be raked fore and aft by the guns of both forts, and as it left Chanak it would be similarly raked by other forts, receiving the Are of Kilid Bahr on its broadside. Chanak is not as strong naturally as Kilid Bahr, but the fortifications are much stronger, the guns being

CONVENT OF MOUNT ORTHYMNOS, ON THE ISLAND OF MITYLENE.

for the most part in casemates. When it is remembered that in addition to these very powerful forts there may be torpedoes in the narrow channel, it will oe seen that the difficulties in the way of forcing the passage are enormous.,, The island of Mitylene or Lesbos is quite near enough to the Dardenelles to make both Russa and Turkey feel uncomfortable should Great Britain take possession of it

ABOUT RAIN-MAKING.

The Scientific American Indulges in a little Sarcastic Joke let. In a recent issue the Scientific American drops into humor. The artificial production of rain has given it an opportunity to crack a Joke in a pictorial way which is worthy the best efforts of Puck or Judge. The subject of this self-evident sketch is a certain Mr. Daniel Buggies, of Fredericksburg, Va., who secured a patent some eleven years ago on a rainmaking machine, and the Scientific American warns Senator Farwell and his fellow moisture precipitators that they are infringing on Mr. Daniel Buggies’ patent. “Our engraving,” says the Scientific American, “represents an individual in the act of bringing down the rain.”

PRECIPITATING RAIN BY EXPLOSIVES.

The editor betrays more faith in Mr. Buggies’ rain-maker than the artist shows, for he has furnished the “individual” with a silk til,e and refused him the charity of an umbrella. Eegarding Senator Farwell’s efforts the Scientific American says: “To us the most practical result likely to follow from these experiments is the extraction of money from the public treasury. We have seen bow easy it was to obtain the first SIO,OOO to aid the chimera. “ ‘I asked them to put in the rain appropriation just as an accommodation to me,’ says the Senator, ‘and they did it. Nobody in the House cared to see what No. 17, a little appropriation anyhow, was, and it passed.’ “The idea that rain can be precipitated by cannon-firing is almost as old as gunpowder; but while there are many curious coincidences there is no satisfactory evidence that rain was so produced. It is on a par with the Chinese mode of conquering the enemy by making a loud noise. “It is true a downpour often follows a clap of thunder; but this does not prove the rain was produced by the concussion. On the contrary, we know that rain probably results from the cooling of moisture-laden air, and simultaneously electricity may appear. Hence in thunderstorms the aerial concussions are most probably the results, not the cause, of rain formation. “Nature works on a vast scale in producing rain; and it is idle to suppose that the burning of a little explosive matter can materially affect the boundless atmosphere of the skies. “In a certain sense it may be claimed that rain always follows an explosion, since all atmospheric changes are successive. If to-day is fair, fire a gun and it will rain either to-morrow or some following day. If to-day is rainy, fire a gun and it will be fair either to-morrow or afterward. There appears to be just as much sense in appropriating public money for explosives to produce dryness in Alaska as to make rain by similar„means in Texas.”

If I Were a Girl.

I would take care of my health, by living out-doors as much as possible, and taking long walks in the sunshine. English girls understand how necessary this is for good complexions and cheerful spirits. Wear simple clothing, that you may climb mountains and breathe freely. I would secure the best education. Go to college* by all means, if it is possible. A woman, in these days, if she would be attractive as well as useful, must be intelligent. Educated men need educated wives. Children need educated mothers. Women themselves need a broad education, lest their thoughts become centered in clothes or in the small round of society gossip which belittles. Bead good books and thereby become intelligent. I would cultivate cheerfulness. Discontent soon shows itself in the face. If you have some disappointments, so do others. If you are cramped for money, be thankful that your lot is no worse than it is. Learn to make the best of things. An unhappy woman is a perpetual cloud in a home. A fretful girl has few friends, and the number lessens year by year. I would say kind things of others, especially of girls. A girl who makes unkind remarks about other girls had better be avoided by young men. She will not make an agreeable companion for life. I would learn how to be self-sup-porting. Especially in this country, where fortunes change, it is wise for a woman to be able to care for herself. Helpless women are not a comfort to others, and usually are not to themselves. I would try to be polite everywhere. True courtesy is more winsome than a pretty face or fine dress. Loud talk or loud dress does not betoken the lady. Be appreciative and sympathetic, and you have two keys which will unlock almost all hearts. I would learn self-control. To snow when to speak and when to be silent, to have hateful things said about you and be able to answer pleasantly, to have people confide in pou and be wise enough to keep it locked in your own heart, to he in poverty and not be soured by it, to meet temptation and be strong before it, to be strong enough to perform any labor or duty that needs to be done all this shows a noble mastery over tels. I would be punctual. Being late

at meals, late at church, or late In meeting engagements makes unnecessary friction in families. If we are willing to to® valuable time, we have no right to make others lose it. I would not be careless about the affections. Girls too ofteii think that young men are not easily hurt in love matters, or if they are, they soon recover. As a rule, probably, men love as deeply as women, and to play with hearts is a sin. I have known girls engaged to two young men at the same time, thoughtless as to the effect upon those whom they could not marry. It is a pitiful thing to spoil a life, and it is not infrequently done. The golden rule oi doing unto others as we would that they should do unto us is especially applicable here.—Sarah K. Bolton, in Hearth and Hall.

Leanness.

Some persons are born with a normal tendency to become fat, others with a tendency to leanness. It is the same among the lower animals. The hog is a sort of machine for transforming the odds and ends of food into fat; but the farmer knows beforehand that a little pig with long legs and snout will work off the fat as fast as it can be made. So a; longlegged person seldom ibclines to obesity. Temperament has much to do with the bodily condition in this respect. In lymphatic people the life processes are slow, and the fat is largely deposited, rather than burned. This temperament furnishes some of the best types of surface-beauty. The person of nervous temperament, on the other hand, by excessiye activity of body and mind, and by predisposition to haste, worry, fret and impatience, naturally remains lean; but while the features of such a person will probably lack softness and roundness of outline, they may exhibit in a marked degree the higher beauties of mind and soul.

People who incline to obesity may hold the tendency in check by appropriate food and stirring exercise in the open air, thus both lessening the amount of fat-forming food taken into the system, and causing a more rapid consumption of such fat as is produced; and those who incline to undue leanness, by pursuing the opposite course, may largely increase the amount of fat deposited. If the leanness is the result of digestive weakness, or of a faulty assimilation, little, of course, can be done until a condition of general health has been secured. But assuming that the abnormal leanness is connected with high health, what advice must be given? First, let the carbonaceous, or fatforming, food greatly preponderate over the nitrogenous—such as beef, lamb and codfish. Calling the fatfbrming elements of beef twenty, lamb thirty-five, and codfish five, those of pork will be fifty; beans, fifty-seven; peas, sixty; oats, sixtysix; wheat, sixty-nine; corn and rye, each seventy-two, rice, eighty, and butter, one hundred. Of course it would not do to take a single carbonaceous article and live on it, for the entire body is to be kept in high health by the proper nourishment of all the tissues. However, the system cam be well supported in full vigor by a vegetable diet, with the addition of milk, eggs and butter. In the second place, cultivate calmness and quietness in feeling and. manner. Avoid impatience and fret. Do not overwork with mind or body. We may add that tea-drinking tends to leanness. If possible, milk should be substituted.—Youth’s Companion.

We Must Work.

A most inevitable fact connected with our existence is that if we would become prosperous or successful at all: we must work nor is any one excluded.. Whether you are behind a plow or a desk, sweeping a chimney or governing a state, digging a ditch or editing a paper, grinding scissors or compiling text books, work you must. Look around you and you will see that the men who are able to live the rest of their days without working are those who have spent the most of their time in the hardest work. Don’t be afraid of killing yourself with overwork; some do, but it is because they quit work at six p. m. and don’t go home until two a. m. It is not the work but the interval that kills them. The world is not proud of men who do not work; in fact it is ignorant of their existence. They have fallen so far behind in the world’s progressive march that no one remembers that they ever enlisted in its busy ranks. Find out what you want to be and do, then take off your coat, roll up. your sleeves and go forth into the world’s great workshop, where you will find the rough material awaiting your skillful hand. The old saying, “There is always room at the top,” does not apply to those who are unwilling to climb. We live in a® age of activity, an age of aggression, a time of universal. emulation, a time when persistent effort is the only sure way to success, and if we would become prosperous in the vocation of our choice we cannot rest on oars and wait for a favorable tide of circumstances to bear us away to the harbor of fortune. A man may have genius, but he cannot depend upen that alone*, else he will end in miserable failure. The best genius is hard work. The sober, industrious, Godfearing young man is the one who. will b© crowned with a successful and happy life here below and glory in the one above.—College Echo.

Eighteen Hundred to an Inch.

It will not, perhaps, be remembered that in the great exhibition of 1851 a specimen erf iron paper was exhibited. Immediately a lively competition ensued among iron-masters as to the thinness to which iron could be rolled. / One ironmaker rolled sheets the average thickness of which was the 1-1800 part of an inch. In other words, 1,800 sheets of this iron, piled one upon the other, would only measure one inch in thickness. The wonderful fineness of this work may he more readily understood when it is remembered that 1,200 sheets of thinnest tissue paper measure a fraction over an inch. These wonderful iron sheets were perfectly smooth and easy to write upon, notwithstanding the fact that they were porous when held up in a strong light.—London Paper Maker,

KENTUCKY’S MUSICAL WONDER

Walter J. Simpson, a Five-Year-Old Pianist of Danville. One of the most remarkable cases of musical precocity ever known in Kentucky is that of little Walter J.

WALTER J, SIMPSON.

the word implies. He plays the most difficult compositions on the piano and organ with as much ease as a trained musician could. The first time he attracted attention to his great natural talent was when; he was about three years of age, and shortly after his parents had purchased an organ. His mother, upon entering the room one day, was surprised at seeing the youthful musician, standing at the organ, working the pedal with one foot and executing, as well as his baby fingers would permit, one of the familiar religious hymns which she herself had been playing. The little fellow was encouraged and made rapid progress. Shortly after the discovery a local pianist happened to be at Mr. Simpson’s house, and the child’s playing struck her as being so remarkable that she offered to instruct it in all the branches, but the parents would not consent, preferring to wait until Walter was more matured. At the teacher’s advice, however, they exchanged the organ for a piano, and the new instrument seems to suit the youngster much better than the other. Another remarkable thing about the boy is his memory for tunes. He goes to church with his parents, hears a hj mn entirely new to him, and With a few hours’ practice reproduces it upon hirpiano. He enjoys his talent very touch and is never happier than wHen perched upon a piano stool and playing some of the bright, .catchy ‘airs that he hears on the. stfeets. His surroundings also conduce to his spending much of; his time at the piano. His Borne is situated within the, inclosure,of the deaf and dumb institute, and Walter’s playmates are only the. Utsle victims of an uiikind nature.,, Walter says they “can’t talk wif their moufs,” and fchfit he prefers Paying bis piano to playing with his amicted neighbors. He is wonderfully bright intellectually, and is a very handsome child, having almost a classical face, surmounted by darkbrown locks. His sparkling blue eyes light up his striking face, and his robust frame and general healthy appearance indicate the making of a strong man, His only pet is a beautifully marked shepherd dog that he calls “Quiz. ” He and “Quiz” are almost inseparable, and when his master is playing the dog seems to enjoy the music as much if not more than does Walter.

r T' —["i"! '* —— : Will the African £lepliant Work? In modern times, we haTe only to look to India to be convinced of the great usefulness of the elephant. To the agriculturist, who uses him before his wagon or his plow, he is indispensable, and for the transportation of • heavy articles, he has no equal. We see him carrying immense tree-trunks out of the Indian forest, and by Ms indefatigable industry, in picking up and carrying off large stones, aiding the construction of roads and railways. For labor of this kind a coolie receives from four to eight annas, while five and six rupees are paid for the daily work of an elephant. From this fact, we conclude that one elephant performs the work of* from twelve to twenty-two coolies.

From the record of the British expedition against King Theodore of Abyssinia in 1868, we learn that forty-four elephants were shipped from Bombay to use in the campaign. Each animal was in charge of two men. Of this number five succumbed during the campaign. The remaining thirty-nine rendered valuable services, being intrusted with the transportation, through a mountainous country, of cannon, ammunition and supplies. It was frequently very difficult to procure proper food for them, and as it was often necessary to traverse great distances to reach the watering places, the death of the five animals is ascribed to these hardships. Although elephants move slowly through a mountainous country and soon become foot-sore, they performed theiT task with admirable faithfulness. Without them it would have been necessary to await the building of wagon roads. Goldthwaite’s Geographical Magazine.

Killed by Albatresses.

During the passage of a Nova Scotia bark which is now in Liverpool a most extraordinary affair is reported to have occurred, showing alike the ferocious and dangerous proclivities of the albatross. The bark had just got out of the latitude where rough weather is always encountered, states the Pall Mall Gazette, and was sailing with a fair wind, when the cry of “Man Overboard” was sounded throughout the shipi The unfortunate j fellow was a Dane, one of the crew, * and he was seen at a short distance breasting the waves. The bark was brought round, answering her helm instantly, and the vessel was soon on her way to the struggling man. Suddenly two large albatrosses were seen to descend with an eagle-like swoop and'attack the poor fellow in a terrible manner. Both birds dashed at him, and to those on board the vessel it seemed as if they were endeavoring to gouge out his eyes with their hooked bills, while with their wings they kept beating the unfortunate man about the head. sight was a terrible one, but did not last long, as the bark sailed over the course where the Dane had fallen overboard .about seven minutes before, but he was nowhere to be seen. There was no doubt in the minds of those on board that the poor fellow was killed by the albatrosses, as he was a powerful swimmer and seemed to fight desperately for a few moments with the ferocious birds. Stopping Chicago policemen from drinking while on duty ought to add materially to thenrofits of the saloonkeepers. ■

Simpson, the five-year-old son of W. C. Simpson, Superintendent of the Mechanical Department of the State Deaf and Dumb Asylvm, located at Danville, Ky. He is a musical prodigy in all