Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1891 — Page 4

Bfrejßemocratitgntttttel RENSSELAER, INDIANA. * J. W. KcEWEN. Publisher,

' The news that there are bugs in cigarettes is indeed terrifying for the bug. It is not the man who pays the highest price for a pew in church that Is surest of heaven. The apologists for poverty, injustice and the wrongs inflicted upon the people by monopoly are still talking about the big crops. Nonpareil lace is a popular article of feminine neckwear. It is worn by both the bourgeois and their minions. Why it is so named writers say not. Ever.v one says he believes the world will come to an end some day. If it should come to an end during your time, whom would you rather be with? Robert Bonner offers $5,000 to the horse which shall first make a record of 2:05 on a regulation track. It now remains to be seen whether money makes the mare gd. The observer at Lick Observatory has discovered snow on the mountains of the moon. The traditional blood upon that luminary will not be visible until next election day. Tiie giraffe is threatened with extinction, but as long as the collarmakers and the dudes work in harmony naturalists will be able to study the peculiarities of the giraffe’s neck. The dollar which the jury awarded to Donnelly comes about as near to being the *IOO,OOO he sued for as his Bacon cipher does to proving that the English Chancellor wrote the plays of Shakespeare.

Daniel Dougherty, the silvertongued orator, made his first money driving one of his father’s’bus teams. Possibly that is why so many Jehus of to-day are so eloquent while handling the ribbons. Since the advent of Ruth Cleveland, boy babies arc said to have . gone out of fashion. It’s safe to wager that if that young lady could express her sentiments this idea would be forcibly condemned. “Takino a Lion by the Tail” is the title of a story of adventure in one of the papers. That is the way America took the Kipling lion—-by his tale of “The Light that Failed.” No one has found much to grip him by since. Prince Damrong, of Siam, is now In Paris, where he is said to be the god of the concert halls, several actresses wearing diamonds presented by him. He is apparently, from a moral point of view, trying to live up to his name. This rapid adoption of the new Australian system by American States demonstrates that it filled a need, and it is not likely that the new ballot law will be repealed in any State where it has had a fair trial, though many of the laws will doubtless be amended in vulnerable points. Dr. Kocii reports that he has purified his lymph, having eliminated the matter that induced inflammation and led to so many deaths. The lymph under its new form is entitled to the careful attention of experimentalists, but the fad is over, and what is really good in the treatment will have to be discovered by the next s generation.

Unlike the scriptural leopard, Garcia, the Mexican revolutionist, changes his “spots” with a rapidity that makes him little less than omnipresent. In one column of a metropolitan paper he is fighting the forces of President Diaz, and in the next oolumn he is declared to be languishing in a Missouri jail. He is yet to he heaid of as a victim of Jack Ketch, however. There is said to be a girl 10 years old living near Pittsburg who speaks only a language of her own invention, although she reads and writes Xnglish. Here is a portion of her vocabulary: Sota, angry; phatota, fun; tooky, a strong rope; beloh, papa. Now, if beloh should get sota and take a tooky and have some phatota warming the reporter who •pun the yarn, such fictions as this would be fewer. The fact that the survivor of a fatal duel in Georgia has been found guilty of murder and sent to the penitentiary for life is worthy of more than passing mention. The field of honor has long been a source of dishonor in the South, and this sign of an awakening to the fact that murder ia murder whether done vulgarly in a catting affray or “honorably” with •eoonds and surgeons and deliberate purpose is a cheering evidence of the triumph of the “new South” over the old. __ The latest declaration from Edison Is “the mule must go.” Many men have said the same with far more emphasis, but the mule continues to Unger. It is astonishing that the very •imple idea of applying electricity to the mule should have lain dormant until Edison came along to wake it up. There is every reason to believe that a few mild strokes of lightning Judiciously administered would make almost any mule go. A neat and compact apparatus to be adjusted to the mule will be easily invented and, with some arrangement to turn the wtactridty off when it is desirable to

have the mule stop, should be a per* feet success. A newspaper cartoa® represents John Chinaman aloft In the air awaiting further vigorous action from the great foot of Uncle Sam and the great foot of Canada. Wouldn’t it be wise In the American press not to rub this thing too far? The most unique exhibit the world can produce at the World’s Fair can come from China, if China will. There seems no real necessity for offensively reminding the oldest power with whom we have diplomatic relations that the status of her citizens in this country Is that of an Intruder and pariah.

The annexation fever in Canada is exciting much attention in England, and such open advocacy of political union with the United States as has lately been expressed in Quebec and Ontario may prompt a Tory Ministry to be as foolish as those politicians who, a century ago, tried to coerce the American colonies. So grave is the situation in the Province of Quebec that startling events may happen at any moment. The French claim that their constitutional privileges have been outraged, and they say that unless England offers a speedy remedy for this, they “will turn where their rights can be pro tected.”

Anything in that line more complete than a recent exploit of an lowa outlaw has not been lately chronicled anywhere. A few miles from Boone a farmer was driving home in great content, for he had sold his hogs and had the money is his pocket. A stranger of weary and unwary appearance plodding along the road asked the favor of a ride, and it was immediately granted. Hardly was he seated beside the farmer than he drew a pistol, compelled him to give up his money, jumped from the vehicle, and, unhitching the horse, jumped on its back and galloped away, leaving the farmer seated in the buggy in a condition of dumb fright and amazement. There is a completeness in this job that will excite the envy of all the thugs who infest our cities.

There is no doubt that an effort will be made to secure a grand military review during the Chicago Fair. It is believed that it is practicable to bring together at that time 100,000 American militiamen. It would be better that this should not be undertaken than that it should be allowed to fail. The United States is not looked upon as a military power, and it has no military reputation to maintain. But If It undertakes to make a military display it should do it in a way that would reflect credit upon the nation. Congress, therefore, ought to make an appropriation in accordance with the suggestion of General Miles to pay for the transportation of all the soldiers from their homes to Chicago and return. If it shall be left to the States to provide for this expense some may not be represented at all. Besides, whatever the States may be prepared to expend upon this military exhibition should be devoted to perfecting the National Guard and training the soldiers to make a creditable appearance.

The news conies from Germany that the beginning of winter finds fiOO cases of influenza in Silesia. It is useless to expect that the same winds which blow the poison germs across Europe will not also waft them over the Atlantic and bind the western hemisphere with a broad girdle of disease. This new appearance is said to have originated in Russian churches, in an atmosphere breathed over and over again by the most wretched and dirty people In Europe. Formerly the Mohammedans at Mecca had credit for every pestilence; now the Greek branch of the Christian church—of which the Czar is sovereign pontiff—is the head and front of the offending. Medical science in the United States will now be called upon for its most strenuous efforts. Two winters ago the epidemic slew its thousands and lasffwinter its tens of thousands. If a specific has not been discovered by this time it is probable that systems weakened by the former attacks will give way in still greater numbers. Experience, however, must now have something to go upon in dealing with the earliest symptoms. Influenza, in any of its forms, should not be a closed book to the medical profession. Every public health office in the country should be made an agency for the diffusion of information as to the latest and most successful methods of dealing with the enemy.

Russian Typos Alarmed.

The type-setters of Russia, and especially of St. Petersburg, arc alarmed for their trade, because they have heard that in this country certain type-setting machines are superseding the type stickers and putting them out of work. The St. Petersburg compositors, fearing that these machines may be introduced there, have sent to New York for information about them, asking if their use is profitable to their employers, and if it is detrimental to the interests of the old-fashioned compositors. A reply has been sent from here tc i the St. Petersburg Inquirers, telling then of the various kinds of typesetting machines that have been invented, of the extent to which they are used in the newspaper, book, oi job offices in this country, and of their influence upon the interests of typesetters. A reporter who has seen this reply says that its effect will be to relieve the minds of the Russian typos. Italy is an exception to the rule in Europe. It had a good wheat crop i this year. Still the stalwart sons ol I that- land will expatriate themselves to supply other people with banana/ and popcorn.

THE FLOODS IN SPAIN.

WHOLE TOWNS AND VILLAGES DESTROYED. Unusual Weather Conditions In Europe— Millions of Dollars* Worth of Vines and Frnlt Trees Destroyed in the Spanish Peninsula—Cattle ami Granaries Swept Away. *Twas a Deluge. While in the northwestern portion of the United States, and throughout all that section of America lying west of the Mississippi River, the fall of 1891 was one of unusually dry weather, reports from the Spanish peninsula tell of destructive floods by which whole villages and towns have been destroyed, the crops ruined and hundreds of lives lost. The weather conditions in Europe, says the Chicago Graphic, like those of the United States since last autumn, have been unusual. While last winter on this side of the Atlantic was unusually mild, on the opposite side of the ocean it was the reverse, and during the entire year the reverse of the weather in the United States has almost uniformly prevailed in Europe. Consuegra, a town of 7„C00 population, sixty miles from the capital of the kingdom of Spain, was almost entirely drowned by heavy rains lasting from Sept. 13 to 18, and the overflow of the mountain streams which run through the valley in which it is located. The storm extended over nearly the entire peninsula and w r as of unexampled violence. America has been supposed to be the home of the cyclone of recent years, but the storm in Spain outrivals the most severe cyclones of Kansas and the great Southwest. The grape harvest was ripe and ready for the gathering, as were also the olive and other crops upon which the Spanish peasant depends for his livelihood. Millions of dollars’ worth

of laden vines and fruit trees were totally destroyed, and cattle and granaries were swept away. In Consuegra alone 4,000 cattle were drowned, and their decaying carcasses, lodged among the debris of the houses, are a menace to the lives of the survivors, who, aided by a large corps of engineers and soldiers, are rapidly recovering and giving burial to the unfortunate victims of the disaster. In many cases entire families and their relatives have been drowned, and their lands, which have reverted to the state, are to be re-sown and harvested for the benefit of the people of the valley who have lost their all. the labor, implements and seed l»eing provided by the Government. Many of the interior provinces were cut off from the rest of the world, being entirely surrounded by water, bridges over the streams having been 6wept away. The local stock of food in those provinces was almost entirely exhausted, and the sanitary and relief corps were unable to reach them. The government has done all within its power for the relief of the sufferers. The Bank of Spain and numerous private banks have donated a large fund, and an appeal to cit izens of other portions of the kingdom has met with generous response. Queen Christina personally superintended the government relief, herself heading a public subscription of charity with a large' donation. The Palace of Aranguez, which is near the old city of Toledo, just north of the flooded districts, was thrown open as an asylum for the refugees from the flooded provinces, and sev-’ eral hundred homeless people are being cared for there at public expense until some provision can be made for them. In Valencia, Andalusia and Almeira 4,000 people were rendered homeless, and in Saragossa, Malaga and Murcia the crops were totally destroyed. The Turia, Magro and Jucar Rivers spread far beyond their banks and totally destroyed the valuable

rice crops planted in the lowlands, and the town of Alcira suffered heavy losses. In many places there were serious washouts along the railroad tracks, causing the almost total suspension of railroad traffic. The Illustrated News of the World, from which our illustrations are taken, speaking of the floods at Consuegra, says: “The province of New Castile, which is the middle and metropolitan province of the kingdom, including both Madrid and 'Toledo, with the Tagus flowing across it from east to west, rises south of Toledo into a labyrinth of high bare ridges descending to the river Guadiana, bevond which is the open tableland of La Mancha, Don Quixote's home, a poor and sterile district. Among those highland valleys, some thirty miles from the city of Toledo, is that of the Armarguillo, a small river, encompassed on all sides by mountains: the sole outlet for waters from this

I —■— basin Is at R* eastern extremity, be* low Madndejos. In this valley gtooti the doomed town of Consuegra, built along both river banks the length of a mile. The storm prevailing had driven everybody indoors and prevented notice being taken of the rising of the river—which at nightfall was in its normal channel—in time for a general alarm. The heavy rainfall in the mountains, operating over the whole watershed of the

Armaguillo, in three hours turned the river into a lake, which covered the whole middle portion of Consuegra to a depth of 20 feet along the banks, and the width of three quarters of a mile. The majority of the houses were built with mud walls, which offered no protection against the water. All the houses along the bank for a distance of 150 feet on each side were cither wrecked or washed completely awav. The inmates could not escape, but the approach of death was slow and gradual in that dreadful night. Whole families perished together; in one house twen-ty-eight persons were drowned. In the morning, where the town had

THE STONE BRIDGE AT SARAGOSSA.

been there was a dirty yellow lake, with the roofs and tottering walls ol a few houses yet standing, and with a raging current that bore down masses of wreckage and dead human bodies and the carcasses of oxen, mules and other animals. The destruction of property at Consuegra alone is estimated at £400,000. In the valley ol the Amaguillo, every other town and village on the banks of that river was flooded to a depths of two feet to six

feet, and for some days there was no communication except by boats.” Among the incidents related of the flood are the following: At Consuegra there is a monastery of Franciscan monks. This and the church attached were flooded. Rescuing what was most important from the church, they waded out with water up to their necks, and then set to work and aided the townspeople, working unceasingly, going to places where

THE PORT OF MALAGA.

few others would venture, and, lastly, began to bury the dead. One officer in the army, who had gone to Consuega on sick leave, is said to have saved no less than seventy lives, though wounded three times in the attempt; at last he nearly fainted. Poor fellow! with much difficulty he had saved up 4,000 pesetas (4!160i during his career. All this was, with his belongings, in a box which was swept away by the flood. A poor shepherd in the neighborhood rescued twenty-three people. A man servant was shut up by the waters in a house with twelve other persons. He bravely swam out, and made a raft, saving the rest. After this he went elsewhere, and rescued three children. Wearied out, he would fain have rested, but a man on a roof near, which was expected every moment to fall, implored his aidt At the risk of his life, he swam out and brought him safely back. Many other heroic acts were performed.

ALCIRA, ON THE RIVER JUCAR.

RONDA, NEAR MALAGA.

KILLING HOGS.

QUICK WORK AT THE CHICAGO STOCK YAJRDS. How the Animals are Slaughtered, Cleaned and Cnt up by Machine and Hand —Utilizing the Internal Organs. The hogs, as they arrive in Chicago, by train from all sections, are kept in the extensive yards and sheds adjacent to the buildings until they are wanted for slaughtering, which may be a days or but a few hours. While they remain here, however, they are always well fed and watered, and they are selected for killing according to tho various markets, their ages generally being from six to eighteen mouths, and the average weight being from 150 to 200 pounds. Each lot of animals, us they are taken from the pens, is duly weighed on standard scales, after which they are driven over what is styled the ‘ ‘ Bridge of Sighs” into an upper story of the building where the work commences, about a score being inclosed together in a catching pen. Then to one hind leg is attached a short piece of chain, having a ring at its opposite end, and into this ring the operutor passes a hook on tho end of a chain lowered from a roller overhead, the luttcr chain being steadily wound up by power. As tho head of the animal is raised, another hook, suspended from a wheel, is fixed into the ring, and this wheel runs on a rail onward through several largo rooms, always at an incline, down which the unitnul is carried by his own gravity. As ho is swung over the wall of tho catching pen, the butcher, with one thrust of u sharp, short knife, always reaches to tho heart, insuring almost instant death, there being no squealing and but very little muscular twitching after the thrust. The blood flows through an inclined grade into a receptacle below, and of itself is an article of considerable value, utilizod for several important purposes. Passing on beyond the butcher, the animals are unhooked and plunged into a vat of steam-heated water, where nine or ten are immersed together, and where they are kept for about three minutes, that the hair may be readily scraped off. From the farther end of the vat, every few seconds, a curved, rake-like gridiron, attached to a cable, lifts a steaming hog out on a table, along which passes an endless chain, to which the hog, hooked by tho nose, is attached, to bo drawn through a scraping machine. The accurately working spring scrapers of tho mucliino are mounted on cylinders placed at such angles as will allow the blades to most effectually reach every portion of the animal, and in about ten seconds tho hog emerges denuded of its hair. This work was done by hand somo years ago, but the machine, which saves tho labor of ten men, was invented and put in operation by one of tho engineers of the firm in consequence of a strike of tho scrapers, who did not iinagino that machinery could be made which would perform their branch of tho work.

The animal passes from the machine to baud scrapers, where any slight oversight is made good, after which follows a thorough washing by means of jets at the ends of rubber lioso suspended over tho table, to be directed as required for removing any adhering hair, dirt, or scum, perfect order and cleanliness being a- marked feature of every detail. Next follows an inspection, after which tho animal’s throat is cut entirely across, so that tho head haugs by but a slight connection, and the body is suspended by the hind logs from a trolley, and thus passed over tho table where tho disembowelling is performed. The leaf lard is removed at a following table, and further ulong tho heads are removed and the tongues taken out, the last operation being tho splitting, before the carcass is run into the cooling room, the timotakou to catch tho hog, slaughter, cleanse, dress, and deliver him in the cooling chamber being ordinarily only from ten to fifteen minutes. Each portion of the internal organs is carefully separated, cleansed, and set aside for use, tho lungs, heart and liver going to the sausago department, and tho intestines, stripped of fat, cleansed and scalded, following to form the casings. Many kinds of sausages are made, among which are “ liver,” “ blood,” and pork, “Frankfurter” and “Bologna,” while the soft parts of the hoads are made into, head cheese or brawn. The mincing of the sausage moat, which also includes trimmings from tho sides and hams, is effected by stoam driven mincers operating in large vats. From hogs in good condition it is estimated that as much as forty pounds of lard is obtained on an averago from each animal. The fat- and other refuse is placed in tanks heated by worms from steam boilers, and after molting is drained off in different grades, the first quality being made only from the leaf and trimmings. Some of the bristles uro used for brushos, and others go to the cobblers, but the great bulk of the huir is mixed with horse hair for stuffing cushions and similar purposes. Tho blood is largely used for inuking albumen for photographic uses, as well as in sugar refining and for a fertilizer, tho crushed bones and other refuso also forming a very valuable fertilizer, although many other uses are likewise found for the boues. After the carcass has been thoroughly cooled, in rooms which are always kept at a temperature below 40° F., it is run along, still on the labor-saving rails, to tho cutting-up department, where it is taken down and sepurated into two sides, and then a workman with a powerful chopper cuts off tho ham, shoulder, and underlying ribs if necessary, separating tho feet to be cauned, pickled, or passed into the lard tanks. It is wonderful to what accuracy these workmen attain, never inuuling the moat, and always cutting to a hair's breadth just where tho separating cuts for tho different parts arc required.—[Scientific American.

The Express Agent’s Ordeal.

“Speaking of money,’’ said Passenger Agent W. K. Fagan, “reminds me of au experience I had once. It was just four clears ago, when I was au express agent in one of the small towns of Texas. The safe was one of these little fellows liko the messengers carry in their cars. You could carry it off on your back or pry it open with a knife. Well, one evening when the express train pulled in the messenger handed me a package. I checked for it, and found it contained $40,000. Ge whiz! but didn’t the cold chills run over me when I looked at it. Forty-thousand dollars and nowhere to put it but in my little pony safe. I didn’t know what to do with-it. I shook like I had a buck ague. The money was for a big ranchman ’bout forty milos away, and I didn’t know whon he’d bo in. I couldn’t eat any supper. I was afraid to leave the office and scared to take the package out. I sat down and thought, nr tried to think. Jt was growing durk. The winds thatcainc sweeping across the

broad plains moaned as they stole through the keyhole and the cracks in the door. Every mesquite tree, in the dusk, took on the shape of a highwayman, and I could heur the footfall of burglars in every sough of the wind. Each moment seemed an age. I began to feel my hair turn gray. The susFense was dreadful. Just at this moment saw one of the boys. I called to him and told him to come over to tho oflico. I didn’t say a word about thut mouey, but told him I was sick and got him to send for my supper and then get half a dozeu Winchesters and stay in the office with me. I told him I was looking for robbers that night. Whilo lie was out I took that package and put it between tho mattresses on the bed. I didn’t sloep a wink that night. Tho next day tho ranclunau came in for his package, and I never was so glud to got rid of money in my life. I was so happy that I hollered, and then went out and set ’em up to the boys. I was a young man then, but I recall every incident of tho time ns readily as if it was yesterday.” —[.Memphis Appoal-Avalanche.

VANILLA AND ITS USES.

Some Points About an Interesting Vegetable Flavoring. In the window of a grqat confectioner's shop on Broadway, Now York city, is a statue of the Venus of Milo. It is of colossal size, like the original—in fact a cast—but the remarkable thing about it is that it is composed entirely of chocolate. A most appetizing femalo this is, but sho would not be really good to eat as she stands, becauso she lacks vanilla. Chocolate is not very good without vanilla for flavoring. There are plenty of other delicious things which would not be so at all without its aid. It enters into the manufacture of candy, pastry, ices, liqueurs, cordialß, and even perfumery. The bean is of Moxican origin, although found in almost "every tropical country. It is a vine of the orchid kind, with sea-green foliugo, thriving best in dense forests, whore its branches climb and interlace with the trees. This is when it grows wild, but it is cultivated with profit. Tho plant begins to yield in its third year and continues to bear until its thirtieth year, the beaus being gathered in a green state before they have matured. Tiiero are two ways of curing vanilla. One is to lay the boans on cloths spread upon tho ground and exposod to the sun. Thus treated they attain a dark brown color at the end of two months, when they aro bunched in bundles and packed in tin boxes for exporting. Tho second method consists in immersing the beans in boiling water until they become whito. They are then oxposod for a few hours to the sun, after which they aro oovered with oil of the cashew nut.

There are four qualities of vanilla and these arc determine 1 by the length and size of the bean, it being found that tho flavor and perfume are in direct ratio to the weight and measurement. The best and largest boans exude a sort of crystal frosting, which covers their surface. These crystals are found to bo almost pure bouzoic acid When one buys chocolate, it is found of various pricos. If you go to a firstrate confectioner's you will find it at 50 cents a pound, 75 cents, sl. and even higher. However, the quality of tho chocolate is about the same. The difference is in the amount of vanilla. The difference is not sufficient to be of any importance in the cost of production, but the flavor is improved proportionately and tho price is put on with a duo respect for the imagination of tho consumer. All tho same, tho Venus of Milo in tho cundy maker’s window would be flavorless indeed without tho aid of this humble bean from the south. It is said that when a confectioner employs a new hand* usually a woman, he turns her loose among the candies and requests that sho help herself. Thus her appetite becomes immediately' oloyed by surfeit. If the most avid devourer of sweetmeats were asked to consume in her lifetime a Venus of Milo containing, like the one described, 1,925 pounds of chocolate and deliciously flavored with vanilla, it is likely that she would lose off-hand and forever her appetite for all such delicacies.

The Uses of Electricity.

A chloro-chromic battery has been invented in Franco to bo used in a miner's safety lump. ■ The power of the voltaic combination is such that both lamp and battery weigh but little more than tho oil lamp usually employed, and u light of greator power is furnished. The electrical mercurial thermostat is an automatic instrument in use upon British steamships for indicating changes of temperature in the various apartments, Instant warning is given of any appreciable changes of heat or cold. A sloop has sailed from San Diego, Cal., upon a fishing excursion that takes its novelty from the fact that the fish ure to be captured by means of a net and incandescent lights. It has been shown by experiment that everything alive under the water is attracted by the glare of the light, and that thousunds of fish of every description can be taken in a short time and with little trouble. The fan motor is in great demand for ventilating purposes, as is shown by a quotation of the fact that “in Cincinnati there are 300 of them on one central station circuit for incandescent lamps—covering a radius of less than half a mile; and all but a very few of them have been installed since the first of May of this year.—[Hardware.

Curiosities in Eggs.

Wo mctourold friend,Mr. Jessie Eaton on tho street the other day, and he told us of a wonderful egg his daughtercarne across a short sime ago. On breaking it she discovered another perfectly formed egg with a shell inside of it. It was about the size of a partridge egg. Another gentleman standing by told of a curiosity in tho shape of a double chicken that had been hatched on his place. Tho backs of the twins wero united, and while one would bo standing on its feet tho feet of tho other would be. pointing upward. Whon growing tired of this position it, or they, would flop over and stand on the other feet, the positions being reversed. He said the chickens lived several days.—[Farmington (Mo.) Times.

Thk cook of a surveying party broke liis leg while encamped on one of the mountains in Cowlitz county, Wash., and after it had been set tho surveyors pre»ared to carry him to the nearest settlement. He weighed 230 pounds, and four men had to handle the stretcher. Tho first day they covered a distance of less than three miles, tho descent being so steep that tho man had to be lashed to the stretcher and lowerod from point to point. They were nine days on the journey, but the cook encouraged them ut times by singing and whistling.

WOMEN OF NERVE.

Tiro Slsteis Kill a Bear in a Hand to Hand Fight. A family named McDonald lives wayback in tho wilderness on the Molus River, in Maine. It consists of the husband,Roderick McDonald, his wife, and his sister, both young women. They have a little farm in there, and keep a few cattle. Their most valuable possession in that line was a yoke of steers. One day Mr. McDonald was obliged to go to one of the settlements several miles away, and his business was to keep him over night. His wife and sister were loft alone to look after things during his absence. Jugt before dark a great bellowing washeard among the cattle in the burnyard. Tho sounds were of such an unusual character that the two women became satisfied that they were cries of terror. Mrs. McDonald, armed with a pitchfork, and her sister carrying an axe, hurried tothe barnyard. There they found an enormous bear, standing defiantly’ between tho prostrate bodies of the twosteers, each of which.he had felled to the ground and killed. The other cattle were huddled in terror in a corner of the yard. The bear growled and snarled and showed, his teeth as tho women approached, but, in spite of his terrible front and threatening attitude, tho sight of the steers lying dead on the ground was more than theplucky young women could stand, and they rushed with desperate intent on thesnarling bear. Mrs. McDonald charged with her pitchfork and thrust its sharp, long tines deepinto the bear’s neck. The boar gave a. howl of pain, and, striking the handle of the pitchfork a powerful blow with one forepaw, ho wrenched it from Mrs. .McDonald’s hands and sent it flying across the barnyard. Whilo the bear was doing that Miss McDonald pitched into himwith the axe, and at the first blow disabled one of his terrible forelegs. The boar turned on her, and she ruined blows thick and fast upon him as sho backed, slqwly away. Mrs. McDonald quickly regained possession of tho pitchfork and renewed her attack on tho bear. .Between the attacks of the two determined and plucky women the bear was so badly harassed that he made an effort to osoapo from the field, but tho women pressed him too closely. The battle wasnot of long duration, for the lusty blows of the axe in the girl’s hands and the deop and painful stabs inflicted by Mrs. McDonald with her pitchfork soon had their effect on tho bear, big and tough as ho was. und in ten minutes after the fight began he was stretchod dead by the side of his victims, tho two steers. Tho two nervy women laid their clothing nearly strippod from them by the claws of the bear, but beyond a few scratches they were not injured. They were not on the scene in time to save the valued steers, but their pluck in avenging thedeath of the cattle aroused so much enthusiasm and admiration at the settlement that a purse was raised among the lumbermen and hunters, with which another y’oke of steers was bought and presented to Mrs. McDonuld and her brave little* sister. —[New York Sun.

Arm-bands and Ear-rings.

Arm-bands and bracelets occur in great', variety, but little need be said of them. Two African forms only will detain us. Among the Kaffirs, and in the west of Africa as well, a plain ivory urm-ring, in> a single piece, is in common use. Such, are easily made. The tusk of the elophant is hollow save near the small end. Toward the larger end the ivory sheath isthin and irregular, but it thickens and becomes solid toward the tip. All that is necessary to make arm-bands is to remove the soft, vascular inner part and then to cut tho ivory into cross-sections, two or throe inches wide. The rings thus mado vary, of course, in size. After being cut they are carefully polished. With, such rings the whole arm from wrist to elbow is often covered. Schweinfurth describes a pretty ornament- of metal rings—tho dagobur—as in use among White Nile tribes. The individual rings are of iron and aro neatly made. They are worn so closely together upon the arm as to make u continuous metal sheathing. Very curious aro the-arm-coils from Bouka Bay, New Guinea, which consist of one spiral strip of bark. Ear-rings are found in all times and amongst almost every people. They range in size, material, and elegance from the brilliant solitaire in gold setting, worn by our ladies, to the bird-skins worn in the ears in Noiv Zealand or the immense ornaments of shell with carved ivory iulaying, from New Guinea. KingMunza’ssister begged lead bullets from Schweinfurth and hammered from them bright ear-rings. From New Zealand come very pretty ear-rings of green jinle in the shape of sharks’ teeth. It is not certain that we horo have another example of the law of copj’ing an old form in a new material? Did the New Zealanders not wear real sharks’ teeth, as somo Alaskan and British Columbiu tribes do now, beforethey made these more beautiful ones ? [Popular Science Monthly.

A Time-Table for Housekeepers.

The following time-table, according to the New York World, should prove of use to young housekeepers: For bread, loaves, un hour; small loaves, from halt to three-quarters of an hour. Biscuits and rolls, from fifteen totwenty minutes. Brown bread, steamed, three hours. Loaves of sponge cake, from thirty toforty minutes, according to size. Loaves of rich cake, a:i hour or less. Fruit cuke, übout two hours, if in large loaves. Small, thin cakes and cookies, from five to ten minutes.' Bice pudding, three hours in slow oven. Boiled puddings, three hours. Batter puddings, baked, forty-five minutes. Pie-crust, about half an hour.

A Train-load of Pickles.

The largest solid shipment of pickles ever made from any place left Pittsburg the other day. It consisted of a solid train of eighteen Pennsylvania refrigcrator'cars of uniform make, containing 129,000 bottles of pickles, consigned to i> Kansas City firm. It is estimated that the packages contained over 5,750,000 pickles.—[Philadelphia llecord.

Washington's Thanksgiving.

The first Thanksgiving proclamation of Washington ns President of the United States was inode in New York on October 3, 1789, setting apart Thursday, Nov. 2G, of that year, “ to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great aud glorious Being who is the Author of all the good that is, that was, or that will be."