Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1892 — Page 5

BT. VALENTINS. fIS now OtpMTs archer and postman. * With his packet of sweet blUatWlth how and gay quiver of arrows Comes forth in Love's rosiest What will he use as Not the heart of our bonny, wee What has she done, that dear lassie. Deserving so cruel “She is winsome and pretty," you answer; Tet surely that is no crime! think you the hearts of fair maidens Aiw rightfully Love's and thine? Weill perhaps; for I chance to remember, My great grandmother told me so: that her mother's mother was wounded By St Valentine loag years ago. Straight at her heart he pointed, Bat the pain was exquisite bliss; lad the only balm that would heal her wound Was my great, great, great grandfather’s kiss.

VAL’S VALENTINE.

Valerie Olaxton, that’s my name, and t live “uptown”—l'm not going to say where, and you won’t find it im the directory, because I live with my married aunt, and -sides —but I mustn’t be in too great a hurry. Whether I’m pretty or not is a matter ©! opinion. I, of course, do not incline to thinking myself quite a horror, for any mirror tells me, when I consult it—which is quite as often as other girls—-that I have bright eyes and white teeth, and a‘ dimple in each cheek, and a figure that always seems to fit my dresses. lamby no means rich, It is true, but no girl can consider herself poor who possesses a good typewriter »nd skill to use it. Both these qualifications belong to me, and for nearly a year I have held a good position in Mr. John Postlethwaite’s office, and from 9 to 4 every day I gayly rattle the keys of my typewriter. Mr. Postlethwalte is a rich produce broker, and, though he is not at all old, I never looked upon him as a young man —he is so grove and silent. Although I saw him every morning, he never said more than “Good-day, Miss Claxton,” fend I declare I could not have told you whether he was fair or dark, for I seldom ventured to raise my eyes to his. All through the day I sat in my comer, curtained off from the other clerks, and far too busy to take any notice of them, or of anyone else, except—ah! here is a tremendous exception, for I had a constant visitor, my sweetheart! I should montion that Postlethwalte was a widower. That, perhaps, was partly the cause of his seriousness, for I have beard that his wife was young and beauful, and that he loved her dearly. They bad been married but a few years when 3he died, leaving him a baby 3 years old. That baby was now 5, and every day, except in the summer when he was away at Long Island on his father’s farm, little Jack would come In the carriage and fetch Mr. Postlethwalte away. The very first day I took possession as my curtained corner, just as the dock was on the stroke of four, the toveliest little head in the world peeped around my desk, and a pair of big, roguish eyes, blue as heaven, looked up, laughing, into mine. Then the head disappeared, and I saw no more of those sweet eyes until the next afternoon. Then, however, the little rogue, with all the confidence imaginable, walked inside the curtain, and revealed the daintiest darling, picturesquely clad in black velvet, with long golden curls falling over his deep lace collar. I fell In love with him on the spot, and I am bound to say the passion was mutual, tor he sat on my knee and returned my kisses with Interest, and when the following day I cemented the friendship with an offering of French candles we pledged eternal fidelity in the spirit, if not in the letter. The day was indeed a dull one to me that did not bring my little Jack to kiss his sweetheart Val.

The winter passed, and at Christmas and New Year’s Jack and I exchanged appropriate gifts—Jack always assuring me earnestly that his presents had been jiis own unbiased choice, and purchased with his own money from his own money box. I noticed that as early as February days slipped away Jack became immensely mysterious. His little bosom swelled some tremendous secret, and sometimes, after gazing at me for a few seconds with widening eyes, he would ripple with delicious little gusts of laughter from head to foot. After these tiny explosions he would kiss me veaemently, and rush away as though if raid to trust his secret any longer in ny presence. I cannot pretend to say that I had no inkling of coming events, and, sure enough, when I arrived in the office on St. Valentine's morning, there on my desk lay a package, sealed almost all over with red sealing wax, and with the stamps and address huddled into one comer, as though of very secondary account. I opened it as eagerly, I declare, as any girl in New York that day who hoped to find her valentine handsomer than that of her bosom friend. There was a beautiful little hand-painted eatofeet, tied with a big bow of white satin ribbon, and—herein lay the cause of Jack's mysterious rapture—a ietter partly printed, partly written in wonderful hieroglyphics, but all his own writing and composition: “dere darling val. i luv uso mush do wate till 1 am a man so we can be maried. i will be as quick as i can, uno 1 am quite big now i luv u wid all my hart, u ar mi only darlin, ure luvin Jack. ” Now, I am very fond of children, and never having had brother or sister, or niece or nephew, or little one brought close to me by any tie," my whole heart went out to my baby lover, and anyone who chooses may think me a fool when I own that a tear —I scarcely know if it was a sweet or bitter one —fell on that attle smeared and blotted scrawl. The next minute, however, I laughed heartily, and, although I had already sent Jack a pretty valentine, I resolved to write him an answer to his letter, and, to make it more legible to him, I used my type-writer. Tide is what I said: “My Darling —l will wait for you until you are quite a man, and you shall always be my only sweetheart. Who could help loving such a dear pet? Certainly not your own Val.” This I addressed to Me. John Postlethwaitb, Jb. Madison Avenue. I ran and mailed it myself, and then waited all day in expectation of Jack’s visit in the afternoon to ratify our contract. By some chance he never came. I saw it was no use stopping when Mr. Postlethwaite passed out of the office* without waiting for the carriage, and as I went home I bought a box of candiod fruit, so that when he came the next day we might have a feast to celebrate the occasion. The same evening about 8 I was in our little parlor, playing dreamy melodies for my own delectation, in the dark, when a ring came at the bell, and a minute after the colored damsel who rules our household opened the door with: . “A gemman to see you, Miss Valerie." • I sprang to my feet, turned up the gas

and founrt myself face to face with Mr, Posteltwalte. To say that I was surprised would give no idea of my feelings. I could just command voice enough to offer him a seat, which he accepted, and, as I sank Into a chair, I noticed that he had a type-written note in his hand—one which seemed familiar to me. I raised my eyes to his and found them bent on me with a curious but not urgent expression, and, without knowing why, the blood rose to, my cheeks in hot blushes. “I ought to apologize for disturbing you at this hour, Miss Claxton,” he said —he had a pleasant voice, and It sounded much less grave than usual. “But I am afraid that I have intercepted a letter that was not intended for me. I am John Postlewaite, Jr., my father lives in the 6ame house with me.” I saw it all now; but, good heavens! could not the man understand? Why need he come to ask me? His baby could have explained. “Really,” I stammered, scarcely knowing what I said. “I didn’t know—l should have thought " “Oh, don’t apologize,” he replied, and his eyes laughed, though he still kept his countenance. “Nothing can be said to relieve my disappointment. For a moment I indulged in a’wild hope that it was a valentine for me; but I quite understand that I cannot expect to rival my son. However, though neither you nor he seemed to consider my consent necessary, I thought I would call up and express my entire approval of Jack’s choice." We looked at each ether, and both laughed heartily. Who would have thought that the grave Mr. Postlethwaite could laugh so heartily? Th«i he drew the chair a little nearer.

“Miss Claxton," he said, “I know you a great deal better than you know me. I have watched you often when you little suspected it, and, besides, my boy’s constant theme is ‘Val.’ Children are close observers, and he couldn’t be so fond of you without good reason. Now, suppose we laid our heads together, don’t you think we might devise a plan by which poor Jack wouldn’t be kept waiting so long " “Mr. Postlethwaite,” I interrupted, attempting to rise, but he restrained me by placing his hand gently but firmly upon mine. “Miss Claxton," he said, earnestly, “months ago I began loving you for my boy’s sake. I soon learned to love you for my own sake. Don’t suppose that I wish to startle you into an answer; but tell me that there is no one dearer than Jack to rival me, and, if it be so, let me have a chance to win you for myself.” “What will Jack say?” I murmured with a smile I could not repress. “Will you take his verdict?” he cried, eagerly. “He is outside in the carriage, waiting most impatiently to be allowed to see his VaL You see I didn’t venture to come without providing myself with a champion. ” He hurried out, and in a minute afterward returned with Jack in a state of intense excitement, who, being deposited on my lap, smothered me with kisses, and demanded an instant reply to his letter. “Jack.” said his father, before I could answer, “how would you like to have ‘Val’ at once, without waiting to grow up into a man?” “Whatl now?” cried the boy, opening wide his big blue eyes. “Take her back in the carriage?” “Well—no—l’m afraid we could hardly hope for that, ’’ laughed his father. “Well—when?” demanded Jack. “I think you and Valerie had better settle that between you,” was the politic reply. “I am content to leave it to you." “Weil, then, to-morrow,” said Jack, decidedly. “I don’t seem to have much voice in the matter,” I cried. “Mr. Postleththwaite—you said you wouldn’t hurry me —I haven’t had time to think yet whether I care enough for you to marry you at all.” Jack looked from one to the other of us and a dawn of indignant comprehension quivered over his bright little face. “You’s not going to marry papa,” he said,’ fixing his eyes on me finally. “You’s going to marry me—l asked you first!” I made a little bow to Mr. Poetleth waite. “You have your answer, sir," I said. He sat down —this time on the sofa beside me—and took Jack on his lap. “My little son,” he said, coaxingly, “if Valerie waits until you are a man you will only see her In the office, and then when you are a little bigger and go to college you won’t see her at all for months at a time. But if you persuade her to marry me she will be your very own mamma and you will have her all day long all to yourself while I am down town She will wake you in the meming with a kiss and sing you to sleep at night. Don’t you think that’s better than waiting?” Jack put his little fat forefinger in his pouting mouth and looked steadily at me, but declined to compromise himself by any remark. “Persuade him, Valerie,” said his father, entreatingly, to me.

“Not I!” I exclaimed. “Settle it between you.” Suddenly Jack transferred himself to my lap. “Will you always kiss me in the morning when I awake?” he said. I looked out of the comer of my eye at his father, and bit my lip, without answering. “Will you, Val—dear Val?” pleaded Jack. How could I refuse to say “yes." “And sing me to sleep nights?” he persisted. Again I was constrained to say “yes." His sweet eyes brightened, and he threw his chubby arms around my neck. “Dear, darling Val!” he cried, kissing me vigorously. “You may marry papa; but you mustn’t ever like him better’n me. You may kiss Val now, papa," he added, magnanimously. “And if you can’t be married now we must come tomorrow and fetch you away. ” Then, as it occurred to him that he felt sleepy, he dropped his head on my shoulder and demanded, with baby imperiousness, to be sung to sleep forthwith. I placed him gently in his father’s arms, and kissed the half-closed eyes. “He’s mine now,” I said, looking John Postlethwaite for the first time full in the face. “But I’ll lend him to you sometimes.”—S. Ada Fisher, in Drake’s Magazine.

ALL SORTS.

The course of nature is soon run. It has no need of a kite-shaped track. Economy is the parent of integrity, liberty, and ease, and the sister of temperance, cheerfulness, and health. Profuseness is a cruel and crafty demon that generally involves her followers in dependence and debts. If England were in search of an excuse for quarrel with France, one might be found in the affair of the two Englishmen, Cooper and Bod well, who have been arrested for trying to get a pattern of a military rifle manufactured in France for Russia. As the alleged spy work was done at a private establishment, John Bull might claim that the arrest was not justified by international usage, which relates only to the secrets of Government Works.

CHILDREN’S DRAWING.

SCRIBBLING A UNIVERSAL INSTINCT. An Instinct Too Often Repressed by Parents— Encourage the Children ans We May Have a Unlveral Art Atmosphere. Pictures by Little Folks. All children draw. The Instinct is just as universal as the deep-seated desire for candy. Give a child a pencil and he shows his hereditary propensity to scribble just as certainly as, under certain conditions, he shows his hereditary propensity to kick and scream. If you do not give the child a pencil, you have only to notice what he will do without one. He will take a stick and mark in the sand just as surely as a young duck will strike a straight line for water. Right here it might be interesting to ask, how much the elegant arts of sculpture and pottery owe to the prehistoric man’s childish’desire to make mud pies, precisely as his little descendants do to-day? The present writer has never outgrown the love

SMITH'S ANIMALS.

for what was once the chief delight in life—“paddling mushmolly.” A baby of 2 begins its exercise long before it has seen or heard of anything of the kind. Happy baby! Its mamma says its performances are “too cute for anything.” But alas! by the time the same poor baby has arrived at the age of 8 the same nyrnima declares that such doings are “too naughty for anything!” The bad child will persist in scribbling all over the sitting-room wall and spoiling the paper; worse yet, she actually steals!

NEW-FASHIONED HORSE AND ODD KRISS.

Yes, steals her mamma’s cards and her papa’s envelopes to scribble on! It must be stopped right away! The sequel is easily told. That child’s scribbling is stopped, of course. It never seems to occur to the mother that the child’s originality is also repressed, Its Individuality warped, Its immortal soul wounded. Is it any wonder that we have so few artists left? Some years later, when the same long-suffering child takes “drawing lessons” at school, what little true art instinct he has left is well-nigh

GRANDMA’S HOUSE.

starved on a tasteless diet of straight lines and curves. How little necessity there would be for abstruse lectures and rigid measurements if the poor pupils had only been left free to fallow where their imaginations led! Parents, you all know just what kind of pictures your children make. Why does it not strike you all that slates and paper and pencil ought to be provided just as freely as sugar? Yes, sugar! Scientists have discovered that this childish craving for sugar is not an evidence of infantile depravity, but a cry of the developing human system for additional warmth.

MAMMA AND GRANDMA.

Warm, so to speak, the art instinct, even if your fastidious eyes have to tolerate such dreadful caricatures as your own portraits in the style of “spiders” and “chicken-scratches.” With what sublime fearlessness a child invents a “new-fashioned horse ” On the principle that distance lends enchantment to the view, the animals in your neighbor’s barnyard are very much nicer than your own! Never such marvelous flowers grew as were evolved by your little girl from her inner consciousness. But

THE “STEW” FELLOW.

she knows what she sees, too, and has a name for it, even if she has never heard one. Ask her what the big engine is running past*your farm, and like as not she will say, “The stew fellow.” What child has not seen glowing visions In which figured the

dear personalty of the saint of childhood, “Old Kriss,” or Santa Clans? Give every child a pencil just as often as you do a stick of candy. Yes, and add colored crayons and paints, if you do not want the children to daub mud and cranberry juice oh your wall-paner quite ai often as they scribble. Do you know what would be the result in tb£ course of a generation? The question is easily answered. Regenerated art, and the blessed influence of a universal art atmosphere.

WHY MEN DON’T MARRY.

Because There Are Too Many Pretty Simpletons and Too Few Cultured Girls, The men who can marry, and whe nowadays are usually 33, are men ol certain experience, and by no means fools. They are attracted by good looks, whether In the foolish or the wise virgins, and are carried away by unusual beauty, as they were in the days -of Helen,* and’will be whert'the world cools; but they are quite conscious of the advantage possessed by the sensible and the cultivated. They know what terrible bores ignorant girls can be, how utterly unreasonable they often are, and how much more liable they are in middle life to grow acrid, snappish, or positively 111-tempered. There is no one so perverse as the woman without intellectual interests whose station happens to be at variance with liei ideas of comfort, or who, being comfortable, is conscious of the faint contempt, or rather slight avoidance, of those around her. Women are perfectly well aware when men listen from politeness alone, and those among them to whom that lot fa)’..grow as bitter as some disappointed spinsters.

The men of 33 know perfectly tjell how great a part friendship plays in married life, how it deepens affection, and how difficult it is to feel friendship for a lonian whose early charm has passed, who does not understand one word In six you say, and who can neither sympathize with failure nor understand why you have succeeded. Camaraderie, one of the most delightful of all the bonds ol union, Is impossible between the able and the silly. The men, too, are aware that it is the clever girls, not the simpletons, who are free from the senseless extravagance which is, perhaps, of all the foibles which are not exactly vices, the most permanently irritating in wives. That thing, at least, culture has done for the majority ol cultured women—it has taught them how to count. The immense majority of cultivated girls are economical. Frugality is their road to independence. They could not live their lives if they cost their fathers too much, and they learn to know the value ol money, and tc avoid debt with horror. They are not, perhaps, devoted to “housekeeping” as some of the unlettered are, meaning, three' times out of live, endless and harassing Interference with their servants; but they can keep house, when they know their incomes, at an outlay well within them.

Men know what it is to be bored. There Is no bore on earth equal to the woman who can neither talk nor listen, who has no mental interests In common with her husband, and who thinks his friends satirical because they attend to her with a faint sense of amused amazement. The men we are speaking of believe also that, of the two, the educated are the more affectionate. But girls of culture are too frank of speech, contradict men, unless much and visibly their elders, too often and too bluntly, and are, therefore, condemned as “formidable." This habit, for it Is nothing worse, does not proceed in them, as It does in most men, from either arrogance or temper, or want of self-control, for they do not display it toward women, even when Intellectually their inferiors. It proceeds from delight in intellectual independence, from an unexpected sense of mental equality which must be made audible to be thoroughly enjoyed. You will see a son contradict his father, or a clever lad his tutor, from precisely the same motive; but men who are on an equality rather avoid it, striving rather to differ utterly under cover of some formula of assent, and disliking the Hazlitt way—he used to contradict everybody, even the watchman when calling the hour —and they dislike it in women most particularly. Even “very sensible young men of experience will retreat before it with a sense of disappointment and choler, and never again, unless by accident, give the girl who has tried, as they think, to “put them down” a chance of showing that she was attempting nothing of the kind. The habit is a mere gesture in reality, a colt’s kick of pleasure in the free field, and not, as it often is In old women, a sign ol vicious temper; but it constantly ruins a bright girl’s chances, and has done much to create in society an impression which Is, on the evidence of facts, entirely unfounded. Cultivated girls have, in fact, a trick o' thinking that argument is conversation, and that contradiction showc, mental fearlessness—a trick which men, even tolerant men, never quite like.—Argonaut.

Getting Used to the Cold.

How much usage will do in toughening the human body is well ihown by some facts about the natives ot Siberia, as recorded by the author of “Reindeer, Dogs and Snowshoes." Cold, he says, seemed to have no effect upon them. Frequently, he says, when we could not expose our ears for two minutes without having them frozen, the natives would go for an hour at a time with their hoods thrown back from their heads; and when it required constant watohfulness to keep our noses from freezing they did not appear to notice the temperature at all. One morning in January I itood in perfect amazement at their disregard of the low temperature. They worked for at least half an hour with bare hands, packing up the tent and utensils, handling the packages and lashing them together with icy seal thongs, without experiencing the least apparent inconvenience, while I partly froze my fingers striking a light for my pipe with a flint and steel, the whole operation taking not more than three minutes.

FOR GIRLS WHO SKATE.

CHARMING HABITB FOR AN EXHILARATING SPORT. A Hudwme Coatom* *a Important aa Graceful Skating—Astrakhan Extremely Modish—Dress Benetton In Favor of the Little On**—Calling Gowns. Fashion’s Fancies.

listening to tho first efforts of a future violinist. A skating costume lias brilliant possibilities, but the designer often fails when he attempts to originate one. In my Initial illustration, says our New York fashion writer, you will find set forth a charming habit for this most exhilarating of sports, provided always that you know how to skate. This particular costume is in nickel gray cloth, the vest being of the same color, only of a lighter shade. The collar, cuffs, and bottom of the skirt are trimmed with otter and there Is a muff to match. The skirt is made up over gray silk. You will need two breadths of the material and thero are a few folds at the back, between which hang the long coat-tail basques reaching quite to the bottom of the skirt. There are gores on the hips. These must be machine-sewed and well pressed so aa to be invisible. It is better to cut the skirt bias and finish it at the bottom with a band cut straight. The fronts of tho corsage are double, the outer roaching only to the waist, the inner of lighter cloth, forming the waistcoats with a straight collar and with two points extending below tho waist. Tho fur collar is so made that it may be raised if desired. The left side of the corsage crosses and buttons, as represented. The pocket flaps and basques are sewed *on, the latter being made of a bread!h of the material, taken straight, lined with silk and caught to the skirt here and there. You may, if you don’t want to use a skirt foundation, insert flannel between tho silk lining and the material. Leg o’ mutton sleeves with flaring cuffs. ??he cap should be of the same stuff as he waistcoat, with patent leather visor. If your costume be of velvet, the cap must be of the same material, but toque form with fur trimming. With some dainty skuting costumes you see n tiny spray of flowers ornamenting tho hair.

ASTRAKHAN JACKETS.

Of course they can not be natural, for Jack Frost would speedily nip them in the bud, and bloom, too. A more striking skating costume may be made up in black velvet, with red cloth and astrakhan at the bottom of the skirt, the velvet corsage opening on a red waistcoat and held in place by two little silver chains; rod cloth toque with astrakhan trimming. Tho English girls this season wear a little leather band, hung with ihe tiniest silver bells imaginable, strapped around each ankle, and so they have music wherever they go. To complete your skating costume you will need a long cloak, with fur collar, to throw when you halt for a rest. It may be either In velvet, cloth or silk. Some >re made with hoods, which are very comfortable if a nor’wester happens to be blowing. Astrakhan is extremely modish this season. In my second illustration I set before you two stylish astrakhan garments, with high, flaring collars and flowing sleeves. But some may prefer to use this popular fur rather as garniture. In that case you might choose a Louis XVI. jacket in gray cloth, embroidered in black, with a pointed vest of the astrakhan, and astrakhan cuffs and flaring collar of the fur rolling over the straight cloth collar, and muff to match. Another jacket in green velvet has an astrakhan plastron, and the velvet fronts are caught across by brandenburgs, and there is a flaring collar,

VELVET AND CASHMERE, FUR TRIMMED.

the ends of 'which continue down the front edges of the garment with Tory fine effect. Just at present there seems to be a reaction in favor of the little ones who naturally rather dropped out of notice at the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays. The last two weeks have witnessed some charming dancing parties for children. 80 far as lam concerned, I prefer to watch children dance rather than grown folks. It seems so much more natural for the lambkins to gambol. I never can quite persuade myself that a waitsing pair of grown up people is not more or less a bit of comic business. These big dancers often have a sheepish air about them, as if they were not quite certain In their own

that they weren't s bit rldlentaw. Hot 90 the little fairy tots of eight, ton and twelve. Their every motion Is airy, elastlo and feathery; their tiny feet seem scarcely to touch the polished floor. They glide "without effort and seem to be doing what is natural to them. I have caught a number of these dainty creatures, so to speak, on the fly, and present them for your edifloatloa and profit. Here, in my third illustration, sits th< belle of the ball-room. She is an apt pupil, and learns her steps more easily than she masters latitude and longitude or conquers the mystery of vulgar fractions. Her gown is modeled somewhat after the prevailing Russian style, being composed of chestnut brown velvet, with white cashmere chemisette, trimmed with broad embroidered band, the whole costume being garnitured with %ray fur in the pleasing and original manner indieaied. To t urn to children of larger growth, I desire to call your attention to the fuct that the pelerine is still the rage, and that noW it has become a sort of ornamental addition to the street and visitring gown. In one instance I saw a costume intended for a young lady finished with a pelerine in Venetian guipure, pleated around the neck, after the fashion of a Louis XIII. collarette, on a satin ribbon tied at the back or on one side. The guipure used for these pelerines should bo of the coarse thread in old lace color or white, and the contrast with velvet costumes is altogether charming. Draperies are held in place by ornamental pins set with real or mock gems. A charming calling dreßs may be made up ire silk, princess style, with a velvet pelerine, the bottom of the skirt having four rows of black velvet ribbon. There are also three rows on the pelerine, und six, lengthwise on the front of the corsage, all running to a point at the waist. The top row of velvet on the skirt makes an inverted V at the left, .reaching more than half way up, and being open ut the bottom; the

N old proverb says: “when the days begin to lengthen then the oold begins to strengthen," and that means Ice, and ice means skating, and skating means a skating costume quite as important to those who only go to look on as to those who Intend to risk their precious selves on the treacherous steel blades. Nothing can be more graceful than a girl skater when she skates well, but watohlng the tyro on skates is like

sleeves bouffant to the elbow, with long, tight cuffs also finished with the velvet. Illustration No. 4 portrays another ball dress for a young miss, a simple but very tasteful combination of pale blue cashmere and black satin. There is a quaintness about tho stylo of this little gown that is very pleasing and which would bo sure to make it very becoming to some demure little lady who has her own ideus concerning mattirs and things. On account of the extraordinary friendship which has sprung up between France and Russia, many of the picturesque costumes of the latter country haye made their way to Paris, and so across the water to us, for we are such a busy nation that we don’t always have time to originate combination dresses or even plain ones. It Is so easy to imitate and so hard to originate, but it doesn’t follow that the imitator has no work to do, for his task is often of tho hardest, if he does it well—that is, adapts a new Idea intelligently, accepts it with modifications.

My last illustration plotures two dancing tots, who are also clad in the Russian style of oostume now so much in vogue. The figure on the left wears u gray cashmere blouse trimmed with black and yellow silk galloon, with white skirts also so trimmed, blaok stookings, gray gloves, and white shoes, while the figure on the right is clad in a lovely combination of white satin, darkgreen velvet and gold galloon, gray silk stockings, and gray shoes. The Watteau pleat grows more and more popular. You see it everywhere, from elegant deshabille to ball dress; in the latter ease it often consists of a

light gauze drapery, either embroidered or spangled, and falling from the shoulders with lovely effect. If you don’t care for the Watteau pleat, then there is still left for your choice the Pompadour drapery or the embroidered Russian Bkirt. Japanese effects are likewise greatly i* vogue for tea gowns and interior dresses. Still another charming effect may be attained by the use of the satin bow with ends reaching almost to your feet, the bow being artistically set upon the left shoulder exactly in the spot where your left wing will spring forth when your sweetness and goodness become sufficiently developed to transform you into an angel. Calling dresses remain long, and are either in silk or velvet, always with the narrow bands of fur winding and twisting in graceful serpentines through labyrinths of embroidery.

Waiter (to customer about to leave the restaurant) You’ve forgotten something, haven’t you? Customer—l guess not. I’ve got my overcoat, cane and hat. What have I forgotten? Waiter (extending his hand) —The tip, if you please, sir. Customer—l had a fowl dinner, didn’t I? Waiter—Yes, sir? Customer—Well, according to the new base-ball rules there are to be no more foul tips. Good-day.—Texas Siftings.

John—You make me tired, Maria. Maria—What? John—You are pretty heavy, you ksow. Then she knew what he meant. Bbt was sitting on bis lap.

BLUE CASHMERE AND BLACK SATIN.

CHILDREN DRESSED IN RUSSIAN STYLE.

A New Rule About Tips.

She Was Heavy.

THE ISLA DEL CARMEN.

A Wonderful Island of Balt In tb* Golf of California. One hundred and twenty miles southwest of Guaymas, Mexico, and! live miles east of the mainland of Lower California, in the Gulf of California, lies a small island known! to the Mexicans as the Isla del Carmen. Carmen Island, although only nineteen miles In length and six miles! in width at its broadest part, is noted as one of the most remarkable islands on the American continent. At this place is found the only pure white natural salt deposit known, and the value of such a mine is secondary only to the fabled gold mines of King Solomon. The Island Is owned by a Spanish-American named James Viosca, who went to Lower California thirty years ago and married a daughter of the Governor. It was not until 1865 that the salt deposit was utilized for commercial purposes Iu that year a Mexican, who divined the value of the mine, bought the island from the government, but after owning It only two years he sold his title to Ben Holliday, of famous overland stage-line notoriety, for $90,000. The new proprietor engaged James Viosca to manage his acquisition, but after Holliday died the bankrupt estate was glad to realize ready cash for the salt treasure, and Viosca became the owner of Carmen Island. To him it has become a veritable gold mine. The salt deposits cover a surface of 1,000 acres. About one-third of this acreage is a mass of pure, clean, white salt; the remainder is covered simply with a layer of soil, brought there by rains from the adjacent mountains,, and also in places with a thin coating of coral, all of which when removed show the pure white salt beneath. The salt deposits In this basin have proved by actual investigation to be fourteen feet In thickness, but it is hard to work at any depth below the surface, as the briny water seeping through creates a new layer of salt of from five to eight Inches in thickness In fifteen days. The most remarkable thing about this deposit is the fact that, although the salt has been taken from the basin for ages,| the surface of the lake has never been lowered, but always retains the same level. Like the widow’s cruse of oil, the supply Is inexhaustible. The method of obtaining the salt is very simple. A man armed with an Iron bar breaks off chunks of the crystalline mass, which are then loaded Into carts and hauled to dry land, from 600 to 800 feet distant. Here (he stuff is dumped, reloaded and taken to the wharf, half a mile* tiway, where lighters receive the salt iund convey It to the vessels lying in the bay. Crude as this system is, tlie cost of mining the salt and conveying it to the wharf averages * trifle less than 25 cents u ton. With improvements that have been sug--gested and that are now under consideration, the principal feuturcs of which are the building of a narrow; gauge line to the salt deposits and tha erection of a pier extending 2,500» feet to the anchorage in the bay, it! will be possible to handle 1,000 tons of salt a day. Under the new ar-. rangement proposed it is hoped that the present delay In loading vessels will be avoided. The demand for Carmen Island salt is so great that there are seldom fewer thaw five boats awaiting cargoes in the bay. and sometimes there have been as many as fourteen vessels lying at anchorage. Many theories have been advanced accounting for the presence of this wonderful salt deposit, but the one most generally accepted is that the, surrounding hills and mountains contain immense sodium deposits, which, are dissolved by natural courses of water, either rain or underground! veins, and then carried to the lowest; ground, which In this case Is the basin that contains the salt deposits. All creeks in this vicinity discharging their water into this lake hav© salt water before getting to a point even several feet higher than the surface water of the lake, which has no communication whatever with the sea. It Is only fed from th’esc creeks flowing from the adjucent hills and mountains. According to tests made on the ground, where standing pools of water from four to eight feet higher than the lake were found In the creeks, the water on the west side of the lake contains more sodium than that on the east side, due it Is thought to the fact that a much larger deposit of sodium exists in the mountains to the west of the lake. The salt found on this island is of & very suflerlor quality and is believed to be the only pure, white, natural, refined salt—deposit or mine—in existence. Guy Lussac, in bis chemical analysis of the Carmen Island salt, defines it as follows: “Natural sea salt, or rock salt, in a state of purity,' consists of 60 per cent, of chlorine and 40 per cent, of sodium. Its specific gravity varies from 2 to 2.25.. This Important species of the saline class possesses even in mass a crystalline structure, derived from the cube, which Is its primitive form.” In its natural deposit It is found in even layers from five to eight inches in thickness. It forms even and pure white crystals, and Is ready for the mill as taken from the lake. When fine table salt Is required no other refining process is needed than that of milling. The supply is inexhaustible. The actual deposit, extending over 620 acres, at a uniform depth of twelve feet, gives 340,170,000 cubic feet, or 12,148,928 tons of pure, perfectly refined salt. As soon as the workmen! have excavated a given number of cubic feet they abandon the site-and, operate at another point. In the first cavity the brine comes quickly' to the surface, reforms or crystallizes, and In two weeks is ready again for the native miners. This process of reftrming is constantly progressing' and the attentive watcher may see! the crystals appear on the surface in! much the same way that snowflakes gather and form a concrete mass. Carmen Island salt has a great reputation in the sister republic. It is! shipped all along the Pacific coast: from Chili to Alaska, and is largely used in Mexico for mining and do-i mestlc purposes. It reaches the City: of Mexico from Guaymas via El Paso,; where it comes into successful com-! petition with the salt from Yucatan.