Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1892 — Page 5

A Pair of Jacks.

BYLVIV Jamisen.

CHAPTER HI. After a dreamless sleep in his great four-posted bedstead Jack awakened in the cool, fresh morning to find the bright sunlight pouring through the broad, deep windows. He required some seconds to accustom this eyes to his »ew surroundings, then bouncing out eff Led and -dressing with 'unusual haste he found his way to the •garden. “Ah,” he said, inhaling with keen enjoyment the pore, fresh air about him, “what a contrast to the city! I wonder if she is about.” “You shouldn’t speak -your thoughts aloud, if you don’t wish people to hear them. Have you just come down? I’ve been up for hours. Maje and I have had a glorious gallop.” Jack turned with a slight start, to see Mary standing in the path beside him. “How did you get here without my seeing or hearing you?” he questioned with some astonishment. “Did you rise from the ground or drop from the clouds? ’’ “Neither, inquisitor. I am only an • ordinary mortal, so ordinary that I am about Starved at the present moment. Do come to breakfast, please.” “Certainly,” returned Jack, following ■ obediently, “with great pleasure. I have not'been riding, but my appetite has assumed' extraordinary proportions, I confess.” Mr. Millard was seated in the dining- ■ room reading, but as they entered he ■ laid his book aside, and after kissing Mary greeted Jack with kindly warmth. “I hope you are both in good appetite,” he said, as they seated themselves about the table. “I can safely count on Mary, I think.”

“Always, grandpa. More particularly this morning I am ravenous, and I 6ee muffins. Under the circumstances I must begin my breakfast. “Grandpa,” she added, when the first edge of her hunger was borne away, “Mr. Beverly has confessed to being something of an artist. That something is his qualification, not mine. He has also promised to show mo some of his sketches, provided I show him some views worth copying, f think that must be a pleasant way of making one’s living. Painting pictures, I mean.” “Yes, my dear," smiled her grandfather; “but with Beverly it is an amusement, rather than a profession.” He turned his eyes questioningly upon Jack. “I must confess to having made it my profession,” returned that young man, pausing in the act of buttering his muffin. The old gentleman appeared puzzled. “You surprise me. I understood you practiced law. Is it possible I imagined it, or could I have been thinking of your father? How well I remember his first case. What a fine start it gave him. I told myself then he would surely sit on the bench some day. Vain prophecy. Alas, how time flies; it seems but a few years since, and yet ” He sighed and fell into a musing mood. “Evidently off his mental balance,” thought Jack, surprised at the information he had just received. “Father never had a law case to my knowledge. Perhaps I’m off too. It would not surprise me in the least. I wonder if I shall hear any more new points in my history.” In this he was disappointed. Mr. Millard preserved an almost unbroken silence during the rest of the meal, and immediately at its conclusion withdrew to his library, telling Mary to take good care of Jack. “That leaves me to your tender mercies,” siid Jack when they were alone. “What dd you intend to do with me?” “I don’t know,” she said quite seriously. “What would you like?” “Suppose we walk,” he suggested. “Well. Oh, I forgot, I have not fed the chickens yet. I must do that first.” “AH right; let me help you,” “You,” she repeated with an irrepressible smile. “Well, yes, you may, but I warn you in time. You don’t known what you bargain for.” “I’ll bear the consequences. Lead on.” Thus commanded, Mary tied her hat under her chin, and with Jack in her wake, proceeded to the kitchen. “Is the chickens’ breakfast ready?” she asked, walking in upon the astonished Jeannette. “Mr. Beverly made me forget the poor little things. I hope they have not starved to death.” “I wonder what you can be thinking of, Miss Mary,” was the answer, as Jeannette gave a comprehensive glapce at Jack standing meekly in the doorway. “Of the chickens, of course,” responded Mary, composedly. “Mr. Bev- • erly intends to keep off the old hens and .roosters. He will be useful as well as • ornamental.” Jack bowed gravely at this allusion to his double capacity, while Jeannette •continued to look mildly shocked. “I’ll feed them chickens myself J” she •finally declared, with ungrammatical de•cision. “Y’ou’ll do nothing of the kind,” was the equally decisive reply. “Here is the jpail, Mr. Beverly; please carry it.” “Certainly,” was the prompt response, as Jack brought down a pile of kettles and pans in his effort to reach Mary the •more readily. “Any damage?" he added, ■stopping short. “No, sir,” answered Jeannette; "but I •do feel so ashamed of Miss Mary. ” “Come,” said Mary, with imperious brevity; and, Jack obeying promptly, they were soon the'center of a group of expectant chickens. “Evidently this pail appeals to their appreciative minds and palates,” remarked Jack; “or is my manly beauty the attraction?" “The pail, certainly,” returned Mary, with dissilusionizing assurance. “Now, I will show you what to do. This is only for the mother hens apd young chickens. I feed them here, and I always have such a time to keep the older ones from getting in. See that opening there? That is where you are to stand and keep a sharp watch. They will get in if you give them a crevice. First drive those little ones in. Pshaw! You’ll frighten the life out of them. She—this way. Shake your apron at them.” “But I have no apron,” expostulated Jack. “Well, yon must shake something; your coat will do. There, they are in. Get a stick, quick, and should another chicken try to pas, strike it, if you can.” Mary gave these instructions with the utmost gravity. The ludicrous side of the situation did not appeal to her in the least, and Jack, quite carried away by the excitement of the chase, had no time for any other consideration. "You look tired already,” observed JAny. after a few seconds, as Jock

paused from his apparently laborious efforts to mop his brow. “Take care; there is an old hen and a red rooster coming up behind you. Send them flying; I detest both of them. Sho! Sho! Didn’t I tell you not let her in?” “Is she in?” cried Jack, in distressed tones. “Confound her, she was out a second ago. Here, you white imp, come out. No, you don’t. Get out! Get out!” “Say ‘Sho,’ ” interrupted Mary. “They don’t know what ‘Get out’ means. Look, quick! There’s anather rooster trying to get between your feet. I don’t believe you are much help , after all.” Mary come to this conclusion as the rooster succeeded in eluding Jack’s stick, and with outspread wings and a shriek of victory sailed into the forbidden Eden. “Help?” he repeated in disgusted tones, “who can help with such slippery creatures? I’d like to break that tiling’s neck.” “Pshaw, how a man can work himself up over a little thing. You've made more fuss this single morning than I have done in a hundred.” “I think you tremendously ungrateful. For my part I think it worse than breaking stones on the street. I’ll keep on banging if you say so. The things are like Pat’s fly; I think I have them, but when the stick comes down they are not there.” | “Of course they are not No sensible chicken would be. I’d be delighted, though, if you could manage to catch that old rooster. He is the greediest thing imaginable, and is always getting what is not intended for him. He has the luck of finding the biggest worms, and when Oh, dear, I shan’t talk any more. You have let about a dozen chickens in.” “So I have,” was the contrite answer. “They are worse than eels. Confound them! How shall I get them out?” “Impossible," said Mary, with a resigned air. “I suppose it isn’t so bad. Everything is almost gone. Rather warm, wasn’t it?” “You are making game of me,” returned Jack, detecting the spioe of mischief in her words. “I call that ingratitude.”

“Oh, no. Please don’t think me ungrateful. I .am really much obliged, and to rewaTd you I shall take you for a nice walk and show you some of the loveliest views imaginable.” “You can be kind sometimes,” he replied, as she ran off. CHAPTER IV. Dear Boy—l write this, hoping to find you in the land of the living—a possibility I somewhat doubt, in view of the late unconscionable tricks played by that thermometer of yours. I find it quite pleasant, not to say gratifying, to read that the mercury stands at 98 deg. in New York, and then look abroad upon my own cool retreat. Weston is as pleasant a village as one might wish to see, and Its surroundings would make an artist wild with delight. Not being an artist—a profession to which my friends here insist upon relegating me—my staid, legal mind manages to preserve its accustomed balance. Before leaving the city, I told you my address would be South Weston, that being, as I then supposed, the one given me by Mr. Millard. I have since discovered my mistake. A most fortunate incident put me on the right track. On the car I got into conversation with a gentleman who lives in Weston, and knows Mr. Millard intimately. He immediately gave me my true bearings. This saved me some annoyance, though I had some slight trouble about my ■trunk. I have been puzzled to know how I should have gotten South Weston to my mind. I asked, Mr. Millard about it, but he appeared quite unable to understand. To admit the plain truth, I cannot quite understand him. He is a most pleasant and agreeable gentleman, but his attitude toward me is certainly not what his letter led me to expect. They were more than cordial. He has never mentioned my father’s name, and the letters which passed between us are as though they never were. He doesn’t mention them and I don’t. You will be surprised to hear also that I have been allowed to take up my quarters at the hotel, when you know I had quite expected something very different. Surely, I was never more mistaken in the terms of an invitation in my life before. Meantime affairs are very pleasant. There- is a Mrs. Millard, a fact that rather surprised me. She is a most charming woman, and her daughter, Miss Ellis, or Miss Kilty, as everybody •calls iher, is equally so. Under the circumstances I spent a large portion of my days at Glendale.

I wish you would find time to run up here lor a while. This delightful air would infuse new life into your veins. The hotel which I honor by my residence is called Fair View, a piece of eoneedt and delicate sarcasm which I highly appreciate. It is full at the present time, so my landlord .informs me, and between ourselves, he is, not unfrequently., in the same condition himself. However, he is free, white and twenty-one, and I won’t begrudge him his little irregularities. In fact, no one does, unless it be his wife, a most remarkable woman, who manages the house and her poorer half in a manner calculated to win the admiration of a Dame Van Winkle. In my estimation, the one wise thing John Shrimp ever did was to make Matilda Butler Mrs. Shrimp. Matilda, so the story goes, was mistress of a country hotel, less pretentious even than this present Fair View, when the worthy John happened along and took up his residence ther .. John was a logician in his way, and thus he argued, as did the worthy Bitteredge before him, Matilda being single, obliges me to pay my board. Matilda, being Mrs. Shrimp, gives me my board for nothing. Therefore, Matilda shall be Mrs. Shrimp. Result: For fifteen years Matilda has boarded John Shrimp for nothing. Come and have a glimpse of this shining example of wedded bliss. ■ Come, I say, but don’t expect firstclass accommodations. You may share my room. It is the best that could be done for me under existing circumstances. I have this on the authority of Mrs. Shrimp, accompanied by one of her sweet smiles, and prefaced by the request to be allowed so to speak. It has Its drawbacks, however, among others, a lack of substantiality in chairs, bed, etc. I admire a certain steadiness in furniture as well as people. If you fancy the daily routine of my life I can promise you plenty of it. Immediately beneath my window Is the residence of a comely sow, who is at present rearing a thriving family, and my interest is always keenly alive to the interesting, not to say instructive, spectacle. ( Don’t let this brief description frighten you, for I really pine for a .glimpse of your seraphic countenance. It is now almost mail time, and as I wish to get this in I must stop immediately. Write if you are alive, and come if possible. Yours, etc., Jacij Beverly. “One duty accomplished,” soliloquized the writer of the above, as with a grand slowish be signed his najae, -“Aftonish-

tog what a bore writing is at times. Now what to do with myself. A distressing point to oonsider. I wonder If one couldn’t die of stagnation here. I might under other ciroumst&nces. Ah! I had almost forgotten my letter. I will mail that and then run over for a chat." This slightly ambiguous conclusion was evidently highly gratifying to the speaker’s feelings, for he smiled quite cheqyfully as he ohanged his coat, took his hat from the peg on the door and left his room. Ten minutes’ walk brought him to the postoffice, and upon his inquiring for the mall, one letter was handed to him. As the writing was quite strange he turned the envelope several times, examining it critically. Gaining no information in this way, he went to the comer by the window, and breaking the seal, read with much surprise the several closely written pages. “Dear Jack —Your letter received and much appreciated. Under present circumstances I scarcely hoped to be remembered at all, and my disappointment in that particular is therefore the more gratifying. “Upon reflection, I don’t feel grateful at all. After your pitching into me I feel decidedly ungrateful, not to say beligerent. What have I told Mr. Millard? you ask, with Inquisitorial brevity. How under heaven did I find out so much about you, and why in the mischief didn’t I let you into the secret? So you go on for a page or two. Now, my dear fellow, just cool off a bit. There’s nothing in the world to get into hysterics about. In substance, I told Mr. Millard that you were my friend and an exceedingly nice young man in every respect. What more would you have? “As to family history, relationship, genealogy, and such intricate subjects, I know as little of yours as Ido of my own. I refrain on principle from becoming interested in such unsatisfactory researches. My own family has never been particularly distinguished, thank heaven, and if I should, by some remote chance, become great, I shall not be subjected to the painful experience of being overshadowed by my father nor grandfather. This with all possible respect for those two worthy gentlemen. “Speaking of family ties naturally suggests Uncle John. The old sinner sent me an article the other day on ‘How a Young Man Gan Live on Ten Dollars a Week.’ I returned it with elaborate thanks, and the mild inquiry as to whether it might not be applicable to old men as well. No answer as yet. “The city gets on pretty well without you. A few people are still left. We are not a deserted villago by any moans, though your quarters look dismal enough. Scenery with you attractive, you say. I’ll warrant you find a certain pair of attractive, too. Well, I don’t blame you. I’ve been there before, you know. “By the way, I ran across John the other day. He inquired for you most particularly. There’s a young stranger at his house—weighs ten pounds, and is said to resemble his father, so far as a pronounced color permits one to judge. If you had married Mrs. John, as we thought one time you might, this joy would have been yours. Do you feel no regret? Answer in your next. In haste, “Frank." “Frank,” repeated Mr. Jack Beverly, turning the letter in various directions, with the air of one expecting Frank to look out upon him from its pages. “Who to the devil is Frank? And who is John, and Mrs. John, whom I might have married, and the young visitor? Confound it, I wonder who is trying to play a joke on me. A mighty poor one, I mast call it. Frank! Frank! Did I ever know anyone by the name of Frank? Never to my certain knowledge.” He knitted his brow over this effort at recollection, and looking straight before him, gave vent to a long, low whistle. Then once more reading his- letter without gaining any wisdom thereby, he put it in his pocket, with the words, “I’ll find the writer of this brilliant effusion before I die. Now to see if Miss Kitty is at home.” With this idea in view, he sauntered out into the shady' street, and walked for some distance in deep thought. Turning from the little village into a wellkept road, he soon reached a handsome, modern-looking residence, surrounded by beautifully laid out grounds. “Ah, she is there,” ho said softly, as a tall, fashionably dressed girl rose from the hammock and came to meet him with the words: “I thought you might come this afternoon . Mamma is out, and I have been dreadfully lonely. ” (to be continued. | The latest tfick with English horse fanciers is to send the animals to a warmer climate for the winter. It is not to be wondered at that with the enormous sums of money which are invested in some of the stars of the turf all possible means shdhld be taken to insure their health, but the Idea of sending them abroad is a novel one. It may not be long before in the columns’ of fashionable intelligence in the newspapers there will be announcements that Mr. Racing has decided to send his horse Highflier to Florida for the cold weather, that Mr. Runhard will winter his stud in the South, and that Mr. Betting will accompany his ten thousaiid dollar stallion Kiter to the south of France for the trying months of spring weather. It will be a boon to paragraphers, at least. Unlimited assurance was possessed by the young man from Tennessee who lately sought admission to West Point, and thus closed his application to the superintendent: “I want only to study military tactics. I want to stay three years. I want S4O per month. At the end of the term I want a position over some army of the United (States. I want you to send me a round ticket there and back. I think lam both physically and mentally “qualified to fill the position. I will not be out anything, but 1 want the position. Please answer this.” Take good care of your stomach. It is not a pretty thing to talk about, but upon its condition depends the state of your temper, your ability to keep your friends, the pleasure you will find in sleep, and two-thirds of your enjoyment in life. If it is full, your conscience does not trouble you. If it is empty or out of order, you are likely to behave in such a way that even your own mother will see faults in Half of the heartaches In the world, and all the “unsatisfied longings” that distress poetical people, may be traced to a stomach that does not work right. A telegram from Athens, Ga., tells of a sensational contested will case that will soon come into the courts Involving the property of the dead poet) John Howard Payne, provided the original manuscript of “Home, Sweet Home,” can be found. There should be no difficulty about that, as it is on exhibition in a museum in nearly every city.

CHASING SWORD FISH

AN EXCITING AND DANGEROUS OCCUPATION. Hunting the Fish on the New England Coast Agility A Terror to Other Fish. A sword fish, when swimming noar the surface, usually allows its dorsal tiu and a portion of its tail to project out of water. It is this habit whioh enables tho fishermen to tell when the game is present. The creature moves slowly under ordinary conditions, and the fishing schooner, with a light “breeze, finds no difficulty in overtaking it. When alarmed, however, it exhibits enormous strength and agility. Sometimos it is seen to leap entirely out of water. Its long, lithe, muscular body, with fins snugly fitting into grooves, is admirably adapted for the most rapid movomont through the water. Prof. Ricjmrd Owen, testifying in an English oourt respecting its power, said: “The sword fish at full speed strikes with the aooumulated force of fifteen hammers swung with both hands. Its velooity is equal to that of a swivel shot and the shook is as dangerous in its offeots as that of a heavy artillery projectile." The swordfish never comes to the surface exoept in moderate weather, according to Dr. G. Brown Goode. A vessel pursuingthem has always a man stationed attheinast head, where, with the keen eye which practice has given him, he can easily descry the tell-tale back fins at a distance of two or three milos. When the prey is sighted tho watch gives a shout and the craft is steered to the direction indicated. The skipper takes Ills place in a sort of “pulpit,” so-oalled, at the end of the bowsprit, armed with a harpoon whioh has detachable head. He holds tho pole which forms the handle of the weapon with both hands, directing the man at the wheel by voice and gosture how to steer. There is no difficulty in approaching tho intended victims with a vessel of some size, although, curiously enough, they will not suffor a small boat to come near them. Although there would bo no difficulty in bringing the end of the bowsprit directly over the fish, a skillful harpooner never waits for this. When tho proy is from 6 to 10'feet in front of the vessel it is struok. The harpoon is never thrown, the polo being long enough to onable tho expert to punch tho dart into the back of the animal olose to tho back fin. When the dart has thus been fastenod to the fish the line attached it is allowed to run out, the pole being retained in the hand. As soon as the rope has run as far as tho stricken creature will carry it the lino is passed into a small boat which is towing at the stern. Two men jump InW tho boat and pull upou the liue until the fish is brought alongside, when it is killed with a whale lanoe stuck into the gills. Then it is lifted upou the dook of the vessel with tackle. There are any number of stories representing the ferocity of tho sword fish. In several well authenticated oases they are said to have pierced the sides of vessels, projecting their weapons through copper sheathing and several indies of planks. Cases are on record of the finding of such swords, broken off in tho sides of craft which had been pierced. Wbat the fishes which were thus deprived of their instruments of offenso managed to do without them can only he imagined. Thoro does not seem to bo any reason for taking it for granted that they could grow others. Attacks by sword fish aro included by insurance companies among sea risks. Such a,large and formidable animal as the sword fish can fear but few antagonists. Othors of its own kind, horse mackerel and sharks are its onlv peers. Doubtless the last are its worst foos. In 1864 there was exhibited to the Boston Society of Nat ural History the jaws of a shark in whose* stomach nearly the whole of a large sword fish was found. It was a tiger shark, tho most ferocious of Its kind, and ten or twelve wounds in its flesh gave some notion of the conflict whioh must have occurred. In 1878 a small mackerel shark was oaptured in Gloucester harbor, and iu its nostril was found the sword, about two inches long, of a young sword fish. Whon this was pulled out the blood flowed freoly, indicating that the wound was recent. Tremendous combats have ofton been witnessed between sharks and sword fish, Sword fish aro a terror to sohools of mackerel, blue fish and comparatively small fry. They rise among the proy, striking to right and left with their swo|ds until they have killed a number, which they thereupon procood to devour. Sometimes they appear actually to throw the fish in the air, cutting them in two as they fall. Although hunting the sword fish is regarded as a profitable pursuit on tbs New England coast, employing many vessels, it is not likely to bring about any serious diminuation of the game. One reason is because their habits are solitary. It is said that two are never seen swimming close together. Although a number aro apt to be found in the same neighborhood, wherever the food they seek is plentiful, they never run in schools. Considerable quantities of sword fish are annually salted in barrels at New England ports. Being regarded a delicacy they are in great demand in curtain sections, particularly iu the Connecticut valley, where a barrel full may be found in almost every grocery store. The fishermen have a theory to the effect that the sjvord fish can see nothing directly in front of him, owing to tho peculiar way in whioh his eyes are placed, and it is stated that these animals are sometimes approached and killed by hunters in skillfully managed skiffs.— [Washington Star.

Esquimaus in Alaska.

Dr. Jackson says that the condition of the Esquimau, on the Arctic coast of Alaska, is very serious. The destruction of the whale, the walrus and the sea lion, followed by the inroads made upoß the fish of the streams by the canning industries, hare left the natives in an absolutely starving condition, so that the processor slow starvation and extermination has commenced along the Whole Arctic coast of Alaska. Villages that onco numbered thousands have been reduced to hundreds —of some tribes two or three families remain. At Point Barrow, in 1828, Capt. Boechoy’s expedition found Nuwuk, a village of 1,000 people; in 1863 there were 300; now there are not over 100. In 1826 Capt. Beechey speaks of finding a large population at Cape Franklin; to-day it is without an inhabitant. He also mentions a large village of one or two thousand people on Schismorefif Inlet; it has now but three bouses. In this crisis it is important that steps should be taken at

once to afford relief.—[Philadelphia Bulletin.

LINCOLN’S DEATH BIER.

A Dilapidated Relic in a Secret Crypt at the Capital. An intereating national relio which the World s Fair will probably want haa been preserved in Washington, writes a correspondent of the Pittsburgh Dispatch, for many years in an unusually ourious hiding place. It is the bier or catafalque upon which successively rested as they luy in state in the rotunda of the Capital the remains of the nution’s martyred President, Abraham Lincoln; those of Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania’s ‘‘great oommonef;”of Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s Seorotary of the Treasury and afterward Chiof Justioe; of Senator Charlos Sumner and Vioo President Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts; of Presidjnl James A. Garfield and General John A. Logau. It was made of wood, after an original design by B. B. Frenoh, Jr., Commissioner of Publio Buildings, and consists of a platform and elevated duis covered with fine blaok broadcloth and ornamented at the sides with tasteful funeral trimmings. When not in use all these twentysix yoars since it was constructed,' the bier has been kept iu a secret stono crypt or tomb inside the Cnnitol, away down under ground in the very centre of tho building, remoto from all scenes of legislative strife and political turmoil. This subterreueun crypt was prepared in tho first year of this century as a mausoleum to receive a sarcophagus containing tho remuins of George Washington, under a resolution of Congress passed early iu 1800, when it wus proposed to build a statuoof him in tho rotunda of tho Capitol and accord his dust a national sepulture undornouth. But the crypt was never usod for that purpose,because Mrs. Martha Washington iu her lifotimo objected to iho separation of her remains from those of her illustrious consort to be buriod with him, and beoause Washington also, in his will, signified his desire to lie interred permanently at Mount Vernon. President Lincoln’s remains, after lying in state for two days in tho East Boom of tho White House, wore transferred to tho Capitol, where, resting on this bier, thoy were exhibited in tho rotunda from noon on April ‘JO until six in the evening of April 21.18(15. Astor Lincoln’s funeral the bier was stowed away in George Washington’s unoccupied tomb. Belie hunters located it, and despite all tho precautions taken to preserve it intact they despoiled it of many of its ornamouts and trimmings. Throe years later an explosion was occasioned in the crypt by tho escape of gas from the pipes in tho surrounding wulls, und the man who undertook to investigate the leak was killed und tho bier sad' ly singed. When Thaddeus Stevens died, however, it wus covered iiumv und drawn out of the crypt into tho rotunda abovo. Tho fusees at the four corners, and tho silver ornaments and satin festoons are now totally gone, carried oft' piece by piece in tho pockets of predatory tourists, and what is left of the bier as a whole presents, a sorry appearance, for the broudelo‘h covering is almost devoured by moths, and only one strand of satin braid remaius stretching around ouo cud and one side. But Arohjtqot Clark, who has custody of the treasured relio, now kueps it under strictest lock and key in its narrow cell. * Allow throo pairs of laces foroaoh pair of the 1,600,000 shoes, and set the length of ouch lace at two feet; then tie these together, and you will have a string 3,750mi10s long, or just double the length of the first Atlantic cable. Take the cost of the laces alone, putting it at three cents a pair, and you find it is very near fifty thousand dollars. The cost of button* hooks for tho same time will not run less tlmn sixty thousand dollars. Gaiters or “spats,” as they are called in the old country, are in the very fever of fashion now, especially the dead black or uuvy blue, indeed, from all tliut I can learn, over half the womon that mako any protensions to “style” or fashion woar them; so that wo may put down the total number of these worn here in the year at one hundred thousand, cogting about two hundred and fifty to three hundred thousand dollars; so tliut tho total for outside foot-wear altogether oomos close to $3,400,000; perhaps the full three and u half millions. 1 need hardly add that but a small proportion of “kid” boots are genuine.—[Once a Week.

Gold from the Heavens.

A that is likoly to cxcito interest of the keenest character in the scientific world was recently made by Geologist H. W. Turner, while exploring the gold regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains. , While ut Cave City, in Cullaveras County, Mr. Turner discovered a meteoric stone covered by a film of solid gold. The discovery is important and interesting in more than one aspect. It is the first of its kind ever made in the wot Id. It demonstrates to scientists that there is gold in the worlds of space. It open* the way for investigation in a field hitherto to be burren of results. It may lead to a development of science, for it proves a fact until now doubted, that there is gold in meteoric stone. The meteor is seven inches in diameter, and looks not unlike nickel with a tough grain. It was only by the greatest difficulty that a piece was broken off. The gold covers it in patches, one of which is about un inon squaro. Mr. Turner is of the opinion that it fell from some star. He will give it to the Smithsonian Institution. Mr. Turner bus just finished an investigation that has taken months. Ho has closely examined the richest gold belt of the State, that country between Nevada City and Angels in Calaveras. The result of his investigations will soon be published. Francisco Chronicle.

Thin Iron.

The Papermaker reminds its readers that in the International Exhibition of 1891 a specimen of iron paper was shown. This led to some competition among ironmasters as to the thinness to which' cold iron could be rolled. One maker produced a sheet of paper so thin that 1,800 layers of it piled upon one another measured only one inch in thickness. The fineness of the iron foil referred to may be understood when it is remembered that 1,200 sheets of tho thinnest tissue paper arranged in tho same manner measure a fraction tnoro than one inch in thickness. The iron paper was perfectly smooth and easy to write upon, but when held up the light it was porous. We are not aware of any practical use to which iron paper could be put, for, owing to its liability’to rust, it would be far inferior to tho paper that ire ore ■nenstnmed to

A Farmer’s Remarkable Record.

I adopted a vegetable diet in 1841, when twenty-two years old, writes Rev. J. B. Saxe, of Fort Scott, Kansas, and for more than half a century I have eaten no flesh or butter, havo drank no tea or ooffeo, and have lived mostly on graham or corn bresd and fruit. Daring all these years I have had hardly a day’s sickness, have consulted no doctor, taken no drugs and have always been able to do vigorous work, cither mental or physical. What makes this more striking is the fact that I began life with a feeble constitution, and was an invalid most of the tiino, alwaysN doctoring, up to my adoption of this system. 1 have seen most of my early acquaintances, healthy and vigorous young men and women, pass away while 1 am conscious of scarcoly any bodily or mental decay; und in my seventy-third year can do anything 1 could at twenty, and do it better and easiej. I oun see no reason why I may not live twenty years more, aswoll as havo for the pust twonty. Though a clergyman by profession, I nave boon engaged in tunning most of the time for thirty years, and labored with my hands nearly evory day; and I assure my brother farmors that thore is no need of being sick, or having imything to do with drugs or doctors, or boing laid up with age and infirmity at seventy. Nearly every American could and ought to live to the ago of 100, and most of them to the age of 200; and oould if they, lived right from ohildhood. Captain Beiley says that whon captive among the Arabs ho saw mou 300 years old, and still ablo to follow tho tnbo in its wanderings. Hoalth and endurance are as neoessary oapital as land to a farmer, and should be cultivated as oarefully and as soientifioally if ho would have success iu his vocation. —[New York Tribune.

Florence Nightingale.

Soon after tho close of tho Crimean war there was a memorable dinner in London, given by Lord Strutfovd to tho ranking officers or the British army and navy. Nuturully, conversation turned on the recent conflict, and toward tho conclusion of tho entertainment tho host suggested that ouch guost should write on a slip of paper tho numo oonneoted with tho war which he bolluvod would bo most illustrious through future ugos. All wrote as requested, the ballots wore oolleotod by the proposer of tho movoniont, wore opened and road amid on* thusiustie ohoors, for overy one of thorn contained tho name of Floronoo Nightingale. Tho result huß proved tho truth of that evening's prophecy; a whole generation has passed since then, and who thinks of tho uead and gono gonerals who fell at tho storming of the Malukoff? The elocutionist givos tho “Charge of tho Light Brigade” without knowing who obeyed tho bitter blunder; the military student may rooall the boro of Kinglako's history —the boloved Uaglun—and possibly some veteran dimly romombors the great commander of the gray hosts of the Vladimir, but tho sweet name of Florence Nightingale is dear in ulmost every home where tho English language is spoken.— [Chicago Herald.

The Finns.

The inhabitants of Finland aro strong and hardy, with bright, lutolligont faces, high cheek bones; yollow hair is common, but by no means tho rule, black oi dark brown boing frequently mot with in tho interior. Their morals and mannors aro excellent. Their tomper is universally mild, and when angry thoy keep silence. They are happy hearted, uffoctionute to one anothor, und honorable und honest in their dealings with strangers. They ure a oleanly people, being much given to the use of vapor baths. This trait is a consplouous note of their character from their earliest history to the present day. Often iu tho runos of the • 4 Kalovala” reference is mado to the cleansing and healing virtues of tho vapors of the heated bathroom. They are morally upright and have an honosty and simplicity of olmraoter totally foreign to that of the liusslan; they aro hospitable, faithful and submissive, with a keen sense of personal freedom und Independence, but they are also somewhat stolid and revengeful. Superstition flourishes among the Finns to a far greator extent than generally known,and often takes Its form in quaint legends.— [Chicago Tribuno.

Ice-Coated Swans Caught.

During a recent sovere rain and sloot storrn in tho vicinity of Millport, Columbiana County, a Hook of swutis were soon to swerve in their aerial flight, breuk ranks, and, after vain attempts to pursue their eourso, drop ono by one to the earth below. A farmer who had been an eyewitness to tho strange frouk and on whose farm tho fowls had settled succeeded after a hard chase in capturing a number of the flock alive. It was then discovered that the swans were completely enveloped in a thick oouting of ice, the weight of which had gradually sappod their strength and forced them to tho earth. The fowls captured are said to be very fine specimens, nono of which measure less than six feet from tip to tip.—[Chicago Tribune.

Maine’s Pulp Industry.

The first pulp mills in Maine were established about 1870, when it was estimated that moro than half tho area of the State was still covered with unbroken forests, while more than half tho area of the 6,000,000 acres in farm lands was "unimproved," also largely in wood. Even twenty years later a careful computation put the forest area still higher, notwithstanding all that the axe, tho saw, and the “chipper” hud done during that double decade: and figured out that there was still in the Stato wood enough to make 28,000,000 tons of pulp, or fully sixty years’ supply for all tho pulp mills of the country on the basis of their present output.—[Boston Transcript.

Reproductive Power of Weeds.

Farmers who allow the weeds on their plantations to go to seed have little idea, many of them, of tho labor and trouble they are storing up for themselves. Some curious experimentalist has been at the tronble of counting the seeds produced by a single plant of some of the commonest varieties of woods, with the following rather startling results; Wild carrot, 1200; dandelion, 1500; chickweed, 2000; cockle, 3200; campsion, 342 1; chess, 3500; dock, 3700; ragweed, 4372; grondsel, 6500; ox-eye daisy, 9600; mallow, 16,500; motherwort, 18,000; foxtail, 19,500; sow thistle, 19,000; mustard, 31,000; Canadian thistle, 42,000; red poppy, 50,000; burdock, 400,328; purslane, 500,000; lambs’ quarters, 825,000 —[New Orleans Picayune.

WHAT TYPHUS FEVER IS.

Its Origin, Symptoms, Treat**' at and Ratio of Fatality. Typhus fever is called by various names. Spotted fever and jail, ship, hospital, putrid, or pestilential fever are all the same. It has been dreaded for hundreds of years as an epidemic pestilence, and Is especially dangerous to persons advanced in years. The mortality in children under fifteen years old sick with typhus is 5 per oent.; in persons over fifty years old, the mortality is set at 46 per cent. The average mortality is 18 per cent. It has appeared in all parts of the world, but is more to be dreaded iu temperate oi cold climates. The main predisposing cause of typhus is a low health rate. Where population is dense and sanitary conditions are bod tho danger is greatest, and these conditions obtain not only in crowded oities, but in armies afield, in prisons, end wherever human beings are packed too closely. The belief used to be current that such conditions only were neoessary to create the disease, but it is now thought that a specific germ must enter tho human system before the diseaso oan develop. No typhus germ hasevor been actually discovered, although several distinguished physicians have believed for tho time that the discovery had been made, but tho presumption is muoh against typhus appearing from the beginning without the entrance of a living organism. i’he oourso of typhus covers a period of about fourteen days from inception to crisis, of which the longest stage is that of incubutiou, from the inoeption of tho poison into tho systom to the first manifestation of special evidenoe of the disease. No special symptoms mark this stuge, oxcopt a general lassitude. Tho invasion ot tho fever is the second stage, and tho symptoms are of rigornnd of prolonged chills oombinod with distressing huadacho and inability to sleep. High fever soon develops, und tho pulse, at first full but afterward feeble, is rapid, tho boats ranging from 100 to 120 or more. Tho height of "the fover is usually reached about tho soventh day, when iu favorable cusos a drop of 1 degree from the maximum (103 to 105 degrees) is often noted. If this subsidonoe does not oomn tho case is usually sovoro. The tongue is brown and dry, tho teeth are coated, and tho patient has no appetito, but an intense thirst. The bowols ure usually constipated. The third or stugo of erruntion is marked by tho appearance of dark red blotches upon tho abdomen, sides, limbs, und buck, und sometimes on the face. This is Usually uooompuulod by a faint mottling of tho whole surfuco. The patient's headache and general discomfort lessen with the appearance of the eruption. but, this is partly ohargoablo to the typhus stupor wfilch comes at this point, In which the patient either lies on his buck, with a dusky countenance, or is dolirious both night and day. The delirium is generally shown by low mutterings, but sometimes by maniacal wildness. Tho orisis, or fuvorable change, comes aboot'thu fourteenth d iy, and is marked by an abrupt fall of temperature, the return of moisture to the tongue, and by returning intolligenco. The patient is loft very weak, but recovery Is rapid. The treatment of typhus starts with oompleto isolation and continual watching. The main itoin is good nursing, but tho bust posslblo ventilation anil clounsing of tho slok chamber are immediately secondary. Food should be givon with absolute regularity, and the putiont should not be suffered to full into too deep a stupor. Individual oases develop special treatment. Cold applications and tepid baths are favored by some authorities, Aloohollo stimulants aro rarely neoessary except to prevent collnpso.—[Nuw York Timos.

How Judges Treat Children.

There is ono time wlion tho Judge loses nil Ids apparent severity. It is wliou a littlo child is brought before him on habeas corpus proceedings. Although there is a groat fondness for following the course of tho old English law, it is not followed in a case like this. According to tho English law a father has tho right to tho custody of his children, without regard to tholr welfare. Here, on the contrary, oaroful inquiry is made to decide whoro the child would be hotter off—with its father or with its mother. Therefore it happens that when there is a dispute between parents as to the custodymf a child, and one of them gots out a writ of habeas, the lawyers are secondary personngos. Tho Judge talks with the child if it is old enough to bo talked to, and finds out as well as he can with winch parent it would prefer to stay. Thou he talks with tho parents, and finntly makes up his mind us to which is the proper person to have tho chnrgo of u little child. It frequently occurs that in making his decision awnrdlng tho custody of the child, ho advises the parents that it would bo much better if they could make up their differences and live together again. This advice, unhappily, is seldom paid much attention to.—[Now York Times.

This Shark Bit a Man.

Capt. John A. Beebe of Nantucket,bobeing appealed to lutely to decide the mooted point whether sharps ever eat human beings, uuswerod that they do. “In 1857,” he wrote. “ I met the bark Elizabeth of New Bedford in tho Mozambique Channel. Tho day previous being calm,the men indulged in sea bathing. A man ventured fifteen yards from the ship when the lookout reported a shark on the opposite side of the ship. The alarm was fivon, and the swimmer was making the est of his way to the ship. The shark disappeared, passed under the ship, and soon appeared in tho roar of the man. The crew preparod a rope and threw an end to the swimmer as the shark took him by the leg, taking the wholo calf off, leaving little besides the bone. The man kept a death grip on the rope and was drawn on board. Tho leg wos amputated that night.”—[Springfield Republican.

Time to Deposit.

An old Roxborough citizen who had no faith in banks as a place to deposit money enrried all his earnings with him wherever he went. While on his way to Philadelphia recently he was aefcoeted by a stranger, who wished to ride in bis carriage. The request was granted, and when opposite Luuret Hill Cemetery the stranger attempted to cut out the trousers pocket of the old gentleman. The in-* strumeut went in too deep, cutting the leg badly. He yelled lustily, and the stranger disappeared up a ravine and escaped. Twenty-five hundred dollars was deposited in bank to the old man’s ao, count that day.—[Philadelphia Record. Potatoes in Queensland, aro a complete glut in the market P