Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — Page 5

FOURTH OF JULY FUN.

-J - iIEN chubby fingers II j had that little sou j| of mine. Tjh ij He shot a fire-cracker *4O fl off and then there |L were but nine. * Then he tampered with a pistol,and he > Of® bad not long to wait Before the thing exyjl pleded and then he Ma 'SSL bad but eight. (1/ /5T Then he loaded up a !fKw\ cannon, for a ramMjgk WWy rod used his. finger, glrel w Of course but fingers »seven upon his ‘BzJfk hands did linger. Engaging in the prac-

tlclng of military tricks. He reduced his stock of feelers to the small amount of six. Continuing In the slaughter, so BjjJendld did he thrive That ’twas not long before he had but chubby fingers five. 'Then not content with what he’d done, he went on as before. And aided by a musket soon possessed but fingers four. But four was much too many, thought this youngster carefully, 60 he sent a rocket in the air, and then there were but three. But soon he counted only two, and later had but one. And then that left him—after all, my boy has had his fun. —Wild West

JUDGE BURNS’ SPEECH.

OTHEEthe speech! W I wish to goodness ypfv the Fourth of July /Twlwas over!” Mr. Jeffrey groaned as C if all the Bins of 1 i— — Chicago were loadI'pi' ed on his conscience, t—-- Presently he remarked in a calm . voice to his pretty young wife behind the teakettle: “Mrs. !£§§? Jeffrey, these biscuits are a success.” "vl when Mr. Jefh frey had said so the \J ** last half of the sev- (£ enth hot biscuit, ' with its thick coat

of butter, reached the place where the groan had come from. But while stirring his fifth cup of tea he said, with another groan: “That speech makes me lose my appetite. You don’t know how a fellow can be worried about his maiden speech, Molly!' You need not fret about such things. That’s a comfort, anyway." “You need not worry either, Jeff. Ask to be excused, if it bothers you. They will invite somebody else to take your place. ’’ “Won’t do, Molly! I was rather pleased when the committee asked me, and so I promised right away. It would look bad to back out now. ” “Look here, Will, suppose I write that speech for you, and you deliver it. ” “Oh, Moll, I would not think of such a thing!” “Why not? Why can’t we help each other in this as in everything else? The one of us that finds the thing easier ought to do it. ” “It’s a great deal harder than you think.” “I remember the time when I was Molly Boss. I thought it a great deal easier then to dash off an oration than to bake a decent loaf of bread. Well, shall I write it for you? ” “No, thank you, Molly. It would never do, I am afraid. A fellow ought to stand on his own ground. I am bound to do it all by myself." He looked the picture of proud independence. “All right, Will, do just a 3 you think best.” Bhe seemed a little humiliated.

“Never mind, Molly 1 I believe in your biscuits and coffee and butter, and lots of other things. You are about as nice and good a little wife as any fellow could wish for; but I would not have you dabble in political speeches. St. Paul doesn’t approve of it, either,” he added jocularly. “I don’t think St. Paul would object if he could come back. So broad-mind-ed a man as he would be sure to alter some of his opinions for the use of our times. Besides, I offered to write it in order to relieve you, sir. A woman can write and still hold her tongue, and keep below the rostrum.” “All right. You see, Molly, there is another hitch. You can’t argue that away, if you tried ever so hard. I don’t believe a woman can say all she has to say in five minutes. No speaker will be allowed more than five minutes at the celebration. Now, a woman never knows when to stop. She can’t do it to save her life. Her tongue will wag about things in general for half an hour, and by that time she is generally so excited you could not stop her any more than you could stop a watch that’s wound up for the day. You would have to bu’st it or throw it in the water; nothing less violent could stop it. ” “Do stop, Jeff, you horrid man! There, that’s nice! And I, who thought I had trained you well to think highly of me and the rest of us women! You will have to be put through a new and special course of training, sir. And as for that speech, .you may sigh about it as much as you please, for all I care. I would not write that speech for you now if you went down on your knees to ask me for it—no, sir. You will have to write it by your own proud self, hubby.” The big, bearded young “hubby” evidently thought her mock anger a good joke. “No, I won’t waste a drop of ink on it,” he said. “Wo are just going to think it over on the stoop, my pipe and I. I guess I can see through it before to-morrow morning. ” When the roosters awoke Mr. Jeffrey next morning before sunrise he said: “Molly, you ought to have heard my speech! It went off like a rocket; the people clapped like fury, and the fellows yelled themselves hoarse. I dreamed it was the Fourth of July-, and my speech came off first-rate in four minutes fifty seconds. Ido wish it had Lot toeen a dream!”

Molly Boss had been a village sohool teacher. She was a small, airy creature, and still she understood how to wind the biggest boys round her little fingers. They were tame enough in her presence, but behind her back they were ready to fight for the honor of carrying coal to her stove, and the bliss of drawing water for her at the well. There never had been so popular a schoolmarm in that village, But at the very height of her popularity Miss Boss handed in her resignation to the trustees, and disappt ared from the world at the end of the month. At that period she was seen entering a village church, where a simple marriage ceremony changed her into Mrs. Jeffrey, the wife of a struggling farmer from the neighborhood. Miss Molly Boss had worked five hours a day and rested on Saturdays,Sundays,legal holidays and summer vacation; Mrs. Jeffrey worked sixteen hours a day and knew of no Saturday holidays, no Sunday rest, no summer vacation. Miss Molly Boss had cashed S4O a month; Mrs. Jeffrey cashed just S4O s less. Still Mr 3. Jeffrey was supremely happy, even after a year of married life, and could not understand

how in the world she could have gotten along as Molly Boss. What a great difference loves makes, anyway! The young couple were doing well, but they had to work very hard. He toiled in the fields and stable from sunrise till sunset certain parts of the year; she worked in the kitchen and dairy all dav long, all year round, and had breath enough left to sing merrily at her work. And she had the loveliest color in her cheeks, not due to cosmetics, but manufactured by the old reliable firm, Youth, Health and Kitchen fire.

It was haymaking time on the farm—a busy, warm time. The Fourth of July, the village celebration, and Mr. Jeffrey’s maiden speech were drawing close. Dinner was over—dish-washing too—and Mrs. Molly now proceeded to churn butter. A buggy stopped at the gate; an elderly gentleman, with gray whiskers and gold spectacles, came walking up to the house, and shook Mrs. Jeffrey’s outstretched hand on the doorstep, where the little lady, in her neat .print dress and white apyon, had come to meet her unexpected visitor, one of her former school trustees, “I am so glad to see you, Judge Burns!” said her lips and her smile, and she meant it. “How are you and your people? Take this rocking-chair.” “I am sorry I can not stay, Mrs. Jeffrey; I am on my way to Pinelake on business. Very warm day—the dust nearly choked me —so I thought I would come and ask you fora drink out of your well, if you will allow me, Mrs. Jeffrey.” They were, both standing by “the old oaken buckfet” at the well, where the Judge had enjoyed a cool drink. “I am sorry Mr. Jeffrey missed your visit,” said Mrs. Jeffrey. “I know he would be delighted to have a talk with you! Could you not come in to tea on your way back from Pinelake? Mr. Jeffrey will be in then. We shall bo so happy to have you—and there will be fresh buttermilk by that time. I remember you were fond of it. ” “I saw Mr. Jeffrey in the fields a little way off,” the Judge remarked, with a smile. “I do believe he was talking to the hay-stacks. .1 am nearly sure I caught some scraps of an oration. He stood there, pitchfork in hand, before a row of stacks, and harangued them: ‘Ladies and gentlemen! On this memorable day.’ I knew he was practicing his Fourth of July speech, and sympathized with him, for I am in the same box. For Mr. Jeffrey it has at least the charm of novelty; but wait until he has served the same dish some fifteen or twenty years; he will be pretty tired of patriotic speeches by that time.” He smiled and she smiled. “He complains now already. I offered to write that little speech for him, but he declined.” “Declined! Did he, really? Well, well. Look here, Mrs. Jeffrey, let somebody else have it. Ask me, for instance.” “Oh, Judge Bums; you are joking.” “Not at all, not at all, my dear madam; I never was more in earnest. Do let me have that speech, please! lam willing to stoop down to pick up the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s board—in this case. But remember, it must be short—five minutes, and no more.”

“Would it not be a capital joke on Mr. Jeffrey?” the lady said, half-musingly. “Well, Judge, I don’t care if I write it, for the fun of the thing. You must not tell him, though, before the Fourth of July is over. After the celebration you may tell him whenever you like. ” “I can keep my peaoe if you can, Mrs. Jeffrey. Will you write it while I go to Pinelake’ I might stop here on my return, in a couple of hours, and get tlfb manuscript. ” “I could not possibly do that. Business goes before pleasure, you know. I have my butter to churn.” “Look here; suppose you let me churn your butter while you write the speech?” The old gentleman was by this time fairly interested in this novel transaction. He went to tie the horse and buggy under a shade tree, while thinking by himself: “There Is plenty of time, and it will be cooler to drive in an hour or so. Churning is easy enough, lam sure; it’s women’s work. It won’t take me long. It will be quite a change, too —variatio delectat. It will be inter-

REHEARSING TO THE HAYSTACKS.

esting to see what kind of opus that smart little lady turns out." Mr. Jeffrey practiced oratory before an audience of haystacks, in the sweat of his honest brow. Puck, the Judge’s horse, made frantic efforts to keep off the flies. Mrs. Molly sat in the parlor, where her marriage certificate and teacher’s diploma looked down upon her out of their frames. Her pen was busily rasping over the note paper, and the writer looked pretty, cool and happy. Judge Burns looked neither cool nor happy in the cellar, sitting on a stool before an old-fashioned churn. The old gentleman was fast losing his temper, and making but slow progress with the butter. He did not find it as easy as he thought—no woman’s work by any means. Why, he felt like swearing, so thoroughly out of patience was he with that old churn, a regular mediaeval instrument of torture. He felt like shaking Jeffrey, too, if he had been on hand to lie shaken. “He was a brute; that's what he was,” Judge Burns muttered, “that big, burly young fellow, to let that delicate-looking, little wife of his make such a slave of herself, and break her back over that abominable chum! He would give Jeffrey a talking to. Thank heaven, Mrs. Burns has never been asked to do such work. Why, it was outrageous to let a woman handle that chum.”

Bang, splash, bang, splash, up and down went the stick of the churn. The work grew heavier and heavier, the Judge hotter and hotter. Down flew the gold spectacles; the hat followed suit; soon the coat lay on the floor alongside of the hat. Bang, splash, said the chum. With a final bang the Judge jumped up from his stool in sheer despair, growling between his teeth: “Goodness sakes! Millennium will be at hand before that butter is done!” “Well, Judge, how are you getting on?” said a cheery voice, and Mrs. Jeffrey’s light print dress lit up the cellar door. He picked up his coat and hat with a dazed, haggard look, and said, “This is not lady’s work, Mrs. Jeffrey. I found out as much as that. You ought

not to work that chum; you will hurt yourself. ” “I chum three times a week. I don’t mind it much now; I am used to it." Seeing how tired he looked, she suddenly changed the subjeot, and said: “Do come with me out of this gloomy plaoo to the veranda. There is quite a breeze now.” She picked up his glasses an(J wiped them on her apron, while he preceded her up stairs. “This is the nicest corner in the afternoon, and this is the easiest rocking-chair. Sit down, sir. There is a palm-leaf. Now get cool and comfortable while I come back with fresh buttermilk for you. Won’t you enjoy buttermilk of your own making? Here are your glasses, and here is—the speech. ” She pulled it out of her apron pocket and handed it reluctantly and timidly. "Now, please don’t make fun of my work, and I will praise yours so much more. ” She courtesied and disappeared. Mr. Burns put on his glasses without delay, unfolded the few leaflets, rfnd read. And when he was through read-

JUDGE BURNS AT THE CHURN.

ing he looked as if he had been listening to the first bluebird’s eong in early spring. Ho was in iho best humor by the time Mrs. Jeffrey appeared with a pitcher full of buttermilk. “What do you think of the butter?” ho called out. “It’s a great success, and I congratulate you; and I am ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Burns. ” Then she added, in an undertone: “And the speech?” “It could not be improved upon, my dear Mrs. Jeffrey. You are an orator to the manner born, upon my word. Allow me to congratulate and express my thanks." They shook hands over the pitcher of buttermilk and laughed like a couple of happy children. A moment after, Judge Burns, with the Fourth of July oration in his breast pocket, drove Puck on toward Pinelake.

The Fourth of July had come, and proved to be a regular scorcher. There wa s a noisy crowd at the village celebration, and the market-place was thickly strewn with burnt out fire-crackers, peanut shells, banana and orange peels. The speakers’ platform was ablaze with bunting, and every window around the square seemed a lrame for pretty faces and gorgeous millinery. Mr. Jeffrey’s speech was one of the first on the programme, but it was by no means one of the best. He began solemnly in a voice as loud as a fog-horn: “Ladies and gentlemen—this memorable day,” etc. For one minute there was a flow of pompous phrases, carefully committed to memory—then there came a sudden stop—another start—another stop. The tall speaker pulled up his shirt collar as if he was choking, started anew, got more and more entangled, wished himself a mile under ground, flushed, stammered, and was at last gently reminded by the president that his time was up. Tho last speaker was Judge Burns. And what a wonderful speech he made! There was no end of cheering and clapping. Tho girls waved their handkerchief, after having wiped off their tears. “Wasn’t it perfectly lovely?” “Just too lovely for anything! ” The women smiled hud the men nodded approval. “It was a-daisy and no mistake.” “Hurrah for Judge Bums.” “Three cheers for Hezekiah Burns.” At an open window opposite the platform sat the postmaster’s wife, and beside her a little lady in a white dress, with a pretty, flushed face and a pair of very bright eyes fixed on the speaker, and turning to the village clock the moment Judge Burns closed his oration. Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey drove home early after the celebration. He had nothing to say, and was as cross as a bear after his failure. His wife did not show any sympathy either—so unlike j her, too. She seemed to have enjoyed ; herself thoroughly. Everything seemed i funny to her on the way home, where ho could see no fun at all. Her very laugh grated on his ear for the first time. “Catch me making a fool of myself again in public! ” he thought, but he did not say so. While he put the horse in the stable Mrs. Molly got the tea ready, an unusually good tea, and just the kind of jelly he liked best. In the evening she actually struck a match to light his pipe on the stoop, and laughingly pulled his curly hair. “What’s the matter with you to- i night, Molly? I don’t see what tickles you.” “I suppose it’s the celebration that | has gone to my head. It is Fourth of I July but once a year.” “Yes, thank goodness!” he muttered, j puffing away at his pipe. Next morning’s mail brought a couple ( of letters and the local paper. This once \ the Guide seemed the center of attrac- j tion to both Mr. and Mrs. J. “Let’s see about the celebration," she said, eagerly. “Do read aloud, I Will ” “rfaven’t time. It would take me all | the afternoon. Here are columns and ! columns, but not about me; Oh, yes, sure enough. They are ‘in hopes Mr. Jeffrey’s com crop will turn out a great- I er success than his oration.’ Well, I | don’t care what they say,” He laughed j good-naturedly, for he had gotten over I his mortification. “Here is Judge Bums’ J speech; nearly all of it, it seems, and half a column of eulogy on it, Just lis- l ten what they say: ‘A perfect jewel of } poetic expression—ia chaste pearl of ora- J tory—dewy freshness—a lightning flash j of patriotic eloquence.’ Are you chok- j ing, Molly?” She was as red as a berry, j coughed and laughed alternately, j “Well, I must say it was a flrst-rato j speech, lut no more than might be expected of a lawyer who has the gift of gab. He is an old hand at that sort of thing. Why, he Uas spoken in public these last thirty years. It’s his business to talk, just as it Is mine to raise corn and wheat. How did you like his speech, I Molly?” “I can’t say I thought it so very won- | derful,” she said. “It was nice enough, and short. He was through before his time was up. I noticed that more than anything else.” “You don’t mean (o say so? Why, I thought of you while he spoke—how you would appreciate him. They were all wild about that speech, both men and women. It was full of fun and fire and enthusiasm. Choking again, Molly? Shall I slap you on your back?” She shook her head. “Yes, he understands J his business, that’s certain. What’s j that? Looks very much like Burns' I handwriting. What can he have to writs about?” j Mrs. Molly flushed to the very roots ol j

hor wavy hair, while Mr. Jeffrey out the : envelope with a table-knife, and fell ! into a brown-study over his letter. His wife watched him With a roguish twinkle Jin her eyes. He looked as if he was reading the will of a maiden aunt whose ; Inheritance he had been sure of, and who had suddenly died after changing | her will in favor of tho Hottentot mis- ; slon. The letter really was. from Judgo Burns, and read as follows: ! Mr Dear Mr. jErrREv: Excuse an old friend who gladly took what you had deI dined. The oration I delivered yesterday, literally after the manuscript, was tho | work of Mrs. Jeffrey. While she wrote that ; very excellent spfeeeh, which I accepted us I a godsend, I took her place at the churn, and spent ono of the most laborious hours of my life making butter. The transaction being altogether in my favor, 1 feel : very much indebted to Mrs. Jeffrey, and I hope she will accept a token of my sincere regard in the shape of a now patented churn, which, as the manufacturers claim, will make churning a more child’s play, i My dear Mr. Jeffrey, your partner in marriage has more brains, heart, and enoVgy than you and I taken together. Sincerely your friend, Hezekiah E. Burns. “Molly, did—did you really write that speech?” “Yes, sir," said Mrs. Molly. “And il came off inside of five minutes, sir. Your coffee is cold. Let me give you another cup, Willie, dear.”—Ceoil Gohl, in Harper’s Bazar.

Very Worldly Wisdom.

To retain a good appetite don’t eat when hungry; to keep a constant thirst, drink (not water, tea, coffee, etc.), when not dry. Sound the depths of a man’s character by his pocket. To drive the wolf from tho door, starve him out. Be not forgiving, but forgetting; get all, give nothing. Poverty is the poor man’s firmest friend. Hun no risk except with other people’s money. When asked for money for charitable purposes, put your hand in your pocket and keep it there. Trust in yourself; if you don’t, other people won’t trust you. An oily tongue lubricates tho wheels of conversation. Never sink the shop; allow no opportunity of advertising your wares t» slip. If business is poor, talk of your immense trade. Never look down before a man, no matter how much you may feel inclined to do so. Be charitable to the rich. Leap before you look; if you look first, it may be too late to leap. If rich, talk of your poverty. If you want a cracked crown, crack jokes at other people’s expease. Never ask a rich man if his wealth makes him happy. Keep the pot boiling, somehow. Look out for your own comfort everywhere; other people always do. Praise everything you see, everywhere; it doesn’t cost anything, and does a heap of good. Ask no man to dine unless you are sure he has dined. Study ■ the art of grumbling; a grumbler always gets the best ol everything. If honest, let other people know it. Put new wine into old bottles; it sells better. It’s good to be wise, but better to be rich; what is wisdom clothed in rags and hungry?

Woman Suffrage Growing.

Is woman suffrage making any progress in the world? Yes, it ie steadily extending. Thirty of the States and Territories have given women some form of suffrage, generally in local and school matters. In Canada women vote for all elective officers except members ol the Legislature and Parliament. In Europe, as in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Prance, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Italy, Finland, there are conditions where woman suffrage is allowed. In British Burmah, in the Madras and Bombay presidencies, women can vote at municipal elections. In all the lands and coloniee of Russian Asia women, heads of households, vote In municipal elections. In Iceland and in the Isle of Man full woman suffrage prevails. In Tasmania, Sicily. Sardinia and Corsica partial woman suffrage exists. The question is warmly agitated in all our States, and comes up in some form at every session of our Legislatures. The movement, too, is under way in Germany, Denmark, Greece and Switzerland. Woman suffrage is rapidly extending, or such agitation is going on as will result in Its extern sion at no distant day.

Tho Eight-Hour Labor Law.

In the State of Illinois eight hours is a legal day’s work in all mechanical employments, except on farms and where otherwise The law does not apply to service by the day, week, or month, or prevent contracts for longer hours. Eight hours constitutes a day’s work for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by the United States Government. In the States of Alabama, California, Idaho, Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming there has already been legislation upon the eight-hour movement, especially where laborers and mechanics are doing work for the State. But, generally, contracts for longer time are permitted and the rule cannot apply to farm work. In Pennsylvania twelve hours constitute a day’s labor with street-car companies.

Fishes Fell from the Clouds.

During a heavy rainstorm at Forest City, near Scranton, Pa., the other daj fishes fell from the clouds, and citizens gathered them up by the handful. They were from three to fovu inches long, and of the species known as devil-fish or “stone-wallers.” Several gentlemen found a number in a small pool of water. They were kept in water and are still alive. In order to make sure that the fishes canto from the clouds, a number of persons went out on a roof and found four fishes there. It has been suggested that the fish were caught up in the storm and carried along and dropped when the heavy downpour overcame the current of air in which they were floating.

Patents.

Last year 22,080 patents were issued—nearly twice as many as were granted during the first fifty years oi tht patent office.

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EYERY-DAY LIFE. »■ ■ Queer Episodes and Thrilling Adventures Which Show That Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. Mus. W. A. Adams, living on, West Fourth street, had an experience, says the Sedalla Mo., Democrat, that she is quite likely to remember whenever she bakes bread again. In her baking she uses one of the large double bread pans that is hinged on one side and shuts down like a lid. The pan has a double bottom, the lower one of which is usually filled with water for steaming purposes. Like all good housewives, she carefully made her bread and placed it in the oven. The stove had been well heated and was roasting hot. Everything went along all right until the hired girl began to wonder at the strange odor that filled the kitchen. An investigation was begun, and it was determined that something was burning. The oven was opened and Mrs. Adams started to see if her bread was scorching. The pan was partly pulled out when the colored girl, who had been looking on, fell back with a scream that indicated a near attack of hysterics. A snake about two feet was lying coiled on top of the pan and was burned to a crisp. Its mouth was wide open, ns if it liad been repeatedly striking itself with its fangs in the death agony. Even though roasted snake is an' unusual delicacy, yet the tiling that causes the housewife to wonder is how the snake got into that stove. The reptile was too badly charred to identify the species. A special search for snakes will bo made whenever bread is buked in that house again.

At the Gloversville, N. Y., Hair Company’s works the other morning the centrifugal machine, a heavy revolving iron concern used for elenuing hair, was packed full of that material and running under great pressure at the rate of a thousand revolutions a minute, when it suddenly exploded, filling that portion of the mill with flying hair and pieces of iron and doing a great amount of damage: A man named Helwig laid a narrow escape of his life. He was sitting in an armchair some distanco away, and a piece of iron weighing about 200 pounds flew so closely as to chip off a piece of his chair, and, passing through the building, buried itself in the ground. In tiie upper reservoir at Mountain View Cemetery Oakland, Cal., are planted a large number of German carp —the fishes now raging in size from four to seven inches in length. The reservoiijjifrders Blair Park on the west, and theWenagcrie nt the park consists of a big “tom" cat. “Tom” is an expert fisher cat. He creeps along the margin of the reservoir, and when a carp pokes up its nose into the grass at the edge of tiie lake to feed, “Tom” deftly pulls his carpship out and cats him. This is a true cat and fish story, and no diagram is considered necessary to prove it.

The two-masted schooner James A. Fisljer, which struck on the Jersey coast, near Cape May, (N. J.) inlet, forty-nino years ago, and sunk in the quicksands, wiil soon be afloat again, a perfect, vessel as of yore. She wus buried so deeply in the sand that not even her masts or rigging have been visible, but the recent storm unearthed her bleached bones from her seeming tomb. The vessel is in remarkably perfect condition, not cveu a bulwark being crushed in. The cargo of corn was dug out of her hold a few days ago, black, but in perfect shape. Watches, shoes, and the clothing of the crew were brought to light. The watch showed the exact hour at which it had stopped ticking forty-nine years ago, the pipes and tobacco were just as left by the ill-fated crew. The cargo consisted of a full load of corn shipped at Duck river, Delaware bay, for New York. She sunk so soon in the sand that the crew’s clothing and paraphernalia, as well as the entire cargo, went down. Captain Andrews and sev-. eral of the crew were frozen to death, and the steward drowned in attempting to reach the mainland.

Farmer Corseglia of South Jersey has sent to the Philadelphia Record a rather neat thing in the way of freak eggs, the production of one of his Cochin liens. What the hen tried to do was to lay two eggs at once, hut she only partially succeeded. Having produced one complete egg, correct in size and shape, she managed, in trying to instantly duplicate it, to inclose it in a flexible sac of semi-opaque skin, which also contained the complete yolk and white of another egg. The effect was, therefore, that of of a hard egg and an egg that has been dropped out of its shell, both inclosed in a seamless bag about four inches long and two inches wide. After accomplishing this very unusual feat Farmer Corseglia’s Cochin hen raised such a disturbance in order to call attention to her achievment that ehe was set upon by half the feathered inhabitants of the barnyard and forced to roost on the henhouse roof to escape their jealous wrath. The row having attracted a farm liand's notice he investigated the cause and the Cochin’s prize production was oiycfully placed in a cigar box Allied with bran and taken to Farmer Corseglia. Twenty odd years ago Captain E. A. Marwick of Portland, late master Of the bark Rose Junes, found a stowaway on board his vessel just after leaving a German port for the United States. Calling the ragged and halfstarved boy aft, Cuptain Marwick, who never was noted for amiability, asked what he meant by coming on board his vessel, and told him to prepare for the soundest thrashing he ever got. The boy replied tliat a thrashing was just what he expected. This excited Captain Marwick’s curiosity and he questioned the boy who said that he had been accustomed to daily thrashings ati home and thought that lie could not possibly fare worst*. as a stowaway on an American merchantman. At this’Captain Marwick’s anger changed to admiration for the plucky lad, whom he soon afterward adopted. The old Captain has now retired from the sea, and the poor stowaway commands the Rose Junes, and has a wife and children in a pleasant home at Farmington, where the man who gave him a start in the world instead of a thrashing often vists. One of the keepers of the Philadelphia Zoo, -whose experience with the larger animals has been quite varied, in speaking of the elephant, said: “While it has no fear of the powerful Bengal tiger or the Numidian lion, at the first sight of the most diminutive creature it will shrink from it and tremble all over from the most abject fear. I remember well, years ago, one of the largest and most brutal elephants we had in the Zoological Garden, while feeding one day in its quarters, discovered a mouse which was lunching in a corner on some of the provender, and the scare it gave to the elephant and the way it shook and carried on for a few minutes was a sight to look at. The mouse seemed entirely composed in the presence of such a mas-

todon, and satisfied its appetite fully before retiring. The elephant gave its lilliputian visitor a wide berth during its stay.” William R. Vatoiin of llwaco, Washington was supposed to be afflicted with catarrh of the stomach, and after vainly trying many remedies began the use of a stomach tube to wash out the diseased organ. One day recently while using the tubo, there was ejected from the stomach a leech or snail about an inch and a half long, and the body back of the head about the thickness of a lead pencil. Two horns protruded from the head. It was placed in a bottle of alcohol and sent to Dr. Carter of Fort Cabby, Mr. Vaughn’s physician. The only manner to account for the presence of the tiling may bo the fact that about three years ago Mr. Vaughn was engaged logging on the lake near town, and often drank water from the brooks running into the lake.

It is a curious fact that not one miner out of every huudred who has had any experience will do anything but put the sticks of giant powder into his bootlegs. He knows just about how much giant powder he will need during the shift, and these he receives before he enters the shafthouse to go down. Then he carefully places it in the leg of his boot, and in this manner conveys it into the mine. The miners have stopped “crimping” the fulminating caps with their teeth of late years. This is due, probably, to the suicide at Chicago of Lmgg, one of the Anarchists who was sentenced to bo hanged with Spies aud the rest. Liugg exploded one of the caps by biting it and blew most of his head oil. Now the majority of the miners crimp the oap on the heel of their boot with a knife. Mary Carnes was drowned the other bay at Adairsville, Ga. She fell into the crook while fishing. She had told her parents some days before that she would not live long, and that the world was all going wrong. Since then a peculiar accident happened. Bird Yarlborough, an artist, was requested to make a picture of the child. He made a negative, and after preparing it for printing placed it in the bam and poured the solution on, when with a suddenness the glass broke in many pieces. The work was the same as ho had done many times, and never before did a negative shatter.

There is a cat in Portland, Ind., which associates entirely with hens, eating everything they eat, even to shelled corn; and every night it perches itself on the roost alongside of the old rooster. The hens have learned to accept the situation and now look upon the cat as one of themselves. Recently at P. It. Garnett’s ranch near Willows, Cal., a mare belonging to Tom Kiukude had a three-legged colt. The colt is of normal size aud all the legs, except the left fore-leg are normally developed. The left fore-leg is missing nt the shoulder-ioint, where ike leg separates from the body. A lobster measuring thirty-four inches in length and weighing 101 pounds has been taken from a trap in St. Andrew’s Bay, near Itobbinston, Me. The specimen will be prepared by a taxidermist for exhibition at the World’s Fair. Lisbon Falls,Me., boasts of a 17-year-old girl who weighs 275 pounds and is growing. When she was 18 years old she tipped the beam at 250 pounds.

POPULAR SCIENCE NOTES.

Sciontists have estimated that every year a layer equal to fourteen feet of the entire surface of all oceans and other waters is taken up into the atmosphere in the shape ot vapor, to fall us ruin and again flow back into the seas. Bricks made of plate glass are of very superior quality. A sand of iron and glass is forged into a mold under several thousand pounds pressure; it is then subjected to extremely high heat, which causes glass and sand (irmly to unite. The bricks are perfectly white, and will stand both frost and acid. The new bridgo in Paris, called the Pont Mirabeau, is to be constructed somewhat on the cantulever principle, since it will rest upon two piers and meet in the centre. Its stability however, will depend upon an adjustment of weight like that of a huge crane. The long arm meeting in the centre will be of light construction, and to compensate for its weight the short arm received by the abutment will be especially heavy. Herr Weismann, a distinguished German biologist bus pointed out that the average duration of the life of birds is by no means well known. Small singing birds live from 8 to 18 years. Ravens have lived for 100 years and parrots still linger in captivity. Fowls live from 10 to 30 years, while the wild goose lives over too years. The long life of birds has been regarded as compensation for their lack of fertility and the great mortality of their young.

Official Time.— Notwithstanding the* fact that standard time has been adopted almost everywhere in the United States for the last seven years, there still remain some cities who subject themselves to the iqfonvenieuce of a double standard. Among these was Augusta, Ga., which, however, on March 1, formally adopted eastern time as its standard. There are now but {wo places of uny importance in tlia Union, says the Railway Guide, where mean solar time, or as it is popularly called, “sun time” is used. In both of them attempts have" been made to adopt stundard time, but the conservative spirit has been too strong and has brought about a return to the old state of affairs. In one case the effort was made in the winter when the days were short, and the difference in the hours of daylight soon made itself apparent and the attempt to readjust the working hours was a failure. If, however, a trial should be made during the spring and summer it is doubtful whether any one would be sensible that the change had taken place. Both of the towns referred to are on the line of railways leading to Chicago and it is to be hoped that they will try to bring about the reform before the opening of the Columbian exposition, otherwise they may figure in the eyes of the visiting foreigners as the only cities in the United States whose inhabitants still use the system in vogue in the days of Christopher Columbus. Diameter of a Thunderbolt. —“ Did you ever see the diameter of a lightning flash measured!”, asked a geologist. “Well, here is the case which once inclosed a flash of lightning, fitting it exactly, so that you can just see how big it was. This is called a ‘fulgurite,’ or ‘lightning hole,’ and the material it is made of is glass. I will tell you how it was manufactured, though it took only a fraction of a second to turn it out. When a bolt of lightning strikes a bed of sand it plunges downward "into the sand a distance, less or greater, transforming simultaneously into glass the silica in the material through which it passes. Thus, bv its great heat,*it forms at once a glass

tnbe of precisely its own size. Now otd then such a tube, known as a ‘fulgurite,’ is found and dug up. Fulgurites have been followed into the sand by excavations for nearly thirty feet. ■ They vary in interior diameter from the size of a quill of three inchos or more according to the bore of the flash. But fulgurites are not alone produced in sand; they are found also in solid rocks, though very naturally of dight depth, and frequently exisiug merely as a thin glassy coating on the surface. Such fulgurites occur in astonishing abundance on the summit of Little Ararat in Armenia. The rock is soft and so porous that blocks a foot long can be obtained, perforated in all directions by little tubes filled with bottle-green glass formed from-the fused rock. There is a small specimen in the National Museum which has the appearance of having been bored by the torpedo, the holes made by the worm subsequently filled with glass. I tin indebted to the Washington Star for the foregoing accounts. I may add that Charles Darwin mentions these fulgurites in his book of travels, and Humboldt found some on the high Nevada de Zoiuco, Humboldt ascended this precipitous peak at the risk of his life. ”

THE BODY AND ITS HEALTH.

Death in the Spider’s Web. —The time-honored custom of using a spider’s web to stop the bleeding of a wound has resulted in the death of a Liverpool woman from blood-poisoning. The web is especially adapted to catch disease germs aud can never bo regarded as surgically clean. A Hint about Flies. —Tho coming of warm weather brings with it the necessity for refrigerators, wire screens and all tho paraphernalia of the store-closet and tho kitchen, used ns a protection against heat and flies. Before the summer begins every precaution which cleanliness and care can give should be taken to remove all debris of decaying vegetation or animal matter, not only from the precincts of tho cellar and kitchen, but from the yard and the vicinity of the house. If proper precautions are observed, even in the hottest weather there will bo little trouble from flies. The fly is a useful scavenger, who performs with absolute faithfulness his thankless task of trying to save careless and thoughtless people from the legitimate effects of their own negligence. The year when there is a scarcity of flies is marked by fever and pestilence. If you are troubled with a superabundance of flies, yet exercise every care and precaution in your power, you may be sure there is some cause for them which you have not discovered. Poor Teeth. —Poor, decayed, abscessed teeth aro very often the sole cause of internal derangements of the digestive organs, and aro at tho foundation of many nervous diseases. As a bidder of foul smelling breath they are very important and ono cannot afford to let such a tooth remain In tho mouth. Poor people as a rule suffer more in this respect than the rich, for tho latter have their teeth early attended to by a dentist, while the former allow them to remain in the head until they are very far gone. Some teeth cannot ho filled with any success, and the owner hates to have them pulled out. The proper time for the extraction of a tooth is really a difficult matter to determine. If the back teeth are abscessed in any way they should at once receive skillful treatment, and if tho discharge of pus cannot be controlled in time they should bo extracted. Chronic abscesses in tho teeth discharge pus continually, and tho stomach is forced to assimilate this septic poison along with the food. In the course of time it must poison the digestive organs, and eventually impregnate the whole system. Too much attention cannot bo to poor teeth in this way. There is a dry rot in some teeth which does not discharge pus, and a great amount of injury may not be done to the system by letting them remain, but the majority are harmful. The Question of pain should not keep one rom the dentist’s chair, for when gas is administered the work is comparatively painless. In taking gas, however, it should be taken only on an -empty stomach, for if taken immediately after a good meal nausea and vomiting may be cuus ed.

Swifter Than the Eye.

The rapidity of animal motion is sometimes far greater than can be detected by the human eye. It is a favorite amusement of country boys, when they can find an owl sitting on a stump in a field, to walk around the bird at a considerable distance to see him, “twist his head off.” As the observer circles around the creature seems to follow him by turning his head and then gives the impression of moving his head continuously round in a circle. As a matter of fact, however, as soon as the owl’s neck is twisted sufficiently for comfort, he turns his head suddenly in another direction, but so quickly that the eye cannot detect the motion. The sluggish toad is sometimes tjuicker in his motions. The observer will sometimes notice a toad sitting at a distance of two or three inches from a fly. The insect vanishes and sometimes the looker-on is puzzled to tell how or why. The toad lias simply poked out its tongue and taken the fly, but the action has been so quickly performed ftiat the eye failed to detect it.—[New York News.

Oddity In An Eggs.

Some silkworms lay from 1,000 to 2,000 eggs, the wasp 3,000, the ant from 3,000 to 5,000. The number of eggs laid by the queen bee has long been in dispute. Burmeister says from 5,000 to 6,000, but Spence and Kirby both go him several better, each declaring that the queen of average fertility will lay not less than 40,000 and probably os high as 50,000 in one season. Termes fatalist’ the white ant, is possessed of the most extraordinary egg-laying propensities of any knowu creature; she often produces 86,400 eggs in a single day! From the time when the white ant begins to lay until the egg-laying season is over—usually reckoned by entomologists as an exact lunar month—she produces 2,500,000 eggs! In point of fecundity the white ant exceeds all other creatures.—[St. Louis Republic.

French Army Bicyclists.

The French War Office has just issued regulations for the employment of bicyclists in the Army. The present organization provides for the enrolling of between 6,000 and 7,000 “wheelmen” in case of war. They are, curiously epough, provided with a double armament; for according to the regulations, they are to carry a cavalry carbine and thirty-six cartridges in their belts. Their chief use is to be that of messengers, and old-fash-ioned grumblers say that the first result of a general having a crowd of cyclists hanging about his headquarters will be that he will send far too many directions to his subordinates. Fair.