Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1892 — Page 5

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AN® INCIDENTS OF EVERY ©AY LIFE. Queer Facte and Thrilling Adventures Which Show That Truth 4s Stranger Than Fiction. George "White, manager at a New Haven restaurant, purchased a green turtle weighing forty-nine pounds, which had been captured in Kelsey’s pond, off Sandy Beach. The animal was taken to rhe case, and preparations were made for cooking it. The head of the turtle was cut off in the customary way by the head ■cook, assisted by Ameda -Cledes, the second cook. After the head had been severed it was left for a time beside the body of the animal. About an hour afterward Cledes began looking at the head, the jaws being open. He inserted the thumb of his right hand and the forefinger of the left hand, running the digits about an inch into the mouth of the animal. Almost instantly the jaws closed together, imprisoning the finger and thumb between the teeth. Cledes cried out 'with pain and brought to his assistance the hired cook andone or two other persons present. The digits between the jaws prevented them from closing tightly itogether, and gave opportunity for the insertion of'a steel instrument used in pullingnails from packages, and with this the jaws were pried apart far enough to allow Other iron instruments to be inserted, through the aid of which the jaws were finally pried apart and Cledes’-thumb and finger released. The grip of 'the jaws was such that the teeth nearly-severed the thumb and badly lacerated: the forefinger. The injury will prevent Cledes from using his‘right-hand for some time. The head of the animal had been severed from the body fully an hour before the occurrence, but competent authorities on the actions-of turtles allege'that such animals will -show signs of life from six -to twelve‘hours after the: head has been severed, -and it, is not.an infrequent occurrence for the jaws to open and close for a period of six hours.

The daughter of the late W. J. Kinsey performed an act of cool bravery in Denver, Col., the other night. She saved her pet, the family horse, from burning to death. The scene of the fire was the stable adjoining the costly residence at Eleventh avenue and Pearl street, belonging to the Kinsey estate, where live the son and daughter with a housekeeper and coachman. Miss Nettie Kinsey returned from a few days’ visit to Manitou. She was accompanied home by two young friends, and at 8:45 when they reached the house they found it locked. The yqung ladies were afraid: to attempt to enter the house by a window, and Miss Kinsey concluded to wake the coachman, Arthur George, whose sleeping-room was in the Darn. When she approached the window she was apprised by the smell of smoke and the heat that the barn was on fire. Quickly the young lady recognized the gravity of the situation. She thought of the family horse, a valuable animal, and one to which she was much attached, -standing in bis stall crazed with fright, while the smoke and flames were nearly enveloping him. Giving the alarm to her fnends the brave little lady broke the window with her umbrella and climbed in regardless of wounded and bleeding fingers. She rushed ibrough the blinding smoke to the door, which she unbarred. Then, stripping off her jacket, she blindfolded the frightened horse and led him to the open air. By this time the screams of the young ladies had brought a crowd to the scene, and some one had turned in an alarm. The fire department quickly responded and the flames were subdued.

A cougar incident in Asotin County is told by the Asotin (Washington) Sentinel. John Shoemaker recenMy went up to Cache creek to drive home a milch cow that had a young calf. He shouldered his gun and called along bis dog, and after he arrived at the place he found the cow, but discovered that a cougar had killed the calf and, after eating a part of it, was engaged in burying the remainder oi the carcass under sticks and-leaves. The dog gave tongue and the beast sought protection in the forks of a tree, where the dog held him prisoner until ithe arrival of Mr. Shoemaker, who .took aim and fired. The cougar fell from his perch to the ground, and this so -scared the dog that he ran toward his master, who, thinking he was the cougar making for him, threw his gun aside and ran m fast as his legs could carry him to his home. There he told a hair-rajsing story of the chase the cougar had given him. A party was formed and went to the scene, where they found the cougar dead at the foot of the tree, the rifle ball having entered his neck and passed into his lungs. The party on returning home, while crossing Poverty ranch, killed a wildcat measuring twenty-two inches in height It is said to be the largest eat ever seen in the Joseph creek country.

Wilhelm Schmidt, living four miles south of Conneaut, Ohio, has become one of the most remarkable freaks outside of the museums. He has been in this country thirty-four years, but is unable and unwilling to speak a word of English, living with his wife and daughter on an isolated little farm that yields corn and potatoes enough for the trio. A visitor, from curiosity, called on the old man and thus describes what he saw: “What proved to be Schmidt sat in an armchair in the centre of the one-roomed house. Only a huge mound of hair surmounting his shoulders was visible—not a human feature to be seen. Schmidt propped his cane against his chair, and with both hands pulled this shock of hair open, showing his face, which was bleached and uncanny looking, like vegetables grown under cover. Only for a minute was the old man's face to be seen, for he dropped the curtain of hair back over it, saying in German that be did not like the light and could not endure it. The great mass of hair fell as thickly over his face in front as over the back of his head. Schmidt has worn his hair as a hiding place for his head and face for eighteen years, and steadfastly refuses to have it cut. His eyesight has been practically destroyed by having the light shut from it so long.” Mrs. D. M. -Madden of Denison, Texas, is a lady of nerve. On a recent afternoon her little girl Mary, aged two years, was seated on the ground under a tree playing with a tin hoop, to which were attached bells. The noise of the bells attracted a large blacksnake,, which crawled to the feet of the child and stretched at full length, with its head resting on her left foot. The jingle of lhe bells seemed to charm it, for the make closed its eyes and was motionless. Mrs. Madden saw the snake. She did not scream for assistance, as most women would havodone under the circumstances; She darted to the child, grabbed the snake by the tail and hurled it through the air. The peculiar music the bells/

had wridentlv placed the snake under a spell, as it did not move until it felt the touch of Mrs. Madden’s hand. William Somers was fatally bitten by a large rattlesnake on Ruby Creek, in Boise county, Idaho. He was out hunting, and seeing a deer he jumped into a hole in order that he might conceal himself. The hollow proved to be a rattlesnake den, and Somers lost notime in jumping out again. A dozen snakes bit his boots, but their fangs did not penetrate the tough leather. The deer having been frightened away Somers decided to have some fun with the den of snakes, which numbered 100 or more. He lighted a bundle of pine needles and threw them into the hole. As the snakes darted about trying to escape the flames Somers threw rocks and sticks at them. At the height of his sport be reached down to pick up what appeared to be a portion of a tree limb. It was really one of the snakes Somers had wounded. It coiled itself and bit him upon his right wrist. Somers started -on the run for his •amp, three miles away. The sun was warm, and the venom of the snake accomplished -its deadly work before he had run half a unite. The corpse was so terribly swollen that an ordinary coffin was too small te hold it.

A bather reckless Biddeford (Me.) man, with no respect for law or Gospel, is said to have devised a scheme for 'catching trout by the wholesale, which did not work as well as he thought. He supposed that a bomb exploded-in the brook would bring all the fish in it to the surface, so that he would only have to pick-them up. He provided himself with a -bomb powerful enough to blast a-schooner out of water and went to a local brook in which there were said to be lots of-trout. He fixed the fuse, ignited it, and threw the bomb into the brook. As he did so his dog jumped in after it, seized it in his mouth, got back ■to shore, and started after his master, who was legging it across the field as *fast as he-could in the realization of his ■ danger. The man ‘had the good luck to get over a fence, which bothered the dog, and a moment later, hearing an ex,plosion, he looked around to see nis dog going skyward. A physician says that a man may do a great deal for himself by sheer force of wul, and that in no disorder is it easier to prove this than in delirium tremens. Ho says that one of his patients is a hard drinker, and that while he never takes enough liquor to prevent his attending to business, he is always saturated with alcohol. At certain intervals, however, the man receives a warning, and he then “tapers off” until he has reached the mimmun in his duly allowance. This warning comes in the form of blue snakes that wind up his legs and creep into his lap and crawl over the table ana coil in his plate. He knows that they are not real, so he sets his teeth and goes on with his work or his eating or his reading, and resolves to be moderate. He has schooled himself so well that his wife does not know when he has reached his periodical climax at the verge of “jim jams.” The most marvellous of clocks has been built by a Black Forest maker and sold for $4,000. Besides doing everything that most clocks do in the matter of time and calendar, it shows the time in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Madeira, Shanghai, Calcutta, Montreal, San Francisco, Melbourne, and Greenwich. Every evening at eight a young man invites the company to vespers in an electrically illuminated chapel where a young woman plays the “Maiden’s Prayer.” On New Year’s eve two trumpeters announce the flight of the old year and the advent of the new. In May a cuckoo comes out; in June a quail; in October a pheasant appears to be shot down by a typical British sportsman who proceeds to bag his game. At daybreak the sun rises and some bells play a German air entitled “Phoebus Awakes.” On the night of the full moon they play another German air entitled “Sweet and Tranquil Luna.” There are other features too numerous to mention. An extraordinary freak of nature has been just made public in Baltimore in the shape of a child born without a head. Not the least vestige of that most important part of the human anatomy was visible, except the mouth and chin, which were of the natural size and formed the adjacent part of the neck, as if they had dropped into it. To the great relief of the horror-stricken mother, the child lived only twenty-four hours. The family is well-known and highly respected, and the remaining children who arc members of it have no impediments, either mental or physical.

About Potatoes.

The greatest potato producing State in the Union is New York, which devotes to the crop (round numbers being used in all cases) 370,000 acres and raises 30,000,000 bushels, or fully one-seventh of the entire crop of the Country. lowa is second in amount raised—l7,ooo,ooo bushels; though its area of 187,000 acres is eclipsed by the 203,000 acres which Pennsylvania gives to the raising of 10000,000 bushels. Illinois comes next, both in area and quantity of product, while Wisconsin and Kansas cross each other for fifth place. The four New England States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, however, lead the country in the number of bushels produced per acre, the average for the four States being over 100 bushels an acre, which is attained by no other State, except remote Washington, which promises to become one of the finest potato-growing regions of the world. It is thus seen that the cooler climate of the Northern States is favorable to this crop, as to many others in the list of standard food supply. Indeed, the potato, as it is known and appreciated to-day, cannot be successfully grown for any length of time in the warmer climates, without the introduction of fresh seed stock from the higher latitudes. The Bermuda potatoes, which come early in the season, to gladden the heart of the housewife with “ new potatoes,” are grown from Northern seed, which is regularly imported, while the product of the island itself is shipped back to the markets of this country, and especially of the Northern States.

King of Serpents.

The largest serpent of which any accurate measurements have been taken and noted was an anaconda which Dr. Gardner found dead and suspended to the fork of a tree during his travels in Mexico. It was dragged out into the open by two horses and was found to be thir-ty-seven feet in length. Inside of it were discovered the bones and flesh of a horse in a half-digested state,, and there was no doubt that it had swallowed the animal whole. Dr. Gardner and other travelers say that anacondas, pythons and boas attain a length of over forty feet, but there is no recorded instance of one having been encountered longer than that wUeh has been mentioned, though many person* have seen serpents alive which they estimate to be of considerably greater size.—[Chicage ’

THE JOKER'S BUDGET.

lESTS AND YARNS BY FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. AH She Needed—Brutal— Prophecy K ased on History—Not Tailor Made* Etc., Etc. ALL SHE NEEDED. “Do you own a heart?” he cried, wildly, brushing the dust from his knees. “Yes,” she replied, blushing, “I have Tom’s." BRUTAL. Mrs. Trotter—l’m sorry you don’t like this cake. The cook books say that it is inti-dyspeptic. Mr. Trotter—l don’t doubt it, my dear, but I’m willing to live and risk the dyspepsia. PROPHECY BASED ON HISTORY. “Well, I wonder what will be the sensation of the week I” queried the telegraph editor. ‘fff I maybe permitted to speak,” ventured the horse editor, “it is likely that the sensation -of the weak will continue to be that tired feeling.”—[lndianapolis Journal. NOT TAILOR MADE. Felicia Joy—Don’t you think I look plump in this gown? Mina Anne Pussley—Yes, indeed! Where did you get it made—at an upholsterer’s? NOT NAMELESS. Happy Bachelor —Well, old fellow, ■and what have you called the kid? Unhappy Benedict —What haven’t I called it, you mean, eld man. I didn’t know I had such an extensive stock of anathemas in -my vocabulary.—[Ally •Slopir. DUBIOUS. “I think I’ll let my beard grow for a week,” said chappie. “Do you think it will?” asked EtheL —[Judge. AN EXCEPTION. I like to watch my wife when she’s Crocheting Or when she’s tatting mysteries Essaying. I often note complacently Her snirring. Nor does her darning prompt in me Demurring. But I am spurred, I must allow, To quitting When she her alabaster brow Is knitting. THE OTHER 'SIDE.

He—l suppose his marrying you depends on wnat your father finds out about him? She—Well, partially—and partially about what he finds out about papa. Fortunately, papa has the advantage of experience. didn’t want the earth. She—Ma says I am her own darling. She will think you want the earth when you ask her for me. He—But I don’t. I only want Mars’ darling. rather wiry. Mrs. Slimdiet—What has made your throat so sore, Mr. Newboarder? Newboarder—l think it must have been the steak. —[New York Weekly. A POLITICAL MOTE. The old gentleman was doing his best to be entertaining to Algernon, when his daughter remarked: “Excuse me, C, but Algy and I are convinced that lony would be promoted by the absence of third party interference.”— [Washington Star. A PRANK CHILD. Little Kate on being introduced to an elderly maiden aunt, whom she has never seen before, innocently exclaims: “Oh, auntie, how very ugly you are!” Being reprimanded by her mother, who bids her apologize and say that she is sorry, the child turns to her aunt and says seriously: “Oh, auntie, I beg your pardon, and indeed lam very sorry that you are awful ugly."

HORTICULTURAL. Full many a flower is sowed in the bright time, When the warm sun’s aglow in the sward dewy damp, But bachelor’s buttons are sewed in the night time, In the third story, back, by the light of a lamp. MARRIAGE IS NO FAILURE. When wedded to his seventh wife He said: “I know what married bliss is. And all the hits I’ve made in life I find I’ve made by making Mrs.” . —[New York Press. IT TURNED OUT ALL RIGHT. When love in his heart had taken root, And his brain was in a whirl, And he went at night to press his suit, He also pressed the girl. She at the action took no offense, For she knew that more was meant; In fact she thought him a man of sense, And at once gave her consent. —[New York Press. POTENT FOR GOOD OR EVIL.

“Onions have their uses after all. They will often break up a cold.” “And sometimes an engagement.” NOT RIGHTLY NAMED. First Boy—What sort o’ birds are those? Second Boy—Those are chimney swallows. First Boy—Get out! Their mouths ain’t big ’nough. I don’t belie xe they can swallow anything bigger than flies. —[Good News. SOME ADVANTAGE. Rosalie —He’s an awful homely man, my dear. Grace—Yes, but there’s something in it. He’s nice and rich as can be, and when he calls has only to look at the clock to stop it. THE REGULAR PROGRAMMES. Little Mabel —If you don’t stop, I’ll tell mamma, and she'll tell papa, ana then papa will whip you. Little Johnny—Then I’ll cry, and then grandma will give me some candy, and I won’t give you any.—[Good News. ON SECOND THOUGHT. Jack—When she declined me I threw the engagement ring away in a rage. Tom—What do you mean? Jack —Well, I put it in my pocket. That’s where my rage was. She was rich.—[New York Herald. THE DOG MUST BE PUZZLED. “X don’t see how you ran treat your landlady’s ugly dog so kindly when he sticks his nose into your plate at dinner.” “Oh. I merely do it for appearance*

sake. She sees me patting him gently on the head, but she doesn't know that at the same time lam kicking him under the table." a baron’s wooing. Banker—So you watft to marry my daughter, Baron? Well, all I can say is that I will not consent to her marriage with any man who is not free from debt. Baron—You are quite right, sir, and, if I am assured of your sanction on those conditions, I am quite ready to wait until I am free from debt. Banker— Really! In that case my youngest daughter will just suit you. She is three years old and can wait several yean for you. b~it too tempting. Grace—How did Mrs. Duton manage to have so many men at her tea? Rosalie—Oh, she had the wine list printed on the back of the cards she sent out. FOUND A USB FOB THE BABY. Little Dot—Ma, may I take the baby out in my doll’s carriage? Mamma—Why. what for? Little Dot—Susie Smif has a new doll ’at shuts its eyes an’ cries “Wah, with.” I’m doin’ to betend the baby is a doll and let her hear him cry. Then I dess she’ll stop puttin’ on airs.—[Boston Globe.

RELATIVE expense. A certain minister, not a thousand miles from here, loves a dollar with a close affection. Not long ago a young man asked him how much he would charge to marry a couple. “Well," said the preacher, “the bridegroom pays what he pleases, but I never charge less than $10." “Whew 1” exclaimed the prospective bridegroom, “that’s a good lot of money. I thought that kind of work went in with your regular salary." “On, no,” explained the minister, “salvation is free, but it costs money to get married.*’—[Detroit Free Press. A SUBTLE SCHEME. “Miss Wickorstaff seems to be particularly popular among the young fellows of twenty or thereabouts.” “Yes. She has' a way of talking to them about ‘young men.’ ”—[lndianapolis Journal. AN EXPLANATION. “Do you believe that knowledge is power?” “I do.” I “That explains then whv dudes are sc frail.” TOO MUCH STEAIN ON THE STOMACH. “Sophtie is badly troubled with dyspepsia.” “That's because he is so gullible.” “What has that to do with it!” “He swallows everything.” TWO POINTS OF VIEW. “I wish you’d tell me how to get out of debt,” said a man who was depressed. “Humph!” replied the citizen, who hasn’t any credit to speak of. “I wish you’d tell me how to get into debt.” —[Washington Star. ADVANTAGE FOR ONE. She—Well, if I can’t live on my 'income, and you can’t live on yours, where would be the advantage in our marrying? He (thoughtfully)—Well, by putting our incomes together one of us would be able to live, at any rate.—[Life.

RELIABLE RECIPES.

Pork Chowder. —Chop one onion very fine; boil one or two beetsand one dozen potatoes; pare and slice together in a dish with the chopped onions raw; melt one large spoonful of butter and pour over the whole, together with half a cupful of warm vinegar; season with pepper and salt. Have ready to accompany this dish half a dozen slices of salt pork, cut thin, and fried tender. Then, when done, take out of the frying pan and dip in a batter made of 8 eggs well beaten, 1 tablespoonful of milk (sweet), and 1 cupful of flour mixed with half a tablespoonful of baking powder. Fry in the pork fat and serve warm. Chicken with Rice. —Chicken with rice is an old familiar dish. The chicken is well picked, drawn and trussed into shape in the same way as for roasting, but without stuffing. It is then laid on its breast in boiling water. Add to the water half a carrot, an onion with twe cloves stuck in it, half a bayleaf, and a sprig of parsley. Let the chicken cook very slowly in this water for about half an hour. Then add a small cup of raw rice, and let the whole cook for twenty minutes longer, still very slowly. There should be a heaping teaspoonful of salt added when the rice is put in. Take up the chicken and surround it by a border of cooked rice. Strain the remainder of the rice and broth through a juice sieve. Add a pint of hot milk, and let this soup boil up for ten minutes. Serve it with pieces of bread cut in fanciful shapes when soft, then dried and fried brown in butter. The appearance of the chicken may be improved by scattering fried breadcrumbs over it, though some people prefer to serve it white, as it will be when cooked in the rice.

Pork-Chops. Pork-chops make a very acceptable breakfast dish these cold, frosty mornings. They are especially nice at this time broiled. To broil them, trim them well, flatten them with a mallet, rub them with a little sweet-oil, and let them broil for about seven minutes on each side. Sauce-Robert is the timehonored sauce to serve with pork-chops. A simple rule for making this calls for half an onion sliced and fried with a teaspoonful of butter, till .they are qqite brown. Add a teaspoonful of sugar, sprinkling it in. This is to glaze the onions. Add half a wine-glass of white wine, and cook for six minutes. Then add a pint of sauce Espagnole or brown gravy. Let the mixture boil for about fifteen or twenty minutes slowly. Then add a teaspoonful of English mustard, wet with a little cold stock. If you do not care to prepare so elaborate a sauce as this, serve the chops simply with mustard or maitre d’hotel butter. Most people like the piquante sauce with porkchops or pork-tenderloins. Pork-chops look especially nice arranged around a little mound of mashed potatoes.

The Plague of Field Mice.

In Scotland, where the field itaice have become such a plague that a commission of the Department of Agriculture is investigating the matter, the increase of mice is attributed to the killing of weasels and birds of prey by hunters. The same conclusions have been reached by intelligent farmers in many parts of this country. The states of Pennsylvania and Colorado offered a bounty for the heads of hawks and other birds of prey, and in consequence most of them were killed off. Boon field mice, gophers and ground squirrel* increased so fast that the farmers would gladly pay a bou .ty to person* who would breed hawks and other large bird*.—[The Stockman.

ONE HUNDRED STANLEYS IN A CENTURY.

A Plea for Justice to the Early Spanish Pioneers. The World’s Columbian Exposition ought to teach us many great lessons; but the best it can teach us is justice to American history. We have two things to learn. First, that the pioneering of American history was a national achievement absolutely unique in the world’s history. And second, that one did not do it. No other nation in any time or land has ever made such a record in sustaining heroism and endured hardship, in area of exploration, in tenacity of occupation, in conquest at once so soldierly and so humane; nor was ever a nation so ill repaid in the gratitude of its beneficiaries. And that record was the record of the Spaniard. Justice to Spain has never become general among us. That early Spanish spirit of finding out was almost superhuman. No other mother ever bore 100 Stanleys in one* century. A poor Spanish lieutenant with twenty men had pierced a continental desert and looked down into the sublimest wonder of the world, the Grand Canon of the Colorado—three full centuries before a Saxon eye ever saw it; and that was a fair but un prominent sample of the truth from Cape Horn to Colorado. No where else has a savage world found such noble mercy at the hands of its conquerors. We have wiped the aborigine from off his own state; the Spaniard kept him alive and improved him. The Indian throughout Spanish-America is to-day more numerous than in 1402, and is a now man. There was no politics in the Spanish-American policy. From first to last, from 1490 to 1821, it has been permanent, unchanging, all comprehensive, just, humane, manly; the only noble Indian policy of all time. And yet we have been taught to believe that the history of Spain in America was a bloody and cruel one. There wore, of course, Spanish brutes, as well as other brutes, though not so commonly—and individual acts of cruelty. But the laws of Spain know no pets, and injustice was punished. I cannot recall that England ever administered punishment for such an offense. That later days have reversed the situation has nothing to do with the obligation of American history to do justice to the past. Why is Spain weak to-day? Why is she a drono as compared with the young giant of nations that has grown since nor day in the empire she opened? Simply because sho spent herself in that gigantic effort, peerloss in history. She was chivalric and not commercial. England never paid any attention to the Now World until it began to figure as a “business opening.”—[Charles F. Lummis.

Worst Man-Eater Known.

The Calcutta Englishman contains a blood-curdling account of the doings of a man-eating leopard lately shot in the Rajshahi district in Bengal. Tho monster had destroyed 154 persons before ho was brought down. His appetite for flesh, his ferocity, his cunning and his audacity were unexampled in the leopard tribe, and they would have done credit to a tiger. He depopulated whole villages, for the mere terror of his name sent the inhabitants flying as soon as he had seized a solitary victim in their midst. For miles around the people never ventured to leave their houses after nightfall until they heard he was dead, but this was no great hindrance to him. He would seize them from the verandas when they were smoking the evening pipe, and sometimes he penetrated the very houses in the dead of night and carried away children—often without giving the slightest alarm to the other inmates. As a rule he killed only one person at a time; but sometimes he killed two, and on one occasion he killed three in one day. Children and old women were hie favorite food. Among hie victims there were but six men. He was impelled by a sheer hankering for human flesh, for he never touched the cattle. The villagers began to think the scourge was a demon incarnate, and it was impossible to organize them for the pursuit. At length some twenty claphants were brought together for un expedition, and a flying column of British planters set sorth in quest of the destroyer. They searched for some time in vain, until an old man, whose wife had been eaten, came to report that their quarry had taken refuge in a tamarind tree. It was as he had stated, only the maneater had hidden himself in the jungle at the foot of the tree and for the moment could not be found. The place was surrounded and the elephants advanced in close order to trample the fugitive out of his hiding-place. This manceuvre succeeded after frequent repetition ; the beast was driven out of cover and at once riddled with balls. Ho will become a legend in the district, and perhaps a deity.

Lucky Triplets.

“The wonderful Hill triplets, of Bensalem, Bucks county, Penn., are still enjoying the biggest kind of a boom,'’ said old ’Squire Dodwotth, of Bristol, as he sat in a group of friends in the Bingham House lobby, and swapped experiences and news with them. “They’re about ten months old now, and are still so much alike that their mother goes on a-dccora-tin’ 'em with red, white and blue ribbons on the Geroflee-Geroflay plan, so as to make plum sure that they won’t get mixed up in handling. Probably no kids outside of some freak babies in a dime museum ever had so many visitors call on ’em as these Hill triplets. Why, there ain't been a day since they was born that people ain’t been to see ’em, and since the spring set in warm, they come in parties and picnics in the grove nigh to where the babies live. An’ what’s more, them triplets is gittin’ rich faster*n Constable Jenkins’ mare c’n trot a quarter ’f a mile. You see’s soon as they was able to be photographed all in a row, and ninety people out of every hundred that goes to see’em want anywhere from two or three to a dozen to give away to their friends. The trips always coo an’ kick their fat little legs up an’ get pup’ll in the face a laughin’ when folks come to see ’em, and that just makes the photographs sell lik hard liker on a cold night. Plagued ’f I wouldn't be most ready to say them kids was human, they show so much intelligence when strangers drop in. Their mother says they is Just as good all the time, and so do all they’re seven brothers and sisters; but then they’re predgydiced, as is natural. All the photograph money after the photographer is paid goes into the trips’ bank ana I’m told that it’s beginnin' to bulge. ” —[Philadelphia Record.

Gratitude is an actual emotion which it is safe to calculate on—in Japan. The doctors in that country present no bills and yet make a good living. Patients pay what they please.

TESTING DIAMONDS.

Inexperienced People May Tell the Real from Imitation Gems. Ample testimony has recently appeared in scientific papers confirmatory of the fact that the hardness of diamondsis not perceptibly reduced by cutting and polishing. One correspondent of the San Francisco Call states that in his early experience he was accustomed to select a gem with smoothly glazed surface and after the atone was split in a cleavage plane inclined at a rather sharp angle to the natural face selected, this split face being ground and polished. In this way he was enabled to obtain at several points short knife edges, which gave superb results in ruling. It was soon found, however, that after ruling several thousand rather heavy lines the diamond was liable to lose its sharp cutting edge, and the experience became • so frequent that he was compelled to resort to the method now employed, that of grinding and polishing both faces to a knife edge. He has one ruling diamond prepared in this way which has been in constant use for four years, and its capacity for good work has not yet been reduced in the slightest degree. G. F. Kunz, who took part in the discussion on this subject, mentioned incidentally that there is no difficulty in even the most inexperienced person distinSuishing the real from the imitation iamond. If tho stone scratches sapphire it is without doubt a diamond, whereas putting the gem into a flame would not differentiate the diamond from the white topaz, or the white zircon, or the white sapphire, or the white tourmaline, or any other white stone that is not fusible. But the absolute and most simple test for diamonds is to draw the stone sharply over a piece of unpainted board in a dark room. Every diamond phosphoresces by friction.

Columbus’ Personal Appearance.

Columbus was of jmwerful frame and large build, of majestic bearing and dignified in gesture; on the whole well formed; of middle height, inclining to tallness; his arms sinewy and bronzed like wave-beaten oars; his nerves high strung and sensitive, quickly responsive to all emotions;his neck large ana shoulders broad; his face rather long and nose aquiline; his complexion fair, even inclining to redness, and somewhat disfigured by freckles; his gaze piercing and his eyes clear, his brow high and calm, furrowed with tho deep working of thought, writes Emilio Castelar in tl e Century. In the life written by his son, Ferdinand, we are told that Columbus not only sketched most marvelously, but was so skilful a penman that ho was able to earn a living by engrossing and copying. In his private notes ne said that every good map draftsman ought to be a good painter ns well, and ho himself was such in his maps and globes and chart* over which are scattered all sorts of cleverly drawn figures. He never penned a letter or began a chapter without set* ting nt its head this devout invocation: ‘‘Jimi cum Maria sit noble in via." Besides his practical studies he devoted himself to astronomical and geographical researches. Thus ho was enabled to teach mathematics, with which, as with all the advanced knowledge of his time, he was conversant, and he could recite the prayers and services of the church like any priest before the altar. He was, ns I have already said, a mystic and a merchant, a visionary and an algebraist. If at times he veiled his knowledge in cabalistic formulas, and allowed his vast powers to degenerate into puerile irritation, it was because his own age knew him not, and had dealt hardly with him for many years—from his youth until he reached the threshold of age—without taking into account the reverses which darkened aud embittered his after years. Who could have predicted to him in the midst of the blindness that surrounded him, that there in Spain, and in that century of unfading achievement, the name of Columbus was to attain to fame and unspeakable renown? There are those who hold thnt this was the work of chance, and that the discovery of America was virtually accomplished when the Portuguese doubled the Cape of Good Hope. But I believe not in these posthumous alterations of history through more caprice, nor in those after rumors of the discoverer who died in obscurity.

A Transportation Scheme.

Tn an article on ooun ry roads and electricity in the Electrical World by William N. Bhck, a scheme for covering the country with a network of electric roads is outlined. The plan is to build electric lines through every part of ths country connecting the various lines of railroad and placing the farmers in close communication with the cities and markets. Of course, this would bo practicable only in the more thickly settled portions of the United States, and could hardly apply to the grpat prairies of the West. The farmer would thus have rapid transportation for all his farm products, for any kind of freight and for himself and family. In addition to this, power could be taken from the lines so harvesting, ploughing, or any other of the numerous forms of work which are now done by slower and more expensive means. It might be argued that such a system would never pay ’ interest on the capital invested in it, which is probably true. But the same can be said of the building of country roads. The expense of constructing such a network of electric lines would not be greater, and wo.ild probably be considerable less than that of building first class roads. The present wretched condition of the country roads is a well known fact, and it is only a question of time when an immense amount of money must be expended in improving them, or the same must be devoted to the construction of some such system as that outlined by Mr. Black.—[New York Herald.

How Veneers are Made.

One of the most interesting places to visit in Greeneville, Me., is the veneer mill, which uses immense quantities of beech, birch and maple lumber in the manufacture of veneering. After being steamed the logs are then taken out and bark removed and taken to the cutter. In the gutter, which resembles a large turning lathe, n long knife driven by machinery is made slowly to approach the revolving log, peeling off the veneer into long strips, the desired thickness varying from one-eighth to one thirtysecond of an inch. These strips are drawn out on a long table, cut and trimmed into the required sizes and then are carried to the dryhouse. The veneer is dried in long racks, two strips being placed together, turned so that the frames are opposite, to allow a free circulation of air. After remaining in the dryhouse two or three days, the veneer is taken down, pressed and packed into bales for shipment. —[Boston Transcript. When using a towci do not always rub the face in the same direction. You will thus avoid wrinkles.

An Electrical Detective.

A clever piece of detective work,which, must appeal with sad and crushing suggestiveness to the crook fraternity, has been done in Toledo, Ohio. A barber for some time missed cigars from the case in his shop. At first only a few cigars were taken, but presently the thieves became bolder ana took whole boxes. A watch was set aud detectives were employed, but all in vain. At last the barber struck on the idea of having an automatic detective fixed in the shop, and ho called in an electrician. A camera was arranged so as to cover the cigar case, and a flashlight apparatus and the camera were connected by wires with the sliding door of the cigar case, so that when the door was opened the wires could be brought together. The circuit thus formed would produce a flash and secure instantaneously a picture of the thieves. For twelve days the cirgars were unmolested, but on the morning of the unlucky thirteenth the thieves were prompted to try their hands again. The plate was taken from the camera and developed, and on it was seen a unique and interesting picture, containing the likenesses of two juveniles wjjo were in the act of stealing the cigars. Every detail in the shop was distinctly seen; the clock showing the time at which the youngsters’ little operations were interfered with, and the mixture of cunning and caution on the face of the boy who was evidently taking tho active part in securing the booty was intensely amusing. The boys were nt once recognized, were arrested, tried and sent to a reformatory, and tho judge commended from the bench the ingenuity of the means of detection employed.—[San Fran* cisco Examiner.

A Russian Village.

Riding through the country on the railroad you see scattered over the landscape what in the distance look like two rows of low, oblong hay stocks sunning irregularly for a mile or more in one direction. Each of these collections of hay stacks is a Russian village, and when* you get closer to "it you see that what you supposed were hay stacks are thatened huts, and that the lower part of ends stock is made of logs, sundried bricks or wattled twigs. You now note that the wide road along which these huts stand is full of half naked babies, squalling children and all of the queer characters of Russian peasant life. The ordinary village has but one roadway, and this is more like a road cut through the fields than an American street. It is generally about 100 or more feet wide, and the houses stand along it at all angles and with no regularity or order. There are no gardens in front of them nor behind them. They have no front yards fenced off from the road and 1 have not yet soon any sign of a sidewalk of any kind in any village I have visited. The street is not paved and tho only j»rt free from grass is tho center, where the wagons have out ruts into the black soil. Tho remainder is a lawn of good solid turf, on which tho cattle graze, the dogs and the children play and ;pon which the people meet in the evening to gossip and chat. Now and then you find a tree or so on one of these village streets, and under these on the ground there may be a woman with her babies tied to the branches of tho trees in tho oblong shallow boxes which constitute tho cradles of Russia. Other women may be sitting about, spinning or sewing, and on the steps of the huts or in tho doorways you will see old men and shock haired children.

An Honest Servant.

Ono of the first women who was assigned work in tho Treasury building was a colored woman, Sophie Holmes by name, says tho Chatauquan. One night when Sophie was sweeping tho refuse papers in nor room she found a box of greenbacks that had been cut, counted and packed to transfer to the vaults and had been accidentally overlooked. She did not dare call tho watchman for fear he would be tempted beyond resistance. She thought of her four small children at home alone with no one to give their supper or put them to bed, but the one duty thnt stared her in the face was to protect that money. She sat down upon the box ana quietly waited for |he hours to go by. At 1 o'clock in the morning she eard the shuffling step of General Spinner in the corridor, and heard him open the door to his room. Bhe quietly slipped along the corridor, knocked at his doos and told him what she had found. The general had tho box taken to his room and sent Sophie home in his carriage. The next morning when she returned she found the general still keeping guard. That night he sent for her and placed in her band her appointment papers given for honesty, ana for thirty years she has earned and drawn her SSO per month. Fifty thousand dollars was in this box. At another time she found SBO,OOO, for which tho testimony can be seen over General Spinner’s own handwriting.

Marketing on a Bicycle.

In a recent brief story for boys the hero, a bright and energetic lad, earns money for an urgent need by making bicycle trips to a neighboring town three times a week to execute shopping orders for the women of the town. Why is not the idea a capital suggestion to other boys, or younjj women of some cleverness, who live tn suburban towns ? Marketing for others has proved successful in some places; why should not shopping! Matching silk for needle work, samples of dress goods, and buying underwear and fall hats for the children, many things that the busy woman has no time for or takes no delight in, she would be very glad to intrust to one who had good taste and is a cautious buyer. It would save her the delays of shopping by post if some one would come to her door a certain number of times a week for her commissions in such affairs.—[New York Post.

Mustard Foot Bath for Colds.

A mustard foot-bath will frequently ward off an approaching cold. A tablespoonful of mustard to two quarts of hot water is the proportion for an adult; for a very young child double the quantity of water may be used. A bucket, on account of its depth, makes a better receptacle than a tub, and while the feet are being soaked a warm blanket should be thrown over the knees.covering bucket and all.—[New York Tribune.

Butcher Girls.

Of all the masculine avocations, that of the butcher seems to be the last one which women would be likely to invade, yet a Northern paper says that at Chester, 111., two young women, daughters of a Mr. Long, may be found pursuing it any day, not merely cutting up and selling the meat hung in a shop, but actually killing, skinning and cleaning the anv mala.