Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1893 — Page 4

LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI BY EUGENE FIELD, Little Mistress S&ns-Merci Trotteth world-wide fancy free; Trotteth cooing to and fro; And her cooing is command— Never ruled there yet, I trow, Mightier monarch in thd land; And my heart it lieth whe e Mistress Sans-Merci doth faro. Little Mistresi Sans-Merci — She hath made a si tve of me 1 “Go!” she biddeth, and I go—- “ Come!” and I am fain t > come— Never mercy doth she show, Be she wroth or frolicsome; Yet am I content to be Slave to Mistress S ms-Merci! Little Mistress Sans-Merci, She hath grown so dear to mo That I count as passing sweet All the pains her moods impart, And I bless the little feet That go tramping on my he irt. Ah, how lonely life would be But for little Sans-Merci! Little Mistress Sans-Meici, Cuddle close this night to mo. And that he irt which all d iy lon.j Ruthless thou hast trod upon, Shall outpour a soothing song For its best beloved one— A 1 its tenderness for thee, Little Mistress Sans-Merci! —[Ladies’ Home Journal.

MISS BAXTER’S BLINDNESS.

The dining car was in a shimmer of light. The dead white of heavy linen, the opalescent glare of glassware, and the quiet gleam of silver trembled together in the swift motion of the train. Miss Baxter, who had but recently left her berth, dropped into a seat and leaned back a moment, dazed by the lavish waste of color. Meanwhile the insistent sunlight took liberties with the dull brown of her severely brushed hair, ran burning fingers through it, and edged it with coquettish gold. Then she hastened to draw the curtain and throw a blue square of shade over her corner of the table, sighing as she settled down again, and all the painful scene of the evening before came surging back. She felt half a notion to lay her head on the table and cry outright. She glanced down instead and fingered her ring—his ring—while her eyes grew misty. She wondered whether she should have kept the ring, now that it no longer meant anything. The question was yet undecided when she pulled herself together with a visible tremor and turned to the menu card. Dining-car breakfasts were not timed to wait on the lsttlemei)t of subtleties in ethics, particularly after the steward has made his “last call.” In the ftw minutes Miss Baxter had been in the car she had not noticed her companions. As she raised her head she was startled to see a familiar face dimly taking shape across the table. She had removed her glasses and was about to pass her handkerchief to her eyes, but she put them resolutely on again and jerked fixedly through their misty crystals.

"Mr. Woodson, where did you come from?" she demanded at length, as his well-known features gradually took shape before her. Woodson did not Speak at once. He was noticing how her hair would tumble down in wayward ringlets in spite of her efforts to keep it staidly back, and how her cheeks persisted in dimpling, however resolutely she shut her lips together. Then he said: “From New York, of course. Does my dress suit look as though I’d boarded the train in these rural precincts? I thought .you knew the cut better.” “Do you mean to say that you’ve been on this train all this while—after—after —last night?” Miss Baxter asked, with .slightly heightened color. “Guessed it the first time,” AVoodson exclaimed, brightening. “I tell you, Grace, you should have gone into'the law instead of art. You’d have been great on cross-examination.” “Never mind, Mr. Woodson, you seem to forget that I prefer to make my own career—we've discussed that before, however. And so you’ve been on this train ever since I have?” she concluded,

reflectively. “A little longer, in fact. I made a mistake and got here half an hour early —read the time table backward—hence the clothes. But now, see here, small girl,” Woodson went on with great deliberation, shaking out his napkin into his lap and gazing into the blurred, blue depth of Miss Baxter’s glasses. “See here, now do you suppose just because a girl jilts me—” Miss Baxter here interposed a depreciating gesture—'“yes, I repeat it. Do you suppose because a girl jilts me, and I have reason to believe is going to the ends of the earth to get where she will never see me again, that my sense of responsibility ends till I’ve seen her safely where she wants to go? No, I’ve made New York uninhabitable for you and I shall make what amends I can by chaperoning you to Colorado or Kamchatka or -wherever it is you are going. Now, what shall I order for breakfast?” “Harry, you’re cruel. You know Mr. Fleming was going out there for the color and I thought it wouid be a good chance to continue my outdoor work.” “Fleming? That prig! Well, I didn’t

know before that he was going. I see there is still more reason why I should go now—and stay.” “But I forbid you doing any such foolish thing.” “To tell the truth, Grace, I though* of staying all the time—of going into some business there.” “Why, you never told me of it before.” “Well, I never thought of it till after I left you last night.” Then it occurred to me that I might go into sheep or cattle or something like that.” “At ManitouT’ “Why notT” “It’s a summer resort.” “So much the better. I’d only want to be there in the summer, anyhow.” “Harry, you’re a tritkr. ” “Well, I can peel an orange, anyhow —if you'll allow me,” Woodson exclaimed, taking from her hand the one she was making a sad mess of. “Harry, I never can forgive you for doing this," Miss Baxter concluded, after a moment’s contemplation of the whirling blur of green through the car win- “ Well, I never could have forgiven myself if I hadn’t—and there it was,” he asserted dispassionately, laying the pulpy, broken sphere of the orange before her. It ia quite a jaunt from Manhattan to Manitou; but one morning they exchanged the cushioned weariness of the train foe that blue hollow of the hills, with it* gayly-colored roofs aud gables . 5

showing here and there up the canyon like a scattered troop of butterflies. Then life became one long breath of delight. What color there wasl The earth seemed hung in some rarer medium than common air. The yellow cactus blossoms were like flakes of flame A scarlet flower fairly burned into the sight. Grace developed a new enthusiasm every day, and piled her palette with cobalt and'chrome. Even Fleming, who had preceded them, grunted out now and then, “Put in your loore pure. Make her jump.” So they painted from morning till night, keeping two or three studies under way at once—putting iu blues where Woodson saw greens and purples where he saw nothing but nondescript sand, and doing all the inexplicable things that should be done according to the gospel of the lu ministers.

Woodson sat by and chaffed. He couldn't paint. .He wouldn’t smoke. He parried Grace's occasional inquiring glances by explaining that he was negotiating to go into the cattle business—a man was going to bring him a herd on trial. Meanwhile -lie arrayed his shapely figure in cowboyish top boots, blue shirt, and slouch hat, which became him immensely, and made a sinister impression among the blazers and tennis suits of summering Manitou. Grace was absorbed and satisfied. One day an idea struck him. “Grace,” said he, “I found a little bit down here the other day that I’d like to have you sketch—to send home, you know. You’ll do it, won’t you?” “Why, of course. I’ll speak to Mr. Fleming.” “Oh, hang Mr. Fleming!” Woodson broke iu. “Fleming is all right in his way, but I want you—your sketch, you know.” The place was quite a distance away, over the mesa. They set out for it next dav.

“Here it is," Woodson exclaimed, after a long tramp, pointing over the burning plain to where a row of cottonwoods were banked against the sky, tremulous in the vibrant air. “There, do that; call it ‘A Hundred in the Shade,’ or something like that.” “It doesn’t seem to compose very well,’’ Grace murmured, holding the tips of her fingers together and inclosing the picture in a rosy frame through which she gazed, half shutting her eyes in truly artistic intentness.

“Well, never mind that; get the character of it. You know Fleming says the character's the thing. That’s what I want—the character—the true character of this beastly country.” So Grace donned her big blue apron and set to work with her biggest brushes. But somehow she had trouble. The quality of that sky, burning with light and yet deep in hue, did not seem to reside in cobalt, however fresh from the tube. The value of the stretch of plain, tremulous under the flaring heavens, dßturbed her, too, and when she came to put in the airy wall of cottonwoods along the horizon the whole thing ended in a painty muddle.

“Oh, I can't do anything to-day,” Grace exclaimed, petulantly, wiping hei troubled brow with the back of her hand and leaving a streak along her forehead that intensified her puzzled look. "Why don’t you put those trees in green ?” Woodson asked with a serious concern, as Grace renewed her struggle with the regulation blues and purple. “But I don’t see them so,” she murmured, in a moment of absorbed effort.

“Grace,” he blurted out almost before he knew it, “I don’t believe you see anything. Excuse me, but I don’t believe you qver did. I don’t believe in your art: I don't believe in your career; 1 don’t believe in your independence! You’re simply spoiling the nicest girl in the world with it. You see everything through Fleming's eyes. You see things blue and purple because he does; and he—well, he sees things that way because some fellows over iu Paris do, and I don’t believe in it. There, now, I’ve saidit, come.” But it was not arranged that he should finish what he had to say. He had looked down to the ground where he sat as he spoke of Fleming. When he looked up Grace was several feet away from him, hurrying down the hill, with her head bowed. “I’m a brute—a miserable brute!” Woodson remarked to himself with considerable force, as he watched her striding toward the half-dry creek, “ Bui some one ought to have told. Her ait is all foolishness. Look at Fleming, even. He’s 40, and I’d like to know where he’d be if it wasn’t for his teaching. B«t I’m a brute, just the same—a heartless brute.”

There was a plum thicket along the creek, and after watching Grace disapjeat within .it Woodson set about pick:ng up her sketching kit. This done, it occurred to him that it would be a propel penance On his part to wash her brushes —he had always hated dirty brushes so. 'Gathering them Up he started toward the creek. When he got there he could see no "sign's Of Grace. Could it be that anything had happened to her? The thought made him catch his breath for a moment. He knew she was impulsive—capable of any rash move in a moment of excitement. Then he heard a stirring in the plum thicket and he came face to face upon her in a little opening, crying softly to herself. “Grace,” he called, “why, what's the matter? I know I’m a brute, but I didn’t think you’d take it so.” “Oh, can’t you help me?” she pleaded, and began groping about and feeling aimlessly with her hands.

He saw that her hair was loosened and that her wrists aud face were scratched and bleeding in a dozen places. “Why, what’s the matter?” he queried again, as she came groping toward him and stumbled against him. “Can’t you help me at all?” “Of course I can, small girl; you’re all right. Nothing shall touch you,” he reiterated as his arms closed tightly around her. “Oh, silly, can’t you see I’ve lost my glasses?” she exclaimed, pulliDg away from him and flushing red among the greenery. But lieheld her tight. “You don’t want them; you see better without them, blue eyes. Confess, now, you never really saw before. Give up trusting in those wretched glasses and trying to be independent. Come, sec your career through my eyes.” But still she held back an arm’s length really defiant. His fingers left a white circle where they clasped her wrists. She seemed ready to cry aud then smiled instead : “You'll get my glasses if I promise?”

He nodded. Suddenly throwing her arms about his neck she said: “I always liked voui eyes, ” and pressed a kiss on either lid. “Maybe you were right about my art,’ she added seriously. “But—this needn’l interfere, need it?” “Interfere! Why, I’ll tell that mai that I’ve decided not to take his cattle, and we’ll turn the whole herd into paint.’ —{G. Melville Upton, in Kate Field! Washington.!

VALUABLE INSECTS.

SCALES THAT ABE NOT ENTIRELY PERNICIOUS. .... f. ■ Vast Sums Paid for their Products— Cochineal, China Wax, Shellac and Other Valuable Articles Come from Them." When It is considered that there are between 500 and 600 different named varieties of the scale-bug family or coccus, as it is known to entomologists, and that the list is continually being extended, it is not a matter for surprise that the ingenuity of man should have made some of them useful to him, or cause them to minister to his need or his luxury. On'e of the earliest of the scale-bug family to be impressed into the service of man was that branch of it known as kermes, or, t<s entomologists, as the coccus ilicis. This is found in abundance on a small species of evergreen oak, common in the south of France and many other parts of the world, and from the time of the Phoenicians has been held in high esteem on account of the beautiful blood red and scarlet dye manufactured from it. It was used for coloring the costly fabrics of the wealthy and favored classes, and was valued for its lasting qualities as well as for its beauty. In the earliest historical period it formed au important article of commerce, and found its way to Egypt, Arabia, Persia and Jerusalem. The red used in dyeing the mummy cases and the dye of the fabrics, which has retained its brilliancy for so many centuries, is supposed to have been the product of this scale insect. The dye used for coloring the curtains of the tabernaole, mentioned in Exodus 26, was also derived from the same source. It was from this insect also that the Greeks and Homans produced their famous crimson and from the same lowly source were derived the imperishable reds of the Flemish and other- famous tapestries. Iu short, previous to the discovery of America and the subsequent introduction cochineal, kermes was the material most universally used for producing the most brilliant reds and oranges then known. The insect itself appeared like a little spherical shell fixed upon the bark. Iu color it is a brownish red. The gathering of the kermes crop at one time formed a most important part of the labor of a large portion of the French peasantry. The work was generally performed by women, who carefully removed the insects one at a time from the seat of lodgement with their finger-nails, and the gathering of about two pounds per day was considered good work. When gathered they were immersed in vinegar to kill the insects and preserve the color, after which they were dried and were then ready for the market. Another scale insect used formerly very much and still to some extent for the same purpose is commonly known as the scarlet grain of Poland, or coccu polonicus. This is found attached to the roots of a perennial plant known as knawel, which was extensively cultivated for the purpose, and from this some large quantities were collected. It is still very extensively used by the Turks and Armenians for dyeing wool, silk and hair, as well as for staining the nails of the ladies’ fingers. Remote as were Europe and America before the discovery by Columbus, the requirements of men had led the people of both hemispheres into the same channel and in Mexico, ages before it was known to Europe, a scalebug produced the most valued of dyestuffs. In so high esteem was it held that its ownership formed one of the prerogatives of royalty, and large districts were put under tribute to supply a certain amount each year for the use •of the Montezumas. This was the insect now known as the cochineal.

After the conquest of Mexico and the Spaniards under Cortez some of this dye was taken to Spain and there so much admired that he was instructed to procure it in as large quantity as possible. The demand grew from this until Humboldt estimated that the annual importation of this one scale insect into Europe amounted to 800,000 pounds, each pound composed of 70,000 insects. The money value of these was $1,875,000. The use of aniline dyes has reduced the demand for cochineal, but for the fiscal year ending June 80, 1890, the United States alone imported 202,931 pounds, valued at $42,435. The cultivation of the cochineal forms an important branch of industry in Mexico,where a large number of natives, called from their employment nopaleros, are employed in it They plant their nopaleries, usually about an acre or an acre and a half in extent, on cleared ground, on the slopes of mountains or ravines two or three leagues distant from their villages. These are planted with a species of cactus known as the tuna de castilla, and the plants are in a condition to support the cochineal the third year. To stock his nopalery the proprietor purchases in the spring some branches of the cactus laden with the newly hatched insects. These are carefully housed until fall, when the females are placed in little nests made from a'sor£ of flux taken from the petals of the palm tree. These nests are then distributed among. the nopals, being fastened between the leaves and turned toward the sun. From these nests soon issue large numbers of young cochineals, for euch female produces some thousands of them. These spread over the whole plant and attach theihselves. In about four months the first crop of insects is ready to gather. This is a proceeding that requires much care and is performed by the wo oen, who sit or squat in front of each uople and carefully brush the insects from the leaves to which they adhere into a sheet spread on the ground to receive them. The insects are then plunged into hot water or put into a hot oven to destroy their life and they are then ready for the market.

Another important and valuable member of the otherwise despised family is the lac insect, or coccus lacca. This is a pigmy of its kind, being but one thirtysixth of an inch in diameter. It is collected from various trees in Intjia, where it is found in such abundance that were the demand ten times as great as it is, there would be no difficulty in supplying it. This substance is made use of in that country in the manufacture of beads, rings and other articles of female adornment. Mixed with sand it is formed into grindstones, and dissolved in water with the addition of lampblack or ivory black and a little borax it composes an ink not easily acted upon when dry by damp or water. When unseparateu from the twigs this substance is known as stick lac. Separated and reduced to powder, with the greater part of the coloring matter extracted by water, it becomes seed lac. Melted and formed into cakes it is lump lac, and strained and made into thin transparent sheets it is known as shell lac. It is employed in the manufacture of sealing wax, very extensively used in varnishes, of which it forms one of the chief ingredients, and is the principal substance used in japanning tinware. A very brilliant and beautiful color is also

extracted from it, used hi artist* under the name of loclake. The United States in 1890 consumed of this scale insect 4,739,465 pounds, for which were paid &502.745. and this formed but a very small portion of the annual consumption of the world of this one bug. Another very useful and valuable scale-bug is found in China, the product of which, like that of cochineal in Mexico under the Montezumas, is the prerogative of royalty. This is the wax insect, from which immense quantities of the subst'.nce known as China wax is produced. There are but two varieties of trees upon which these flourish. Toward the beginning of winter small tumors form op these trees, which increase in size until they become as large as walnuts. These are the nests filled with the eggs that are to give birth to the young wax insects, which when h itched disperse themselves over the leaves and perforate the barb, under which they retire. Their product, which the Chinese call pe-la, or white wax, begins to appear about the middle of June. At first a few filaments, like fine soft wool, are seen springing from the bark around the body of the insect. These increase in quantity and density until the gathering time, which is before the first hoar frost in September. The wax is at once carried to court, where it is reserved for the use of the Emperor, the princes and the chief mandarins. An ounce of this added to a pound of oil forms a wax resembling becs-wax, except in color. It is employed in medicine, and Chinese orators when about to address au audience eat it to give them courage and assurance.—[San Francisco Chronicle.

The Ragpickers of Paris.

The wealth of Paris is so boundless that the rubbish and refuse of the city arc worth millious. There are more than fifty thousand persons who earn a living by picking up what others throw away. Twenty thousand women and children exist by sifting and sorting the gatherings of the pickers, who collect every day in the year about 1200 tons of merchandise, which they sell to the wholesale rag-dealers for some 70,000 francs. At night you see men with baskets strapped on their backs, a lautern in one hand, and iu the other a stick with an iron hook on the end. They walk along rapidly, their eyes fixed on the ground, over which the lantern flings a sheet of light, aud whatever they find in the way of paper, rags, bones, grease, metal, etc., they stow away in their bask?ts. In the morning, in front of each house, you see men, women, and children sifting the dust-bins before they are emptied into the scavengers’ carts. At various hours of the day you may remark isolated ragpickers, who seem to work with less method than the others and with a more independent air. The night pickers are generally novioes; men who, having been thrown out of work, are obliged to hunt for their living like the wild feasts. The morning pickers are experienced and regular workers, who pay for the privilege of sifting the dust-bins of a certain number of houses and of trading with the results. The rest, the majority, are the coureurs, the runners, who exerfcise their profession freely and without control, working when they please and loafing when they please. They are the philosophers and adventurers of the profession, and their chief object is to enjoy life and meditate upon its problems.— [Harper’s Magazine.

The World’s Most Useful River.

The Nile, probably, is the most wonderful river iu the world. It has made Egypt possible by turning an arid wilderness into the richest land iD the world. It has provided at the same time an admirable commercial highway, and made easy the transportation of building materials. The ancient Egyptians were thus enabled to utilize the granite of Assuan for the splendid structures of hundredgated Thebes and of Memphis, and even for those of Tanis, on the Mediterranean coast. At a time when the people of the British Isles were clad in the skins of wild beasts, and offered human sacrifices upon the stoue altars of the Druids, Egypt was thecentreof a rich and refined civilization. Most of this development of Egypt was due to the Nile, which not only watered and fertilized the soil annually, but was and is one of the greatest and best natural highways in the world. From the beginning of winter to the end of spring—that is, while the Nile is navigable—the north wind blows steadily up stream with sufficient force to drive sailing boats against the current at a fair pace; while, on the other hand, the current is strong cuough to carry a boat without sails down against the wind, except when it blows a gale. That is why ancient Egypt did not need steampower nor electric motors for the immense'commerce that covered the Nile, nor for the barges carrying building material for hundreds of miles. —[Harper’s Young People.

In China Clothes Make the Man.

The 'clothing of the Chinaman compared with otlr own, also shows many differences. The rank of the official is indicated by the number of vari-colored buttons on the’top of his official hat; and instead of epaulettes, gold braid, etc., his uniform shows upon the breast and 'back figures of birds and animals. The plume of the Mandarin’s hat is ndt -straight, but curved at the end like the ■tail of a bird. The wearing of bracelets is not confined to women, as men often ornament themselves the same way. Neither men nor women wear gloves, but their sleeves are so long that they often reach two feet beyond their hands, and serve as muffs, in cold weather. They are also used as pockets, there being no regular pockets in their clothes. The beard of a Chinaman about indicates his age. Until forty years old, his face is smoothly shaven. Beyond that point he allows his mustache to grow, and when still older, his entire beard. Both men and women wear, jacket trousers. While we blacken our shoes, the Chinese paint the thick soles of their shoes white. Black is the color of mourning in the West, while white-grey-blue is the color in China. Women as well as men smoke, and both sexes use of the fan. If one tears his coat, the tailor puts the patch on the outside.—[New York Tribune.

Church Hospitality.

The anecdote is told of General Grant that soon after his first nomination for the presidency he was ift the city of—, where he had not been expected and was known to but few, and there, on a rainy Sunday, entered a church aud took a seat in a vacant pew not far from the pulpit. The man who rented or owned the pew ooming in and seeing someone in the seat, sent the sexton to ask him to leave It, which the general quietly dia, simply saving: “I supposed it was probably the pew of a gentleman, or I should uot have entered it.—[Detroit Free Press.

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF EVERY DAY J.IKE. Queer Facts and Thrilling Adventures Which Show That Truth It Stranger Than Fiction. A large party of men, headed by Harry Gager of Seattle, enjoyed a big coyote drive on the sagebrush plains twenty miles southeast of Boise, Idaho. After an exciting chase thirty splendid specimens of the peculiar animal lay dead upon the frozen ground. At this season of the year the skin of the coyote is heavy and glossy, and of considerable commercial value. Gager and his party sought the animals for their warm coats, which they will have made into garments. The hunters were provided with a pack of fierce hounds and the party spread out over the plains to encircle a rocky butte much frequented by coyotes. The dogs made the frosty air re-echo with their deep nptes. Within an hour after the commencement of the hunt twenty-one fine coyotes had been killed and skinned. The hounds were then sent into a growth of sagebrush in a little hollow in one of the abrupt slopes of the butte. The dogs cornered four big coyotes, and a battle royal followed. The coyotes fought like four-footed fiends, and they badly injured five splendid hounds before they succumbed. Their skins were nearly torn from their bodies during the struggle, and were worthless. A few minutes later eight big coyotes were started out of another bunch of sagebrush. The cowardly animals darted across the plain and tried to conceal themselves in a large flock of sheep. They had no fight in them and did not offer to molest the sheep, upon which they usually prey. After much difficulty the covotes were driven into the sagebrush again, and then the hounds quickly dispatched live of them.

“For years,”.said a steady New York churchgoer, “I had been sitting in the same pew and in the same seat, the end seat by the aisle. Usually the other places are occupied by members of my family, for we all attend church pretty regularly, but one Sunday recently when, for one reason and another, they had all stayed at home, I sat in my pew alone. Seeing plenty of room there the usher brought to sit with me a stranger. I was, of course, glad to welcome him. I did not get up and step out into the aisle so that he might pass in by me, but I moved along to the other end of the pew and let him sit in my place. When I had seen him comfortably seated and handed him a hymn book, and had turned toward the pulpit again, I was surprised to find that everything in the church seemed new and strange to me. For a long time I had been accustomed to seeing the backs of the heads of those of my friends and neighbors who sit in front of me, and the sides of their faces, from a certain point of view. I saw them now from another point of view, and they all seemed to look very differently. I saw children who appeared from their demeanor to be regular attendants at church, but whom I had never noticed there before; they had been there of course, but my view of them had been cut off by the heads and shoulders of other persons. The preacher appeared to me in another light, and it seemed as though his sermon, coming as it dfd along a new angle, came with new power. Indeed, it was almost like visiting a new church. The fact is that we are all such creatures of habit that we are apt to be surprised if we depart even a little way from the road we are accustomed to travel.”

In a little village in Sussex, England, there is a veritable milky way of lilies, where thousands of white blossoms shed their perfume, and where women gardeners tend and pack and ship the fragrant product. Twenty-five years ago a single lily bulb was given to Mrs. Bates, a farmer’s daughter, who tended the gift with the devotion women bestow on flowers, and when sixteen bulbs had resulted from the original one, and Mrs. Bates, finding that her children, as she called them, had outgrown the sunny window where they grew, she planted them in the corner of the garden. Ten years ago a daughter of Mrs. Bates, inspired by the enterprise of the time, sent some blossoms to the London market, and now, in association with her sisters, has made the Bates lilies famous for their beauty and perfection. The daughters are keen business women, interviewing their buyers at the 0 o’clock market, selling without the interference of agents to private customers, florists, and commission merchants. The average product is (100 dozens a week, which are packed by women in the gardens. Women are taking up floriculture to a considerable extent in England, and at the Horticultural College landscape and kitchen gardening are taught by lectures, demonstrations, and'praotical work. It ,is an interesting fact that applications are received at the college faster than women can be trained.

“ ‘True to death,’’’ says a St. Petersburg contemporary, “is a mild phrase in comparison with the expression. ‘True to hard labor in the Ural mines.’ ” And yet such heroism as the latter phrase describes can be found among Polish girls. A wedding was recently performed in Minsk which illustrated this fact. The groom, Cesar Pozniak, was brought to church in heavy chains; the bride, Maria Kanovitcheva, a maid in one of the wealthiest houses of the oity, came to church accompanied by her friends in carriages. Cesar Pozniak was an artisan of good behavior and appearance; but he was accused 6f murder and condemned to hard labor in the Ural mines for ten years. Maria was in love with him before the accusation took place, and would not leave him in his trials. Now that judgment was pronounced on him she consented to become his wife and to follow him'to his place of destination. The prison authorities granted the convict permission to marry, and the wedding took place in the prison chapel. Maria believes in the innocence of her husband and hopes ‘that he will be pardoned before he reaches the Ural mines.

A few days ago James R. Holt went for a quail hunt along the banks of the Sacramento river in California. Under a cover of brush he discovered a nice flock of birds, but when he raised his gun to have a shot they disappeared. He felt satisfied that there were quite a number under a particular bush and he blazed away. The noisy fluttering which followed told him the result and he ran for his prize, and just as he was reaching out his hand to catch a wounded quail he was suddenly shocked to discover an enormous rattlesnake in the line of the bird. He approached the birds again with his gun cocked and ready for a sudden shot, and learned that the snake was dead. When he tired at the birds he killed the snake and six quail,"although none of the birds or the serpent were in view. The snake had eight rattles and a button and was 3i feet in length. For several months the Austrian nantary authorities .have guarded the

frontier from the importation of Russia*) caviar, and presumably that from the Elbe has also been shut out. Caviar, which consists of prepared eggs of the sturgeon, was placed under the ban on the ground that it was a medium for the transportation of ihe cholera germ. To test the matter the Austrian Minister ot the Interior ordered a thorough investigation to be made at the hygienic laboratory in Vienna. There noted bacteriologists infected a quantity of caviar with bacilli from Touquiu and from Hamburg, as many as 153,393 being placed in the caviar. At the end of twenty-four hours there were but a hundred left, and at the end of forty-eight there were none at all. This experiment was repeated several times, with about the same result. Lovers of this delicacy—the caviar, not the bacilli—may therefore continue to eat it withoqt fear. It is a cholera killer instead of a propagator. 1 A Kentucky Baptist minister says that some years ago a Baptist Church in that State tried a man for kissing his wife. The formulated charge was entered “Unbecoming levity.” The gentleman accused had been from home several weeks on business, and on his return he met his wife at the meeting house, and in the presence of the congregation embraced her with a sounding smack on the lips. Some of the staid old deacons were so shocked at such levity in the house of God that the gentleman was airaigned on the above charge, and escaped dismissal from the church by agreeing to do his kissing at home in tht future.

A curious story is told of the recent funeral of an old farmer of Maine, who, after spending his life in tilling a rocky farm and raising a numerous family, died and left his hard-earned property to two sons. The sons placed their father’s remains in a rough coffin and started for the burying-ground, bearing it upon their shoulders. They took a short cut through the woods, and had not gone far when a deer crossed the path. The sight stirred their sportsman instincts, and depositing the coffin in the bushes, they ran back for their dogs and guns, and were soon on a glorious hunt.' Other game turned up, the hunt was prolonged, and it was not till four days afterward, that they remembered their father’s corpse in the bushes and returned to bury it.

Two girls have lately had a strange experience in a country house, situated in Devonshire, England, at which they were visiting. They were given a room reported to be haunted by a woman with a bloody face. Just as they got into bed on the first night of their stay, a woman whose face was all gory rushed into the room. The girls were frightened into hysterics and the alarmed household found them shivering and screaming under the coverlets while a dead woman lay beside the bed. The supposed ghost was a lady's maid who had broken a blood vessel while crossing the hall and ran into the girl’s room for assistance, which their insensate fright prevented them giving. The peasants of the Russian village of Jagodziasts, in Lithuania, wreaked their vengeance on a suspected horse thief recently by setting fire to his dwelling during the night, while he, his wife, mother, and family of five children were within, and burning the whole family to death. The peasants stood around the hut, and when the inmates rushed out they were thrust back into the burning house with pitchforks and scythes. One of the women was murdered outright in the attempt to force her back into the flames. The peasants gave themselves up to the Russian police, and will most probably be imprisoned for a year and then exiled to another part of the country.

A cask was reported recently of an engineer being killed by his head striking against a sagged telegraph pole as he leaned from his cab wiridow, and several instances are lately noted of brakemen being swept from the roof of cars by bridges. But perhaps the most singular accident of this kind occurred in Missouri. An engineer of an Iron Mountain train was leaning out of his cab window passing Williamsville when he was caught by the mail catcher, the iron pole and hook arrangement for catching the mails from moving trains,, and pulled cleaD from his engine, through the window, falling beside the track as his train passed on. He was seriously injured. 110 -ne-a-00, one of the chiefs of the Osages, the richest Indians in the country, recently exhibited himself to the wondering gaze of the people of Kansas City. He wore his first hat for the occasion, and. a brand-new pair of blankets. The chief enjoyed himself hugely in the metropolis of the Kaw and showed his acquaintance with civilization by remarking that he saw more pretty women there in one day than in all his life elsewhere.

Recently it was discovered that the wooden roof of a fine old church in Arundel, England, dating from 1380, was entirely honeycombed by some unknown insect. The beams were so friable as -to be easily rubbed to pieces between the fingers, and the wonder was that the whole roof had not fallen to ruin in the attempt to remove it. In St, Petersburg a coachman was killed by lightning while driving, and the footmo.n sitting by hjs side was not injured. The lightning struck the coachman’s head, destroyed his cap and tore his clothes, passed through his body and tore a hole through the cushions on which he was sitting. No damage was done to the carriage except breaking the glass, and the occupants were Dot injured.

“He’s All Right!”

The phrase “He’s all right!” originated as a term of reproach against the presidential candidate of the Prohibitionists in 1881. He had been a Republican party leader and as the only eflect of his caudidacy was to draw off a portion of the Republican vote, he was roundly denounced by his former associates. They started the ci-y. “What's the matter with St. John?” The answer to this was, “Oh, till right!” This was accompanied with a significant shake of the head, which was meant to imply that the Democratic barrel had been tapped for St. John and that he was abundantly supplied with lucre and -liquid refreshments. The Prohibitionists adopted the fry and used it during the canvass in 1884. When their convention met in Indianapolis in May, 1888, with more than 1,000 delegatee and three times that mwnv of their party friends in attendance, St. John was one of the strong men, and he was made the' permanent chairman. At his first appearance upon the crowded convention platform a chorus of voices cried oat, “What’s the matter with St. John l ” The answering shout from the multitude oame like u tornado, “He's all right !” and that was St. John's welcome by the Prohibitionists.—[Detroit Free Press. ■Stylish Directoire costumes are again this season made of chestnut brown, Napoleon blue, sage and mos 3 green, India red andTosy violet cloth.

A WONDERFUL CLOCK.

An Astronomical and Horologlcal Curiosity. Adolphus Haensle and Augustus Noll, two Black Forest (Germany) clockmakers, have just finished the most wonderful of all clocks, an astronomical and horological oddity that throws all previous efforts “in the shade.” It shows the seconds and strikes the hours, quarters and minutes, besides giving a calendar of days, weeks, months and years up to the year 10,000. It also shows the solar system, the phases of the moon, the revolutions of the earth and the zodiac, besides giving on its seventeen faces the correct time for Berlin, Prague, Riga, Vienna, Cairo, Tiflis, Trieste, Rome, Munich. Berne, New York, Geneva, Boston, Paris, Metz, London and, on the large face in the center, the time at the place where the clock is located.

At the right of the principal works there is a calendarium, at the left a music box and at the front a globe with its various movements correctly imparted by a simple peiceof mechanism attached to the clock. Above the movement the second and minute hands are placed. At the expiration of each mipute an angel strikes a bell, whereupon the hands on each of the 17 faces simultaneously move forward one minute. The expiration of the quarter hour is indicated by the angel striking twice. In the course of each hour the ages of man are represented. At the end of the first quarter a child appears, at the second a youth, at the third a man in the prime of life and at the fourth an aged grandsire. The hour is struck by a figure of Death, by whose side stands an angel, who nods at Death not to strike at the appearance of the first three figures, but suffers him to hit the bell when the old man appears on the scene. At the left of the clock, on a shelf on its side, stands Christ surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. At the time when Death strikes the hour the Twelve bow before the Master, who who goes through the act of blessing them by bowing his head and raising his hands. At 6 o’clock, both morning and evening, a sexton rings a bell and the figures of three monks appear and go into a tiny church for prayer; as they disappear through the door choral music i 3 played. At 10 in the evening a night watchman appears and blows his horn hourly for the next four hours, or until 2a. ;at 3 a cock crows from a window in the upper left-hand corner of the clock. At 12 o’clock, both noon and midnight, the music box plays for five minutes, and at 12 midnight the calendar changes, the following day and date appearing, and at the end of the month, whether it be one of 30 or 31 days, the name of the next month appears in the slot. Not even the leap years are forgotten. At the upper left-hand corner, near the crowing cock’s tvindow, is a representation of the revolution of the sun around the earth and a correct calendar of the seasons. On the other side the moon is represented going through* her various phases. Each season is represented symbolically; March 21 Spring appears as a. maiden with wreaths of flowers, a child accompanying her; June 21 she appears with a sheaf of wheat, the child carrying the sickle; September 21 both carry fruits; on December 21 the maiden is sitting at a spinning wheel and the child is playing with a spindle. On December 25 a lovely Christmas scene in the chapel is presented, the music box playing appropriate tunes. On December 31, at 12 o’clock, a trumpeter appears and plays a solo, accompanied by an invisible orchestra. This indicates the beginning of the new year, and during the musical treat all the numbers change, so that everything is ready for the beginning of another cycle of time.

Ancient Worship of Animals.

The figures of the gods in ancient Egypt were represented on the monuments for ages in animal form. The organization of the local population ran on totem lines. Each city had different beast gods. In the royal genealogies, beasts are named as ancestors; showing that the early Egyptians actually considered themselves descendants of animals. The primitive element in the early Greek religion' has been preserved in the “sacred chapters,” fragments of which have been given us by Herodotus, Pausanias, and otners—proving that the oldest images of the Grecian gods were represented in animal forms, and that the different royal houses claimed descent from animals, as do the savages of America and Australia. Mr. J, McLennan, in his papers on The Worship of Plants and animals, calls our attention to many evidences that the early Romans as weil as the Greeks worshiped totems. The Old Testament records show—notwith-standing-the various revisions through which these venerated books have passed —many indications of animal-worship among the Israelites, which must have lasted for ages before the prohibition inculcated in the second line of the Decalogue was formulated. At a comparatively late date “Jehovah was worshiped under the popular symbol of a bull, while the twelve oxen upholding the laver in Solomon’s temple, as well as the horns adorning the altar, were drawn from the prevalent bull-worship.” Modern research has also proved that the cherubim were represented in the form of winged bulls. M. Lenormant, in his famous book on the Beginnings of History, says that, during the time of the kings and prophets, “most assuredly the cherubim, as there described, are animals.”—[Popular Science Monthly.

Journalistic Perils.

W. C. Cooper tells us the following story of his journalistic perils. He says: “I had several narrow escapes from violent death while engineering an afternoon paper in Texas. My foreman once got the suicide of a prominent citizen mixed up with a description of a new abattoir, and the result was appalling. Friends of the deceased insisted on shooting first and listening to explanations, afterward. At another time he got a head intended for a double hanging over a swell wedding. It read as follows: “Toughs turned off. A well-mated pair of brutes merrily meet their doom. A large crowd witnessed the rites preceding purgatorial pains.” Well I hid in the chaparral for a month after that. I thought my time was up, and I tried to get a little consolation from the Bible, but the book opened every time at the passage, ‘Lo, the bridegroom eometh!’ 1 didn’t wait for him.” The actual value of the silver in one of the World’s Fair souvenir half dollars is aboutthirty cents. The coins sell for a dollar each. Counterfeiters can well afford to put as good silver into the bogus as in the good coins, A stylish skating costume is unde of plaided velours. The skirt is bias, bordered with martep fur.