Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1893 — Page 5

SHAMEFUL ADMISSION.

WORKINGS OF A HIGH TARIFF BROUGHT TO LIGHT. Another Industry Admits that Protection Enervates and Pauperizes the Business and Results in Higher Prices—Commercial Freedom Would Stop Canadian Exodus. An Open Confession. Willett atd Gray's Sugar Journal of April 6 puts on an in jured look and asks why the sugar refining industry should be singled out “for special attack on the ground of too much protection.” It Quotes the latest statistics to show that in over twenty principal manufacturing industries the p otcetion varies from 27 to 113 percent., while it is but 13.98 per cent on refined sugar. This certainly does look unfair. While Uncle Sam is lending a helping hand to the manufacturing indu-tries, he should endeavor to be impartial. Then the Journal proceeds to make a confession which it is well for the country to understand. It says: “The advantages derived from the above noted discrimination against refiners are not very apparent. Contrary to general opinion, the prosperity of refiners is probably owing in a considerable degree to the small measure of protection accorded them compared with all other manufacturers. This small protection forces economies of management an 4 concentration of manufacture, by means of which profits can only be made and dividends maintained, and prevents competition from the building of new refineries.”

This is not the first industry that has made this shameful admission. The window glass manufacturers have admitted, iu the National Glass Budget and other glass journals, that too much “protection” has made them careless and wasteful in tlieir methods, so that instead of making good use of our abundant natural opportunities —cheap gas, fuel, sand, etc., —and making the best and the cheapest glass in the world, we have become so slothful that we can make only inferior glass at nearly twice the European cost of good glass. The Budget frankly avows that if it had not been for “protection” and the absence of natural competition, the unsurpassed facilities for glass production coming from free natural gas would have given us the markets of the 'Western, if not of the Eastern, world. With protection we are still using antiquated pots instead of modern tanks, used all over Europe, and with the declining supply of natural gas we will have lost the opportunity of an age. Nature is withdrawing her bounty; protection has defeated it. Other countries less favorably situated and supplied With raw materials will continue to supply the markets that should now be ours. The woolen men claim to be in the same nasty, measly predicament. Not long ago. when they were clamoring for more protection, they were pretending that it would stimulate home competition and cause prices to decline. Now, since the jig is up with them and their shoddy claims, and considerable of their protection is to be withdrawn, they are ready and willing to go back on all past statements and to make the most shameful admissions to save as much as possible of their unconstitutional and unholy bonus. Here is what the American Wool and Cotton Reporter of Feb. 23 said:

“Were the Mills bill put in operation to-day the measure of protection afforded by it, so far as pertains to the woolen industry, would be less than would have been realized at the time the bill was formulated. Conditions have changed considerably during the past four years, and what would have been a sufficient measure of protection then would be inadequate to-day. The foreign manufacturer, Because of the obstacles of higher duties, has been forced to a lower plane of economy, while the domestic manufacturer, with a wider market than formerly to cater to, has had less incentive to restrict and economize. These conditions have widened the difference between them, and has increased the advantage the former has over the latter.”

Higher prices and slovenly methods of manufacture, then, are the heritage of thirty years of protection and high taxation. Instead of strengthening our weak industries and titting them to stand alone and to produce goods at competitive prices, it enervates them and makes them a heavier and heavier burden upon the taxed consumers. Like indiscriminate charity it increases the 4 evils it seeks to remedy. Once pauperize an industry and allow it to draw its support from honest, self-suppoiting industry and it will soon lose that self-reliance and independence which is the piainspring of success. If, as the Sugar Journal says, “small protection forces economies of management and concentration of manufacture, by means of which profits can only be made and dividends maintained,” the Journal ought to be thankful at the prospect of continuing and increasing this economic and profit-producing system, which the present Congress will surely inaugurate, by greatly reducing the amount of protection now enjoyed, or rather wasted, by their spendthrift pauper industries. They should rejoice at .the prospect of earning an honest living, and sixty millions of consumers will join with them in the chorus.—Byron W. Holt.

Why Canadians Emigrate. We are told by the Mail and Express, and other high Republican authorities, that the Canadian Government is unable to stem the exodus of its people from tbe eastern provinces into our New England and Middle States, and that, to counteract this loss, “nearly three hundred agents are constantly employed traveling about the Western States to encourage emigration to Canada, and offering $lO bonus to a head of a family and $5. for each member. Besides this, free homesteads are provided.” Yet the tide is running strong from Canada to this country and the last census shows that there are nearly 1,000,000 Canadians here. The Mail and Express says Canadians come here because “they are convinced that on this side of the dividing line lie opportunities for thrift and industry.” This is undoubtedly true. W hy, then, are

there greater opportunities for thrift and industry here? Both countries have high protective tariffs, and both have millions of unused and fertile farm and timber lands. It is not nature’s fault that opportunities are greater in this country; it is man’s fault. The artificial restriction of trade and commerce by ‘'protective” tariffs is mainly responsible for the present exodus. It would drive the oppressed out Of any country which has no greater variety of climate than has Eastern Canada. “Protect” Michigan or Maine from the- rest of this country, as Canada is now protected from it. and the cost of living will go up and wages down so much that thousands will emigrate to the other States and great offers of cash will be necessary to allure them back to their “protected” homes. The pinch of * protection is felt more in small countries, which lack a great diversification of soil and climate. Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia are being depopulated by protective tariffs, and their oppressed come to this country because it is the greatest free trade country on the globe; trade being absolutely free from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, and from Canada to Mexico. Five years of McKinleyism would cost old England one-fifth of its population and the manufacturing and commercial supremacy of the globe. One decade of high protection has started Canada on the down grade and has brought about a reaction there which it took three decades to bring about in this great country. The sentiment for annexation is growing rapidly there. On April 4 the Hon. Honore Mercier, Prime Minister of Quebec from 1886 to 1892, addressed an immense audience in Montreal,“On the Future of Canada.” He pictured the great advantages that would follow union with the United States, and advocated political independence as the first step to annexation. The meeting passed a resolution in favor of immediate independence. Practically all to be gained by annexation, of real benefit to the people, could be obtained by the removal of the two tariff walls between the countries. Canadians are respensible for one of these and could remove it any time. We will promise to remove half of our wall and to take the McKinley barbed wires off the top during the next two years. It is not likely that we will stop the good work at once, and who knows what may happen before the twentieth century arrives? Slaves who realize their condition and who could appreciate freedom, are already half free; and freemen, who do not appreciate their liberty and cannot govern themselves wisely, are half slaves. When Canadians have studied their conditions and understand the nature of their bonds they will virtually be free, even though politically and nominally subject to Great Britain.

There’s a Good Time Coming;. Our principles lead to a refusal of bounties and subsidies which burden the labor and thrift of a portion of our people. We shall challenge “wild and reckless pension expenditure.” Our Government rests on the equality before the law which is guaranteed to every citizen. —Grover Cleveland’s inaugural address. No bounties! No subsidies! Stricter pension laws and all. Fewer taxes on necessities! My goodness what a fall For the gluttons and the greedy 'uns who’ve lived up our needs! What a raking off of barnacles, what a digging up of weeds. What a cleaning out of parasites, what a hoeing out of cant. What a howl they will be setting up, and oh! my eye, what rant W T e shall hear from Dan to Beersheba, from farthest North to South, When these disgruntled, pampered hogs shall one and all give mouth. They've lived so long on other folk they felt quite well assured That for another century they’d surely be endured. And now they find they’ve got to quit, and that right mighty quick, The pain they feel Is out of all proportion to the prick. For after all they’ll get their due, as much as all the rest, But then for years they’ve fattened upon nothing bat the best; And that they now should he denied the right to filch us more Is what they didn’t bargain for, "Equality in law." Equality’s a doctrine In which they don’t believe, Unless it be the doctrine of equality to thieve An equal share in subsidies, or bounties, or a tax By which they each could richer grow and fill their treasure sack. But now we kind o’ seem to see as how them days are done. And a brighter, better, juster reign of equality’s Degun, A time in which the good old phrase, eqnalitv In law. Means what our founders meant It should, the same for rich and poor. —Jack Plain, In American Industries.

Who Ig Afraid? The Tribune remarks that “a 25 per cent, tariff on woolen goods aiarms people, quite naturally.” Indeed! What people? Are the people who wear woolens alarmed at the prospect of a reduction in the taxes upon them? Or is it the manufacturers? If so, why should they be alarmed? They will get their raw material free, as they did under the tariff of 1816-19, when the duty on manufactured goods was 20 to 25 per cent. If that was sufficient to protect this “infant manufacture” seventy-five years ago, why is it not adequate now? The duty on manufactures of wool was only 25 to 30 percent, in 1861, under the original war tariff, and but 30 to 35 per cent in 1862-63. Why should the people pay two or three times as much now?—New York World. The Hon. John De Witt Warner gives some sound advice and strikes straight from the shoulder when he says: “No one will question the right of a party to put as many recommendations in its platform as crammed the one adopted at Chicago. It was perfectly understood, however, that tariff reform was the issue we made. In that sign we conquered. If we permit ourselves to be diverted from it before our pledges are fulfilled we shall be horsewhipped at the polls the first time the people get a chance at us. ” Possibly Gov. McKinley’s recent experience nas convinced him that tbe foreigners don’t pay the tih-plate tax. Dr. W. W. Alley, who died at Moravia, N. Y., aged 91 years, was the oldest homeopathic physician in the country. He had been in continuous practice for sixty-six j ears.

WHAT WOMEN WEAR.

SOME RECENT DECREES OF DAME FASHION. An Intelligent Ch"»t About I-uce Old Combinations and Odd Effects The Neglige Cape Suggettlotu for Those Who Want to Dress Well. Styles for Spring. New York correspondence:

4 N the oraariientas ■ tion of the garSJ inents that have »■ been sketched for HaH this article, lace played an importer ant part. Its use I is general, yet a few women know how to discriminate intelligently between the many and grades,

Many women think that no lace that is not yellow is valuable; in othei words, that no “real” lace is made now, and that If you have no grandmother to give you some, there Is no chance of your getting any unless you steal it, or, perhaps, get a lucky chance to buy some. As a compromise you could get a good machine lace and wash it In coffee. This will deceive a great many people. Many believe that to refer to lace as “thread lace” is to mean that it is real, j and other women consider that there is ' no real black lace. Of course, it is not 1 necessary to know much about lace, because so few know anything, but if you want to hold your own, it is just as well to know how to chatter a little about | the genuine thing, and to be able to deplore with grace and confidence the use j of machine lace. The class of poople j who shudder at “popular music” used to be very impressive, but as soon us we all knew how to shudder in the right place the other folks ceased to be effective. I First, the mesh or network of real lace is likely to bo irregular, while that of machine lace is absolutely symmetrical. Just this much is enough to get you through to a limited extent in your criticism of lace. A certain value is attached to lace which was made before machines for lace making were invented, because such ago is an absolute

D’ALENCON.

guarantee of genuineness. But some lace is made now just as it was in the beginning. There are only three ways of making all the varieties. First, and probably oldest, with the needle; second, with bobbins or pins on a pillow; and third, with a machine. The last imitates all varieties produced by the other methods. Now for a few terms. You should refer to the net or foundation of the lace as the “reseau,” and io the pattern as the “fleur.” This will be enough to make the average person you talk with treat you and your knowledge of lace with respect. You can fill in by phrases about tho delicate reieau and the exquisite detail of the fleur. If more is needed it will be as well to know that the standard meshes are the square or diamond shaped, which arc used in Valenciennes lace, and the sixsided mesh used In point d’Alencon. Chantilly lace has an odd mesh of foursided big holes with little triangular boles between. Another name for lace made on this reseau is point de Paris. Just study that over a little, for it is somewhat mixing. There are other sorts of reseaus, but these, will do. You don’t want to go into the thing too lar, because you will run the risk of understanding too much about it and being in the position of the musical person who really does shudder at popular music. It is a great deal more comfortable to be able to know when it is correct to shudder without really wanting to. After the reseau is made, the fleur, or pattern, is worked on it. It is In the working of the pattern that the chief difference between pillow lace and needle lace lies. The latter is the choicer. It has the distinctness of outline in the fleur, while the plilow-lace is Smooth and soft in outline. By just remembering this, you can, if. you are sure the other woman does not know anything more than you do, refer at random to a sample as bobbin, pillow, or needle lace. In the last the pattern is outlined by running a thread with (he needle in and out of the meshes of the reseau.

GUIPURE

If the outline is to be very much in relief, it is either made with quite a coarse thread, or even corded with horsehair, as is done in the Point d’Aleneon. When the outline of the flpur is all done, then the rest of the fattern is made by filling in the outline. Tne point d’Alencon is ranked the queen of ail laces. It is the very choicest of needle laces. If you are well up in its characteristics, you will get through very well even on quite a detailed discussion of fine lace. D’Alencon has the greatest detail, and has to go through several stages before it is done. First, a design is prepared; then the design is traced through the holes of the leseau, and the outline thus made strengthened and emphasized by the Introduction into it of horsehair. When this is done the reseau is complicated

by twisting the threads of the meshes together here and there to make bigger holes, and thus a variety Is given to the mesh. The outlines of tho design or fleur are next filled in with a sort of button-hole stitoh, thus making a vary rich, heavy effect that is almost like embroidery, and contrasts with the delicacy of the reseau. That is a good sentence to memorize just as it stands. Be sure you are really talking about d’Alencon, though, betore you use it. Another thtng about this espeoial lace is that it is made piece by piece, and then the separate pieces are sewed together by an invisible seam—if you really want tho name of ' it, the “point de raccroc.” The making of all the pieces into one by means of the point de raccroc is called the “assemblage. " If you can get your grandmother to give you a piece of lace, and to tell you, eo that you may make no mistake, that It really is point d’Alen-

VALENCIENNES.

con, you can easily study up these points in its making, and you uro sure to get credit for knowing just us much about all the other laces. Besides, if you really get a clear idea of this queen of .laces—it is as well to become used to calling It that—you can make a fair stagger at talking about most any needle lace, because tho d’Alencon hns all tho possibilities of ail the other needle laces eomblnod. Different specimens of it will, of course, vary in beauty or vulue, according to age, delicacy of the dlflerent parts, and intricacy of design. So, even if you strike someone who is proud of having a piece of d’Alenctn you may, perhaps, crush them by remarking that were it not for the lack of graco In the fleur, the spoolmen would indeed he a lino one, or that it Is a pity that greater delicacy in the reseau had not made the beauty of tho assemblage more a matter of marvol. It is a great comfort to make a person feel mleerable that way when they ba\ e started to feeling good, and when you are sure that they don’t really know a thing more about the matter than you do. If you will read all this again and then spend a little time coaching up on some specimens, you can talk very safely about any one piece of lace, but if you wish to be more practical you will be interested in tho way tho garniture is employed in tho models sketched. A neglige cap mado of pale-blue surah, white lace, and narrow blue ribbon is the first of these. The ribbon is drawn through the crown three times, and looped behind as shown. The crown is full, and the shape is regulated by the ribbon. A pretty dress for a young matron follows. As designed, It was of grayblue sicilienne, the girdle of velvet a few shades darker, and the whole garnished with old, yellowed lace. The skirt was trimmed around the top with strips of velvet put on lengthwise at regular intervals, and trimmed with narrow lace. The lace fichu was held by a velvet bow in front and ihe ends behind fastened by tiny stick-pins. The sleeves were in two largo puffs and

were trimmed with a wide lace ruffle laid in pleats at the inner seam. The pointed evening bodice of the second picture had a full ruffle or Empire cape around the neck and the sleeves were full puffs trimmed with a wide ruffle of lace, or of the same material.

Further on the seated figure wears a neglige made of pink silk with fine white stripes. The skirt has a wide flounce at the top coming down almost half the length of the whole and edged with lace. The jacket is tight-fitting behind, but the front is loose and the lullness is confined by a ribbon belt. It is trimmed with lace und has a yoke-like arrangement of alternate strips of silk anc lace insertion, in ftont, finished with a gathered lace ruffle. The lutter forma a jabot in front and then continue! down the back, where the ends meet ic a point at about the center. A rlbbor is pas ed under the turn-down collai and is tied with a bow in front. Tighi cuffs of silk and lace insertion, trimmed with a lace ruffle, complete the sleeves The final example is a spring toile: with just a suggestion of the airiness o: summer about it. It is cut princess, and has a skirt which betokens a sensible wearer, as it clears the ground. The material is tan-colored whipcorJ. Then is a collarette of black velvet, short behind, but having tabs reaching to the bottom of the dress in front, and edged with a gathered ruffle of black lace about five inches wide, a narrower lace finishing the high standing collar. The skirl is trimmed with two ruffles of tan-cloti around the bottom and the whole costume is lined with silk. With the costume is worn a bonnet of tan straw, th< inner trim covered with black vehet It is trimmed with primroses, black lacc and an aigrette. Copyright. 18iM.

The Countess Louise Cianciana, it ii stated, now sells matches on the steps of the palace of Monte Citorio, where the Itailai meets, a body over which i,er husband presided as speaker some years ago. The Count was also one of Garibaldi’s most distinguished associates, Mayor of Borne etc., all of which is duly set forth upon a placard which the Countess wean around her heck while having matche? for sale. It Is not generally believed that Mr Gladstone smokes, but be does. It ii true that Le draws the l!ne at a cigarette.

TRAINMEN’S SIGNALS.

Upon Tlielr Right or Wrong Interpretation Depend the Lives of Thousands ot People. If you see a switchman standing on a railroad acting like a galvanized frog don't think he is a fool. He’s only earning his salary. Every time he swings his arms to aud fro he means a great many more things than the average citizen kuows anything about. He may be a sooty-looking, commonplace sort of fellow from an exterior point of view, but all the internal mechanism of his dome of thought is as clear as a bell, and as for memory—well, if a switchman didn’t have a memory like the recording angel’s there would be wrecks from Dau to Beersheba. When you lie half awake in tho berth of a Pullman, listening to the monotonous clickety-click, clickety-click that makes things melt away before your eyes in a strange unreal fashion, and woos you gently to sleep, there is a little army of switchmen scattered all along down the line, swinging their tired arms to and fro in a releutless endeavor to clear the way for you, aud when each crew has its engine or freight safely sidetracked they stand and wait for you to pass, and watch the tail lights of your sleeper fade away into the dust and the gloom. Then there is another vast deal of arm swingiog to be gone through before they can get their own train back on the main line again.

The casual observer who chances to see a switchman manipulate a train at a crowded crossing, usually fails to distinguish any method in his motions except a beckoning movement which is a world-wide sign to “come along,” or a movement just the reverse signifying “go away.’’ In reality, however, his every motion is replete with the deepest meaning. If his train is approaching' another train, or another car, which wishes to couple to it, he stands with his arms oxtended, and as tho distance grows less and less the palms of his hands are brought nearer aud nearer together, until finally, when the cars are sufficiently near to admit of the operating, he brings his hands together and then drops them to his side. The engineer, being entirely familiar witli all these various movements, regulates his pressure on the throttle by the gradually approaching hands of the switchman, as he is entirely unable to see from his station iu the cab of the engine how near he is getting to the other train. When lie sees tho hands touch each other and then drqp, ho brings his engine to a standstill. The operation of coupling is attended with considerable danger when performed by thi‘ old-fashioned pin method, and miscalculations or carelessness have brought about the deaths of n great many men between the cars. In fnct, one almost dislikes to watch a man standing calmly by the sheer, hank end of a freight car while a ponderous train rolls down upon him with irresistible force, apparently bent upon crushing him to death.

There is a loud clank, the sound of a pin rattling into its socket, übd the man steps forth unharmed, and you feel just a little bit like a fool. One of the most peculiar antics in the switchman's vocabulary is tho one ho brings into use when ho wants to make what he calls a running switch. The uninitiated sometimes speak of it as “throwing” a ear, and that expression convoys the idea very well. Tho engine puts on a high rate of speed, moving in a backward direction, and just before the cars reach the switch those that are to be transferred, which arc uncoupled, nre allowed to run by their own momentum, while tho rest of tho train is brought to a stop. The disconnected ears shoot on over the switch. Well, to bring about all this the switchman has to do a variety of things. First, with his beckoning movement, he signals the engineer to proceed backwards; then, as the ti nin nears the switch, he raises one arm high above his head, and waves it around just as Baby Cleveland waves its rattle. That means to put on steam. Then tho train must be stopped by dropping the hands to the sides, as usual. With all this backing nnd reversing, and darting hither and thither, it is very often necessary that the whistle should be blown as a warning. The switchmau watches out for all that sort of thing too, when the train is going backward, and the engineer cannot see where he is going. AVhen he thinks the whistle ought to be blown he makes a grab nt an imaginary lever and jerks away with all the zest in the world. The engineer, seeing these motions, understands immediately what is wanted, and does the whistle act in good earnest. The amount of information that a skillful man can convey by signs is wonderful. A switchman was standing at one of our local street crossings lately trying to get a train through some rather difficult manoeuvres. First, he crossed his arms, then uncrossed them and held up the index finger of his left bond, holding his arm at the same time in the direction in which he wished the train to go. Only three, or at the outside only four, very simple gestures. Yet by these movements he told the cmgineer to pull the train across the street, take out his pin and take the engine to the switch on the left side of the depot. The bane of the switch engine in New Orleans is the army of mules that daily haul cotton floats and other vehicles right under its very nose. Incidentally it may he said that the switch engine is also the banc of the mules. This faet has given rise to a peculiar, rather idiot-looking, gesture on the part of the switchmen. When they see a team coming across the track with thi.t calm oblivion of exterior things which characterizes the mule and the negro, they place their hands up by their ears and try to look as much like mules themselves as possible. It’s queer, but the engineer tumbles right away, which, after all, is the main consideration. Another gesture, which has an entirey local significance, consists of placing me finger on the eye and making a C with the index finger and thumb of the other hand. This means “go to the Illinois Central track.” The conductor also finds it a great advantage to be able to use the signals to convey his instructions to the engineer. He does it lust as the switchmen do. At night lanterns arc used b/ both conductors and switchmen, as their hands would not be visible. Swinging the lantern forward is understood by the engineer to mean “go ahead,” while the reverse motive instructs him to “come back on her.” When it is desired to have the train move cautiously, as in coupling cars, the lantern is first held up in the air and then brought down quite slowly, until the train is almost against the car to be coupled. Then it is brought down with a quick movement.

Lanterns arc also used at night by station agents to stop the train, cr “flag it down,” as they term it. To do this the lantern is swung horizontally across the track, in full view of the approaching train. The engineer expresses quite a few railroad idioms by the use of the whistle. The ideas conveyed by different blasts, or combinations of blasts, are not tho snme on all roads. One long whistle, however, indicates that the train is approaching a station, while two is tho signal to “take off brakes,” Three long whistles instructs the crew to “put brakes oil.” When it is desired to summon the station agent, the flag hoy, or any one connected with the train, four long blasts nre given, nnd four short blasts indicate that the train is to bo run backwards. On a good many railroads, besides the usual whistle indicating the approach to a station, four short whistles are given to inquire of the agent whether he has instructions for the engineer. If he fens none lie displays two red halls, and the engineer replies by two short whistles, signifying that he understands. The responsibility nttnohing to the position of telegraph operator at stations where instructions are received is very great, indeed. An operator who now occupies quite a prominent position with the Southern Pacific railroad relates tho following illustrative of this fact:

“I had fallen asleep,” said he, “under iny mosquito not, with a half-read novel iu*my hand. I was suddenly awakened by the low tic-a-tic of my instrument. “A telegrapher will hoar that sound no matter how fast asleep ho may be. They say soldiers hear the long roll when they never would hear anything else, and I suppose it is all pretty much on the same principle. Well, when I heard the thing ticking away I became wideawake in an instant, and made haste to answer. ' “ ‘You have been asleep.' “Train dispatchers have a hloftd-curd-ling way-of always knowing when a man has boon asleep. 11 ‘I know I have,’ I answered. “ ‘Take a message for train No. I began to feel decidedly nervous ns I realized that it was past the hour at which train No. was due at my station. “ ‘Wait,’ I answered, ‘her hour is past!’ Hushing out to the track I looked up and down, lint there was nothing in sight either way. Then I took my lantern aud carefully inspected the rails to see if the dewdrops were smeared together, which would lie the case if she had passed. But nature herself was against me—there wasn’t any dew. “I hastened back to tho instrument and found to my horror that the train dispatcher had arranged for her to side track at my station until the westbound train had passed. “Now, if she lmd already gone by, the two of them, jumping along at forty miles an hour, were headed right for each other! When a fellow realizes that ho has by his own carelessness, put everything in trim for a smash up and lose liis job iu tho bargain, a sickening sensation comes over him that is almost impossible to describe. “Again I heard the ticker. “ ‘lloro she is, just heaving in sight,’ came from a brother operator, who was stationed a little ways down the line, in the direction from which the train was duo “Well, I could have hugged that fellow, though I had never boon particularly partial to him before."—[New Orleans Picayune.

Facts About Asbestos.

Asbestos, which has come to bo largely uti'ized by electrical engineers, is one of the most interesting substances employed in tho arts. Many new beds of this material uro being discovered, but, except from the Canadian nnd Italian beds, the specimens secured are practically useless for manufacture. Large quantities of floss and powdered asbestos aro obtained from tho district of tho Bu»a Valley, Piedmont, Italy, and in tho second district, about thirty miles long, in the Aosta Valley, tho deposits arc said to be practically inexhaustible. A third district, which is still more important, centres at Vnltelllna, the route to which passes Milan aud Como to C'olico. The Canadian deposits aro in tho Black Lake district., between Quebec nnd Hherhrook. The asbestos bearing rock is usually some kind of n green serpentine, and in working it is first crushed in special machines so as not to destroy the fibre. The long fibre is shaken, carded and spun, much like cotton and wool, into yarns, tapes and cloths. In tho rubber department it is proofed and made into sheeting, tapes and rings for steam and other joints, or into cloth nnd millboard. A special kind of packing for high pressure cylinders, known as metallic cloth, is made by weaving together brass wire and asbestos, and is used in many marine engines.-—[New York Telegram.

The Oldest Postmaster.

Roswell Benrdsley has been postmaster at North Lansing, N. Y., since Juno 28, 1828. He was bom in 1803, is 83 years old and has served us postmaster continuously for sixty-four yeurs. He was appointed during the Administration of President John Quincy Adams. He was appointed to the office upon the urgent recommendation of William 11. Seward, then a young politician and a partner of Mr. Beardsley's brothor, Nelson. During all these years Mr. Beardsley has conducted his office to the entire satisfaction of the public nnd he has never been reprimanded for failure to perform his duties. He gives the post office his personal attention every day, ns well as his little store. His patrons all love him and hope his life may be spared for many years. Nobody ever sought to get the office away from Mr. Beardsley. His health is good nnd he euts three good meals every clay with perfect regularity. He has never been in Washington. The post office over which Mr. Beardsley presides pays him an annunl compensation of $l7O. The first year he held it the pa> was $19.53. Mr. Beardsley has never failed to make out his quarterly report with his own hand.—[New York Press.

A Freshet as a Ghoul.

A large number of human skulls and various human bones, apparently of some unknown rfTce of people, were brought down by the Anderson Iliver, in Mendocino County, California, two weeks ago dur ng a freshet, and landed on a sandbar at the mouth of the river. There are no reports of washouts ol „ny nature to account for the presence of these rebes, and it is thought the river unearthed somewhere in its course the burying ground of some prehistoric races The skulls do not appear to be those either oi Indians or white people.—[New York Sun. The United State* produce 47,000,000 tons of hay.

RELLABLE RECIPES.

Hashing Potatoes. —A dainty way of hashing potatoes is as follows: Put a tahlespoonful and a half of butter in a fryingpan. Chop up six cold boiled potatoes, season them with salt and peppier and moisten them with about six tablespoonfuls of cream. Spread the moistened potatoes in the frying pan as soon as the butter is thoroughly heated. Draw the saucepan toward the hack of the stove, where the potatoes will slowly brown. In half an hour examine them and if they are fully browned, fold them over like an omelet and serve them. Another way is to jircpare the potatoes as just described, and spread them in a mound on a small meat platter instead of in a spider. Two tablespoonfuls of Parmesan cheese, and the same amount of tine soft breadcrumbs nre then sprinkled over them with bits of butter, and they are then browned in the oven until they are a fine golden color. Fruit Budding, Apricot Sauce.— Mix together, and then rub through a sieve, one pint of flour, three tablcpoonfula of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt and two tablespoon fuls of baking powder. Into this mixture rub three tablespoonfuls of butter, and then add a halfpint of milk. Beat tho dough for about half a minute; then spread a thin layer of it in a well-buttered pudding dish or mould that, will hold about three pints. Fill the dish, say, with peaches, pared and • cut in halves (three pints), and sprinkle half a cupful of sugar over them. Spread the remainder of the dough over tho fruit. Bako for forty minutes in an oven that is rather hot at first, but in which the heat is reduced after the first ten minutes. Tho pudding may be served in tho dish. Apples or any kind of fruit in season are nice in this pudding. If apples bo used the pudding must be baked for an hour. A Minor ok Meat. —One of the most satisfactory methods of rc-serving a cold beefsteak or small pieces of a cold roast of veal, beef or mutton is in a mince. To make this, remove all the fat from the meat and chop tho lean pieces fine and season the mince with a little salt and pepper and cover it. If the meat is beef make the following gravy for it: Fry two small onions or one largo one in a tahlespoonful of butter until it is a fino brown. Add a cup and a half of stock or a cup of brown gravy. Stir in half a cup of stewed tomatoes and six mushrooms cut line, if convenient. Let this gravy cook about ten nilnutos nt the back of the stove, where it will be covered. Season it with salt and pepper at the end of this time, and then add three-quar-ters of a pound of cold minced beef. Let the mince boil up once, then dish it upon a very hot platter. Surround it with tiny cups of boiled rice moulded in shnpe by being pressed into buttered timbale moulds, or with some roasted tomatoes,, or with six pieces of dry bread cut heart-shape and dipped in melted butter nnd browned in a hot oven. If the mushrooms and tomatoes are not used, half a small green pepp6r (a pickle onewill do) may ho fried with the onion and added to tho ntince. Strew a teaspoonfill of minced parsley over the mince of beef if tho pepper is used. This mince is not browned, hut is served moist in a low pyramidal form on tho hot platter.

The Shah’s Palace,

The King’s palace in Teheran, Persia,, where he resides in the winter, is part of tho inclosuro known as the Ark. In this enclosure are all tho buildings of tho state, provided for several departments of state. Tho principal structure of the palace is a very high building in the general style of Egyptian architecture. From the high stories of this queer place the Hhah has u clear view of nil his palace grounds and much of tho city, aud is limself unseen owing to the lattice-like work of brick whicu serves as a screen to all the passages. At night the Shall occupies one of tho high chambers. Tliia is guarded night and day by sentinel.-.. No one is permitted to enter ex cent by the King’s order. When he leaves the royal grounds for t» ride or drive, as he does nearly every day, he is esoorted by a large number of horsemen. The cortege is preceded by several hundred cavalry; these art followed by bcarors of gold or silver mounted maces; after those there is along vacant space between the van aud the rear guard. In the centre the king rides or walks uloac. The rear guard is made up as the van. The solitary position of the Hhah and the silence form an impressive and significant phase of court ceremony. On tho right and left of the king, yet as far from him as the street will jierinit, his Shahteers or king’s lances walk. They are dressed in scarlet aud grotesque uniforms. They are the king’s public executioners, always attending him with instruments of torture nnd death, ready to do his bidding.—[New York Advertiser.

His Cheek Was Altered.

One of the greatest hanks of New York has used for some years a patent paper for its checks, for which it has been claimed that alterations are impossible without immediate revelation upon the paper itself. A depositor in this bank, desiring to test this claim, gave a check to Mr. Sice, saying to him that he would pay him SOO if he would alter the writing upon that check and substitute something else for it so as to defy discovery. Mr. Slee declared that recent advances in chemistry would make such alterations possible, and a day or two later he took the check to this man with every trace of the original writing, exoept the signature, removed, and new writing substituted in such a manner as to defy discovery either by the naked eye, the microscope; or by chemistry.—[Atlanta Constitution,

The Production of Mercury.

The production of mercury reaches about 53,030 to 60,000 frascos per annum. The frascos are enormous bottles of cast iron, which contain four arrobes of about twenty-five pounds eaoh. Each bottle, which measures twenty-two centimeters in height by six in width, weighs, when filled, about 100 pounds. The workmen ut present employed number about 2,000. There are also 1,000 workmen who are employed out of the mineswith machinery, furnaces, transports and other works.—[Chicago Herald. The Vast-Dying Hawailaus. HThe natives of Hawaiia are supposed to be of the Malay race. At the time of Captain Cook, the discoverer of the Sandwich Islands, it is thought that thepopulation was about 800.000. War and) disease, the comitants of civilization, have reduced the population, until thecensus of 1830 showed a total of 89,990,. of which but 84,486 were of theaboriginal race. It is l>clieved that they were originally cannibals. Except for this feature, they seem to hava bad man; excellent traits.