Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1893 — Page 6

®|je JtmocratitStnlinc! RENSSELAER, INDIANA. J. W. McEWEN, Publisher

ALONG THE FRONTIER

MEANS ADOPTED TO COLLECT TAXES ON IMPORTS. Intricate System of Invoices, Affidavits and Official Papers—How Goods Are Shipped Through the Custom Houses—But Little Tuner lion of Land Frontiers. Typical Custom Houses. When a foreign vessel comes to this country it comes as an alien and a stranger. Its only rights are secured to it by treaty. . Unless a ship seeking to land at one of our ports has its flag flying to denote its nationality, and unless it has its clearance papers from the foreign ports from which it sailed or can account for them, or, in short, unless the vessel can produce its passports and be properly introduced, it cannot be admitted to land and unload merchandise in the ports of this country. A foreign merchant desiring to ■hip goods to the United States must first go before the American Consul residing at the port from which he intends to ship the merchandise and make oath to the kind, quality and quantity of the articles he wishes to ship to the United States. This affidavit is called a “consular certificate” and is attached to the invoice of goods the merchant is going to export. Three of these invoices, properly certified, are made out, one of which is kept by the Consul, one sent to the Collector of the Port to which tne goods are to be ■hipped and one given to the exporting merchant, who sends it to his customer in the United States. The invoice which goes to the Collector of the Port in this country is sent by the captain of the vessel which carries the freight listed in the invoice. After the vessel crosses the ocean

INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE AT EL PASO.

and is within fifteen leagues of the main shore it ie possible tnat it may run across one of Uncle Sam’s revenue cutters. If the ship is in the regular channel and making directly for port the revenue cutter will not molest it. But if the vessel is out of the beaten track, or has no colors flying, or if there is anything rakish or suspicious looking about it, the revenue cutter will signal it to “bring to,” as coming to a halt is called in sailor parlance. To make this signal the revenue cutter runs up 'the revenue jack or fires a gun across the bows of the incoming vessel. When the vessel comes" to a halt a boat is lowered from the cutter and two officers are sent aboard the •hip to make an examination. If the captain can show his clearance and other ship, papers, and they are found to be regular, he is permitted to go on, otherwise the vessel is placed under arrest and taken to the nearest port. A Revenue Tug. Having passed the revenue cutters, the vessel in some of the larger seaports meets a revenue tug just after entering the harbor. These little boats ■team out to meet the big ship, and turning around run up alongside of the •hip while it is slowly moving toward the landing place. A ladder is run up from the tug and two inspectors are placed qn board, who remain on the vessel until it lands and the cargo has been unloaded and the duties assessed. In ports where there are no revenue tugs the inspectors go aboard when the vessel first lands, but in either case no one on board the ship is permitted to go ashoye and no part of the cargo can be unloaded until the officers have made an examination of the ship’s manifest, and clearance papers. After the vessel lands the Captain must, within twenty-four hours thereafter, “enter” his vessel —that is, he

INITIAL MONUMENT MARKING MEXICAN BOUNDARY ON PACIFIC COAST

mast report to the Collector of the Port, delivering to him copies of the manifest and clearance papers. To do this he first deposits his clearance papers with the Consul of the nation from wsich the ship sailed. The Consul examines the papers and if they are regular he gives the Captain of the vessel a certificate to this effect. The Captain,then gives the Collector this •ertificate, which is official evidence that the vessel is from the country that it plaims to be. Besides delivering his clearance papers to the Collector the-Captain also delivers to him the manifest of his ship, containing a list of the jpassengers on board the vessel and the invoice of goods sent to the merchant in this country, which it will be remembered was indorsed by an American Consul in a foreign port before the goods were shipped to this country. The Captain must make oath that his manifest is in every way correct to the best of his knowledge and belief.. When these regulations have been complied with the Collector issues an ordey for the delivery of the cargo. But -before the importing merchant or consignee can secure his goods he must go before the Collector and secure a permit allowing him to unload his freight. To do this he goes to the Custom House and produces his invoices and bill of lading. The invoice is compared with the invoice in possession of 'the Collector and which was sent to him by the Consul residing in the counter from which the goods were shipped. Tf>« bill of entry, which is presented br importing merchant, is also bmpared with the bill of entry which

I the captain gives to the Collector at I tne same time that he does his manifest and clearance papers. These papers are then taken to the Naval Office, where the work is verified. When these papers are returned to the Custom House and found to be regular the Collector makes out what is known as an “estimate” of the amount of duties that should be paid. He also names a certain number of packages that must be sent to the public stores for appraisement in order that the rate of duty may be accurately ascertained. After these formalities are through with the importer pays the estimated duty on the goods he wishes to transfer immediately to his store or ship to other merchants in the interior of the country. He may, if he wishes, get two permits, one allowing him to have immediate possession of the goods upon which he has paid a duty and the other

FRONTIER CUSTOM HOUSE AT LOCHIEL. ARIZ.

to allow him to remove the goods on which the duty is not paid to a bonded warehouse When a merchant imports a cargo of goods which he does not wish to place immediately upon the market, he can store his merchandise in a bonded warehouse by getting a permit to do so and by giving a bond to secure the payment of the duties. The bond is to the effect that if the merchandise be withdrawn within three years from the date of importation and the duties paid then, the bond is to be void. If merchandise is removed within a year after being placed in bond, then only the regular duties are imposed, but if it remains in bond longer than one year an extra charge of 10

per cent, upon the regular duty is added. All meredandise placed in a bonded warehouse must be withdrawn within three years or the goods will be sold to pay the duties. The Mexican “Free Zone.*’ At ports other than seaports the methods employed in collecting duties are the same as those just described, except, of course, that there are no revenue cutters or tugs. The manner

POLICEMAN OF THE SHORE.

of collecting customs at some of the frontier custom houses is quite informal. This is especially true of the customs offices on the Mexican frontier and on the boundary line between the States and t|ie British provinces. There is a peculiarity about the Mexican frontier that is entirely its own. It consists in what is known as the “free zone,” and is situated in old Mexico. Several years ago the Mexican Government passed a law setting apart a narrow strip of territory on the boundary line between that country and the United States to be a “zona libra," or free zone, into which goods and merchandise could bp shipped from any part of the world duty free. The object of this legislation was to build up a narrow strip of Mexican territory at the expense of the United States frontier. This piece of strategy by the Mexican Government is accomplishing its purpose, because the United States is debarred from retaliating with a similar law, for the reason that it would be contrary to the provision of the Constitution which declares that “all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.” The free zone is a strip of territory twenty miles wide on the Mexican side of the line, and extends from Matamoras to Tijnana. The United States frontier adjoining old Mexico is poorly guarded. There are custom houses at Brownsville, Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso, Tex., and at Nogales, N. M. Mounted inspectors patrol this part of the frontier, but they only act as detectives, and there are not enough of them to guard properly the boundary line between this country and the free zone in Mexico. It is doubtful if any ordinary number of men could guard the Mexican frontier. The barren

IRON POST ON THE CANADIAN LINE.

plains in the northern part of Texas and in the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona afford great protection to the smugglers Usually natural impediments make smuggling unprofitable. But it is the reverse in this instance. To the professional smuggler this sterile and wild tract of country is

f a bridge between Mexico and the inhabited part of the United - States, which, if he can but safely cross, he feels that he is secure from pursuit and capture. The Canadian Frontier. The frontier between Canada and the United States is not patrolled in any manner. The only guards are the iron posts which stand like sentinels on the boundary line at a distance of one mile apart. These posts mark the line between the United States and Canada as settled by the Ashburton treaty in 1842. The custom houses are at the railroad stations on or near the line. Sometimes the custom house is three or four miles from the line. The collectors at these ports do not exert themselves very much in the way of guarding the frontier. In some instances they lend a helping hand to the smuggler. A collector of a small post on the New York frontier told the writer of a scheme he had devised to help the “boys" bring horses from Canada to the United States. He talked freely about the matter, and seemed to think that he owed these courtesies to the “boys” for having indorsed him for the office of collector. Along the New York and Vermont frontier, every few miles, can be found what is known as the “line store.” These stores are built on the boundary line, part of the store being in Canada and part in the United States. The chief object of these stores is to avoid the payment of the Government license required of retail dealers in liquor. Another object is to avoid the customs duties on such articles as are generally sold in country stores. They are closely watched, however, and not much is done in the way of evading customs duties. But as respects the avoidance of the Government license tax, the scheme is almost perfection itself. When the American customer comes to buy whisky he must go to the Canada side of the store, but when a Canadian wants his jug filled he must go over to the counter on the American side. Saturday afternoons and rainy days it fs a common sight to see the lines of customers going and coming, one from Canada and the other from the United States. The proprietor escapes paying a tax in the United States for the reason that he does not sell liquor to a citizen of this country on American soil and the Government cannot bring a foreigner into this country as a witness.

The country along the northern boundary of New York and Vermont is not very thickly settled, and the people living there are are rather oldfashioned; yet, in a quiet and prosy way, there is a good deal of smuggling going on. It is a wonder that this part of the frontier is not better guarded. There are no police regulations whatever. The inspectors at the railway stations go to bed and to sleep at night, and the bars between Canada and the United States are left down, with no one to watch them. That the smugglers living along the line make the most of this opportunity is a matter of common notoriety in this part of the country.

BRIGANDS AND HIGHWAYMEN.

Better Police Protection in Rural Districts Needed. Most Americans cherish the singular superstition that brigandage and highway robbery are only possible in depraved backward countries like Spain, Sicily or Greece, and that an English-speaking country with courts and the common law must necessarily be free from these pests. This is nonsense. Brigands, footpads and highwaymen will spring up in any land where an efficient police is absent. They swarmed over England a century and a half ago, they were frequent in France a little earlier, and they were to be found over most of Europe in the last century. They are certain to appear, in this country and become a wide-spread pest unless there is a radical change in the American habit of keeping the people’s peace. At present, it is left to keep itself. Great tracts of this country are left without any protection to travel, ex. cept the sheriff and the constable. City people have very little idea of the insecurity which exists in many American rural districts. There are many counties in New York State, and some doubtless in this State, where it would not be considered prudent for an unattended woman to walk in broad day along a lonely country road. The farms on which farmers are in constant fear of tramps can be numbered by the thousand. While abroad, even in countries like Spain and Italy, the rural districts are given the benefit of a police patrol paid for by taxes or by the wealth and trade of the cities, here our thinly settled farming neighborhoods are left to protect themselves as best they can. The wonder is, not that a train is now and then' held up, but that this does not happen a great deal oftener. Depend upon It, these modern highway robberies in the shape of train robberies will go on increasing untH our States establish a permanent rural police—Philadelphia Press.

Senseless Display.

When diamond aigrets are used as bonnet pins and gemmed and enameled watches are flimsily and ostentatiously fastened on bodices, it is not strange that thieves should find occupation among the tens of thousands that flock to the Fair daily. If good taste—that necessarily revolts against a needless display of costly ornaments in such places—will not induce women to leave jewels at home and to wear watches less obtrusively, conscience ought to have some weight with them. Many a thief has been made so by opportunity. It is tempting the weak to carry expensive gems where a little stratagem is all that is required to seiae and conceal them. It is putting a premium on dishonesty to parade bijouterie in a manner tq make employment of detectives necessary, where simplicity of dress would be at once more dignified and less dangerous.—Chicago Herald.

Mourning.

The English period of mourning for a father-in-law is twelve months, ten months black, two months half mourning; crape is seldom worn, although the crape period was formerly six months. For a parent the period is the same as above. The longest period for a brother Is six months, five months black, one month halfmourning. The crape period was formerly three months; it is now almost discarded. The shortest period is. four months black, no half mourning. We may remark that the period es mourning for a father-in-law is often shortened to six' months when relatives reside at a considerable distance from each other. ‘

BETTER NOT EAT ’EM.

THE OLD TOADSTOOL TEST IS OUT OF FAVOR. There Are So Many Varieties of These Fungi that Picking by Amateurs Should Be Discouraged—The Common Mushroom—Beware of the Deadly Toadstool! How to Know a Mushroom. So numerous have been the fatalities of late from eating poisonous toadstools under the impression that they were genuine mushrooms, that it becomes a matter of the greatest consequence to have a correct understanding as to the difference between the healthful and the dangerous article. There are in this country about 120 different varieties of fungi, and it is safe to assert that over 100 varieties are either unhealthful or positively poisonous. It is extremely difficult to tell the difference, and

DELICIOUS MUSHROOMS.

even experienced farmers and dealers are at times deceived. There are, however, a few classes of mushrooms about which there can be no mistake, and the only safe rule is to touch no fungi outside these well-known varieties. It may be generally stated, however, that the mushroom has an agreeable odor and taste, while the toadstool is acrid to the palate, and gives out a heavy scent that is far from pleasant. The genuine mushroom Is plumper, rounder and softer than the toadstool. The latter, although at times very large, has the appearance of what might be termed a hungry growth. While the surface of the mushroom is scarcely ever regular, there is a smooth silkiness about the skin of the cap which is not found in the toadstool. In tlie mushroom the “gills” are fuller than in the toadstools. The “gills” are the delicate filaments beneath the convex cap which correspond in a measure to the ribs of an umbrella. A toadstool is usually taller in proportion to its weight than a mushroom, while the stem is thinner, darker and more wiry. Pink gills mark the bestknown species of mushrooms, but

HORSE MUSHROOMS.

there are toadstools, too, that have pink gills, although the tint is not quite so delicate. The toadstool can usually be detected under the influence of salt, which brings out the evil flavor and makes the taste more bitter. The fungus should be placed cap down and the salt inserted in the gills. Some farmers say silver is a sure test, but this is doubtful. The plan is to place a silver spoon or coin in the stew, and if it becomes tarnished the fungi are pronounced toadstools. If the silver retains its bright color they are declared to be mushrooms. There are healthy mushrooms in which the gills are purple, rust colored and black, but it is not safe for a novice to experiment with them. The Common Mushroom. There can be no mistake about the common mushroom, as the most plentiful variety is termed. It is the principal one of the three or four species that are cultivated. The common mushroom has a fine flavor, and is nutricious and highly healthful. It has a white, firm stem, fleshy cap and pink gills. It never grows high. When the cap begins to expand the gills are pale, but gradually they assume a pink hue. When grown in the open air the pink color

POISONOUS TOADSTOOLS.

begins to show itself the moment the sun strikes. This is the best time to pluck them. When they grow older the gills assume a chocblate color and the flavor deteriorates. Later on the gills turn black, and then they are unfit for food. There Is a suggestion of a delicate fleshy taste In the common mushroom when cooked fresh. Another healthy variety is known as the horse mushroom, from its great size. The horse mushroom has a big hollow stem, with a broad, pendulous ring just below the gills and a slightly conical cap. The gills are a brownish white, and never the delicate tint of the common mushroom. France Supplies New York. Although the varieties of fungi are numbered by the hundred, only those mentioned stand in sufflclently high estimate to receive the attention of cultivators, and the common mushroom takes first place. Mushrooms are cultivated in caves kept at a temperature ranging from 60 to 70 degrees, and they require no sunlight. In recent years several such caves have been built by rich Ameri-

cans to supply their private tables. Jay Gould had one at Irvington, and so had Cyrus W. Field, and Levi P. Morton now maintains one at Rhinecliff. In these caves the mushrooms lare grown all the year round. There need be no alarm about mushrooms secured at respectable restaurant*, for they are all imported from Paris in sealed tin cases. All are cult!vated, and none of the wild varieties are handled. Outside the walls of Paris there are over twenty miles of mushroom caves, and the Paris market is supplied daily with 3,000 pounds of cultivated mushrooms.

HE ROBBED THE MINT.

Henry S. Cochran, Who Stole Over 8100,000 from the Government. Henry S. Cochran, who confessed that he stole over SIOO,OOO worth of gold bullion from the government, has for forty years been employed as Weighing Clerk In the Philadelphia Mint. The vault from which the bullion was extracted was sealed in 1878, and not until it was opened recently was the theft discovered. Ever since the vault was sealed Mr. Cochran has been engaged in taking the gold. By means of a crooked wire he pulled the bullion bars from the top of a pile where they were placed crosswise like railroad ties. When they fell on the floor he would, by means of his hook, pull the bars to the iron latticed door, the bottom of which was a little loose on one side. As the gold bars only weigh from twelve to fifteen pounds each, he could carry them home secreted in his lunch basket. His later stealings Mr. Cochran hid in a ventilator loft of the mint, and here the gold was discovered after his confession.. Some of the gold he sent to himself at the mint by express, and when it arrived he had it coined. When Secretary Carlisle’s order was received ordering the coining of the gold bullion in the mint, Cochran manifested great uneasiness, and even went to Washington and begged the mint authorities there to persuade the Secre-

HENRY S. COCHRAN.

tary to countermand his order. This, they told him, was impossible, and Mr. Cochran returned home. Suspicion was aroused bj' Mr. Cochran’s course of action and a detective was sent to Philadelphia from Washington. To him Mr. Cochran confessed his crime; $134,093.40 is the exact value of the bullion taken.

Fortune in the Field.

Recent experiments point to the growth of a new and profitable industry from the prolific scrub growth of the Florida forests and fields. It has been proved that the leaf of the saw palmetto can be ground into a pulp which makes an excellent article of hollow-ware for domestic and other uses, and the present experiments are expected to prove the adaptability of this material to the making of all kinds of paper. For some time past the peculiar cabbagelike substance in the txfp of the cabbage palmetto has been used with the tender tops as well, as a fiber in the manufacture of parchment. It is now proposed toobtain cheappaper fiber from the ordinary scrub plant. Some of this pulp has been successfully worked up into pails, tubs, basins and other hollow-ware. The supply of saw palmetto is practically inexhaustible in Florida. Millions of acres are covered with it, and when cut down to the ground it grows up again two or three times a year. A crop that grows without cultivation and in such very large quantities blds fair to have “millions in it”

Anecdotes of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The succession of the Duke of Edinburgh to a ducal throne on the continent has set the papers to telling stories about him. One is, that when commanding the Galatea he called in plain clothes on an admiral; who rebuked him with the stiff greeting: “I should have been very happy to receive your royal highness on any other occasion, but unhappily at this moment I am expecting a visit from the captain of the Galatea.” The duke went back to his ship and put on his uniform, Another story is, that when traveling in Canada he had a guide who had served his brother, and who remarked one day: “The Prince of Wales gave me a splendid gold watch, sir.” “Indeed!” said the duke, “that’s more than he ever did for me.”

Elixir of Youthful Spirits.

“As I was walking up and down my room the other day,” said a man, “wrapped in thought and absorbed in care, with head lowered and hands clasped behind me, I heard a tittering, and looking back I saw my children following me, each with bowed head and clasped hands; they had tried hard to be very solemn, but had found it quite impossible. I could not help laughing myself when I saw them, but I picked up my burden and marched on. Promptly the children fell in again and marched after me; when I turned a corner I saw them tagging on as before. We all laughed again, and then the children and I played soldier for a while. When we got through with that I found that my serious friend care had gone away.”—New York Sun.

Milk for Burns.

A French physician has obtained good results in dressing burns with milk. Compresses are soaked with milk and laid on the burn, to be renewed night and morning. An extensive burn on the leg was healed in this manner. Two days reduced it in size from 14 to 7 centimeters; at the end of three days it measured but 2J centimeters in diameter. Another burn which had been treated for eight days with olive oil and oxide of zinc healed rapidly under a simple milk dressing.

INDIAN COURTSHIP.

How the Young Ute Brave Woo, Hi* Inamorata. Among the Ute Indians of Colorado- polygamy is practiced to little extent owing to the nearly equal number of sexes. Several men, however, have two wives and a few have three. All the wives sometimes live in one tent with the husband, but it is customary to have a separate tent for each wife and her children. The men marry at about 18 years of age, the women from 14 to 16. Courtship is of short duration. A brave, after falling in love with a girl, will don his best clothes and feathers, paint his fape in the brightest colors, load himself down with beads and ornaments, and then frequent the wicki-

AN INDIAN MAIDEN’S “YES.”

up of the family of his inamorata. He will converse volubly with the girl’s relatives, But affect a profound indifference toward her, often not noticing her when she speaks to him. She and her friends understand the significance of these tactics, and the man’s availability and desirability as a husband are discussed. The girl’s parents may endeavor to dissuade her from the proposed alliance, but by long-established tribal custom the final decision is in her own hands, and she may marry to suit herself. If a man believes his suit is looked upon with favor, he goes upon a hunt, and returns after he has killed a deer. With the body of the deer slung to his horse he rides to the wickiup where dwells the object of his longing, ties his horse to a tree near the tent, and goes in, often »not noticing the girl. If the girl has decided to reject him she pays no heed to him, but if she accepts him she goes out to his horse, waters and feeds it, unstraps the deer and cares for the meat and skin, cooks some of -the meat and invites him to partake of it with her, and by so doing she has concluded both the engagement anc marriage.

WARDING OFF CHOLERA.

How the Superstitious Persians Ward Of» the Plague. The Persians resort to curious rites for the purpose ,T averting the at tacks of the cholera. One of the most widely practiced of these is that of passing under the Koran, fwo elders stand opposite each other, holding between them a scroll of the Koran, wrapped in a silken scarf.

WARDING OFF CHOLERA.

Under this swinging talisman the peasants pass one by one, and then go home, convinced that the cholera will not be able to touch them. The Persians stick to these ancient ceremonials in spite of the lact that the epidemic Is working sad havoc among them.Q While the cholera is daily carrying off hundreds upon hundreds of victims, the philosophic subject of the Shah smokes his pipe, mutters his prayers and speaks contentedly of the “decrees of fate. ”

Queer Language.

Another queer language is the finger-speech, as it may be called, of Oriental traders. It is largely employed on the east coast of Africa. The parties engaged in conversation by this method clasp each other’s hand beneath the capacious sleeve worn in the East. If they are wearing garments without sleeves, then one will unroll his turban, and under the folds of it they will carry on the bargaining in which they are engaged. The reason for adopting this secret Intercourse is simple. In the East, all business is transacted in the open air. The idle bystanders have a good deal to say, and are free with advice to both buyer and seller. The etiquette of the country requires tha( advice so given be thankfully received. It would become a great hindrance to trade were it not for some device to keep negotiations private.

Bicycle Engine.

“A bicycle fitted out with a small chemical tank and a fire ax is being experimented with in Boston,” says a paper there. “The practical value of the experiment cannot be estimated at present. The machine is being tried by one of the men, who is a wheelman, and for whom it was made. It is a lady’s light roadster, with cushion tires, and, with its whole outfit, weighs about 60 pounds. The chemical tank, fixed between the head of the machine and the seat, holds about two gallons of chemical, which amounts as an extinguisher to twelve pails of water.”

Editor Stead, of the Review of Reviews and Borderland, has taken up a new fad. He is booming a new Jag cure and advertises for “half a dozen first-class drunkards—confirmed, hopeloss, gin-sodden dipsomaniacs,” upon whom to experiment. With such a wealth of material as the House of Lords and the London Board of Aidermen close at hand Mr. Stead will probably have no difficulty in securing what he?jvants. A gas meter never lets grass grow under its feet.

OUR BUDGET OF FUN.

HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DOINGS HERE AND THERE. Joke* and Jokelet* that Are Supposed to Have Been Recently Born—Saying* and Doing* that Are Odd, Curious, Mid Laughable—The Week's Humor. Let Us AU Laugh. It Is a wise railroad stock that knows its own par just at this crisis. —Siftings. - London’s constant fog may be caused by the continuous reign.— Dallas News. Madam Rumor seems to have no trouble in getting currency.—Galveston News. The perpetually irascible man is known by his standing choler.— Boston Courier. Caught on the fly—the housekeeper who doesn’t use screens.— Lowell Courier. If a hen goes to roost on a roost every night, isn’t she a rooster?— —Chester Times. One characteristic of good old Elijah was his raven-ous appetite.— Cleveland Plain Dealer. All sorts of people were ready for the Cherokee stripe It was not a dress affair.—Picayune. When a business house “settles” it’s proof of its having a firm foundation.—Yonkers Gazette. When the dealers put down the prices on peaches the women put them up.—Boston Globe. People who are always scheming generally pay double for what they get.—Milwaukee Journal. While vacation always begins with a V it always ends with a scarcity of them.—Baltimore American. A wise editor wants to know why people say a man “feels his oats* when he only feels his rye.—Siftings. The ragpicker seldom grumbles. He, of all men, is content to take things as he finds thenL —Buffalo Courier. It is only fair that when a patient has faith in a doctor the doctor should trust the patient.—Philadelphia Record. Jack: “I told her I would take care of tyer always.” Tom: “What did she say?” Jack: “Take care, sir.”—Vogue. Host (who has trod on the old lady’s skirt): Oh, forgive me, you see it’s my natural instinct to detain you.—Tid-Bits. It’s a rather remarkable thing that we can see through almost any kind of glass but a glass eye.—Philadelphia Record. “Why does Snagsby keep his hair cut so short?” “Because he’s getting bald, and he won’t have it long.”— Philadelphia Record. Mulliur—A fight is often called a “mill,” isn’t it? Kild uff—Yes, and prize-fighters are usually wind millers.—Detroit Free Press. Some people are too kind to tell the truth. If you ask one of them to lend $1 he will declare he hasn’t a cent.—Galveston News. Speaking of slow-going people, the man in charge of the watch counter in a jewelry store is generally behind the times.—Buffalo Courier. We are told the quadrille is going out of fashion. For all its reverses the waltz will now have its turn at the top.—Philadelphia Times. Young Mr. Sapley—l wish I could get me a hat that was suited to my head. Miss Palisade Why don’t you try a soft hat?—Clothier and Furnisher.

“And yet, ” said the ice dealer, as ne shoved up the price another notch, “people think there is no such thing as a cold snap in summer!”—Washington Star. A good breeze is essential for a yacht race, and it is no wonder that the owners of the boat find it hard in these times to “raise the wind.”— Lowell Courier.

A high note is a very nice thing in its place, but when the entire choir is a l at C it is hot an unnatural wish that some of them might go down.— Boston Transcript. The Behring Sea arbitrators might have had the consideration to state which side won before separating. It would have saved much discussion.—Toronto Empire. Queen Victoria has a mild mania for photographs, but nothing bar pleased her so much of late as the Lords’ negative of the home rule bill. —Philadelphia Ledger. An up-town youth is now a firm believer in dreams. The other night he dreamed of a conflagration, and the next day his employer “fired* him.—Philadelphia Record. Sociable Teuton (to waiter) — “Wle gehts?” Hasty waiter (yelling towards the kitchen) —“Wheat cakes!* S. T.—“Nein! nein!” H. W—“ You will be lucky if you get three. ”—Newport News. The Professor (to hostess) —“Thank you so much for a most delightful evening! I shall indeed go to bed with pleasant recollections, and yod will be the last person I shall think of."—San Francisco Argonaut.

Draught Animals.

A French scientist has just proved by experiment that the motive power or animals is a series of jerks, which consequently cause great waste of labor. He suggests that horses should be harnessed with elastic traces, as by this means the resistance would be overcome. It is well known that bargemen have their barges drawn with long ropes, the reason being, the longer the rope the greater the scope for elasticity.

What Plants Are Fragrant.

Plants with white blossoms have a larger proportion of fragrant species than any others; next comes red, then yellow and blue; after which, and in the same order, may be reckoned violet, green, orange-, brown and black. The flowers of spring aie white and highly fragrant; those of summer are red and yellow and less fragrant; those of autumn and. winter are darker, and with still less perfume Rio Jaserio was completely taken with Admiral Mello’s shell game.