Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1893 — Page 5

EIDER DUCK FARMS.

FACTS AB'iUT ONE OF ICEIiAND’B LEADING INDUSTRIES. When the Mother Prepares to Set She Covers the Eggs with DoWn from . Her own Breast—This the Farmer Steals and Sells.

There are pleasanter capitals to reside in than Reykjavik, the chief town of Iceland. All the available spaoe on the shore not taken up with houses is covered with codfish, "drying in the sun, and giving out an intolerable stench. All the rocks, palings and even the roofs of the houses themselves are covered with these gleaming testimonies of the city’s chief occupation or trade. Other products of the place are eider down, horses and hot water. One of the larger eider duck farms is situated on a small island in the bay, and, with the permission of the owner, can be visited by strangers.

Not muoii agricultural labor or ingenuity is expended by the eider duck farmer upon hia property. It consists for the most part of a large open field of stunted grass, which has been blown by the wind and worked by the action of the weather into round hammocks, such as may be frequently met with all over the barren and devastated country of Iceland. In the reeesses, and holes and cavitias between lhe hammocks the eider ducks may be seen sitting on their nests. Of these there are several scores, and the birds themselves when setting are perfectly tame, some of them even allowing a stranger to stroke them with the hand. { They are not all hatched at the same time, and many are still in the egg when others are hatched and swimming about in the sea. The drake, as is so frequently the case with the male bird, is a handsome, showy creature, with much white in his plumage. He is excessively shy and wary, while the female, whose plumage is brown and glossy, is, on the contrary, tame and confiding. Theduek lays from fiye to six eggs at the beginning of June, and it is no unusual thing to find from ten to sixteen eggs in one nest, together with two females, who ait either at intervals, or, if necessary, both together at the same time, and, strange to say, seem to agree remarbably well with one another. The period of laying lasts from six to seven weeks, and the birds are in the habit of laying three times in different places. From the first and second of these both the down and 'the eggs are taken away, but from the last it is very seldom that the farmer removes either. Should he do so with any degree of persistency the birds would desert the locality, and he is not suoh a fool as to destroy the duck with the golden eggs. In some cases the owner resides on or near the farm. In this particular instance he visited the island from the mainland once a week at least. So soon as he and his men arrive at the nest they carefully removed the female, and take away the superfluous down and eggp. The duck immediately begins to lay afresh, and covers the eggs with new down, which she plucks lrom her own breast. If the supply is inadequate the male comes to her assistance and helps to cover the eggs with his down. This being white is easily distinguishd from the brown covering which the female supplies, and is not so good in quality. The nest is now, as a general rule, left until the young ones are hatched. There is not much callowness find helplessness about these youngsters. About an hour after they are out of the shell they quit the nest together, when it is once more plundered. Tne best down and the greatest number of eggs are obtained during the first three weeks of the laying period, and it has in general been observed that the birds lay the greatest number of eggs in rainy wnather. The female is a close and persistent sitter, and so long as she is sitting the male, with commendable constancy, remains on the watch hard by, but so soon as the young are hatched he considers his responsibility at an end, and leaves them to their own devices and the care of their mother. It is a curious and pretty sight to see how the latter looks after her brood. She leads them out of the nest, so soon as they creep of out the eggs, and precedes them to the water, while they toddle after her. When she reaohes the waterside she takes them on her back and swims with them for a few yards; she then dives, and the young ones are left floating on the water like yellow corks, and henceforth are obliged to look after themselves. Indeed, the farmer seldom sees his flock again till the next breeding season, for they become comparatively wild, and live out among the damp rocks in the sea, where they feed upon insects and seaweeds and other like vivers. Some idea of the value of the crop may be gleaned from the fact that one female during the whole time of laying generally gipes half a pound of down, which is, however, reduced one-half when cleaned.

This down is divided into thang-dunn or seaweed down, and gras-dunn or grass down. The latter is generally considered to be the best in quality. The down is very valuable, and fetches from $1 to $5 a pound. The three takes of down vary considerably in quality, the first being superior to the second, and the second to the third. The birds themselves, apart from their down-giving capacities, are of little value. The down taken from dead eider ducks is valueless, as it has lost all its marvellous elasticity. An eider duck farmer is excessively proud of his ducks, and regards them with intense and peculiar affection. The owner of the farm just described was in the habit of saying that he would rather loose one of his children than one of his ducks, but to any one who had seen both, this statement would seem to have but little comparative value.—[New York Tribune.

A SPIDER FARM.

A New Industry Which Has Taken Root In Chattauooga. Many will be inclined to discredit the statement that spider raising is an established industry in Chattanooga, and is being successfully conducted by Ernest Reyber the proprietor of the Enterprise bottling work on Cowart street. Mr. Reyber estimates that between 5,000 and 6,000 of these insects make their home in his bottling department, which occupies a large room probably sixty feet square. The ceiling is fairly covered with thousands upon thousands of little patches of fibery material within which the insects nest and lay their eggs. At this season they spend little time in their nests, but in the daytime hide in dark, out-of-the-way cracks and corners, but in easy command of their woven snares. Spider webs are everywhere, spanning the space between floor and ceiling or spread about the machinery, in front of the window—everywhere, in fact, the busy weavers can find a place from which

to hang their network. A big corner of the room is besides given up to the insects, which have apparently divided the space into many four-walled apartments.

Mr. Reyber is a pleasant and intelligent talker and a .shrewd observer. Said he: “Those oreatures know more than a great many people. I keep them because they wage such constant war cn flies cockroaches and other.vermin which are very troublesome to me and which are attracted by the syrups, sugar, etc., used in the bottling business. “A spider never cares for sweet things nor drops into my vats or bottles. Flies and cockroaches are nature’s scavengers, but ( those spiders watch everyone that approaches like hawks and soon lure him into their meshes. I never disturb them when I can help it, except to feed them occasionally. • “They appear to know my call, and will come when called and crawl upon my hand or take a fly from my fingers. They arc tame and have never biten me, though I couldn’t promise as much to a stranger. “This spider is a hibernating animal, and shuts himself up during most of the winter in those little nests you see like mud daubs on the ceiling. When winter comes I brush away all these webs, for the spiders prefer to weave new webs every spring. As a oow must be milked every day, this wary and provident little creature must unravel each spring the silken fabric that is stored in its body. He does not make his appearance till May, when the flies have laid their eggs and hatched their first young, else the fly crop would soon give out. Meantime the hundreds of eggs whioh each female spider laid during the previous summer and fall have been going through a process of incubation, and now turn out with the older ones to seek a living for themselves. Mr. Reyber has encouraged the insects to harbor ih his, establishment for two years past, and finds the spider of such practical utility as to be almost indispensable.—[Chattanooga Times.

The Hygiene of the Barber’s Shop.

Dr. A. Blaschko has published a papei on the hygiene of the barber’s shop, in which he enumerates the diseases which may be contracted in the barber’s chair, either directly from the barber or indirectly from his instruments and appliances. His list contains herpes tonsurans, impatigo contagiosa, acne varioliformis, trichorrhexis nodosa, impetiginous eczema, acute eczema, alopecia areata, syphilis, tuberculosis, and last, but not least, cholera, the infection of which, he thinks, might be conveyed by a napkin which had been used for wiping th« face of a person who was suffering from or recovering from cholera. The implements of the barber’s craft which, in Dr. Blaschko’s opinion, may carry infection are napkins and towels, the razoi itself, the shaving brush—which may itseliinitsown proper hairs suffer from trichorrhexis nodosa, sponges, powdei puffs, combs, and brushes. The list oi diseases is long and alarming, but to it may be added, perhaps, typhoid fever, which it has been thought, has sometimes been contracted by leaning over a basin with an improperly trapped wastepipe during the process of shampooing. That there is very real danger of catching skin diseases unless the barber is ver\ cleanly in all his arrangements and appliances, is undoubtedly true, and the immediate cause of Dr. Blasohko’s papei appears to have been an epidemic in Berlin of a disorder to which Saalfeld applied the term “dermatomycosis tonsurans.—[British Medical Journal.

Nocturnal Creatures.

Most curious in origin of all nocturnal insect hunters are the leathery winged bats, whioh ma’y be regarded, practically speaking, ns very tiny monkeys, highly specialized for tne task of catching nocturnal flies and midges. Few people know how nearly they are related to us. They belong to the self-same division of the higher mammals as man and the apes; their skeleton answers to ours, bone for bone and joint for joint, in an ordinary manner; only the unessential fact that they have very long fingers with a web between ns an organ of flight prevents us from instantly and instinctively recognizing them as remote cousins, once removed from the gorilla. The female bat in particular is absurdly human. Most of them feed off insects alone; bul a few, like the famous vampire bats oi South America, take a mean advantage of sleeping animals, and suck their blood after the, fashion of mosquitoes, as they lie defenseless in the forest or on the open pampas. Others, like the flying foxes of the Malay archipelaga, make i frugal meal off fruits and vegetables; but even these are persistent night fliers! They hang head downwards from the boughs of trees during the hot tropical daytime, but sally forth at night, with Milton’s sons of Belial, to rob the banana patches and invade the plantain grounds of the industrious native. The bat is a lemur, compelled by dire necessity to become a flying night bir^d. —[CornhiU Magazine.

All About the Human Heart.

The human heart is a hollow muscle ot a conicle form placed between the two lungs and inclosed in the pericardium, or heart sac. The ordinary size of the heart in the adult is about 5 inches in length, iH inches in breadth at the broadest part and2i inches in thickness, and its weight is 10 to 12 ounces in men and Bto 10 ounces in women. The increase in size is greatest and most rapid during the first and second years of life, its bulk at the end of the second year being exactly double what it originally was. Between the second and seventh years it is again almost double in size. A slower rate of growth then sets in and continues during the period of maturity of other portions of the body. After the fifteenth year up to the fiftieth the annual growth of the heart is about .061 of a cubic inch, the increase ceasiDg about the fiftieth year.—[Chicago Herald.

Component Fact of Irons.

Nearly all the inks in common wfe contain organic mutter as a part of theooloring matter. The great majority of them are principally a combination of iron with gallio and tannic acids, both of which are organic acids and quite readily decomposed. The action of moisture, light and other agents will, after a while, decompose these salts of iron, leaving only the almost invisible oxide of iron to show where the writing has been. The only really permanent ink is that prepared from some form of carbon, such as lampblack, of which the Chinese or India ink is composed. Carbon resists destructive influences to a remarkable degree, and writings made with such ink will last as long as the paper on which they are written.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Persia is about the only country where the telegraph is not yet at home. A Scotch scientist has compiled statistics to show that married men live muoh longer than bachelors. There is less difference between the ancient and tho modern Greek tongues than between Chaucer’s English and the English of to-day. A firm in Palestine is engaged in supplying water from the river Jordan to churches. It is put up in sealed bottles and sold by the case. • The only Greek insurance company in existenoe, the National, was organized a little more than a year ago, and in the first twelve months piled up $143,000 in profits. The universities and colleges of this country have $8,635,383 worth of scientific apparatus and appliances; their grounds and buildings are worth $64,250,344, and they have $74,070,415 in productive funds.

Think of 3,571 church members— Christian oonverts —in poor Egypt giving the sum of $8.35 for each member per year. This church, too, nearly doubles its membership every five years. Russian papers complain of the gradual diminution of the volume of water in the rivers of that country. In 1891 the losses (through necessary landtransportation) amounted to over a million rubles between Tobolsk and Tjumen alone. • * Vienna is second among European capitals for extent of ground covered. Professor Umlauft, in the Deutsche Rundschau, traces the city’s expansion from early times, when from the Celtic settlement of Findbon it became the Roman Vindobona. The difference between the atmosphere of the best ventilated houses and the outer air is illustrated by the conduct of cut flowers. Blossoms that retain their freshness but a day or two when standing ia water within doors will sometimes live twice as long when dropped in a shady place out of doors.

It is said there is room behind the Olympic range in western Washington for 8,000 homesteaders in addition to the 4,000 or 5,000 already settled there. As yet the country is cut off from the outside world, is sparsely settled, and is as much a wilderness as Kentucky was in the days of Daniel Boone. Chemnitz, in Germany, appears to be a very sensible place. The municipality there has established eating houses where food is furnished at a minimum cost, with a view to removing the shame that every one feels in accepting food as charity, and yet permitting needy people to obtain it at trifling prices. Joseph Chamberlain expresses his profound astonishment at the marvelous physical and mental vigor of Mr. Gladstone. He says the grand old man is vastly better now in both respects than he was in 1885, and he goes so far as to say that he wouldn't be surprised to see him Prime Minister at the age of one hundred.

According to the census figures, the silk manufacturing industry in this country has grown wonderfully in the past ten years. In 1890 goods to the valne of $69,000,000 were turned out, as against $34,500,000 in 1880. The number of hands employed here also increased from about 31,000 to 51,000, and the number of spindles have expanded from 508,137 to 1,254,793. The Emperor Duc-Tu, of Cochin China, protects his treasures by placing them in hallowed trunks of trees, whioh float about a huge tank situated in the center of the royal palace. There are twenty crocodiles in the tank as well. When he wishes to draw upon this bank all the reptiles are killed; but this cannot take place without the joint consent of the Emperor and his Minister of Finance.

4t is evidently a veteran sailor who makes the suggestion that, as a vessel goes ashore to leeward and the lifeline shot from the shore must therefore be fired against the wind, and with all the difficulties which this implies, every vessel should carry a supply of rockets, which, attached to deep-sea fog-line and signal-halyards, would conneot them much more speedily with the shore. It is a singular fact that Great Britain, invester and money-lender in every quarter of the globe, ha£ only about as much cash per capita as the United States. The amount of all kinds of money in Great Britain is equivalent $13.42 for every person; in the United States it is $24.34. The lowest amount of money per capita among the leading nations is found in Russia, $7.16, and the next in Germany, $12.12. The purse of France is the largest of all, $40.56 for each inhabitant. The extent to whioh British law is made for the rich instead of for the poor is shown by the statement of the Secretary of the Treasury in the House of Commons that imprisonment for debt remains in existence for debts under SIOO. The only way to stave off imprisonment, therefore, is to plunge deeper into debt, an anomalous system that weighs heavily on the poor, whose restricted circumstances do not enable them to get into debt more than a few dollars at a time. An almost startling application to ordinary coal oil of the principle by which gasoline is used in cooking may be seen occasionally where important public work is carried on at night and electric lights are not obtainable. From the tank containing the oil extends a slender pipe, with a turn, and below the turn a vent. By lighting the oil that drips from this vent part of the oil in the tube is volatized and driven out at the end of the tubes. As soon as the vapor of the oil begins to come out at the end of the tube the vapor is lighted, and from that time forth'the volatilization goes on so. long as the escaping vapor is permitted to burn. The light is an extremely brilliant one.

A recent census of the blind of Europe shows that the people of Russia are more afflicted with blindness than any other race or nation on the globe, the proportion being twenty-one to every 10,000 of population. These statistics show that in European Russia, the Caucasus and Poland there was a total of 188,812 persons who were entirely blind. The whole of the remainder of Europe only has a blind population numbering 188,812. while the three Americas, North, Central and South, with their islands, have less than 23,000 persons who are totally bereft of sight. A recent report issued by the State Department in Washington gives a series of letters from American consuls abroad on the use of electricity as a power in the propulsion of farm machinery and implements. Almost every one of these states that the cheapness of labor is inch that most of the field work is done by hand, even when there is available machinery. Doubtless this is true

abroad, but in this country, where we hire enormous farms, covering thousands of acres, machinery propelled by eleotricity is almost emphatically a great advantage. What is wanted to make electricity serviceable to every one is an economical way of storing it; or, if you please, a method by which it can be bottled up, so that it will be ready for use when wanted. Mrs. Crawford has recently given the readers of Truth an interesting account of the little Vosges village of Saint Die, but curiously enough, says the London Sun, she omitted one faot in connection with the place which renders it of more than special note. It was in this quaint and out of-the-world corner of France that was published iu the year 1507 the jittle*geographical treatise, written by one Martin Waldseemuller, in which the name of “America” was first suggested for the new Continent, then recently discovered by Columbus. Curiously enough, it was not until 1837 that Alexander von Humboldt pointed out this curious fact, which at onoe exonerated Amerigo Vespucci from the accusation of having giveu his name to the New World discovered by his less fortunate compatriot.

In no other country of the world is the telephone in so general use as in Sweden, and in no other is the service so cheap and at the same time so perfect. It is under Government control, and the rates are fixed by the Government. A few weeks ago a new line was opened betweeen Stockholm and Christiania by King Oscar, who took occasion to express the hope in his first message to the Norwegians that the line would tend to draw tlieiwo countries into closer union and aid in overcoming the desire of the Norwegian Radicals to break up the existing relations. It is now proposed, by means of a submarine cable, to conneot the Norwegian and Swedish capitals with Copenhagen.

Some time ago General George Cullom bequeathed to the United States the sum of $250,000 for the purpose of erecting a memorial hall at West Point. He was a citizen of New York, and the bequest was to be expended in New York, and under the laws of that State all bequests ure liable for a tax. The question arising whether this bequest was taxable, the Surrogate has ruled that as the United States is not a charitable corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New York, its property in that State as not exempt from taxation, and that this tax must be paid according to the law. The Court of Appeals will be asked to pass upon the correctness of his ruling. The Secretary of the Navy has made the discovery that under the rating established by law the United States Navy has only third-rate ships. The classification, whioh was made before the war, provides that only vessels which carry forty or more guns shall be considered as first-rate ships, those having between twenty and forty ranking os second class and all carrying less than twenty being considered third class. There is not a vessel in the navy to-day that carries as many as twenty guns, and the Secretary has asked Congress to establish a new rating for warships on the basis of their tonnage. A bill introduced in the Senate by Mr. McPherson provides that vessels of 5,000 tons and over shall rank as firstclass, between 3,000 and 5,000 second class, and under 3,000 tons third class. A system of moistening the air of a cotton factory—as is required in some departments of a mill, before blowing it into the rooms—has been the subject of much experiment. It has been found that, if a jet of steam or vapor ie discharged into the main duct, any degree of humidity desired can be obtained, but all the air is moistened alike, being distributed to the different rooms by the risers leading thereto; that, however, which is best adapted for one department in a cotton mill may not prove equally favorable for another. Then, too, the introduction of moisture at this point may work disastrously to the walla of the ducts and risers. It is now found that this objection may be overcome, at a small expense, by carying a steam pipe down through each room, and putting opposite each opening in the flue, through whioh the air enters the room, an outlet with valves for regulating the flow of the steam; in this way the exhaust steam from the engine which drives the blower flows iato the room, and, being caught up by the current of air passing from the flue, is thus distributed throughout the room. Experience with this plan through cold weather has proved its peculiar value. It seems that the cow is looming up as a serious factoi in East Indian politics, and even threatens to precipitate a bloody revolution. The Hindoos of India regard all life as sacred, and especially that of the cow, and think it a very grave crime to kill one. The Moslems do not share that feeling, and are very fond of beef. Hindoo religious zealots have recently been working up an agitation on the subject, and in inflammatory circulars have disclaimed against the wickedness of the Moslems killing and eating their sacred animal. There seems to be a regular society formed in India for the protection of cows, and .it has had a great influence over the ignorant classes of the Hindoos. A tremendous riot happened in Calcutta the other day, where some Hindoos attacked Mohammedan butchers, who were driving a cow to the slaughter-house. Government officials managed to quiet the trouble by persuading the Hindoos to buy the cow; but the feelingris said to be very strong all over India, and the authorities fear some sudden convulsion before which all previous uprisings in India will sink into insignificance.

Queer Bridal Feasts.

Marriage celebrations and marriage customs follow in the new world maDy of the customs of the old world. Sackposset, the drink of Shakespeare’s time, a rich, thick concoction of boiled ale, eggs and spioes, was drunk at New England weddings, as we learn from the pages of Judge Sewall’s diary, but it did not furnish a very gay wassail, for the Puritan posset-drinking was preceded and followed by the singing of a psalm —and such a psalm! a long, tedious, drawling performance from the Bay Psalm Book. The bride and groom and bridal party walked in a little procession to the meeting house on the Sabbath following the marriage. We read in the Sewall diary of a Sewall bride thus “coming out,” or “walking-out bride,” as it was called in Newburvport. Cotton Mather thought it expedient to thus make public with due dignity the marriage. In some communities the attention of the Interested public was further drawn to the newly married couple in what seems to us a very comic fashion. On the Sabbath following the wedding the gayly dressed bride and groom occupied a prominent seat in the gallery of the meeting-house, and in the middle of the sermon they rose and slowly turned round to display complacently on every side their wedding finery.—[American Folk Lore Journal.

WRAPS FOR WINTER.

WHAT TO WEAR WHEN BITING FROSTS COME. The Subject of Outdoor Wraps Is One Calculated to Reduce the Average Woman to a State of Utter Bewilderment—Varied lu Style. Gotham Fashion Gossip. New York correspondence:

ting to be almost as eloquent in meaning as the graded width of crape on a fashionable mourner's costumes. In some things they are alike, as all are much longer and fuller over the skirts than formerly, and all have the collarette over the shoulders, and high collar at the neck faced and trimmed so as to be turned down at will. The great thing to be achieved is width of shoulders and of hips, especially if it be of the close fitting kind. Nothing but the abnormally slonder waist saves the fashionably dressed woman from looking the amazon when she puts on her coat, buttoned closely, with collar fluted and crinkled and skirts fulled on like the pipes of a church organ, or, less poetically speaking, a half-open umbrella. Skirts are correct, for sometimes you can see throe of them fastened one over the other, to a close fitting body. These voluminous skirts, with the big sleeves drooping at the shoulder under the heavy collar, the

NONE PRETTIER THAN THIS.

collar waving In and out with fullnoss, make a moving spectacle over which one wonders at the inventions of genius. Coats are made of velvot, plush, beaver, and heavy diagonal cloth, or satin, as the taste indicates. Black Is the oolor most in vogue in coats to be worn with alt costumes. Blaok and white combined is the reigning taste just now. For this effect ermine Is again brought into use as a trimming in capes, collarettes, collars, and bands, so the woman who can produce this costly fur from among her treasures is conscious of being ultra-stylish in dress, as well as of wearing a badge of royalty. In the initial picture there is shown a coat with a cape, both made of blue cheviot. The foundation coat has the regulation sleeve, and is, of course, double-breasted. The circular cape is joined to a round yoke, and both cape and yoke are finished by ruffles of cheviot put on with a heading and garnished with three rows of black braid which also comes down the front. Circular cloaks and long loose cloaks with flowing sleeves trimmed with cream or white lace are affected for the carriage. These are in, black, brown, blue and light tan; the lighter colors, however, are trimmed with black Angora fur or Russian sable. When only a light wrap is needed, as for evening wear, short and very full capes are worn, elaborately trimmed with black soutache edged with gilt, with the great full collar of the stuff of the cape, or of velvet or fur. There are also double and triple capes with serpentine braid trimming which simulates the triple style and is lighter in weight. A pretty style, as well as a convenient one, is a house dress with a street wrap to match. A woman can cut her garment according to her cloth, and give her soul to peace, for

CLOTH TRIMMED WITH OTTER

there are models to meet every emergency. Capes are the prettiest outside garments and best suited for general use. The second figure shows one made of the light tan cloth, which still holds its place. It has an elaborate collarette of the fichu style, edged with crinkled Thibet goat fur. This fur, by the way, is used in black and white, and is also dyed in colors. Here it is black and white, and it appears also on the Medici collar. The garment is encircled near the bottom by four bands of jet passementerie, the' whole mak-

OARING winds and biting frosts must be guarded against and stylisnly, mind you. But there comes the rub, for the subject of outdoor wraps is one calculated to reduce the average woman to a state of utter bewilderment, so varied are they in cut, fabric, trimming, and adaptation to the many functions of society. They are classed for the carriage, street, church, reception everything, in fact, and are get-

skirts may be of a material different from that of the body, and stylo and economy both bo satisfied. Broad shoulders, wide hips, and a clear conscience—all these and even a depleted purse could not make you unhappy. Tho ruling black and white is’ used quite often in children’s cloaks. One stylish little creature is lomombered wearing a cloak to her heels, being lined with white satin. Block satin cloaks have for someyoars boon stylish for children of 4 and up, and thiH season they are also worn with insertions of white lace over white sa*in. A tiny creature of 0 wears a groat velvet hat in black, with seven big drooping whito plumes curling about her face. This with a black velvet cloak made with a cape ermlne-llnod was enough to turn the eyes of all the othor little girls green with envy, but, blo<s their hearts, they don’t care what thoy wear; it is the mothers who suffer in their minds when their own particular baby is outshone. A loss elegant but more serviceable garment wuh for a schoolgirl, and was a pretty coat made dou-ble-broasfed of heavy felt twill in a dull tobacco-brown. A collar of long astrakhan, big sleeves and black-poarl buttons completed It. It was loosefronted and fitted into the hack with a strap l>elt. The skirts of tho ooat reached tho knees, ahd it was lined throughout with black satin. Buoh a coat worn with a plainly made gown with gored skirt finished with several rows of black braid, and with bodice plain but for big Bleeves, would make an ideal school rig. Too much cannot be said in favor of dressing the school miss of 16 very simply. Tho passing vagaries of tho styles should leave no fmErossion upon the quiet prettinoss of or dresses and cloaks. Her garments should fit trimly, but not tightly; colors should bo dark, and matorial heavy and good, without being rich. To allow a school-girl of 16 or 17 to overdress, is to rob her of all tho delight her pretty dresses and furbelows should bring her when in a few years she comes out, to say nothing of the injury

done to figure and carriage, by the wearing of unsuitably made clothes. Turning again to fashions for older persons and to the fourth illustration, there Is shown at the left a loose cloak with cape. This should be made of the very wide fabrics, which would permit of its having but one seam—in back. The full cape and collarette arc lined with silk, and the whole coat is trimmed with braid about three-quarters of an inch wide and in a slightly darker shade than the cloak’s fabric. At the other hand in the picture is a threequarter length jacket made of dark mode-colored cloth, trimmed with brown silk braid and mink fur. The coat is tight-fitting, with the fashionable flare at the bottom, and all seams are covered with a row of braid. The pointed collarette is alike, back and front, and is edged with a band of mink three-quarters of an inch wide and almost covered with braid. The standing collar, both sides of the front, and the hem are trimmed with the mink. The skirt of the jacket is further garnished with eight rows of braid. Another couple shows two more accepted cool weather styles in the last Eicture. The capo here is in nutrown cloth lined with brown quilted satin and trimmed with rolls of wool seal. It is not cut as wide as the usual circular cape, and it is predicted that this model will be still more popular than the other. The cape is garnished with five rollo of fur with six-inch space between each, and the narrow shoulder oape has three rows. A band of fur also encircles the neck and edges the ruching, which is made of a strip of cloth six inches wide and fifty-four inches long lined with plain silk. Dear little hoods, made loose and soft of dark velvet, lined with soft light satin and edged with fur, are worn with evening wraps. Nothing oouid be more becoming to a young, round face than such a hood 'drawn close, and nothing more gentle to an older or more faded one, if the hood is worn loose and drawn forward, so the face is prettily shadowed, yet emphasized by a harmonizing color in the hood's lining. Copyright, ism.

ing a dressy wrap for a calling costume and one easily removed when desired. The next sketch shows a three-quar-ter length cloak that is bolted in to fit tightly in the back so as to form deep boxploats at the bottom. The collar may be made of the same material as the cloak—which here is of the fleecy cloth so much in vogue—or of satan, velvet or moire. It is sewed on full to make it flare at the shoulders and is trimmed with otter. The neok band is also otter, which stands up about the neck and chin in tho regulation style. These things are rich ana costly in appearance, yet the economical woman can get the effect at slight expense by making her outside garment of two materials. A olose bodice, double or single breasted, with several full circular skirts flaring at the bottom, and a very obstreperous collarette may be manufactured of remnants, rich in themselves, but inexpensive. The big sleeves, the collarette and one of the

TOO MUCH BRAID.

STYLISH CAPE AND COAT.

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.

tommy’s MBDICINE. This horrid medicine I’ve, got to take, And really I can’t see Why some sweet mixture they will never iflake * For little boys like me. This grown-up medicine is awful stuff, Which I cannot endure; For little boys it would be well enough To have a candy cure. Then all my ills would up and fly away, Like birds across the dell— I’d take a whole box in a single day, And then I’d soon be well. —[Harper’s Young People.

A HAPPY FAMILY. The exceptional motherly affection o. Lotta, an Angora Maltese cat, for three little white bull terrier pups, orphaned soon after their birth, is the most noticeable feature of a “happy family” possessed by Gilbert H. Prlndle, of Tenth and Buttonwood streets. The purring foster mother, although she has two pretty kittens of her own, takes quite as tender oare of these terrier puppies (which arc white, like the kittens), and of four fox terrier puppies also, as she does of her own little felines. She nurses, feeds and washes the puppies and kittens impartially; and the partner of her joys, u big Maltese cat, known as Grover, seems to regard the adoption of the seven canines with approval. —[Philadelphia Record.

A LOFTY SUGAR THRU. The sugar maple of New England has a rival. It grows in tho Andes of Chilie at a height of from 3,000 to 4,500 feet above the sea. It is a curious variety of that most useful, wonderful, tree, the palm, whose varieties also give us dates and cocoa, and cocoanuts aud fans. This palm is not slim and graceful like most kinds we see in tropical pictures. It is about 60 feet tall, with s very thick trunk, enlarging in diametei from the ground up to about half its height, nnd then tapering again to th« top, where its long leaves spread out These sugar palms produoo great quantities of swoot sup, which, when boiled down, makes both molusses aud sugar of a peculiar, but delicious flavor. Ou one estato the trees grew in such numbers that onee it was determined t‘ count them. After counting severe, hundred thousand, more than half re mained uncounted, so the tank was given up. What “larks” it mußt be for the children when “sapping time" and “sugaring oil” come round! But the Chileans do not colleot the sup in the way the New England farmers collect sap from the maple tree. No; instead of boring small holes in the trunk, the palm is cut dowu and beheaded of its crown of beautiful leuvus, and then the sap begins to flow from the upper end uuu keeps on flowing lor mouths. Every morning a thin slice is cut off to prevent the wood from hardening and forming a crust through which tho sap could not flow. A good tree will yield neurly a hundred gallons of sap. A queer thing is tho fact that the sap will not run if the tree lies with its head downward. It will only run upward.—[New York Press.

A SqUIUURL IN A STUDIO. Such a cross little model us Jumbo I had never known. He scolded oontinually, and all my efforts to soothe him were in vain. Even sugar seemed to sour his disposition. Ho scolded when eating, and when not eating. If I placed anything near his cage, he would jump to the wires-—still scolding—as though he meant to break through them. Only a few days before I bought him he was a free squirrel leading a roilicksome life in the woods. Poor fellow, what wonder ho was indignant at finding himself a prisoner! Well, one aiterncon I opened his cage door, aud offered him the ireudom of my studio, of oourse expecting to have a very lively scene. Visions oi upset vases, broken windows, and general disorder stimulated my curiosity. I wanted to see just how rnuoh mischief he could do. The cage door open, Jumbo leaped nimbly to the floor, and surprised me by behaving in the gentlest mannei possible! After he hua run about for a tittle while, L reached for a paper bag of hickory-nuts lying near me. Jumbo ran forward immediately, jumped into my lap, took a hickory-nut from my Angers, and hid it under the bookcase. Standing up, I shook the bag quite briskly; in a moment Jumbo was running up my side to my shoulders, and again teok a nut from my fingers. Now he did not scold at all, but was perfectly amiable—, truly a strong contrast to his former self. He kept taking nuts from me until almost every corner of the studio contained one. Finally a rug in the middle of the floor struck him as the best place under which to hide them, and the manner in which he patted the rug down after hiding each nut was very comical. He finally grew tired of this fun, aud, jumping into my lap ugain, looked into the bag, and, I think, concluded it waa too much work to conceal all the rest, for he patted the paper down over the nuts, and started on a tour around the room. Unfortunately, I opened the bag to take another nut out for him, and tho sharp little fellow, hearing the noise, ran swiftly to me, and, seeing the paper bag open, bit my hand. I jumped up and ran across the studio with the bag, but he was after me. As quickly as I could, I dropped the bag upon the table, and then the angry little fellow waa satisfied. After this he pattered around the room at his own sweet will, examining chairs and tables, occasionally stopping to give an extra pat to the rug under which most of his nuts were hidden.—TSt. Nicholas.

Snake Story from Nevada.

The writer saw an Indian kill a rattlesnake in a very peculiar manner recently. The rattler was about ten feet from the Indian, who was resting the rifle on his knee, apparently taking aim. Whenever he moved the weapon a few inches the snake would move around and get exactly in line with it. Then to show how the thing was done, the Indian moved about the snake in a circle and the reptile moved as if his tail was a pivot, always keeping his head and body in line with the gun. The Indian then agreed to bandage his eyes and shoot the snake in the mouth. The writer bandaged the Indian’s and holding the gun by his side at arm’s length the latter nulled the trigger and the ball entered the snake’s mouth and passed the whole length of his body. “How did you take aim?” was the query. • “the snake he take aim,” wk the reply. \\ e have talked with an old hunter on this proposition, and he claims that a rattlesnake will always range directly in line with a gun or stick pointed at it. (Carson (Nevada) Appeal.