Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1894 — Page 5

SOMEWHAT STRANGE.

INTERESTING NOTESAND MATTERS OF MOMENT. Queer Facts and Thrilling Adventures Which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. The smallest woman living to-day is said to be Mlle. Pauline, of HoK land, of a respectable family, who is 18 years old, weighs ten pounds and is 1 foot 9 inches tall. Maine is jusly proud of the fact that only a native can pi6nounce the names of her lakes trippingly on the tongue, but the names of Maine are easy besides these and others from the Canadian Province of Ontario; Lake Misquabenish, Lake Kashagawigamog, and Lake Kahwcambejewagamog. , ' ; The conservatory of Washington Park, Chicago, boasts of what is affectioually called “goose plant.” It is composed of growths that look like three or four big geese and over a dozen goslings. The plant is a rare native of South America, known properly as the Aristoloehia Gigas Sturtevanili, and is said to be the only one of its kind in the United States. It was on exhibition at the World’s Fair, but was so small at the time as to attract little attention. During a continued dry spell in south Florida, reptiles often are obliged to resort to unique methods for obtaining fresh water. One need not be surprised while pumping water, to see little frogs issue from the pump, and one man was rather startled while pumping to see a snake two feet long issue from the spout, and upon striking the ground quickly crawled under a house. The reptiles crawl into the pump to enjoy the water held up by the vales.

In 1867 Dr. W. H. Richardson, who had been in the Confederate army and afterward in Mexico, and hadn’t seen his wife for five or six years, heard that she was dead. He remained in Mexico until the present year, when he came to Kentucky to look up relatives. In tracing a claim to land he wrote to his wife’s relatives in Texas, and learned that she was living and had for twelve years been remarried. Husband No. 2 gracefully retired, and the pair were reunited after thirty-two years. A gastograph, for recording the movements of food in the stomach of a patient, was recently exhibited in action before the Medical Society of the County of New York by Dr. Max Einhorn. The apparatus records the motions on a traveling band of paper by means of electricity from a dry battery. The patient swallows a little ball of brass connected to the instrument by electric wires, but no details of the mechanism are given. The apparatus is expected to be useful in diagnosing catarrh and other ailments of the stomach. The death of “The Blind Woman of Manzanares” has attracted wide attention in Spain, where she was known from one end of the country to the other. She was a poet and had a remarkable talent for writing beggin g verses, describing her misery. Many of the poems are beautiful, and the author enjoyed a large income. She was said to be one of the best reciters in Spain, and many of the most famous men in that country made pilgrimages to her house to hear her. Queen Isabella gave her a pension years ago. She left about $60,000. Prof. Peal, the ethnologist, recently described to the Asiatic Society the condition of the headhunting Nagas on the borders of Assam. The women are to blame for the continuance of the practice; they taunt the young men who are not tatooed, and the latter go out and cut off heads to exhibit to them, fully half of which are those of women and children. The area occupied by the tribe is not more than twenty miles square, but in it during the past 40 years more than 12,000 murders have been committed for the sake of these ghastly trophies. A strange incident in connection with the work of clearing away the debris of the recentlj r wrecked bridge at Louisville is related of the submarine diver whose duty it is to descend to the bottom of the river and fasten chains about the heavy iron work, besides placing dynamite charges in spots where the most desirable results may be had. One day he remained beneath the surface for more than an hour. There was no response when signals were made, and there was uneasiness felt. At length the diver who goes on as a relief reported for duty, and he was at once sent down to ascertain what was wrong. In a few minutes both men came up. The diver was found seated on a pile of iron fast asleep. Two queer cases of telepathy : A lady in Maine, whose daughter was a missionary’s wife in India, dreamed of her on the 18th of May last. She thought the girl called “mother” as if in agony. Long after the slow mail came, saying that on that night the daughter was supposed to be dying, flat had recovered. A lady in New Orleans fell to the floor during a social gathering, crying, with hand at side: “ Oh, I’m stabbed!” She wasn’t; but she felt that way. Shortly after she bore a child marked upon the side as if by two stab wounds. Next day came a cablegram saying that her twin brother had been stabbed to death in New Zealand. Later it was learned that the hour was the same as that of the woman’s hallucination, and the place of the wounds the same. These stories may betaken with salt, if preferred. An Unusual summons was received over the telephone not long ago by Dr. David Birney, of the University of Pennsylvania, from a wealthy man in New York, who wished him to go to Long Island. Dr. Birney endeavored to find out something about the nature of the t case he was expected to treat, but the man, after securing his promise to go, refused to talk further over the ’phone. The doctor packed a case of instruments at random and met the man in New York. After dinner at the Waldorf they took the train for Long Island, but not a word was said abbut the operation. When they arrived the man

thanked the doctor and paid him SSO; then in response to the look of wonder from the astonished surgeon, he said: “I saw my sister bleed to death in a railroad accident for want of a physician, and since that day I have never traveled without one.” Because Captain Bray was moonstruck and made totally blind, the logwood laden schooner Nettie Langdon, from Falmouth, Jamaica, for Philadelphia, was compelled to put into Key West in distress. The Langdon drifted about in helpless condition for days after Capt. Bray’s sad plight, and finally drifted toward the Florida coast, where a pilot boat was sighted, and Pilot James Sinclair was taken on board, and he navigated the vessel to Key West. The unfortunate skipper’s eyesight is believed to have been caused by the reckless manner in which he spent his nights. Instead of sleeping in the cabin, he invariably slept on deck in the moonlight. The rays of the moon totally destroyed the sight. In the tropics this occurrence is not rare, but it is seldom heard of so far north as the latitude of Jamaica. In Demerara many cases occur, especially when the moon is in its strongest phase.

The Louisville Courier - Journal says that a few years ago a Kentucky Grand Jury brought in the following indictment: “Lawrence Criminal Court, Commonwealth of Kentucky, against , defendant. Indictment. The Grand Jury of Lawrence County, in the name and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, accuse of the offence of malicious mischief, committed as follows : The said ; —, on the day of .A. D. 18—, in the county and circuit aforesaid, did unlawfully, wilfully and maliciously kill and destroy one pig, the personal property of George Pigg, the said pig being of value to the aforesaid George Pigg. The pig thus killed weighed about twenty-five pounds, and was a mate to some other pigs owned by said George Pigg, which left George Pigg a pig less than he (said George Pigg) had of pigs, and thus ruthlessly tore said pig from the society of George Pigg’s other pigs, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

“In the neighborhood of Cuba,” says a recent visitor to that island, *‘a most peculiar method of securing turtle is pursued. They train, or at least take advantage of the instinct of a certain species of fish. The fish is called by the Spaniards reve (meaning reversed), because its back is usually taken for its belly. It has an oval plate attached to its head, whose surface is traversed by parallel ridges. By this plate it can firmly adhere to atty solid body it may choose. The boats which go in quest of turtles each carry a tub containing some of these reves. When the sleeping turtles are seen they are cautiously approached, and as soon as they are judged near enough a reve is thrown into the sea. Upon perceiving the turtle, its instinct teaches it to swim right toward it and fix itself firmly upon the creature by its sucking disk. Sooner would the reve allow itself to be pulled to pieces than to give up its grip. A ring which was attached to the tail of the fish, in which a string was fastened, allows the fisherman to pull in his prize. By a peculiar manipulation the reve is pulled off and returned to the tub to be ready for use again when the next turtle is sighted.”

The present area is remarkable for the development of among the civilized races of the world of kindlier feelings toward the brute creation, and it is certain that animals have never before enjoyed so much consideration as during the closing decade of the nineteenth' century. It was only the other’day that attention was drawn in these columns to the court-martialling of a German soldier for applying an insulting epithet to a government horse; to a suit against a Viennese editor for having libelled a racer; to the decision of the Belgian Government that a dog when once provided with his ticket had just the same right to a seat in a railroad compartment as a human being. And now there is the Austrian town of Baden, which has just voted a credit of SIO,OOO for the rheumatic horses. The equine patients are to have sulphur baths erected for their treatment, in which it is hoped that wonderful cures will be effected, Elsewhere in Europe valuable racehorses are got into training by means of a course of turkish baths in piece of the old-fashioned cloth treatment, and if matters advance at the present rate the day cannot be far distant when every well-bred horse will insist like so many other devotees of fashion,upon an annual stay at Homburg, Carlsbald or Vichy for the sake of recuperating his strength.

Tobe Wesley, of Twiggs county, Ga., came to Macon, recently to buy a coffin for his seven-year-old son, who was crushed to death by a huge snake. The boy had gone to the field with his father, and while his father was at work wandered off a short distance and climbed a muscadine vine as was his habit. On being unable to find the boy when he had finished his work about sundown, the father went to the house expecting to find him there, but was informed by his wife that the boy had not been home since he left the house with his father. Feeling no uneasiness Wesley, knowing the habit of his boy, went back into the field, which was on the edge of a dense swamp bordered with muscadine vines, and began searching the vines where he had last seen the boy, By looking up in the vines he was not long in finding him, but when ha called the boy failed to answer. After calling two or three times and receiving no answer the father shook the vine, and to his horror saw what he had supposed to be’one of the branches of the vine that was supporting his son, begin to uncoil. Realizing that his son was in the coil of a huge snake Wesley stood rooted to the spot, and before he could recover his senses the snake completely uncoiled and the boy fell to the ground, a distance ’of some nine or ten feet. Wesley picked the child up and ran from under the vines to the clearing. There his worst fears were realized. The child was dead. On being carried to the

house and further examination made, it was found that the child’s breast had been crushed and that its tongue and eyes were protruding as though it had been choked to death. Wesley is of the; opinion that the boy was asleep when the snake coiled about him and gradually crushed his life out. Wesley does not know what kind of a snake it was, as he did not see it after his son fell.

A MINER'S ORDEAL.

Lights Four Fuses of Giant Powder and Finds Escape Cut Off. Frank Bagley, a miner, had an experience the other afternoon at 3 o’clock at the bottom of a 300-foot shaft in Little Jessie mine, which he never wants to go through again, and which no other miner would care to experience. His escape from instant death seems little short of a miracle. He was engaged with a companion in putting in four blasts, and when the work was completed his companion climed up a rope to a place of safety above, leaving him to apply the light to a fuse which was to explode the shots. He had an abundant length of fuse to give him plenty of time, as he supposed, to climb up the timbered part of the shaft out of reach of flying rocks from the shots. The distance was only about ten feet, but he had no ladder on account of the inconvenience of handling it while shooting, and the only means of escape was by climbing a rope. He applied the light to the fuse and then started to climb the rope, but it was wet and slippery, and as soon as he made a few feet his hold would give way, and he would slip back to the bottom of the shaft, where four pieces of fuse were sizzling their way to as many sticks of giant powder. His first unsuccessful attempt did not alarm him much, as he had no fear of his ability to get away, but as he tried again and again, and eAch time to only slide back to the bottom, he began to realise that his position was a very critical one.

He had blown out his light and in the narrow confines of the shaft there was not a crevice or a projecting rock big enough to shield even his hand. The place was black as midnight darkness itself, and his only way of escape was through the agency of that slippery and treacherous rope. He knew about the time the explosion must inevitably occur, and as the time grew nearer and nearer the more desperately did he attempt to make the ascent, but all to no purpose. The first shot went off, scattering rock in every direction around him, and hitting him in various places on the body. The second, third and fourth followed in rapid succession, but with less serious results to him. The injuries he sustained were mostly received from the first shot. He is lacerated and bruised from head to foot, although none of the wounds were deep. While they are serious and quite painful’, they are not considered dangerous.—[Prescott (Arizona,) Journal.

ODD ANIMAL LIFE.

Queer Things Done by Birds, Fowls Beasts and Insects. The greyhound runs by sight only. This is a fact. The carrier pigeon flies his hundreds of miles homeward by eyesight, noting from point to point objects that he has marked. This is only conjecture. The dragon fly, with 12,000 lenses in his eye, darts from angle to angle with the rapidity of a flashing sword and as rapidly darts back, not turning ’in the air, but with a clash reversing the action of • his four wings and instantaneously calculating the distance of the objects, or he would dash himself to pieces. But in what conformation of the eye does this power consist? No one can answer. Ten thousand mosquitoes dance up and down in the sun, with the minutest interval beween them, yet no one knocks another headlong on the grass or breaks a leg or a wing, long and delicate as they are. Suddenly a peculiar, high-shouldered, vicious creature, with long and pendant nose, darts out of the rising and falling cloud and settling on your cheeks, inserts a poisonous sting. What possessed the little wretch to do this? Did he smell your blood while he was dancing? No one knows.

A carriage comes suddenly upon some geese in a narrow road and drives straight through the flock. A goose was never yet fairly run over, nor a duck. They are under the very wheels and hoofs and yet they continue to flap and waddle safely off. Habitually stupid, heavy and indolent, they are, nevertheless, equal to any emergency. • Why does the lonely woodpecker, when he descends from his tree and goes to drink, stop several times on his way and listen and look around before he takes his draught? No one knows. How is it that the species of an ant which is taken in battle by other ants to be made slaves should be the black or negro ant? No one knows. The power of judging of actual danger and the free and easy boldness that results from it are by no means uncommon. Many birds seem to have a correct notion of a gun’s range and are scrupulously careful to keep beyond it. The most obvious resource would be to fly right away out of sight and hearing, but this they do not choose to do.

A naturalist of Brazil gives an account of an expedition that he made to one of the islands of the Amazon to shoot spoonbills, ibises and other magnificent birdsjwhich are abundant there. His design was completely baffled, however, by a wretched little sand-piper, which preceded him, continually uttering his tell-tale cry, which at once aroused all the birds within hearing. Throughout the day did this individual bird continue its self-imposed duty of sentinel to others, effectually preventing the approach of the hunter to the game and yet managing to keep out of the range of his gun.—[Philadelphia Times.

Artificial flowers are coming into use-in Paris for corsage decoration. They are perfect imitations of nature and are selected of a tint to match the trimmings of the costume. A cluster is worn near the right shoulder and at the left side of the waist.

BUS IN ESS IS GOOD.

TEXTILE INDUSTRIES THRIVING AS NEVER BEFORE. Revival Rrgun Immediately Alter the Passage of the Senate Tariff BIU, and StUl Continues Price of Wool Above McKinley Prices of Two Months Ago. No “Calamity" Now. The great prosperity, in the text le industr es, that began immediately after the passage of the Senate bill, has been continued. It now seems certain that not only will free wool give us cheaper and better clothing, but that it will be the sa’vation of the woolen industry. The Wool and Cotton Reporter devotes a page every week to a “Bu letin of New Enterprises,” which, however, includes mills shuttingdown as we 1 as starting up; but since the passage of “the free trade Wilson bill,” which was to “annihilate” the woolen industry, the record has been a remarkable one—probably better than for any two or three weeks during the four years of McKinleyi-m. For the week ending Sept 6, the Reporter mentions five new mills,

THE CALAMITY EDITOR’S VICTIM.

THE MARTYR-BUSINESS-MAN TO REPUBLICAN EDITOR—„Say, I'm tired of howling just to please you.”

twenty-eight enlargements and improvements, and twenty mills starting up, one of which ha; been closed nine months and another five years. Rawitzer Bros., of Stafford Springs, are mentioned as having settled with their dissatisfied weavers, giving them a 25 per cent, advance in wages. Of the five shut-downs mentioned one is “for th,e usual week’s vacation and two are because of low water. ” The record is marred only by the shut-down of one mill because of “lack of orders,” and another because of “accumulation of stock. ” The record for the week ending Sept 13 is even better. During this week there were fifteen items under the column headed “New Mills.” One of the mills mentioned is to have 48,000 spindles, and is to be the largest cotton mill in the South. Another, for making cotton, wool and worsted yarn, is to occupy a building 110 by 200'feet, which structure alone is to cost 830,000. “The plans for the new plant,“ says the Reporter, “have been ready for some time, but it is said tne construction of the mill depended upon the settlement of the tariff question.” Under the column “Enlargements and Improvements” there are 18 mentions. Under the column “Starting Up and Shutting Down” 20 mills are mentioned as having started or about to start up. One of these has been closed since April last, another over a year, and a third for two years. All three are woolen mills. Only four are mentioned as shutting down, one to make repairs, another for two weeks, another because of a death, and the last is running on short time on account of low water. The recoid for the week endiiig Sept. 20 is just as good. The Reporter ’mentions 10 “new mills,” 14 “enlargements and improvements,’* 26 "starting up,’’and 5 “shutting di,wn.” Several of those starting up have been shut down for months or years, and some are working with increased forces. Four of the shut-downs are due to low water or to make repairs, and the other is unexplained. During the three weeks under the new tariff law there have been 30 new mills, 60 enlargements and improvements, 66 starting up, and only 14 closing down — all but two or three for reasons other than lack of orders, Such prosperity as this is going to cut a wide swath in the Republican majorities p anned for the November election.

No Calamity for the Wool Grower, The price of wool continues about 10 per cent, above the McKinley prices of two months ago. They are exasperating to the political wool grower.; who have told us a thousand times >that prices would go all to pieces when wool should be maoe free. Worst of all, there seems to be no prospect of them declining. Here is what the Dry Goods Economist of Sept. 22 says: “The New York wool market during the pa;t week has been steady and strong. The sales have been considerable, and have represented nearly all classes of wool. Special favor has been shown for desirable lots of Territory and for wellgrown spring Texas. There is also considerable inquiry for the fall Texas clip, but as these wools will not reach this market for a week or two, no transactions are reported of the new fall clip. Some sales have been made in the wools sheared in the fall of ’93, and prices are fully sustained and indicate that the fall clip, soon to arrive frm Texas, will be favorably received and bring good values. “Altogether, domestic wools seem very good property, and manufacturers are not asking any concessions from ruling prices.” The Wages Humbug. Farmers sell their staples both at home and abroad at “free-trade prices,” made in "the cheapest markets in the world.” They compete against Egypt and India, where the lowest wages prevail. Have they reduced wages t > the same level? Not they. England

has practically free trade. But English wages have not been reduced to the Asiatic level So far from that, they are higher than those of any other country in Europe. This talk' about wages is the cheapest kind of humbug. Sweep away utterly the admitted injustice of protection and the vast natural wealth and unrivalled industrial genius of this country will make wages here higher than anywhere else in the world, and higher in purchasing power over the necessaries, comforts, and even luxuries of life than they ever have been even in this favored land.— Chicago Herald. Don't Dmert Democratic Principles. Those Democrats (and there are some) who do not intend to go to the polls this year or who contemplate voting with the Republicans, in order to punish the Democratic party for its inability to fulfill all of its promises at ouce, should stop and consider. By far the most important question is that of the tariff. What good can come out of the McKinley monopoly party on this question? No one who believes in tariff reform or free trade can expect anything of this party The Democratic party has taken a long step in the right direction, and but a for a fe v traitors in the Senate, who are being rapidly kicked out of the party, would have taken a much longer step and taken it much sooner. The grip of monopoly has been shaken and it is quite probable that during the

short session of Congress, which begins in December, the Sugar Trust will lose all It has saved of its McKinley monopoly. We may also expect free coal and iron ore. The Democratic party has given us the income will compel the rich to contribute something to the expense of the government that protects them. Heretofore nine-tenths of the expense has been met by the farmers and laborers of the country, who own less than one fifth of the wealth. Of course no rational and Intelligent person thinks that the panic and deEresslon of the last year was due to democratic legislation. The Democrats did not move as quickly as many wished in abolishing the Sherman silver law and the McKinley bill, which were in force and largely responsible for the panic, but it has at last ended both, and prosperity is again at our door. Democratic principles are sound, and the mass of Democratic Congressmen deserve the confidence ana support ot the people. The few traitors are being turned out and better men are being put on guard. Stick to your party.

Democratic Text,. The Democrgtic campaign book for 1894 is gott n up in attractive style. On the margins of the covers are arranged tome choice specimens of Demccratic doctrine. We quote the following: “Tne People's Cause Is Our Cause.” “Free Government Is Self-Govern-m ‘nt.” “Unnecetsary Taxation Is Unjust Taxation.” “Euual Opportunity in a Land of Equal Rights.” “Democracy—lt Wears No Collar, It Serves No Master. ” “I Am for Protectian Which Leads to Ultimate Free Trade.”—James A. Garfield. “We Recognize in Labor a Chief Factor in the Wealth of the Republic.” “The Welfare of the Laboring Man Should Be Regarded as Especially Entitled to Legislative Care." “Freedom of Religion, Freedom ot the Press, and Freedom of the Person. ” “in Our Form of Government, the ■Value of Labor as an Element of National Prosperity Should Be Distinctly Recognized.” “The Necessities of Government Are the beginning and Ending of Just Taxation. “—Wilson. “Organized Good Intentions and Idle Patriotic Aspirations Cannot Successfully Contend for Mastery with the Compact Forces of JPrivate Interests and Greed.”—Cleveland, Oct. 4, 1892.

Reprehensible Knowledge. These labor people are getting entirely too inquisitive and impertinent. They know too much. They read too much. They think too much. They no longer accept with dog-like gratitude whatever the lordly barons are pleased to spare them out of their protection-made profits. The pottery magnates of New Jersey told their employes the other day that, much to their regret, they would be compelled to reduce wages under the new tariff. Some Impudent potter, whose memory had not been curtailed with his wages, inquired why a reduction was now necessary, when there had teen no increase under the McKinley bill. The conference adjourned. Louisville Courier-Journal. The Wilmington (N. C.) Messenger (Ddm.) says: 'We think the leaving of the sugar fellows a fortunate riddance. It ought to make genuine reformers of ail parties who favor equal laws and equitable taxation and a low tariff unite more determinedly than ever before In putting down the party that plays false on every possible occasion. Down with all favoritism and bounties. ” 1 In order to be intelligently consistent you. will have to occasionally change your opinions.

THE JOKER’S BUDGET.

JESTS AND YARNS BY FUNNY MEN OF THE PRESS. Not Quit* th* Same--How Ho Did lt--Circumstancas Alter Cases--Eto., Etc. KOT QUITE THE SAME. Hand in band The lovers go, The moon, the silent Lake, a row. A month has passed, They’re married now; A word, a look Or two, a row. —[ Puck. HOW he Din IT. McDuff—How did Scaddsoy get his dust? McGuff—He raised the wind, and the dust was a natural consequence. —[Truth. CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES. Anna—Engaged to Bob Scott! Why, Berth, you always abuse him so much. Bert ha—Yes, but how could I know that he would propose to me? — (Truth. WELL WARRANTED. Kawler lynn—ls there any warrant for the statement thatKasherly has skipped the country? Editor—Yep; two. Sheriff’s got ’em both.—[Buffalo Courier. THE PEEKER. He heard them kissing on the sly And peeked in through the door, And then he cried in accents high, “Say, sister, what’s the score?’’ —[Detroit Free Tress. NOT AT ALL WORRIED. ' Amelia—Oh, Mr. Clasper, whore Is your arm? James—Oh, never mind my arm; I’ll look for it when I want it.— [Puck. DEEPLY WRONUED.Wild Westerner (fiercely)—ln your last paper, sir, you said I had twenty-seven men, sir! Editor Well, and wasn’t that statement correct? Wild Westerner (still more fiercely ) —No, sir; twenty-eight, sir; twenty-eight. HER EXPERIENCE WAS DIFFERENT. “Poor Evo!’’ soliloquized the philosopher; “sho is blamed for all the sins committed by her daughters.’’ “I wish that were true,” said his wife. “Is it not so?” asked the sago “No, indeed! When I do anything amiss you blame ine.”—|Ncw York Press. NOT THAT IMPRESSION. “That is a wonderful work of nature,” said the man who was visiting Niagara Falls for the first time. “Pretty big,” replied the hotelkeeper. “I don’t see how anybody could contemplate It without feeling terribly insignificant.” “Well, I suppose a good many people do feel that way. But you see, most of the people who stop at this house are brides and grooms.”—[Detroit Free Press.

NOT HER FAULT. “It’s strange that all my friends have become engaged and 1 am not,” ‘‘lt may be, my dear mademoiselle; but you have one consolation. With all their becoming engaged you have the satisfaction of knowing you have shown yourself more willing to get married than -any of them.— [Album of Fashion. THE HOOK REQUIRED. Mr. Bondstock (ten dorly)—Do you think you could learn to love me? Miss Wurkurn (shyly)—l might if you gave me lessons from the right book. Mr. Bond stock—What book shall I teach you from? Miss Wurkurn—Your pocketbook. —[New York World. OUT OF HIS LINE. Ada—Flo was just going down for the third time when Dr. Watson dived off a yacht and caught her. Grace—And saved her life! Wasn't that wonderful? Ada—Yes, for a doctor.—[Life. I’ERMITTEp 10 REFER. Cholly Chumpleigh—What do you think? Some people asked me yesterday if we were engaged. Miss Coldeal—lndeed! What did you tell them? Cholly Chumpleigh-I referred them to you. Was that right? Miss Coldeal—Quite right. I never dismiss anybody without a reference. A COUNTER IRRITANT. “The man in the next room kept me awake all night snoring. Landlady—Well it won’t happen again. I’ve put a woman with a parrot, a piano and a baby on the other side.—[Chicago Inter Ocean. UNDOUBTEDLY FOOLISH. “Yes, she is very foolish sometimes.” “What evidence has she ever given of being foolish?” “Well, I have known her to talk to a bride and try to interest her in a topic that had relation neither to the groom nor the ceremony.—[NewjYork Press. he didn’t tip. “ Haven’t you forgotten something, sir?” said the tip-expectant waiter to Uncle Abner Meddergrass, as the latter rose from the table. “Let me see,” replied the honest man, looking at his hand baggage. “There’s my umbrella and my satchel. No, they're all here, but I’m obliged to you just the same for your thoughtfulness.—[Detroit Free Press. AN IMPERTINENCE. “That was a beautiful composition,” she said dreamily. . “Y-yes,” replied (the young man who doesn’t know much about music, “it was pretty fine.” “I wornjer what key it is in?” “It’s down on the programme as a nocturne, isn’t it?” “Yea.” “Well, then, I should think it would require a night key.” And all that disturbed the air was the feeble echo of his own “ha, ha.” •—[Washington Star.

HE KNEW HIS BUSINESS. Judge—When you broke into the library and stole a lot of books, why did you take only the works of classical authors* Thief—Because, your Honor, modern books fetch hardly any price in the market!—[Fleigende Blaetter. JUST THE THING. First friend (of intending groom)— Well, we’ll have to give them a present. What will it be and how much shall we spend? Second friend—l don’t know. I’ll go as deep as you. First friend—Let’s send something that will make a big show for our money. Second friend—All right. What’s the matter with a load of hay.— [Judge. A YOUNG man’s TROUBLE. . “What’s the matter? You seem to be in a frightful rage this morning.” “I am. You remember the challenge sent to a magazine editor?” “Yes.” “Well, I have received his answer. He says that my manuscript has been received, and that it will be carefully examined in due course of time.—[Washington Star. WILL PUT THIS IN HIS BILL. Doctor (to his patient)—Pardon me, madam, but before prescribing I must know how old you are. “Oh, sir; a lady is only as old as she looks." “Impossible, madam. You certainly must be younger than that." HER GIFT. Wife—l’m so glad you like the cushion, George, for I bought it for your birthday present. You’d spoil it in your library, so we’ll keep it in my boudoir. I suppose you’ll get the bill to-morrow—it’s awfully expensive. A SURF, siotf. Mrs. Rounder—You had been drinking pretty heavily when you camo in last night. Mr. Rounder—How do you know? Mrs. Rounder—You tried to light your cigar at the reflection of your nose in the pier-glass. NOT ENTIRELY PARALYZED. “I cnn hold them, Miss Quick* stop,” said the young man by her sldo, reassuringly, us the spirited team gave another lunge forward. “You’re not afraid, are you?” “When it comes to a showdown, Mr. Hankison," ropliod the young woman, holding her hat on with one hand and clinging to the dashboard with tho other, “you’ll find I’m not nt all shy on sand.”—[Chicago Tribune. THE BLOW. Anxiously sho awaited tho decision that was to shape her future life, and when at last the old man came from the Interview with her adorer she was filled with foreboding. “Papa,” she faltered, with trembling voice, “how did ho strike you?” Tho parent gazed gloomily Into the open grate. “Broke my guard,” he growled. Tho lovelorn maiden could do nothing but rftek to and fro and moan.— [Detroit Tribune. AN EVEN CHANCE. Hausfrau (to dunning tradesman) —ls to-morrow is bud weather I shall bo able to pay you. But if It is good weather you need not call, as we shall need tho money to go to a picnic.—[Fliegende Blaetter.

A MUSICAL MOUNTAIN.

Sweat Sound* Like the Tinkling of Bells Made by Shifting Sands. In the old Truckee mining district, down the Truckee river, near Pyramid Luke, is situated Nevada's musical mountain. This mountain was first discovered by the white settlers in 1868, at which time there was some excitement in regard to the mines found in the neighborhood. The discoverers Were a party of prospectors from the Comstock. They had pitched their tent at the foot of the mountain, and for a few evenings thought themselves bewitched, says the Virginia City Enterprise. Each evening, a little after dark, when the air was calm and all was quiet, a mysterious concert began. Out from the face of the big mountain were wafted soft strains that seemed to cause the whole atmosphere to quiver as they floated over the camp. The music then appeared to pass over it until it was far, far away, and almost lost in the distance, when, beginning with a tinkling, as of many little silver bells, there would be a fresh gust of sweet notes from the mountain. During the daylight hours little of the mysterious music was heard, and it was settled that it was not caused by the wind. A spring near which the explorers had pitched their tent afforded the only good camping ’ grounds in the neighborhood, and as each new party of prospectors arrived at the spot the wonder grew. Some Piute Indians who came along and camped at the spring were found to be acquainted with the peculiar musical character of the mountain. They called it the “singing mountain.” Some of the men collected in the camp became more interested in the mountain than in prospecting, and gave most of their time to an investigation of the mystery of the musical sounds heard to proceed from it. They found that the whole face of the mountain was covered with thin flakes of a hard crystalline rock. There were great beds of these flakes. The investigators concluded that the mnsical sounds heard proceeded from the loose material,, huge drifts of which seemed to be gradually working their way down the steep face of the mountain. At all events tlw strains heard at the foot of the mountain in the evening’s stillness seemed to be produced by the uniting and blending of the myriads of bell-like tinklings proceeding from the immense beds of slaty debris creeping glacier-like down tbp slope. The solution of the mystery of the musical mountain is the only one worthy of notice. As no mines of value were found the district was soon deserted, and has since seldom beep visited. Therefore, few expect the old-time prospectors know much about the “ singing mountain.”.