Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1894 — Page 6

SJjfJtmotroticSentmd J. V. McEW K>", Publisher. RENSSELAER, - - - INDIANA.

FADS IN FURNITURE.

CHICAGO’S FACILITIES FOR THE EQUIPMENT OF HOME. Aa Antiquarian’s “Finds” in the Old Crescent City—Antique and Artistic Furnishings that Were Imported in the Luxurious South “Befo’ the War.” 0 O ' Things Oaa4nt and Cartons. The art of the Renaissance made a great change in architecture and the change was soon exemplified in furniture. Italy, under the Medicis, began, in fact, to refurnish the world. But restless fashion, which changes with the seasons, accepts no

A HARPISCHORD.

permanent criterion even when it comes to elegance and comfort. Thus the beauty of form and perfection of detail noticeable in the furniture of the sixteenth century retrograded in the seventeenth all over Europe, when the framework grew heavy and the carving coarse

tnd gross. There was a revival of artistic industries in France under the first empire, when it returned to stiff classicalism. Fortunately the current tendency is to reproduce the elegant, graceful styles of Louis XYL Returning to a practical phase as It concerns us to-day. if one cares to know the largest furniture-making center on earth, it is well worth noting that Grand Rapids, Mich., is entitled to that honor; as for the largest exclusive furniture store in the world it is in the city of Chicago. Chicago, however, is so new that one never thinks of it as a repository for antiques, particularly as it pertains to furniture, yet in the flotsam and jetsam of the auction rooms one occasionally finds a.bit of curious furniture amid the cheap and tawdry assortment and general dilapidation. The expert searcher for the quaint, the curious, and the artistic unique is ever making fife way about quiet streets, studiously avoiding the thoroughfares where the spirit of trade throbs restlessly from dawn till dark; where the great windows dazzle with creations to captivate the eye of fashion; where the rush and roar of the great city jars upon the soul. With him the yesterdays and their associations possess a more potent appeal than their fevered speculations in the hopes and fears of the morrow. Passing down Hush street, at the southeast corner of Chicago avenue may be observed a home whose windows are filled with a medley of quaint ceramics, rare bronze candelabra, rusty old flintlocks that look as though they had been gathered by some cyclone collector, and left suspended like Mahomet’s coffin to amftze the passer-by. About the front door is a tangled fence of andirons and brass fenders, a big bronze lamp that looks old enough to have come from Pompeii, and a crazy-looking table that mischievous boys in the neighborhood occasionally loosen from its moorings and skate down the sidewalk. The sign on the outer wall states that this is the domicile of John F. Gepke, dealer in curiosities of a'l descriptions. The first curiosity you meet when you pass the nortal is Gepke himself. He has a shop-worn appearance in sympathy with the surroundings; affable and loquacious, with the politeness of a Frenchman and the shrewdness of a German, he appears to be absolutely guileless. But he was not born yesterday, as one soon learns when Gepke begins to discourse business or describe his ob jects de vertu. Scattefed about his room, in what might be termed artistic confusion, are carved chairs, highly ornamented tables, long graceful couches, an

vL fti **£ *’ { enormous bed whose carved posts reach the ceiling, quaint docks that have ticked for: a fcund re<fc yea rs, odd bits of china omate with arms and aristocratic tarnished candelabra, roity swords richly carved hilts, gihiss decanters, champagne glasses ahjd .furious ceramics. The whole atmosphere appears to be surcharged wJUi ,must, mellowness and antiquity! ? A thousand and one romances are associated with these objects, whiob in their titae have played an active part in the old palaces and plantations of the wealthy Southern people, ;, wßfo brought into their homds the best that Europe could furnish. ' Gepke, who is a cabinetmaker and a recent arrival in,'Chicago, ten years ago settled in New Orleans The result of the Exposition in that city inspired a fad for old furniture which he took as opportunity not to be slighted. All the money hq could rake and scrape together he promptly invested in old furnitare and the apparently dead surplus oflthe auction rooms. Then he began to carefully and systematically search in the poorer quarters pf the solid and indestructible furniture of the ante-war period had found lodging. He traveled far and near, visited old plantations, nja<?ri note of every sale and secured adl the souvenirs of artistle vahae that could be prccuied for a, spngl' Much of the furniture was in a very dilapidated condition, anmleas chairs, trembling tables, mirrorless "sideboards, crazy, curious old beds, battered, rusty and blistered through carelessness or by disuse, made a strange arid weird collection, but the buyer’s Judgment was vindicated , When it came to artistic repairing and renewing. Every bit of wood that he; secured was solid Santa Domingo mahogany. or hard oak richly veneered with mahogany. All of this furniture had been Imported from France to New Orleans long before the war, when the South was In its halycon day of,'prosperity and its artistic taste demanded the best of foreign Importations. During the troubled war times, and after the settled period of peace, modern ideas made encroachments, and the old furniture of the fathers was gradually abandoned in favor of the newer and more fashionable patterns. Much of it, considered merely as old lumber, was stored in garrets or given away to colored servants as useless, cumbersome, and antiquated.

IN ONE OF GEPKE’S ROOM.

There are miny l ' homes happily in New Orleans that were able, through great' dtrCss of trying circumstances, to • retain their rich quaint furnishings; but enough of it had gone adrift to "furnish employment to the wide-awake cabinetmakers and supply the people from the North who love the ; substantial and old-fashioned articles, massive but beautiful in {.their proportions, despite rough usage and tlie change of fashion. Gepke states that at one time he had over JGo four-pest carved beds. There is n'‘w in his shop a massive carved four-poster that General Lafayette occupied during his stay in New Orleans in On a card-table near by is an as-, tronomlcal clock, graceful in its proportions and Jnits working. It shows theTnovements of the sun, earth and moon, the circle of the zodiac, indicates kite fcidhth, day and hour, and rings tunes on the large, concealed musio-box in its base every half-hour. It was found in a garret of the house of Governor Komero, in St James parish. The sword of Gendfal St Clair bangs near by, and people interested in firearms will find the most curious example of the primitive repeating rifle. There are many other rare and curious objects to be found scattered

about this room that have more or less historical value. The will, howeverp'CoinmaDd quite as much attention, for it is woqdjerful to see what beauty can be brought from the pisi& {that look tyriy and unpromising enough before tne band

AM OLD-TIME TABLE.

of the repairer begins to work the restoration. Much of the wood is 200 years old and over. When the repairer begins his work of resuscitation be goes carefullyfover the wood with a sharp steel scraper, removing all the varnish, stains of time' and scratches that deface the rich carving (for almost everj piece is orna-

DETAILS OF DECORATION.

mented). It is then sand-papered and filled. Broken bits of carving are replaced with old mahogany, carefully shaped to comply with the original design. After this it is polished and varnished, retaining the rich dark hue of age, and is quite good and sound for service as it was a century ago. The veneered mahogany in panel work is very rich, and even the solid carving takes a polish and looks exceedingly well, and is singularly free from the semblance of newness that appears In more highly polished and modern furniture. The long old sideboards have been very popular, particularly those with side curved panels, carved pillars and heavily carved top pieces. It is also stated that four-post beds have been ■very salable, as some of these weigh upward of 200 pounds, have posts from seven to eleven feet high, heavily carved, and are crowned with canopies. Old chairs are always in demand and they are now quite difficult to obtain. The greatest call is for tables. These are seen in great variety and are considered highly desirable, as the legs and bases are usually broad and free in their decorative treatment and are handsome centerpieces for modern furnished apartments. Bureaus, desks with the fascinating nest of concealed drawers, and carved front washstands are apparently popular as individual pieces. Many romances might be spun about these curious old pieces that once ornamented the chambers and drawing-rooms of the Southern nobility. Famous men and women, distinguished foreign visitors, and reigning beauties of the day have in times past lolled at ease in these chairs, reclined gracefully on these couches, long ago. Then through a long season of disuse the eld furniture lay in darkened garrets, when the troubled tides of war swept back and forth over the South, and again is it, by some natural or unnatural retrogradation, passed into the hands of the former slaves, and dusky dames 101 l lazily where their aristocratic mistresses once took their siestas. They tell sad stories of the “pinch of poverty” of the once wealthy owners, who tried to save them for their associations and have been compelled reluctantly to part with them for the bare necessities of life. And now they all are reclaimed again, revivified befitting their sphere as artistic luxuries, unique exemplification of the “survival of the fittest.” Charles E. Nison.

CARDINAL SVAMPA.

Many Relieve Ho Will 15e the Next Occupant of the Pontifical Throne. There are many who believe that Cardinal Svampa, Archbishop of Bologna, will be the next occupant of the

Pontifical throne. The supersti t i o u s take his name as a sure sign that this will be the case, fora curious old book of Latin prophecies, giving a motto for each of the Popes, gives for the successor of Pope Leo XIII., “Ign's ar.dens,” (a burning fire) and Svampa, in

CARDINAL SVAMPA.

Italian, means flame. Ills coat of arms also is a sun, surrounded by rays of fire. Before being Cardinal Svampa was Bishop of Forli, in Romagna. >cme prelates have said of Cardinal Svarnpa that be has no sin but his age. He is only 43, but, as according to Professor Lapponi, the Pope's doctor, Leo XIII. will probably live at least ten years more, what has been termed the only sin of Cardinal Svarnpa will be corrected.

The Swift-Footed Moose.

To one who knows nothing of big game, it is amazing to see how fast a moose can tud, his stride being much longer than that of a horse. A light freight train was running on the Northern Pacific, in the upper part of Minnesota, when the engineer saw a big moose standing on the track, and as scon as the animal saw the engine he took to his heels down the trade. There was a perfectly straight run for four miles, and the engineer determined to test the speed of the moose, of which he had frequently heard. At first the gait of the moose was a sort of trot, and even when the engine gained speed ihe animal did not seem to exert itself. Faster and faster sped the engine, but still the moose trotted ahead, and all the power of steam could not prevail over this monarch of the forest. At last, after covering four miles, and turning a curve, they came upou a gang of section hands, and the victorious moose leaped the track, and was lost to view in the forest.

Buenos Ayres.

The population of the city of Buenos Ayres is estimate l at 580,000. The birth rate is high, but 13 per cent, are out of wedlock. Immigration added 13,000 last year. No hope can stand much hunger.

PRICES IN MEXICO.

Oost of Canned Good’*. Provision* and Other Amerleai Product*All vegetables are sold in Mexico by weight In the capital they are expensive. Potatoes small ones at that, cost on an average a cent each. All the large ones in the country—and they are astonishingly few—are sold, while the small ones are planted. Any farmer can guess the result. Whimsical feuses oftentimes produce unlooked-for results, and boiled potatoes are rarely served in a'Mexican hotel. Although the Gulf of Mexico is pnly 250 miles away, and connected with the capital by a line of railway, running daily trams, flsh in the latter place are scarce and high. What can be secured—generally red snap per—sell from 35 to 40 cents per pound. Compared to Jfew York, it nosts about double to keep house In Mexico City. Canned goods taste sweeter where they are scarcer, but no man on a limited salary can afford canned goods on his table in Mexico. A two-pound can of American corned beef sells for'TS cents, while a threepound can of tongue brings $1.50. Canned corn and tomatoes retail at 40 and 50 cents. American cheese sells for 37$ cents per pound. A. twopound glass cylinder of preserves sells for $1.75, while soda wafers sell for 65 cents per pound. American ham and bacon sells for 50 and 40 cents per pound, respectively. Michigan apples retail at 12$ cents each and a bottle of Milwaukee beer sells for 62$ cents. Most of the bread consumed in Mexico is made by large bakeries which turn out millions of small loaves daily. In spite of the above prices there Is a large and steadily increasing demand in Mexico for American groceries. The departments in our principal wholesale groceries devoted to export exemplify this. The Mexican trade is a valuable one and for which the American manufacturer should work. One very essential requisite in filling export orders is careful packing. A strict adherence to Instructions, however whimsical they may appear, are also necessary, for the Mexican cus toms tariff is “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and the slightest blunder on the part of the shipper subjects him to a fine in some cases exceeding the cost of the shipment.— P. Philip Terry, in Michigan Tradesman.

ACTORS SWEAR BY HIM.

A San Francisco Angel Whose Pockotbook Is Always Open to the Needy Thespian. If you want to hear the name of any man mentioned with enthusiasm and reverence go among the actors congregated on upper Broadway, New York, some afternoon, says a writer in the Pittsburg Dispatch. Grant? Oh, no. Cleveland? Not much. Anybody you ever heard of before? Never a bit. It’s John lladeruaker. And who on earth is John llademaker? you will wonder. Just ask the first actor you meet. “Why, of course 1 know John Fademaker! He lives in ’Frisco, and is the best man who ever drew breathl” But who is he and what does he do and what has he done? That is what you naturally want to know. Then you’ll find out from two or three men at the same time that John Rademaker keeps a big saloon In San Francisco and is an “angel.” When an actor from the East gets stranded in San Francisco, or indeed anywhere

on the Pacific coast, he goes straight to John Rademaker. It appears that John Rademaker has an elastic and sympithetic auricular apoendage that is always wide open to the reputable men In the profession who get stuck on the slippery slope. Those who have never been stranded 2,000 miles from home, with an idle summer ahead and no bank account, will not he ase to realize what such friendship jjipeans. Imagine yourself in London without a friend and without a cent, as some Americans are always to be found there, and you’ll know what the sensation is to the actor left in ’Frisco at the close of the season. Then imagine a man like John Rademaker in the Strand to whom you go and pour out your tale of woe, and who pulls out his roll and says to you: “Well, old man, I don’t know you; but from what I’ve heard of you, I think you’ll make this good when you’re in batter luck. I’ll take my chances on you, anyhow. I’ll just stake you for a trip home. Oh, that’s all right—l dou’t want any paper—if you’re not square your paper's no good. Now, what'll you have to drink?”

AMERICAN TEA.

Grown In Gardens in South Carolina—A State Agriculturist’s Opinion. Some fine specimens of American tea have been sent from Fayette, N. C., this season to Northern markets, and according to the New York Evening Post, the results of the sales seem to indicate that the culture of this crop in parts of the South may yet lead to large fortunes. It is not generally known that attempts were made to establish tea gardens here before the war, and that since the end of that outbreak systematic efforts have been made to revive the old gardens. Professor Massey, of the State Agricultural College, has been instrumental in trying to spread information amoDg the farmers concerning the culture of tea, and a few have been- induced to put out gardens. The tea sent from the old Smith farm this season brought 80 cents a pound, and some from the Summerville gardens in South Carolina brought as high as $1 a pound. Last summer the tea cut at Summerville amounted to a dozen or two pounds, and this year several times that amount has been sold. Dr. Shepard says that the leaf grown in the south is better for black than for green tea and that the cost of picking is about 25 cents a pound of cured tea. On a large scale, and with the best apparatus for gathering and curing, this cost might be largely reduced. He feels confident, however, that cheap-rate culture could never be made profitable here on account of the lower wages that rule in Japan and India and China, but the higher grade teas can be grown with considerable profit. Dr. Shepard is increasing his tea gardens every year, and when the plants are old enough to yield good crops he proposes to put in good machinery

and start into tea selling for money. Professor Massey says that the finest tea he ever tasted was grown in the Southland he has no doubt but it will be a future profitable crop in the Carolinas. Mr. Jackson, an expert tea grower from Assam, who had charge of the Summerville plantation under General LeDuc, says that with negro labor he can rai-e tea more cheaply than is done with coolie labor in India because of its greater reliability. In regard to the hardiness of the tea plant, all observers seem to agree that north of thirty-five degrees it is unwise to attempt to cultivate it. Around Old Point Comfort, where some plants have been growing more or less feebly lor years, the winters cut the plants badly, and on the upper part of the Delaware Peninsular they were entirely killed. But south of these points, in the piney woods country extending from Kaleigh to the Gulf, tea plants can be grown with great success, and the time may not be far distant when American tea will compete openly in the market with that shipped from China, Japan and India.

TOOTHACHE A SERIOUS AILMENT.

Jf in the Wood*, Far from Denting, It I Not to Be Lightly Regarded. Some one, in writing critically of novels, once said: “Who ever heard of the hero of a tale suffering from jaundice or mumps, or the heroine down with a toothache?” Who, to be sure, ever did? Jaundice and mumps and aching teeth are not romantic complaints. Even the realists prefer to omit them from the ills of their characters. Under certain circumstances they may, however, be serious ailments. Has anyone ever stopped to think seriously of the terrible torture suffered by backwoodsmen and inmates of logging camps from toothache? The complaint is by no means uncommon in the woods, happening scores of miles from any town in which relief might be obtained. Small wonder, then, that a toothache is regarded as a serious matter in the woods, and that instances are on record of loggers committing suicide rather than bear the pain. These facts were ascertained not long since from a number of guides in one of the most secluded portions of the Adiroudacks It suddenly occured to a gentleman, who made one of a well-equipped party, that he had omitted to make his regular annual call upon his dentist. This suggested the idea of making some inquiries. ■■What do you do?” asked he, “if you have a toothache up here?” “Well,” said his guide, repiying in that deliberate manner for which all woodsmen are noted, “well, that depends. If it is not a bad tootache we try to stand it.” “I suppose the doctors up here all take a hand at pulling teeth?” remarked the sportsman. “Yes,” was the reply, “but there ain’t no doctors up here nearer than Long Lake village or Indian Biver. There ain’t much choice between ’em. They’re both forty miles away. There ain’t no fillin’ teeth up here,” he continued. “We get ’em out if we can, or wait 'until the dentist comes. There’s one comes up to Long Lake about Christmas time each year and yanks teeth for two weeks. “I’ve known of men who tried to cut out the tooth with their knives or pull ’em out with carpenter’s pinchers. Once when I was loggin’ a fellow tied a lake trout line about his tcoth, bent down a sapling spruce and fastened the other end to it and let her go.” “Did the tooth come out?” asked the sportsman. “It did,” replied the guide, “and it dblocated the man’s jaw at the same time. He didn’t leave enough slack. He had to leave camp. There was another fellow who tied a string to a bullet; but that didn't go. The line snapped when he fired his rifle.” “You say a dentist comes to Long Lake once a year?” remarked the gentleman. “I suppose he does a pretty good business.” “Indeed he does,” replied the guide. “He pulled put most a bushel of teeth last year. Folks came from all parts of the woods to have ’em yanked. I know one fellow— Bob Walsh—who had all his teeth out Some of ’em ■ ached and some didn’t, but he said that sooner or later they’d all ache, and so he had ’em all out He didn’t see no occasion to make more than one job of it.”

A Remarkable Dog.

The following peculiar incident is told by a Baltimore man as occur ring to his fox terrier: “One day, while the cellar door was open, the dog descended in search of rats at about 9 o’clock. At 0:30 the dog was searched for and thought lost. Is'o further notice was taken in the matter until the next morning at 11 o’clock, when I was attracted by a dog yelling. After a careful search in the cellar, which revealed only a pile of sand by the wall, I noticed the dog’s nose protruing through an inch board at the top window of the cellar looking into the yard. I went immediately up stairs and removed live bricks from the pavement and pulled the dog out. After a careful inspection 1 discovered he had dug under the foundation of the house in the sand, which had caved in on him. Finding no other means of escape he dug up to the surface, a distance of six feet, and on arriving at the brick surface, which had been recently paved, dug toward the window, a distance of three feet, and bad nearly eaten through the board in his efforts to free himself. He was nearly exhausted when found, having been twenty-six hours under ground. One eye was entirely clo-ed from sand, the other nearly so.”

Never Toward the North.

The Japanese never sleep with the head to the north. This is because the dead, in Japan, are always buried with the head in that position. In the sleeping rooms of private houses, and of hotels even, a diagram of the points of the compass is posted upon the ceiling lor the convenience of guests.

Expensive Evolutions.

The spring and autumn maneuvers of European armies cost annually $10,000,000.

PRACTICAL ART.

Incident* That Happily Illnatrate the Value of Drawing:. Prot Mahan, under whom Grant and most of the other generals of the late war studied engineering at West : Point, said: “There is no person, whatever his profession, but at times has need of drawing as an auxiliary to render his ideas intelligible to others. Stories which illustrate this saying are told by Alexandre Dumas 1 and by Nasmyth, the hammer man. If these men were not so eminent we might suspect that one tale suggested the other. They show that what might be competent expression to a Norwegian would not do for a German. Mr. Nasmyth said he was traveling in Norway, and one day, in a wild, out-of-the-way place, reached an inn, very hungry, but unable to make the hostess understand his wants by anything he could say. He was considerably perplexed till he happily thought of his pencil. He drew a dish, steaming, a plate beside it, with knife ;fnd fork, a bottle and a wine glass. His hostess looked at it and intimated that she knew what it meant. He went out for a stroll and, on his return, found the picture realized. The bottle, the wine glass, the plate, the knife and fork and covered dish. When he sat down hi 3 hostess lifted the cover, displaying a fine, hot fowl that sent forth a cloud of steam. Lucky Nasmyth! Not so lucky was Dumas, and yet as expressers of ideas, where is the comparison? The circumstances are similar, only Dumas was on the barber land of Switzerland, stopped by the rain; horse sinking in mud up to his knees; driver wet to the bone. Dumas would not have entered the little German inn, so wretched, except for his great philanthropy. If he hated anything it was sauerkraut, and when they imposed this “infamous pleasantry” upon him repeatedly, he gave it to the dog. The astonishment of his hostess was mountainous ‘“if you don’t like sauerkraut, what do you like?” “Anything but that.” It was all she had. A luminous idea lights his soul. Mushrooms! The country was famous for them, but he could not remember the German nama “come—some—How do you call it in German?” “Some? Some?—” repeated the hostess, mechanically. “Eh? Yes; some ” ‘.‘At this moment my eyes fell on my album. ‘Wait,’ said I, ‘wait.’ I then took my pencil and on a beautiful white leaf drew, as carefully as I could, the precious vegetable which formed for the moment the object of my desires. I flattered myself that it approached as near to a resemblance as it is permitted for the work of man to reproduce the work of nature. All this while the hostess followed me with her eyes, displaying an intelligent curiosity that seemed to augur most favorably to my prospects. ‘Ah! ja, ja, ja (yes, yes, yes),’ said she, as I gave the finishing touch to the drawing. She had comprehended—the clever woman—so well comprehended that .five minutes after she entered the room with an umbrella all open. ‘There!’ said she. I threw a glance upon my unfortunate drawing—the resemblance was perfect!” American Machinist.

MANY MOURNERS.

Description of a Funeral in Distant Es-ypt. From along the banks of the Mahmoudiyeh canal one day I saw a sad hut interesting sight, says a foreign traveler. Away in the distance, on the opposite side, a large uurnber of people were coming along, and upon their nearer approach I saw that they formed a funeral procession. Two sheikhs, with long blue tunics and white turbans, led the way; and immediately behind them were the men, to the number of twenty-six, chanting in a dismal way: “La Allah ila Allah, wa Mohammed ruscol Allah!” (There is no God but Goc(, and Mohammed is the apostle of God.) The funeral costumes were their every-day dresses, showing wide contrasts of color, some being blue, others black, yellow, white, and brown. Then followed the bier, a young Moslem lad being carried to his long home. It was covered with large native rugs and was supported by four men, relieved iu turn by others. The women and children came next, about sixty in all, the women weeping and wailing and waving handkerchiefs in front of them, now and again filling the still air with fearful shrieks. The women were dressed in the usual somber blue covers and tbeir faces were closely veiled. They baited opposite to the spot where I stood, and the men got on board of one of the tiny ferries that ply backward and forward over the canal, taking the bier with them, and were rowed safely to the other side, the women meanwhile waiting and wailing for the dead youth. The boat, which was about twenty feet long and eight feet in beam, having returned the women and children then got on board, most of them sitting, and they were pushed across and landed. The procession then reformed and the wailing continued. The procession wended its way for a considerable distance along the hanks of the canal under a grove of sycamore trees. The sight left a painful impression upon my mind. The day was beautiful, the birds piping out their joys overhead. Everything seemed happy except these poor Arabs, without a hope to cheer the dark tomb.

Don’t Laugh.

The young electrical wizard, Tesla, says that he can supply the world with artificial sunshine as soon as he can safely care for the 8,000,000 volts necessary for that purpose. Do not laugh at him, nor compare him to the ancient philosopher who said that he could move the world if he could secure a fulcrum for his lever. Nothing seems impossible to electricity, and some day even grim Chicago and dull London may be provided with best three-ply, yard-wide Italian sunshine, guaranteed to mellow the temper and consolidate the health, by electrical contractors who have found out the secret of imitating the sun.—New York Journal.

’Twould Kill a Modern Man.

A Roman soldier, in marching order, carried sixty pounds of weight and was expected to march four miles an hour for six hours a day.

OUR BUDGET OF FUN.

HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DO* INGS HERE AND THERE. and Jokelets that Are flnppoiod to Have Been Recently Born—Sayings and • Doings that Are Odd, Curious, «.nH Laugh* Able—The Week's Humor. Bet Cs All Laoeh* The Professor's Bike. sher» »m a musician named -Sum.* ; Wno played on the base and snare rim tv— When he i lay*d on the street

ft was always a treat Just to hear hl.-n fret in his Bum! Bum! Every evening he played In a show. Where the old man on foot need to Bolt was awfully far,

And to ride in a car Would have cost him much money, you know So he thought of a patent one day, And must, ,|uickly he made the thing pay— For he rigged up a wheel

With his drums and some steel, And he rides every foot of the way.

Little Laughs.

“On what does Skiftins base hi* suit for libel?” “On a casual reference to him as the ideal juror in a capital case.”—Washington Star. “What are the relations now between your wife and yourself?” “Oh, only her mother, two uncles, a sister and a few cousins.”—Detroit Free Press. Jinkbots —“You complain of the expense of a typewriter; why don’t you have your wife do it?” Henpeck —“I can’t dictate to my wife.”—Syracuse Post Mother— “ Why don’t you play with that nice little boy across the street?” Small Son—“Us boys is boycottin’ him.” “Why, what for?” “He doesn’t freckle.”—Good News. Wife —“ The doctor thinks you have enlargement of the heart.” Husband—“l thought hb must imagine 1 had something of the sort by the size of the hill he sent in. ” Truth At a Prize Shooting: (after repeated misses) —Donnerwetter! If those rascally fellows haven’t gone and stuck up the target in the wrong place again.”—Unsere Gesellschaft. An absent minded Southwark woman went to bank the other day to have cashed a check her husband sent her. She indorsed it thus: “Your loving wife, Mary Miller.”— Philadelphia Eecord. Pater (entering suddenly) “Phur-r-r! What do you mean, sir, by thus embracing my daughter? Ethel, I am surprised.” Ethel (bravely)—“So are we, poppa, dear; so are we.”—Truth. Income-tax Assessor— “ You can’t claim exemption, Mr. Smiles. Why, man, you must spend $7,000 a year the way you live.” Smiles—“l know that, sir; but I live beyond my income.”—Harper’s Bazar. “I am strong in my love for you." the youth protested. But when she bade him open the window in the first-class railway coach in which they were journeying he fled in despair—Detroit Tribune. “What’s the outlook for a newspaper in this town?” “First-class. We’ve got a map of a railroad, six candidates for postmaster, an’ it ain’t ten miles to where the circus shows!”—Atlanta Constitution. Indicative “What makes you think Jack Youngley is going to propose to you?” “Why, we were dancing the other night and I complimented him upon the easy'way in which he held me. 'Oh, yes,’ he said, ‘it’s always easy for me to hold my own.’” —Brooklyn Life. “The gentleman you see pacing up and down yonder as if he were mentally deranged Is Schmidt, the famous accountant.” “What is the matter with him?” “He was trying yesterday to unravel the oomplicat:ons of his wife’s housekeeping book. ” —Handelszeitung.

Boodlers at Work.

A writer m the American Architect shows, by giving figures, that government buildings cost between B 0 70 per cent, more than the same class of private work, and that the average time taken upon government buildings is more than three times as long.

Luxuriant Foliage.

The leaf of the cocoanut tree is nearly thirty feet long. A single leaf of the parasol magnolia of Ceylon affords shade for fifteen or twenty persons.