Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1895 — Page 4

THE SONG I XEVER SING. Am when in dreams we sometimes hear A melody so faint and fine. And musically sweet and clear, Itflavorsall the atmosphere With harmony divine. So often in my waking dreams I hear a melody that seems Like fairy voices whispering To me the song I never sing. Bom*times when brooding o'er the years My lavish youth has thrown away, When all the glowing past appears But as a mirage that my tears Have crumbled to decay, I thrill to find the ache and pain Of my remorse is stilled again, As forward bent and listening, I hear the song I never sing. A murmuring of rhythmic words, Adrift on tunes whose currents flow Melodious with the thrill of birds And far off lowing of the herds In lands of long ago; And every sound the truant loves Comes to me like the coo of doves, When firstin blooming fields of spring I hear the song I never sing. The echoes of old voices, wound In limpid streams of laughter where The river Timeruns bubble crowned, And giddy eddies ripple round The lilies growing there; Where roses, bendingo’erthe brink Drain their own kisses as they driuk. And ivies climb and twine and cling About the song I never sing. An ocean surge of sound that falls As though a tide of heavenly art Had tempested the gleaming halls And crested o’er the golden walls In showers upon my heart Thus, thus, with open arms and eyes Uplifted toward the alien skies Forgetting every earthly thing, I hear the song I neversing. James Whitcomb Riley.

A MONTEREY PASTORAL.

By KATE P. SIEGHOLD.

Father Gaspard was selected by the Father Superior at Monterey to carry a message to the Mission San Juan, forty miles away. He was offered a horse to ride, but refused it, and started on foot. It was May, the most delightful month in the year, and Father Gaspard, free from the restraint of the mission, beguiled the way by singing and soliloquizing something after this wise: “Indeed no; I feel far safer on my own legs than on the back of an impish bronco that plants his four feet all together in one small spot and humps his back like a fiend incarnate. Did not I myself see the Father Superior’s face blanch when he mounted him to ride down the coast?” Father Gaspard was strong and in good health, barring a threatened obesity and a shortness of leg, but with the aid of a stout oaken staff he made good progress. A light refection at midday and u short siesta so refreshed him that he almost seemed to trot, so fast did the ups and downs of the mountain trail speed under his feet. x ' He passed the night with a herdsman, who shared with him his simple fare, and in the morning, after giving the man his blessing, proceeded on his way through the mountain pass, to the edge of the Galinas River. Tucking his gown around his waist and carrying his sandals in his hand he forded the stream in’ a shallow place, mounted the bank, and drew long breaths of delight at the view before him.

The valley stretched leagues away to the south, where the mountains seemed to meet the sand dunes separating it from the sea on the west. There were no landmarks of any kind, not a tree, shrub or rock —only an unbroken prairie of verdure and flowers, azure sky overhead, and a gentle breeze moving the grass. The good father hastened on. Well he knew that later in the day these great Salinas plains were the very nozzle of the bellows through which the trade winds swept, and toward evening a terror to travelers from the fog that rolled in from the sea, enveloping, drenching and bewildering them so it was folly to continue their journey. They must stop where they were until the next morning, when the welcome trade winds once more arose and drove the fog away in fantastic clouds over the mountains. It was the good priest’s intention to cross the plains and reach the rar.ch of Don Manuel on the Gabilan, where he would pass the night, sure of a kindly welcome and good cheer. But about noon, suffering from heat,

fatigue and the pangs of hunger, he bethought himself of a shepherd who tended the sheep of Don Manuel, with whom stopped once or twice when overtaken by the fog, and who had the kfiack of frying frijoles most deliciously. Yes, there to the right was the hut, and a short distance away the flock. Bo the priest turned from his course, and soon reached the shepherd’s hut. He sat down on a bench by the door until he recovered his breath. Then putting his hands to his mouth, called loudly, “Pedro! Oh, Pedro!” The sheep were huddled together in groups, heads to the ground, their woolly backs resisting the heat of the sun. At his call some lifted their heads, but the shepherd did not rise from his sleep on the ground, as Father Gaspard expected. Instead, the black head of a shepherd dog lifted itself on the further side of the flock. Then circling around it, he came bounding and leaping toward the priest. On reaching him he ran around and around, barking, jumping and trying to lick his face. Father Gaspard laughed and said : “Is it thou, Domingo? This is a cordial greeting, but where is thy master, Pedro? Is the sluggard asleep in the grass?” The dog showed all his teeth, and bent himself almost double first one side the other in the violent wags of his tail. He ran a little way, then lay down and rested his head on his paws an instant, then ran up to the priest again, omitting sharp, quick yelps. He repeated this again and again, but as the priest only laughed the dog took hold of his gown with his teeth, and backing off tried te pull him along.

"Oh, well, then; I come,” said the priest indulgently, and followed the dog, who trotted toward a clump of tall grass, looking back every few step 9 to see if Father Gaspard was close behind. “Is it a fox hole thou wouldst show me? Or only a squirrel’s? Oh, it is the lazy shepherd.. Awake, Pedro!” said the priest, reaching down to shake the prostrate form, but he started back, for it was not that of a sleeping man, but a dead one. “How is this?” cried Father Gaspard, in distress. “Pedro dead! and of what ailment?” He turned the body over. ‘ ‘Thou hast lain here many days, my poor Pedro. Already the fog aud sun have rotted thy garments and disfigured thy face. Thou art offensive and must be buried. And who has guarded the flock?” He looked at the dog, who wagged his tail.

“Thou, Domingo! by thyself? Truly, thou art a noble fellow, and shalt have thy reward. The man must be buried, at least temporarily .” Father Gaspard scanned the valley in all directions. No one was to be seen; no traveler or vaquero that could be called to help, He went back to the hut and opened the door. It was in good order, showing that the shepherd had not* lain there sick. Looking around he found a small spade, and took a blanket, which was folded on a pile of dry grass, to wrap the body in. Then he went back to the dead man. It was no easy task to dig the grave alone and get the body in it, but he went bravely to work, and cheered by an occasional visit from the dog, by the time the first harbinger of the fog—in the form of a fleecy mist—floated ov9r the sand dunes, it was accomplished. Father Gaspard went back to the hut. worn and weary, indeed, and cooked some frijoles, and found some meal, of which he make a cake and baked it in the ashes of his fire. He offered some to the dog, who only sniffed at it and would not eat. The priest, seated at the door of the hut, saw Domingo round up the sheep and head them toward the corral. There were many hundreds, and he drove them carefully and without haste safely inside, all bat one laggard, a half grown lamb, which came bleating and running to join the others.

Th 6 dog stood at the entrance of the inclosure, but instead of letting the lamb pass he sprang at his throat and bore it to the ground, lapping eagerly the warm blood that flowed from the lacerated woud. As soon as it ceased its struggles he tore the flesh from its bones and ate ravenously. Father Gaspard was angry, and shouting to the dog tried to drive him from the lamb, but Domingo growled and would not obey. Having finished the meal, he dragged the body away from the corrai and began to dig a hole. When he considered it deep enough he pushed the lamb in, but dragged it out again and dug the hole a little wider. In the lamb was flung again —out once more and turned around. Then, apparently satisfied, he pushed it in and covered it up, shoving the earth over it with his nose. Then he went to the gate of the corral, selected a place to rest, licked his paws, turned around and around several times, lay down, and rolling himself up went to sleep, Father Gaspard watched this wantonness on the part of the dog with great distress; t hen, too weary to set up longer, he entered the hut, and on the shepherd’s bed of grasses s'ept the sleep of fatigue and innocence.

In the morning he was awakened by the barks of the dog and the tramp of the sheep as they were driven out to graze. After eating the remains of the beans and meal cake he sat on the bench and wondered what was best to do. Should he remain there and guard the flock from the dog, and await someone s coming, to send word to Don Manuel, or should he hasten himself to the ranch and have a shepherd sent with other dogs. , He felt a cold nose on his hand and looking down saw Domingo wagging a cheerful good morning. Father Gaspard pushed him aside and said: “Away Domingo, thou art no more a friend of mine. Thou art an unfaithful servant; even now thy jowls are red with the blood of that innocent lamb. No wonder thou disdained the frijoles I offered tlvee for thy supper, thou hadst something better in store. Thou shalt be dealt with according to thy crime. I will tell Don Manuel of thy treachery and thou shalt be

shot, an ignominious death for a dog. Or if thou shouldst escape, as I have no rope to tie thee, thou shalt drag out a miserable life in the mountains, like the thievish coyote, and like h'm be hated and hunted It is a true saying that once a shepherd dog tastes the blood of a sheep he is never more to be trusted. It is worse than the thirst of men for wine.” Domingo sat on his haunches before the priest and listened to this tirade, his head on one side, his eyes fixed on those of his denunciator, and his tongue lolling out of his mouth, except when the priest paused, then he drew it in and swallowed. His sharp ears stood up and pointed forward and back from the priest to the sheep. Occasionally his eyes would roll toward the flock, and the little brown spots above them seemed also to move. Ever on the alert, he now dashed away to see if they were safe. Father Gaspard grasped his staff and arose to go, hoping to reach the ranch and send a shepherd back before night. Suddenly a thought struck him, and he sat down again. ‘ • What would have kept the dog from starving since the shepherd died, if he had not eaten a lamb now and then. Yes, it had to be, for the good of the flock the dog must be fed. He killed the lamb quietly, not alarming the rest.” Father Gaspard called him by name, and when he came running up stroked his head tenderly. “ Domingo mio, I was overhasty and have done thee injustice. Dost forgive me for my blindness and harsh words ? Yes, I see no malice In thy honest face. Thou needst no words to express thy forgiveness, it

is shown in thy clear brown eyet, and the vocabulary of thy tail and ears. I will tell the Don of thy faithfulness and thou shalt be canonized among dogs. Thou art no longer young. I, myself, have known thee a number of years. Thou shalt be relieved of the care and labor of the field, and live at the ranchhouse, where the Don will give thee a place by the fire, and \ 11 stroke thy head like this, as he tells the story of~thy sagacity.” Light of heart, Father Gaspard ; started once more on his way toward the Gabilan. At evening he reached the edge of the mountain, and looking back saw nothing but a sea of fog. But had it been clear he might have seen a shower of dirt and grass flung high in the air, caused by Domingo in the act of resurrecting the remains of the lamb for his supper.

HOW GRANT WHEELER DIED.

A Notorious Bandit Choso Suicide Rather Than Captivity. With officers of the law hard upon his trail Grant Wheeler, the train robber, avoided capture recently by sending a revolver bullet through his brain. Wheeler was a desperate character and the wildest of the ruffians with whom he associated. The robbery in which he figured and for which he was hunted to his death occurred on Thursday, January 81, when the West bound overland mail was stopped near Wilcox, Arizona Territory. Two masked men, one of whom was Wheeler, forced the brakeman to divide the train, afterward taking charge of the section to which the express car was coupled. The messenger in charge made his escape and gave the alarm to the authorities at Wilcox. The safe was blown open with dynamite and the contents, aggregating a large sum, carried off in a sack. A rigid investigation followed, and the crime was fastened with considerable certainty upon Wheeler and a cowboy named Joe George. Suspicion also lighted, though not quite so directly, upon two other men, named Trainor and Davis. The most promising clew obtainable put Special Officer Breckinridge, of the Southern Pacific Railway, Deputy Sheriff Joe Smith and L. C. Williams hard on the track of Wheeler. They surprised him just as he was cooking breakfast in a ditch near the little town of Mancos, in southern Colorado. Williams walked within a few feet of the train robber and ordered him to throw up his hands. He refused and started to run. Williams pulled the trigger of his Winchester, but the weapon missed fire. Wheeler turned at bay in a small ravine, whence he sent a revolver bullet whistling past Williams’ head. The latter, with his companions, advanced upon Wheeler, who Immediately killed himself. Wheeler was 27 years old and of medium stature, but athletic in build. His confederates in the train robbery are still at large, though there is an even chance of their capture. After they looted the train they separated, each, it is supposed, taking different routes to avoid capture. When Wheeler’s person was searched after death but 30 cents was found in his pockets. A peculiar incident connected with the robbery was the fact that the bandits, when laying their explosives on the safe, piled over them eighteen sacks, each containing one thousand Mexican dollars. The terrific explosion scattered the coin in all directions.

THE PERFECT WOMAN.

A Story of How That Event Was Realized. In a book by Leon Gazlin, the French author, is the following pretty account of the distribution of the charms of the female sex by a fairy: “To the Castillian, long and black hair, with which she might almost make a mantilla. ■‘To the Italian, eyes bright and ardent as a midnight eruption of Vesuvius. “To the Turk, a form as round as the moon and soft as eiderdown. “To the German, beautiful teotli and an earnest heart, profoundly inclined to love. “To the English, aurora borealis to glorify or paint her cheeks, her lips and her shoulders. “Afterward she gave gayety to the Neapolitan, wit to the Irish, good sense to the Fleming.

“But when this good fairy, who had served out all these female attractions to the daughters ot Eve, had exhausted all her treasures, an attractive little figure came tripping up and asked for her share. ‘And who are you, dear?’ said the good fairy, rather surprised. ‘O, I’m a Parisienne,’ said the little lady. ‘l’m sorry.’said the fairy, ‘but I have given everything to your sisters; I have actually nothing left.’ This caused great grief to the petitioner, so much so that the fairy took pity on her, and calling the other recipients of her bounty togotlier, put it to them whether, as she had been so generous to them, they would not give a portion of her gifts to the little stranger, which they agreed to do. They each gave her a share of the fairy's gifts; hence the Parisienne, who, we are told, combines in a sufficient degree all that makes womankind delightful. “The American was not present when these good things were being served out, for the very good reason that in that good fairy’s time she hadn’t been invented yet; but she was equal to the occasion. She had no idea of being left out in the cold. Like those fine old Milesian families who had a boat of their own at the flood, she got a fairy of her own, and told her to take the Parisienne for a model, and see if she could not improve upon her.. Hence the Americaine. Whether the American fairy was successful in fulfilling the instructions of her fair client I must leave to better judges to decide; but there is no doubt that original and copy are very nice.”

A Marine Velocipede.

Last winter a young Chicago genius took out a patent for an ice bicycle and now there is another at work on a marine bicycle. A machine of this nature has been patented within the last few weeks by a New Orleans man. He calls it a marine velocipede.

ABOUT THE BLUE JAY.

A Handsome Bird Which Is • Bully •nd a Coward. From tall, straight chestnut trees a strong, vigorous note sounds afar, • jay! jay ! jay! The note moves about, falling successively from different but not very distant spots. In a few moments the eye lights upon its source—it is the blue jay, the handsomest and most mischievous of our birds. His pale bluo crest distinguishes him at once; so do the white bars on wings and tail, brilliant dark blue wings and tail, pale throat decorated with a trim black collar; sharp black bill that carries a menace to the timid, set firm in front of the strong, erect head. It is a large bird, nearly twelve inches long, or about the size of the blackbird. The bluejay has had a great share of attention from our writers. Long ago Audubon watched its habits closely as he followed it frpm its winter quarters in Carolina to its summer breeding places at the North. He says little good of it, for it i 9 a predatory creature, robbing every nest it can find and sucking the eggs like a crow or tearing in pieces and devouring the young. “One of my friends,” he says, “put a flying squirrel into the cage of a blue jay, merely to preserve it over night, but on looking into the cage the next morning he found the squirrel partly eaten .” A jay destroyed all the birds in an aviary belonging to a man in Charleston. One after another had been killed; the rats were suspected, but no crevice could be found large enough to admit one. Then the mice were accused and war waged against them, but still the birds continued to disappear, first the smaller, then the larger, and finally the large Key West pigeons. ,At length the jay was found to be the destroyer. He was taken out and placed in a cage with a quantity of flour and several small birds which we had just killed. The birds he soon devoured, but the flour he would not touch, and, refusing every other kind of food, he soon died. Audubon undertook to naturalize these birds in England. He went to the trouble of purchasing twenty or more of them to be sent to England and turned out in the woods there . He records some lively studies of them as they were slowly gathered into the big cage he had ordered. “I was surprised,” he says, “to see how cowardly each newly caught bird was when introduced to his brethren who, on being in the cage a day or two, were as gay and frolicsome as if in the woods. The newcomer, on the contrary, would run into a corner, place his head almost in a perpendicular position and remain silent and sulky, with an appearance of stupidity quite foreign to his nature. He would suffer all the rest to walk over him and trample him down without ever changing his position. If corn or fruit was presented to him or even close to his bill he would not so much as look at it. If touched with the hand he would cower, lie down on his side and remain motionless. The next day, however, things were altered; he was again a jay, taking up corn, placing it between his feet, hammering it with his bill, splitting the grain, picking out the kernel and dropping the divided husks. When the cage was filled it was amusing to listen to their hammering, all mounted on their perch, side by side, each pecking at a grain of maize like so many blacksmiths paid by the piece. They drank a great deal, roosted very peaceably j close together and were very pleasing pets.” They bore the sea voyage apparently well, but all died soon after reaching Liverpool. These birds are very expert in discovering any quadruped ; hostile to birds. They will follow a 1 cat or a fox, making a great outcry, as if they would bring every jay and i crow to their aid. They are more tyrannical than brave, domineer over j the feeble, dread the strongest, fly , even from their equals. In many cases they are downright cowards. The cardinal bird will challenge a jay and beat him off his ground, though a much smaller bird; but with birds as with men, a little honest courage j goes a long way against a thief. He ! creeps silently to the nests of absent bird 3, will go the rounds from one nest to another every day and suck the newly laid eggs, as regularly as a physician would call upon his patients. But the advantage is not always on his side, for on his return he sometimes finds Ins nest upset, tli# eggs all gone and his mate in the jaws of a snake.

CUSTER’S LAST FIGHT.

His Force Overwhelmed By Sitting Bull’s Braves. On June 25 Custer struck Sitting Bull’s main trail and eagerly pursued it across the divide into the Little Big Horn valley. Expecting battle, he detached Major Reno with seven of his twelve companies to cross the Little Big Horn, descend it, and strike the foe from the west; but Reno was soon attacked and held ot bay, being besieged in all more than twenty-four hours. Meantime, suddenly coming upon the lower end of the Indians’ immense camp, the gallant Custer and his braves, without an instant’s hesitation, advanced into the jaws of death. Balaklava was pastime to this, for here not one “rode back.” “All that was left of them,” after a few minutes, was some 200 mostly unrecognizable corpses. Finding himself outnumbered twelve or more to one—the Indians mustered at least 2,500 warriors, beside a caravan of boys and squaws—Custer had dismounted hi 3 heroes, who, planting themselves mainly on two hills some way apart, the advance one held by Custer, the other by Captains Keogh and Calhoun, prepared to sell their lives dearly. By waving jplankets and uttering their hellish yells they stampeded many of the cavalry hor-ses, jvhicli carried off precious ammunition in their saddle bags. Lining up just behind a ridge they would rise quickly, fire„at the spiders, £nd drop, exposing themselves little, bur drawing Custer’s fire, so causing additional loss of sorely needed bullets. The whites’ ammunition spent, the dismounted savages rose, fired, and whooped like the demons they were,

while the mounted ones, lashing their ponies, charged with infinite venom, overwhelming Calhoon and Keogh, and lastly Ouster himself. Indian boys then pranced over the fields on ponies, scalping and reshooting the dead and dying. At the barial many a stark visage wore a look of horror.

A Monolith for Washington's Birthplace.

Colonel Wilson, of the corps Oi engineers, who has special charge of the work of marking the birthplace of Washington, at Wakefield, Westmoreland County, Va., has received a letter from Mr. William Crawford, of Buffalo, N. Y., who was awarded the contract for the erection of a monument, in accordance with the design approved by the Secretary of State, stating that he expects to complete the work before the close of the present calendar year. His plan is to transport the monolith and the other stones farming the monument from Buffalo to Wakefield, on the Potomac, entirely by water, in time for delivery about the Ist of September. The route will be through the Welland canal, down the St. Lawrence river, by sea to Chesapeake bay, thence up the Potomac river to Pope’s creek, where the stone will be disembarked, and carted to the spot selected as the site for the monument. This method of transportation is chosen because of the greater difficulty of overland transportation of the monolith, which is a solid stone, weighing thirty-five tons. Colonel Wilson says that while the contract does not require the completion of the monument until July 1, 1896, he is confident, barring accidents, that the entire work will be finished before the Ist of January next.

THE REAL TROUBLE.

Why Kingley Did Not Like His New Home. Bingo—Didn’t you have some trouble in building your house? Kingley—Oh, a little. The architect made a slight mistake in the estimate, and it cost me $4,000 more than I counted on. Bingo—Was that all? Kingley—All? No, sir! The carpenters forgot there was such a thing as specifications, and left out a hall; but of course one shouldn’t mind a little thing like that. Bingo—Certainly not Kingley—Then the pipes were put in wrong, and had to be replaced. Bingo—That usually happens. Kingley—Oh,yes. Then I neglected my business for three months trying to find the architect, and that cost me a pretty penny. Bingo—But you expected that. Kingley—Certainly. After the place was finished I found my old furniture wouldn’t do, and I had to get a new outfit! Then my cellar flooded, the root leaked and the piazza warped; but these things aren't anything to the trouble I’m in now. Bingo—What’s the matter now? Kingley—l can’t sell the house.

Miles of Solid Ice.

The front of the glacier is about three miles wide, but the sheer middle, berg-producing portion that stretches across the inlet from side to side, like a huge green-and-blue barrier, is only about two miles wide, and its height above the water is from 250 to 800 feet. But soundings made by Captain Carroll show that 720 feet of the wall is below the surface, while a third unmeasured portion is buried beneath the moraine detritus, that is constantly deposited at the foot of it. Therefore, were the water and rocky detritus cleared away, a sheer precipice of ice would be presented nearly two miles long and more than a thousand feet high. Seen from a distance, as you come up the fiord, it seems comparatively regular in form ; but it is far otherwise ; bold, jagged capes jut forward into the fiord, alternating with deep re-entering angles and sharp, craggy hollows with plain bastions, while the top is roughened with innumerable spires and pyramids and sharp, hacked blades leaning and toppling, or cutting straight into the sky.

The Wrong Medicine.

There lives in a town not far from here—in fact, it is at Skaneateles—a couple who think a good deal of each other, and when one is ill the other does everything in the world for her or his welfare. Not long ago the husband was taken ill and his wife rummaged around to find some medicine in the house. Finally she came across a box of little black pills. There was no writing on the coyer of the box to tell what they were, but as they resembled a certain liver pill the wife concluded they must be the required thing. She gave them to her hubby regularly and he seemed to improve. About a week after, when he had got down to the last pill, he chanced to turn the box over. He gave a yell that startled the whole neighborhood. His wife ran to him, thinking that he was dying. “Look,” he cried; “read what it says on the bottom!” She did as he bade her, and this was what she read : “Prime Crown Morning Glory Seeds 1”

A Hint to Husbands.

A significant occurrence is reported from Louisville. Matt Schmidt had occasion to stay out later the other night than usual, and his wife, who is a nervous woman, became very much alarmed for fear of burglars, or something. She locked up the house tightly and went to bed, and when Mr. Schmidt came home and tried to get in he could not. He rang the bell, and as there was no response he forced the door and went upstairs. His wife was apparently sleeping peacefully, so he went to bed. In the morning he discovered that she had heard him trying to get in, and it had frightened her so that she had entirely lost the use of her “voice. It is to be feared that there will now be an epidemic of men coming home late and frightening their wives by forcing the door. Possibly, however, it may not have the same effect on every nervous, woman.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

One result of the increase fn the price of petroleum throughout Germany has been to cause inventors to apply themselves to attempting to devise some sort of a substitute for the staple. A photograph album will be required in the saloons of New Zealand if the proposed local option bill Is carried into effeet. A clause in this bill provides that everyone convicted of habitual drunkenness shall be photographed at his own expense, and every saloonkeeper in the district where be lives must be supplied with a copy. Brooklyn has established a great water tower, sixty-five feet high, as a part of the fire department equipment of that city. It is intended to counteract the evils attendant upon the erection of enormously high buildings that are now becoming a most serious menace to life and property in all the large commercial cities of the country. It is often supposed that boys in growing keep ahead of girls; but recent measurements disprove this. The boys, up to their eleventh year, were found to run about a quarter to half an inch taller than the girls. They were then overtaken by the girls who surpassed them in height till their sixteenth year, when the boys again grew faster than the girls, and came to the front. “We New Englanders/' says the Zion’s Herald, “have been talking many years about annexing various parts of Canada, but they are in reality turning the tables upon ua. Nova Scotia, forinstance, is annually annexing New England. If you go down to Nova Scotia in July or August you will be convinced that there can hardly be a New Englander left at home —that is a New Englander of the better sort—you will find so many Massachusetts sehoeima’ams, and Boston doctors, and clergymen, and writers, and other professional people from New England and New York down there.” The New York Sun is glad to hear of the revival of silk-worm culture in Georgia, and hopes that those engaged in this business will prosecute it with greater perseverance than did their predecessors. The trouble is not a lack of perseverance, but that industry in this country has so far found more profitable employment than in tending* silk worms. The work is not difficult, but the pay is very small, and so long as the Old World can do this work so much more cheaply than we it will make silk production unprofitable here. Cheap as cotton has been and yet is, the growing of cotton pays better than does the care and feeding of silk worms. It is said that the future prosperity of many portions of the State of Washington depends upon finding some feasible method of exterminating the myriads of squirrels that infest the State. Traps, guns, bombs, arsenic and strychnine are being extensively employed for the purpose . The bombs operate on the same principle as the giant powder cones now in general use, except that they are charged with sulphur and other paralyzing ingredients, and at the close of the process a slight explosion occurs, producing a pyrotechnic display that sends the victims off to squirrel heaven in a blaze of glory, so to speak, from beneath the depths of the earth. A marveloi'S story is that which comes from Arizona, where a few months ago some prospectors in the Bradshaw Mountains came upon a cliff dwellers’ village in one of the most inaccessible canons of that range, the largest village of the kind ever yet discovered. Several of the houses were explored and large quantities of pottery and some instruments, evidently used for cultivating the soil, were found. In one, the skeleton of a man, not over 4 feet 8 inches in height, was discovered. The canon at this place is half a mile wide, and shows evidence of having been cultivated. If this theory proves to be true, it will throw more light on the habits of this little known people. So far as known, no other evidence has been discovered of cliff dwellers having cultivated the soil.

The largest railway map in the world has just been mounted in the Broad street station of the Pennsylvania Railroad, at Philadelphia. It was made by the American Bank Note Company, of New York, and is 112 sept 5 inches long by 15 feet high, and includes the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between Norfolk on the south and the Great Lakes on the north, giving a complete representation of the Pennsylvania Railroad, its leased lines and western connections. A railway map of such colossal dimensions has never before been attempted, much less carried to a successful completion, and when the final touches were given the work before an admiring crowd, gathered from many parts of the country, it was conceded that the beautiful painting was worthy of ranking among the most interesting sights of Philadelphia. Here is a fact to astound one—even the reader that may be old enough to vouch for its authenticity, says the New Science Review: In 1845 (but half a century ago), when only 2,000 or 8,000 miles of railroad lines had been operated in our mother country, a slender pamphlet of thirtyfour pages, bearing, even at that time, the familiar name of “Bradshaw,’’was more than sufficient to contain the time tables of all the trains of Great Britain. In 1842 Queen Victoria refused to travel by railway, and it is recorded of Prince Albert that, in going to Windsor, he was wont to say, “Not quite so fast, next time, Mr. Conductor, if you please.” In our own country many are still living who have watched the development of the greatest railway system in the world, who have seen the steady and amazing advance from Peter Cooper’s locomotive, weighing less than a ton, which, with difficulty, outstripped in speed a gray horse, to locomotives weighing more than seventy-five tons, which easily run sixty, and can even exceed seventy miles an hour. Moreover, in the life of the present generation, the railroads in the United States have been

quadruplet! fir mileage; they havw attained to the enormous proportions* of two hundred thousand miles ; they have cost close upon tea billion dollws; they employ more than a million men, and they run more than a million cars, which is- to say that, stretched out in a straight line, withlocomotives and tenders, they would form a train more than seven thousand miles long.

A STUPENDOUS FEAT".

Reclaimfnq. TSO Square Miles of Latvd Now Uhder Water, One of tne most stupendous feats in engineering which the world has ever seen is proposed by the people of Holland, being nothing less than the reclamation of the waters submerged by the Zuyder Zee. The scheme, it carried oat, will result in recovering about 750 square miles of land now under water and will add a new province to the country. It is estimated that the work will cost over SIBO.000,000, and will require 88 years of constant labor. The Dutch Government has recently received a favorable report on the plans from the Roval commission appointed to look into the project, and It is re ported that the government and many pfthe leading eltieens of Holland consider the scheme practicable. In the expansion of territory, in the increase of trade and agriculture, and in the giving to thousands of people the opportunity of profitable employment, the project, though a stupendous and very costly one, will be one that will recommend itself to most Hollanders The work proposed to be done consists, first, of the construction of an extensive embankment from almost the extreme-point of North Holland to the Friesland coast, so as to shut out the ocean from all further access to the Zuyder Zee; and second, of the formation, by means of further embankments, of four great “polders” on different patts of the shores of the Zuyder Zee for the purposes of land reclamation. Io is estimated that the capital value of the land to be reclaimed, for agricultural purposes, will be over $185,000,000, There is one important point which has been raised by the objectors to the plan, and that is that its consummation will practically destroy the Zuyder Zee fisheries, the revenues of which now average about $850,000 per year, employment being given through these fisheries to 8,000 persons, and 1,500 vessels. To compensate the fishermen for their loss the Royal commission proposes to give to every man thus deprived of a means of livelihood a new vessel suitable for the North Sea fisheries; and further to insure them against accident, to pension old fishermen and to exempt from harbor dues all the craft owned by them. It is believed in Holland that after the settlement of the secondary questions the government will at once order the great work of reclaiming these lands under water to be begun.

The Dandelion.

The dandelion belongs to the largest, oldest,, and most widely diffused order of piants. While other orders of plants have died out and become mere fossil remains in the rocks, this order has survived the geological changes of many different periods,on account of its power of adapting itself to those changes. And these changes in their turn have only made it better suited for all the varied soils and climates of the earth at the present day. We find members of tliisordfer in every part of the globe, in places as far apart from each other as they can be. It is the prevailing and dominant order of vegetable life, the most highly finished, and the most successful family of plants. And the dandelion is one of the most perfect forms belonging to it. It is the head and crown of the vegetable kingdom, as man is the head and crown of the animal creation, and it is curious how the highest type of plant always is found only where man, the highest type of animal life is found, and where he dwells or cultivates the soil. It is never found apart from him; it follows him wherever he goes—to America, Australia and New Zealand; and there in the new home it becomes a silent reminder of the dear old land he may never see again.

A New Violet.

While exploring in the Cascade Mountains during last summer Professor Lloyd, of Forest Grove, discovered a new violet. It is a small plant with a delicate white flower with translucent petals, and grows in wet mossy places. He has named it Viola Macloskeyi in honor of hia preceptor in biology at Princeton.

Appearances Are Deceitful.

It did look queer, but—

Edward was behind.