Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1895 — Page 3

OUR RURAL READERS.

SOMETHING HERE THAT WILL INTEREST THEM. Lie vice for Unload ins and Stacking Hay, Straw and Fodder—A Temporary Shade sos Treeleaa Paatnrea— Fatten Piga Karly—General Notea. • Simple Stacking Device. Place a stout pole or mast (a), 30 feet long, six or eight inches in the ground within four feet of the end of the intended stack and two feet from the side, leaning over the stack in a slanting position, as shown in the illustration. The load f is on the opposite side of the

FOR UNLOADING AND STACKING HAY, STRAW AND FODDER.

stack. There are strong guy ropes to hold the mast in position, and of such length that when in the position illustrated the two ropes d and g are tight, while the rope bis loose. The fork is pulled down and inserted in the load of hay and the horse attached at h, the load is lifted, and when it reaches the top a, a line of draft will pull the pole towards an upright position, al, the rope b becoming tight and the rope <1 loose. In this manner it is possible to swing the forkful of hay up over the stack, and if the ropes are properly arranged, to drop it anywhere along the center of the stack. As soon as the forkful of hay falls off, the mast is pulled back by the man who loads the hay fork. Of course, these guy ropes must be arranged so as to allow the mast to move In any desired position. This can be easily accomplished by any one tjho has average ingenuity. A pulley is needed at masthead for fork rope to run through. Also set a short post in the ground about two feet from the mast, parallel with the stack; put a pulley on this, run the fork rope through It, and hitch the horse to the end. With this simple device, twenty or thirty large loads of hay may be put in a single stack with very little manual labor.—American Agriculturist

At Milking Time. Cows, to make the most of their op portunitles, need to be milked in quiet, and a larger part of the hot months some sort of soiling crop must be fed to obtain the best results, which means prolonging the milk flow, and nowhere can this be so well done, and each cow receive her due proportion, as in the stable. It has been a matter of observation with us, says the Practical Farmer, that a cow soon comes to have a home place in the stable, and to be tied there twice a day and have some provender, grain or forage, on her arrival, gives her a matter to look forward to and evensong for, and in the afternoon the cows have a home longing and start for “the bars,” and getting up the cows with boy, horse and dog is an obsolete custom on such a farm. In this summer care of the cows their comfort should be looked after in the lot, seeing that there is plenty of good water and shade of some kind. A Fruit Tree Pest. One of the insects which annoys the fruit raiser and destroys many valuable trees is the pear tree psylia, shown in the accompanying illustrations. It,

THE PEAR TREE PSYLIA.

however, has an inveterate enemy. The psylia is shadowed wherever he may go by a tall, dark insect, which skulks behind stones and under rotten bits of

ENEMY OF THE PSYLIA.

wood, breathing hard and only waiting for a chance to fall upon his prey and cry, “Ah, ha! At last!” Weeds Rich in Nitrogen. Some kinds es weeds will only grow on very rich soiL Of this class is the common purslane known as chickweed or pigweed, and usually found in gardens. It makes an excellent feed for hogs when confined in pens, and they eat it greedily. These weeds contain a large proportion of nitrogenous matter and rot rapidly when entirely covered by soil. But their roots catch so easily on upturned soil that it Is safest after uprooting them in the garden to throw them to the pigs. Another weed that is rich in both nitrogen and potash is flreweed. It is a coarse-growing plant with rough, prickly stem, which springs up after fires In the woods. Horses will eat It, but we never saw it eaten by any other kind of stock. Fattening Beef on Grass. There is not nearly so much grassfattened beef as there used to be. One reason is that mm* of the pasture land has diminished in fertility and its grass does not make as rich feed as it used to do. Farmers have also discovered that a grain ration to stock that has good pasture pays better than it does to rely on the grass alone. The fattening is quicker, and a very small grain ration with animals on gsass makes an astonishing difference. Ais

probable that in proportion to Its tritire value grain U a cheaper feed than grass, and tha grass ration la chiefly important because It helps to iiecure better digestion. Stirring the Surface Soil. Frequent stirring of surface soil, with thorough subsoiling the previous fall to form a storage basin for water in dry soils, will enable many crops* to go through serious drouth with comparatively little damage. This, with the possibilities of windmill power for pumping water by irrigation, and the knowledge that a little water can be made to Irrigate a large area, says the Agriculturist, is robbing the annual drouth of much of its terrors. New forage crops are being adapted to our soils that will furnish feed during the dryest times. It is only recently that we printed an account of twenty-seven new forage crops at the Massachusetta experiment station, many of which are wholly new to most fanners, but so productive as to be’ well worthy of widespread trial. The farmer cannot control temperature or rainfall, but physical conditions of soil may be so altered that an unusual season can be overcome. We are just beginning to understand the soil and how to handle it to conserve its moisture. The drouth of 1894 was a severe, but a thorough, teacher. Early Fattening of Pork. There is great advantage In beginning to fatten young pigs while the weather is still warm and clover or grass Is abundant It takes very little grain to start young pigs to fattening when they have a run at pasture. That if possible, be something other than corn, for a part of the advantage of early fattening is that the fattening may begin when there is little danger of overfeeding with corn. Yet the farmer who Is fortunate enough to have a few thousand bushels of old corn in his crib can feed it with milk and wheat bran, so as to make It produce twice as much pork as the same value of new corn will make two or three months later in the season. Shades for Treeless Pastures. Where pastures contain no trees for shade in the strong heat of summer, It Is cruel not to afford some artificial

TEMPORARY SHADE FOR STOCK.

shade for the stock. Such shelter should be provided on humane grounds, but there Is a question of dollars and cents in it as well. Discomfort of any kind lessens productiveness and growth. A rough shed of boards, or even a rough framework covered with green boughs, will answer the purpose very well, but where lumber is expensive and green boughs are not at hand, cheap cotton cloth can be used very effectively and economically. Such cloth can be bought for five cents or less a yard, and can be stretched over a framework set up against the pasture fence. Preserving vs. Canning Fruit. The plan of canning fruit depending on the exclusion of air for Its preservation was a great improvement in most cases over the old plan of preserving it by putting it up with equal quantities of sugar. At the time it was adopted the canning process was also much less costly. Sugar then was high priced, and the saving of expense was a most important consideration. But sugar Is much cheaper now, and doing up some part of the fruit after the old way is generally advisable. This Is especially true of the very acid fruits, which require a good deal of sweetening after they are taken out of the can before being eaten. The improvement in putting up with equal weights of sugar Is almost as great with the sweeter kinds of fruit. These, when merely canned, are very insipid, and need a great deal of sugar to give the fruit a Added flavor. As a change from canned fruit almost everybody will welcome some that has been put up after the old formula with equal weight of white, sugar made with Its own juices Into a thick syrup.

An Old-Time Horse Trade. A papyrus recently dbg up in Egypt, supposed to be between 3,000 and 4,000 years old, gives an account of a horse trade in which the Egyptian who wrote the record tells how he was swindled by a Hebrew named Daniel. This could not have been the prophet of that name in our Bible, who was a resident of Babylon, and lived several centuries later. But the ancient record shows that as great uncertainty prevailed in horse trading thousands of years ago as there is at the present day. Renovating Old Pastures. There are many old pastures which can be much improved by harrowing with a forty-tooth drag that will admit the air to the places covered by moss, says the American Cultivator, and enable the grass to grow more vigorously. Of course, some of the roots of the grass will be destroyed; but the stirring of the soil will make more grow in their place. If there is much moss on the surface, it will require underdraining to remove surplus water to make a permanent improvement Uses of Timber Belts. Timber belts, by breaking off the severe wind in winter, often add onethird or more to the yield of a wheat crop, and prevent the lodging of both wheat and corn during summer storms; and in prairie counties it has been proved that with one-sixth of the land planted in timber belts the remaining five-sixths would produce as much grain as the whole without the timber. Common Soda for Skim Milk. Add a little common soda to the skim milk before feeding the calves. It is claimed that the soda stops the formation of the rubber-like curd in the calf’s stomach, that is so often found on examination of calves that have died from the dreaded calf disease. Loose, Dry Dirt Around Corn. Keep the ground loose around the corn. A."blanket of loose, dry dirt stops the evaporation of water from the soil. Go through the oom with the cultivator after each hard rain If practicable.

NEW TARIFF AT WORK

BPLENDID RESULTS FROM THE WILSON MEASURE. Is a Better Kevenoe-Kaiaer than Any Tariff with High “Protective Hatea—Short Campaign Not Wanted—About Free Binding Twine. Bevenne Increasing. The recent increase of the government's revenues -from customs duties is a gratifying sign of returning prosperity and affords a vivid demonstration of the superiority of the new tariff over its predecessor. "A grain of fact is worth more than a bushel of argument,” as salth ah old proverb. And the public, long wearied by the puerile predictions of calamity howlers, will read in the solid facts now published by the Treasury Department overwhelming proof that the Wilson “free trade” tariff (as Republica'n partisans so fondly call it) is, after all.

000^men.— 3 E^tradsßeport. Th ® Bettlement of the minin » trouble » bri “* « I^C -Ch e ic O a f go W Xo^?c^e oo, '

doing wits work admirably well, and will, in all probability, ere long yield ample returns. During the whole month of July, If we exclude Sundays and the national holiday, the national revenue from all sources averaged the handsome sum of $1,127,180 a day, of which amount the customs duties furnished nearly one-half. Yesterday (August 1) the receipts were $1,220,984, of which the customs were s747,262—considerably more than one-half. And all present indications favor the conclusion that these fine receipts are not exceptional or temporary, but are due to normal and continuing causes, which must effect still further Improvements in the autumn and winter revenues and probably carry the aggregate income of the government for the new fiscal year above $360,000,000. The customs duties collected in the eleven months from September 1, 1894, to July 31,1895 (inclusive), by the Wilson rates of duty on imports amount to $145,752,320.66. But in the eleven months from September 1,1893, to July 31, 1894 (inclusive), in which the McKinley rates were in force, the customs revenue collected was only $113,406,745.51. That is, in the eleven months available for comparison the Wilson tariff produced for the Treasury $32,365,555.15 more revenue on imports than the McKinley tariff produced. At its very emergence from its birththroes the new tariff gave evidence of its superiority to the old. In September, 1894—the first whole month of its existence, when all industries were In disorder—it returned to the Treasury In customs $15,564,990.56, against $12,144,626.28 returned by the McKinley tariff in September, 1893. In the spring of 1893—even before the panic arose or hard times were felt—the McKinley tariff yielded in no month after March more than $15,418,637.53 (the customs receipts for April, 1893), which was a less sum than the new-born Wilson bill yielded in September last, when It had not gone fully into effect and trade and business were paralyzed. But the superiority of the new tariff over the old, in the point of producing customs revenue, is most signally shown by comparing the customs collected in the first eleven months of its life with those collected in the last eleven months of the McKinley regime. Customs in "eleven months: J McKinley tariff. October, 1893 $10,999,776 15 November, 1893. 10.218.68 S 64 December, 1893 . 9.153,215 99 January, 1894 11,454,803 14 i February. 1894 10,390,528 13 March, 1894 11,358,984 67 April, 1894 10,176,691 36 May, 1894 9,798,067 25 June, 1894 8,858,875 63 July, 1894 8,427,338 40 August, 1894 11,804,914 21 Total $112„641,853 57 Wilson tariff. September, 1894 $15,564,990 56 October, 1894 11,962,118 17 November, 1894 10,260,692 56 December, 1894 11,203,049 40 January, 1895 17,361,916 25 February, 1895 13,334,691 99 March, 1895 14,929,789 22 April, 1895. 12,453,086 42 May, 1895 12,474,558 43 June, 1895 12,130,443 27 July, 1895.... 114,076,984 39 Total $145,752,320 60 The following are the averages per month: Under McKinley law. Under Wilson law. $10,240,171 24 $13,250,”210 96 It is now as clear as a sunbeam that the Wilson tariff bill is a better reve-nue-raiser than McKinley’s or any tariff with high “protective” rates. If

more revenue is to be raised by customs duties the Wilson rates must be rather lowered than raised. Every economist and every merchant knows that high tariff rates act in a prohibitory way on Importations, and hence kill the revenue from customs. Had theorigin&lWllson bill,prescribing lower duties than those fixed in the bill by Senator Gorman and his clique, become a law, it would have brought in to the Government much larger revenues, and the present deficit in the treasury would have been much less than It is. What, then, shall be said of the Republican “protectionist” scheme to reopen the tariff question and increase the present duties on the pretense of Increasing the Government revenue from customs? No scheme could be devised that would more surely cut down the treasury receipts and swell its deficit Under the Wilson tariff (which affords labor and manufacturers the inestimable boon of free wool aud other free raw materials) the wages of probably 1,000,000 workmen in our mills

THE DOG STILL HOWLS AND THE MOON STILL SHINES.

and factories have been increased, new mills are going up, and idle plants resuming work. For the first time in thirty-five years our decadent export trade in American manufactured goods shows signs of returning vitality. And American merchants are beginning to look wistfully for a revival of their once famous and lucrative ocean commerce. Any return to “protectionism” would dash their hopes an ft bring back the labor troubles which weroso memorable and multitudinous in the era of the McKinley tariff. The people an? beginning to see that every “protective” tariff on imports is destructive of their foreign commerce, and Is, besides, the least economical and most mischievvous method of raising revenue. It is time, therefore, for all “protectionists” to cease their vain advocacy of a return to high tariff.—New York Herald. A Short Presidential Campaign. Some sensational newspapers are advocating late national conventions by both parties next year for the nomination of presidential candidates and for the adoption of platforms. They claim that the campaigns should not extend beyond ninety or 100 days, which is all the time required for the discussion and settlement of the issues between parties. There is some plausibility in the assertion that less time is required now for election than in the period before the daiiy press went everywhere and before the telegraph carried to the remotest points intelligence of every public movement as it progressed and ended. Sixty years ago, when the first political national conventions were held, it required a fortnight or more for news of nominations to reach all parts of the country. Intelligence of each hour’s proceedings Is now flashed along the telegraph lines to the neighborhoods of the voters, and all that a convention accomplishes is known to the great body of the population as soon as the adjournment is announced. But it is doubtful whether the fact that news circulates more rapidly now than It did two generations ago is a reason for shortening the period of national deliberation which precedes a great election. Vital Interests are at stake. The questions which most nearly affect the people in all their business and political relations are to be decided. The entire policy of the Government under our Institutions is subject to change. When a change is made it should be with sufficient forethought after a careful study of all the elements in the problem before the public and in cool blood.

The plea for a short campaign on the ground that it takes less time to find out the names of the candidates and the nature of the platforms is only partially sound. It is an argument in favor of holding the national conventions two or three weeks later, not in favor of holding them two or three months later. It is a good reason for delaying the commencement of the campaign until about the average time of year when the people fifty or sixty years ago were notified of the nominations. It is not a good reason for shortening the campaign to such an extent that all its events will be huddled into a few weeks’ time. There is not much truth in the allegation that business is obstructed and embarrassed in presidential years. The volume of trade and the exchanges in the years when presidents are elected does not vary much from the average of other years. Business men know that,, whichever party may succeed, Congress will not meet until more than a year after the election, and that no legislation affecting commercial interests can be perfected in a year and a half. That

will gire them plenty of time to close out all their open transactions and to prepare for a change If one shall occur. The tendency Is rather to stimulate business In completing partial transactions than otherwise. Upon no ground is the sensational demand for a short campaign sustained in reason. It can be advocated only by the organa of a party fearing exposure and seeking to cover the misdeeds of its administration under the hurry, turbulence and confusion of a short and red-hot campaign. A party of principle and with a clean record will ask the slow, deliberate, cautious Judgment of the people when political enthusiasm Is tempered by prudence and when the sober second thought Inspires voters with wisdom.—Chicago Chronicle. What Free Binder Twine Has Done. Under the McKinley tariff several million wbeatgrowers were compelled to pay high prices for their binder twine, owing to the protection given the cordage trust by heavy duties. When the Democrats put binding twine on the free list the Republican

agents in Congress protested that without a tariff against foreign twine the, American manufacturer would bo driven out of business. Elijah Adams Morse, the stove-polish statesman from Massachusetts, was especially Indignant against the free-twlne ruin which he alleged was threatening his constituents In Plymouth, and implored Congress hot to close up the cordage factories and throw out of work their employes. But In spite of the Rising Sim’s tearful and ungrammatical eloquence, the Democrats gave the farmers free twine. A year’s experience under the Wilson tariff shows how unfounded were the Republican assertions. Instead of a ruined cordage industry, the demand for binder twine has beqn so great that tho factories have In mahyenses been unable to fill orders. The Cordage Trade Journal states In Its Issue of August Ist that not for many months has the situation In the blnder-twlne market! been so gratifying to manufacturers, Jobbers and dealers as It Is now. Most! manufacturers have sold out their entire stocks, factories have been running on full time, aud the various kinds of manlla, sisal and hemp twines are yielding their manufacturers good profits. This condition of affairs in an important industry is exactly what was predicted by the Democrats, and clearly Justifies their free-twlne policy. The farmers are getting their twine cheaper than under McKinleylsm, and can therefore afford to buy more. The cordage factories find that their business is Improving, and the demand for their goods Increasing. The'only parties injured by free twine are the professional mourners over the corpse of McKinleylsm, who find that their prophecies of ruin were false. Signs of Good Times, The railroads are already providing new equipment with which to handle the corn and wheat and the meat and provisions of all Sorts into which the farmers will convert part of their cereals. Larger exports are In prospect, with the probable result of checking the efflux of gold and even reversing the yellow current Better times already having returned for manufacturing and mining Interests, wages are being advanced. Workingmen have more to spend, and are spending it. Merchants feel the effects In better sales. On every hand the prospect brightens. Even the silver cloud that prevents the return of foreign capital to enliven •our industries seems to be fading away. AVhen that goes a scarecrow of the investment and speculative market will have been got rid of, and securities, now low, will regain their former level. —Baltimore Sun.

The Ruined Woolen Industry* The protectionists who declared that the new tariff would ruin the woolen industry have nothing to say of the reported construction of over a hiindred new mills in the last six months, except to deny the truth of the report and to demand the proof of It As the statement was made on the authority of the American Wool and Cotton Reporter the desired proof Is likely to be forthcoming.—Providence Journal. Are Increasing Wages. The fact that coal operators In the Pittsburg region are voluntarily increasing the wages of operatives is explained on the ground that the demand for labor In the iron mills has reduced the available supply and forced up the price. Perhaps when Mr. McKinley gets to be President It will be possible to stop such ruinous Interference with home market laws of trade.

HUSTLING HOOSIERS.

rTEMS GATHERED FROM OVER THE STATEOa lateresttng Summary of the If or* Important Doing* of Oar Neighbor*—Wdd. ling* mad Death*—Crime*, Caaualtle*, knd General Indiana hew* Note*. Minor State Now*. Typhoid fever ts on the increase at Richmond. Ax unknown man was literally ground to pieces by a Vandalia train, at Terre Haste. Whitk River in Madison County is little better than a stagnant pool, so intense is the drouth. An unknown tramp was caught by a VaSdalia train at Terre Haute and literally tom to pieoes. John Tsham and John Moore were fatally burned by a gas explosion in the coal mines near Chandler. Qvinoy Smalky, a farm hand near Union City, was kioked in the stomach by a mule, dying instantly. A nov at Crawfordsville bought a horse for 5 cents at a sale and sold the animal to the rendering factory for 85 cents. Sidney Cook, an employe of the Lebanon furniture factory, was probably fatally injured by being drawn into the machinery. Chas. Kiskb, a farmer near Lebanon, fatally shot his wife, reoently. She had gono into the yard, and he thought she was a dog. James Leer of Elwood, while shooting W pigeons, firod toward August Munohenberper’s house, seriously injuring him and his daughter. The Wabash County Township Trustees have decided that they will not obey the new law in having reports of thoir official transactions published. Suit has been instituted against them. One week ago the 8- year-old daughter of Policeman W. Goery of Decatur, was burned to death. A week later tier twin brother fell from a tree, breaking botli logs and his back, and will die. A niCYCi.nU was ran down by a passenger train on the Lake Shore, near Swanton, and his body was torn to pieces. A fragment of an envelope In his possession bore the addce.ss of Charles Ware of Toledo, Ohio. Tiie slxtti unnual reunion of the 801 l family was hold at the Morris Springs, one mile southeast of Dublin. A largo number ol descendants of the family were present. A bountiful dlnnor was spread and the program included reading of papers, reoitations, singing, lottors from absent ones, speeches, exhibition of relics, etc.

The mangled body of Robert Leonard, of White Pigeon, Mich., was found by the side of the railroad track near Richmond, where he had been struck by a train, fie was hj charge of a carload of horses enroute from Now Castle to the Kendallvlllo races. How the nocldout occurred is not known. A non fire tliroo miles south of Andes son that has been burning for threo months past has now assumed alarming proportions. Tiie ground for two feet is red hot and tiie lire is slowly spreading In all directions. It has already reached high laud in several places and is firing the withered grass, fences, and all elso In its track. W atkh is being hauled from the water works in Terre Ilauto to Paris, Charleston, and Mattoon, HI., and to the mining town of Fontanet, Ind., on aocount of the soarcity of the supply in those places. The Big Four shops at Mattoon were stopped until watorwas received from here. About thirty tanks of wutcr are sent from here to the several places every day. Many building associations have failed to make their reports to the State Auditor, as required by law, and this official is now sending otft copies of tjio law bearing on the question, with the Information that longer delay will subject the delinquent associations to a flno of SIOO. A failure to. file a report of the condition of the association also calls for an enforced examination under the direction of the Auditor. Farmers in Northern Indiana are trying to solve the disease which causes their cattle to go stone blind in both eyes in a seconds time. Tiie dls ease was first discovered among David Stewart’s herd of oattle, consisting of ninety head of fineblooded short-horns. Veterinary surgeons believe it is caused by some new Insect. It is estimated that SIO,OOO worth of oattle have been ruined in the past ten days. Joki, Kehheing, an insane prisoner at the oounty jail at Logansport, was found suspended In hiß cell, having hung himself with a rope formed of the sheet from his bed. He was found in a short time after he swung off and, with some trouble, was revived. He at onoe attempted to repeat the painful experiment, saying “Christ calls me, and 1 must go to Him.” Ho has been placed in the Northern Insane Hospital. Some workmen in a gravel bank, near the Elkhom mills, Richmond, found a huge skeleton of a man. A half of one of the Jaws was found, with the teeth preserved. The Jaw was sufficiently large to fit over the outside of the Jaw, flesh and all, of a man of ordinary size, indicating that the original possessor of the skeleton was a man of great physical mold. It is expected that all the parts will be found upon further search. A scaffold in the new Stranss Block at Seymour, gave way. Mayor Joseph Balsley, the architect of the building; John Humes, a member of the Arm ereotlng the building; Henry Barkman and Andy Heyob, carpenters, fell to the floor bdlow, a distance of eighteen feet. Mayor Balsley sustained a fracture of the right leg and is suffering with concussion of the spine. Ho is hi a critical condition. John Humes’ right ankle was fractured, and he is also suffering with concussion of the spine. In the desoent A.ndy Heyob’s head struck the wall and a large part of the hair was tom off, laying the scalp bare. He Is suffering pain. Henry Barkman is badly braised, but the extent of the injuries which he sustained &innot bo learned. All are suffering with concussion of the spine. Mr. and Mits. Charles Hitebman, a well-known aged couple of Elkhart, have been singularly unfortunate with their children. Seventeen years ago their son John was burned to death. In 1888, while returning from a dance, Edward jumped from a train at a crossing and was so badly injured that he died in a few hours later. In 1889 William was killed in a runaway, and in 1881 Geprge was blown into the tops of some trees by the explosion of a rotator in the combination hoard mill there being confined to his bed for a year and rendered a cripple for life. The other day Asa, the remaining son, fell forty feet from a tree and cannot live. At Mt. Jackson, across the river from Indianapolis some boys shot and killed a carrier pigeon which was resting in a tree. On one leg of tiie bird was found an aluminum tag bearing the characters “12 C. H. W.95.’’ It is thought that the bird is possibly one that was released at Calais, Franoe. W. L. Teisiier committed suicide at Demott by climbing into an apple tree and swinging himself into space. Teisher executed a will by the provisions of which his wife, with whom he had lived for upward of a quarter of a century, is placed under the protection of John L. Perry, a bachelor farmer and life-long friend of Teisher, the latter expressing the hope that their marriage will prove the sequel

THE CHAMPION FAT BABY.

Tipped the Scale* at eg Ponnd* ed the Day She V u Born. A baby girl recently arrived in the little town of Southwest City, Mo., who will be the biggest woman on earth if

THE LITTLE WONDER.

■he lives. The very day she made her appearance in the world the mammoth youngster tipped the scales at 03 pounds. She is now more than 68 pounds in weight, and measures 30 Inches around the waist Her arms are 10 inches in circumference and her hands and feet are as large as a man’s. This champion fat baby Is the daughter of T. J. Matthews, a farmer, who lives in the Cherokee Nation. He is & small man; so is the little girl’s mother. If the fat girl keeps on growing as rapidly us she has since her birth she will soon weigh more than the combined weight of her papa and mamma, lust the same, she Is as happy as she Is big. Several managers of museums have made great offers to the parents Bf the “elephant child," as she has been called, but they refuse to consider any proposition to exhibit their generously endowed little girl.

Lamp Clocks.

Lamp clocks were among the early specimens of the clockmaker’B art A kind quite common in the seventeenth century consisted of a lamp burner placed at the hose of a glass oil receptacle mounted vertically on a suitable standard. The oil reservoir had attached to It a scale, facing the burner and showing the hours, beginning at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, at which time the lamp was to be lighted In winter, and ending at 7 o’clock In the mornlug. The lamp being lighted, the gradually descending level of tho qll, as combustion proceeded, marked the hours. Another device of later origin utilized sqnjq principle, Jt fonslsG ed of two communicating oil chambers,' superposed by a dock dial. In one of the chambers was placed a night lamp to illuminate this dial, and in the other was suspended a float from a cord which passed around a small pulley. The latter was mounted on a small horizontal axis extending In the centor of the dial. The float of course descended as the oil was consumed and carried the index hand along with it, thus making tho hours precisely as in the case already cited. At their best those timepieces could have had only an indifferent degree of accuracy, yet they probably served their purpose well, and certainly are Interesting at the present time as Illustrating some of the expedients adopted by mechanicians of an earlier period.

A Mistake of Young Authors.

Mrs. Margaret Deland says that she often has manuscripts placed In her hands by would-be novelists who wish her criticism on what they have written. Not long ago a young girl brought such a one to her, which was a story of life among the English nobility. “The first chapter opened," Mrs. Deland continues, “with Lady Arabella seated in a rocking chair on the front porch of her castle residence. I mildly suggested to the youthful author that, although my information regarding noble ‘tricks and manners’ was a trifle circumscribed, I was quite certain that' It was not a habit to sit in rocking chairs. Moreover, I very much doubted the existence of the front porch. In the same book was one sceno which was life-like and natural—that was a description of some children playing in a barnyard. I said to the girl: ‘You were brought up on a farm, I suppose?’ She seemed surprised at what she regarded as a happy guess on my part, and answered:‘Yes. We used to have such good times playing In the barnyard!’ And. yet I don’t suppose anything,” Mis. Deland concluded, "will make that girl see what she can do and what Is beyond the limit of her powers, nor that, for successful work, It Is absolutely necessary that one should only write about what is familiar to one’s experience.’’—New York Times.

Africa’s Big Mahogany Supply.

Mahogany, cut from the forests discovered by Stanley In his expedition for the rescue of Emil Pasha, now reaches this country. These forest* are said to be Inexhausible, and are probably of equal, perhaps of greater, value than the richest gold or diamond mines on the dark continent Capitalists were Interested In Stanley’s account and a flourishing trade In the timber has resulted. Prices of mahogany products were in a fair way to rise to excessive figures until the cutting began in Africa. This has only been within the past year, but prices have already fallen 20 per cent A car load was recently delivered at Louisville at a net cost of SBO per 1,000 feet whereas it has been a common thing for mahogany to sell at auction In Liverpool, England, for SIOO per 1,000. Heretofore the principal sources of supply have been the forests of Central America, Cuba, San Domingo and Brazil. Alreadyl2,ooo,ooo feet have been cut and exported from Africa, and the trade promises to yield an Immense revenue to the British and French colonists, who have seized the mahogany territory. This African mahogany has a pinkish tinge, in contrast to the red-dish-yellow color of the American varieties. The trees are very large, and logs received in the shipment mentioned were two feet to three and one-half feet In size. They are squared before being exported. If you are at all “touchy” don’t have any friends; they will always be hurt log your feelings.