Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — Page 5

A GOLDEN DREAM

GEO M FENN.

CHAPTER V.—(Continued.) He turned and strode out of the doorway, smoking carelessly, leaped over the low fence, and went slowly back along the track. “She kncfws,” he thought, “and will call me back directly. Bit put out. Well, I have neglected her, but ——” He laughed to himself, and went on, longing to look back, but no voice recalled him. Had he turned his head he would have seen nothing, for Genie had drawn back further into the back of the room, and watched him from there. “Why does he want that?” she said, thoughtfully, and she shook her head, as she watched till Saintone was out of sight, nothing being farther from her thoughts than the intention of calling him back. Meanwhile Saintone walked slowly on, with an angry feeling growing in his breast. “She is one of them. She as good as owned to it one day. Then she has a reason for refusing and for being so cold. Well, perhaps I can manage without her after all; but what does she mean?” He went thoughtfully back to the town, making the discovery suddenly that he was hot and thirsty, and on the strength of this he turned off and went straight to his friend’s house in search of the refreshment he needed. Deffrard was lying asleep in the shaded room when Saintone entered, and started up on being rudely shaken. “Rum and some water,” said Saintone, throwing himself into a chair, and as soon as he had partaken of a hearty drink from the glass brought in by a grinning negress, he lit a fresh green cigar. “Well,” said Deffrard, drowsily; “found out all vou wanted 7” “No.” “Wouldn’t she take you?” “Turned sulky because I hadn’t been to see her. Pretended she knew nothing. I’m sure she goes to their meetings, nnd I’ll find out somehow if it’s only to meet her. Now, what shall I do? They keep it all so quiet among them that it’s harder than I thought.” “Pay one of the nigger priests, he’ll let you into it.” “I don’t know,” said Saintone, thoughtfully; “besides how am I to find out one? Their meetings are forbidden by the law, and as soon as I begin to miike inquiries they’ll grow suspicious.” “I know. Try fat Mahme out yonder at the store.” “What does she know ?” “More than you think. She’s mixed up with them. Finds them in rum for their feasts. I believe that, quiet as she is, she is one of them—sort of priestess. At any rate, she’s a regular confidante of all the blacks about here. They go to her and meet at her place, and hatch half their schemes there. I believe nearly all the bits of deviltry started under her roof.” “No harm in trying her,” said Saintone thoughtfully. “She must know at all events where they meet. Yes, I think you are right, but she wouldn't speak. Too much mixed up with them.” “Open her mouth with the golden key.” “Right, I will. Come along.” “I?” said Deffrard, shrinking. “Yes; come on at once. She shall take us to one of their feasts, and we’ll see 4 what it’s like. I’m told that it’s worth” the trouble.” “But ” began Deffrard. “Come on,” cried Saintone; and tossing off the remainder of his refreshing draught, he literally dragged his host into the road, down which they walked, away into a suburb of cottages which had sprung up, and was continued to where Dulau’s home had once stood, the pretty erection being superseded now by a plain, business-looking building, about which, and under the shade of the trees, quite a little crowd of blacks were lolling and idling about, some smoking, some drinking, and all the rest doing nothing after the fashion of a free negro with all his might.

To a close observer the result of their appearance was amusing. The negroes, who had been laughing and chattering together like so many children, became silent, their faces grew stolid and sleepy, and all appeared to be utterly ignorant of the approach of the two creoles. Saintone knew their ways too well to notice this more than to feel convinced that Deffrard was right, and that this assumed ignorance was the childish cloak for something they wished to hide. He walked right on up toward the open door, from which a showy-looking negress of two or three-and-thirty came to meet them, and pointed to seats in the broad verandah, by a long, rough table. “No,” said Saintone, carelessly. “Too hot out here. We’ll come inside.” He walked into a low, long room, half general shop, half cabaret, where a broad, counter stretched across one end in clumsy imitation of the French fashion. Behind it, seated on a raised cushioned chair, was a stout, good-looking middle-aged woman, fair enough for a quadroon. She was showily dressed, and wore, half hidden in the thick folds of her neck, a great necklace; several rings were embedded in her fat fingers, and rather tastily twisted turban fashion about her slightly gray locks was a gorgeous red and yellow silk kerchief. As the two young men entered, she felt herself bound to rise from-her seat to welcome guests of a better class than those to which she was accustomed, smiling and. bowing as they both raised their straw hats; but she sat down again directly, an example followed by the visitors at a table close to the end of the buffet, a glance around showing them that place was quite empty, save that a big broad-shouldered negro sat in one corner with his arms upon the table and his head down, apparently asleep. In fact his hue harmonized so well with the gloom of the place, (with its two small windows, shaded by blinds that Deffrard did not realize his presence. “Hot day for walking, madame,” said Saintone. “Give us two cool drinks.” “Yes; too hot for gentlemen to walk,” was the reply, as the two plump hands busied themselves with a bottle, glasses and a great pitcher of cold water. “Here! where is that girl?” “No, no, don’t call her,” said Saintone, rising. “I’ll take them. Madame is quite well?” As he spoke he leaned toward her, pointing quickly at the negro in the corner. and signed toward the door. The hostess grasped his meaning quickly enough, as she replied with politeness that she was never better than .she was now. when a real gentleman con-

descended to honor her house with a visit to rest and refresh himself. Then she looked shurply toward the corner and said a few words sharply in one of the West African dialects. The result was that the negro grew suddenly wide awake, there was a gleam of white teeth, the flash of a pair of opal eyeballs, and then a big, slouching broadshouldered figure was seen framed in the doorway, and they were alone. “Monsieur Saintone has had something stolen and he wants Mahme to try and get it back?” said the woman. ui“Hah! delicious!” said Saintone, setting down his glass half empty, Deffrard, uttering a sigh of satisfaction over his, as he sat holding it in his hand. “The water is just cold and fresh from the spring,” said the woman, offering cigars. Then, as they w T ere taken, and she struck a light to offer it in turn, she continued, “Monsieur may speak now. There is no one to hear. Is it money or a watch?” “Neither, Mahme,” said Saintone. lowering his voice. “Look here; my friend and I want to attend one of the Yaudoux meetings—a feast or whatever it is.” “Vaudoux? Ah, yes,” said the woman, in the most unmoved'way. “Vaudoux? Yes, I have heard of them. In the middle of the island, are they not?” “You know best about that.” “I?” said the woman, raising her beringed hands; and her ways and manners were strikingly French. “I sit here always, only leave my chair to go to my rest.”

“But-the people come to see you.” “Yes, as you have,” she said, smiling and showing her regular teeth. “And you will take us to one?” “I?" she cried, with a little laugh, but always speaking in a whisper. “What do I know of such things?” “Come,” said Saintone, lnying his hand upon her plump fingers; “we are fencing. You know all we want to know.” “Oh, no, no, no, no,” she said quickly; “nothing, nothing.” “That will do,” said Saintone, mockingly. “I don’t mean you to do it for nothing. I want to attend one of the meetings first, and then I mean to join them.” “You! You mean it?” she whispered eagerly. “Yes, and my friend here, too. Ah, you see you do know.” “Why? Why does Monsieur Deffrard, too, want to know of such things?” she said eagerly, and with a very intense look from one to the other. “For the same reason that hundreds of others do,” replied Saintone quietly. “Come, what shall I pay you to see us through it all.” “No, no. It is impossible. There are no such things.” “Yes, there are. Come, no nonsense.” “And if there are they must be dangerous. Fine gentlemen cannot join with these people. It is some spying trick. Who sent you here?” “It is no spying tric-k, Mahme. I tell you I mean to join them for the change and excitement of the thing. Come, now, what will it cost?” “Perhaps your life—and his,” said the woman in a low whisper, that was startling in its intensity. Deffrard started, and looked aghast, but Saintone laughed. “Nonsense!” he said. “I am not afraid. Come, .don’t let us waste time. Tell me what it will cost to see the whole business of one of their meetings. You see you know all about it.” “Perhaps,” said the hostess; and her looks and ways were so intense that Saintone forgot her half ludicrous form and dress, as he felt that this was no common woman with whom he had to deal. “But no, .it is impossible. You laugh, but the risks are terrible. I tell you that if they thought strangers were among them those strangers would never come away alive.”

“Give it up,” whispered Deffrard. “She is right. I’ve heard that before.” “The very reason why I shall go,” said Saintone, coolly, “only they had better not begin. But there will be nothing of that. I tell you I mean to join them—to be one of them.” “What for?” said the woman, with her eyes lighting up and gazing into his searehingly. “Because I feel that the black party are being oppressed and trampled down, both by the whites and the colored people; because I consider we ought here to be all equal under one good government.” “And because Monsieur Etienne Saintone wants to be that government, and to be a great leader, as his father did before him,” said the woman, in a quick, sharp whisper. Saintone stared at her, so sudden had been the change. “Nonsense!” he said; “but what do you know about my father?” “That he was shot —perhaps in trying to do what his son wishes.” “Look here,” began Saintone, angrily. “There are people outside, and they have big ears,” said the woman, quietly. “Yes, I know. Well, then, I’ll be frank with you.” “Better so.” “I do want to try and take some position among my people.” “And stand up on the shoulders of the blacks? Well, they are very hard.” “You take an unfair view of the matter, Mahme. My father was a brave man, and one of the great patriots of the country.” The woman half closed her eyes, and nodded her head slowly. “And I, his son, wish to tread in his steps.” “Ah?” said the woman, wrinkling her brow, and gazing at him strangely. “I shall join the Vaudoux, and study the position and wants of the black race —fight for them, in fact.” “And go to their feasts and drink yourself drunk, and join in all their strange revels?” “Mahme, I am a gentleman, the son of a gentleman,” said the young man proudly. “I know myself. Now, then, you stand high among the people—the black race.” A vivid color came into the woman’s face, and her eyes flashed, but she made no sign, and Saintone did not note the change in the obscurity of the long, low, shadowy room as he went on. “(Now, then, will you take me to the first of these feasts and let me see all?” “No.” Saintone laughed to: himself, and thrusting his hand into his pocket, he took out a gold piece and placed it in his palm, holding it out over the buffet counter. “There,” he said, “I told you I did not want you to do it for nothing. Take us

both, and I will give you that.” 'f The woman shook her head and drew hack. Saintone laughed again. “Be quiet. I won’t,” he said, in reply to a whispered prayer from his companion to give up. Then, taking out a second piece he placed it on the first. “Now will you?” he whispered. The woman's eyes glistened with a singular look of greed, but she shook her head. Saintone placed a third piece on the others without avail. Then a fourth — a fifth—and on and on till nine glistening coins were lying in a little pile; and the woman shrank from them, and tried to avert her eyes, which kept on returning as if by the strong attraction of the bright metal. “Give it up,” whispered Deffrard again, but, with his teeth hard set, and a look of stubborn determination increasing in his countenance, Saintone took out another coin and added it to the little pile still held out upon the bar. "There,” he whispered, “ten. More than you will make here in this wretched place in weeks, now will you take us?” A sudden spasm seemed to convulse the woman’s face, aud in spite of her heaviness. her action was quick as lightning. The coins had hardly rested there till he had spoken, when Mahme's hand darted down upon his and closed upon the coins pinning his upon the counter as she said hoarsely: “I take no risk of what happens. If they kill you, your blood be upon your own head. I have warned you.” "You will take us both to the first feast or meeting these people have?” said Saintone, coolly, “contrive that we see "everything.” “Everything?” she whispered, with a look of awe in her eyes. “Everything, even to the sacrifice,” he said, with a mocking look at her. She nodded. “And if I want your aid to hurry on my initiation you will hoip me in that?” She nodded again. “That’s right.” he said, withdrawing his hand. “When shall we come?” "To-night,” she whispered; “two hours after it is dark.” “So soon? Am I to swear secrecy?” said Saintone. with a mocking laugh. “There will be no need,” replied the woman meaningly. “You will not tell tales after, for you will be one of them, and it would be betraying yourself.” “But if 1 do?” “Those who fight against the serpent die. Now go.” “Yes, we will go now,” said Saintone, draining his glass and relighting the cigar which hud gone out. “Come, Jules, old fellow, we are refreshed and ready to continue our walk,” he said aloud. “Adieu, madame —Mahme, I mean.” He raised his hat, Deffrard followed his example, and followed him out into the sunshine, and past the smiling negress and one group of blacks, who once more went through their scene of assumed ignorance of their presence. (To be continued.)

WEALTH IN TEETH FILLINGS.

Dentists' Offices Yield Quite a Sum a Month. The gold which is taken from teeth which have been filled or which Is filed or scraped from the gold used In making tooth-crowns or new gold fillings is no Inconsiderable Item for a dentist to consider. A New York dentist recently told a reporter that the sweepings from his carpet netted him $35 in a single month. The little scraps of gold that remain after many operations are gathered in bottles and sold at a fair price to the dealers from whom gold is obtained. In some cases the gold Is mixed with some other metal, or with dust, but all of it has a commercial value. The price paid by dealers is, of course, much less than that asked for the sheets of gold bought by the dentist. Gold used In dental operations is of several degrees of fineness. Fourteencarat gold has its uses in the making of tooth plates, aud other finer gold is also used. A purchase of gold to the value of several huntfred dollars at one time is not unusual with a busy member ofthe profession. Where assistants are employed by a dentist In the manufacture of teeth, the amount which they are to use Is weighed out to them and a record Is kept of the amount which is used. The sweepings from the laboratory often contain much valuable metal. Even the coats of those who are at work on the gold are carefully brushed and many particles of the precious metal removed and preserved. A vial containing bits of gold mixed with other metals did not present an attractive appearance when it was recently shown In a New York dentist’a office, but the contents of the vial were said to be valued at $26. The dentist, of course, does not allow any reduction in the amount of bis charges on account of the small bits of gold which he may preserve from £ sheet which Is set aside for use in a particular case, but when taken in the aggregate the small pieces of shining metal have a considerable value.

Japan’s First Queue Cutter.

At “tiffin” here a few days ago I met a remarkable Chinese gentleman, a Mr. Yano Jiro. In his early life Mr. Yano was attached as a samurai to the house of the tycoon. As a youth he conceived a strong desire to see something of the western world. He had seen the marvels which Commodore Perry presented to Japan in 1854, and he wished to see more. He went traveling. He visited France, and returned home by way of the United States. At that time he wore a complete Japanese dress, the old queue and two swords. He was an object of great interest wherever he went. On his return home he was so stocked with western ideas that he invented a sort of European-Japanese dress which gave him great fame. He was the first male dress reformer in Japan, and the style which he introduced was subsequently followed by the full European costume in some quarters. Not only this, but one of the first things that Mr. Yano did on reaching home was to cut off his queue. He thinks that fie was the pioneer in this direction, for the government caused him to be at once punished by confinement in his own house for quite a period. To-day the queue has no place in Japan. have only seen about a half-dozen in use in all my travels here.—Col. Cockerill’s Japan letter to New York Herald.

By the Aid of Electricity.

Experiments have been tried with the object of ascertaining the effects of the electric current on cane juice. A German scientist reports that a better product is obtained at much less cost and labor. The precise method is not given, further than the statement that a current of electricity is passed through the cane-juice, purifying and cleansing it far better than any known process of clarifying has hitherto done.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Ptlqck, the national Mexican drink, is a dangerous intoxicant, aud Mexico may pass a law making it punishable by death to raise cactus, from which pulque ia made. It is proposed to prohibit the sale of glass lamps for burning kerosene in England, on account of the danger of their exploding. They killed twenty-five people in London last year. \ There is nothing new under the sun—not even bloomers. A party of tourists happened on a bunch of Digger Indians, the very lowest of the red remnants, and found the women attired in veritable bloomers. Wbat will the new woman say now ? From official statistics collected in Baltimore it appears that only one person of every ten who die leaves property, and that two-thirds of the property owners hold only 6 per cent, of the property. Iu the same connection the Boston Herald notes the fact that in Massachusetts savings banks four-fifths of the depositors have only a quarter of the deposits. Mr. Couthiia, of Loudon, in the course of a paper read before the Scientists’ Convention at Springfield, Mass., predicted that in 1920 the population of the big cities of the world fvould approximate these figures: Loudon, 8,344.000: Paris, 3.308 580: New York, 6,337,500; Berlin, 3,422,221 ;• Chicago, 7,797,640: Philadelphia. 1,856,100; St. Petersburg, 1,470,883. A recent paper gave an account of an arrangement of electric wires, by which in India a man hoped that a snake intending to enter his house would receive a fatal shock; and we can see what a blessing such an arrangement would be, when we learn that iu 1N93, 21,213 human beings and 5,122 cattle were killed in India by snake bites, notwithstanding 117,120 snakes were killed in the course of the year. The English Society for the Protection of Birds appears to have made a total failure of its crusade against the cruelty of feathers in the female hat. The British plume is composed of bird-of-paradise feathers and osprey tips, and one firm in London lias decorated 720,000 British females with these evidences of cruelty. The fashion, however, will not last, as the supply of birds is almost exhausted. Here is a modest allusion to Chicago in the News of that city: “She has been burned out of existe nee in a day ami fattened od the ashes; she has builded a dreamland for the world to play iu and thought little of the an hievement; she has essaj ed a drainage canal, and before the people berely know of it the bulk of the gigantic enterprise is completed and the glorification exerejses are over. This is not boasting; it is a modest recording of a glittering, sparkling, radiating fact. It is a measly testimonial of the grand, whooperup, ripsuorting vastness of the greatest aggregation of human souls ever brought together under one municipal canvas.” The Toledo Blade gives the testimony of a druggist that calisnya drunkards are rapidly increasing in number. He says: “The unfortunate victims of tiie calisaya habit ignorantly think that in Calisaya they have found a drink which lias the stimulating effects of whiskey without any of its physical penalties, when the fact is that they are practically only adding the spur of quinine to their whiskey, which is thinly disguised by calisaya. A man witli a calisaya jag is sincerely to be pitied. He is just a little short of being a raving maniac. His ears ring like an anvil from the effects of the quinine, while his blood riots through his brains like a mill race at the bidding of the alcohol.”

Commander McGiffen, of the Chinese battleship Chen-Yuen, at the tight of the Yalu, agrees with Captain Malian, historian of the fighting ship in all ages "that the result of the conflict shows that armor was a better protection than is always indicated by the experiments on the testing ground, and that it holds its own against the heaviest projectiles which up to this time it is possible to hurl against it. But witli this success for thick armor comes the failure of minor steel protection. The gun shields and conning tower of one and two inches of steel were simply man traps.” On board the Tsi-Yuen, the consort of Commander McGiffen’s flagship, the TsCn-Yueu, the conning tower, pierced by a comparatively light projectile, did not protect one of its inmates, and was itself torn to shreds. The North Atlantic Pilot Chart, issued by the Hydrographic Bureau at Washington in July, 1891, published the following: “The especially dangerous West India hurricane months are indicated by the following easily remembered lines: June, too soon; July, stand by; August, look out you must; September, remember ; October, all over.” The Bureau admits that the collection of further data than it bad on hand at that time indicates a necessity for a modification of the 1891 statement. and publishes the further statement that the especially dangerous months for the class of storms referred to are' August, September aud October. A graphic diagram is given on the Pilot Chart, showing the frequency of West India hurricanes in the years from 1885 to 1894, inclusive. The totals for the several years show that six occurred in June, four in July, sixteen in Aqgust, twenty-one in September and twenty-two»in October. A revolt against world’s fairs lias been begun in France, and some of the reasons advanced will appeal to the people of other countries. The first protest against the Paris Exhibition of 1900 comes from the municipal council of Nancy. All the arguments against the scheme have been admirably summed up in a resolution. The people of Nancy are against the exhibition because it does not appear to answer to any important rational want. Statistics show that the former exhibitions have caused the most serious damage to trade in the provinces; that even if it does bring money into Paris, it will also bring in a lot of unemployed, and will permanently raise the cost of living. Paris is itself a great, permanent exhibition, aud French industry has no interest in offering hospitality to foreign competitors at her own oost. It is inconsistent to hold a universal exhibition with a system of high tariffs. The preparation of the great exliibition)inust iiave an influence on home and foreign politics. A nation that devotes five years to organize a gigantic fete has its bauds tied. Under the present financial circumstances the exhibition will cripple the future budgets. Es-Senator Henry L. Dawes, the chairman of the Indian Commission, says that the town site question in the Indian Ter- : ritory lias become one of great importance. There are now about 300,000 white people lin the Indian Territory. They have built i up towns, but are mere tenants at sufferance, without a particle of title to the ; lands on which they built. The Indian i courts are closed against them, as are the Indian schools to their children, 30,000 of ! whom have no other opportunity for ! schooling, excepting those whose parents I are able to hire private teachers. They 1 have no voice in the governments of these

five nations, nor a police officer to protect them or their property against violence. It will be the object of the Commission, first, to obtain snch a solution of the town site question that those who have built up these towns and invested large sums in costly buildings and expensive stores and trading places may have some title to the ground upon which the structures stand, and some voice in their government, and, secondly, to see that the vast and valuable territory shall be held either according to the original title, for all Indians equally, or shall be allotted in severalty to them, so that each shall hold his own share In fee. Travelers from the East Indies often bring with them necklaces made of seeds about the sire of i>eas. and which are scarlet with a black spot on one side. The plant producing them is knowu to botanists as Abrus precatorius. It is grown as commonly around Indian dwellings as an ornamental twining vine as the morning glory is with us. It is known there, says a correspondent of the Botanical Gazette, us wild licoric^—much of the licorice of that regiou being expressed from the roots, though it is inferior to the licorice employed by us. The flowers, which are butterfly-shaped, are as handsome as the scarlet seeds, and the seeds themselves are used as weights in the apothecary stores, where they represent one grain. The fact is interesting, as showing that mankind generally start their weights and measures by adopting some seed as the primary standard. In Englund, the chief home of ••John Barleycorn,” as the Englishman’s ale is called, barley was taken for the original unit for measurement. Three barleycorns, or grains of barley, made an inch; and when an English boy could calculate “how many barleycorns would reach round the world,” he was read} 1 for promotion.

IT WAS AN OLD STORY.

The Farmer Had Heard It Many Times Before. The Wayne County farmer was smoking his after dinner pipe at his barn yard gate when a wayfarer who didn’t differ in looks from the ordinary tramp came along and passed the time of day and inquired : “Ami speaking to Mr. Blank?” “Yes, my name is Blank,” was the reply. “And this is your farm?” "Yes, sir ” “Mr. Blank,” continued the tramp, after looking around him, "you have probably heard of Captain Kidd, the pirate?” “Yes, sir.” “He buried heaps of money.” "Yes.” “Not half of which has ever been found.” "No.” “Has it ever occurred to you that some of the plunder might have been buried right here on your farm?” "No, it never has,” replied the farmer as he threw a club at n hog which was entering the barn behind him. "Suppose,” whispered the wayfarer as he dropped his voice and looked around —"suppose I could point out the exact spot on your farm where Captain Kidd buried $40,000 In gold?” "Waal,” calmly queried the farmer. "Would you be willing to give me a square meal and give me an old coat and pair of shoes?” “Noap—couldn’t do it.” "What! Not in exchange for S4O, 000 in gold!” "Noap.” "You don’t want to know where a fortune lies buried within forty rods of where we are standing?” “Noap—don’t keer to know the spot!” “See here, my friend 1” said the wayfarer, “what, kind of a man are you?” “Jest a farmer,” was the reply. “And you don't want $40,000?” "Noap.” "Wouldn’t even give me a dinner If I pointed out the treasure to you?” "Noap. If you want dinner you'll hev to dig fifty hills of ’tabers to earn it.” "And you positively refuse the piratical fortune waiting to be uncovered?” “I dew. Thar’s a hoe, and thar’s the ’tater field, and if you don’t want to dig you’d better git along!” ‘ ‘Has any one come along here with this story this summer?” For answer the farmer pointed to one of the gate posts, on which thir-ty-nine notches were cut, and added ; “I think about as many more had cum along before I begun to keep tally.” "I seel” replied the wayfarer as his face lengthened a foot or more. "Great Scott, but I was laboring under the impression that I had struck a fresh field and a soft snap! Gimme that hoe and you go in and tell the old woman to have my dinner ready in jist twenty minutes by the clock.”

A Wonderful Canine.

Rev. Downing, of South Pittsburg, Tenn., lias a most wonderful dog, He is an ordinary yellow cur named ■‘Bench,” with coarse hair and short legs, but it is said that he can imitate the sounds of any animal at will. At the word of command he will crow like a cock, neigh like a horse, low like a cow, grunt and squeal like a pig, mew like a cat and repeat tho various voices incident to farm life. He could give all the yelps of a pack of hounds in pursuit of a fox and in so realistic a manner that you could scarcely help believing that a hunt was in progress. The dog was never trained to do this, but as a puppy picked up the cries ol the farm yard and has added to them the creaking of wagons and the whirring of machinery as made by a thrasher, Mr. Downing has been offered fabulous sums for the wonderful dog, but refuses to part with him. Trained animal keepers who have examined “Bench” and become familiar with his mimicry says that it would be an easy matter to teach the dog to articulate words, perhaps to even talk connectedly.

As Good as Bullet Proof Shields.

It appears that the comparatively few losses to which the Japanese troops in the Manchurian engagements in the repent war with China, were not altogether <Jue to the bad marksmanship of the Chinese. Asa means of protection against the cold, the Japanese wore a quantity of floss silk under their outer clothing, and this acted more or less as a bulletproof shield.

FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.

miss fkxt and miss laugh. Cries little Miss Fret, Id a very great pet: “I hate this warm weather; it’s horrid to tan. It scorches my nose. And it blisters my toes. And wherever I go I must carry a fan." Chirps little Miss Laugh: “Why, 1 couldn’t tell half The fun I am having this bright summer day. I sing through the hours, And cull pretty flowers. And ride like a queen in the sweet-smell-ing hay." —[Margaret E. Sangster. BRIGHT SPOTS. Once upon a time, so the story goes, *wo sailors were shipwrecked upon an unknown coast, and waudered around for many hours without finding any truce, of huinun habitation. Finally, when upon the verge of despair, one of them caught sight of a gallows erected by the roadside. "Tlmnk goodness, Jim," he cried, in rapture, “here is u gallows! We are in a civilized country!" Tile melancholy point to this story is the fact that a gallows, like a jail, does mark civilization. Savages have uo use for either; they visit condign punishment on their enemies and malefactors or they do not punish them at all. It is a mournful subject for reflection that a portion of the community must, be imprisoned like wild beasts to protect houest people, but there is h bright side, after all. “There are many Americans," says Edward Everett Hale, “who forget, or perhaps never knew, that there are in this countryirfiWffirand villages where, practically spettkiug, there is uo criminal class, and no class of paupers. The house of correction In many a county in America is empty half the time. There is many a poorhouse in New England where they take glimmer boarders because they have no one else to take.” A HOY ON THE KAIi.M. It is quite likely that no country boy needs to be told about the life of a boy on a furm, but he limy more truly realize his own importance by reading what Charles Dudley Warner says about him. "It is iny Impression,'’ says Mr. Warner, "that a farm without a hoy would soon come to grief. What a boy does is the life of the furm lie is the factotum, always iu demand, and always expected to do the thousand and one things that nobody else will do. Upon him fall the odds iiud ends, the most difficult things. After everybody else Is through he is to finish up. llis work is like a woman’s—perpetually waiting on others. Everybody knows how much easier it is to cook a good dinner than to wash the dishes afterward. "Consider what a l>oy on a farm is required to do—things that must he done, or life would actually stop. It is understood, in the first place, that ho is to do all the errands, to go to the store, to the postolfice, and to carry all sorts of messages. If he had as many legs as the centipod they would tire before night. “lie is the one who spreads the grass as the men out it; he stows it away iu the burn; he rides the horse to cultivate the corn up and down the hot. weary rows; he brings wood and water and splits kindling; lie gets up the horse and turns out the horse. Whether lie is in the house or out of the house there is always something to do. Just before school in the winter lie shovels paths; ami In the summer he turns the grindstone. And yet, witli his mind full of schemes of what he would like to do, and his hands full of occupation, lie is an idle boy who has nothing to busy himself with but schools and chores. He would gladly do all tho work if somebody else would do all the chores, he thinks: and yet 1 doubt if any hoy ever amounted to anything in the world, or was of much use as a niun, who did not enjoy the advantages of a llbcrul education in the way of chores." now WOLVES HUNT IN INDIA. One strongly-marked characteristic common to dogs and wolves is their skill iu trailing and running down game, iu couples or packs. Such a wolf hunt In India Is described by an English traveler, who, while with his telescope watching u herd of antelope feeding in a large field, observed six wolves evidently concerting how best to secure their own breukfast. Having decided on their plan of campaign. they separated, leaving one stationary. Four crept stealthily round the outer edge of the field, and one lay in ambush in each corner, while the sixth crept through a furrow to the middle of the field and there lay down unobserved. When all were thus posted, the first wolf suddenly showed himself, ami, charging the antelopes, drove them right across the greut field, when they were headed by another wolf, who chased them in a fresh direction, while the first hunter lay down to rest. No sooner had the frightened herd reached the further corner of the plain than lip sprang a fresh wolf, who again turned them and took up the pursuit, leaving His panting accomplice to take breath, preparatory to another chase. Tims the luckless, terrified antelopes were driven from corner to corner of the great plain, till, stupefied and exhausted, they crowded together, galloping In ever lessening circles round the center of the field, where the sixth wolf lay hidden, evidently waiting till they should be so effectually tired out as to fall an easy prey. His calculations, however, were at fault, not having reckoned on the human presence, and just as he was preparing for the final spring, a well-directed shot proved fatal to the nearest wolf, whereupon all the confederates took the hint and scurried off with all possible speed.

A LITTLE PBINCESB. The exiled King of France, Charles X, was then resident in Holyrood Palace with his two grandchildren—the Due de Bordeaux, afterward known as the Comte de Chambord; and his sister, Louise, who was never designated otherwise than as Mademoiselle. Their governess, the Duchesse de Gontaut, was a friend of my mother’s, and, as it was thought desirable that the royal children should have some young companions, we were selected to associate with them, and frequently went to them at Holyrood, while they were often also in viterl to our house. Mademoiselle especially enjoyed coming to us, away from all the stiffness of court etiquette, and also ibecause she had a quite romantic attachment to one of my sisters, Sir Walter’s Curlinda. On one occasion, when she cnme> ut without her brother, we got leave to make' our escajH! from the solemnity of the drawing-room, where Mine, de Gontaut was seated with my mother, and we all ran off together to amuse ourselves in some other room. We chose my father’s study as the scene of our exploits, know-

tog that he had gone ouL Arriving there, mv sister suggested that as Mademoiselle was sure to be a queen some day we had better erect a throne for her on the top of tbe writing-table and duly install her in it The youug princess was a very clever, thoughtful child, and tier words were characteristic: “Ah, friend! who can say whether hi tbe future I shall be a poor little queen or a magnificent beggar!” As a matter of fact, she became Duchess of Parma. But we carried out our design of treating her as a future monarch; by means of a pile of cushions on the study table, we raised a very satisfactory throne and placed her upon it Then I believe one of us acted as principal lady-in-wuit-ing. and formally presented the others, who made profound courtesies, and were received by the princess with becoming, dignity. In the midst of this little court drama the door opeued, and my father walked in. not being even aware that there were any visitors in the house, and lie stopped in some surprise to contemplate the scene.

THE KANGAROO.

A Success in Many Ways, But not in Running Down Hill. Leather made from the skin of the kangaroo is one of the new products in the leather line. It is soft, strong, and tho light grades are particularly well adapted for light shoes and for shoe tops, while the heavier grades will bear more usage than any other leather finished on the grain side. The light skins are made into the finest brilliant glazed kid and in dull finish for ladies’ fine shoes, and the heavy ones are finished for men’s fine work. Much of it is crimped and sold for tongue boots. Shoe laces of good quality are also made of it. The skin of the kangaroo has a wonderfully muscular fibre, which contributes lurgely to the strength of the animal, enabling the females to curry their young in their pouch until old enough to take care of themselves, and uiding the kangaroo in liis long leaps when in motion. The animal is u native of Australia and adjacent islands. It Is a distinct species, and lias no counterpart in other countries. There are a great number of families, some scarcely larger than a rat, others of almost gigantic size. The giant kungaroo (Macropus major), tho family which furnishes the most valuable skins, was discovered by Cupt. Cook about a century ago, at which time it attracted much attention among naturalists.

The natives of Australia call the old males "booma, ” and are slow to attack them. The "booma” has paws us large as those of a mastiff, though of different shape. His feet are hth weapons, and when attacked lie is a dangerous antagonist. When raised to his full height his hind legs and tall form a tripod, upon which his body rests, carrying his head as high as that of a mail on horseback. Tho kangaroo lives upon vegetable food, and roams over the plains of Australia in large Hocks. Its teeth ure so constructed that it can feed upon roots and live upon barren plains Where other animals would starve, and to Its destruction of roots is attributed the sterile plains so common In Australia. When feeding a large male stands at his full height and acts as sentinel, while the balance of the Hock lie on their sides and browse. At ths slightest approach of danger tho sentinel sounds the alarm, and In an instant all are erect upon their hind feet. They leap with their forepaws clusped close to their body, the tall stretched backward, while the powerful thigh inusles are caused suddenly to straighten to the joints, by which act the body files through the air on a low curve. The ordinary jump Is üboub nine feet, but thirty feet is often mndo at a loap. When pursued by hunters, and on level ground, or on an up-grade, they can outrun the fleetest dog, but down grade they lose their balance and rollover. The flesh of the kangaroo furnishes excellent food, kungaroo venison being considered a dainty dish, while the tail furnishes an excellent and nutritious soup.

Artificial Marble.

“Nine-tenths of tho marble topped tables and so on—what I might call furniture marble —seen in this country are made of artificial marble,” said a man in the trade. Thousands of tons of this mock marble are made annually, and even men in the trude can scarcely tell the difference between the real and the false article, for the markings, or marblings, go wholly through the block and are not merely superficial. The basis of the whole is a combination of limestone and chalk, which chemically treated, can be made of any shade desired. The artificial marble is placed in a water bath and upon this Is sprinkled a sort of varnish, consisting of sesquioxide of iron, gum and turpentine, and all manner of marbled designs are produced when the turpentine is broken up by the addition of water. Any pattern of marbling can be produced to order. Once such pattern appears the air is expelled from the block and the colors are fixed by the emmersion of the stone in sulphate and warm water baths and thSSn another bath of sulphate and zinc so closes up the pores and hardens the stone that it acquires the density of the natural article and can be cut and polished in the same manner.

The Best Country Road.

The reports of several investigations conducted by experts of the agricultural department have been submitted to Secretary Morton. The inquiry as to the best roads for farming and farmers was conducted by General Roy Stone, who pictures the road that best ’meets the farmers’ needs as a solid, well bedded stone road, so narrow as to be only a single track, but having an earth track alongside. “A fine, dry, smooth dirt track,” the report says, “is the perfection of roads, easy on the horses/ feet and legs and free from noise and jar. The stone roads, on the other hand, wear more' in- warm weather than in wet. Practical experience shows that the junction of the stones and earth sections of the roads can be kept even, and there is no, difficulty in the meeting and passing of loaded teams, two points which have been raised in the discussion of construction methods. No rutting of the earth roads results.”