Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1895 — Page 4

THE SECRET OF THE DQVE. _____ s, ■ Come, listen, oh. love, to the olive-hued dove. The dove and the olive of old. Companioned still in their world above As when the deluge rolled. Bark! heaven, oh, love, to the voice of the dove. Hark, heaven, and hear him say, “There are many to morrows, my love.my - love. There’s only one to-day.” And this is his wooing: yon hear him say, “This day in purple rolled. And the baby stars of the milky way Are cradled in cradles of gold:’’ Now, what is thy secret, serene, gray dove> Escaping death’s delnge alway ? “There are many to-morrows, my love.my love; There’s only one to-day.”

THE STORY OF THREE OLD MEN

Shortly after the successful issue of our ■truggle for independence, on a certain night in the fall of the year, a storm of unwonted violence was rioting in the Catskill Mountains. The wind screamed as though in a delirium of triumph, flinging with tireless sury, the cold rain over haughty peak and modest valley. The long, pliant urms of the leafless mountain willows lashed the black night in impotent rage and more than one craggy mass, loosened from its bond of ages, tore its awful way that night through the upland forest to the sodded level beneath. Even Alistress Dorris, the merry, plump little widow who supplied the customers of the Old Leeds Arms with “ales, wines, spirituous liquors, tobaccos and snuffs,” even sbe was out of sorts, for what with the going out of lanterns and the coming in of water through the diamond panes of the rickety lattice; what with the smoke that seemed not to know the purpose of a chimney, and the coughing aud grumbling of the shivering old man in the bar parlor, her head and hands were busy enough.

There was something uncanny about this visitor. An absolute stranger, he had entered in the height of the storm, his appearance indicating a long foot journey, had given his bearskin coat to the potboy, with an injunction “to have it dried aud laid on the bed in the little room over the the tap,” and, without a question, had gone direct to the parlor. He looked as nncient as the inn itself, of which he evidently knew every nook and corner. “Bring me a mug of mulled ale, mistress,” he said, “aud, hark ye, Hiram Cook, the constable, is livin’ still, ain’t he?”

“Judge Hiram Cook is my father,” .replied the widow; “it is many years since he was constable. He took the wagon to court this morning; and may not trust the roads till daylight.” “To court!” repeated the stranger. “Ay, I understand; it will be choice gal- J lows fruit—choice gallows fruit!" aud lie rubbed his skinny hands and blinked his unnaturally bright eyes at a lively rate. The gibbet is a depressing subject at times, but to have it linked in an obscure fashion with one’s parent by a grinning old stranger, at the approach of midnight, ■with the rain driving at the doors and ■windows as though death sought admittance, and the tempest moaning a dirge, defines perhaps the limit of endurance. Airs. Dorris was evidently of this opinion, for, forgetting all about the mulled ale, she dropped upon the leather couch and stared at her shriveled guest witb the blankness of a corpse. < “Yes,” he laughed, pulling his skeleton fingers until they “cracked,” “sixty long years have I waited for what to-morrow will bring. These bills have been less patient, for they I warrant have changed since last 1 trod them, while I have known no change—at least, here!” And he laid his long fingers over the spot where his heart should have been. “To-morrow,” he continued, “this owl they call justice will awake, and he will hear my curse as he is dragged to the scaffold !” “What crime is this?” exclaimed the hostess, springing to her feet in the belief that she was confronting a mad man, “that you dare to lay at my father’s door ?” “Nay, mistress, it is of Reuben Elliston I speak. I asked if Hiram Cook yet lived, for it is fitting that he who tied the silken cord around the murderer’s neck should be the one to take it from his corpse! Doubtless the final arrangements have taken him to town.” “Old Reuben Elliston!” “Ay,” continued the stranger, rising and looking intently into the woman’s eyes, “R'uben Elliston! Even now I passed the stone house and saw a light in the windows; you dare not tell me he is dead!" “Our neighbor has been near the grave these many years, but death and he are strangers. Since my earliest recollection he has lived a life of seclusion, but we grant to age what you would link with crime.” “Woman!” cried the old man, flinging his hands above his head, “did your father speak to you of Mercy Douglass, the Scotch girl, whose services as house menial were bought by Squire Elliston from the owners of the Glasgow packet for the price of her passage, who ran from his home and his proffered love, was retaken, tied to the scoundrel’s horse and dragged to death among the rocks on this very road ?” The question seemed to revive a host of buried memories. Mrs. Dorris remembered that as a child she had listened to the story of Murder Notch; had seen the identical rock on which the ghost of a beautiful victim was said to sit at midnight, two burning tapers in her hands and sing of her sad fate. She recalled how Tom Dorris—rest his soul—long before he had dreamed of becoming her husband—bad told her of the spectral horse which time and again was seen to dash up the road as the village clock struck Iff, dragging at his heels the form of a lovely woman. “Ha! your memory is quickened, mistress 1” said the old man, who had narrowly watched her face. “There was such a story when I was very young,” she replid, “but I never heard it coupled with the name of Reuben Elliston. The great war has driven out many a legend, master. Old Reuben helped the cause with all he had; he is poor and nearly blind now, aud folks with evil tongues should spare their breath.” The stranger’s eyes glittered with auger at this reproof. “1 feared it would be kept from this generation 1" he cried. “Listen! Mercy was to be my bride. Because she would not break her vows he killed her in his jealous pride. She lie 3 buried on this farm. He was tried for the crime and sentenced to deatt, by the rope, but a corrupt judge delayed his execution until his ninety-ninth birthday. He was, however, ordered to wear a cord of silk Upon his neck and ouce a year to show to the court that he still bore the emblem of (Ain. To-morrow, mistress, Reuben is

“My father has told me nothing of this!” said Mrs. Dorris. ‘ ‘No ; because he thought death would spare him the task,” cried the other fiercely; “but I knew otherwise? Notone day in all these long years that has not brought a forecast of to-morrow! I knew he could not die—l knew 1 must live; live to see them drag him, screaming with the reality of his late years’ nightmare, to the punishment a guilty judge would have spared him! Far removed from these mountains, I have seen them by day and by night, I have watched him in his pride, the rich young squire, living down the memory of his crime. Once in a dream, many years ago, I saw him at a feast, amid the roars of his drunken friends, take from his neck the silken cord and tie it upon his hound! Then, again; I saw him, the aged head of an upright family, living a life of peace, unruffled by the past. I heard his thoughts: ‘One decade more at most, and I shall rest as honored as they!’ Then I stood before him and laughed, and pointed to a forgotten grave behind which stood the hangman and the gallows! Again I pictured him, living on, on, on, far beyond his hoped for limit, a frightful fear in his heart; the hideous past arisen from its grave and stalking ever by his side. Ah, that was the dream of dreams! ”

As the star grass on the hills quivers before a storm so the old man Shook with the intensity of his hatred. “Our neighbor and the Reuben Elliston of your dreams wonld never be mistaken for one another,” exclaimed the widow. At this moment the judge, a tall, kindly man, who did not look his great age by many years, entered the room, accompanied by a timid, sweet-faced girl of twenty. “Take off your wet cloak, my dear,” said the judge; “daughter, Alercy Elliston will stay here to-night.’l “Alercy Elliston,” gasped the stranger. “I sent Amos, the mail rider, to Poughkeepsie yesterday,” continued the judge; “has he returned ?” Mrs. Dorris threw her arms around her father’s neck. “Oh, then it is true?" she whispered; “You have sent to Governor Clinton for a pardon for Reuben Ellis, ton ?” The judge’s eyes inquiringly sought those of the strange guest. “1 have told her what you, Hiram Cook, have so long concealed,” said the latter. “You here, Giles Raven 1” “Do you remember my words of sixty years back—that I should live to see it?” “Hush!” whispered Hiram, “in pity keep it from her !’’ “Bis kin?” “Yes; for she has known no other. He took her from the breast of a poor woman who had perished in the snow a score of years ago. They have been all the worlj to each other. He named her ‘Mercy,’ after the one who lies over there.” A foreboding of evil seemed to be lodged in the girl’s breast, which was certainly not dissipated by the kindly little widow’s tears and caresses. Why had she been brought from the stone house! Why had Reuben begged of the judge that he might be alone for this night? Giles Raven was not the man to spare anyone who loved the object of his life hatred. Shuffling across the room, he hissed in Alercy’s ear: “To-morrow Reuben Elliston will die on the gallows in spite of this mau’s efforts to defeat the law !" “The gallows!” cried the poor girl. “Oh, what fearful secret do you keep from me ?" “Come, dear!” whispered Mrs. Dorris, who gained strength at the sight of another’s weakness, and Mercy’s cheek lay upon the widow’s shoulder as they passed from the room.

For a full minute the two men, thus tragically brought together agaiu after the lapse of a lifetime, looked at each other in silence. “Giles Haven,” said the judge at length, “there is no boot but is too clean to tread on such a worm as tliou! Yeur after year our neighbor has come to me and bared his neck that I might see the accursed cord upon it, and I have pitied him, for never before in the world—mark me, Giles, never before in the world—has mischance borne so great a penalty!” “You have light words for gallows deeds, master !’’ sneered Raven. “Tear from your eyes the film of hatred, Giles, and acknowledge what well you know, that Reuben Elliston never bad murder in his heart.” “Mercy Douglass was mine—sbe left him to become my bride'—be had spoken of love to her—the law said that for a term her labor was his—be retook her by force—be slew her. Call you that a ‘mischance,’ Hiram Cook ?” “He was young and bad youth’s haughty ways; be erred, but when that poor girl was dragged to her death it was because no human arm could have checked his course.” “Yes a jury called it murder,” grinned the vengeful man, “aud murder’s due, though long delayed by kuavery, is near at last!” “God touch the governor’s heart and bring Amos safely through the storm !’’ exclaimed the judge. “I have written Clinton that the conviction was under the English rule and might well be avoided.” “And if the roads should delay your mercy pleader ?” Hiram replied with a sigh, which was full of significance. Giles rose and opened the door. “Hiram Cook,” be a said, “we three old men have not so far exceeded the limit of human years—for nothing. ” “Father,” cried Airs. Dorris from the tap-room, “some one is comiug up the road; perhaps it is Amos.” Poor Mercy, who bad exacted the terrible story from the widow, already stood in the dark road, listening for the slightest sound which would liearald the bearer of I the governor’s clemency. The storm was abating. “Loo-ee-oooo!” came faintly through the blackness. “It is Amos,” exclaimed the girl, who knew the voice of Jtke brave young fellow better than most people were aware. In a few minutes the mail rider, drenched to the skin, drew rein at the door. Since noon on the preceding day he bad ridden nearly 100 miles over the heavy roads and had twice rowed across the river. His had been a perilous and dreary task, but his face wore a smile as be drew a packet from the holster of his army saddle and banded it to the judge, who stepped quickly into the house, followed by Raven.

“Oh, Amos! It is good news, isn’t it?” Mercy implored.. The smile vanished. Amos knew not on what business he had been engaged. He loved the sweet face that looked so pleadingly into his; he hud not expected to find Aiercy at the inn. and the question started the blood from his honest cheeks. The judge stood in the tap room, behind a suspended lantern, the official letter trembling in his hand. Suddenly lie staggered anil grasped a chair for support and the document fell to the floor. “God be merciful to him!” he groaned. A piercing scream ran through the nouse and the strong arm of Amos held a very lovely burden. Giles picked up the letter, put on his spectacles and glanced at the contented

then, shivering as with an ague, he left the room. “Tell me what this means, Mrs. Dorris?” Amos asked. “It means that poor old Reuben Elliston is to be executed to-morrow." Mercy Elliston, in spite of her hysterical entreaties to be allowed to go to Reuben, was token upstairs by Mrs. Dorris; not, however, to know the blessing of forgetfulness, but to lay in a half conscious state upon the widow’s bed and moan away the night. The judge and Amos sat in the parlor, the latter frequently sobbing like a child, in spite of the landlady’s reassuring bulletins. “Oh, how can it be true!” sobbed Mercy; “how can one so gentle as he who saved me from the snowdrift have done murder! You do not know him as I do, or you would not hear (hem say it?” “Hush!" said her companion; “we do not believe it, dear." “But the grave—the grave !’’ she cried, “and the beautiful flowers he has alwava grown for it, and the dark shadow on his heart that I have so long seen but never understood! ” Presently, however, Mercy slept and Airs. Dorris stepped downstairs with words of comfort for Amos, in whom sbe had begun to take a warm interest. Giles Raven crept from “the little room over the tap” and entered the chamber. Afaking sure that the young woman was asleep he pressed a kiss upon her forehead and then, with a wildly beating heart, as silently left the room. It is morning. Far over the blackness of the weeping forest that stretches almost to the princely Hudson glows the cold light of a new day, while west and south and north, from Overlook to the Black Dome, a galaxy of granite monarchs have already put on their crowns of molten gold. In the dawn’s increasing glory the somber night clouds that move upon the lower hills seem like strange monsters from some vaster and still more gloomy world. The robin wakes and chirps his greeting to the morning; the trees shake off their repletion of moisture; overhead a silver star tells of a clearer heaven. The face of nature wears a smile once more as the radiant sun kisses away her tears. But it is easier to charm a harvest from the earth than to put gladness in a conscience stricken heart. Over the heavy road, in the early light, toils a care-bent, aged man. He is bound on an errand so strange that be half doubts his own identity, and looks behind him now and again, as though expecting his true self to overtake him and drag him back. On his left lays the Stone House farm: here is the turnstile : —unchanged in half a century. A hundred paces from the mountain road there is a small raised bit of earth; it is covered with dead flowers. "I have laid no blossoms here!" he says, and he kneels upon the wet grass and lays his face upon them. A well trodden path, terminating at the grave, leads toward the rear of the house. Giles takes this path. There is no bar upon the door, yet for a moment he feels unable to enter. He must not turn away ! To kneel at the feet of the man whose life has been passed in penitence, to confess his own misdirected life anil obtain Reuben’s blessing, is to give him strength to ask forgiveness of one to whom alone vengeance belongs. The gorgeous hills throw a ray of light in the gloomy place. The dreamer knows now that no guest but sorrow has sat at this board for decades. Giles turns the handle of the parlor door. An aged figure kneels at the casement. Upon his weary, upturned face is cast the first gleam of the morning. Perhaps it is given to these dim eyes to see the orb of light onee more, for on the gentle lips there rests a smile of wonder and yet of ineffable peace. “Reuben! Reuben!” Slowly the eyelids droop and slowly the head falls upon the breast. It is broad day.

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

A Dead Man’s Name and Place Taken By Another. A remarkable story comes from Sedgwick, Wis. Sometime in the winter of 1892 Willis Gorman mysteriously disappeared, leaving a loving wife and a handsome property. Search was made, but the missing man could not be heard from, and his neighbors gave him up for dead. No reason could be assigned for his disappearance. Eighteen months ago a man came to Sedgwick and announced himself as Willis Gorman. He looked like Gorman, talked like him and was familiar with matters known only to Gorman and his wife. Still there was something peculiar about him, and people had their doubts. He failed to recollect certain names and localities, but he explained by saying that he had wandered off when temporarily deranged, and a blow on the head had injured his mental faculties. During his absence he had been in Michigan, where his cousin, John AlcGuire, had nursed him back to health. This statement satisfied everybody, and Mrs. Gorman was convinced that the man was her husband. The supposed Gorman resumed his old place as the head of his family, and everything moved along pleasantly until two months ago, when a son was born in the Gorman household. Then a cousin from Nebraska came to see Airs . Gorman and when he saw her husband he declared positively that he was not the real Willis Gorman. The whole story was told to him and he pretended to be satisfied. But the Nebraska man was still anspiclous, He went to Alichigan and investigated the matter, and upon his return he exploded a bomb in Sedgwick. To make a long story short, he had discovered that Willis Gorman died at the home or John McGuire, in Alichigan. McGuire had found out all about his history and circumstances, and as he closely resembled him, he thought that he would go to Sedgwick and pass himself off for the dead man. He succeeded wonderfully well,' and was getting along finely until he was unmasked by Mrs. Gorman’s cousin. When McGuiro realized that his deception was known, he burst into tears and offered to marry Airs. Gorman at once. The lady’s relatives wanted to accept the offer, but she would not listen to it, and demanded that AlC’ Guire should sign a written confession and depart from the State, leaving her and her child in peace. i AlcGnire accepted these hard conditions and left. The case is the sensation of the hour out West.

Sixteen Indian skulls were found in one mound near Alartin, Mich.,together with implements of war and a Blate, upon which peculiar hieroglyphics were written.

RATIONS FOR TROOPS.

EMERGENCY DIET FQ.R UNITED STATES SOLDIERS. Wbat the Iron Ration l«--Tho Sol* diarsoftha Future To Bo Indo* pandant of Supply Traina. Within a few weeks from now United States soldiers will be provided for the first time with an ‘‘iron ration.” The boards appointed to consider the question of emergency foods, representing the various departments of the army, are sending in their reports, upon which final conclusions will be based. Problem: To make up a food package of small bulk, which shall render the fighting man independent of. supply trains for a short period in case of an exigency such as might arise from his being wounded or cut off with a detachment from the main command. “Experiments in this line are being made by all the great war powers, ” said Major Woodruff to a reporter of the Washingtou Star at the War Department yesterday. “They are trying everything imaginable for the purpose. Here, for example, is an element of the British emergency ration . It looks like a dog biscut, doesn’t it ? Three ounces it weighs and it is four inches square. It is composed simply of whole wheat, solidly compressed. A condensed loaf of bread you might call it. The French have a new ‘war bread,’ which is to replace hard tack for the use of their army. Its ingredients and the processes for making it are a secret. When a piece of it is put into hot water or soup, it swells up like a sponge and is said to be virtually the same as fresh bread.” 1 * For emergency rations evaporated vegetables have been tried, but not with great success. They are not nutritious enough, and they do not keep well. Here is a one pound can of evaporated onions. Smells strong, doesn’t it? It ought to, inasmuch as it represents ten pounds of fresh onions. In the same way potatoes,carrots, turnips and cabbages are put up. Desicated foods are now being produced on an enormous scale by many firms in this country and abroad. A g«jod thing, which we may adopt, is this desiccated beef. One ounce of it is equal to five ounces of ordinary meat, because it is absolutely water free. It la too hard to cut with a knife without trouble, and so the soldier chops off a small hunk of it. He puts the piece into a little machine like a coffee mill and grinds it up. It comes out in fine shavings, ready to be eaten on bread or to be used for soup stock. “Beef tea, used as a stimulant, is a good thing for soldiers. For an emergency ration It is put up in capsules, one of which makes a cup. Each capsule contains the necessary seasoning and costs two cents. Beef tea contains almost no nutriment, but only the flavoring and stimulating qualities of the meat. 1 ‘lt is certain that canned foods will play an important part in future wars The Belgian iron ration is a ten-ounce can of corned beef, put up in a liquor that is flavored with vegetables. The German emergency, ration is a one-pound can of preserved meat, with hard bread and pea sausage. A biscuit composed of meat and flour has been tried for the German army, but the soldiers would not eat it. The biscuit was supposed to furnish the fighting man with everything necessary for his physical support, water excepted. To be satisfactory, a ration must be palatable as well as wholesome and nutritious. A dietary for troops cannot be settled on a basis of theory only; it must be tested in practice. What will satisfy soldiers of one nation may not suit those of another. "Very likely United States soldiers would not put up with the German ‘erbswurst.’ Yet that species of pea is said to have been a leading cause of the success of the German arms in the Franco-Prussian war. Without it the troops could not have endured the fatigue to which they were subjected. The sausage is made of pea meal, fat and bacon. It was devised by a German cook, from whom the invention was purchased by the government for $25,000. The secret lies in the method of preparation, by which the article is rendered proof against decay. Each sausage is eight inches long and makes twelve plates of nutritious soup. There could hardly be a better emergency ration.”

“Among other things under consideration by our War Department are condensed soups. This little packet, which looks somewhat like a bundle of cigarettes, contains just three ounces of desiccated pea soup. You observe, it is so compressed as to be quite hard. I break it up and throw it into this saucepan. To it I add one quart of water and I place it on the gas stove here to boil.' For flavoring, though it is not necessary, let us add a small quantity of these evaporated onions. In the course of fifteen , minutes I will offer you a plate of very excellent pea soup. Soups, you understand, are most useful in rations. For health it is not sufficient to put a certain amount of nutriment into the body; the stomach must be distended. Soup does that. Incidentally, the soldier who consumes one of the rations absorbs one quart of sterilized water.

“Condensed soups may be purchased in tublets three inches square and half an inch thick. Each tablet weighs four ounces and makes six plates of soup. In food value one tablet is equal to one and threequarter pounds of potatoes. Bean, mock-turtle, green corn, barley and potato soups are desiccated in this form. Tomato, vegetable and fish chowder soups are similarly prepared. What do you suppose this is? It looks like a button, doesn’t it? It is a cup of tea condensed. All you have to do is to drop it into a cup of hot water and stir it up. The sweetening is in the button with the tea. No, the sweetening is not sugar, but .saccharine.’ Coffee is put up in the same way, with saccharine, as well as in a shape that looks like black molasses. “An iron ration is a short weight and highly concentrated diet intended to cover only a brief period. is not to be used except when the Regular food supply cannot be obtained.

Supposing the army supplies to bo regularly furnished, the fighting mas ought to return from the campaign carrying in his haversack the same emergency ration with which he started out originally. But it may happen that the regiment or brigade is cut oil from the main body, and in that case the emergency rations may be literal salvation. Or he may be left wounded on a field of battle, unable to obtain anything to eat for days, unless he has it with him. During the recent war with China the Japanese found emergency rations a necessity in active service. An army, or a large part of it, may be thrown rapidly forward to hold a position, and it takes a week or more to make roads, so as to get supplies to the front.

LARGEST LOCOMOTIVES.

Ponderous Engines that Drag Timber Down Mountain Sides. In the vicinity of the town of Verdi, Cal., the highways have been completely ruined for carriage purposes by ponderous road engines which are used by the lumbermen. They are larger and heavier than the largest railroad locomotives. They pro el themselves and draw from eight to a dozen great cars laden with timber from nearby forests for the sawmills in Verdi. The wheels of both engines and cars have 2-inch flanges running diagonally across their surface, which have the same effect upon a roadbed as a millstone on wheat, says a correspondent of the Chicago Times-Herald. As the lumber business is the mainstay of Verdi, the citizens forego their carriage drives without grumbling, and have never thought of restricting the liberties of the road engines. Without the flanges the wheels would slip, as the engines go up and down the steep grades—so steep that it would not pay to cart the timber with either horses or oxen. The engines cost great sums of money, and are only practicable because there are millions of dollars’ worth of timber upon the hillsides. So they were created for a special purpose and are altogether too ponderous and expensive to serve any other purpose. They are supported and propelled by three wheels, all driving wheels connected with the same cylinders (two in number) and guided by the single wheel placed directly in front of the boiler head. In order that this wheel may be used as a steering wheel a series of ingenious ball joints, permitting a swivel in any direction, connect the cranks with the driving rods. A cab containing the steering gear, a horizontally placed wheel similar to those used upon hook and ladder trucks, is placed directly over the boiler head. The pilot is also engineer. The throttle, reversing lever, whistle and guages are ranged about this cab in convenient form. At the rear is another cab, used by the fireman, also set up with gauges and valves. Wood is the fuel used and wood stations and tanks located every mile or two along the road do away with the necessity of towing a large tender, and the only incumbrance to the machine, aside from its load, is a small tank strapped upon the boiler, resembling the camel-back engines used in railroad yards for shifting. The connection between engine and train is made with chain, the tongue of each wagon fitting in a traveler upon the rear axle of the preceding wagon.

Petty Economies.

Shoes were the pet meanness of a distinguished English nobleman whose ground rents in London alone would have shod all its inhabitants for centuries to come. It is related of him that he once took his favorite pair in person to a cobbler, and that after carefully examining them the man said to him, *‘l never saw the like since I’ve been at the business. You are either the greatest pauper in England, or the Marquis of . ” “I am tlie marquis, and not the pauper,” said his lordship and far from being offended, seemed greatly amused. To mount a new pair of i shoe-strings, even, is pain and grief to him, and a new pair of shoes always brings on a violent fit of gout, so vehemently is he opposed to the sad necessity of donning them at all. Lord Eldon was a peer of this pattern, only he proceeded to the other extremity, and would never allow his wife and daughters but one bonnet between them. One wonders what pretty Betty Surtees saw in him to induce her to elope with him, cost what it might. There is a Frenchman whose eccentricity in respect of a pet meanness is very often commented upon in Paris, for, though he has a model establishment and positively rolls in money, he cannot bear to use towels freely—his own or his neighbors'. It is said that upon staying at one of the old castles of Brittany fora week he took his hostess aside privately and showed her over three dozen towels that he had been gloating over for days. “All these, madame, I have saved,” he remarked, with great delight. “Your servants put them in my room, it is true, but I and my wife have only used one between us. Servants are careless, wasteful creatures. I return the rest. ”

Hercules and the Hawk.

Some passengers over one of the Berlin canal bridges the other day noticed the sudden appearance of two black points in the sky at a considerable distance away, which developed into two ducks. Behind them at a lower level flew another bird which suddenly rose into the air übove the ducks, and then shot down upon them like an arrow. One of the ducks flew sideways towards the Thiergarten; the other, closely pursued by its enemy, flew slanting into the canal, and. reaching the water exactly behind the bridge, dived, while the hawk in its blind haste, struck against the head of a statue of Hercules, and fell once more, flapping its greati wings, dead on the pavement of the bridge. The bird was a splendid specimen, the wings having an expansion of more than three feet. There are those who say that the “Napoleon curl ’ has been done to death by aotresses.

Rebuilt by Surgical Skill.

An odd character is now in Winona, Minn., in the person of George Burns, who has good reason for his eccentricity. He has papers to show that he was head engineer on the steamer City of Savannah, which was wrecked on the coast of Massachusetts on January 18, 1884, while en route from Boston to Florida. He was reversing the levers when the steamer struck the rocks, and he was thrown into the machinery, receiving injuries which crippled him for life. There were 118 lives lost in the accident, and Burns was one of the thirty-seven surviving, For a long while he lay on a cot in the death row of Bellevue Hospital, New York. Dr. Hayes Agnew attended his case and removed five ribs from his left side, and trephined his skull, using six ounces of silver sheeting for this purpose. He was compelled to wear a plaster of paris jacket for four years after the accident. A portion of the lower end of his spine and both elbow joints are gone. One knee cap is on the back of the leg, and his heart is on the extreme right side of his body. He is now 64 years of age, and walks very well and has a cheerful disposition. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and served during the war on the gunboat which was stationed at Cairo during the early days of the Civil war.

The Parrot That Scared the Cat.

Cats may not be superstitious, but they object to being startled just as stronely as any nervous old maid, particularly'by a parrot. When a parrot in a large cage arrived in a passenger’s baggage at the Great Northern depot yesterday morning, Baggagemaster Miller set him on the floor of the baggage room. There he stood for two mortal hours in dead silence, and no coaxing of the passengers could arouse his loquacity. When the crowd had left the depot a large sleek cat appeared on the scene, and spying the bird, marched majestically up to the cage and sat down. He poked his nose between the bars aud sat contemplating Poll, thinking what a dainty morsel he would make if those pesky bars were only out of the way. He had sat thus for an hour, and the silence had gradually grown denser wheu Mr. Miller was aroused by the unearthly screams from Poll’s direction: “Hal ha! Come on, boys.” The cat did not care to continue the conversation; he just went, his tail up, lifted and swollen witii fear till it looked like a feather duster. The parrot smiled a gleeful smile, and the cat did not come back to trouble him.

A Clever Marksman.

A sporting gentleman, who had the reputation of being a very bad shot, invited some of his friends to dine with him. Before dinner he showed them a target painted on a barn door with a bullet right in the bullseye. This he claimed to have shot at one thousand yards distance. As nobody believed him he offered to bet the price of an oyster supper on it. On one of the guests accepting the wager he produced two witnesses whose veracity could not be doubted to prove his assertion. Since they both stated he had done what he claimed he won his bet. During dinner the loser of the wager inquired how the host had managed to fire such an excellent shot. The host answered: “Well, I shot the bullet at the door at the distance of one thousand yards, and then I painted the target round it. ”

Long-Suffering Couple.

The Monroe County Court has appointed a guardian for the estate of Isaac Brewer of Stroudsburg. This is the climax of a strange career. He and his wife, Alice, have had ups and downs with the most alarming frequency during the twenty-two years of their married life. In that time the wife has, it ; s asserted, deserted her husband forty-two time 3. Forty-one times Isaac was able to coax or hire his better half to return home; but the forty-second time she refused, and she is now living with her daughter. They would have a slight disagreement, and the wife would leave home. Perhaps she would be absent several days, and then Brewer w ould go in search of her. The twenty-third disappearance was caused by a custard pie, and it cost the husband S2OO in cash and the deed of a bouse to get bis wife back. It seems their tastes differed as to custard pie. the husbaud seeming to have peculiar ideas about its make-up. Now the wite says she cannot be hired to go back home, and a guardian has been appointed.

Fun With Peanuts.

A peanut hunt is lots of fun for an evening party. The hostess hides peanuts in all sorts of queer places about the room, sometimes putting two or three nuts in the same place. Then she provides each of her guests with a little basket tied with gay ribbons, and then the “hunt” begins. Sometimes a march is played and the hunters most keep step to the music, stopping when it stops, and starting again when it starts. After a certain time the finds are compared. The one who has the largest number wins the first prize, while the “booby” prize is fittingly awarded to the one having thefewest. Some other trials that are great sport are often introduced. One is to see who can carry the most peanuts in one hand from one table to another. A boy ought to win this. Forty-two is a good number.

Lead Mining Declining.

The United States geological survey report says that the lead mining industry for 1894 was one of exceptionally low prices. Mining declined and it was necessary to draw on foreign sources to supply deficiencies. The production of refined lead in the United States was 219,000 short tons in 1894. The production 'of 1898 was 229,000 short tons.

Shot by a Horse.

A peculiar accident occurred in East Monmouth, Me. A man by the name of Prescott was leading a colt, when the animal whirled and kicked, striking Prescott in the region of the hip pocket, where he carried a loaded revolver. The revolver was discharged "the bullet lodging in the calf of Mr. Prescott’s leg.

Soda and Charcoal.

A writer in The Household Companion speaks up for these two '‘common things” as follows: A box of washing soda in the kitchen and another in the bathroom closet are great aids in cleanly housekeeping. Greasy spots and pans, or those to which something has burned or fastened itself so firmly that scraping is a disagreeable necessity, are easily cleansed if a small lump of soda is put in the pan and covered with cold water. Set the utensil over the fire until after dinner, and you will find that all the grease or crust is loosened. Granite wear and tin last much longer when cleansed in this way, which is preferable to the pot-cleaner that is a network of iron or steel rings. The soda is also excellent to cleanse and whiten unvarnished and unpainted floors, tables and other surfaces, and quite Indispensable in flushing the waste pipe in the bathroom and kitchen Binks once or twice a week. In this ease the soda should be dissolved in boiling hot water and used at once. Charcoal is another simple and inexpensive purifying agent that is most useful in keeping a house free from smells of various kinds. A few good-sized pieces in a refrigerator occasional purifies and preserves it. If you have that abomination, an enclosed dark place under the sink for pots, etc., put some charcoal there, as well as in the cupboard where you keep cooked food.

Short Work With Patients.

To diagnose patients at the rate of two and a half a minute seems pretty quick work. According to a German contemporary, this is about the average performance of Pastor Kneipp, of cold water fame, at Woerrishofen. When receiving patients on a busy day the pastor sits at a long table in a large plainly furnished room, smoking a hugh cigar. He dictates his “prescriptions” to an assistant in a solemn tone, as if he were presiding at a religious ceremonial. Men, women and children of every station in life file past him. In an hour and a quarter lie gets through 180 without difficulty. There is no examination, and few questions are asked. Indeed, there is little necessity, for cold water baths and bandages and walks on wet grass with bare feet exhaust the worthy pastor’s pharmacopaeia. There is one exception—an ointment composed of honey and medical herbs for those who suffer from diseases of the eye. But then the ointment is a sovereign one for everything, and so Pastor Kneipp manages to break the record as au oculist as well.

Measuring Starlight.

An English astronomer named Minchin has invented an instrument which accurately measures the quantity of light given out by a star. Stars are designated as being of the first down to the twentieth magnitude, according to the intensity of the light given out. The magnitude of a star has hitherto been judged by the eye, and anything like exactitude could not be obtained.’ By the new invention the rough designation of magnitude is represented by numbers which give the exact ratio of one star to another in light-giving powers. The star Arcturus, for example, is estimated by the new pro*, cess to give 75f times the light of Regulus. This instrument will be of great use not only in astronomy, but iQ meteorology also. The amount of light which reaches the earth from the stars varies according to the state of the atmosphere, aud the inventor claims that forecasts of weather cau be obtained in this way which will be far more accurate than those obtained at present.

Great Bread Eaters.

“Bread is one article of food that is cheaper in England and Scotland than in this country, ” said Mr. John Stephenson, of Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Stephenson and a brother conduct bakery establishments in Glasgow ahd London, the largest, perhaps, in the world, certainly the largest in Europe. “The people on our side,” he continued, “eat more bread than do the citizens of America, and not so much meat or vegetables, which are dearest in Great Britain than in this country. We make two-pound loaves of ‘ square form, the weight of which must be stamped on each loaf, and the law against lightweight bread is very rigid. Every week we consume 8,500 barrels of flour, the biggest part of which comes from the United States. Of late we have been getting a good deal of Argentine wheat, and a little from Australia. About the best w r heat in the world is grown in Hungary, but of that there is no great quantity imported into England.

A Wonderful Automaton.

In the year 1770 the most wonderful automaton that has ever been constructed was exhibited at Exeter Exchange, London. This automatic wonder represented a country gentleman’s house, and was of such intricate and elaborate construction that no one disputed the claim of the exhibitor when he declared that he had worked 27 years in perfecting it. It showed the regulation English country house, with parks, gardens, cascades, temples, bridges, etc., besides ovfer 100 appropriately clad human figures in the gardens,on the bridges, chopping wood and at various building operations. In the park were several deer moving naturally about, and four horses and a coach following the meandering road. Besides the above the figures of boys were seen fishing from the bridges, while a boatload of ladies and gentlemen regularly rowed across an enlargement in the brook, much to the consternation of the natural looking figures of geese and ducks which were paddling about in the ‘water. Thd whole of these animate and inanimate figures were inclosed in a space of only 44 feet square. In a Wisconsin village recently a funeral procession was very largely made up of men and women on bicyles, the deceased having been » member of a bicycle els*