Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1895 — Page 4

MY ROSE. A wave that rolled up on the wind-swept beach Left a pure white rose on the shining sand; I stooped for the flower that had found my reach And sheltered its leaves in my trembling hand. Though it long had tossed on the ocean wide, Mid the storm and roar of the angry sea; The wind and the waves and the ebbing tide Had borne it at last to its peace with me. The waves and the rocks and the winds that passed Had torn at its heart ere they set it free, But a tender hand found the flower at last, And no storm shall live in its life with me. The wind and the waves were the storm of life, The past that is dead is the angry sea. And my pure white rose is my precious wife, 4nd her joy and peace is her love for me. —San Francisco Town Talk.

AN Unconscious Hero.

BY MBS. M. L. BAYNE. “No,” Eleanor Landsberg said as sbe crushed the cluster of fresh American beauty roses she held in her clasped hands with painful intensity, as if they were somehow to blame, “I cannot marry jou, Morris—you are not ray hero." “Heroes do not exist out of novels,” answered Morris Holmes, with that perfect inflection that good breeding gives to its possessor: *‘l cannot fight for my lady love as the mediaeval knignts did, nor fly to the wars, in these degenerate days." “Then be a soldier of peace; there are daily wars to be waged that need disciplined soldiers, lie anything but a dawdler on the silken skirts of society. You believe that because you have inherited a fortune that other men earned for you by the sweat of their brows, that you are to be idle iu the lap of luxury. Shame, Morris Holmes! When I marry I will choose my liusbaud from among the ranks of the people; my hero must do great deeds, not dream them, all day long." “My dear Socialist," said Morris, with the familiarity of long acquaintance, “if you will listen to reason a moment you will see that with money you can remedy a great many evils; without it you are practically helpless.” “How many evils have you remedied, Morris? Answer me that.” “Few as yet, I admit. But, Eleanor, is it my fault that my father left me a fortune? Listen, dearest. 1 may call you so this once. Why not help me to become his almoner? At least lam not a profligate.” “Pardon me,” returned the young woman, tearing the heart from a rose—a performance which made the sensitive Morris wince—“l think you are profligate with time and influence, aud all other good things which you waste by lavishing on yourself. llow will you account for wasted opportunities, and talents folded in a napkin, when the day of reckoning comes!" She was very handsome, very attractive in her strong young womanhood, and as a reformer, the fad of the hour. She belonged to clubs and societies for the advancement of women, aud was not offensively progressive iu her views and the expression of them, but she hud been brought into contact with strong natures, full of thf sap and wine of life, and had learned to disdain the wearer of purple and fine linen. The society weakling had lost place in her world, just as social functions had become inane and intolerably stupid, after the seamy side of life had shown her its rugged attractions. “What would you have me do to prove myself a hero?” asked Morris Holmes, with a gentle patronizing air, as if lie had been speaking to a child, aud which infuriated Eleanor.

“Do?” she repeated with withering scorn, “do anything to show the world that you are a man, and at least capable of managing your own affairs! Life is full of instruction, but you,have never learned one of its lessons. You have not even been a profitable dreamer.” She was intense and angry, and at last he was aroused. He rose without his usual dawdling elegance of manner, and said: “You have taught me one lesson, Eleanor, that I shall not forget. I hope when you find your hero he will love you as truly as I have done—as I will continue to do, if you do not forbid me. And now good-bye. We part friends, do we not?” Before she answered him Eleanor rose, and in so doing dropped the flowers she had been holding. Morris sprang to pick them up, when instantly she placed her small, imperative foot upou them, crashing them to the floor. He looked at her shocked and wounded. “You see how hopeless it is that you should ever understand me,” she said bitterly. “You have more consideration for these hot-house weeds than for the souls of those around you. Y'ou hurt and wound me by your indifference to vital questions, but you are sorry for the roses.' Goodbye, Morris!”

“No berths left in the sleeper, sir,” “But I tell you I must have a berth —I can’t sit up all night,” and Morris Holmes shivered at the thought of such a hardship. “A great many good people do, sir,” said the conductor. “There’s old Judge Skinner and his wife; they are both going to sit up to-night.” “But my man telegraphed for> a section." “They were all taken then, sir.” It was strange that at the first moment that Morris Holmes started out to become a hero, and learn the seamy side of life, he should be reduced to actual suffering like this. If he had been dressed in his usual fashionable and elegant traveling attire the conductor would have suspected that he had unlimited wealth, and would have bought out some less important traveler, or sold him a berth already negotiated for, as the all-powerful car magnate has the privilege of doing. But Morris Holmes had donned the plain dress of the ordinary business man and wore a hideous gray ulster that concealed bis elegant personality, and was on his way to the mining district where a mine was located of which he was part owner; not a gold mine, but one that brought in gold—a bituminous coal mine known as the ‘ ‘Little Summit.” Morris had taken little or no notice of this branch of his wealth, the management and details being left to his agent, but when he left Eleanor Landsberg on the occasion of her second and final refusal of his offer of marriage, he suddenly determined to take a trip to tbe mining coun-

try and try his hand at heroism, in the way of improving the condition of the men who worked in underground chambers, a work to him the embodiment of hardiship and privation. He was going incognito, with the feeling of one who is about to perform a long-neglected duty. The beginning was not auspicious. Morris bated contact with the unwashed stranger, and the day car turned into a rendezvous for the night seemed full of him. *‘l would not make a good soldier, and I certainly am not a good hero,” he said to himself, and then he thought of Eleanor, and fancied her soothing the troublesome, crying child in the further end of the car, and gaining the confidence of the mean-looking parents, who were poor and tired. At the next stopping place be went out to catch a breath of fresh air, and bought a bag of cakes for the baby, an act of generosity that the tired mother appreciated qpth a smile. He talked with the father and learned heir story. Two children left behind with relatives because they were too poor to take them along, but they bad the promise of work where they were going, and then they would send for them. If Morris helped them he did not let Ilia left hand know what his right was doing, but I do know that the children followed their parents a few weeks later. Morris prepared for a night of vigils, then fell into a sound sleep curled up in a corner of the car seat, and when he awakened it was early morning.

It is an awesome thing to awaken in a car after a night of that sort. The first feeling is one of thankfulness that one is alive; the next an overpowering sense of dirt and discomfort. Morris thought at first that his limbs were paralyzed, but after u vigorous streteh he felt better, and looked out with some interest on a world that was new to him, fresh from the luxuries ot the metropolis. He saw the “goodmorning” of nature, with man a chimerical speck in his plan. Mere cabins were perched in commanding positions on hillsides, and sleepy looking children, bareheaded and barefooted, were saluting the dying train from the open door. He could not understand how anyone could live in such a place. He felt no thrill of fellowship with these grovellers in the by-ways of life, and again he wondered how Eleanor would handle such a problem. He felt a sense of loneliness without her as if she had once belonged to him but had gone. A longer stop was made at a rude station, and Morris came near to the great tragedy that is enacted iu the lowest us well as in the grandest home. But how different the methods! It was not yet sunrise, but the door of a cabin hud been flung open, and a woman with an apron thrown over her head rushed out into tiie morning, followed by two weeping children. Then a man ran out hastily, and going to a building close by, tore a board from its rough roof, and hurried back into the house, followed by tiie women and children. The train moved on, aud Morris wondered over what he had just seen. Probably every man aud woman iu that car read the story aright, but Morris asked a shaggy old man, who sat back of him wrapped in a time-worn plaid, what it meant.

“ Weel, mon. I misdoubt it were somebody slipped awa, and they needed the board to streeekit him,” said the old Scotchman. It was gruesome vrhen Morris understood. anil ne wondered if Eleanor would have known. You see she was iu all his thoughts. A more desolate place than that in which the “ Little Summit" mine was located would be hard to describe. The mine that poured wealtli into the coffers of its owners was conducted by ill-paid, sodden men, scrubby boys and half blind mules. The foreman was brutalized by a long course of low wages, heavy expenses aud sordid surrroundings. It was a word and a blow with him, or an oath more demoralizing than blows. When a stranger appeared he was received with sullen and suspicious silence, being more than half suspected of wanting the bread out of some other mouth. Morris was shocked almost out of recognition of himself by this unexpected state of things, for he felt himself passively to blame. He could not lay the odium on the shoulders of his agent, for he had never asked a single question concerning the mine, or the moral or physical welfare of the men. He had taken the revenue from it as part of his patrimony, indifferent as to methods. He had been helping to grind women aud children into the dust, that he might 101 l in luxury. His conscience stung him with reproaches which were inadequate to make him suffer as he deserved.

“ Your hand, friend,” he had said to the foreman, and noted the ugly scowl, and determined air of refusal with which the man drew back. 1 ‘ ’Taint as white as yours; and how do I know that you are my friend?” was the surly reply. “lam here to see what you need, and will help you if you will let me,” answered Morris gently. “ A spy of an overseer, like enough. The sooner you get out of these quarters, the better for your health. If one of the bloomin’ mine owners sent you here, go bach an’ tell him ’taint safe to come spyin’ roun’. Tell him, too, that we’ll give him a warmer welcome—hounds that they all are! ” The m'ners, dirty, black and complaining, had gathered around the foreman, and although they hated him, they were bound to him by a common grudge. ‘ ‘Tell them to come aud get filled with warm lead—we’d heat it fur the ’casion,” said a burly miner known as “Old Geordie.” “They dass’nt come nigh their own property,” said another, “they’re whitelivered cowards, and not worth the powder to blow ’em to thunder!” “Go back to your master and tell him what his lovin’ workmen says,” said the foreman contemptuously, 1 ‘an’ get a photygraff of some of the hungry children and dvin’ mothers, for the family album. My missus will give you hers.” “Men,” said the stranger, unbuttoning his heavy ulster, and throwing it open, “have you ever beard of Moms Holmes’?’ A groan and a series of yells saluted him. ‘ ‘Aye, an’ ,of his father afore him. It’s that he might lie soft and eat fine food, that we gets lost in the choke an’ damp. If he sent you, go back an’ tell him to come out here himself. We liev a long account to settle, an’ the Aggers is waitin’.” It was “Old Geordie” who spoke. “I am Morris Holmes !” Now if there is any quality that the rough and lawless of creation recognize, and admire, it is courage, and after the first start of surprise, which in that sodden crowd was genuine and dramatic, the men felt an instant respect for this weakling of wealth, who was not afraid of them, and something like a cheer broke from their hoarse throats. i ‘‘l am here to right the wrongs,” continued Morris in a voice that sounded like a commander on a battlefield, 1 ‘but I demand protection at your hands. I demand your confidence, and that of your wives and children. I have the right to ask this. For the present that is all I have to say.”

A few cheered him, other remained sullen and discontented, good news being received with caution and suspicion. Eleanor Landsberg had no word from Morris for six months. Then sbe received a paper marked in red ink, which hail a paragraph that interested her. It gave a plain statement of the great improvement that had taken place in the “Little Summit” mine, and went on to describe the comfortable homes of the miners, the new machinery which had been put into the mines to take the place of child labor, the comfortable stables above ground that had been built for the mules, the improved social conditions of the men’s families, and ended with a glowing tribute to the “noble energy of the young and athletic mine owner, Morris Holmes.” Athletic? Eleanor repeated the word with much satisfaction. It was of moral athletes sbe was thinking, and it pleased her mightily that this word could be thus applied to Morris. In a few months she received a second newspaper, published like the first, in a town adjoining the mines, and giving the news of that section of country. It also contained a marked paragraph, but the marking was irregular black lines, of jagged pencil, and on the border was drawn a rude hand, pointing to tiie notice, aud the badly written but legible name “Old Geordie.” Eleanor read in a few intense words "the news that had been sent to her. There had been an accident iu the mine. The roof of an entire chamber had fallen and buried twenty miners beneath it. The men were rescued with great difficulty, and some of them were ba lly injured. When all were supposed to have been saved, there was a wailing cry, and the wife of “Old Geordie” struggled fromj the hands of friends and tried to throw herself into the mine. Morris Holmes, pale and out of breath, called for {men to go down with him to rescue Geordie. No one responded. The men owed their lives to their families, and they knew tiie danger of a falling roof. So Morris, with one look at the blue sky above him, swung into the cage and was lowered alone amid an awe-stricken silence, into the bosom of death. There was not much more to tell. When the signal was given there was willing hands to help deliver the two men from the wreckage, but only one came up alive. The other had succumbed to the fatal damp. A long panegyric followed, but it meant little to Eleanor. Her eyes rested on four oft-quoted, hackneyed lines, lmt closed the story; they would never ave her: •‘For whether on the scaffold high, Or in the battle van, Tt'e fittest place for man to die, Is where he dies for man." She had found her hero, never again to lose him. lie had returned on his shield.

DANGEROUS TIP.

it Nearly Cost a Limb, and Perhaps a Life. There is a hospital superintendent in New York to-day who, when he was a hospital clerk, advised an applicant to lie about tiie history of his case, and so got him admitted. When he thinks of his kindness and what followed it he shudders at the recollection. The wouid-be patient was suffering from a tubercular knee. He had been disabled for three years. The clerk knew that a case of three years’ standing would be denied admission. He pitied the sufferer. “They won’texamine youat first,” he said. “Tell them your knee was all right until a few days ago. Then they’ll accept you. Once in you’ll be all right. ” The patient followed this advice and was admitted. But he didn’t stop at that. When the surgeons examined his knee he astonished them by saying it had been well until a few days before. They thought it strange and cross-examined him. He was firm. That made all the difference in the world. Had he told them that the limb had been affected for three years, they would have treated it in the ordinary way.

But heroic measures were necessary if -what he told them was true, for then it seemed that the case was one of cancerous growth and that amputation at the hip joint was necessary, The operation is often fatal. The patient heard with firmness their decision to amputate. The date for the amputation was set. On the day before it was to be performed the kind-hearted clerk went into the ward to ask how the patient was getting along. “My operation is set down for tomorrow, ” the man said. “Operation !” said the clerk in surprise, “what kind of an operation?” “Amputation at the hip. I may live through it. It’s better to have it over anyway.” “Goodness, man!’’ exclaimed the clerk, “you don’t mean to tell me you stuck to that story about your leg only having been affected for a few days? Yov told them the truth after you found you had befen admitted?” “No, I didn’t,” he of the bad limb responded. “They’ve questioned me several times, but I’ve stuck to my first story like a brick.’ ’ The clerk ran to the house surgeon in mad haste and confessed that he had “inspired’’ the false history of the case. There was a consultation of surgeons. The operation has not taken place yet. Better still, the patient walks on two good legs to-day. The clerk is superintendent. But when he thinks of what would have happened if he had postponed for a day his friendly call upon the man with the bad leg, he shudders.

The Hay Bicillus.

One of the latest discoveries in the bacilli kingdom is the “hay bacillus,” found guilty of what has hitherto been called the “spontaneous combustion” of improperly cured hay. A scientist—who knows all about it, of course—says that the hay bacillus is a minute, ‘ ‘stick-like’’ being, always and everywhere found on grass and hay. When hay is not sufficiently dr} r , the bacilli continue to live on the moisture still present. By their breathing, these mischievous atoms generate heat, and as there are billions on billions of them the heat rises until it reaches 100 degrees C. and more. Then the poor things die. But the mischief goes on. The blades of grass are turned into threads of coal; the coal, condensing the gases developed, increases the heat. Finally, when this transformation has progressed to the surface, a slight draught fans the smouldering mass into flame. In like manner, bacilli of the same genus cause the iirnition of maaurfc iesps.

A BUFFALO FARM.

RAISING THE NEARLY EXTINCT ANIMAL FOR PROFIT. Montana Contains tha Only Domiiticated Hard in tha Country* - Cross-Bred Buffaloes. Montana is the home of many strange geological and agricultural wonders, but none more so than that of the only herd of domesticated buffaloes in this country. Ravalli is located upon the edge of the old Flathead Indian Reservation, and can be reached by the Northern Pacific, from Helena, in half a day’s ride. It is a thriving and enterprising place in a most picturesque part of the country, and in the summer time many tourists get off there to inspect the herd of buffaloes owned by Mr. Chas. Allard and Marchiel Pablo. Scientists and representatives of museums frequently drop off here and try to buy buffaloes to ship east, and one day the leader of a traveling circus tried to bargain for the whole herd. As there are nearly 200 in in the herd, and the price for buffaloes is advancing rapidly every year, this enterprising showman did not realize the sum of money he would have required for the purchase. A good buffalo hide is worth SIOO today, and a mounted head all the way from S2OO to $500; but what a whole buffalo would cost it is difficult to say. The owers of the herd are not selling to-day; they are breeding for the future. Letters pour in upon them from all parts of the country asking them their price for from one to a dozen buffaloes

“But we are not selling any buffalo,” says Charles Allard, “for the reason that we need them all at present. They will not be put upon the market for several years yet. Museums, parks and shows are constantly making efforts to get them in quantities, and though we might dispose of one or two singly we have no pairs to sell. We will have altogether about 200 by this fall.” Two years ago this herd consisted of 82 animals, and was then located at omaha, and was known as the Jones herd. Allard paid SIB,OOO for them, and removed them to Montana, where they are kept on a large range. Later Marchiel Pablo, a well known cattle merchant, went into partnership with Allard, and the two have conducted the buffalo farm between them ever since. During the present summer a party of scientists and travelers visited the herd, and they enjoyed something rarely tasted In these days, a steak of buffalo. An accident had made it possible for them to try this tempting morsel, and everyone pronounced it more delicious than any steak ever put upon the market, and buffalo meat in time may become a rare product of our markets. When the animals are bred in sufficient numbers they will be killed gradually for their hides and heads, and the meat alone will bring a good sum to the owners. Buffaloes crossed with domestic cattle make fine meat for table use also; some fine specimens here crossed with polled Angus stock are wonders to the strangers. They are all large and magnificent animals, and the fur is finer and closer than that of the pure buffalo. The cross breeds yield very valuable robes and in many ways retain the looks and characteristics of their wild projenltors. Cross-bred buffaloes may yet roam over the country in herds and infuse new blood into our domesticated stock .giving them the strength and vitality so much needed in the West to withstand the storms and blizzards. The domesticated buffaloes and the cross-breeds defy the severest storms and they face them every time. While horses and cows will be driven before the storms for many miles the buffaloes simply stand still with their breast toward the wind and wait until it has abated. Then they will hunt around where the snow is thinnest and search for food. Their thick, shaggy coats appear to be water-proof and cold-proof. As soon as a storm approaches the herd bunches together and form a wedge, with the well protected head of the oldest bull at the apex. In this way the weakest cows and calves are sheltered by the more hardy animals.

The domesticated herd has lost much of the natural wildness of tbe untamed buffaloes, and they feed quietly within the range not far from human spectators; but their instincts are the same, and it is an interesting study to watch them as they graze on the rich grass. The report of a rifle near by invariably startles them and they rush across the field in true buffalo style, giving you an idea of what kind of death awaited one who happened to be in their way. The animals ape trusty to a certain extent, but it needs an experienced cowboy to handle them when the bulls are around. These animals, though not so fierce as the Spanish bull reared for the arena, are more savage and determined when drawn into battle. If placed in the arena with a Spanish bull, a wild buffalo would come out victor every time, if one can judge of his fighting qualities out here in the native wilds. His head is as hard as a rock, and nothing short of a cannon ball could make an impression upon it. The shaggy hair acts as a thick pad to most of the head and protects the eyes and brain so that a rifle ball could not penetrate through hair and hide unless it happened to strike at a peculiar angle. “This herd is the only one in this country of any size,” explained the head of the valuable herd stock, “although there is a small one in the Texas Panhandle. There are quite a number of wild ones in the Yellowstone Park, too, and there may be a few scattered around in the West. 1 These, however, are scattered over immense ranges, and hidden in almost inaccessible places. In 1888 the northern herd of wild buffaloes contained about 10,000 head, and were located between the Black Hills and Bismarck. But during that summer so many hunters. Indians and white men, surrounded the herd that by October the number was reduced to 1,200. Then Sitting Bull’s band arrived at Standing Rock Agency, and in a few days there wasn’t a hoof to be found in the whole region. Occasionally one is stumbled upon, but it is a very rare thing. They are literally exterminated. Long before

this southern herd had been killed off by the Indians and white hunters, and the destruction of the northern herd completed the whole business. This is why the American : buffalo is becoming an animal of 1 great curiosity to most people."

Hunting Wolves in Russia.

In Russia there is a method ern--1 ployed for capturing wolves which sometimes proves very efficacious, and which in its carrying out exemplifies the singular combination of ferocity, daring and cowardice which ! distinguishes these animals. Partly surrounding a house in the forest, an inclosure or yard is formed of high and strong timber, to which admission from the outside can be obtained through one gate only. This is so arranged and weighted as to close automatically, and on the opposite side of the enclosure another very strongly constructed gate leads to the farm premises. When wolves are known :to be in the neighborhood a man mounted upon a good horse,and carrying the ever attractive pig, scours the surrounding country until the cries of the latter have brought together a hungry train. Keeping a little way ahead of of his pursuers, the horseman then makes for the artificial enclosure, into which he dashes by the outer gate, and out again through the one opposite. The latter is immediately banged to and securely barred by the peasants in charge, while the former closes of its own accord upon the closely following wolves, who are thus fairly trapped. No sooner do the creatures become aware of this than the most abject fear takes the place of ferocity, and their captors dispose of them with axes and cudgels at their leisure.

A Dog’s Passion For Dolls.

The latest sensation in Birmingham is the doll-snatching dog. The animal is the property of a lady who resides at Small Heath, and some time ago one of her little girls was very fond of inducing the dog to carry her doll, and the animal acquired quite a passion for relieving the child of her precious charge. The dog would carry it about for hours, and oftentimes take it to his kennel and lie down beside it for the greater part of the day. He never harmed the doll, always gripping its clothes, and not defacing it in the slightest. Up to a certain point its tendencies were productive of unadulterated fun, and so popular did the dog become that the children of the neighborhood frequently came to its owner’s house with the query, “Please, Mrs. doll a walk?” But by degrees the animal’s healthy affection for dolls developed into an absolute passion, and now a more unpopular quadruped does not exist in the whole suburb. Not content with carrying a doll when requested to do so, the animal commenced to prowl about the neighborhood and forcibly deprive stray children of their treasured pets. Whenever and wherever he saw a doll in a child’s arms he would stealthily walk up to her, seize the prize and run off with it to his kennel. In a single day he has been known to bring four captives home, and the macernal indignation of the neighborhood is something terrible to contemplate. If that dog does not mend his ways shortly, his career will be prematurely closed. The animal should be engaged at Christmas time in the interest of the Children’s Hospital; he would soon provide dolls for all the inmates.

Discovered the First Diamond.

The Cape of Good Hope government is contemplating the bestowal of a pension upon Leonard Jacobs, who found the first diamond in the colony. Jacobs, a Korannah, settled in Peniel, now known as Barkl}', in 1866. A German missionary, Kallenberg, told him to look sharp for diamonds, explaining to the ignorant Korannah the value and appearance of the stones. Jacobs’ children soon after found several glittering stones. One proved to be a real diamond; the others were crystals. Jacobs’wife, not knowing that any particular value attached to the jewel, exchanged it for calico. ' Jacobs set out on the trail of the lucky trader, and finding him, forced him to return the jewel. The Korannah’s stone was forwarded to Port Elizabeth, where Sir Philip Wodehouse,the Governor, purchased it for $2,500. He named it the 1 ‘Star of South Africa, ” and it still remains in his family. Jacobs, after a lapse of two years, received a horse, wagon and some sheep as payment. The man is now an octogenarian and in hearty health.

A Model Ship’s Captain.

Captain Vaughan, of the British bark Sokoto, has a way of dealing with his men which is a revelation to the old-time “bucko mates,” but the reports are that it works like a charm. When in port he feeds them on watermelons, peaches and other fruit when in season, and it is safe to say that provender of that sort was never seen going into a forecastle before. At sea he has no such thing as an allowance, every sailor on the bark being privileged to eat all he wants to and can hold. The men have fresh bread every day, all the “hard tack” they want, canned meats, potatoes,vegetables and fruit. Strange as it may seem, the cost is less than that on any other vessel of the same line. Besides this, the men work more cheerfully, keep the bark looking like a parlor, and never want to leave the employ. Captain Vaughan is breaking down the established custom, but his owners are satisfied, as he is saving money for tho firm.—New York Tribune.

A Millionaire’s Confession.

Baron Alphonsede Rothschild,who so narrowly escaped being the victim of tho late anarchist outrage in Paris, was once asked by a journalist whether he thought that riches led to happiness, “Ah, no!” answered the millionaire, sadly, “that .would be too glorious 1 Happiness is something totally different. Believe me, the truest source of happiness is —work I”

A Missionaries' Museum.

One of the most interesting museums in Boston has been removed to Hartford—the museum of curiosities collected daring 75 years by the missionaries of the American board, and for many years displayed in cabinets in a little dark room in the Congregational House. The collection is to be deposited in the library of the Hartford Thelogical Seminary, and Boston will know it no more. Many of the objects were worthless—unless from a sentimental point of view—pebbles from Palestine,bits of wood or stone broken from temples and the like—but others were of the greatest rarity, interest and scientific value, and some were unique. There were little idols from India, models illustrating life and manufacture in China or Japan, and savage arms and implements from the South Seas. Unlike many similar objects seen nowadays, they were genuine “documents” of savage or barbarous life before it had been touched and influenced by Western civilization. To the ethnographer they were invaluable. Particularly interesting were the idols and curiosities from the Sandwich Islands, all of them obtained by the earlier missionaries. They included the great idol of the Hawaiian war god, one of the most interesting things in its way ever brought to America, The Hawaiian portion of the collection was not sent to Hartford, but, through the influence of Mr. Gorham D. Gilman, the Hawaiian Consul in Boston, it has gone to enrich the Bishop Museum of Hawaiian antiquities in Honolulu.

Schools in Alaska.

Thsre are nearly two thousand children enrolled in Alaska schools, though there is a school population of from eight to ten thousand. The government contributes about onethird to the support of the schools, and the other two-thirds is provided by the missionary societies. One of the obstacles to the progress of teaching in Alaska is the idea of the northern Eskimo that “to-morrow will be another day,” and they make no effort to memorize anything for future use. However, the children seem to have a great desire to know the English language, and study faithfully in the school room, though they often fail to use what they learn outside ; and they are uniformly well behaved in the school room.

Germany’s War Dogs.

The Gardejager Pachmann and Herch, who took two German war dogs to Constantinople the Saturday before Whitsuntide, have returned to Potsdam. The two dogs, when they arrived at Constantinople, had several days’ rest before they were shown to the Sultan. His majesty and his officers were so much surprised at the clever and useful performances of the dogs that the German jager wero begged to give some Turkish soldiers instruction in the training of such dogs. This was done for several days, after which the Sultan gave the German soldiers each a decoration and S2OO, and caused them to be shown the city and its surroundings. The two war dogs were a present to the Sultan from the German Emperor.

Bluefish Towed a Boat to Sea.

A remarkable catch of bluefish was made in the ocean off Blue Hill life-saving station, Long Island, by Robert and Charles Smith, of this place. A school of bluefish was sighted about a mile off shore, and, working to the eastward, the fishermen set a gill net. The rush of the fish was so great that the boat was carried two miles, to Water Island, before the fishermen could get control of the fish. At least half of the fish escaped, yet over two tons were caught in the net.

Oatmeal for the Teeth.

It has been remarked that in countries where oatmeal, and not fine flour, is in general use the people will be found with the best and whitest teeth. So well recognized is this fact that many doctors order its use as an article of daily diet for children in cases where dentition is likely to be retarded or imperfect.

An Appropriate Text.

A worthy clergyman of my acquaintance, having been presented co an important living, preached his first sermon from the words, “All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers.” He was surpised and distressed when the church wardens afterward hinted to him that his choice of a text had been hard upon his predecessors.

Intensifying Color in Wood.

A process has been discovered for intensifying the coloring matter in wood, making wood lustrous and attractive to the eye, as if neatly varnished with various colored varnishes. The mixture used acts chemically. It will greatly increase the use of wood instead of wall paper and paint.

European Families.

The average size of families in Europe is as fojlows: France, 8.03 members; Denmark, 8.61; Hungary, 8.70; Switzerland. 8.94; Austria and Belgium, 4.05; England, 4.08; Germany, 4.10; Sweden, 4.12; Holland, 4.22; Scotland, 4.46; Italy. 4.56; Spain, 4.65; Russia, 4.83; Ireland 5.20.

Found a Beautiful Opal Stone.

Seward Day, of Wilbur, Wash., was carelessly hammering an ordinary looking piece of basalt rock a few days since when it suddenly parted into several pieces, exposing a beautiful opal stone over a quarter of an inch in diameter.

One of Nature's Safeguards.

The eyelids close involuntarily when the eye is threatened in order that this organ may berwotected. If a man had to think to suTTc his eyes when something was thrown at them he would be too slow to save the eye rom injury.

The Man at the Lever.

The locomotive engineer is • re* markably placid fellow, with a habit of deliberate precision in hia look and motions. He occasionally turns a calm eye to his gauge and then resumes his quiet watch ahead. The three levers which he has to manipulate are under his hand for instant use, and when they are used it is quietly and in order, as an organist pulls out his stops. The noise in the cab makes conversation difficult, but not as bad as that heard in the: car when passing another train, with wr without the windows open, and in looking out of the engine cab the objects are approached gradually, not rushed past, as when one looks laterally out of a parlor car window. The fact is that the engineer does nob look at the side—he is looking ahead —and therefore the speed seems less, as the objects are approached gradually.

Those who have ridden at ninety miles an hour on a locomotive know that on a good road (and there are many such) the engine is not shaken and swayed in a terrific manner, bub is rather comfortable, and the speed is not so apparent as when one is riding in a parlor car, where only a lateral view is had. The engineer can be very comfortable if he is quite sure of the track ahead, and it is only in rounding curves or in approaching crossings that he feels nervous, and it is doubtful if it is any more strain to run a locomotive at high speed than to ride on a bicycle through crowded thoroughfares. Judging by the countenances of the bicycle rider and the engineer, theengineer has rather the best of it.

Esquimaux Character.

Although the Esquimaux laugh at death and make a jest of sorrow, they are none the less indulgent husbands and affectionate fathers. True communists in both theory and practice; unselfishly sharing their last morsel with a smile; a simple, kindly, dirty, good-natured, child-like race, possessing no hope of betterment; giving no thought to the future; systematically forgetful of the past; living only in the present, and making the heaviest burdens of that present light with irrepressible ' cheerfulness of heart 1 An illustration of the apathy with which mortality is regarded by the Esquimaux was afforded by an incident of our cruise. Ten deaths from blood-poisoning had occurred among the natives within ten days, yet there were but few evidences of sorrow or alarm. When I expressed sympathy with a man whom I had employed as a pilot, and who, within a month, had lost his father, wife, child and wife’s brother, he said to me, smilingly: “At chook ! Not so many to feed. Flour dear. No fish. Plenty men hungry. Plenty men die. Ananakl Very good! Byine-bye no more Esquimaux. All sleep—me—everybody. So!” Then emphasized his philosophy with a hearty laugh.

Fish Ten Thousand Years Old.

In making railway tunnels, and in sinking wells and pits in Nevarda, Utah and Arizona, salt strata are often struck at varying depths, sometimes as much as a hundred yards beneath the surface. Hundreds of fish, perfectly preserved, are found in blocks of this pure salt. These salt fields are supposed to occupy what was once the bottom of a lake thirty miles long, fifteen miles wide and many hundred feet deep. The fish found resemble the pike species and are wholly unlike the fish found in the lakes and rivers of that region at the present time. The specimens found are not petrified, but are perfectly preserved in the flesh as those but recently frozen in a block of ice. When taken out and exposed to the heat of the sun they become as hard as blocks of wood. Occasionally workmen at.the saltworks have eaten these antediluvian relics. Men of learning, who have investigated the matter, say that these salt preserved fish are at least 10,000 years old.

Hallowe'en.

Hallowe’en is a festival that should be especially honored by young people. There are so many amusing and good-natured tricks, and so many innocent bits of ‘ ‘white magic” appropriate to the time, that no selfrespecting youngster should allow its observance to be omitted by careless “grown-ups.” There, for instance, are the “snapdragon,” and the “bobbing for apples,” and the blowing out of a candle hung at the end of a stick suspended on a twisted string and balanced by an apple so contrived as to deal a smart blow upon the cheek of the too lingering candle-blower. And there are the many charms and contrivances that, once consulted in honest faith by rustic lovers, are now the pastime of boys and girls during an autumn evening.

On Time.

The President of an accident insurance company, strictly in the line of advertising his business, has been telling a wonderful story, which he locates in Brooklyn, where numerous trolley accidents occur. He says: “ Some time ago a large policy holder in my company was run over by a trolley car, and his right leg painfully crushed. He remained conscious after the shock for three minutes, during which time he pulled out his watch and called the attention of the crowd to the fact that it was just fifteen minutes to 12 o’clock. His policy expired at noon, and his foresight was rewarded by the immediate payment of his weekly indemnity without controversy or litigation. The man was a one-time whiner. He called time before death knocked him out.

England’s Largest Jail.

Portland Prison is England’s largest jail. Nearly 2,000 convicts are located there, being employed chiefly in the ‘ ‘Crown quarries, ” from which something like 50,000 to 60,000 tons of Portland stone are annually exported.