Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 July 1896 — Page 4

NEVER TOO Un-E. Tkere is good and bad in the wayside inns On the highways of our lives And man can never be free from sins No matter how hard he strives; Yet even when down destruction’s grade Onr thorny pathways trend. In spite of a thousand errors made “It is never too late to mend.” There are crosses heavy for men to bear. And passions to conquer, too; There are joys and woes that each must share Before the journey is through. But men may be poor for honor’s sake, And truth and right defend. And hope will never this promise break; “It is never too late to mend.” ’Tis never too late for a noble deed. For, blessed by the angels’ tears, 1 It plants in the breast of men a seed That will grow in after years; A word of kindness, hope and cheer Will always comfort lend; We must live for love and banish fear “It is never too late to mend.” It is never too late to mend, my lad, No matter what people say. And no man’s nature is wholly bad, Even if old and gray; And in our journey toward the grave, Until we reach the end. There is time to change and time to save—“lt is never too late to mend.” —Herbert Cass Adams.

THE REDEEMING ACT.

Dave was a coward and he had always borne the reputation of arrant cowardice ever since he had crawled over the side of his dugout cradle to wallow along with the underfoot world on the white sand before his parents’ cabin door. Though country born and bred, a passing thunderstorm struck him with terror, and the sight of the black waters of the “chick" caused a remarkable agitation of his knees. He was a coward, pure and simple. The bristling of a coon routed him unconditionally and a determined ’possum could rob the hen roost before his very face. Indeed, Dave was a coward, and his cousin, Sue Spivey, laughed uproariously when the poor fellow perpetrated his initial and only act of boasting. He had said to her one day very solemnly and no doubt sincerely: “Toe purtec yo’ honah an' happiness I ’ud th’ow away my wutbless life.” Ordinarily Dave’s speech was unpolished and provincial, but on this occasion it rose to the dignity of what lie felt the occasion demanded. Sue knew full well his timorous disposition, and would have thought it safe to count on his poltroonery in any event. But a day was sadly near which proved to her the full worth of the poor fellow’s grandiloquent Assertion. Long before the late unpleasantness, and until this day, Honeypath was only a siding where occasional trains took water and passed each other. Two or three log shanties without special pretensions to any architectural dissimilarity, marked the site of the town, distinguishing it from the vast area of impenetrable swamp that backed it and

the arid waste of sandy bottom through which the glistening polished rails of ! the grand trunk line writhed and sinn-! ated. Along that glowing metal highway troops of both armies passed and repassed, gazed at curiously by the few women and senile males left in the village, but exciting no other emotion than a blank curiosity that died out even before the white mist of the fine Band stirred by the soldiers’ feet had settled behind the retreating bands. Dave was a native of Houeypath and lived with an aged father in one of the shanties. Sue dwelt with her mother in another near by. Dave’s father was a hot-blooded Southerner, whose patri-

otism answered to the first call to arms, but Dave was timid, fearful of the am ell of powder and refrained from action, preferring to suffer the opprobrious epithets which were liberally bestowed upon him and the contempt of the county generally to facing he knew not what horror upon the battlefield. He was not a philosopher and could not plead in extenuation of his neutrality that the martial slaughter of his brother man was a crime and that the wholesale sacrifice of human life was immoral. Dave was simply a coward and accepted meekly the obliquy which the condition Imposed, not even the taunts and cutting sarcasm of pretty Sue Spivey being able to rouse the instincts of battle in his craven soul. Before the strife ended Sue’s mother was gathered to her final rest, being pot out of sight in the little sandy graveyard, with only the comment of the two remaining neighbors. And then Dave and Sue toiled early and late in order to wring from the starving acres an unvaried livelihood of yams, cornbread and bacon, more often the cornbread without the embellishment of potatoes and bacon, particularly during the weeks after a hungry foraging party had passed that way. One day Dave was working among the young potato vines in an open arid field behind the cabin, when Sue ran out to him in troubled haste. “Oh, Dave, I’m pow’ful skeered!” she panted. “Skeered o’ what?” he asked, without Intermission of the bent labor. “Some—some soldiers just wentdown the road, an’ they spoke to me —sassy like.” She hesitated, and Dave looked up to see her pretty face scarlet and her brows bent together in angry lines. “Well, what did they all say?” he demanded, in his accustomed slow drawl, after waitng in vain for her to proceed. “They ’lowed they all was a-comin’ back.” “Who was they, ennyhow?” he asked, uneasily, his face blanching in anticipation of 'the martial visit. “I dunno. They was five of ’em.” “Come on back to the house, Sue,” and, shoulderng bis hoe, he trudged stolidly on before. “Don’t you be skeered,” he continued, as they reached the yard. “I reckon they won’t do aettiinV’ Of the two it would have been manlfest to the most casual observer that he «ra« the wont “Bkeered” but he walked

| on till they reached the house and Sue ■ c led out: “louder they come now—all five.” Dave’s face blanched to a sallow whiteness, but he pulled her quickly i inside the door. i “What you gwlne to doV” Sue asked, nervously, keeping near her cousin, but ]he apparently did not hear. He had taken down a ride that had belonged to Sue’s brother, who had also offered up his life on the altar of the cause, lenvi ing his weapon to his sister as a means j of defence in just such emergencies as this. “What you gwine to do. Dave?” the ' girl persisted, coming closer and laying ' her hand on his arm. Dave shook sev- | oral cartridges into the cylinder of the ride, and waiting in silence, apparently not aware that Sue had touched him. Only a few more moments to wait and then the last act in the commonplace little tragedy. A loud pounding at the rickety cabin door, and a derisive imperative voice demanded: “Hi. in there, open up. or we’ll make splinters of yer ol’ door!” The threat was garnished by several strong expletives and accompanied with more vicious pounding. Then for answer went the spiteful snap of the ride followed by a surprised howl of pain, more voluble profanity and footsteps in rapid retreat.

Dave went to the window and through a knot hole in the shutter re- ! viewed the situation of the enemy, through the aperture the ride again i spoke with decisive, leaden emphasis, ! and when the smoke cleared away the | man inside beheld one of the besiegers | lying prone across the freshly hoed ‘ potato rows, while another limped painfully in the rear of the retreating trio. In the short silence that followed the last shot the arid topography of Honeypath seemed to dash l>efore Dave's vis- ! ion. each peculiarity standing out strong and clear. The fine, white sand covered everywhere with fat-leaved prickly pear and cactus that bloomed perpetually in big butter colored flowers; the bright, blazing sky, the heat 1 that rose and hung heavily over j man and beast, the many insects that I sat' out in the furnace-like sun. rattling : shrilly with very joy. Then the dense I shade of the murky shadowed swamp ; and the big scaly black scorpions and | dainty multi-colored lizards that played an eternal game of hide and seek among the rotting rails of the old snake fence.

The trio had disappeared into the swamp and Dave calmly refilled his rifle, waiting as though lost in thought Presently from the rear of the cabin came the harsh command; “You cowardly bushwhacker In there, come out an’ fight like a man! If ye don’t, we’ll burn ye an’ yer shanty an’ the gal with ye.” There was no opening in the rear of the cabin, the logs were thick and the chinkg were well stopped with clay, so that Dave could not return a leaden answer to this brutal challenge. He fingered the rifle nervously and looked at Sue. “Oh, Dave, don't open the door,” she pleaded, meeting the earnest look bent on her face from beneath the brim of | Dave's frouzy slouch hat; “I ain't 1 afeered to burn.” His lips blanched, his knees were wobbly with fear, but he had not for gotten the one boast of his poor, pinched life, uttered so long ago. “Toe purtec’ yo’ honah on’ happiness, 1 ’ud ! throw away my wutbless life.” He : uttered the words again monotonously, 1 fingering the rifle that was held limply , in his shaking hands. I - Poor Sue, there was no answering laughter in her soul now for those grotesquely sententious words which broke in husky monotone on her hear- | ing like a last prayer. In that moment Dave, who had always been a coward, who had all his life long borne meekly the scorn and opprobrium attached to the character, he whom heretofore nothing could arouse to a sense of his degradation, calmly arose to the very pinnacle of heroism.

“I’m coming out,”he called and shooting back the l>olt he stood on the cabin step before'them. “Fall back and give him a show; he’s coming out, boys!” Sue clung to him, pleading, “Dave, don’t; there’s four to one. Don’t go!” but he pushed her gently backward into the room. “Bolt the door behind me!” he said and passed out. Sue stood motionless in the center of the room waiting for it to begin. Dave pulled the trigger of his gun and turned the corner and instantly four weapons barked with one voice. Sue heard something heavy fall against the side of the 'Cabin; then instantly the sharp, clear utterance of a rifle answered the carbines again and still again. ~Nt)ne carbine only answered; then all was still; only the fretful warbling of a wren in the nearby Cherokee rose hedge breaking the tense silence of the drowsy afternoon hush. ■ Anxiety conquering terror, Sue drew back the bolt, throwing the door wide open. A broad stream of yellow light and a rush of heat met her, passing over a figure on its knees that always trembled at the sight of deep water. Dave gasped his last breath. Bleeding and shattered, he crept to her feet, after the manner of a faithful dog, to die. In the grave gray eyes that were raised to here there w r as the light of the exaltation of a passing spirit, triumphant over the shadow of death which already darkened them. His lips moved in the cbntortion of a smile that broke into an articulate murmur. “I done said that toe purtec’ yo’ honah and happiness I would th’ow away my wuthless life—an’ I done hit.” And Dave, with the crimson glory of his “wuthless life’s” blood streaming from many wounds, passed to the judgment reserved for him from the beginning of all things. The wren shivered out her fragmentary song to heaven, the perfume of the Cherokee rose filled the air of the fading day, and the setting sun, streaming though the cabin door, touched the still figure of Dave, wrapping him in molten splendor as though with the face of a dying god. Poor Dave, though a coward all his life long, he had earned the reward of heroism at the very end. “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.’’—Detroit Journal. Greater New York consists of fortyfive islands, just as many as there are new stars in our flag.

THEY CANNOT WAKE HER UP

STUDY OF A CASE THAT IS TYPICAL OF MANY. Caused by Singing a Pathetic Song What is the Mystery of Such Long Sleeps?—-The'Matady Is Spreading.' A woman lies In one of the wards of the New York Hospital at the present time whose condition lias excited universal attention for several weeks past, as told in the Herald. She is Mrs. Monroe H. Hosenfeld. the wife of a musical eomi>oser. Previous to her removal to the hospital referred to Mrs. Rosenfeld lay at her home in Jay street. Brooklyn, for seventeen consecutive days in a semi-comatose condition without partaking of a particle of nourishment. During this jieriod she was visited by a dozen of the best physicians of Brooklyn. among these the celebrated neurologist, Professor John Shaw, of the Long Island College Hospital; the well known practitioners. Drs. Henry Noss, O’Grady. Stone. Dixon, former Health Commissioner Dr. John Griffon and many others, all of whom failed to arouse the sufferer from her lethargic condition or to afford any permanent relief. In his natural desire to relieve the suffering of his wife, Mr. Rosenfeld admitted to her bedside a host of so-called hypnotists, magnetic curists. Christian scientists, massage specialists, believers in the universal efficacy of oxygen as a remedial agent, and others whose sympathy overran their knowledge. Unlike the somewhat similar case of Morris Front, the so-called boy sleeper, at the Betli-Israel Hospital, who was isolated from the public by his doctors, no one was denied admittance to Mrs. Rosenfeld’s bedside while she was at home.

Notwithstanding the publicity given to the case, no definite remedy was suggested and no material benefit to the sufferer was obtained. As a last resort. and by the advice of the medical fraternity in Brooklyn, generally, Mrs. Rosenfeld was removed to the New York Hospital and has remained there ever since in practically the same condition as she was when she was taken from her home, with the exception that during the last few days the consulting physician of the hospital, Dr. A. B. Ball, has succeeding in inducing the patient to partake of small quantities of liquid nourishment, barely sufficient to support life The physicians generally in attendance ui>on the patient have practically agreed that she is suffering from what is known in France as “grande hysteria,” otherwise known as hysterioepilepsy. A great deal of attention has been given to this disease by the celebrated French hypnotist, Charcot, and by Boumeville and Regnard and P. Richer, most of these distinguished scientists pursuing their investigations in the Salpetriere, in Paris. Of all diseases to which human flesh is heir hysteria seems to be one of the most complex and the least understood.

The disease is rather one of the mind than one of the body. If, for example, a woman falls into the water or gets burned or tumbles down stairs, and thereby develops hysteria, the mistake is often made of ascribing the disease to catching cold or to the injury received, although it really was the mental excitement which produced it. An analagous instance of this is found in the case of Mrs. Rosenfeld. The incident which resulted practically in her collapse was the singing of a song. One day her husband had inserted an advertisement for a servant, and had thereby secured the services of a domestic. The girl came and worked half a day, and was then discharged by the hysterical woman for no apparent cause. Later in the day, after the insertion of a like advertisement in an evening paper, he secured another servant. Unable to bear the unreasonable treatment of her mistress, this girl also left. This annoyed Mr. Rosenfeld a great deal,, as during the previous week several servants had been discharged in a like manner. He then upbraided his wife forcibly for her erratic conduct, which brought the tears to her eyes, and she exclaimed pathetically:— “You’ll be sorry when I’m gone.” Touched by the humor and pathos of the situation and alive to the inspiration, Mr. Rosenfeld wont to the piano and composed a song with the title of his wife’s remark. On the following day, when the song was completed, in the presence of a number of visitors, Mrs. Rosenfeld attempted to sing the song to her husband's accompaniment, but, overcome by the association of ideas, when she reached the chorus, which runs as follows:

None to fondle and caress you, None to brush your tears away, None to care for you in sadness, When you’re feeble and grown gray, None to take you to his bosom, None to call you then his own, None to care if dead or living, You’ll be sorry when I’m gone. the singer fell upon the lounge, weeping hysterically, and lapsed into the lethargic condition in which she has remained ever since. The remarkable sensitiveness of women to hystericalemotional condition generally was shown upon every one of the women present, who began to weep in sympathy with the sufferer. Mrs. Rosenfeld has been closely confined in the New York Hospital for the last two weeks. She is being treated in an interestingly original manner by the hospital physicians. This treatment consists of almost absolute isolation. None of her friends, and not even her husband has been allowed to speak to her while at the hospital. The theory of Dr. Ball, who has the patipnt in charge, is that isolation will give her an entire change of emotional conditions. Deprived of the society of her husband and of the household pets by which she has been surrounded many years, the doctors are of the opinion that isolation will produce a beneficial effect by the reason of the new surroundings and a production of the physical condition of the mind hitherto unknown to her. While isolation is a comparatively new treatment in America, it has been tried with success by the German physicians and also by Charcot, the celebrated French expert. Dr. A. B Ball, of the New York Hospital, Is of the opinion that the emotions can be so •teeled against a supersensitive condition that entire auiet and isolation * /

will restore a normal state to the min* and body Although Mrs. Rosenfeld constantly moans for tin* society of her husband, and in her delirium incessantly repeats his name, the doctors think it absolutely inadvisable to admit him into her | presence. They are willing that he should see her face, listen to her voice, be near her, but her eyes must not rest ujiou him. Therefore, while wearily waiting for the rec-overy of his wife, Mr. Rosenfeld visits the hospital daily. He goes up into the ward where she is confined, peers in through the door and looks upon his wife’s face. Day after day this weary vigil has been continued. but no glance of intelligence has cheered the weary visitant. Still, pale, wan and emaciated, the woman lies in her tranced condition and knows not of her husband’s watchful care. The physicians all concur in the belief that while Mrs. Rosenfeld's higher consciousness is in the abeyance, she is still cognizant of what is going on about her, although in that cataleptic condition which prevents her from expressing her wishes. Some of the higher medical authorities say she is practically in the mental state which is a counterfeit of sleep. In facL she is suffering from a protracted nightmare. This is proved by the fact that when the ambulance came to remove her to the hospital she was cognizant that she was about to lie removed from her home, and made a feeble, inarticulate effort to express her fear of removal. That she has not at any time lost her consciousness completely is proven by her feeble effort in the hospital to express the desire to see her husband. Few similar eases have excited such interest as that of Mrs. Rosenfeld. The investigations growing out of her ease have called particular attention to the Alarming increase of hysteria in its graver forms during the past few years. Not one of the physicians who have been in attendance upon the case but lias commented upon the increasing prevalence of this disease, and no contemporaneous disease affords such complexity of symptoms as hysteria. A Brooklyn physician was called only last week to treat a similar case in a milder form. As is usual, a woman was the sufferer. She sobbed and acted like a spoiled child. The first impulse of the physician was to throw a glass of ice odd water into her face. But such action was prevented by the overzealousness of her relatives. This calls attention to the necessity of isolation in such cases. When surrounded by loving but medically ignorant friends the patient cannot be treated in a scientific manner. Many doctors concur in the belief that in the milder forms of hysteria a good trouncing would be more efficacious than a ton of medicine. The reasoning along this line is that such treatment would be such a violent departure from precedent that the patient would be surprised and shocked back into a normal and healthful condition. In the case of Mrs. Monroe H. Rosenfeld, now at the New York Hospital, the physicians can give no definite idea as to how long she may remain in her present condition. It is altogether a matter of conjecture as to whether the treatment of isolation will be beneficial in her case.

For Women Who Work.

A project which will interest women everywhere is being started in New York and the Herald tells about it. It is to be entitled “The Woman’s Trust,” and the object of those interested in it is to collect funds for the purpose of building a home for worklngwomen of good reputation who may at times be in need of shelter and a home. It is proposed to raise this money by public subscriptions and also to ask Congress to contribute funds. It is pointed out thnt Congress has frequently appropriated money for the erection and support of soldiers’ and sailors’ homes, and it is maintained that there is no valid reason why Congress should not appropriate money for the support of needy women, many of whom may become or already are the mothers of soldiers and sailors. The building, which it is proposed to erect will occupy a whole block and will be of approved architecture, most probably in the Moorish style. On the first floor there will be stores and an arcade. There will be a court yard in the centre and four entrances, over which are to be inscribed the following lines, which the Athenians formerly placed over their gates:—“We wished, we saw, we loved and we adored.” The building will consist of sixteen stories of about one thousand rooms. The rooms will be divided into suites and will as a rule be furnished as parlors with folding beds. The second floor will contain a dining room for the guests, and a separate restaurant for outsiders. There will also be reading rooms, class and concert rooms, where organ and other recitals can be given and where all the minor crafts can be taught to women. Spacious grounds will surround the home and will be laid out in an appropriate manner. The building will be run on the cooperative system, and is intended only for self-supporting women, who will be charged the nominal sum of $3 a week, in return for which they will obtain not only board and lodgings, but also all the advantages of reading and music rooms. No restraint will be placed upon the inmates, as it is desired to make them feel thoroughly at home.

Armies and Debts Compared.

According to figures recently shown by the Peace Society of England the increase in the cost of armies during the last thirty years has been equalled by the increase in national debts. The cost of European armies in 1869 was £116,000,000, and it increased to £200,000,000 in 1896. In 1872 the debts of European countries amounted to £4,680,000, and in 1896 the figure was £6,000,000,000 (?30,000,000).

Colonial Relic.

Miss Hitchborn daughter of Chief Naval Constructor Phillip Hichborn, has recently come into possession of an interesting colonial specimen. It is a desk that was in the possession of the Hichborn family at the time of the Boston tea party. Many years ago it it was taken to Sandy Point, Me., by an ancestor, and has only lately been shipped to Miss Hichborn’s home in Washington.—Boston Herald. May 3,1895: Twenty people killed la and near Sioux City. la.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

The enormous growth of the bicycle Industry is indicated by the sale recently of the Dunlop Pneumatic Tire Company’s property in Dublin, for $15,000,000. When first formed, a few years ago, the company’s capital was $112,500; it was subsequently increased to $520,000. The siiareholdors have received $3,295,015 in dividends and premiums, and will receive $14,437,500 more from the proceeds of the sale. Recent census figures from Germany serve to remind Americans that even in the material growth of numbers our cities are Indiind German cities. “Since 1870," says the Nation, “Berlin has overtakeu and passed New York. In thirty years Philadelphia has gained a half million souls while Berlin has gained a million. In 1875 Hamburg and Boston had nearly the same num T her of inhabitants, while in 1890 Hamburg had almost 570,000 to 448,000 in Boston.” Immediately after the inauguration next March, the historic old Willard’s Hotel, long one of the most prominent stamping grounds of the politieaus at the national capital, is to be torn down and a magnfieent new hotel, under the same name, built in its place. This hotel will be one of the finest in the world. It will cost $2,000,000, be twelve stories high, contain 600 guests’ rooms, a theater, a roof garden, a convention hall, etc., and be a model caravansary throughout.

In writing to a friend about the recent tornado. Bishop Tuttle, of St. Louis, said: “The three American characteristics stand splendidly out. First— There is no whimpering, even among the poor people who have lost their all. They are pluekily turning to do the next best thing, in a wonderful spirit of cheery self-reliance. Second—All are opening heart and hand and purses and sympathy to afford relief. ThirdAll fall in with the police and authorities to preserve perfect order and obedience to law. I am deeply proud of the American people.” There has been suggested by a prominent bicycle manufacturer a scheme which is a radical departure from the generally accepted methods of marketing a manufactured product. Although the scheme seems unpractical at a first glance, there is no reason why a bicycle should be sold under misrepresentation; and it is not unreasonable to ask that a bill of porticulars be furnished with each machine. If a careful inspection of the various processes of manufacture is made, the rider will be carried with the minimum of danger, but the only way to secure absolutely these features is by legislation of some kind. Apropos of nothing in particular, the St. Louis Star demands that some city nearer the center of the country be made the capital. It does not mention St. Louis, but it probably has that city in mind. It says that Washington is practically no more than a suburb of New York. “What is now needed is a seat of National Government which has more of a spirit of independence and self-support about it, without being dependent in any degree upon neighboring cities for its glamour. Many traveled people smile when Washington is mentioned as the Paris of America. There is no comparison between the two places, allowing even for difference in poplation and age.”

Several months ago Senator Hill made a recommendation to the Navy Department that a vessel be named Albany, in honor of the capital of New York. New vessels come from the stocks, but the New York Senator’s request remains unheeded. The law governing the selection of names provides that battle-ships shall be named for the States, cruisers for large cities, gunboats for small cities, and torpedoboats in commemoration of distinguished characters in the nation’s history. If another cruiser should be authorized, Albany would probably be put on the “waiting list,” for claims have teen tiled ahead of Senator Hill’s for St. Louis, Cleveland, Denver and Omaha, and when a vessel of this class has been authorized warm competitors from the West wil be on hand. The Protestant Episcopal diocese of Michigan has decided in annual convention that women may vote for vestrymen. The decision was made after learning that woman suffrage was satisfactory in other dioceses. Twentyfive dioceses had responded that women were permitted to vote for vestrymen. Four missionary dioceses had adopted the system. These dioceses made favorable reports. The men, it is said, maintained as much interest in the affairs of the church in those dioceses where women voted as was manifested in other dioceses where they did not, so that the effects of the proposed change were on the whole good. The system had been in operation many years n Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, and in other dioceses from the beginning, so that it was not a new and untried experiment. Governor Drake of lowa believes in the reformation of criminals, and is putting his idea into practice, as far as the laws of the state will permit. He has not granted an unconditional pardon during his term of office, but he has paroled from prison several convicts who were serving time for their first offence, and whose conduct in prison and prior to the offence gave reason to believe that they could be reformed. In each case the one paroled is told that he must lead a correct life, 'must abstain from the use of intoxicants, and must not frequent places where liquor is sold. Strict watch is kept on the men released, and any infraction of their parole results in their return to the penitentiary to serve the balance of their sentence. Thus far only one of the paroled men has been reincarcerated. W’here a year ago every bright Sunday saw the Thames swarming with pleasure craft for twenty miles, a spectacle quite unique in Europe, you see now only what seems like a weekday casual gatheering. It is the dusty highway skirting the river which is now alive With humanity, flying on wheels instead of dawdling lazily in punts. A,ll England is suddenly gone bicycle mad. The Daily Chronicle recognizes the revolution by starting a regular cyclists’ department in its columns. It says that bicycling has become as important as literature or art. Its first article on the subject lays stress on the superiority of American models over the English ones, and warns the British makers that unless

they reduce the weight of their m*. chines, which are seven pounds heavier than the best American types, and adopt the American saddle and other improvements, they will lose the home market in competition with the Americans. A woman juror is the. latest novelty in Denver, Col. Mrs. M. D. Warren, who was accidentally drawn to serve because she never uses her full name, was dismissed by the Judge when he discovered her to be a woman. Mrs. Warren, however, who is said to be young and attractive, and not without a good deal of determination, insisted upon her legal rights and was finally sworn in. The case was of little importance, but the jury, including Mrs. Warren, who had been gallantly appointed forewoman, deliberated all night and had to be marched out to breakfast in a body in the morning. The forewoman’s report, upon inquiry from the Judge, was that no verdict had been agreed upon, and that, furthermore, the jury was all mixed up over the evidence and would not agree in a month. The jury was accordingly discharged, and yet Mrs. Warren emerged from the court with an air of positive trimuph. She felt that, however much time had been wasted, a woman on a jury was an excellent thing, and that If all-night judicial deliberations became an established fact, woman’s influence on the law would soon become beautifully obvious.

His Pride in Crime.

Mr. W. Hazen, chief of the Secret Service, came on from Washington to New York when Ninger, known for more than fifteen years to the detectives as “Jim the Penman,” because of his clever pen and ink counterfeits of Treasury notes, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. The maximum sentence is fifteen years or $5,000 fine, or both. It was expected that in consequence of the dangerous character of Ninger’s work he would get ten or twelve years at least, especially as he had been for so many years practising his art. A reporter asked chief Hazen why Ninger was let off so lightly. “I suppose it is because he pleaded guilty,” said Mr. Hazen, “and that the court considered that as there was no plate work he was not so desperate a criminal.” Further inquiry showed that the Chief considered the man to be more dangerous than the ordinary counterfeiter. Ninger had no confederates, passed all his own counterfeits and hence enjoyed immunity from detection for fifteen or twenty years. “The plate men,” said the Chief, “never run longer than two or three years. The banks, with more or less ease, detect the counterfeits and then the detectives are notified, and in a comparatively short time the party is run down.” A good deal has been said about Ninger’s cleverness with the pen, and some doubt was thrown on the ability of the Treasury Department detectives to convict him as the maker of the spurious notes. This was the very point that occurred to Chief Hazen after the forger had got into the hands of George R. Bogg, his deputy in this city. He therefore laid plans accordingly. Ninger was taken up to the rooms of the Secret Service Bureau in the Post Office Building and questioned. His “professional pride” was awakened by a challenge, and then taking up a pen he literally “dashed off” a portrait of Hamilton exactly as it was on one of the SIOO notes. With equal celerity and faithfulness he copied a Bit of the drapery in the female figure. Then with surprising accuracy he wrote the name of “W. S. Rosecrans,” Register of the Treasury. Next he was asked to made the figure “20” in the border of another note. It was done almost in the twinkling of an eye. Finally he signed his own name clumsily, strange to say, under the work, and then wrote the Chief’s name in a style that could not be surpassed in the most delicate engravings. When this work was compared with the original and the counterfeits it was seen to be as perfect as duplicate printing. All this was done in the presence of witnesses, and the chief felt he bad 1 a perfect case. But Ninger confessed and saved further trouble. He also . told the Chief he would help him in any way he could; but no help was needed. Ninger made three SIOO bills of the Farragut portrait, and of these Chief Hazen has two. “The Chief of the Bureau of Engraving,” said Mr. Hazen, “told me that the portrait was perfect. There is only one defect in these notes, and that is that the words ‘Bureau of Engraving’ are omitted. I asked Ninger for the reason of this omission, and his reply was unique. He said he did not want people to believe that the notes were made there, and it would have been a lie. He confessed to making four of the SIOO notes with the Lincoln portrait. We have one of those. He passed all his notes here in the East. One of the SIOO bills, however, came from the Portsmouth National Bank, of Ohio, and was detected in 1894 by the Chase National Bank, of this city. In getting Ninger to identify a number of his notes I ran in a counterfeit plate note. He held it closely to his eyes and threw it down with disgust, saying it was not his work, but a plate counterfeit. Apparently this is a mania with him, apart from any spirit of avarice that may actuate him. He certainly is ,a most remarkable man.”

Surgery in the Middle Ages.

In the middle of the twelfth century priests were the only doctors. By an edict of the council of Tours, surgery was separated from medicine, and the practice of the former forbidden to the clergy. The latter then employed their barbers to perform surgical operations This arose from the fact of the monks having their heads shaved frequently, and observing the dexterity acquired by the barbers in the use of edge tools. The knights of the razor, from cupping and bleeding, passed on to tooth-draw-ing, and finally to other operations requiring skill and deftness, if not much knowledge. They knew practically nothing of anatomy. It is said surgery was denied by the clergy by a canon of the church which forbade them to shed blood. This was considered the dark age of medicine, and somber, indeed, it must have been to the worthy citizen who, perhaps, placing himself in the hands of the barber for relief, might, at the same time that he was getting rid of a tumor, also part company with his head.

HOW A BIG FLEET IS FED

The Bumboat Woman Supplies the Jack Tar with Luxuries It is not likely that to the mind of the average man, as he looks at the cruisers of the White Squadron lying in the Bay off Tompkinsville and sees the decks alive with hundreds of hearty, healthy bluejackets, the question would be suggested as to how the inhabitants of these great floating creatures are fed. Those who visit the ships care only for the pomp and display of things martial and warlike. The vessels themselves, their mysterious and complicated interiors and machinery are far more interesting to the generality of mankind than the interior of the sailor and the fuel that keeps him running. There are on the coast certain regular naval stations where the vessels spend a large portion of their time when in home waters. At each of these ports the Navy Department has standing contracts with certain firms to supply food. This concern stands ready to supply meat, that one vegetables, another groceries, as soon as a ship arrives in port The ship’s paymaster notifies the fleet paymaster what is needed in a particular vessel, and the fleet paymaster sends the orders to the firms. Thereafter each day the paymasters send in their orders for supplies. If the fleet or a particular vessel goes Into a port that is not a regular naval station, he at once takes bids for food supplies and makes his contracts accordingly. Every man on board an American man-o’-war receives his day’s rations or 30 cents in lieu of them. The officers, of course, generally draw their 30 cents and have their stewards purchase for them special supplies. The sailors, however, form in messes, generally of fifteen or twenty men, one of whom acts as steward. About onehalf of the men draw ship’s rations and the other the 30 cents per man, which is spent in extras for the whole mess. With this money, and a few dollars extra per man each month, they purchase when in port some luxuries, such as butter, sugar, radishes, pickles and pastry. When the vessel goes to sea the government stocks her with canned and salted meats, canned vegetables, biscuits and such foods, and in addition each mess takes out its supply of extras. An important factor In the sailor’a comfort is the bumboat woman. Every one of the cruisers now lying at Tompkinsville has its own bumboat woman. She alone has the privilege of Hoarding the vessel and selling her wares to the crew. This is a valuable privilege and one usually given to the wives or widows of sailors. When a vessel goes on duty the commander appoints a woman to manage the bumboat. This woman usually follows the vessel from port to port and daily visits it with her wares. She carries pies and pastry, beer, cigars, cigarettes and tobacco, and such odds and ends as do not come under the supervision of the paymaster and his general manager, the paymaster’s yeoman. The bumboat woman loads her stock in a boat, hired or kept for the purpose, and visits the ship during the mess hours. At those times and those alone she is allowed to go to and fro among the crew selling her wares.— New York Run.

A Harvest of the Sea.

Along the northwest coast of Ireland, on the border of the Atlantic, dwells a hardy race of men whose chief occupation, when not engaged in fishing, consists in the manufacture of "kelp.” This is of great commercial importance, as front it is obtained nearly all our iodine—a body of vast use in medicine. During the winter months the kelpburners set out in their frail IHtle “curraghs” (small eanoe-llke boats,, about twelve feet long, made of canvas) and, proceeding along the coast,, till the boats with the seaweed, from which the kelp is made. In this way are assisted by the women, who, bareheaded and shoeless, take their turns regularly at the oars, and are almost as expert at it as the men. After a storm is the time selectd for obtaining the seaweed, as by the force of the waves it has been torn up from its bed, and is cast in along the shore in large quantities. Sometimes, in these excursions, the boatmen come across valuable treas-ure-trove, and occasionally, alas! a mangled corpse cast In from some illfated vessel. When the boats are laden the seaweed is brought to a small creek, and there placed in heaps out of the reach of the tide. From this it is carried in creels on the backs of men and women to a point further inland, wherfedt has to undergo a process of drying. A The drying consists in exposing irtO l the sun and wind, and the better to do this, they have rows of large stones laid, about twenty yards ill length and a few feet in height. Along the tops of these they scatter the seaweed. The drying takes months, so that spring is well advanced ere It is ready for burning. This does not matter, however, as owing to the fuel—the peat or turf got from the bogs at hand—not being yet cut and dried (or “win” as it’s termed) it is summer before the burning in the kilns can commence. The kiln is a deep trench dug in the ground. Alternate layers of turf and seaweed are laid in this till full, and the whole is kept burning for about three weeks, until it cakes together in a large black mass resembling coke, but much more solid and heavier. Thisis the “kelp.” It is then broken into blocks about fourteen inches square, and brought by boat to the villages, where it is sold, to be shipped to more profitable markets. Dublin Herald.

The Hungarian crown, tile royal head-dress worn at their accession by all the Austrian emperors, is the identical one made for Stephen, and used by him at the time of his coronation, more than eight hundred years ago. It is of pure gold, and weighs niiie marks and six ounces (about fourteen pounds avoirdupois!. It Is adorned with fifty-three sapphires, fifty rubies, one emerald and three hundred and thirty-eight pearls, but no diamonds, it being a notion of the royal Stephenthat diamonds were unlucky.