Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 26 April 1891 — Page 10

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THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 1891.

combination of forgera on this side of tho "water. At one time he traveled and gave a ems of lectures about "Ho w to Detect Counterfeit Money." most of tho change he Kave At tho box-ortice being of hia own exclusive manufacture. But the most famous and successful cf all forgers known to history are Charles 11. Smith and the celebrated Prockway, who have been engaged Jn this exciting industry ever since boyhood, though both are now old men. Their skill in their chosen occupation has never been equaled up to the present time. For ft generation they kept the government authorities in a fret, tho climax arriving when they issued the famous $1,000 bond, which only an accident prevented them from negotiating to the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars with banks in Chicago that declared their willingness to take the securities as genuine, . ven after the airent of those malefactors Jiad been captured with them in hi Talise. Hut the conscientious toil which these men have applied to their profession has been Badly unprofitable on the whole. After a lifetime spent in emulating the best efforts of the Treasury Department in the engraving line, they were so cornered awhile aero aa to be obliged to court mercy by giving tip the work of years in the shape of about a cart-load of plates and aUx, In this collection, subsequently destroyed, there were the materials tor turning out, at the expense only of printers ink and labor, notes and certificates of every denomination, as wells as coins of all sorts and every metal. The wonderful bond plates have been preserved as curiosities for exhibition to privileged visitors. One pair of plates fcmith could not give np, because they bad passed out of his possession. They were for a $1,000 United States note, which is so perfect as to have been passed repeatedly at banks. Wherever they are, they are dangerous, because they may be used again at any time. Ths secret service won Id give a good deal of real money to get hold of them. The only ilaw in the counterfeit is a slight blur on the end of the nose of the person who figures in the central vignette; uut that might be rectified. SEEKING THE PLATES. The main object sought always by the , secret service, where a counterfeit is concerned, is to obtain possession of the plates or dies. So long as they are in existence, tincaptnred, they mean danger. Hence it is customary to extend the utmost leniency of the law to forgers who will give up the perilous property light sentences, some-' times, and even pardons. But it is a part of the business of the government detectives to watch continually every counterfeiter who has been let out of prison, in order to see that he does not continue his criminal career. In most cases the freed criminal has a mastering inclination to return to his old industry, and the United States treasury would De in" a great many dollars if f orgory wasnow, as lormerly, a capital offense. Men who made n occupation of counterfeiting for a long lifetime were unknown in the old days. The difficulties which attend the catching of counterfeiters are mnch greater than might be surmised oil-hand. In the first place, the man who manufactures the money isnot even known to those who circulate it, usually. He establishes confidential relationn with a rural hotelkeeper, for example. The latter is supplied with a stock of bogus bills or coins, which lie keeps buried ondergroond. From the hotel-keeper persons whom mine host has reason to trust bhv the "stuff" at an average rate, of Go cents on the dollar. They pass it. If one of them is caught he nay "peach" on the hotel-keeper, bat his assertion will not furnish convicting evidence against the hotel-keeper. Necessarily, the hotel-keeper will deny the charge, and he must be acquitted, unless the bogus money ' be found on his premises. It is not apt to be found, because it is securely hidden below-groand somewhere that he only

knows of. and to discover it is almost out of the q a est ion. bappose. however, tnat it is discovered. In that case it does not follow bv any means that he will betray the forger, and, if the forger himself is cap tured, tt still remains to learn the where abouts of the dies T plates, which the counterfeiter will certainly not keep on his premises. Considering all these things it is decidedly surprising that the efforts of the secret service aro so successful as they are. In the frames inclosing photographs of counterfeiters at the Ireasury Department are a number of pictures of women counter feiters. They are rather depraved-looking characters as a rule, and nature does not appear to have bestowed much decorative "oabrt upon their physiognomies; but the law deals very mildly with them. Partic ularly when they are the wives or forgers it is considered, from the legal point of view, that their assistance in crime has been given "under duress," nd thetnstouK 1 to acquit them. The other frames of counterfeiters' photographs shown are filed with portraits singularly unattractive. Such a squalid an pec t is character istic of them throughout that one would be led to imagine that there is really no money in the business of illicit nioneyxnaKing. 1 he traits of countenance shown. also, bear a remarkably uniform cast They reminded the writer of an occasion. years ago. when he was granted the privilege of looking over the "Koguea Gallery", at police head quarters in ftew York city. He had expressed some surprise - as to how the most skilled detectives could go about in crowds on a festal day and arrest with unerring accuracy criminals whom they had never seen, gathering them in for the protection of honest people. Hut the chief showed him, by reference to the pho tographs, bow the face of the sneak-thief had a peculiar character and expression of its own. that of the burglar another, and so on, so that the police agent was able to dis tinguish the dishonest member of society off-hand, without danger of mistake. It was the same way with these counterfeiters; tbey all bore the Cain mark of their occu pation. Funnily enough, the Chinese are great and successful coiners. They have a frame to themselves in the ante-room of the Secret-service Bureau. Some notion of the prevalence of counter feiting will be given by the fact that not long ago. on tbeoccasionof the periodical destruction of such staff accumulated by the Secret-service liureaa. tbree-ooartera ot a million dollars in bojftis money was burned, and at the same time were rendered -useless fr fnrtner service 440. plates, 504 dies and 1,190 plaster molds, as well as a great quantity of alleged gold, silver, nickel aud copper coins, also many presses, mill ing-machines, crucibles, electro-plating batteries and other apparatus. Happily for the counterfeiters, the future generation does not need a Brockway and a Smith. What they achieved by patience and skill photograpbio processes will per form almost without labor and with a perfection beyond Criticism. It remains for the United States government to determine what measures it shall adopt for pro lection against the periectdcception which only mecnamcal fraud can accompii6&. ItENE 13ACIIE. An Icicle 1,000 Feet Look. fiumas City Letter la Seattle iWssh.) Telegraph. On Monday last aloud noise and slight shaking of the earth caused no little wonderment among residents near the hills. In vestigation proved tbor cause to be an ice slide. A small and innocent spring issues from the side of one of the mountains, its waters spreading and tiowinsr. over a steeo incline of rock. During the past winter months ice formed against this wall of atone, increasing in size unlil one vast icicle, fully twenty feet In thickness and 1.000 feet in length, projected into the valley below. From the warmth of the sun and its own weight it released its hold and thundered down the mountain side, carrying everything before it, even trees three fret in diameter. Those who have visited the nlace say that the foot of the cliff pre sents a mass of broken icy, trees, limbs aud earth fifty feet in height, ihis is a repeti tion of occasional similar occurrences in previous years, but on a grander scale. How This Man Broke a Hank. 7i!kesTarre Leader. 'Lend me a dime for a moment and I'll make $5 by it," was the surprising request rnnn er mtn ti a friend th i morninir. J J vuu - - - . Wonderingly the other produced the desired ccin. which No. 1 slipped into one of those pocket banks. It completed tne necessary tiftT dimes. and the bank opened. He returned the dime with thanks, and went on his way rejoicing, with $4.90 Jingling in his pocket. Still Democratic, Escs&s Cifv JonrrsL tin 1irnr in Texas hasten

to declare that the State is still Democratic despite President Harrison's recent visit Republicans hardly anticipated that the presence of a Kepnblican President in Texas for a day or two would convert a Democratic majority of 150,000. It might bo don in a month, however.

THE LAST MAN AND WOMAN

A Graphic Narrative of the Inevitable Extinction of the Human Race. Voyage Above a Djinjr Planet, and Borne Sin gular 3Ieetins While Circling the Globe -Cry ofaBrute Amid Ctter Desolation. i. The earth had been inhabited for about twenty-two million years, and its vital his tory had been divided into six progressive periods. The primordial age, or formation of the first organisms (infusoria, zoophytes. echinodennata, crustaceans, molluska a world of the deaf and dumb and almost blind), had taken not less than ten million years to go through its different phases. The primary age (fish, insects, more perfect senses, separate senses, radimentary plants, forests of horse-tails and of tree ferns) bad then occupied more than six million years. The secondary age (aaurians, reptiles, birds, forests of comfene and of cycadacu;). in order to accomplish its work, required 2,WX),000 years. The tertiary ace (mammifers, monkey a. superior plants, flowers, fruits and seasons) had lasted half a million years. The primitive human age. the time of national divisions, of barbarism and of militarism, had filled about 000,000 years, and the sixth age that of intellectual humanity, had reigned for nearly two million years. During that long succession of centuries the earth bad grown older and the sun had become colder. In the beginning of the ages the terrestrial globe was entirely cov ered -by the waters of the ocean. Upheavals caused tirst islands, then vast con tinents, to emerge; the surface of evapora tion diminished in extent; the atmosphere was saturated with less vapor and could not so well preserve the heat received from the sun, so that a gradual decrease of tem perature, was brought about. During the first human age three-quarters of the globe were still covered by water aud the tem perature remained high. But from century to .century a portion of the rain-water penetrated through the soil to the deep rocks aud returned no more to the ocean. the Quantity of water diminished, the level of the sea was lowered, at' the screen of atmospheric Vapor afforded "only an insufficient proteetion to the nocturnal radiation. there resulted a slow, century-long de crease in temperature, and then a spreading of the ice, which at first covered only the high mountains and the polar regions, but little by little invaded' the temperate regions and insensibly lowered tho line of perpetual snow. On the other hand, the sun. the source of all light and all beat, radiating perpetually wuuuiH an instant oi cessation, in me center of cold, obscure and empty apace. slowly lost the calorific power which caused the earth to live. Of an electric and al most blniah white. saturate! with incandescent hydrogen, during the geological periods which witnessed the appearance of terrestrial life, it gradually lot,t that dazzling whiteness, to acquire the color, perhaps apparently warmer, of glittering gold. and sucn was its real color during tue nrst three hundred thousand years of human histoiy. It then became yellower and even reddish, consuming its hvdroeen. oxidizing itself, metallizing itself.' This slow transportation of its photosphere, the increase of its spots, the diminution of its protuberant eruptions, brought about a. correlative decrease in the emission of its bent. In consequence of these various causes the terrestrial temperature had from century to century, become lower. The geo graphical aspect or the globe had metamorphosed itself, the sea having several times taken the place of the land, and vice versa, and the extent of the sea having consider ably diminished, and Ieen rednced to less than a quarter of what it was at the ad vent of humanity The seasons which had uetfun in tne tertiary ago Lad perpetuated themselves through the centuries, but with a decreasing intensity for the summer heat. Climates insensibly approached each other near the eqnator; the glacial zones boreal aud austral) inexorably forced back the temperate zones to the place of the ancient torrid zone. Warm valleys and equatorial regions alone were habitable; the rest wero frozen. From century to century humanity had attained forms of exquisite beauty, and no longer worked materially. A network of electricity covered the globe, producing at will all that was needed. It was then a unified race, entirely different from the rude and heteroiceueonsracesthat bad char acterized the tirst period. Doubtless the absolute equality dreamed of by tho poets had not been attained, and there were still superior and inferior beings, seekers and inj'tlerent, active and inactive men. but thnro were no inhere scandalous unfortunates nor irremediable miseries. About the year 2.200.000 after Jesus Christ the last great focus of human civilization shone in the center of equatorial Africa, in the brilliant city of Suntown, which had already been several times raised again from its ashes. It was niore'than a hundred thousand years since the spots where Paris, London, Kome, Vi?nna and New YorK had stood were buried beneath the ice. The capital of this aristocratic Republic had attained the last limits of a luxurious i and voluptuous civilization. Leaving far behind it the childish auiusementsof Babylon, of Kome and of Paris, it had thrown itself heart ana soul into the most exquisite refinements of pleasure and enjoyment: and the results of progress, the achievements of science, art and industry, had, during several centuries, been applied to raising all the joys of life to tneir maximum of intensity. Electricity, perfumes, music, kept the senses in a state of overexciteuienr. so that under the brilliant light of enchanting nigbti. as ueueath the veiled shadows of the day. the nervous system could no longer find a moment's rest, and about their twenty-fifth year men and women dropped dead .of total exhaustion. Perceiving the increasing coldness of the planet and the approacn or. eternal winter, tney nad early maintained about themselves a warm and oxygenized atmosphere, milder and more exciting than the old breezes from the woods and prairies, had lived more rapidly and rushed more rashly to the inevitable end. The elegance of cos tumes, the beauty of forms, had gradually risen to an unexpected perfection in consequence of a passional selection, which seemed to have no other object than immediate happiness. Wives no longer became mothers unless by accident. Besides, some of the lower classes alone remained in condition to undertake the duties of motherhood, fashion having for some time been able -to suppress the necessity in the upper social spheres. Then it was seen that the women of the lower classes were the tirst to feel tho deadly etiects of invading cold, and the day came when it was recognized that amid the blind enjoyment of pleasure no woman was a mother or could become one. They no longer desired the inconveniences of maternity, which had so long been left to the inferior women, and they reigued in all the splendor of their unblemished beauty. It was only when a law was passed that the entire fortune of the Kepnblic would be given to the first woman who would give birth to a chjld that they understood the irreparable extent of the misfortune that had befallen the last inhabitants of the earth. Doubtless the end would not have long delayed its com in p. the sterilized soil being henceforward incapable of feeding its children. Hut they were deluding themselves with the thought that perhaps by some ingenious proceeding it would become possible to put off the fatal period, to gain time; and who knows, they said, if the climate may not improve and the sun smile on the unfortunate planet. ilut recriminations, regrets, sorrows, reproaches, aocusationa. despair all were now superfluous. .Life had been, if not dried np at its source, at least rendered irremediably unfruitful. A special concrress of the last surviving members of the Medical Academy produced no satisfactory result. They disputed violently, each mem ber being sccused by his neighbor of having lent himself to the spreading of that insane fashion. They nearly came to blows. As the issueof the meeting the president of the academy and the chief of the protectors were even compelled to quench their mutual anger by a duel with swords, aud more I than a year was spent in physiological and I political discussions, without result. But a youth, tho last of that race, young

Omegar.born in the low v ranks of society, came with his mother, already advanced in age, and a rare survivor of the mothers, and before the assembled representatives recalled the improvidence of the governors, stigmatized the public immortality, pointed out to them the general folly of which the human race was the victim, and demanded that the last constructed electric arostat made in the government workshops should be put at his disposal. He engaged to conduct an expedition over the whole of the equatorial zone which still remained habitable, and to see whether any human groups still existed on any spot. The proposition was received with enthusiasm, a real aerial flotilla wjj constructed, an 4 all the strong men flew away to discover the land of increase.

ir. Alas! the entire earth had disappeared beneath snow and ice. Everywhere the desert, everywhere solitude, everywhere silence. Snow followed snow, hoar frost followed hoar frost. An immense shroud covered the continent and the seas. Sometimes a solitary peak rose above the frozen ocean; sometimes a dismantled ruin, a spire, a tower, marked the site of a vanished city. Even tombs and graveyards were no longer to be perceived: ruins themselves were destroyed. Everywhere nothingness, ice, silence. Days followed days, and everv night the red disk of the sun set behind the white plain, which slowly, at each twilight, took the violet tints of death. Already halt the members of the expedition had died of hunger and cold, when the flotilla thought they saw from their airy heights an immense ruined city near an unfrozen river. .They steered toward the unknown city, and thought themselves dreaming, when they discovered on tbe banks of the river a group of men walking. Aery of happiness and wonder sounded from every breast, and in an instant all the skiffs were tied up by the river banks. They were received as unexpected saviors by men who had long believed themselves to be the only survivors of terrestrial humanity, looking with despair at the last days of the world. At the bead of the group stood 'an old man enveloped in reindeer-skins. Of commanding stature, his hollow black eyes shaded by bushy white eyebrows, with a long beard as white as snow, and his skull ai yellow as antique ivory it was felt that bis was one of those energetic characters who have endured all the trials of life without yielding, but whose heart has bidden farewell to every hope. However his countenance lit up with joy at the arrival of the newcomers. His sons and their companions threw themselves Into the arms of the aerial travelers. They made large tires and seated themselves at a modest meal, composed principally of fish which had just been caught. The newcomers informed their hosts that they were about the last survivors of equatorial Africa, that tbey came from the celebrated metropolis now deserted, and they asked if their aerial route had not deceived them, if they bad not left the equator, and if they had lauded at the mouth of the Amazon, as their calculations indicated. "My friend," replied the old man, the ancient Amazon river, whose waters still How over the circle of the equator, no longer rolls between its shores the impetuous hoods which, if we believe tradition, caused it-formerly to be compared to a sea. At the period, long since vanished, when the empire of Brazil, the Argentine Kepublic, and Colombia flourished in South America; when .North America was divided into confederated 'States: when France, England. Germany and Itusaia struggled for supremacy .in European politics, the Atlantic oecrtu extended, as we see on the maps, from tbe ruins of New York to those of Havre, and from Pernambnco to Dakar rums which are now forever buried beneath the ice. The great continent of the West Indies was, it appears, cut up into innumerable small islands, scattered over an immense sea. Tlio oceans were far vaster aud deeper :han to-day, the rains frequent, the rivers inexhaustible, ice and snow never showed themselves in our country, aud the rays of a beneficent sun fertilized the earth in its youth, giving birth to flowers and fruits, nests and love. "lint now all is over with tho planet and all the works which have 'illustrated its history. .The earth revolves more slowly on its axis, the days have become longer, the moon is more distant and .the nun has become colder. The prediction of the astronomers is fulfilled. The waters of the oceans which the eolar heat caused to evaporate in the atmosphere and which gave birth to the clouds, the rains, the springs, the brooks and the rivers have, from century to century been partially absorbed by the deep rocks; the air has become drier and drier and ceased to be a protecting cover for the preservation of the beat received; the nocturnal aud even diurnal evaporation has caused all the heat bor rowed from the sun, to radiate into space, and the cold of the poles comes gradually nearer and nearer the tropical and equatorial zones. "The summits of the mountains had already been lontr frozen because above them the atmosphere was too dry and too rarefied to preserve the heat; but life established itself in the plains and valleys, alont? the streams which traversed t!e sill lace of the globe. The limits of vegetation, and. at the same time, the conditions favorable to life, insensibly descended. The last zone of terrestrial life has been the zone of the equatorial plains aloug ithe theruiio equator, which traverses on one side South Amerca, where we are. and on the other, ceutral Africa, whence you came. "When Europe had disappeared beneath the invading glaciers coming from the north pole, from Siberia, from Lapland, from the Alps, from the Caucasus, from the Pyrenees, being finally reduced to the shores of the Mediterranean, many centuries had already elapsed - since civilization bad abandoned it to shinu in America, along which continent it gradually descended. In consequence of a strange social organization, all the states of Europe had perished in their owu blood; bad mutually opened each other's veins. Some governments had convinced millions of citizens that the greatest happiness, the greatest honor and the highest glory consisted in wearing uniforms of all colors, and killing each other to the sound of music Tney believed that until the day when tho Chinese invasion came and confiscated them like a band of school-hoys. The annals of modern times report that anciently expeditions had been seut through the ice to find the ruins of Paris, of London, of Berlin, of, Vienna, of St Petersburg, and that they had principally found forts, barracks, arsenals, arms and ammunition on nearly all the territories. It was doubtless a primitive race, hardly differing from the animal race, "This opinion is, moreover, confirmed by the books of ancient history preserved in the libraries, showing a state of rude barbarism in the customs of these populations. Vt3 hud. among other things, a Iouk list of. curious tortures. Criminals were murdered with the sword, with poison, or with a remarkable choice of varied weapons. Then they cut up the bodies into small pieces. Society in, turn killed the criminals in various ways. -Here their heads were cut off by means of axes, swords and guillotines; there they were strangled or hanged; further on they were impaled or drowned. On certain days of revolution, in the midjt of the capitals of this pretended civilization, the victors were seen to place the vanquished quietly along the wails and shoot them down by the hundred. Historians stato ' that at a period not far removed the most cwilized nations kept executioners who were exercised in crushing tbe limbs, quartering, taking oil' tbe skin, burning with red hot irons, pulling out the eyes aud the tongue, breaking the limbs, and torturing in every manner the victims, whom they generally ended by burning in the public squares on holidays. The commentaries are right in saying that these ancestors of our species did not vet deserve the title of men. "If the end of the world had taken place at this period, the destruction of the race would not have been a great loss. Hut this ancient race made way for ours, and we too must perish. We perish of cold. Sterile nature no longer produces anything. Por many centuries past there has been no more wheat or vines. For many centuries there have been no more pastures or flocks. We are now reduced to the last fish. But," added the old man. "tbe table will still outlive the guests, for there are no newborn babes among us: there are actually only men here, those that you see, the last child of the other sex, my poor little Speranza. not having survived her birth." This declaration produced on all tbe members of the expedition the effect of an electric shock. The fall of a thunderbolt in themidstof tbe assembly would nothavo brought about a greater confusion. "What!" cried the chief of the flotilla. "There is no longer a single woman among you!" "Not a single one." answered one of tho guests. "Wo had pt come," added the young

chief, "in search of female companions with whom we could associate. Our country is still wealthy, and had we found but one single wife all the riches cf our country would have been hers." "You have also no womenP The travelers exchanged a glance and remained silent.

IIL Some time before these events happened in Africa and in America, the Island of Ceylon, now attached to the southern point of Asia, through the diminution of the seas, found itself to be the last refuge of the human rce in Asia, and there, in this former earthly paradise, not far from the equator, at the foot of Adam's Peak, twelve women remained the sole heiresses of the last unextinguished families. . The male sex bad completely disappeared. For a long time the number of girls had been far above that of boys a condition of things which corresponded, besides, with the successes obtained by women and their increasing authority in Eolitics and in the universal direction of usiness. They had gradually substituted themselves for tbe efi'euinate and enervated men as deputies, lawyers, physicians, and, in general, in tbe greater number of social professions, in commerce and industry in arts and literature, pure and applied sciences. The education of the boye had been more and more neglected, and finally there were no longer even competent gardeners or agriculturists to be found among the men. What the womeuMid not do directly with their own hands in the way of industries was accomplished by ingeniously constructed and indefatigable machines. The slow decrease of the organic forces of the globe had also manifested itself here by a slow diminution of the births, by a weakening of the average life, and it was only in rare circumstances, and by a sort of heredity, that families counted, as in former times, a large number of children. As in our day, in some countries, more girls than boys were horn on the average. This tendency increased from generation to generation, and toward the end of the days that remained, for Asia as for the other parts of the globe, there were at tho period of -which we speak only three living families, and by an unfortunate chance, the two boys having died ininfancy, twelve beings of the feminine sex were left alone to represent the present and the future. The youngest, little Eva. was a child of three years of age; her mother had reached forty. The last survivor of the fathers had died of aneurism of the heart on the day of his wedding. Tho interest which attaches itself to things, aud which seems to be the cause of life, had diminished with the decrease of populatiou and of business, and with the more and more imminent threat of a definite end. Formerly immense and populous, the city had disappeared beneath a poor but invading vegetation; all those ancient dwellings were empty, deserted, ruined, partly hidden beneath the moss and weeds, and the traces of the ancient boulevards and principal streets were hardly visible to the eye. As humanity had retired so nature had resumed her rights. Polar plants, larches, pines, some suowbirds, and, more recently, penguins and bears, bad arrived near tbe ancient city. The last building which remained standing was the public library, in which tbe purely literary works had nearly all been' abandoned to t(ie insects, aud in which were to be found only the scieutiho treatises written on the supreme question of tho end of the world, and the historical annals of the departed centuries, humanity not having consented to its own extinction and having clung to all that personified it. lint the fatal day had come. The world must end. The decline of human 'forces had brought about the decline of the inventions and usages which seemed but lately the most indispensable. They had wearied of all. even of hope. The electric motor had fallen into disuse. There was no more traveling after the invasion of thet ice. No attempt had even been made to repair the interrupted telegraphio communications. Only a few centuries before all the inhabitants of tho globe, in whatever portion they may have dwelt, hsd constant intercourse with each other, as though they, had inhabited the same country, conversing and hearing each other, whatever may have ben the distance that separated them, and there was but one nation and one single language for all the globe. But now i illation and separation had returned as in the primitive ages: the three groups remaining in the world no longer knew each, other; and tbe population of Ceylon, although composed only of women, had lost all spirit of domination, all sentiment of curios ity, nil energy, aud all vitality. Henceforth, deprived of all desire of pleasing, of all idea of rivalry, and of all coquetry, they formed among themselves but one family of sisters, associated in a common misfortune; and they bad all adopted a sombre mourning costume, a sort of black and roibsbapen religious garment. But this little population itself bad rapidly diminished. Fifteen years bad sufficed to reduce it by more than half. At the moment when the events narrated above took place, there remained but the youngest of the Ceylonese, then eighteen years of age, with four of her companions. IV. We have left our aerial expedition in the midst of the stupefaction caused by the avowal of the Americans. No more women in America. The same situation, or almost the same, in Africa. Europe buried beneath the snows. Asia forgotten for more than a century, and doubtless sharing the same fate as Europe. There was nothing left for the travelers but to returu to their own country, and that was decided on the very next day. They visited the ruins of tho American metropolis, the glories of which had been celebrated by the historians, and which now lay forgotten. For one instant they thought of uniting in one group the two wrecks of male humanity, and of all leaving together for Suutown; but, on the one hand, tbese men wished only to sleep forever in the tombs of their ancestors, and, on the other baud, the travelers, who had carefully concealed the existence of women in their own country, did not insist on this brotherly project. They resumed their way through the air. deciding, however, as thay had come by the east, to fol-' low the same direction along the equator on their return, in order to see whether, by some unforseen circumstance, they might not discover some other last-living tribe. Thus it was that after having crossed the immense Pacific ocean, and having stopped over all the points that emerged above the surface, even at the moment when they bad noticed that the eternal winter announced by iicientists extended over the lands of Siam, of Java, of Sumatra and of Malacca, entirely deserted, they noticed in Ceylon a region less invaded than the others by the ioe and snow, and stationing themselves tor some time above a ruined city, they discovered a small group of women in mourning. In one instant, and before they had time to recover lrom their surprise, the celestial travelers were at their feet. At other Deriods, when the right of might governed humanity, these last five daughters of Eve would have been rudely seized and carried away at full speed through the air toward the African city, perhaps not without a struggle, for the number of the men .was superior to that of the women. But for a long time they had ceased to exert their strength; sentiment, reason, intelligence, freedom of choice, always decided. They told the object of their explorations, and bad no difficulty in convincing the fair Asiatics. Their despair, which had seemed eternal, disappeared like a mist; their brows were cleared, their lips smiled, nnd a few hours after the arrival of the Aeronauts the five nuus in mourning had given way to the most elegant of women. , They even discussed the advantages of a return to Suntown, and it seemed that from the point of view of peace, happiness and tranquillity, it would be preferable to remain in Ceylon. Put the old provision stores were well-nigh exhausted, the fields and gardens were wanting, the ice was near; while in Africa the fatal moment seemed perhaps many years off. From the first interview, Omegar and Eva had experienced the effects of mutual attraction, and had understood each other as though tbey had met again after a long separation. Omegar had a deep affection for his mother, and-would be proud to present his companion to her. A fortnight after their arrival the explorers, rich in their discovery, embarked on their aerial flotilla and set sail for Suntown. The resurrection of humanity was assured What a triumph and what rejoicing on their return! Aud what was tbeu dijnppointmcnt, upon arriving above the antique city, to see none of their fallow-citizens come forward

to receive ibem: to find the public square, where tbey were in the habit of meeting, silent and deserted: to have before their eyes naught save a sort of desolate cemetery! Descending from their aerial boats they first rushed with their companions to the government palace. A frightful spectacle offered itself to their gaze. Their relatives, their friends, lay around, dead or dying. The population of the city, reduced after the departure of the travelers to about thirty persona, had underdone during their absence Of a few months a snow cyclone, which had destroyed the last vegetable growth and part of the habitable dwellings. The small remnant had chosen as a refuge the spacious and stronger rooms of the palace; but an epidemic, a sort of typhus, had attacked first tbe weaker constitutions and had afterward stricken the others. The strength of the bravest had finally given way, and the first care of .the travelerr was to assist their unhappy fellow-citizens. Unfortunately the cold increased daily, a bitter wind blew unceasingly, and the pale rays of the son conld not even penetratetbo thick mists. The only means of preserving a little heat was by keeping up fires and cutting oil almost every communication with the outside air; but the bravest, the most courageous, lost all hope. At every new death they counted each other. From fifteen they descended, in a few weeks, to ten, then to five; and at last Omegar and Eva remained alone, seeing, without delusion, the fate which awaited them, and well knowing that no other spring would ever bloom on earth. However, after a long succession of disastrous days, the sun showed itself in a clear spot between the clonds, the wind ceased, the blue sky reappeared. The young couple then rose in an aerial boat to judge of the last invasions and tbe snow, and perceived that the whole city was buried, and that it was only toward the north that the country bad been a little spared. Carrying away witb them all the provisions they could find, they decided to follow the direction of the spared districts and see if some oasis could not be fonnd in the midst of the immense fields of ice.

v. In consequence of the nature of the soil, and because of the scarcity of rains, of snow and of clouds in that region, the great African desert that extends south of the Sahara had remained one of the least cold zones of the globe, add a warm current blowing from that desert on Nubia and Arabia, to return to tbe equator by Ceylon, bad for a longtime left a part of Egypt free from the invasion of ice and snow. Following the indicated direction, the last human conple hovered above the regions formerly watered by the Nile, henceforth frozen. They perceived the great pyramid ruined, but still standing. This tirst monument of humanity, this testimony to the antiquity of civilization, was still standing. Its geometric stability had saved it. , It was perhaps the only human idea thai bad attained its end. Created by .Cheops to eternally protect his r3al mnmmy, this tomb had survived the revolutions which had destroyed everything else. The last man bad come to join the first king and shelter himself beneath his shroud. But the wind of the tempest was blowing again. A fine powdery snow was spreading over the immense desert. L.et us stop here and rest," said Eva, 'since wo are condemned to death: and, besides, who has not been? I wish to die in peace in thine own arms." Ihey looked for a cavity among the ruins, and seated themselves, contemplating the endless space covered with powdery snow. The younxr woman crouched feverishly, holding her husband in ber arms, trying to struggle with her energy against the invasion of the cold that penetrated her. He had drawn her to his heart and warmed her with his kisses. But the wind and the tempest had resumed their sway, and the fine snow beat in clouds around the pyramid. "My beloved," he resumed, "we are the last inhabitants of the earth, the last survivors of so many generations. What remains of all the glories of all the countries, of all the works of the human mind, of all the sciences, of all tbe arts, of all the inveutionhT The entire globe is at this moment only a tomb covered with snow." "Yes," she said,"l have heard of the beauties who reigned over the hearts of kings, and shone like admirable stars in the history of humanity. Love, beauty all must end. I love you. and I die. Oh! how I would have loved that dear treasure, the one who will never live! But, no; we must not die. must wef No! Come. 1 am no longer cold. Let us walk." Her feet, already frozen and bennmbed, had become inert. She tried to rise and fell back. T seem to be sleepy." she said. "Oh, let US sleep." And throwing ber arms aronhd Omegar. she pressed her lips to his. The young man lifted her beautiful form aud laid her on his knees. She was already asleep. "I love you." he said again., "Sleep; I shall watch over you." ' ' Then his fixed gaze, shining with a last light, lost itself in a search for the unknown in the desolate gray sky and in the silent and endless plain. No sound came to trouble tbe death of nature; the snow-wind alone moaned around the pyramid, and seemed to wish to awaken the old Pharoah sleeping in its depths for so many million years. buddenly tbe noise of footsteps and moans was heard, lost in the distance, uasit some lethargic awakening in tbe interior cf the monument? as it a heavy bird, thrown by the tempest agaiust the disman tled steps? Was it some polar bear come with the snowr i he noise ceased. A iov fill cry bounded, and with one bound a dog. broken by fatigue, jumped on the aleening couple. It was Omegafs dog. that had looked for him. followed him (howf) and found him, in spite of the distance, the solitude and the 8Dow. lie called his master and mistress, licked their faces and hands and covered them with his body to warm them. Bat they did not awake. Aud the snow continued to fall in a fine powder on to the entire surface of the earth. And the earth continued to turn on its axis night and day and to float through the immensity of space. And the sun continued to shine, bnt with a reddish and barren light. But long afterward it became entirely extinguished, and the dark terrestrial cemetery continued to revolve in the night around the enormous invisibleblack ball. And the stars continued to scintillate in the immensity of the heavens. And the lutintte universe continued to exist, with its millions of suns and its billions of living or extinct planets. And in all the worlds peopled with the joys of life, love coutinued to bloom beneath the smiling glance of the Eternal. Csnulie Flammarlon, in Contemporary Beview. 0 m "Where the Actors Walk. B. H. Tavls, In May Scrifcner. Union Square is bouuded on the south by that famous strip of pavement known to New Yorkers who read the papers as Rial to. This is the promenade of actors, but a very different class indeed from, the polished gentlemen who brighten upper Broadway. They are just as aggressively conspicuous, but less beautiful, and tbey are engaged in waiting for something to turn no. They have just returned from a tour which opened and closed at Youkers, and they cannot tell why. They have come back "to reorganize," as they express it, and to start afresh next week with another manager, and greater hopes. Tbey live chiefly on hope. It is said it is possible to cast in one morning any one of Shakspeare'a plays, to equip any number of farce companies, and to "organize" three Uncle Tom's Cabin combinations, with even more than the usual number of Marks the lawyer, from this melancholy market of talent, that ranges abont the theatrical agencies and consumers' shops, and bar-rooms of lower Union Square. Ao Indian Event. 6an Francisco Ca'L A wedding in high life took place at Fort Townsend last Monday, when the Prince of Wales, eldest son of the late Duke of Yoik, head chief of the Clallam tribe, and Princess Bessie Jackson, of the royal houso of Clallam, were united in holy matrimony by Kev. Myron Eels. Queen Victoria, the groom's mother, was expected to grace the festivities, but she was so busy digging clams that she sent her regrets. A Labor Test. Barn's norn. The man who can do an honest day's work when the circus is in town, never has to wear hia shoes out in looking for employment.

IRELAND AND THE IRISH.

The nuns at Gort are building a factory for the purpose of instructing the poor girls of the district in the manufacture of cloth and linens. It is now stated that it will absorb $000.000,000 to compensate the landlords of Ireland if the land-purchase bill becomes law in its entirety. The Irish tenants' defense fund continues to receive generous support from all classes, and subscriptions are pouring in from all directions. There is not a town or village of any size in the West of Ireland but has a foot-ball club. Tbese clubs all belong to tho Gaelic Athletic Club of Ireland. The residents of Ballybademp, Mayo "county, have received intelligence of tho death of a former townsman. Mr. Martin Cassidy, in Kew York city, at a receutdate. A company has been formed for the purpose of taking over the fisheries in Connemara, including Lough Mosk and Carrib. These two lakes are to be stocked with white trout. Labouchere, the great English Radical journalist and politician, says the antiParnellites will gain seventy seats at the next election, and that the outlook for Ireland is most hopef uL Three young men of the farming class were arrested the other day, on board the Cunard liner. Etruria, bound for New York, at Queenstown. They were charged with moonlighting in Kerry county. It is stated that, encouraged by the success of the telephone line between London and Paris, a carefully-constructed cable will be laid between Ireland and America, to be used solely as a telephone line. Ether drinking seems to be spreading rapidly in the large cities of Great Britain and Ireland, and the government will be asked to enact a law to impose restrictions upon its sale , by druggists and others. John Morley denies, on behalf of the Liberals, that his party intend to throw over home rule and go to the country on another great social question. He says that there is not a shadow of truth in the report. 0 WW Much attention is being paid to the improvement of the breed of swine in Ireland. This is of much importance to the small farmers, as they depend npon their pigs for the means with which to pay their rent. . Sir Henry Grattan Bellen, of Mountbellew, Galway county, has imported several very fine donkeys for the purpose of improving the breed of that useful animal the poor man's horse, in his native country. Captain Martin was in the neighborhood of Tuam, last week, inspecting the surrounding districts in behalf of the committee having charge of the Balfour relief fnnd. Kelief works areto be started at once at bis suggestion. The Orangemen of Belfast are to give a great ovation to Sir Henry James, in testimony of their approval of his services against tbe Nationalists. It is to be hoped that no rioting will tako place between the Orangemen and the Nationalists. Dr. McAlister, Bishop of Down and Connor, has declared that tbe Catholio members of the Belfast Parnell leadership committee have placed themselves in the category of those to whom it is unlawful to administer the sacraments of the church. Mrs. Eva LynchrBlasso, belonging to the Mayo family of that name, is now in Iowa, where, after a residence of ninety days, as required by the laws of that State, she will sue for a divorce from ber husband, whom she charges with infidelity. This is a new departure Tbe Coolooney & Claremorris railway is now an assured fact, as the grand juries of Mayo and Sligo counties have given tbe necessary guarantee of 6o0,000. Tbe balance required for its construction, about $450,000. will be given by the government as a free grant. Dr. James E. Turner, for over twenty years the medical officer of theTuam work house and Tuam dispensary, positions which his father had held for some thirty vears before him, died a few days ago in )ublin. His sister, Mrs. Burke, of Owen. died only a few weeks before. . Archbishop Walsh, of Dnblin, expresses himself as much pleased with the reception he met with from the Pope, and the interest tbe Holy Father displayed in nil that concerned the welfare of the Insh people. It is said that he unfed the Archbishop to found in Dublin an Irish Catholic univer sity worthy of the city and tbe faith. The first lager-beer brewery ever started in Ireland is now completed and making beer. Tbe buildings have been erected close to Upper Rathmines, one of the most fashionable suburbs of Dublin. The senior partner of the firm is a Bavarian, and comes from a family of lager-beer brewers. The excellency of Guinness's porter is said to be mainly due to the peculiar adaptability of the water taken from tne royal canal. De Burgh Persse, who. having amassed a fortune in Australia, returned to his native county, Galway, a few years ago, since which time he has acted as master of the Galway Blazers, one of tho finest packs of foxhounds in Ireland, hasdecidedto return to Australia, and. having resigned the mastership, has presented the county hnnt with his pack, conftiftting of ixty couples of splendid dogs, worth probably $5,000 or John J. Bodkin, a magistrate for .Galway county, and formerly the owner of Kilclorney estate, which was bought by the Migration Company (the experiment proved a failure), was sentenced at the Galway assizes to three months' imprisonment (he had been live months in jail al ready), for shootinc at and wounding bin brother, Cornelius Bodkin. It was proved nt the trial that tbe prisoner was crazed from the etiects of ether drinking. Miss Co sack, the ex-nun of Kenmare who wrote a really good history of the great O'Connell, is supposed to be slightly off her mebtal balance. Her latest freak was to become a Hapti6t. She, now tries to prove that St. Patrick was a Baptist, as was tho rope who sent him tolreland. bhe says ail the Irish people were Baptists un til the sixth century, when they fell into the errors of Romanism. She declares ber intention to rout Catholicism out of the Western States of the Union, and replace It by the teachings of the isaptists. mmm Colonel Csddell. the resident magistrate who has gained such unenviable notoriety for his conduct during the Tipperary riots and the trials arising from them, was for many vears the political resident at the court of the ltajah of Ulwar, a large emiindependent state in Kajpntana, East Indies. Wherever these ex-Indian officials have been sent, whether as governors of British colonies or to act in Kgypt in some rapacity or other, or even as resident magistrates in Ireland, they have always made themselves nn popular by their arbitrary conouCt and assumption ox unaae authority. A benevolent English lady has had two large fishing boats constructed, at a cost of over $5,000 each, built on the most approved plans, which are to be sent toClifden. tbe nrinciDal town and seaport In Connemara. for the purpose of developing the deep-sea fishing there, rather Lynskey. their zealous rarish priest, appeals to Chief Secre tary Balfour, asking him to erect a suita ble nen at Clifden so as to enable the tishermen to avail themselves of this lady's liberality without incurring extraordinary dangers and difficulties in the prosecution of this industry. Irish farmers were advised through government officials to plant the potato crop as early as possible as a means of avoiding the destruction of the tubers, when ma tcied. bv the blicht Conseonently the most strnnons etiorts were made to have them planted by the tirst of March, or as near as possible to that time. Unfortun ately, a heavy frost came within a few

weeks after planting, and it penetrated to and destroyed the vitality of the seed. These poor people, manv of whom had to pay a high price for the seed thus destroyed, have now to replant at a serious loss in labor and money. The lion. Dudley Fortescue. a guardian of the Waterford Union, proposed that tha system of outdoor relief should be abolished on account of the manner in which the system was abused. In sup port of his arguments he quoted tigurea which would seem to go far towards justifying its suppression. He said that in tbe Westport Union the recipients of outdoor relief included two saloon-keepers.

one grocer, one well-to-do contractor, ona ex-policeman in receipt of a pension of ?300 per annum, one farmer, with ten bead of cattle and a horse aud bugrgy. and another farmer holding 164 acres of land. He also quoted several other cases equally glaring. That pernicious system so long in vogue in Meath comity, of letting the grazing lands belonging to large landed proprie tors by auction each year, is becoming quite common in the west of Ireland; (40 per acre for the mere grazing is no unusual price for divisions of from ten to twenty acres each for six months. On the lands about the towns of Trim, Navan and Kills, situated in tbe first-named county, the unfortunate renter makej but little profit and runs all the risk, as he must pay in advance. There are many farms in Meath of from one hundred to four hun dred acres in extent that are leased at frora fJO to 33 per acre, to be used for grazing purposes only, faxes amount to nearly Zl per acre tnorc. Large bodies of police and, last Sunday, detachments of the Highland regiment quartered in the town of Arklow have been en faced in trvinff! to prevent the most serious disturbances between different sections of the citizens. The reasons for these disturbances are the persistent attempts of the rector and his curate to hold open-air services on Sundays on a piece of ground right in front of the Koman Catholio church. At every attempt of the preacher to stop and preach, he and his 2.V) Protestant followers were. made to walk on. In this manner, shoved along by the 'police, the rector and his audience traversed the principal street aev eral times. Tbe Catholics resent his at tempt to force upon them his teachings right in front of their church. HCJIOR OF TUE DAI. The Willing Clerk. , Texas Sittings. Trata Parent Mn tha door, to his elerk. whn iMcareasinffhis daushteri Younff man. you are not hired to do that kind of work. Clerk lhavs so. i m aoing it lor now ing. ' Moved In on Saturday. Pack. Superintendent And who is yournelgh borr RrhnUr T don't IcTlOW vet. Sir. W6 haven't had ter borrer anything since tha folks moved in next door. One Thing Lacking; Texas Pifttnca. Robin Ran fthe tramp) Wot d'ye thins: about this yere free coinage o' silver? Teddy Tacts Waal. pard. I hain't read much 'bout it, but Pd like to hear o' soma purvision for the free delivery o7 the at nil Hard to Understand. Puck. ' Mm Knrtz freadintr) Vast strides have lately been made in tbe improvement of gowns. Air. Kurtz I don't see bow .-very vast strides can be made in the tight skirts now worn. Obeying the Rules. PuckAunt Furby (in city hotel) Why, you hain't goin' to lock me in. Si. are yout Uncle Si Dunno bow I'm goin to help it, l'vo got to go out for an hour, and tbar's tho rule: "Guests must leave their keys with the clerk on going out!" MaaaaMawa A Confidential Communication. Texas Sittings. YalUrhv ITnh! WhafiV vo wearin' dat big obercoat so late in deseasonf Jobnslng Uoan' dare to tage lion. Yallerby 'Fraid o' catchin' cold! Ir.Tin.incVfvw 'fraid o' cettln' de cold shake ef my friends seedat oloiuit under itl r leasing His Wife. New York Weekly. linki Whr da ran offer such a larce re ward for the return of that contemptible pugdogi Winks To please my wne. Jinks Rut such a reward will be sure to bring him back. o it won't, lie's dead." In 'o Hurry. New York Weekly. Mr. Testv (meanincly) I don't want to interrupt your er conversation with my daughter, but the er last car goes by at 12. Mr. Staylate (with composure) Thanks, many thanks, but there's a big Germ au ball np town, and a conductor tola me the cars Tier Test. Jnrige. Mr. Meecker My adorable one! will yon be mine? . Miss Emerson Do you pronounce the "C in ceramics bard or soft! Mr. Hieecker bolt. Miss Kmerson Then I cannot wed von. Our natures are incompatible. We should be unhappy. As the New York "Seventh Goes Tly. Kate Fit-Id's Washington. Mr Yardstick Miss llreezv. what is tha difference between tbe goods in our store and the seven in uegiineuu Miss lireezy lm sure l don't know. What is it? Mr. Yardstick V hy, the goods in our store are uniform in quality, and the Seventh is quality in uniform. Kubarb.u ColoringNew Tork Weeklr. Artist (with elevated eyebrows) Hnmnh! You've beeu having your house painted. I see. Suburban Host (proudly) 1 es. Looks gay. ion t snei Artist (with cutting ironyl w ny aian'S you put on n.ore colorsT Hon (apologetically) ine store l we ill to only had six colors. An Affectionate Wife. Texaa SiftinRa. Mrs. San Kebbittasb, an Austin Afri caners, was urged by ber pastor to take Kood care of her husband, who was very sick, and to pray for him. "You jea Let I prays. I prays ebery day to de Lor to take one of ni to hisself, ao dat I can go to Dallas and lib wid my dar ter Matildy. who has invited me to come and stay wid her as soon as de old man pegs out. A Moment with JXUop. Puck. THE WOLF AND THE LAMP. A Wnlf and a Lamb wore drinkinff out of the same Purling stream, when the Wolf angrily blurted out: I say, youl You are Roiling tbe Mud allupX . "Let her roil." returned the Lamb, nonchalantly. Whereupon the Wolf Leaped across tbe Stream and fell upon the Lamb. The Fierce Creature had naraiy attempted to Tear the Lamb's Shoulder otf, however. before his Teeth broKe on cuon auu xeu io the Ground. . "llah!" said the Lamb, "what a r ool yoa are to try yonr range n ni"cunt Tough like myseil! can t you fceethati am a Spring Lauii)!'' Care for the Umbrella Habit. New YoriSan. A man just back from a winter in Germany says: "The only way of stopping thedan gerouspracticeof carryingcanes and umbrellas horizontally has long been known to the people of Berlin. There a rian no sooner tucks his walking-stick under his arm than he feel a quick blow on it. from behind. It either drops to the pavement or assumes the only proper and safe position in which a stick ran be carried. There is no use m bis setting angry with the person who struck the blow or in his trying to do him up. for public opinion is with the regulator of tne barbarous and indefensible practice of which 1 speak. I have seen dozens of Americans treated to thisdiscipline in Unter den Linden while they were endangering the eyes and discommoding the bodies of the crowds there. Most of them wftirled atout with tijtht bristling all over them, but a glance or two at the angry faces around them usually suthced to calm them down."