Indiana State Sentinel, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 May 1894 — Page 11

THE INDIANA. bTATK SENTINEL, WEDNESDAY MORNING, 31 A V lt5, löU4 TWELVE IMAGES.

11

GLORY OF

This is the story of a backwater; one of those still nooks sheltered by sedges whither the sere and yellow leaves drift and re3t. while the current beyond slips by swift as ever. Why this particular backwater should have called Itself a technical school of art-neddlework has nothing to do with the story. Briefly it was a sort of almshouse where twelve old Mohammedan ladies drew a poor monthly pittance of some few rupees, and sat contentedly enough year after year twinin? gold thread on to fine net. "What became of the work when it was done has also nothing to do with the gtory. Perhaps it was sold to eke out the funds of a charity which did its fair share of solacing sorrow in keeping twelve pairs of small, soft, highbred hand from th? quern-handle, that last resource of the poor in India now, as it was when the great mongul refused to allow the importation of western machinery on the ground that God's best frift to the poor was the millstone about their necks. It was in this odd little courtyard, packed away decorously in the very heart of the loose-living, gambling, goldworkers' quarter that Glory-of-Woman found shelter after many years of patient, peaceful privation; for Fahr-un-nissa (that was how her name ran in the soft courtly tongue of the most brutal of cities) was a Syyedani; in other words of the poorest and proudest, too :or t bring a dowry to a husband of fk- r own rank, too generous to take one without it, too proud to stoop to a partner beneath her, or rather too gentle, too conservative. There are hundreds euch women in Delhi, and Fahr-un-nissa had been more fortunate than most, seeing that being learned in the Koran she had kept body and soul together by recitations at fast and festival in the zenanas, and so been spared hard labor. Perhaps it was this which made her look vounger than her fifty and odd years; at all events there was scarcely a wrinkle on her small oval face, and her tall slender figure showed no sign of age. She was the youngest of the scholars, end every evening, when the gold thread and the filmy net had been locked away In a queer carven coffer, she was the last to slip her small feet into one of those twelve pairs of curly shoes which all day long had been ranged against the slip of wall doing duty as a screen at the door, and the last to use the rickety dhoolie which the charity provided for the modest conveyance of the fair ones to their homes. It provided a chaprone. too. in the shape of a big lump of a jdrl about twenty, who sat on the steps all day chattering to the passers by, giggling at their jokes, and chewing pan. It was a queer arrangement, eeeing that Khadjiya Khanum, the eldest of th- scholars, was past eighty; but then ag had nothing to do with the fact that sir was a Syyedani and Juntu only a gadabout. Ther? was another pair of shoes, however, placed in a corner apart from the reft; for it ha. I com to be a recognized custom in the backwater that there FhouM always be a thirteenth pair of feet ready to slip into any vacancy made by tne sure decay which comes alike to rest as to unrest. And so. five years before, when Fakr-un-nisa had stepped into the last pair of shoes, left by a deserted wife who had gone down into the grave leaving one forlorn daughter behind her, the old ladies had cast about to choose a suitable aspirant. Not that thej- really had the right to appoint any one. but because experience showed them that the claims of a gratuitous worker Were seldom overlooked when opportunity came for urging them. This time the cho'-e fell, naturally enough, on the daughter of the dead scholar. Just in her teens, she was hopelessly alone in the world: for her mother, after estranging her own people by a marriage with a Mohammedan Iiajpoot, had quarreled with her husband's family; but not Viefore little Yasmin had been married and had. alas, according o the Ranghar custom, become a widw for life by the death of her childish bridegroom. For race Is strontrer than religion and the old Iiajpoot ideas have survived conversion. So Yasmin in her turn waited for a vacancy in the shoes; or rather Noorbanu waited, since th old ladies would have nothing to do with the flowery, halfheathen name, and set themselves diligently to transform her into a Lady-of-lLght. It was not altogether a successful attempt, since the girl's wild Rajpoot blood waxed rebellious sometimes; but as a rule Fakr-un-nissa's soft voice with its polished periods and careful intonation would bring her back to obedience. "Lo! thou shouldst mind me. Heart's JDelight." Glory-of-Woman would say with a smile. "Do I not stand in thy mother's shoes? Thou art young now, Yfmln; so was I once; yet thou wilt be as I am some day." And Yasmin would make a face. "Well! that is better than being like Khadjiya Khanum or Malmana I'egum with her little eyes." So the years passed, bringing no blank to the roll of high-sounding names, no break in the row of shoes, no vacant place in the semicircle of old women which chased the sunshine round the court during the cold months, and the Phade during the hot ones. For they felt the stress of the seasons in their old bones. Otherwise winter and summer were alike to them; as was the green leaf and the sere, since they had nevr seen either. But Yasmin felt the eprirgtlme in her blood and began to weary of being at every one's beck and call. "She is a Ranghar! Bury a dog's tail for twelve years ar.l it wi'.l still be crooked," sail Maimana Begum. She was full to the brim of proverbial wisdom and had a little clique of her own in that semicircle of flimsy net, glittering gold thread and withered hands, ilumtazi Mahul's head and those of half e dozen Lights, or Desires, or Ornaments of the Palace, the World, or of Woman. "Wagged in assent to her words. It was ea?y to change a name, but not a nature; and had every one heard that BC-me one had seen N.wr-Uanu talking to a woman with whom she ought not to have been talking? Glory-of-Woman's thin face grew eager. " 'Tis a cousin. Mai Khadjiya. The girl told me of it and I have inquired. A cousin of the fathers, married yea! married, indeed, to a trrxtper, like he is. serving the Sirkar somewhere. Fuch folk lose hold on old ways, yet rn.m no harm. We must not judge them as owrs'dves." "Wah, Fakr-un-nissa! Wouldst say th: devil meant no harm next. Thy heart spoils thy faith. I marvel at thee, thou -who dost fast and pray more than U ne.-dful." The ring of bitterness In old Khadjiya's tones wm explained by the fact that it was r.lgh the end of the first ten days' fast of Mohumim-tide and she had not chosen that any, despite her age. should exceeJ her in the observance thereof. And Fakr-un-nisaa's zeal had raised the price of self-complacency beyond reajon. 'Mre than is needful!" echoed Maimaa.i Begum with a like tartness. "Art n : rash to say so, Mai Khadjiya? Sure the virtue of some folk Is situate as the tongue among thirty-two teeth. It needs care t preserve itself." Th white-shrouded figure chuckled. They were not really ill-humored, or evilly disposed toward Glory-of-Woman; It was simply that her excellent example had made all their old bodies rather fretful. "And as for the girl," continued the acrid voice, "she is a cat on the wall. God only knows on which side she. will Jump down." Fakr-un-nissa's eyes flashed and her firsgers entangled themselves in the gold thread. "Then, for sure, it is our part to make the right side more pleasant than the wrong; not to be always finding fault because she is young. Yea, ti3 so; for look you. It seems ever to me that we are to blame, that we are in her Tdace. Five long years Is it since she fcath waited." Khadjiya Khanum's hands dropped

WOMAN.

from her work and flew out in vehement crackings of every joint against ill-luck. "Tobah, Tobah! (For shame, for shame!) Mistress Fakr-un-n'.ssa. Die if thou wilt to make room for the hussy. As for me, I wait on the will of the Lord." A murmur of assent ran through the semicircle once more. "Nay, nay! I meant not so," protested Fakr-un-nissa hastily. "Lo, death comes to all, and goeth not by age. I meant but this sure 'tis hard to put it to words that the old should make room for the young, or make the waiting bearable." "Tchu! If the heart be set on a frog, what doth it care for a fairy?" insisted the hoarder of other folk's wisdom. "Dost mean to hint that in this place the girl hath not had virtue set constantly before her; ay. and preached too It seems to me that we have it almost to satiety. Is it not so. sisters?" Once more the chuckle ran round the circle, and Glory-of-Woman sat still more upright. "Amongst thy other proVerbs, canst not recollect the one which says, 'between the two priests the fowl killed for dinner became unlawful to eat?' " Then the temper died from her face and she went on in a softer tone: "I find no harm in the girl, and what wrong hath she done this day more than another?" "No more, for -sure," put in Mumtaza Mahul, "since she is late at work every day; that Is no new thing, is it, sisters?" "Yet she finishes her task as quick as any as I, anyhow," persisted Yasmin's advocate, who having come to the gold thread late in life found it apt to knot. "Wah illah! What a fuss about a wilful girl." put in a new voice. "She is no worse than others and needs restraint no more. She hath grown saucy since we gave her money instead of broken victuals. Put her back to the old footing, say I, when she had naught of her own." Khadjiya Khanum's veiled head nodded sagely. "Thou hast it, Hamedabanu. Lo. I for one, know not why the girl was ever given such freedom, save, indeed, that it tallies with Fakr-un-nissa's indecent hastening of Frovidenee. I am for the old plan." "And I." "And I." "And I." assented a chorus of set, certain voices. Glory-of-Wowan's fingers flew faster. "Then will ye drive the girl from us altogether. I know it, I feel it. Yea, I, Fakr-un-nissa, singer of the Koran till my tone failed me. remember it. those days when some other song seemed better and one must needs sing it. Think, sisters, remember! The eyes of the body are two; the eye of the soul is one." The work had dropped from her hands, which were stretched out in eager entreaty. '"Tis but patierce for a year or two. Then, since there Is no will settle down as as but the youth in her harm in her, she I as I did. 'Tis veins, and God Knows that is soon past yet one's glory remains." for a woman; Her voice re gaining some of its past strength, recollecting all its old skill under the stimulus of boti memory and hope, filled the little courtyard and availed nothing. Half an hour aftfrward. struck dumb, as sensitive natures are, by the stress of passion around her, she was watching with stupii inaction Yasmin's final vengeance on that decorous row of curly shoes behind the screening wail. To right and left, to this corner and that, they sped before the reckless young feet while the reckless young voice rose in mockery. "Lo, I wait no longer for old women's shoes. I will have new ones of my own. Khujju. and Mujju, and the rest of ye can sort them for yourselves, or go down to the grave one foot at a time as seemeth to ye best. I care not; I wait no ionger." One pair flew full in Maimana Begum's face, and then came a pause before the last pair, an odd sound between a laugh and a sob, a sudden sweep of the net veil over the shoulder, and a half-defiant nod to the old white figures. "These shall stay, because they were my mother's, and brx-ause " The next moment she was gone, leaving the twelve old women sitting in the sunshine, breathless, silenced by her youth, her unreason, hör fire. Even Fakr-un-nissa had no word of defense. But after a time, when Juntu. full of smiles and winks, came from the steps to aid the cackle which arose as the silencing effect of the shock wore away, Glory-of-Woman began to feel the old pain at her heart once more. "Because they were my mother's, and because " She could fill up the pause in two ways: "Because they are yours, and you have been kinder than the others;" "Because they should by rights be mine." Both answers were disturbing. She leaned lack against the wall, pressing her thin hands to the thin breast which had known so little of a woman's life, save only that craving for another song. "Toward the bazaar, sayest thou?" came Khadiya's wrathfully satisfied voice. "To the bazaar, and in Mohur-rum-tide. too! That means the worst, and we were none too soon in getting rid of her. heaven be praised i" "The cousin lives close to the Chowk," put in Fakr-un-ni.ssa faintly. "Mayhap the girl goes there." Juntu laughed. "The cousin is a bad one; no better." Whereat Maimana Begum remarked savagely that whether the knife fell on the melon or the melon on the knife was all one; the melon suffered. Yasmin's reputation was hopelessly hurt by that going bazaar-ward. "For a Syyedani per chance," retorted Juntu with some acerbity. "Yet this I say; there is no harm in the girl, though she be younger than some folk who need dhoolies to their virtue." She hated the proverb-monger who never from year's end to year's end gave her a cowrie or so much even as a word of thanks. And then being Mohurrum-tide. when in all pious houses the assemblage of mourning must be held, the work was folded away In the old carved coffer, the desecrated shoes sorted into pairs, and one by one the old ladies were smuggled into the curtained dhoolie and trotted away to their homes, with buxom Juntu chattering and laughing alongside. "Dost recite the Murseah at the Nawab's this year. Fakr-un-nissa?" asked Humeda-banu, wrapping herself carefully in a thick white veil. Olory-of-Woman shook - her head. VThey have a new one. Last Mohurrum I grew hoarse. Perhaps 'twas the fever; it had held me for days." "Fever!" echoed the other. "Say rather the fasting. Thou hast a dead look in the face even now, ami as for me, fiod knows whether I feel hungry or sick. Thou shouldst remember that thou art growing old." "I do remember it," said Fakr-un-nissa, half to nerself. In truth she did. As she sat awaiting her turn for the curtained dhoolie she felt very old. very helpless. Yasmin, whom she had loved, had broken loose from all tradition and gone bazaar-wards. The very idea was terrifying. The brain behind that high narrow forehead of Fakr-un-nissa's could barely grasp the situation. For fifty years it had .circled round the one central duty of pious seclusion, and Yasmin's choice seemed almost incredible. For there wa no harm in the girl; she had always ben responsive to kind words. If she. Fakr-un-nissa, could only have had speech with her alone! The thought made her restless and sent her to the door, to peep, closely veiled, round the screen and watch the dhoolie containing Humeda-banu disappear from the steps. Yet she had done her best, giving the girl "in secret what she could spare of the pittance; and this year there would be no recitation fees to eke out the remainder. Perhaps the others were right, and this generosity of hers had fostered the girl's independence. Khadjiya and Maimana would say so, for sure, if they knew. Then was she to blame, she who loved the girl, twho had taken the mother's shoes? The mere possibility wa3 a terror to the conscience where the womanhood that was in her had found Its only chance of blossoming. It is the same East and West. Glory-of-Woman, as she stood, tall and thin, leaning against the dull brick screen, had as much claim to saintship as any in the canonized calendar; and wherefore not? Had not she spent nearly fifty years in learning the lives of the

saints by heart, and chanting the dirge of martyred virtue? It came back to her dimly as she stood there; the sombre dresses of the mourning assemblage, the glittering Imambarah dressed with such care by reverent hands; and then her own voice above the answering chorus of moaning and sobbing. She had power then, she was helpless now; helpless and old. yet not old enough apparently to die; though when all was salJ and done, it was not her turn, but Khadjiya Khamum's. Yet she had taken the mother's shoes, and had sat there silent when perhaps a word from her might have saved that awful journey to the bazaar. Then the thought came to her that the saints were never helpless, and even the blessed Fatima herself Glory-of-Woman had fasted and prayed for long days and nights; she felt miserably ill in soul and body, in the very mood therefore to slip her feet into the pair of shoes Yasmin's recklessness had spared, and, almost as recklessly, pass without a pause to the doorstep. The next instant she was back again in shelter, breathless, palpitating. Yet might it not be the voice of God? And no one would ktiow; she might be back ere Juntu returned, and even if she were not, the gadabout had a kind heart. Besides, another rupee from the pittance would silence her in any case. East and West nothing is impossible to such religious exaltation as changed the slow current in Fakr-un-nissa's veins to a stream of fire scorching and shriveling every thought save the one that she stood in the mother's shoes, yet had said no word. She wrapped her thick shroud of a veil tighter round her and stepped deliberately into the alley. The glory of woman, its motherhood, was hers indeed in that instant, though she did not realize it; though the thin breast heaving with her quickened breath had never felt the lips of a child. It was a long, low room, opening by arches to a wooden balcony without, into which, half fainting with pure physical fatigue, she stumbled after heaven knows what trivial, yet to her sheer ignorance almost awful difficulties by the way. Yet she was not afraid; indeed as she had passed through the crowded streets it had been wonder which had come to her. That this should be a time of fasting and mourning, andyer none seem to care! Had the world no time to bewail dead virtue? Had it forgotten the faith? And this, too, was no mourning assemblage, though in some of the faces of the lounging men she recognized the features of her own race, the race of the Prophet himself. Had they forgotten also? She shrank back an instant until beside a flaunting woman whose profession was writ large enough for even fifty years of pious seclusion to decipher It instinctively, she saw a slender figure crouching, half-sullen, halfdeilaiu. The face was still veiled, but she knew it. "Yasmin:" she cried breathlessly. "Come back! Come back to tisi" The girl sprang to her feet with a fierce cry. and was beside the tall white form in an instant, screening it with swift arms that strove to force it back. "Go! I say go! Why art here? Thou should'st not have come hither! Go! See. I will come also, if thou will not go without me!" "Not so fast, my pigeon," tittered the flaunting woman, answering the halfsurprised lo"ks of the men with nods and winks. "Thou art in my charge now. since thou h st left the saints. Who is this woman? Let her speak her claim." Yasmin's hand flew to Fakr-un-nissa's mouth. "Not a word. Amma. not a word. See. I will go; quick, let us go." The surprise had lessened, and a man's voice ros" with a laugh. "What, let thee go for nothing, with an unknown? Xay, Mistress Chamb?le, that were unwise. She is thy cousin; the claims of kinship must be considered." "The claims of numbers, too." put in another. "Let the veiled one unveil since she has come among us." "Xay, brothers," interrupted a -third hastily in h. lower voice, "mayhap she is one of the saintly women, and " A laugh checked the speech. "So much the better. What doth a saint here?" Some one had barred the doorway with thrust-out arms, and half-a-dozen others with jeering faces lounged against the wall crying languidly. "Unveil, unveil." Hut Yasmin's arms clasped close. "I will go," she panted. "I will go with her. She she is my mother." Chambele's titter rang high and shrill. "Wah! That is a tale! See you. friends; her mother hath been dead five years. Enough of this, little fool! Thou hast made thy choice already; there is no place for thee yonder with the saints." "She hath her mother's." cried Fakr-un-nissa, freeing herself from Yasmin's hold with new strength, born of the girl's words. "Lo, she speaks truth, my sister! I stand in her mother's shoes. Let her go in peace, and she shall have them surely." Something in the urbane polish of her speech awoke memory in the men, and one, older than the rest, said with a frown. "Yea, it's enough, Chambele: let the woman go, and the child also if she wish it. She will come back another day if she be of this sort; if not, there are others." "But not without a ransom," interrupted one with an evil face and evil eyes which had seen enough of Yasmin's figure beneath the veil to think her presence gave unwonted piquancy to the business. "Yea, a rensom, a ransom for coming here and spoilng plasure: Let the saint pay the price of the sinner," cried half-a-dozen jeering voices. The sunshine without streamed through the arches in broad bands upon the floor, but Fakr-un-nissa's tall muffled figure stood in shadow by the door. A fighting quail was calling boastfully from a shrouded cage over the way; the cries of the noisy bazaar floated up to the balcony, a harmonious background to Chambale's noisier laugh. Then, suddenly, came a step forward into the sunlight, and the heavy white veil fell in billowy curves like a cloud about Fakr-un-nissa's feet. For the first time in her life Glory-of-Woman stood unsheltered from the gaze of men's eyes. And those eyes saw something worth seeing. Respite her fifty and odd years; n. woman beautiful in her age. graceful as ever in the sweeping white draperies of the graceful Delhi dress; but a woman forgetful utterly of thy motherhood in her, as with one swift outspreading of the arms she broke into the opening lines of the Mursiah. that dirge of martyred virtue which is as closely interwoven with all that is best in the life of a Mussulman as "Hark, the herald angels sing!" is with the Christian's tender memories of home, a dirge sacred to the day and the hour, a dirge forgotten by this new world. Fakr-un-nissa remembered nothing else. Many and many a time listless Indifferent hearts had responded to the fervor of her declamation; women's hearts, it is true, ami that was a woman's derisive laugh. But above it rose a man's swift curse commanding silence for all save that skillful voice; and not silence only, that was a sigh. The cadences rang truer and stronger out into the sunlight, making the passers by pause to listen. "An assemblage at Chambele's house," sneered some one. "That is a sinner's ransom indeed." But Glory-of-Woman heard nothing save those responsive sighs, saw nothing but the orthodox beatings of the breast with which one or two of the elder men gave In to custom. The last ameen left her still blind, still deaf. Then came a laugh. "With half her years I'd take the saint before the sinner," said the man with the evil face. Glory-of-Woman stood for a second as if turned to stone. Then she threw up her hands with a cry, and sank in a huddled heap upon the white curves of her fallen veil. "God smite your soul to eternal damnation!" cried a man's voice. But Glory-of-Womnn was to hear no man's voice again. She had kept her promise, and the last pair of surly shoes behind the screen was vacant. In due time Xoorbanu slipped into them, for the eleven old ladles and Juntu made Ieace with her for the sake of Fakr-un-nissa. "Lo the ways of providence are not our ways," said Khaidjya Khanum pious

ly over her horn spectacles. "And she was ever in a hurry. For my part I will wait on the will of the Lord." Maimana Begum cackled under her breath. "Hair-oil is wasted on a bald head." she said in a whisper' to Humedabanu. "Her time is near, hurry or no hurry. Who comes, must go." F. A. Steel, in Macmillan's Magazine. The dirge in honor of the martyred Hussan and Hussain. A model of the martyrs' shrine; a permanent erection, whereas the tazzias used fr the procession are afterward burned. There is a celebrated Imam-barah at Lucknow. Importe! from Fnsland. A pet name for mother or nurse. AMERICA DIAMOX DS.

Those Thnt Ar? Found Conif lo I'm in .Meteorites from Other World. Though diamonds will never be an important product of the United States only an occasional gem of this kind being picked up here and there such vast quantities of them are consumed here that the geological survey has thought it worth whiie to prepare a monograph j on the subject, which will soon be is sued. The fact has been established that the supposed diamonds found in meteorites near the Canyon Diablo in Arizona are actually such. This is a matter of profound interest, indicating as it does that such stones exist on other planets. Some authorities assert that diamonds, like coal, which is so nearly of the same chemical constitution, could not possibly come into existence without previous vegetable growths to generate their material. For this reason they infer that the finding of the gems in the meteorites proves that there must have been vegetable life in the place whence the metorites came. If there was vegetable life there it is a fair presumption that there was animal life also. All this may be untrue, says the Providence Journai, but it affords the first guess glimpse ever obtained into the greatest problem that mankind has attempted to handle, namely, the question whether life exists in other worlds than ours. It seems strange to take a couple of ounces of charcoal in one's hand and to consider that one is handling the pure material of the diamond. If you could tranform it Into crystalline form, you could sell these few pinches of stuff for $1.000.000 perhaps. No wonder that chemists are eager to discover the secret of effecting this change. To assert that they will never learn how to make crystals ' of carbon would be absurd. By means of the voltaic battery real diamonds of almost microscopic size have been deposited upon threads of platinum. But. even If a successful process should be discovered, it might be that the cost of making a diamond by it would be bigger than the price of a stone of equal size and purity from the mines. One recalls the experiments of Prof. Sage, who turned out gold pieces in his laboratory from gold extracted from the ashes of certain 'burned vegetable, substance. The result was beautiful, scientifically speaking, but the expense of making In this way one $3 piece was about $25. The value of rough gems of all sorts produced in this country in 1S03 was $."0.000 less than the output for the year before, amounting to only $262.000. The d'X-rease was mainly owing to the industrial depression. The precious stones of the United States are sold in large part to tourists, who purchase them as souvenirs of localities visited. ItarnnofT Castle nut! Its History. Baranhoff castle was in Sitka and was built upon an eminence commanding an excellent view of the town and harbor. In appearance it bore no resemblance to a castle, but looked very much like a country hotel. Baranhoff castle and the island upon which it was built derived their name from the Russian governor, Baranhoff, who in the early part of the century lived there and ruled the people with a tyranny similar to that enforced in Siberia. Under Baranhoff's rule and that of his predecessor the island and the old castle were the scenes of many contests for supremacy as well as of festivities, in which persons of royal blood participated. The governorship of that portion of all Russia was considered a great reward, and in turn many nobles ruled and were provided with plenty to make their life one of luxury. The old banquet hall of the castle was the scene of many entertainments given in extravagant style in honor of visiting celebrities. Twenty years ago Lady Franklin, then eighty years old, visited the Island, searching for some trace of her missing husband. Sir John. William H. Seward, upon his retirement as secretary of state, also spent several days upon the island, viewing with his own eyes the great territory which through his and Senator Charles Sumner's efforts was secured for this country by peaceable means. In the fall of 1S67 many noted personages stood upon the balcony of the old castle and witnessed the replacing of the eagles of the czar with the stars and stripes. By that act 550,000 square miles of territory became the property of the United States, the consideration being 2 cents per acre. San Francisco Chronicle. TLe Itlce Paper Tree. The rice paper tree is a small tree, growing to a hight of less than fifteen feet, and with a trunk or stem from three to five inches in diameter. Its canes, which vary in color according to season, are large, soft and downy, the form somewhat resembling that noticed in those of the castor bean plant. The celebrated rice paper, the product of this queer tree, is formed of thin slices of the pith, which is taken from the body of the tree fh beautiful cylinders several inches in length. The Chinese workmen apply the blade of a sharp straight knife to these cylinders and turning them around, either by rude machinery or by hand, in which latter operation they display much skill and dexterity, pare the pith from circumference to center. This operation makes a roll of extra quality paper, the scroll being of equal thickness throughout. After a cylinder has thus been pared, it is unrolled and weights placed upon it until the surface is rendered uniformly smooth throughout its entire length. St. Louis Republic. Had Good Ground for HI WUh. An old deacon in Pennsylvania was very self-willed, and on two or three occasions made great trouble In the church. At last the church clerk got up and said: "Brethren and sisters, I wish Deacon Jones was in hell." The new pastor and the members were horrified, and the pastor said: "Brother Smith, such a remark is unkind and un-Chrlstian. Why do yen use such expiessions about a brother?" "Well, pastor," he replied. "I'll bet that If Deacon Jones was in hell about six months he would bust it up." Argonaut. Norel Teat. Experience at the Yale psychological laboratory on 1.200 boys and girls from the public schools between the ages of six and seventeen show that, averaging the various tests, the boys surpass the girls; In color discrimination the girls are ahead, in weight discrimination the boys, though each sex is equal in the two at the age of eleven years. In quickness of motor ability the boys surpass the girls, though the latter are stronger in endurance. Correspondence of the N. Y. Evening Post. Why He Chnrjrc.l. Fair Organist (after an hour's hard practice) "Here is your money, Patrick; but don't you think you charge me rather a high price just for pumping the organ?" Patrick "Bliss y'r purty oyes. MisH, Oi wudn't charged ye a cint if th' machine did not make such blatherin noises." X. Y. Weekly. In Chancery. "Doctor, they tell me you are attending that young man next door free of charge?" "Yes, and glad to do it. He's been practicing on a snare-drum for the last six months, and now I have a chance to put an end to the nuisance.' Life.

CANNOT "DO WITHOUT IT.

AX ALMAXAC WITH A ItCCOItD OF MOKE THAX A CEXTIRY. It IIn Panned Tlirongh Many Virlssitntlrn and Changes Xo Other Almanac Has Had an Logg a History It Founder Urought Out Fifty-Five - Xnmbem. With an address to the "Friendly Reader," "from yours and the public's most obedient humble servant, Robert B. Thomas," the first number of the Farmers' Almanac, "calculated on a new and improved plan, for the year of our Lord, 1703," was issued on Sept. 15, 1792. So admirably was it arranged and so well was it adapted to. the use of the public, that in the more than a century of uninterrupted existence few radical changes have been made, and the number for 1S94. now in the hands of tens cf thousands of people, is identical in size and make-up with the first venture of its author. In his preface Mr. Thomas offers an apology for anything in his almanac "that may appear of small moment," and the hope is expressed that "the literati will excuse it." "As to my judgment of the weather," he continues, in allusion to those pre-dictions which have been for 100 years made the occasion for so much good-natured banter, "I need say but little, for you will in one year's time, without any assistance of mine, very easily discover how near I have come to the truth." In vindication of the author's judgment, after a careful inspection of the numbers published during his lifetime, it can positively be stated that, while during the winter months there are numerous entries in this department warning tho reader, "Xow look out for snow or rain, but I think snow," there is no such caution in either July or August. Much valuable information is contained in the first number, including recipes for pimples, corns, toothache, freckles and. very important just now, a method for taking out "sfxrts of the small-pox." But there is no mention of railroads, steamboats, telegraphs, horse cars, electric lights, electric cars, telephones, phonographs no, not even lucifer matches and hundreds of other things that are of daily mention now. While the "farmer's calendar" contains directions for putting "sleds and .sleighs in order," and caring for plows, harrows, hoes and rakes, there is nothing said about threshing machines, horse rakes, reaping and mowing machines, binders, seetling machines, corn and potato renters, and a score of other machines now indispensable on the farm. But there is one memorandum under this head which is as timely today as it was 100 years ago. In the month of December, it says, "see that your cellars are well stored with good cider, that wholesome and cheerful liquor, which is the product of your own farms. Xo man is to be pitied that cannot enjoy himself or his friend over a pot of good cider, the product of his own country, and perhaps his own farm; which suits both his constitution and his pocket much better than West Indian spirit." In this connection the reading of some useful books Is recommended. Those "worthy the perusal cf every American" are "Ramsey's History of the American Revolution," "Morse's Geography" and "Belknap's History of Xew Hampshire." It required but four pages, of three columns each, to give a list of "roads to the principal towns on the continent from Boston, with names of Innholders," and three pages were sufficient to give all the federal courts in the country, their times and places of meeting and the names of the judges, including the supreme court of the United States. The title page of the first number has no pictorial adornment, but there is a verse reading as follows: While the bright, radiant sun in center glows The earth in annual motion round it goes; At the same time on its own axis reels. And gives us change of seasons as it wheels. There Is also a verse to introduce each month, evidently the composition of the author. That for January says: The new year opens old is past. Stern winter comes with all its rough blast; See the farmer shivering with cold. Driving his flocks and herds to fold. The weather predictions for Jan. 110 were probably as accurate as most of those that come from the government weather bureau, notwithstanding its superior facilities for gaining information from all parts of the continent. Who can doubt that on the 2d. 3d. 4th and 5th days of January, 1793. there was "cold and frosty weather and cold winds," and that on the 7th, Sth and 9th it "locks like snow." The almanac was at this time "printed at the Apollo press. In Boston, by Belknap and Hall," and sold at their office on 6tate-st. An advertisement the following year describes them as printers and booksellers .at Xo. 8 Dock square, corner of Wing's lane. Robert B. Thomas also advertises himself as a dealer in books and stationary in Sterling, Mass. An addition is made to the title page of this number in the way of a rude cut representing a farmer plowing with a yoke of oxen. The author also announces In his preface, "I have been much complimented on my judgment of the weather for the year past; but," he naively adds, "whether they were mere compliments or not, I leave the unprejudiced public to judge." In a postscript it appears that much rivalry and jealousy prevailed, even in those early days, among almanac makers, and the public is told that "a selfish editor appears to be much chagrined at our success and In the most ungenerous manner has not only privately endeavored to injure us, but, in the most ungracious manner, publicly attacked our reputation. It is worthy of remark that notwithstanding the puff with which the mighty printer introduces himself to the public his almanac Aill be found to be fraught with error and irregularity." In 1797 the sturdy farmer and his oxen on the title page have retired, and a pensive-looking maiden sitting on a rock, sheltered by trees, overlooking the labors of a plowman, has taken their places. Scythes, rakes, spades and hoes scattered around her would indicate that she is the goddess of husbandry. The name of John West appears as the owner of the copyright and Manning & Loring are the printers. The number for the last year of the century contains an act of congress approved July Ii, 179$. imposing a "direct tax on houses, lands and slaves." The apportionment for Massachusetts was $260.433. Virginia was the only state that was rated higher, its apportionment being $343,483. There is also a table of the rates of stamp duties. An important innovation was introduced in the number for 1S00, very rude but characteristic pictures of farm life introducing each month. The poetry accompanying them is taken from a "Picture of a Xew England Village," by T. Dwight, D. D. The author's preface introduces the "Farmer's Calendar" in these words: "'Tis an old custom at tils season to wish our friends a happy Xew Year: I wish mine many, and particularly through the present inclement one, in comfortable fires without smoky chlmnies sleigh rides without overturning heavy purses with a liberal hand-, full tables with generous hearts, and social enjoyments without contention." Xo radical changes are made in the almanac until 1S04. when new and better illustrations head the months. In 1S03 the goddess of husbandry is retired from the title page in favor of Aquarius, the

"water-bearer." winged and hoary, who is drenching the soil with water from an urn. There also appears for the first time over the months allegorical figures representative of the seasons. In 1S12 the census of the eighteen states of the union, taken in 1S10, is given, and in 113 appears very significantly a list of the vessels in the navy of the United States with a note that "many other brigs and ships of war are lately put In commission." There is also a description of the Great dismal swamp, which says: "Neither beast, bird nor reptile approach the heart of this horrible desert; nor. Indeed, do any birds care to fly over it. any more than they are said to do over the Lake Avernus." The names of West Sc Richardson appear as the proprietors of the copyright in 1814, and a corrected list of the vessels of the navy is given. Three of these, the Macedonian, it appears, had been captured by the British. Three others were marked as "hired by the United States." The total number is fifty-five. A change in the method of composing the "Farmer's Calendar" is observable. Quotations from the poets are introduced, and a more jocular air prevails. The farmer, instead of being told in January that "now is the time to get in his winter wood," and directed to "look well to your cattle and see they are well sheltered." finds himself addressed thus: "Come. Mr. Dumps, 'tis time to stir your stumps; see that your woodshed is well filled before the winter close. Go to! get thee up in the morning and hie to thy barn; perad venture thy ox or thy ass may stand in need of thy aid!" In 1919 West. Hichardson & Lord are the owners of the copyright, and J. II. A. Frost is the printer. The name of West is dropped in 1821, and that of Holbrook added in 1S30.

The first mention of railroads is In 1R31, when a map of Xew England is given with the accompanying note, that "the direction of the several railroad routes which have been proposed, leading from Boston, may be understood by reference to the following map. The principal routes are: U From Boston, through Framingham, Worcester. Springfield and Pittsfield to Albany; (2 from Boston through Waltham and Fitchburg to Brattleborough; (3) from Boston to Lowell, thence through Concord and Montpelier to Burlington, and thence westerly to Ogdensburg; (4) from Boston to Providence." In 1833 Carter. Hendee & Co. appear as owners of the copyright, the printing is greatly improved, and a continued autobiography of the author is given. The "Farmer's Calendar" assumes a serious and philosophical air and has more to do with the firmament of heaven than the planting of turnips. Temperature also becomes a prominent theme for discussion? and the "declaration of seventy-five physicians of Boston," signed in 1S32, appears, giving it as their opinion that "men in health are never benefited by the use of ardent spirits that, on the contrary, the use of them is a frequent cause of disease and death." Evidently the serious strain of the Farmer's Calendar was too didactic for popular taste, as the humorous vein is resumed in 1S3.". Two years later the almanac Is "published and t-old by Charles J. Hendee," and a portrait of the author appears which proved so satisfactory that it was reproduced in the next number. Hendee continued owner of the copyright in ISIO, but the publishers were Jenks & Palmer. In 1M a new and improved map of Xew England and Canada appears and is continued in subsequent numbers. Accompanying it is a list of "the cities, towns and villages passed through by railroads from Boston, with the distance of the various stations from that city." The stago routes and list of innholders. which had gradually been confined to Xew England instead of embracing the continent, as at the beginning, were dropped, there being no further use for them. The railroads mentioned are the Old Colony, Worcester, Western, Lowell, Xashua & Maine, Eastern & Fibthburg. The fifty-fifth number of the almanac contains the melancholy announcement tf the death of its founder on May 19, 1S4G, aged eighty years?. In the address to patrons and correspondents the publishers say: "From respect to the memory of Mr. T., who first planned the almanac and has edited it so long, and whose name is associated with it in the minds of the friends of the work, that name will always be connected with it in future as in past time." This promise has been religiously kept by all succeeding publishers, and the very next number for the year 1S4S contained a fac-simile of Mr. Thomas's signature, which was ever after appended to the address to "Patrons and Correspondents." The word "old," in parenthesis, is also added to the title, making it read "The (Old) Farmer's Almanac." The last half century' in the United States is reviewed by the author in 1S50 in a page of fine print, and in 1S."2 Jenks. Hickling & Swan are the publishers. In the following year Aquarius appears on the title page in a slightly different garb and the allegorical figures over the memths are much improved in design and engraving. The name of Jenks is dropped from the firm of publishers in 1855 and that of Brown substituted, and in 1856 a list and a pretty long one it is of worthless and uncurrent bank notes in Xew England is given. Another change in the firm of publishers is noted in 1S5S. when the name of Brewer takes the place of Brown. In 1861 Hickling gives place to Tileston. and the firm as thus constituted own the copyright. Many allusions to the rebellion are to be found in the number of 18t;4. and in 18C3 several changes are to be noted. A higher literary tone is given to the almanac by using for the motto on the title page And the stanzas at the head of the calendar pages selections from the poems of William Cullen Bryant. The address to patrons and correspondents in the eightieth number (for 1S72) mentions the great changc-s that have taken in the development and growth of the country in these eight decades. It says: , "Our domain has been increased fivefold; our population tenfold. What wonderful inventions and tliscoveries have been made railways, steamboats, telegraph, sewing machines, re-aping machines, steam plows, photography, anaesthetic agents! What great questions have been settled!" But yet the telephone, electric lights and electric cars were yet to ceme. The name of the present publishers, William Ware & Co., appears on the title-page ef the numln-r for 1877, William Ware being the owner of the copyright. As in all previous changes, no other allusion is made to the new proprietorship. The almanac for 18S.1 was for the first time computed in standard time, sixteen minutes behind Boston local timeIn 1892 a centennial number was published containing an excellent fulllength portrlat of Its founder. Robert B. Thomas, accompanied by a biographical sketch written by Dr. Samuel A. Green, a record of the progress of 100 years in the United States, a fac simile of the tiMe page of the first number of the almanac, and. besides other interesting and instructive matter, the census for 1890. It is a remarkable fact that this Im the only almanac that has h:;d a e-ontinuous and uninterrupted publication for more than a century, and that its present publlsherr., William Ware & Co., are the direct successors of John West, who published the almanac in 1797, and who was a publisher of educational beeks in 1792. The firm consists of William Ware, who for many years was an active partner in the house of Brewer it Tileson; M. A. Mayhew. who has been engaged in the book business for upward of forty-five years, the last thirty-five of which were spent with the old and present firm, and John Gray, who has been in the firm more than twenty-seven years. Boston Transcript. The Point of View. Mrs. Henpeck "Ah, those sad, sad words, 'it might have been!' " Mr. Henpeck (feebly)-"That's all right, my dear; but they're not in it with those sad. sad words, 'it was.' " Philadelphia Record.

t .1 iv1

urn: We, i m Tüb Cheapest M Best Medicine lor Family Use in the World. Sore Throat, Colds, Coughs, Inflammation, Setntlt-a, Lamb aar, Rhrnmatimn, Xeuraltcia, Heudache, Toothache, erronne. Diphtheria, Influrnia, Utlilcalt Drralhtnf, ctHLu xu pituvi:.ri: uy READY RELIEF The Only Pain Remedy That ins'ar.tly tops the most xcruciatlng pains, allays Inflammation anl cure? Congestion, whether of tre Liine. Stomach, Bawc-is. or ether glanis or organs, by one application. In From 023 J Twenty fflstes, Xo matter how violent or "vcrueiatitur the pains the Rheumatic, l'.ed-ri lien. Intim, Cripple.!, Nervous Neuralgic, or j rostrate! with disease may suffer, RADWAY'S READY RELIEF WILL AFFORD IHSTAHT EASE. Inflammation of the Kidneys. Inflam liiHllon jf t lit lllutliler, IntlauDiatlflB of the lloweln, lonKctlon of the Luok, Sore 'I liroat, DliHcnlt Urea tli In c I'atpitn f it: ii of the Ilrnrt. Hysterie. Croup, Diphtheria. Catarrh. lutlnenza. Headache, Tootlinrlie, curalitia. Ithetimntlsin, Cold Chills, Anr Chills. Ch I Iblal ues, KroMbile, Aervousien, Meeplelies. The application of the READY RHMF:F' to the pi.rt or parts where the d:;!iiulty or pain exists will afford nn1 comfort. Internally, a half to a teappaonful in half tumbler of wat"r will in a tew tninu's 'ore Cramps. Spavins. Sour Stomach. Nausea. Vomltintr. Heartburn. Nervousness, Sleep!esr.ess. Pick Headache. Diarrhea. Colic, Flatulency, anl &.U internal pains. MALARIA, Chills and Fever, Feverand Ague Conquered. Fever and Acne cured for Fifty Cent. There i rrn a retrieval aeT.t in this world that will cure Fever a;;i V rue ar.d all other Mslar!o-;s. IlKlous. er.i other fever? ald-VI by Railway's I'ilis; fu quickly as Ra J way's Ready Relief. Fifty Cents Per Bottle. Sold by Druggists. 7AV Ssrsi sparillian ''.Li Cut is the only positive cure for KIDNEY AM EUDDER COMPLAINTS, Urinary and Womb Diseases. Clravcl, Dialetes. Dropt-y. i-t"ppa;e of Water, incontinence of Ciine. i;riht's Di a?e. Albuminuria, and all ca?es where ther. are briik dust deposits, or the water is thick, cloudy, mixed with substances l.ke the white of an or threads like white Fi!k. or there is a morbid, rinrk. bilious appearance, anl white l-neduit deposits, and when there is a prickinc. I. urn in;: sensation when passing water, anl pit !n th small of the Lack ar.l alon? the loins. Ther is a clasi cf complaints thrit every ladv is more or less trouhtc-l with, and often suffers hours of an?ui?h. not knowing what to do. and disliking to consult a physician. In KADWAV'S SAKsAPAKILLIAN liF.SOLVFNT-a reme.lv is ready pie-pared that will cure every f-vrm of Ladies" Complaints, and restore healthful regularity to those suffrir.; from Si;ppresslins. Retentions, or Irrt-ular M-r-struatlon. In case of lonc-standlnp I.Aucorrhea or weakening discharges, railing' of the Womb. Tumors, or Hard Lumps, or Ulcers in the Womb, it cur-s with mirveious rapidity, in cases of Hysterics. Headaches Bud Dreams, and the maty symptoms that are constantly present, this remedy H1 cure at once. Kvery ri-.y FhouM procure a supp-V of tne SAKxAPAUILLIAN RF.SOI-VKNT. It will keen the blood pure and healthy. m;tke you feel bright, cheerful, happy, stronsr and vigorous, insure you a good appetite and a clear, beau'-lful skin. IT INCREASES THE FLESH. ir3 p , from a continual i'.r.iin on her System, waste 1 away from IC pound! to 75 pounds in the course of tourteen months. She had used barks, iron sulphuric acid, quinine and rainy of th much vaunted nostrums of the da. as well as all kr.lds of Injections, and st 1 crew t -or.se. Sh? commence. i the use of KADWAYVS SAKSAFAKILLIAN UKSOl VFXT in one m'uth she g:;ir.ei 1:1 weicht 10 p;und. Day after cay fne witnessed an increase of fiWi and decrees of waste of Leuchorrea. In two months she was entirely cured of tre Lehorr.i and in six months hd paired H.-T POUNDS IN WKIOHT. Sh- is m-w in the possession of h-alth and be.u:ty T et ail 8lck!v ladies take the tiAiIsAl AI.H--LIAN HKgOLVEXT. SKIN DISEASES, KIM335 ÄÜD SORES. id cure the SOLVF.NT. Let it be tried. The Moit Keonomlcnl. The Host. Smaller I- Tlinn Oilier SarmipiylllnN, Hut More Concentrated. One In.tile contains mote cf the active principle of no-lieine thai any o'her preparation. Taken in teasiM.nlal doses, while others require live or six tunes aj much. Sjhl ty drus?ist?. Price 51. frü w yu M li Pnrelv- vegetable, mill Rnl reliable. Cans perfect Digestion, complete absorption and healthful regularity. For the cure of all disorders of the Stomach. Liver. B wels. Kidneys. Plädier. Nervous Diseases, Constipation. Cost iven ess, LOSS OF APPETITE, SICK HEADACHE, INDIGESTION. BILIOUSNESS, CONSTIPATION, DYSPEPSIA. Observe the following symptoms resulting from diseases of the digestive organs: Ccnstipatlon, inward idle, fullness of blood in the head, acidity of the stomach, nausea, heartburn, disgust of food, fullness or weicht of the stomach, sour eructations, sinking or fluttering of the heartchoking or suffocating sensations when in a lyintr posture, dimness of vision, dots or webs before the siht. fever and dull pain in the head, deficiency in perspiration, yellowness of the skin and eyes. pair, in the side, chest, limbs, and sudden Hushes of heat, burning in the flesh. A few doses of UADWAY'S PILLS will free the system of .11 the above-named disorders. Price 2e Per Box. Sold tjr Omtirt.ts Snd to DR. RAD WAY & CO., No. Wairen-st.. New York, for Book of Advice. When wrltlns please mention The Sentinel.

yfl IP d Li LI U

PAD Oil

Is no rem od v tn.it w

surferer of Palt Kheum. ltlnc Worm. Kryslpelas. St. Anth-ny's Fire. Tetters Itash. Pimples. Hlotches. ITickly Heat Ach ar.l 'res fleers. Foils. Humors of all kinds. or o.-.ol- as the SAnSAI'AHILLIAX Uli-