Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1889 — Page 3

SONGS. ♦ . f THOMAS O tender song* I Heart-heavings of the breast that longs Its best-beloved to meet; You tell of love’s delightful hours. Of meetings amid jasmine bowers, And vows, like perfume of young flowers As fleeting—but more sweet Oglorious songs!' That rouse the brave ’gainst tyrant wrongs, Resounding near and far; Mingled with trumpet and with drum, Your spifit-stirrring summons come, To urge the hero from his home, And arm him for the war. O mournful songs! When Sorrow’s hosts, in gloomy throngs, Assail the widowed heart; You speak in softly soothing strain, The praise of those whom death has ta’en, And tell that we shall meet again, And meet no more to part. O lovely songs— ———~ Breathings of heaven! to you belongs The empire of the heart. Enthroned in memory, still reign O’er minds of prince and peer and swain, With gentle power that knows not wane Till thought and life depart.

TOO LATE.

; A Story of St. Valentine’s Day, CHAPTER VII (Continued). Fifteen minutes later, and the deadly bullet lay in Nell Thanet’s slight hand, which then, and not till then, showed signs of tremor. - ~—r- ——— Sir William eyed her keenly, Her ■eye sank beneath his searching look; ®he turned -hastily away and applied herself to- the dressing of the patient’s wound; but she was not as deft as usual; somehow her sight seemed at fault, and some large tears fell. Sir William quickly took the appliances from her hand. “Let me finish,” he said. “You have done enough for one day—you have made yourself a name. And now,” he continued, bending over the ■Colenel, “all you have to do is to get well. You have plenty of strength for that, thanks to Dr. Thanet.” “Doctor who?” asked the sick man ■quickly. “Thanet,” answered Sir William—- •“ Doctor Thanet.” ■- “Oh, why did you?” cried Nell suddenly. “He has fainted.” She spoke in her natural voice, not in the rougher tone she • had assumed. Only Sir William noted the change; but he made no remark. He administered a stimulant, and in a little while Lyon Leslie returned to consciousness. He looked eagerly round; but Nell had drawn back; only Sir William’s great form was visible. “Your life depends on absolute quiet,” he said. “Take this, and «leep.” Sir William was not a man to be disobeyed; the Colonel was fain to do his bidding, and, in a few minutes, as from very weariness, his eyes closed, and he slept. Nell then left some directions with Mrs. Mctan, and followed Sir William into another room. Mr. Parr was in haste to be gone, to carry the glad tidings to Lady Masters. “You are an ornament, sir, to the profession, r ” he said, shaking Nell’s hand warmly. “You’ll be a great man some day.”

Nell’s heart sank within her as the door closed, and she was alone with Sir William. She was afraid, she scarcely knew why. He did not leave her long in suspense. He came up to her, took her passive hands in his firm .grasp. “Young lady,” he said kindly, “I have penetrated your secret ’ You know I am an inapproachable anatomfst”—smiling. “You are safe with ■me, and I wish you all success. Greater skill I never witnessed than I witnessed to-day; and I have had much •experience. Tell me one thing—l do not ask from idle curiosity—did you know Colonel Gordon before?” “Yes,” she answered, trembling; “but I did not know it was he at first. I begged my brother to let me see the case, as I had made surgery a more particular study than he had, and so I was led on. He does not recognize me, and did not know my name—l was only ‘the doctor’ to him till you told him. Sir William, you will not betray ■me? Randall can do all that is necessary now.”

“Doctor Helen Thanet,” he said, “you see I know all about you-—l’ve heard a good deal. Your secret, whatever it is, is safe with me; but I refuse to give Dr. Randall Thanet the credit of what you have done. No one need know how you managed it; but the vase and your name must be in the medical journals. And, take my advice, my dear young lady and fellowworker—take your brother’s name off your door. You can only injure each other. This is not a sort of thing you can do again with impunity. I’ve been told quite lately a good deal about your brother; he is young enough to choose another career. I speak to you as I would to my own daughter. I only vish I hud such a one. Tfien he raised Nell’s hand to his lips and took his 1 departure. The. adv*ee given by Sir William <heque was followed. Randall’s ijamo d isappeared from his door; only his lister’s remained. He had retired from the medical prflfesssion to follow that of literature, that was the simple c.tinouncvment made—he preferred \ ooks. But a great care was taken off Nell’s Apprehensive heart, and an intoleraVlc load off Randall’s. He could be himiclf now. live Lis own life, and feel to bis fcllow-mun. It was of necessity a titter disappointment to his father, who was at, first disposed to resent it an Nell, and Inclined to regard her success as an vctual injustice to her brother. It took time to force the conviction on

him of, in this instance, at any rata, female supremacy; and, when at last he grudgingly admitted that his daughter had won what his son had lost, and that by superior acquirements, he qualified the acknowledgement by asserting that the latter had failed,.not from lack of capacity, but because he had obstinately elected to become that “devious and indefinable thing a litterateur,''' Prudent Mrs. Thanet never once said, “I told you so!” She was more than satisfied that for her boy the strain of a distasteful calling was at an end, and she wrote some words of approval and cheer, urging him to justify the step he had taken by doing what she was sure he would do, making the same mark in his new profession his sister had in the one of which she was such an ornament. And in time, in very despite of himself, her husband took an increasing interest in his daughter’s career, and pride in her triumphs; but, by a strange contradiction, as it seemed, but in reality only in simple conformity to a nature given to fixed idoas, when the son, who had disappointed him so keenly did make the mark his mother predicted he would in the world of. letters, he felt neither pride nor satisfaction, and acknowledged no merit. A great eagerness seemed to have come on Doctor Randall Thanet’s patient, an eagerness to recover. He was no longer quiet and enduring, he was restless and unsatisfied. “I did not know that you were my old acquaintance Randall Thanet,” he said to the latter, the evening of the operation. “You have placed me under a life-long obligation.” Randall chafed at the undesired acknowledgement.

“I only discovered your identity,” he said ha—ly, “by accident; but you take a wrong view of the matter; it is my profession that is under obligation to you. You have afforded it one of the most interesting cases of the day; to me personally you owe nothing, absolutely nothing on the score of skill.” “Nurse,, said the colonel, a few days later, “Doctor Thanet has npver boon the same since the operation—l mean at night. I used to watch for his night-visits—he seemed to bring an atmosphere of soothing calm with him—he never now arranges my pillow’—l asked him once; but he was so awkward—and then his voice seemed to be so soft. It is such a strange metamorphosis. I can’t account for it. ” Mrs. Mcllan thought how easily she could; but she only smiled, and said the Colonel was getting well and seeing things as they were, and not as he fancied. But the Colonel was not satisfied.

At last the day came when it was pronounced safe for Colonel LeslieGordon to be moved to the country. He was to go to his sister’s countryseat. Randall came to bid him goodbye, and to see him safely conveyed to the station. He did not seem to require much care and he said so. Wasted still, and worn-looking, there were evidences of quickly returning strength. He had that morning dressed himself without assistance—he told Randall so with satisfaction—and the day before had taken a half-hour’s walk in the Green Park without much fatigue, “I’m naturally strong,” he said. “A week of country air will set me on my legs. You’ll see that I’ll be at the opening of Parliament.” Then he paused, and added hesitatingly—“ How is your sister, Randall? I can’t forget you were only a lad when I was at—at Thorpe.”

“My sister is well,” Randall replied, a little stifly. “She lives with me”— he did not add she practised. “She—she went in for medicine, didn’t she?—to be a—a nurse, I suppose?” , ~ / "My sister, Colonel Gordon, is one of the most rising physicians of the day. I hear the carriage—you mustn’t be late for the train;” and, with an air of hauteur, Randall lifted the Colonel’s wraps and led the way to the door. It had been on Lyon Leslie’s tongue to ask if his old acquaintance, the pretty Nell, still held him in remembrance; but the flush on her brother’s cheek warned him that he was on dangerous ground, With a heavy sigh, a feeling of intolerable smallness, a sudden swelling up of a yearning regret, a dissatisfaction with himself and with Randall, he followed the latter to the carriage. “I will come and see you,” he said, as he took Randall’s reluctant hand. “Will you remember me to your sister?” Randall bowed gravely, but said nothing.

CHAPTER VIII.

Colonel Gordon, in his anxiety to get well, had kept early hours at his sister’s luxurious mansion. To-night the chimes clock in the. great hall had tolled the third hour of the morning before he sought his pillow. . For hours, whose flight he hardly noted, he had sat in a great arm chair before the fire, in his hand a lock of dark hair, and on a tiny table at his side a massive gold locket and chain; close this lay an open journal—the Lancets The page at which it was open bore a mark from a blue pencil. He had read the article so marked until he could have repeated the article without case. He knew now to whom he owed his life. Late on the following day, five by his watch, he stood in a little room where Doctor Helen Thanet received her patients in the forenoon, watting her return from her rounds. She was not as punctual as usual. A difficult caste, the servants supposed. Randall was opportunely absent. He was not expected to return until the morning. <’ She came at last, her light ulster on her arm, and her close plain hat in her hand—glad, that the day'a work wag over, just a little tired and anxious.

“A gentleman, ma’am, who would not be denied,” the servant said; “he has come with a message for you. He is not a patient”—for Nell saw no patients Jn her own house after a certain hour, - And thus these two were once more face to face. The servant had gently closed the door as he retired from showing his mistress in. jlylfor the moment Nell forgot the prostrate man, the fateful, illness, the watching, and the anguish of the month that had passed; she did not hear the faint moan, or see the feverlighted eyes and the hollow cheeks. Memory rushed back on her—a winter's day, now eight years a thing of the past. It filled her ears with the rush ahd bustle of a departing train and the imperative ring of a bell; it sounded like a knell now. It showed her, in dim gas-light, an' eager, halfashamed face bending towards hers. A warm, tremulous hand grasped hers. The words “Dinna forget” came back to her like a long-lost melody. Her lips moved as at a magnetic touch; she shivered—the vain phantasy had passed, and she was herself once more—herself—calm, cool, but gentle withal. ' **l am glad to see you so much better, Colonel Gordon,” were the quiet,

conventional words she spoke. She did not hold out her hand in greeting. “Will you not sit down? You must not try your strength yety” ~ and she brought a chair forward. He pushed it aside. With a sudden action, against which she was powerless, he seized her hand, and drew her to the fading light. He was still weak, even then she could see that, and he was pale and haggard; but his eyes were eager; they looked a victor’s. “Nell, Nell,” he cried, “you haven’t forgotten—l know you haven’t! I owe you one life; will you not give me back another? I have never loved another woman, though I have tried. I am rich now. I have a name. I lay all at your feet, Nell, my darling. Look at me with your sweet true eyes, as you did by the lake that summer day, and tell me you lova' me still, and —and—forgive me.” She did not try to release, her hand. She stood calmly still, as she answered— “ You say you have tried to love another. I never did, Lyon Leslie; you had my first, and you will have my last. I can never forget; but I will never marry you—never marry any one. Let my hand go free”—he had drawn her nearer. 4 ‘There is a gulf between us that can never be bridged. Leave me in peace. lam not unhappy now.”

She had struggled free, but did not turn aside. la the strength of betrayed trust, of conquered self, she stood erect and cold. All suddenly she seemed to him unapproachable as an accusing spirit, and invested with a dignity that raised her, even in person, above his height; and yet she was but a slender girl, of no commanding presence, so to speak, and with no striking beauty to catch the eye. “Nell, I did you wrong,” he pleaded; “but what could I do? I was poor in those days, and you were not all serious either, or you would not be given a gage d'amour to that man who calls himself the Baron von Melkenburg. I saw it —it was a link of the chain I sent you, and it had inside the words ‘dinna forget.’ .” Then, as if suddenly inspired he continued, “I did love you, Nell, but when I found your love was not so very deep as I had believed, I thought myself free; but I was not. Your spell has been oh me always—l never could forget.” She looked at him with a strange wondering sorrow in her eyes. “Lyon,” she said very gently, “you ■are even less true than I thought you. You know in your heart that I never gave that man the link he showed you. You knew it when he made the boast; but you accepted the lie—it justified your falseness. You were present when he repeated that lie; and you saw the punishment he got; but you said not a word. You are not a true man, Colonel Leslie-Gordon; the Lyon Leslie I loved was a creature of my own creation, and, like the baseless fabrics of all such visions, he has vanished. Do not mistake me; what I thought he was I shall always love, and I shall dream no more dreams.” Then she turned quickly and opened a secret drawer in a cabinet, and laid in his hand the tiny link that had been returned to her so many years ago. “Andrew Kennett sent it bac«c to me,” she said; “it was stolen from my room. Read that”

He obeyed her, taking from her a slip of paper and opening it. It ran thus—“l do confess I did take a link out of Miss Thanet’s chain. I did find the chain on her table one morning; her room was open, and I did do it for a bit of fun.” That was all. The document was signed in due form by the Baron. “Then why,” he asked trembling, ashamed—“why did you return me the chain?” “Because," she replied simply—“because. Colonel Gordon, I read your note to my mother, and I thought it better to take no love-gift until I was old enough to understand the tender passion. ,T She looked at him, with r.o scorn in her sweet eyas, only very sorrowful, as if for both. A moment’s silence, and then a great wave of passion rose in the man’s heart. He dashed the link into the fire, the chain and locket, too; only the soft curl-he held safe and close. He knelt to her, he pleaded his rescue from death at her hands—instinct told him we love the thing we serve—her own love, which he defied her to deny or to live down; he swore he would only live at her bidding, that body, soul and spirit were her’s and her’» only for all time, and to all hereafter. He challenged her to take on

her blood-guiltiness, that more than real life lay at her word—a human soul. “I will be what you make me, Nell; you will ratee me step by step till I come to your ideal once more, the Lyon Leslie, dear, who stood by your side, your hand in his, watching the forget-me-nots drift down the little steam. If no one had come between us with wordly wisdom and cold caption these words would never have been penned—other words would have been spoken that never could have been unsaid, and T would have been bound to you. We Leslies are men of honor, Nell.”

“Are you?” she said. “Then Ido not rightly know what honor means. Do you know I am glad you did not speak those words, for then perhaps my eyes might have been opened too late; now I remember one that perished. ” Her voice was soft and low, then it changed and she went on almost passionately, yet with a strong restraint that told how well self was governed. “I would not do you the injustice to marry you, Colonel Gordon, because I could never forget how lightly you held the love that was all the world, to me, and I could never trust you wholly. Can you realize now—perhaps you can, for I see you do suffer—that you blighted my woman’s life, that you nearly broke my heart, Lyon Leslie? Hush!” she added, as he would have interrupted her. “Listen a brief moment! My art has taught me much, it has taught me of diseases so inherent in the body as to be beyond the skill of medicine to cure: the taint can only be covered,

but to break out again and again; and as the body is, so is the mind. A taint will break out again and again. Your heart is not sound, Lyon Leslie; °it would, play me false again. It played you false this very hour, when you tried to lay the blame of your old cold caution on another, tried even to make me believe that you had thought me fickle; you knew it was not truth you spoke. Untruth is inherent in your nature, and the taint will break but again and again. I will not link my fate with yours.” At these strong words his mood changed; he was stung to the quick; so stung, anger mastered shame. “So be it!” he cried. “I will not ask again; your unnatural calling has made you cruel. You are a pedant, you are self-righteous. Il is human to err, it is divine to forgive; you would not be divine if you could ” He turned from her with a bitter pang; she stood so meekly still, her spiritual face pale with anguish; but there was no wavering there. She looked at him with a dumb reproaoh, and then, noting his changing color, she remembered how weak he must necessarily be still, as indeed ho was—things began to seem indistinct before him, and he caught at the table as he made for the door.

“Say,” she cried; “drink this”— holding to his lips a cordial hastily poured out. It was the old tone of authority strangely familiar to him; it seemed natural to him to obey. In his weakness he was conscious of the soothing sensation her presence had before produced, when she smdothed his sick pillow at nfght. “Nell,” he said, pleading once more —“Nell, my very pride is dead. I will be abject to you. Will you not forgive?” ’ “Forgive you, Lyon? Yes, I forgive you; but we meet no more.” Her tears fell fast, but 'her voice was steady. She went on, taking his hand in her’s and holding it as in farewell—- “ And do me no further injustice, for the man I loved I shall love always, the Lyon Leslie I knew before that Valentine’s Day eight years ago. No other shall ever take his for the years that may still be mine, I live for my art alone; but”—she caught his hand and held it to her heart, looking up to him with eyes full of pain and resolve, pouring out her words with sohs— _TS

“ ‘Perchance and so thou purify thy soul, And so thou lean on our fair father Christ, Hereafter in that world where all are pure. We two may meet before High God, ana thou Wilt spring to me and claim me thine.’ ” She ceased. He stood, as if stunned, in his dumb agony. Then she leant forward, raised her face to his, which had sunk on his breast, laid a light kiss on his quivering eyes, and left him there.

A few weeks later, the departure of Colonel Leslie-Gordon for the Continent was announced. He had gone, so said the papers, to recruit his strength before assuming the ■ comitaand of his regiment, ordered to Africa on active service. Lady Masters accompanied him. The Baron von Melkenburg did not make the noble alliance the society journals had announced. At Nell’s request Randall sought an interview with the Earl of Wratelm, and laid before him a short document containing certain revelations made by the late William Stubbs, once stud-groom to Squire Nettlethorpe of Nettlethorpe Hall. That part of the revelations touching sundry turf transactions wai pooh-poohed by. the noble Earl, but, when they extended to particulars of the Baron’s parentage and true patronymic, which was—as set forth ir the said revelations-jr-Bill Batts, his righteous wrath broke out, and his sense of honor experienced a sudden quickening. He was able to make very good terms with the illustrious foreigner, and Lady Wester Wedgter has entered once b more in the homeruining for the matrimonial stakes. Nell knows no hours of vain regret Her art fills her life: she somt< times questions, when for a brief mc« ment that dull aching tells how deci her wound has been, if it is indeed “Better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at aILTHE END.

Protection Against Fliea.

The plague of flies touches a very 'tender spot—the pocketbook—for it| causes animals to lose flesh, or at least to make less gain than they would otherwise. By affording protection to the animals, we save money as truly as we do by giving them comfortable shelter. The best protection for hogs is the wallow. Though cattle have tough hides, flies occasion them much discomfort, and It is humane and profitable to make a smudge. In some situations this is actually necessary at certain seasons. The animals soon learn to take advantage of the smoke. Horses suffer greatly from flies, on account of a tenderer skin and sensitive nervous organization. When we have them at work, their struggles against their tormentors are annoying to ue. It is unpleasant to use animals kicking, biting, and stamping at flies. For farm teams the cheapest protection is leather nets. With reasonable care these will last for years. They should be cleaned and oiled at least once a month while they are in use, or the sweat ol the animal will rapidly rot them. They increase the warmth of the animal at little as any efficient protection. Cotton nets are a good protection to tho carriage horse, but are not strong enough for farm work. Those who cannot buy leather nets should get the coarsest gunny sacking. This, being very open does not much heat the animal. The cover should reach over the neck with pockets to cover the ears. These cov-

ers should be washed once a month while in use, and when they are put away at the end of fly time. Gnats infest the inside of horses’ ears. Pure Jard is a good protection, applied once a day. The deposit by the bot fly of its eggs under the jaw makes many horses unmanageable. A cloth can be .tied to the bridle in such a way as to protect the jaw. The legs of horses require protection more than their bodies. Flies choose the legs, as the skin in these parts is thinner, and the blood vessels are nearer the surface. It is strange that we do not oftener see the legs of the animals protected, as the flies are not much disturbed by stamping. Leggins from old oVerhalls or made from gunny sacks, are good material, and the man ashamed to drive a team so protected about his farm has more false pride than good sense. Leggins made lika the leather nets for the body are, in the end, the cheapest and can be made by any harness maker.—American Agriculturist

Not the Kind He Wanted.

“Had a narrow escape with that horse of mine this morning.” “Is that so?” “Yes; he started full speed down the carriage road with the whole family in the surrey, lines dragging and no one to hold him. , Luckily the gate was fast. He ran up against it and stopped.” “Well, I should sell him.” “Oh, I don’t know. Any horse might do that” “Maybe, but I wouldn’t have a horse that stopped just as he struck a fast gait?’—Detroit Journal.

Cinders in the Eyes.

Few persons have traveled much on railways without having their eyes hurt by cinders, and there is hardly a ’ train run when the cars are not all j closed without some passenger being thus affected, often very painfully. So a capital plan is that adopted on the Old Colony Tailroad , The conductors are all to be instructed by an expert occulist in the art of removing cinders from the eyes of passengers. The best method in all such cases, if the flow of tears does not soon wash out the foreign substance, as it usually will unless it be a sharp cinder, is to turn back the eyelid, have the eyeball rolled, by looking downward or otherwise, to bring the cinder or dust to view, and remove it with the corner of a clean linen handkerchief. If it clings too tightly for this it can be loosened and removed with the moistened end of a wooden toothpick. The irritation caused is much modified if not entirely relieved by holding the closed eyes in cold water for a few minutes. If it continues severe drop into the eye a solution of sugar of lead qr of white vitriol (sulphate of zinc), say what will lie on a silver half-dime, in half a tumbler of pure water, preferably using very clean rain water.

Reason Dethroned.

Judge—“ Did you ever notice any signs of insanity in the deceased?’’ Witness (a Member of the Legislature) —"Well, once, when he. was a Member of the Legislature, he introduced a bill that wasn’t a particle of interest to anybody—except taxnayers. -New York Weekly.

Correct English.

Teacher—“ What gender is girl?” Bright Boy—“ Sometimes feminine and sometimes neuter.” “Humph! When is a girl neuter gender?" “When she’s playin’ tag and is it.’” —New York Weekly.

Not the Rising Kind.

.1 ■ Romantic Daughter—“ Mother, you. must admit Mr. Dudelette is a rising young man.” Old Lady—“ Humph! I saw him sit- , ting in.a crowded street car the other day, when a poor old woman entered, and he didn’t rise any, that I notice^ 1 ’ j —New York Weekly.

SUPERFICIAL SURVEY.

A vessel has bean built at Belfast, Ireland, 562 feet long. * New Jersey** annual crop of oysters i« valued at 12,001,000. Rain has almost rained the Hudson River Valley grape crop. English capitalists are trying to buy breweries in Germany. Representatives of 270,000 miners demand 8 hours in a day’s work. St Louis is to have an elevated railroad 17 miles long to cost 87,000,000. Of New York city’s 1,500,000 people, 1,100,000 live in tenement houses. New York- school book publishers deny that they have formed a “trust" Rochester, N. Y., fines milk dealers $25 or 25 days in prison for adulteration. •‘The Angelua" picture has finally been sold to an American society for $116,000. The Sunday closing movement in Baltlmore is causing considerable excitement; ?

An ice trust, to control the manufacture and sale of artificial ice in the south has been formed. Cattlemen report that the Texas fever is playing havoc among the cattle in the Indian territory. < ■ Earnest efforts are again being made m the New York wholesale drag trade to organize a drug exchange. A monument costing $200,000, erected to the Pilgrim Fathers, was dedicated at Plymouth, Mass., last week. The new postal cards are to be made in three sizes, one smaller, one larger and one the same size as the present one. The ranks of the Knights of Labor are to be swelled by the 90,000 tailors and Cloth-, ing cutters of the United States. America is not given to jewelry, gauds or trappings, but those familiar with the business say that she has a seal ring. Natural gas has been struck in Buffalo, N. Y. Experts believe there is sufficient gaa underlying the city to supply its wants. In New York city 50,000 persons walk the streets at night for want of a home, and as many more are not sure of their breakfast. A Nebraska justice has discharged a man accused of stealing an umbrella on a rainy day, on the ground that he acted in selfdefense. Tho train robber does not always work single handed when he uncouples, nor does he always “go broke” when he puts down the crakes. Emma Abbott has ordered a $4,000 gown in Paris. This may not affect the quality of her low notes, but it will make her more high toned.

A man named Gabriel, living at Monterey, Cal., claims to ba 150 years old. The Gabriel family has a weekness for blowing its own horn. The newspapers of tbe United States owe an apology to A. Bentley Worthington. Many of them have credited him with less wives than he has. Queen Victoria has been appointed to the command of the First Dragoon Guards of Berlin. The troops will be at once instructed in the broom drill. The product of pig iron in Alabama for the first six months of this year was 396,346 tons, against 193,696 tons for the same period of last year. The judge of probate of Candor, D. T., lias disappeared with a large amount of the people’s cash. Candor will compel him to return, if he is found. The forest fires which have been raging in Montana have destroyed timber and other property to the amount of several hundred thousand dollars. Massachusetts factory laws are being enforced. Children are not allowed to clean the machines, and girls must tie up their hair to avoid being scalped. 1 A man in Chicago threatens suicide if that city does not prove to be larger than Brooklyn. His fellow-citizens do not care what he does, it he will only live long enough to be counted. |

An Arkansas hermit with a criminal record is guarded by six dogs and six goats. Any man of experience would prefer to meet all six of the dogs rather than one of the goats. The number of cigarettes manufactured last year was 2,150,000,000, nearly 300,000,009 more than during the previous year. Reports as to the mortality of the year are awaited with interest Tbe undertakers fear that they cannot live if the Brown-Sequard experiment becomes a demonstrated success. In that case let them take the Brown-Sequard treatment and they cannot die. —— Great Britain is negotiating a commercial treaty with Japan,, by which the whole interior of Japan is to be opened to British trade, and Great Britain will surrender the present judicial privileges of her subjects in Japan. The brightest of English magazines have but small circulations compared with those of America. Tbe New Review, into which Archibald Graves is putting so much energy, starts off with only twenty-five thousand copies. It is stated that the fossilized hand of a gigantic man recently found at Kearney, Neb., being broken open, was found to contain a number of diamonds. Perhaps he ’ held too many for the others in the game, and hence is a fossil. The University of Oxford commands facilities for printing in 150 languages. Just how many languages the editor commands when speaking of the proof-reader is not stated. Fifteen thousand would be about the comparative figure. The ice cream terror is reported to have given place to a new and even more formidable obstacle to the happiness ot young men at tbe summer resorts. It is all the style now for young gallants to buy little balloons to match their young ladies’ dresses.

One of the best tributes te the regard in which women are held is found in the fact that men, the world over, revolt at the thought of hanging one of that sex, even though she may have committed murder. This feeling is so strong -in England that Mrs. Maybrick may escape the full penalty of the law. Italian women who land at Castle Gardea do not generally wear bustles, but Maria Vincenz Chiara Carrichina was observed to have one on the other day and to be rather anxious about it. She was therefore invited to step into the office, where a female inspector, whose curiosity had been excited, proceeded to explore the uncommon ' appendage. Her search was rewarded by the discovery of five gold chains, thirtythree pairs of kid gloves, two gold-mounted smelling bottles, two silver watch chains, nine gold finger rings, five gold pendants, and five pairs of gold earrings. The jewelry was confiscated, and blgnorina Carrichina held to answer the charge of smuggling.