Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1889 — Page 2

SHE SPANKS.

And Makes Youngsters Howl at Two Shillings a Spank. Absolutely" the latest importation frqm England established herself yesterday on Upper Broadway, says the New York Sun. She is a tall and rather hard-featured woman from Manches- ' ter, who displays the extraordinary sigh on the door of her flat: Disciplinarian of Children. ; Her sister established the particular ••profession” which she follows in London nearly two years ago. and it is now transplanted to New York. Jhe mothers and fathers of families., will probably be able to judge whether the idea is worth encouraging or not. •‘My sister,” said the Manchester woman who has established herself here, “realizing that the majority of mothers love their children too much to punish them severely, conceived the idea of setting herself up as a public disciplinarian. She is a woman of great force of character and unerring judgement in all matters concerning children, and she had extensive experience as a visiting nurse before adopting her present business. It is her idea that children are more severely punished when they are frightened than through any physical means. To slap a child injhe heat of passion while the child is excited and unruly does not have half as salutary an effect as the more mature and considered punishment, such as imprisonment in a dark wardrobe or sending the little one to bed without supper. Better than thisis to threaten the child with a visit from the bugaboo. The dread of the arrival of this awful personage will act as an incentive to good conduct with the most fractious children in the world. My sister is a bugaboo, and that is about what I am. The fee in England for visiting a house and disciplining the children is 2 shillings. This involves medical advice drawn from the fund of considerable experience in the world, besides whatever suggestions the condition of things may naturally lead up to. Besides this part of my business, I hope to teach, doctor and nurse the, little ones. Of course, there are points of antagonism between these different functions, but the effect is good upon the children.

A Diabolical Merry-go-round.

Until a tew days ago a merry-go-round made a dismal vacant lot on Fifth avenue a very-paradise to the young folks ofSoho.savs the Pittsburg Dispatch. The man who owned the whirligig made lots of money while he tarried there. A gentleman who lives near by calculated that no less than S6O were exchanged for rides on the mer-ry-go-round every day that was fine. Still the owner of the flying horses did not have things all. his own way. Now and then a gang of toughs would descend upon him and insist on running things to suit themselves. After one or two such visitations the showman determined to give the toughs a surprise party the next time they came. A day or two afterward a dozen hard characters, ranging from 12 to 16 years, appeared upon the scene and a young fellow with closely cropped hair, a black eye, and a square chin stepped up to the showman and said: ‘'Say, mister, We’se goin’ to ride on dis yer machine an’ we ain’t goin to pay—--see!” To the surprise and even disappoint□ffiEttLOf the young sluggers their victim smiled pleasantly and said: ‘All right!—geton.” So the short-haired citizens mounted the flying horses, and the showman started the machine. Around went the toughs in great glee. The machine went a little faster, and the riders howled for joy. Again the speed increased and the howls grew fainter and further apart. The showman turned ou all the steam, and the mer-ry-go-round 'whirled_ like_ a Jiumming top at its first gait The boys were shotting no longer. Silence would have reigned but for the rattle and creaking of the machine. For two or three minutes the big wheel revolved with tremendous rapidity. Then like ripe apples the young toughs, with pale, scared faces, began to hustle through the air. They struck the ground anything but softly, but they usually got up quickly and staggered away. ' If they lingered the showman helped them along with a base-ball bat. When the machine stopped only two desperadoes, looking deathly sick, still clung to the hobby horses. * They looked so miserable that the showman allowed them to climb down and slink away without any assistance from his club. He was never bothered with the noble comrades of the owl gang again.

Coal in the Northwest.

In the Canadian northwest there are immense coal fields. The coal-bearing area is estimated at. 6.5,000 square miles, and the quantity of fuel underlying at 4,500,000 to 9,000;00O tons per square mile. There is lignite in the Souris country in Manitoba, not far from the United States boundary. Farther west the true bituminous is struck at the Galt mines, near the Rockies and near the United States line. ‘AU along the C nadian Pacific railway there is more or less coal, but the outcrop is pariieul rly noticeable as the Rocky Mountains are approached from the east. All the coal supplied to the CaruulUh Pacific at Brandon and points west is exclusively the product of Cananda. As already stated, anthracite is found in unlimited quantity in the heart of the Rockies, and this coal field is so much nearer California, Oregon, Washington Territory, etc,, thun any United States anthracite coal field, the chances are in favor of its proprietors findiijE an unlimited demand among the millions on the Pacific coast When Vancouver Island is reached, here is another coal field of unlimited extent.

Characteristic.

The ocean steamer’ was speeding along when a gigantic iceberg hove in sight. The pitssengers crowded the bulwarks to sec and ■ drnirc it "What .. d<>_y«u think of th .t?" said the Englishman to the Americ in. *“Waail,” was the reply,. "I rbould say there were no files on it/’—Boston Courier.

AT HARPER’S FERRY.

Unflinching Courage of Stevens in Face of Death. During the John Brown rrfid at Harper’s Ferry, says the Philadelphia Press, while Brown held the armory yard and engine house, he had pickets stationed at different points commanding the approaches. John Brown’s right-hand man, Lieut. Stevens, with four men, held the end of the bridge which crosses the Potomac until they were driven thence by the citizens of Harper's Ferry. They then retreated towards the engine house held by John Brown. Meantime ten or twelve men (citizens) entered the Gault House by means of the and, by 'firing from the windows, and doorway of the bar room of the saloon, they Were able to command the street-from the end of the bridge to the engine house. As Stevens and party retreated along this street they were fired upon by the men in the Gault house, and one of the men, Thompson by name, fell. Stevens did not know this until he reached the engine house. Nothing daunted, in the face of almost certain death, he returned alone and tried to carry his ■ friend and comrade, Thompson, away. He was fired at, and fell badly wounded, but not before ho had returned the fire. He and 'Phompson were then carried into—the Shenandoah hotel. Then Thompson was immediately taken out on the bridge and shot and his body thrown into the river. The crowd then re-

turned for Stevens. Just as they entered the room Mrs. Foulke, the wife of the landlord, entered, and with the tender heart and love of mercy of a woman, pleaded with the crowd to spare Stevens’ life. Stevens, supposing that they were going to kill him then and there, with an effort raised himself on his elbow and said: “Gentlemen, have respect for the lady; do not kill me in her presence, but take me out and kill me.” His bravery saved his life for the time. He was taken to Charlestown, and afterwards tried, convicted and hanged. He mounted the scaffold firm and unflinching, with a smile on his countenance.

Keep Clean.

An old physician, being once appealed to for some general, comprehensive rule for the preservation of good health, replied • ‘Keep clean. 1 ' Cleanliness, from a medical point of view, generally means the absence of noxious germs. The laity generally comprehend in the term freedom from foreign substances, while the psychologist and moralist have reference to the purity of the mind and soul, would make the individual not only free from material pollutions, but would inspire him with a sense of cleanliness, a feeling of purity that would cleanse life and glorify the consciousness of living. There is a meaning in that word “clean” that penetrates beyond things seen, and touches the mental and spiritual nature of humanity. Cleanliness in a material sense may not abhor dissipation and debauches which oppress life with a sense of impurity, vitiating the sources of health and impairing its enjoyment. “Keep clean” is an admonition carrying with it an inspiration which not only invigorates life but m ikes it enjoyable and beautiful. Cleanliness brings not only comfort and health, but it adorns living, gives existence a charm, imparts consciousness of life, real enjoyment, thought and feeling of existence, the purpose and sanctity of living. There is a world of meaning in the two words “keep clean.” The physician, the psychologist and the moralist united in that one advice would give to humanity a law of health, the observance of which would not only purify physical existence, but would inspire a consciousness of the enjoyment of life and animate it with its hopes, purposes and. destiny.-—Sanitary.News*.

Bricklaying in Norway.

The singular fact is mentioned that while in Great Britain building operations are suspended on the slightest approach of frost bricklaying is carried on in Norway during almost the coldest weather that prevails anytime. Thus, in Christiania, building during the winter months, it is stated, has now been practiced for at least twelve years, but more frequently during the last five, all the buildings thus erected having stood remarkably well,Experience has not shown that walls built in winter exhibit, consequently, more dampness than those erected in summer. The reverse may be the case, since the difference between temperature of the air and of the mortar cools the latter by evaporation and takes away a great part of the moisture. According to the opinion of the principal builders in Christiana, bricklayers’ work executed with due care in winter, is really superior -to similar work done in summer—the whole art of such work in frosty weather consisting simply in the.use of unslacked lime, the mortar prepared with whiutQis to be made in small quantities immediately before use, the proportion of lime being increased as the thermometer falls; the only care required is to utilize the unslacked lime.so handily and quickly I as to enable the mortar to bind with the bricks before it cools. Another very important condition is that the bricks be always kept covered on the building site.

He Could Fit Lincoln's Feet.

A shoemaker who died at Scandara, Pa., not long ; go. started a fortune from making shoes for President Lincoln. The president hid large, ungainly feet, and all he wanted was to have easy shoes. He could not get shoemakers to make his shoes Urge enough. Soon after he was elected in 1860 ,Peter Kahler, a Scranton (Pa.) shoemaker, obtained a i outline drawing pt one of the president's feet, and sent him a pair of shdes that suited him exactly. Lincoln wrote a letter of thanks to Mr. Kahler, which he was shrewd ehough to have published. It brought him fame and he removed to New York, bee-me a “doctor,” a chiropodist, and a specialist. Carriage (wonle patronized him-nnd he accunralated’u considerable fortune. Lincoln continued to buy shoes of Kahler to the time of his death.—New York Sun. * • *

GERMANY’S ROYAL CHILDREN.

A Pretty Stdry for Young Folks of This Country. 1 The ydung Emperor of Germany, William IL, has five little boys. The eldest is 7 years old. Ho is the Crown Prince and the heir to the throne. He will some day be Emperor of Germany. He is a fine, manly little fellow. Germany is a very military country, and the Emperor William is such a thorough soldier that strict military discipline is the order of the day in the nurseries of his little people. As soon as petticoats are left off the tiny boys are dressed in baby uniforms, and the young Crown Prince looks quite like a little soldier. When their father visits them in their own quarters ' (as I suppose I ought to call such a very military nursery) the Crown Prince commands his smaller brothers to “fall in.” Then Frederick and Albert, who are scarcely more than babies, “fall in.” Little Prince Albert is such a mite that he is not able to keep his position for long, and he soon trots away to his nurse’s side. But the Crown Prince and Prince Frederick stand stiff and starched like real soldiers till their father returns their salute in proper fashion. When the little Crown Prince was 6 years old he was given a bedroom to himself instead of sleeping in the nursery with the others. He was very pleased, and said: “Oh, that is nice; now I need not be with the children any more.” ■ In the summer of 1888 all five boys had a charming holiday with their mother at the beautiful castle of Oberhof, in the forest of Thuringa. Their father was away. A little fort was built for them in the corner of the gardens, with a tent and two small cannon. The three eldest, dressed in officers’ uniforms, parade in front of the fort. Then while the Crown Prince beats the drum an old soldier showed the other two how to attack and defend -the fort. Little Prince Augustus William, who was only a year and a half, was dressed in white and wore a tiny helmet. He looked on and clapped his hands. In Germany every boy, whether he is the son of the emperor or of a peasant, has some day to be a soldier. The emperor is very fond of his five boys. Almost his first question is, when he returns home, “How are the boys?”

Burglars and Chloroform.

“I saw a statement from some anonymous scientific man in the newspapers the other day,” said a prominent physician to the Chicago News, “assuring people that they need be in no fear of the use of chloroform by burglars, as it was impossible to administer chloroform to a sleeping person without waking him upj But that is a mistake. It is true that chloroform can not be administered in the usual way by holding a cone containing a sponge or cloth saturated with chloroform to the face, without waking a person up, if he be asleep. But it is not to be supposed that burglars would administer it in that way. To do that they would.have to secure an entrance into the house and the bed room first; but one of their objects in administering chloroform is to enable them to break into the room without- awaking the inmates. This can be done easily enough by simply injecting chloroform into the room through the 7 key-hole, or any other aperture, with a syringe. Chloroform is very volatile, - nd the air of the room -will soon become sufficiently charged with it to produce, an unusually deep sleep, or stupor, which is all that is needed to make the sleepers unconscious of the picking of locks or the prying of windows. Once in the house, more chloroform can be poured on the bedding and the victims be brought completely under the influence. This is what has heen done repeatedly,and I -eee n&ben§fit to be derived fromputting people off their guard about such a danger? It is better to have them understand it so fully that any unusual ado in their rooms or any extraordinary drowsiness will excite their suspicions, and even wake them up when sleeping.”

How to Get Along In the World.

Pay as you go. Never “fool” in business matters. Learn to think and act for yourself. Do not kick every one in your path. Keep ahead rather than behind the times. Don’t stop to tell stories in business hours. Use your own brains rather than those of others. Have order, system, regularity and promptness. Do not meddle with business you know nothing of. A man of honor respects his word as he does his bond. If you have a place of business be found there when wanted. No man can get rich by sitting around stores and saloons. Learn to say no. No necessity of snapping it out dog fashion, but say it firmly and respectfully. Help others when you can, but never give what you cannot afford.to, simply because it is fashionable.

Good Country Roads.

The-one great obstacle in the way of securing permanently good country roads lies with those who in the end would be most benefitted by them, namely, the farmers. They, more than any other class, need good highways over which to transport their surplus produce to market, but they are the very ones who will fight against the expenditure of a dollar, although in the long run it would benefit them ten times as much, in the way of enabling them to market their stuffs at the best time, to say nothing of the saving in wear and tear on draft animals, vehicles and harness.

Emblems of the Trade.

Sullivan: “Say, Murphy, phwat th’ divil do th’ thrae balls mane over the pawnbroker's doure?’* MuTphy: * ‘Oi tought ivry Intilligeut mon knew they ffianes Fait’/ Hope, an’ Charity Time.

STUDY OF PALMISTRY.

A “Professor’’ of This Art Tells How to Analyze Character. Look at your hand. Do you read your character in it? Or study your girl’s hand and be wise. The science of chiponomy, or the meaning of the human hand, says the Indianapolis News, always excites curiosity, but few people understand it. Can a man’s character be read on his hand as well as you can read it in his face, or by the bumps on his head? ’Tis so claimed, and the science by which it is done is a pretty one. It has many branches, all ol them wed worth" studying. “If the palm of the hand is skinny and narrow,” said a “Professor” of the science, “it denotes timidity, a feeble mind and w >nt of moral and intellectual force. If the palm is too thick, big and strong, it denotes a low intelligence and a tendency to brutality. A hollow, deep palm always signifies misery, ill-luck and failure in life. Fingers which are smooth denote a tendency to act upon instinct, impulse or intuition rather than by reason, calculation or deduction, Knotty fingers denote a tendency to order and arrangement. People with short fingers are quick, more impulsive, act more on the spur of the moment, than people with long fingers. If the fingers are very short it signifies cruelty and want of tact “Long fingers denote a love of detail. Such persons are tidy as to thei r appointments, easily put out and very careful about trifles. Workers in small things always have large hands, and the constructors of colossal works always have small hands. Smallhanded people write large, whilst large-handed people always write small. “Thick fingers denote luxury. Twisted and malformed fingers, with short nails, denote cruelty, tyranny and a worrying, teasing disposition. If a hand is stiff and hard, opening with difficulty to its fullest extent, it betrays stubbornness of character and avarice. If the fingers are supple, having a tendency to turn back, they denote, as a rule, cleverness and inquisitiveness, nearly always generosity, ending in extravagance. If the fingers fit close together it is a sign of avarice. If twisted sb as to show chinks between them it is a sign of curiosity. If they are smooth and transparent they betray indiscretion and loquacity.”

Alexandre Dumas and the Dogs.

He could not even turn a dog out of doors. At his Abbotsford, “Monte Cristo,” the gates were open to everybody but bailiffs. His dog asked other dogs to come and stay; twelve came, making thirteen in all. The old butler wanted to turn them adrift, and Dumas consented and repented. “Michael,” he said, “there are some expenses which a man’s social position and the character which he has had the ill luck to receive from heaven force upon him. I don’t believe these dogs ruin me. Let them bide. But, in the interests of their own good-luck, see they are not thirteen, an unfortunate number!” “Monsieur, I’ll drive one of them away.” “No, no, Michel; let a fourteenth come. Those dogs cost me some three three pounds a month,” said Dumas. “A dinner to five or six friends would cost thrice as much, and, when they went home they w r ould say my wine was good, perhaps, but certainly that my books were bad.” In this fashion Dumas fared royally “to the dogs,” and his Abbotsford ruined him as certainly as that other unhappy palace ruined Sir Walter. He. too, had his miscellaneous kennel; he, too, gave while he had anything to give, and, when he had nothing else, gave the work of his pen. Dumas tells how his big dog Mouton-once flew at him and bit one of his hands, while the other held the throat of the brute. “Luckily my hand, though small, is powerful; what it once holds it holds long—money excepted.” He could not “hand a guid grip o’ the gear.” Neither Scott nor Dumas could shut his ears to a prayer or his pockets to a beggar, or his doors on whoever knocked at them. “I might at least have asked him to dinner,” Scott was heard murmuring, when some insufferable bore at last left Abbotsford, after wasting his time and nearly wearing out his patience. Neither man preached socialism; both practiced it on the Aristotelian principle: the goods of friends are common, and men are our friends.—Sfiribner’s Monthly.

He Got Well.

It was a sad scene, says the Snn Francisco Chronicle. The old man lay on his bed, and by him sat the faithful wife holding his worn hand in hers, and forcing back the tears to greet his wandering look with a smile. She spoke words of comfort and of hope. But he felt the cold hand falling on him, and he turned his weary eyes up to her pale, wan face. •‘Jennie, dear wife, I am going.’’ “Oh, no, John —not yet—not yet.” “Yes, dear wife,” and he closed his eyes; “the end is ne.rr. The world grows dark about me. There is a mist around me gathering thicker and thickep, and there, as through a cloud, I heai* the music of angels—sweet and sad.’.’ - . , ■ / "No, no, John, dear; that isn’t angels; that’s the brass band on the corner.” r “What!” said the dying man. "Have those scoundrels dared to come around here when they know I’m dying? Give me my bootjack. I’ll let ’em see.” And in a towering rage the old man jumped from his bed, and before his wife could think he had opened the window and shied the bootjack at the band. • "I’ve hit that fat leader anyway.” And he went back to bed and got well.— V* •- '/

He Prefers "Pinafore."

The Hon. William Tecumseh Sherman regards "Pinafore” ns*one of the best operas of these time. • ‘Pinafore" has one excellent musical merit. It doesn’t contalu “Marching Through Georgia.” a work which has been so much heard and overheard by the longsuffering ears of mankind. —N. Y. Sun.

BUTTE HILL BURYING GROUND.

■Tenanted by Men Who Died with Boots On. As the traveler approaches Billings from the east, says a writer, he sees to the left of the railroad a large number of bouses, mostly of primitive construction. There is a gap of open country and then comes Billings. That suburb is worth a visit. It is part of Montana’s history. It is Coulson. The houses, with a single exception, are nntenated. and have been for some years. It is said that people coming to Billings find it difficult to get houses, but it is never suggested that the surplus population be gathered at Coulson. If there is not a first-class ghost story for every house in the deserted then things are not as they used to be. If you go to Coulson you must climb “Butte Hill,” and see the Coulson burying ground. Twenty-four men are buried there, and twenty-three of them died with their boots on.

One day California Jack—every border town had its California Jack staked his last twenty-dollar gold piece at the faro table and lost it. He got up, feeling ugly, walked out doors and into the restaurant, which was near by. Several men were there, and a little waiter who knew Jack intimately was sitting on a fable swinging his feet. “I’ll shoot the first man that speaks,” said California Jack. “What’s the matter with you?” called out the waiter in a bantering tone. California Jack put his left hand on the little fellow’s shoulder, and, at the same instant, drew his pistol and shot his victim through the heart. It was such a cold-blooded affair that the men in the place, usually ready, sat as if paralyzed just long enough to let California Jack swing himself upon his horse and get out of range. Then there was a hasty recruiting of a posse, but it was too late. California Jack escaped and never came back to Cgulson. . That is the way one of the three graves on “Butte Hili'’ was filled. The other stories are like unto it. Coulson was here before Billings was. It was the great outfitting poipt for the buffalo hunters. It was a frontier metropolis. When the railroad approached the Coulson people saw their town a second Chicago. Coulson boomed until the railroad company built by it got a section of land a couple of miles further west, and located Billings. It was proposed to connect the new town and the old town with a street railroad. The cars were even ordered and received. But the project went the way of so many other schemes of the early days. People gradually moved away from Coulson until only “Liver-Eating” Johnson remained. Mr. Johnson is credited with having taken 1299 Sioux scalps. Once upon a time he and two companions had an unusually severe tussle with the “varmints.” Mr. Johnson was so worked up over the struggle that at the end of it he cut out the liver of an Indian and devoured it in the presence of his companions, who told the story. Ever since that time he has been known as “Liver-Eating” Johnson, and he makes no denial of the incident. The historical associations at Coulson are not unpleasant to Mr. Johnson, and the ghost stories do not disturb nis slumbers.

Moral Courage.

Moral courage is, after all, merely a relative quality, says the Boston Transcript, and there are hundreds of men who boast of its possession who are strangely lacking in its exhibition when it comes to putting their claims into practice. It is easy enough to preach about the necessity of making other men in far-off lands livd honorable and Christian lives, and it requires no great amount of courage to grieve over other men’s transgressions; but personal courage exemplified in one’s own acts is quite another matter. Where, for instance, is the man at all subject to the conventions of society who can so far indulge his natural predilections as to take up a wedge of pie in his fingers, or pour his tea or coffee into his saucer to cool it, or carry food to his mouth with his knife? He is hard to find; and yet a piece of pie never had, and never can have, the delicious flavor, by any other manner of eating, which it possesses when taken in the fist and gnawed at until its last morsel has disappeared. . And how often have we pitied the man, even though the man were ourself, who, for the sake of appearances, will dawdle over a cup of tea for half an hour and scald his tongue again and again, when, had he the courage, be could escape scalding and some precious time, not to .speak of the pleasure which is denied him of enjoying the decoction! It may be considered bad form to eat with one’s knife, but it is only bee uise custom has given preference to the fork. But consider for a moment how you have chased one poor mocsel of food around your plate until you have quite lost your patience, and then, when nobody was looking, how you have scooped it up with your knife, or mayhap grabbed it betweep your thumb and fingers, and carried it to the mouth that has so long watered for it ■ ' """" - 1

Talk of courage! Were you possessed of it, think you you would borrow the money or get trusted for a new hat when the hat you have is good enough to keep your head warm? Would you be likely to direct the servant to say you are out when your familiar bore calls at your residence instead of going to the door like a man and telling him that you didn’t want to see him. and would not? Would you, if a woman, tell tfie salesman at the dry goods store that you only inquired for a friend, when in truth you had been inquiring Tor yourself and only out of curiosity, or to p ss away your time? Moral courage. Indeed! It is as rai-e as honesty among politicians.

Why the Case Was Bad.

First doctor: “I hear you treated my neighbor for typhus fever. Was it a bad case?” Second ditto: “Very bod; the man never paid his bill.”—-Offen-bach Zeitung.

THE MYSTERY OF WOMAN.

It Is an Enigma to Most Modern Thinkers. Charles Dudley Warner in “Editor’s Drawer” of Harper’s Magazine for October says: There appears to be a great quantity bf conceit around, especially concerning women. The statement was recently set afloat that a well-known iady had admitted that George Meredith understands women better than, any writer who has predeeded hiin. This may be true and it may be a wily statement to again throw men off the track; at any rate it contains the old assumption of a mystery, practically insoluble about the gentler sex. Women generally encourage this notion, and men by their gingerly treatment of it seem to accept it. But is it well founded? Is there any more mystery about women- than about men? Is the feminine nature any more difficult to understand than the masculine nature? Have women, conscious of inferior strength, woven this notion of mystery about themselves as a defense, or have men simply idealized them for fictitious purposes? To recur to the case cited, is there any evidence that Mr. Meredith understands human nature as exhibited in women any better than human nature m mentor is it more consistent in the production of one than of the other? Historically it would be interesting to trace the rise of this notion of woman as an enigma. 'The“savage races do not appear to have it. A woman to the North American Indian is a simple affair, dealt with without circumlocution. In the bible records there is not much mystery about her; there are many tributes to her noble qualities and some pretty severe and uncomplimentary things are said about her, but there is little affectation of not understanding her. She may be a prophetess, or a consoler, or a stare, but she is no more “deceitful and desperately wicked” than anybody else. There is nothing mysterious about her first recorded performance. Eve trusted the serpent and Adam trusted Eve. The mystery was in the serpent. There is no evidence that the ancient Egyptian woman was more difficult to comprehend than the Egyptian man. They were both doubtless wily, as . highly civilized people are apt to be; the “serpent of old Nile” was in them both. Is it. in fact, till we come to mediaeval times and the chivairic age that women are set up as being more incomprehensible than men? That is, less logical, more whimsical; more uncertain in their mental processes? The playwriters and essayists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries “worked” this notion continually.

They always took an investigating and speculating attitude toward women that fostered the conceit of their separateness and veiled personality. Every woman was supposed to be playing a part behind a mask. Of course all this has a very practical bearing upon modern life, the position of women in it, and the socalled reforms. If woman is so different from man, to the extent of being an unexplainable mystery, science ought to determine the exact state of the case and ascertain if there is any remedy for it. If it is only a literary creation we ought-to know it. Science could tell, for instance, whether there is a peculiarity in the nervous system, any complications in the nervous centers, by which the telegraphic action of the will gets crossed, so that, for example, in reply to a proposal for marriage the intended “Yes” gets delivered as “No.” Is it true that the mental process in one sex is intuitive, and in the. other logical, with every link necessary and visible? Is it true, as the romancers teach, that the mind in one sex acts indirectly and in the other directly, or isthis indirect process only, characteristic of exceptions in both sexes? Investigation ought to find this out, so that we can adjust the fit occupations for both sexes on. a scientific basis. We are floundering about now in a sea of doubt. As society becomes more complicated women will become a greater and greater mystery, or rather will be regarded se by themselves and be treated so by men. Who can tell how much this notion of mystery in the sex stands in the way of its free" advancement all along the line? Suppose the proposal wore made to women to exchange being mysterious for the ballot? Would they do it? Or have they a sense of power in the possession of this conceded incomprehensibility that they would not lay down for any visible insignia of that power? And if the novelists and essayists have raised a mist about the sex which it willingly masquerades in, is it not time that the scientists should determine whether the mystery exists in nature or only in the Imagination?

The Jolly Frenchman.

“The French are essentially a happy people," says M. Blouet. “Their cheerfulness which strikes the foreigner the moment he sets foot on French soil is due to a sound stomach. Dyspepsia is not known in France. Light bread, generous wine, dainty dishes productive of good humor, never bolted, always eaten in cool apartments or in the open air with jocularity, there lies the foundation of the Frenchman’s happiness. From the rich banker’s mansion in the Champs Elysees to the simple mechanic's garret at Bellville, business cares are never, allowed to interfere with the pleasures of the table. See the eyes sparkling with joy as the bottle fills the glasses, and the good humored rebuke of the host when a lady—as most Francfi ladies wi 11—knocks the bottle _ in lifting the glass to prevent it being filled to the brim. ‘Sapristi, Madame; say that you won’t have any more, but for goodness’ sake don’t shake the bottle!’ Or look how he frowns if he catches a guest in the act of adding water to his pet wine. ‘Mix this wine with water! My dear fellow, it’s a sacrilege! God will never forgive you!’ ’ There is nothing irreverent in the exclamation. He is thoroughly convinced that good U ine was given to man by God to rejoice his heart, affd to spoil it by adding water to it is in his eyes nothing short of a sin.” .