Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1892 — Page 6

"A Message.

Bewr Mttle the left hand knoweth The deeds that are done by the right; How ‘title the niglit time showetli hlawrowfui shades to the light I Bow few of the hearts that are broken Betray' to the breaker their grief; Bow many harsh words that are spoken Arc the crushed scrul’a only rollof I Alast twiho childish gladness , We never may know again; - . And alas, and alas, for tite sadness That broods like a spirit of pain! —.— Like some spirit of pain, that will hover Btll! nearer when sunlight is fled. Until youtJi. and youth's iasvchungeful lover Grow old, and grow cold as the dead: It is strange that the hands that might lead us To heaven, refuse us their hold; i ~ That the dear lips that whisper 'God speed us,” Are the lips t hat are first to grow cold! But Irvc, we are neater the dawning, Just there is the heavenly light, . - And hew like tite glorious morning Know* the sorrowful shades of the night I -Lei* Marshall Dean in the Atlants Constitution.

OLIVE’S STEP-MOTHER.

"She is the sweetest, clearest creatHreintheuorldl”said OliveXlgilvie, enthusiastically. ' ' “Humph!” said Miss Jane Barrington. -*‘Peoplc didn’t use to talk soofstepmothers in my day.” “But then, you see,” retorted Olive, with the air of one who effectually silences argument, “there never was exactly such a step-mother before.” “She’s not teu years older than yourself,” said Miss Jane Barrington. “Aud that is the very reason that she sympathizes in all my interests and pursuits so heartily." “She married your poor, dear pa for a home and to avoid the necessity of going out as a governess,” uttered Miss Jane Barrington with acerbity. “It is false!" cried Olive. “She married him because she loved him.” ’•‘ftumph!” said Miss Jane Barrington. “You’re bewitched, I see. You’re under the glamour, if ever woman was. But you’ll have a disagreeable awakening some day, Miss Ogilvie; see if you don’ts —Perhaps you haven’t noticed VI “Noticed what?” exclaimed Olive with spirit, as the malicious spinster paused a second. “Oh. never mind,” said Miss Jane Barringtor, fanning herself and rolling np her eyes .'Tm uot.oii!L ta make , mischief. If you haven’t perceived it “Perceived what?” demanded Miss Ogiivlc, impatiently. “Oh. dear, how Ido "hate these mysterious hints and dark innuendoes' If you’ve got anything to say. Miss Barrington, do say it out and have done with it. If not, PU go down to the river and see how the children are getting on with their stone grotto. Thus driven to the wall, Miss Jane Barrington .said her say, with a relish in the communication which can scarcely be dccri bed. “As I remarked before,” said Miss Barrington, “I am the last one to promulgate idle reports; but it is quite plain to all disiutcrwtec eyes that your young step-mother, the charming widow, whose deep weeds are so exeeedingiy bectming ” "Do go on!” cried Oil’ c, in agony of suspense. “It is quite the gossip of the place,” went on the backbiter, “that Mrs. Hayden Ogilvie is carrying on a lively flirtation with Albert Stanfield.” “With Albert Stanfield! Impossible!” cried Olive incredulously. “Just what I should have said myself,” said Miss Jane Barrington, pious]y, “if I had not been an eye-witness to all her goings-on with her "poor, first husband not yet cold in his grave, and . - “Be silent!" cried Olive, ~sprlngTng to her feet so suddenly that Miss Jane Barrington started backward and tumbled with more precipitation than grace over a square ottoman. “How dare « you utter such slanderous falsehoods? And to me, of all other persons in the world, who owe everything to her loving care, her more than maternal kindness! I despise myself for standing here to listen to it!” ’ And she swept away with the royal face of a princess, her cheeks dyed carmine and hei eyes glittering like • wrathful stars. Straight r.s an arrow she went to the suite of apartments occupied jointly by herself ana her young step-mother at the Crown hotel, a summer resort ol some celebrity among the mountains that wall iu the blue waters of a Cumberland kkr.t The door was open, the soft August breeze blew the muslin window draperies to and fro. aud a piece of embroidery lay on the t;ib!6 with the needle yet sticking in it. 4 folds and the thimble Lesidc it. All the tokens of a recent presence were there, but the room was empty. “She Iras taken her book down to the little woudlaind spring,” said Olheto herscif; and,: she ran down the cool, secluded palli where intermingled sunshine and shadow made a moving chcckcr-wurk at her feet, calling, “Mamma! x|!;erc arc you mamma?” as she went But no answer came. The woodlaud spring bubbled out in cool drops over the ferns that shedowed its pool, the birds sang ovci Lead, and that was ali“Oh, dean!” said Oliva to herscif,” “where can she be?” She wandered along farther down the glen, swinging her r.at by its strings as she walked, her footsteps falling noiselessly on the velvet turf, until sudly she paused,Stricken to the heart as if a barbed arrow had pierced her quiver? In* flesh. For. hidden away by the leafy covert of tremulous birches aud white pines, upon the. moss-covered trank of a fallen tree sat Mrs. Ogilvie, ju her deep mourning rbbes, her face turned wistiniiy upwaru, wnue in an attitude of the itrte.nMkt devotion Albert Stanfield leaned over her. Olivo Ogilvie did nnt mean to listen; sho was an honorable girl, with a keen Sense of delicacy; but all volition •eemed gone from her at the moment. Shu leaned, pale aud trembling, up against a tree, and could not but hear the words spoken within a stone's throw of her. “Believe ms. Albert, I appreciate the U'easute of your love," said Mrs. Ogilvie, softly; "but I do not -k’.ow Whether I am Justified hi accepting * “is^Vra Ogilrfo ”

“No—stop!” said the widow, reso-l lately, motioning him away as he would have drawn nearer to her. ’ “Are you not premature? Have you reflected how very, very brief a period of time has elapsed since Mr. Ogilvie was laid in his grave?” “I have forgotten nothing,” the ardent lover made reply. “Nor do I deem it any disrespect to the dead in that I would fain extend the tenderness and protection of my love over the one who was dearest to him in life. Say that you will grant my prayer. Give me but one word of encouragement and I shall be happy.” ■I must have time for reflection," Mrs. Ogilvie answered, hesitatingly. “Time! time!” Stautied impatiently retorted. “You have had time enough already, surely." “But this is a matter of such vital important, Albert, you must rest contented iflpromisc you your answer tomorrow.” •‘You w ill not forget the truth and sincerity of my love—the deep loyalty of my heart ?” “I will le.nembcr it all, Albert; only let us return to the hotel now. Olive wijl miss us and it grows toward sunsot. ’ 21 So they passed on, and Olive, waiting in a sort of dull, dead passivenesa for them to disappear through the green wilderness of the leafy dell, took her languid way back to the hotel. ‘•Ami I believed that he loved me!” she kept repeating over and ovev to herself. “I allowed myself to be duped by the tender tones of his voice, the dark light of his eyes! Oh, what a fool—a fool I have been! Yet if it had been any other hahd than hers to dash the bright cup -from my lips! Oh, mamma! mamma! And I loved and trusted you so entirely?” Poor Olive! It was like a new phase bf life’s bitterness aud treachery to this petted darling to find out that there were other hopes, and joys, and interests in the world clashing sharply against her own. She sat down and looked helplessly around Here was the bright tracery of filoselle embroidery that she had commenced but a few short hours ago; it did not seem to her as if she could ever touch it again. There was the unfinished novel; she did not care a penny now whether the hero and heroine got married or not. “I’ll go and live with Aunt Sarah,” said Olive to herself. “It will be a monotonous life,’ but—but it’s all that’s left me uow. I don’t care for much variety or brightness." “Olive, darling, where are you?” It was Mrs. Ogilvie’s voice, Mrs. Ogilvie’s footsteps, -and; although Olive would have fled from her presence, it was too late to do so now. The young step-mother came up to her and seated herself at the girl’s side. “I have something to tell you, Olive.” Olive shrank away from the arch, questioning gaze of her step-mother’s eyes. “1 know what it is,” said she faintly. “You are going to be married."k “I? My dear child, what could possibly put such an idea into your head? You are the one. who is to be married, if you can bring yourself to say ‘yes’ to the suit of Albert Staulield.” - ' “Mamma!” “He has been urging me for permission to address you this long time, but I have scarcely dared to consent, knowing how recent a date has elapsed since the death of your dear father. But perhaps I have no right longer to object. He loves you tenderly and truly. He would lay down his life for you, and I believe him to be worthy even of myGlrrc; - Shall Itell -him you will. listen favorably to his suit?" Like a burst of renewed sunshine after the blackness of a thunder-shower Olive’s face grfcw brilliant, and throwing her arms around her step-mother’s neck she sobbed out: “Mamma! mamma! I have been so wicked in my heart! O mamma! can you ever for- 4 give me?” And then she told her story. “Go to Albert, my dear,” said her step-mother, smiling. “He will convince you presently that all is right with your heaii aud his." This was the end of Olive Ogilvie’s tribulations. And she still firmly persists iu her belief that she has the best step-mother in the world. And Miss Jape Barrington is rather disappointed than Otherwise.—A. Y. Evening World.

Just Thought He’d Ask.

Senator Vance of North Carolina lost his hat the other day, says the N. Y. I'ribtuui's Washington correspondent. He came out of the senate cloakroom bare-headed, with his overcoat on his arm, and paraded the corridors, asking every one he ifaet if he had seen a lull hat straying about anywhere. He was asking the question of Capt. May, the doorkeeper at the lobby door, when the page came up with the missing article in his hand. Senator Vauce was just saying: “Of course I don’t think you have seen it, you know, but I was 'just asking.’ like the man who came into my office once when I was governor o! North Carolina. He was a trunipishlooking man, and his clothing was worn and seedy. He looked carefully around the room and then said: •“Governor, you an’t seen nothin’ of a pair of boots around here, have von? I left ’em in in that corner last night, and they an’t there this morning.’ “I answered that I had not seen the boots. “•I knew some d—d thief had stolen them,’ said the unknown. "Of course 1 knowed it wasn't you, but I just thought I’d ask.’” «

Bells on Sheep.

A Michigan farmer claims to have saved his large flock of sheep from, the dogs by putting a bell on each one. When the sheep get frightened • ami run the bells play a grand march and the dogs scamper off. A New York society huly is said to have attended a dance there recently, left the next morning to attend two balls ou successive evenings in Boston, and would leave immediately to attend a mH in Philadelphia the iiext night. Four balls in three cities in the course ■ ol fou l ' days would seem to b* the | heigh. >f l [•i.diionalae folly.

FARMS AND FARMERS.

• ■ - - . • House for Poultry. ’>he plans given are from a poultry house that I built in 1890, writes Daniel Brown to the Ohio Farmer. It is a lean to shed ;. that is, it was built against another building. It is 21 feet long by 8 feet - Wide. The foundations were made by digging a trench and filling it with broken stone well sledged down. Then two courses of hollow brick or building tile were laid in cement mortar. The sills were 2 by 8 inch planks, studding 2by 5; rafters the same; sided up with 1 inch drop siding ; lined on the inside with surfaced and matched Norway flooring ; roof sheeted with same ; over which was laid tarred paper, with a steel roof over that. The walls were filled with fine coal cinders and the floor was filled with cinders to within 2 inches of the upEer edge of the lower course of brick, luring filling it was kept well

rammed down. On top of this I spread about li inches of cement mortar, taking care to keep it level and smooth. The perches are 14 inches above the floor; they are hinged to the wall, and so arranged that the framework does not come in contact with the wall. Tile other end of the perch frame is supported on legs resting on the floor: they are also hinged to the frame so that when frames are raised the legs will turn downward and be out of the way. This makes it very convenient to clean both perches and thfe floor. The nest boxes are arranged as seen in the cut. The teed trough is at the bottom of the long tier and the waterrough at the bottom of the short tier. The dotted

line shows gate opening from feeding room to perch room. The lower row of nests is on a level with the perches, the upper row 1 foot above. Outside the lines on the nest frames are boards 6 inches wide to give the hens easy access to the nests. The next boxes are closed at one end. When a hen is given a brood the box is turned ,so that the open end is in the feeding room. Over the nest frame a wire screen is hung to the rafters, making two apartments. The nest frames are movable. The cost of the building is as follows: One day digging and filling trenchs 2.25 Sixty hollow brick. $7.00 per hundred 4.20 Two barrels, Akron cement.. . 2.60 Mason and attendant one day 2.75 Three hundred and twelve feet frame stuff at $1.2.i per hundred 3.90 Eight hundred and ninety-four feet siding lining and sheeting at s2.co per hundred .. 17.9 S Four windows complete r.ai Carpenter work 6 25 Two hundred and seventy feet root at so.oo per 103 feet. 14.50 T0ta1........ $59.43 A Homemade Fruit Drier for Use on the Farm. With the price put up on glass jars until only th? rich can buy them there is danger of a scarcity of good fruit for apple sauce, pies and turnover next year, to say nothing of preserved peaches and pears. The e fruits may be dried and kept and will pay for the labor and material. A homemade evaporator that will dry qualities of fruits is shown in the cut. A box 2x2x31 feet long is made without bottom or top. Two partition 3 inches apart are put in the middle. These are merely vleats

STOVE

nailed to the sides 4 Jnch s apart on which to slide frames holding the fruit. The frames are made Ix 2 feet of lath and covered with poultry net, then with cheesecloth. They are slid in lengthwise and with the inner side highest. Stand the box on bricks over a stove. If the fire is very hot more than one brick may be needed .under each corner. Care must be taken not to burn the lower frames of fruit. —A. J. Simpson, in Farm and Home. Hint* for I‘nrmnrg. When laying drain tile those who have tried the wor-k claim that it con be clonfiJbettev when the deeper portion of the drain is made last, and that tile laying should begin at the outlet. * , Old strawberry beds are especially subject to blight and all the other fruit diseases. It nays to renew the liede often. But to lessen the danger frem blight burn the beds In the fail. Field mice will never overrun a

field where owls exist in large numbers. The principal food of owls js mice, and they diligently hunt for them in the most favorable localities for procuring them. Make an experiment in drainage by tile, draining thoroughly the wettest and heaviest acre on the farm. Then grow a crop of clover, follow it with wheat,-and see if the increased yield does not pay back a large in teres ton the cost of the drainage. —==. - Changing the cows from one pasture to another not only promotes the appetite and permits of a greater variety of food, but also allows the grass "on the pastures to better stand dry seasons. It is a ~mistake to allow cattle to graze a pasture too ■ closely. • - - /.—,-i. .. Danger of Smut hi Wheat. Millers are expressing a good deal of anxiety concerning the wheat crop of 1893, Much of the wheat that has recently come in is smutty, and it is feared that unless proper precautions are taken that the crop of next year will be most seriously damaged. Smut in wheat is caused by a parasite, and when this parasite has appeared one year it is likely to be far more prevalent during the following year. Millers are sending out warnings against the impending danger. It is recommended that, before seeding, wheat lands be liberally treated with bluestone. In case this is done it is believed that there will be little smut next year. But if this precaution is neglected millers say the loss will be very heavy. ..Xi...

A Sliding Farm Gate. There are still large sections of country in which even cheap gates are rarely to be seen. The rail fences have to be laid down every time a field is entered. The hinge gate requires some skill to make, and the posts used must be heavy and well and firmly set. The illustration of a very cheap gate, engraved after a sketch iu the American agriculturist, I shows a gate that any farmer who

can use a coarse saw and drive a nail ’ can readily make. It is designed for i a place where small stock are re-1 strained. For a full gate cut the cross pieces of the same length as the front, and add two more boards. , There are two posts for each end of the gate, and they may be just the ordifary post, with no extra bracing, as the gate slides on the cleat nailed to the back posts. It will be ob-! served that the back posts stand so that the cleat can be nailed to the front edge of one and the back edge of the other, giving room for the gate to be swung around toward the side of the post furthest back. When the gate is closed the front end rests on the"cleat nailed to the front posts. | A barbed wire may be stretched across the top.

» Floor for'Hog Feeding,. . . The floor, says Farm, Stock and Home, is built adjacent to the corn crib for convenience in feeding, and is just the height of the bottom of a wagon bed. When it is necessary to load hogs for market the wagon is

HOG FEEDING FLOOR,

backed to the platform, the end board taken out, a gate in the fence opened and without noise and trouble the ' pigs are enticed into the wagon. in feeding, only so much corn is thrown on the floor at one time as | the hogs will eat up clean. The floor is c’.eaued off every day. The hogs are not fattened on corn alone, but are turned out night and morning to take thercorn ration on the feeding floor. Peas, while last and steamed ground feeds make up the between times rations to fattening hogs. A. J. Goode asks through the Farm, Stock and Home the following question : “ What tiftie or age is the best to breed ewe lambs ? ” To this Mr, C. L. Gabrilson, of lowa makes answer as follows : “It *is conceded by sheep men that it is not wise to allow ewe lambs to yean until the second year. This is more particularly true of* the more highly improved breeds, and these de not come into heat so early as the lambs of common sheep ; neither are the motherly instincts as well developed, so that there is more apt to be trouble about their owning the lambs. We believe that Mr. Goode will in the end be better satisfied to make haste slowly in increasing his flock by breeding the lambs.” An excellent quality of bay rum may be easily prepared us follows: Dissolve ten cents’ worth of magnesia in two quarts of rain water, odd two quarts of alcohol aud one ounce of the oil of bay, Make a funnel of filtering paper and pour the mixture slowly .through it, bottle and cork tight!;, In using dilute it with rain water to any strenth required.

CHRISTMAS CAKES

. • "*’**ia^ifc-**^* X Harper’s Bazar. Many rich cakes improte with age, and it has always been the custom with the best Southern housekeepers to make their Christmas cakes several weeks in advance of the holidays. The following recipes are among the best used: Christmas Plum Cake.—Cream one pound of butter and one pound of sugar together; add the beaten yolks of eighteen eggs, one gill of molasses, one pound of sifted flour, six tablespoonfuls of coarse flour, and one wineglass of brandy; beat all together for five minutes. Add three pounds of seeded raisins, one pound of dried currants, half a pound each of sliced citron and almonds, well floured, two ounces of grated cocoanut. one tablespoonful each of ground allspice, mace and cloves, and two grated nutmegs; lastly add the beaten whites of the eggs. Mix well, pour in one large or two smaller cake moulds, and bake in a moderate oven for six hours. Ornament when cold with fancy sugar plums and a wreath of holly. Christmas Black Cake. —Cream three pounds of brown sugar and three pounds of butter together; sift in three pounds Of flour; beat twentyeight eggs separately, and add, with five pounds of seaded raisins, four pounds of dried currants, one pound of sliced citron, one ounce each of cinnamon and nutmeg, half an ounce of mace, cloves and allspice, with a glass of blackberry wine. Mix and beat well. Turn into a very large cake mould and bake for six hours. This cake will keep for years. Christmas Fruit Cake (a Creole recipe). —Take a pound of butter, a pound of powdered sugar, fifteen eggs, a pound of sifted flour, a pound and a half of raisins, half a pound of currants, half a pound of citron, half a pound each of candied cherries, orange and lemon peel, one grated nutmeg, half a tablespoonful each of ground cinnamon and mace; a teaspoonful each of ground cloves and ginger, two tablespoonfuls of rum, and the juice of two lemons. Seed the raishis, wash and dry the currants, slice 'the citron, orange and lemon peel thin; beat the hatter to a cream; add the sugar; beat the eggs until very light, and add them to the out ter and sugar; then slowly sift in the flour. Mix all the fruit together and flour well. Mix the spices in the batter; add the fruit; mix thoroughly; add the rum and lemon juice: beat again. Line a large cake pan with greased paper, turn in the batter, and bake in a very slow over for four hours. When done remove carefully from the pan; let cool. Ice and ornament the top with candied cherries, strawberries, on other small candied fruit. New Year’s Cake. —Cream one and a half pounds of butter and one and a half pounds of powdered sugar; beat well together. Beat fifteen eggs, and add, with a pound and a half of sifted flour ana three teaspoonfuls of baking powder; grate two lemons in half a teacup of molasses and add the butter, with two pounds of finely chopped almonds, two pounds of seeded raisins, and one pound of sliced citron. Turn in a caxe mould, and bake two hours in a moderate oven. Holiday Cake.—Blanch three quarters of a pound of shelled almonds, and -slice in halves; chop half a pound of citron; mix them together and roll in sifted flour; add to six well beaten eggs and three quarters of a pound of sugar; mix well, and sift in a pound of flour. Butter long shallow cake pans, put the batter in them, and bake in a quick oven. When done, take out, roll in sugar and finely pounded almonds. Put away in a tight tin box, and these cakes will ke?p for a year. White Fruit Cake—Cream one pound of butter and one pound of 1 powdered sugar together; add the beaten yolks of sixteen eggs, and a pound of sifted flour with two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Slice three pounds of citron, blanch a pound of almonds, and grate one oocoanut; add to the batter, with the stiffly beaten white of the eggs. Line a cake pan with greased paper, turn ;in the mixture, and set in a moder- ' ate oven. Bake slowly for two hours; | when cold slice with cocoanut frosting. If kept in a closetin box, this cake will keep two or three weeks.

THINGS WORTH KNOWING.

To make shoes last twice as long rub waym castor oil on them when they arb new aud several times afterward. Ten drops of carbolic acid melted into tallow and applied at night is a cure for chapped lips and hands. To remove moth patches put one table spoonful of the flour of sulphur in a pint of rum. Apply it to the patches once a dary und in two or three weeks they will disappear. Stains from nitrate of silver may easily be removed from the hands by a solution of chloride of lime/ Fruit stains may bo removed by holding the hands over a' burning match or sulphur set on fire. Scrape a cake of brown Windsor soap to a powder, add one ounce each ofeau de cologn and lemon juice. Mix well and form into cakes. This removes tan, prevents chapping and makes the skin white and soft. Leanness is generally caused by the lack of power in the digestive organs to assimilate tfie fat producing elements of the food. First restore digestion, take plenty of sleep, drink all the water the stomach will bear in the morning on_rising, take moderate exercise in the open air, eat oatmeal, cracked wheat, graham mush, baked sweet apples, roasted and broiled beef, bathe daily and cultivate jolly people.

WINGED MISSILDS.

Grecian shoes were peculiar in to the middie of the legs. . \ The present fashion of shoes was introduced into England in 1683. Mme. Bernhardt says she has never reled with her dress-maker. Chicago has a newspaper called die Liar. It has a large constituency at home. Crackers and sweet goods made outside of Syracuse are boycotted by the Syracuse bakers. A western newspaper says that “the Czar was not accompanied to Berlin by the Czardine." A report from New York fashionable circles says hats will be large and bonnets very small The Bennington (Vt) battle monument is now a trifle higher than Bunker Hill monument Some Pittsburg engineers struck to have a man prepare . the engine ready for use each morning. Mrs. Curtis, nee Louisa AL Knapp, is . said to receive $10,003 a year for editing the Ladies’ Home Journal. There is undesigned humor in the remark of a Berlin correspondent that “the Czar of Russia is rather bombastic.” “A vocal singing club” has too much noise in it and is companion to tiro' expressions, “Orally by the word of mouth.” A Providence, R. 1., concern will soon be able to turn out machinery tor steam purposes representing 150 h. p. per day. The antiquity of the watermelon is thoroughly established. Seeds found in Egyptian tombs were estimated to be 3,000 year* old. Some one who professes to have taken the population of the diamond field says there are 3*0,000 ball players in this coun try. Shoes among the Jews were made of leather, linen, rush, or wood; soldiers’ shoes were Eometltpes made of brass or iron. Ex-Queen Isabella of Spain says that she wants to visit this country before she dies. The American tiger is quite an animal* Bella. The empress of Japan has just taken po»session of her palace which has cost $1,000,-. 000. She proposes w visit America next* spring. Tke Shah found his harem in a state of disorder on his return to Persia. He now wishes fle had remained in Europe permanently. '. j,. ... .' “How do you fellows dissolve barbed wire?” asked a Texas delegate of a Topeka druggist, after taking a drink of Kansas whisky. An enormous eagle recently alighted on a house in Monongalia county, W. Va., but flew away before the owner could hunt up his shotgun, —Buffalo Bill has been invited to Russia and accepted. Dynamite has no terrors for a man who was brought up on the frontier with buffaloes. Speaking of the “Ureat City Snoba," Thackeray says: “Intimacy is impossible, in most cases, with these grave, pompous and awful beings.” Mme. Patti-Nicolinl sails for New York, Nov. 23. Meantime she is to sing in eight concerts in England, for which she will receive nearly $30,000. Mr. Tyron of Ballston. Ore., celebrated recently his one hundredth birthday. He settled in Oregon in 1852 and has seventyeight direct descendants. Jules Verne is going to write a drama. His imagination will have to be tied down to the requirements of the stage if he succeeds. But Jules is versatile. In Paris the dramshops have increased from 24,003 in 1880 to 29,')d) at the present time. The consumption of aleohol has trebled in the last thirty years. The Prince of XV ales will make a tour of Egypt Perhaps he will be engaged to write a Bible story for the syndicate founded an.the “JSpngs of Solomon.” The largest steam hammer in the United States is now in operation at tho Latrobe Steel works. It weighs twenty tons, and is arranged to strike u blow with the forsa of eighty tons. In the reign of William Rufus of England in the eleventh century, a great beau, “Robert, the Horney,” used shoes with sharp points stuffed with tow, and twisted likO rams’ horns. Hugo Zieman, the disgruntled cAe/ of the White House, has a long list of griovauccs, but the most important of them lies iu the fact that President Harrison insists upon eating pie at every moal. Near Silverton, Oro., Is a quarry of what is called “fire-place stone,” it is soft whoa mined, and can be sawed or choppad in any desired shape, and when subjected to intense heat does not seem to be affected. At Blountsville, Ala., George Smith, aged seventy-two, was tried before a jury of twelve in the circuit court, and found guilty of an assault and fined S2O for khsing his eighteen-year-old niece, Anuio Slaughter. Henry Apple owns a small mining claim in Sierra county, New Mexico, that has paid him slß,6ooin five months, lie employs one man, and the ore is crushed in a handmortar. Apple Is pleased with tho fruit of his labor. Evon an utiprogresslve iourual in China leads a checkered career. The Pekin Gazette asserts been beheaded. The journal !n question claims to have been in exLkmco lor a thousand years. Senator Sherman Is a cautious mwi aveu in his literary habits. He hasadop:ed Emerson’s rulo aud will not read a bor.k until it is a year old. This system strictly adhered to would save much useless “wear and tear” of the eyes. - j Birmingham, Eng., employs 1,000 umbrella makers. One of them claims to have invented a transparent umbrella that will allow the boaror to seo what bd or site is about to run Into, as woli ns what is- about to run into him or her. Melssionier recently said to a lady, who remarked upon visiting his new i>ouso that she had missed pictures of hip own from among the beautiful things with which ho had adorned his rooms: “Ah, maoamc, they are too dear to allow mo to keep them.” A Toronto (Ont) man was In Aliadolphia and bought a ticket for home, stating that he wanted to ge via Letv.stou. He meant Lo wis ton, N. Y., and when ho awoks in I.ewiston. Me., next day hd was tho maddest man that down cast city has scon tor • month. . . The Romans made use of two kinds of shsos—the solo, or sandal, which covered tho sole of the foot and was worn at homo and in company, and tho calceus, which severed ths whole foot and was always worn with the toga when a poison went abroad.