Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1898 — Page 7

A SO-YEAR-OLD LIFE-SAVER.

(ItranEe Old Samaritan of the Sea Who Lives on n Lonely Island. Peter W. Green, the governor of a group of three tiny islands of volcanic origin off the African coast in the South Atlantic, and geographically known as Tristan d’Acunha, is one of the most remarkable life-savers in the world, says the New York World. For 60 years and more he has made life-saving from shipwreck his business, having little else to do, as he expressed himself to a recent visitor, the captain of the English mail boat which touches at the islands once a year. Mr. Green is a native of England and now in his 90th year. At the age of 30, when sailing before the mast on a British vessel, he was wrecked near Tristan, and he and several companions were saved by the exertions of the natives. His friends, some time later, were taken on board a passing ship, but Green remained there and in the following year was nomihated governor of the islands because of his wisdom and the esteem in which he was held. The office he has held ever since, combining with it the duties of a clergyman and a doctor. Green has always been on the lookout for persons and ships in distress and he has saved many hundred lives from certain death on the rocky coast, the rescued ones being of all nationalities. The governor has received decorations and medals from almost every monarch in the world in recognition of his humane efforts. The United States government presented him with a handsome gold chronometer and chain. His own sovereign, Queen Victoria, sent him recently a most appropriate present — namely, a life-saving boat, with apparatus of the newest models. The islands which he governs contain only from 55 to 60 inhabitants, poor natives, whom Gov. Green has educated to be, like himself, Samaritans of the sea.

QUARRELSOME BIRDS.

The Missel Thrush la Cruel and Pittleaa. The robin, that “pious” bird, is veryquarrelsome, and it exasperates one to watch him wasting the precious hours in hunting another hungry robin down, and round and-round, till the sparrows have cleared the board, says the Contemporary Review. The blackbirds, too, are very annoying in the way that they snatch up a lump of bread and fly off with it, only to be chased about for the rest of the morning by other black-, birds, while a sparrow makes a square meal, off the morsel fallen meanwhile under a shrub. But, relentless as they are in pursuit, the curious fact is that they seldom fight. If the pursued turns, the pursuer stops, perks up his tail, and, being promptly charged by the other, becomes in turn the pursued. But woe to both w hen the missel thrush comes. He is pitiless in pursuit, and I have seen them pass my window time after time in the course of a morning, the storm cock hard on the “heels” of the blackbird. And when they overtake them what happens? For myself, I have often said before I believe the missel thrush a cannibal. At any rate, I attribute some of the dead blackbirds and thrushes that one finds about the ground® to his cruel beak. He watches for birds for hours at a time, like a bird of prey, and attacks like one. I have often stopped a chase which I knew could only end in oneway.

CONSCIENCE’S PROMPTINGS.

Those Who Have Defriyided the Government Have Sent Back 9300,000. So strong is the influence wielded by conscience, and so frequently does it cause the wrong-doer to atone for his sin, that for the past 85 years the conscience fund has been officially recognized as one of the regular sources of revenue for the United States government, writes Clifford Howard in Ladies’ Home Journal. During this time the consciences of the American people have added to Uncle Sam’s resources at the rate of about S3OO a month, or a total sum up to the present, year of something over $300,000 —the amounts of the individual contributions varying from a few cents to several thousand dollars. The smallest contribution ever made to the conscience fund was received in May, 1896, and consisted of a two-cent stamp, which was inclosed in the following letter of explanation: “I once sent a letter in with a photograph (unsealed), which 1 have since learned was not lawful. 1 inclose stamp to make it right.” By a curious coincidence the largest sum ever contributed, reached the treasury department about the same time that the stamp was received. This was a bill of exchange for $14,225.15, which had been sent to the secretary of state by the consul-general at London, to whom the money had been given by a clergyman on behalf of a person unknown, no name being given.

An Old Telegraph Message.

At the annual meeting of the Telegraphic Historical Society of the United States in Washington the other day William B. Wilson, of Philadelphia, was elected president for the ensuing year. During the course of the meeting Secretary Maynard laid before t)ie society a copy of the first telegram sent over the wire west of the Alleghany mountains. The message was from Ad't. Gen. G. W. Bow man to President Polk. Gen. Bowman was at that time (December 29, 1846) at Pittsburgh, organizing the Second regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers gathered there for service in the Mexican war.

Long Sleepers.

The American in England affords matter for much perplexity and astonishment to his English kinsmen. One of our countrymen was being shown an old church, wherein hundreds of people were buried. “A great many people sleep between these walls," said the guide, indicating the inscription-cov-ered floor with a sweep of bis hand. “So?” said the American: “same way over in our country. Why don't you get H more interesting preacher?"

RETIRED STATESMAN OWNS UP.

In All Trades Are Many Tricks, sad Sometimes In Politics. “I’m what you might call a retired statesman,” said the old lawyer, whose practice is chiefly that of a counselor. “But before the war I was in politics up to my eyes,” and his face grew younger with the memory, says the Detroit Free Press. “I was in Kentucky, and the first time I ran for congress 1 beat one of the best campaigners in that state, and no state has better. He was a veteran who had been over the course several times, and sneered at the thought of my being a serious opponent. He had the old system of being a hail fellow well met, gossiped by the hour with the women, kissed the babies while he was filling them up with candy and jollied along w ith the men as though each one was his especial friend. 1 knew it was no use to fight him at his own game, so 1 invented some new tactics. “Without the fact attracting any particular attention, it was made public that there were to be from three to five shootingmatchesand all-around tournaments in each county of the district. Nothing is dearer to the heart of the real Kentuckian. I was ah athlete and a good shot, and I was at every one of these contests. I knew just who to beat and who not to beat. When the county hod a champion it w-as proud if he always got the best of me, and I sounded his praises till the male population were fighting friends of mine. My opponent did not shine in feats of strength or skill, and I smoothly managed to create a sentiment wherever I went that the women had better send one of their own number to congress if they were to run the elections; for my part, I believed that the men should run the government. I won easily, and I kept right on winning until I left the state.”

WILL IN A GRAVE.

It Was Found After Thirty Years In a Buried Family Bible. After lying in a man’s coffin for more than 30 years a w-ill has been exhumed at Leavenworth, Ind,, and its terms are likely to increase a trotiblesome litigation among the heirs of the man who had the document buried with him, says a local exchange. Jacob Kissinger was the man. The will was found by accident, because, when Kissinger died, although the will w-as believed to have been made, nobody could find it. So the heirs went to law, and have been at it for three decades. A few Aays ago a dispute arose which could be cleared up by the family Bible. So the old grave was opened and the Book taken out. It was in a good state of preservation, and when opened, to the surprise of everyone, disclosed the old man’s will. By the terms of the document found in the grave, the property of Kissingen was divided equally among five children, one of them a resident of Germany and born of Kissingen’s first wife. And this is where the new trouble begins. None of the four American heirs ever heard of the father’s first marriage, and not one of them guessed that he had a brother in Europe. The German heir, of course, has been in ignorance, too, of the existence of his American brothers, and the property and money bequeathed to him. If he presses his claim now it is said that the four brothers who live here will have quite a hole made in their purees when they pay him what is his by his father’s will.

FIFTY-SIX A DANGER POINT.

Beware How Yon Live to This Age, It Yon Have Genius. Fifty-six years seems to be a fatal age for people of genius, says the New York Times. Among those who have died at that age may be mentioned Dante, the Italian poet; Hugh Capet, king of France; Henry VIII., king of England; Henry IV., emperor of Germany; Paganini, Italian violinist ; Alexander Pope, English poet; George Sala, English orientalist; Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Borne; Frederick 1., king of Prussia; John Hancock, American statesman; Maria Louisa, empress of France; Philip Massenger, English dramatist; Saladin, the great sultan of Egypt; Robert Stephenson, English engineer; Scipio Africanus, Roman general; Helvetius, French philosopher and author; Henry 11., the first of the Plantagenet line; the elder Pliny, Roman naturalist, and author; Julius Caesar, Charles Kingsley, English author; Juan Prim, Spanish general and statesman; Henry Knox, American revolutionary general; Thomas Mifflin, American patriot; Von Tromp, Dutch admiral; Abraham Lincoln, Marryatt, the novelist; George Whitefield, English founder of Calvinistic methodism; Robert Dudley. earl of Leicester, favorite of Queen Elizabeth; Johann Caspar Spurzheim, German physician and phrenologist, and Frederick 11., emperor of Germany.

A Magnetic Island.

Everybody has read stories of mysterious islands exercising an irresistit)le attraction on ships passing near them. These, of course, are pure intentions; but there is an islnnd named Bornholm in the Baltic sea near the coast of Denmark whose rocks, according to a Vienna journal, Der Stein der Welsen, are so strongly magnetic that they nffeet the compasses of passing ships, even as far as nine miles away. In this manner Bornholm may be said to turn vessels out of (heir course, since an error of the compass needle may cause a corresponding error in the steering of n ship.

Distinguished Finnish Women.

Biographies of more than 600 women who have been or are distinguished In public life in Tinland may be rend in the “Handbook des Finmnndischen Frauennereins,” recently published. In 1884 a Frauennerein was founded for the improvement of the condition of women, and in 1891 a second association. called the "Union." to which men were eligible, was founded for the same purpose.

THE GREATEST INVENTOR.

A Drummer Telia a Story About the Wizard of Menlo Park. A Blue line train was making a blue I streak through the New Jersey air,with the cowcatcher of the locomotive point- 1 ed toward New York city, and a drum-' mer was talking right along ahead of it as easy as the bird flies, says the New York Sun. “I want to say to you, gentlemen,”, he was, saying, “that. Thomas Edison is the greatest inventor in the world, not only in the quantity of his inventions, but in the quality of them, and every new thing he turns out he gets a patent on it before it is dry. Sensible 1 man is Tom, and a great snap is a pat-j ent when the monopoly in it is yours,! gentlemen. I know what Fm talking; about, for I had one once that was a 100- j 100, only it wasn’t big enough. But j I’m getting away from my tale, as the dog remarked when he barely got his hind legs from under the wheels. I was in Edison’s town the other day and heard a new story on him. New to me, anyhow. Man over there that I sell goods to. and won’t lie except when the fishing season is on, told me, as an illustration of how absorbed Edison is in his business, that one day Mrs. Edison came to her husband in great glee and announced that the baby had a tooth.’ “ ‘Very well, my dear.” replied her husband, never stoppings minute from his work. ‘I haven’t got time to bother with your affairs. You Just run along and get a patent on it and have it charged to my account.* ”

THEY HELPED JIM.

He Was Only a Little Bootblack and Had Been 111. The rich men who build hospitals are , not the only benevolent ones. The shoeblack of whom Dr. Talmage tells this story showed a spirit of sweet unselfishness: I “A reporter sat down on one of the city hall benches and whistled to one of the shiners. The boy came up to his work provokingly slow, and had just begun, when a larger boy shoved him aside and began the work, and the reporter reproved him as being a bully, and the boy replied: ‘Oh, that's all right. lam going to do it lor *im. You see, he’s been sick in the hospital more’n a month; so us boys turn in and give ’im ' a lift.’ ' ! “ ‘Do all the boys help him?’ asked the reporter. “ ‘Yes, sir; when they ain’t got no job themselves and Jim gets one, they . turn in and help ’im; for he ain’t strong yet, you see.’ “ ‘How much percentage does he give . you?’ asked the reporter. “The boy replied: ‘I don’t keep none j of it. I ain’t no such sneak as that. All the boys give up what they get on his job. I’d like to catch any feller sneaking on a sick boy, I would.’ “The reporter gave him a 25-cerit piece, and said: ‘You keep ten cents for yourself, and give the rest to Jim.’ “ ‘Can’t do it, Sir; it’s his customer. Here, Jim.’ ”

DECAY OF ANIMAL MATTER.

It Is Somethin? More Than n Simple Chemical Change. A great many proofs, now more or less familiar to most people, show quite clearly that the decay of animal or vegetable matter is not a simple chemical change, inevitable in the nature of things, but a violent interference with the natural course on the part of hostile organisms, says Longman’s Magazine. The bacteria, which produce decomposition, are very minute plants, which grow, like mushrooms or molds, upon organic matter, and which reproduce their like with incredible rapidity. Tyndall showed long ago that the spores of these plants exist in myriads in the air, floating everywhere around us; that they occupy all crannies and empty places on the surface of the earth, and that they swarm in their millions in all ponds and puddles. An easy way of proving that these spores alone, and the plant colonies which spring from them, are the cause of putrefaction may be obtained by boiling beef tea in a test tube, so as to kill the bacteria, and then, white the liquid is still steaming, closing up the mouth of the tube with a plug ofootton wool, which admits the air but strains out the germs of the putrefactive organisms. Under these conditions the beef tea will keep good for years, but if you remove the plug it wilj begin at once to putrefy.

WINNING A WIFE IN GREECE.

IpoDicr Gatherer* Ennagr la Snbniiueou* Content* for Her Hand. In many of the Greek inlands diving for sponges forms a considerable part of the occupation of the inhabitants. A visitor to this unfrequented region describes the following rather startling custom. He says: “Himia, which is a little island directly opposite Rhodes, is worthy of notice on account of the singular method by whteh tbe Greek inhabitants of the island get their living. On the bottom of the sen in this locality the common spongy is found in greater abundance than in any other part of the Mediterranean. The natives make it a trade to gather these, and their income lrom this source is far from contemptible; their Moods are always in demand among who use an incredible ntimlier afrsponges in the ablutions prescribed Mohammedan ritual. A girl in fhte island is not permitted to marry gufll "he has brought up a certain nufnhprof sponges and given proof of her sß&by taking them from a certain dei%). But in certain of these islands thsb custom is reversed. The father of a marriageable daughter bestows her on the best direr among her suitors, ije who can stay longest in the water and bring up the biggest cargo of sponges marries the maid.**

The Obesity Record.

| Daniel Lambert, the fanwww fat man and the most noted example of obesity recorded in medical annals, was born in 1770, and died at the ago of 40, of excessive fat. His weight was 739 pounds.

POOR MANUAL TRAINING.

No Systematic Instruction In Reformatory Institution*. During September 1 visited several off the reformatory institutions to see what was being done for the younger boys in regard to manual training, says a writer in the Altruist Interchange. I found very little systematic instruction. The principal occupations were caning chairs, knitting stockings by machinery and other purely mechanical work. In none of the schools was there systematic instruction in manual training as it is now carried on in educational institutions. In fact, there were so many young boys who could notlbe kept busy at machine work that a large part of the time which might have been usefully employed was spent in idleness. During these hours the boys found occupations on their own account for their hands to do to a limited extent. In one institution the boys had taken from their hat bands the broad steel wire which kept them in shape, broken it into pieces from three to six inches in length, ground these upon the doorsteps or walls-of the building and used them as knives to whittle such bits of wood as they could pick up about the yard or secure from the janitors when they made the fires. They made a handle by winding on the ravelings of stockings or binding two bits of wood on either side. Little boats, paper knives, household furniture, were rudely shaped by these crude instruments. Some of the boys were put there for wrecking trains, for burglary, etc., and their tendencies were sometimes expressed in the things they tried to make. For instance, pistols, small knives and weapons such as boys might use in Indian raids, etc.

danger in newspapers

One Causes a Loss of Eighty Quarts of Milk. For several weeks the streets in the extreme southern section of the city have been littered with papers, handbills and other rubbish of all sorts and sizes, says the Philadelphia Record. The evil was due in a measure to the habit of certain merchants of the neighborhood who, to advertise their wares, have flooded the district with printed “dodgers” both large and small. This condition of affairs led to an accident recently which might have proved serious. A milk wagon drawn by a meeklooking brown horse was jogging peacefully along the street, when suddenly a double sheet of newspaper borne along by the wind swooped down upon the horse’s head. The paper stuck there, and twisting itself about the frightened brute’s head transformed the formerly peaceful animal into a perfect demon. With a wild flourish of its hind legs which shattered the dashboard of the wagon the horse, blindfolded as it was with the paper, tore furiously* down the street. The wagon struck a pile of stones, and, although it was not overturned, the milk cans were, and their contents poured into a mortur bed which lay along the south side of the street, where a row of new houses was being erected. At the same time the trees broke and the horse, floundering into a bed of sand, fell in a heap. Then another gust of wind came along, whisked the newspaper off the horse’s head and carried it over an adjoining housetop. The horse was captured and found to be uninjured, but the milkman bemoaned the Joss of 80 quarts of milk.

LESSENING STATURE IN EUROPE

One of the Chief Coutrlbutln? Causes Is the Military Service Exacted. Thiß relation between stature and health is brought to concrete expression in the armies of Europe through a rejection of all recruits for service who fall below a certain minimum standard of height, generally about five feet, says Popular Science Montblj. The result of this is to preclude the possibility of marriage for all the fully developed men during Iheir three years in the barracks, while tbe undersized individuals, exempted from service on thin uccount, are left free to propagate the species meanwhile. Is it not apparent that the effect of this artificial selection is to put a distinct premium upon inferiority of stature ir. so far as future generations are concerned? This enforced postponement of marriage for the normal man implies not merely that the children of uormal families are born later in life —that would not be of great moment in itself—it means far more than this. The majority of children are more often born in the earlier half of married life, before the age of 35. Hence a postponement of matrimony means not only later children, but fewer children. Herein lies the great significance of the phenomenon for us. Standing armies tend in this respect to overload succeeding generations with inferior types of men.

His Little Mistake.

An exchange tells of a clerk who was showing a lady some parasols. He had a good command of language, and knew how to commend his goods. As he picked up a parasol from the lot on the counter and opened it, lie struck an attitude of admiration, and holding it up, said: “Now, there, isn’t it lovely ? Look at that silk. Particularly observe the quality, the finish, the general effect. Pass your hand over it,’’ he said, ns he handed it to the lady; “isn't it a beauty?" “Yes." said the lady; "that's my old one. I just, laid it ddwn there."

Town Atmosphere.

The amount, of sulphurous acid in town air in heavy weather is ten to twenty times that in bright, clear weather; and in fog the proportion is still greater. Freshly fallen rain collected 'in Manchester showed a* much as 70 parts per million of sulphurous acid.

Symbol of Eternity.

The emblematists make the snake a symbol of eternity, forming it into a circle, with its tail in its mouth.

TORNADO DRILLS IN KANSAS.

Cave* Are Being Built Under School Heaaea. We have fire drills in our public schools in the east, and very effective drills they have proved in more than one case of emergency. In Kansas they have no fire drills, or, if they have, we have still to hear of it. Out there tornadoes are more to be dreaded than fires, and the schoolchildren are .now being trained in tornado drills, says the New York Sun. When tornadoes strike a Kansas town everybody makes at once for prairies. It is the onty way to escape death from flying doors ami chimneyß, falling trees un<} toppling buildings. Schoolchildren are trained to know this from the cradle, and on these occasions rtish pell mell for the nearest bit of clear prairie attainable. BAt .many children have been maimed and even killed in these terrible storms. So they have started a movement throughout the state to have tornado caves built under the schoolhouses large enough to accommodate all the children while the blow lasts. And here comes in the tornado drill, which is already being put into practice. It is very much like our own fire drill. The teacher sounds the alarm on the piano and the children all stand up. Then the march is played, and out they go in good order, down the stairs and into the cave. Then let the winds blow! Let the entire building fall in ruins! The children are safe and have only to be dug out.

QUAKER CITY ECONOMY. .

Watchmen nml Guides Dlagnated—l.o»<- Their Umax Buttons. Tliere couldn’t possibly be in all this city another crowd of men so disgusted as were the watchman, guides and elevator men at the city hall, says the Philadelphia Record. It was all because the public buildings commissioners had been seized with what the men considered a ridiculous attack of economy. This is the time of the year when all uniformed men in the employ’ of the city prepare to change their winter clothing for their summer garments. Now, the uniforms worn by the city hall men are profusely adorned with brass buttons bearing the seal of the city, and the municipal authorities are particularly’ careful to see that none of these buttons shall ever go astray. It is, in fact, a punishable offense for a common citizen to have in his possession one of these buttons. Accordingly’ when each man appeared for duty, he was called to the front and an official, armed with a pair of shears, snipped off all the city’s buttons from the victim's uniform except'one, which was left to hold the coat across the chest. Forttmately the suspender buttons on the trousers are just the ordinary kind, without any municipal insignia, otherwise there would certainly have been a strike. The crop of buttons thus gathered in was sent to the tailor, who had finished the summer Uniforms up to the point of attaching those necessary little articles.

ENGLISH NURSES IN GREECE.

The American W. C. T. V. Helped Maintain Them. During the latter part of the campaign in Greece excellent servic® was done in‘the field hospitals by a few English nurses who left home to care for the wounded soldiers in the Greek army. The princess of Wales was much interested' in the project, ami lent her influence to aid it. and l ady Henry Somerset took an active part in the arrangements for the nurses’ departure, says the New York Tribune. This country also had its partin the affair, for the National W. 0. T. IT. sent, through Miss Frances Willard, $1,500, representing the expenses of sending one nurse. The women, who were all enthusiastic for the Greek cause and experienced in hospital work, sailed from London and arrived a few weeks ago at Athens. They were heartily welcomed' there, and the people who had assembled to greet them cheered them warmly as they lnnded. The work which was assigned to thrm was taxing to their strength and frequently of the most trying and disagreeable nature, but they had come with the knowledge that war meant hardships, and they have acquitted themselves nobly. The tnsk of caring for the wounded is not ended yet, and the nurses will stay as long as their presence can be of use.

FRENCH COOKING.

The I'.hkllnli Feed, the Americana I)e----vonr, the French Eat. People may sneer at, judging a nation by the amount of attention it pays to its stomach; but the stomach is, after all, a very important part of the human anutomy, and those who nutround the physical necessities of our animnl nnture with agreeable charms that make them less course and brutal certainly have a claim to being consider ered in some degree promoters of civilization, says the Chautauquan. It is u libel both upon nature and nature’s God to hold that everything pleasant is wrong and that the refinements of life have no place in that great evolution that is gradually raising mankind to a higher plane, even though such refinements descend to the accessories of tlie table. It is in this respect that French cooking is superior to all other cooking; It is more refined. 'Hie English feed, the Americans devour; only the French reully know how to eat. Tlielr meals, as a rule, are less heavy and solid than those of other nations, yet quite sufficient in quantity, while the great fact that distinguishes their cooking is their perfect comprehension of the part played by seasoning. Like the Gallic wit which flavors their literature, their thorough knowledge of seasoning gives zest to their cooking.

Deaf. Dumb and Dlind.

The ratio of deaf mutes and blind in fill civilized countries rises much faster than that of the population.

THE COLORED BROTHER.

Not a Good Tenant tor the Southern (.and lord. The typical negro tenant arrives at a new home in a mule wagon or ox cart with a bundle of rags, a fry’ing pan and a covey of children, and he stays with a landlord who may have saved him from destitution by advancing provisions and dry goods only so long as the caprice of the hour dictates, says Lippincott’s. Land owners who have sunk into financial ruin by mortgaging their property have nearly always been dragged into the slough by the effort to help their negrpes out of it. The crop made by the average negro farmer is subject to many cpntingencies besides those of the weather. He does not hesitate to leave his field at the most critical season if pleasure calls him; “big meetings” he never can resist and these take place during the important agricultural months of July and August, first atone church and then at another. After the mules have been working hard all the week in this busy season they are often driven ten to fifteen miles on Sundays, carrying wagonloads of men, women and children; long bright ribbons flying out from the heads of the female members of the family, whose hair has been tightly plaited and bound with cords the week in order to produce a holiday sensation in an ample psyche-knot at the back and a bushellike roundness in front; they appear in fancy waists and big sleeves and regale themselves and their friends with a dinner of fried chicken, cake and watermelons after the meeting, rags being good enough to wear, hoe cake and bacon good enough to eat during the week. Like his African ancestors, the American negro is miserable without jollifications and feastings; if he can have them he will do a hard job of work between times.

WOMAN’S SOPRANO VOICE.

Why She t'nii Bench Mach Higher Tones Thnn Is I‘omtlhle for Man. The scientist who discovered in the human larynx the anatomical reason why woman has a soprano voice and a man a bass one was a woman, Mrs. Emma Seiler, says the Philadelphia Times. She was a German, born in VVurtzburg. Left a widow with two children to support, she resolved to become a teacher of singing, bxit suddenly lost her voice. Then she determined to find out why; also to discover the correct method of singing, so that others might not lose their voices. For this purpose she studied anatomy. She dissected larynx after larynx and spent years in her search, trying to find for one thing why women’s head tones could reach high C while men had no soprano tones. At length her search was rewarded. She discovered under the microscope one day two small, wedge-shaped cartilages whose action, produces the highest tones of the human voice. She made her discovery public. It excited great attention among scientists. Her own brother, a physician, praised the treatise in the highest terms till he found his own sister had written it. Then he dashed it down, suyieg in a rage that she would be better attending to her housework. Mine. Seiler's portrait, a marble relief, is in possession of the American Philosophical society of Philadelphia, of w hich she was a member. She wrote, among other books, “The Voice in Singing-" and “The Voice in Speaking.”

THE TAME FAWN.

tin OI«f r ..»ic Wild Sarrowly Escaped wltii tier life, Although it does ikj appreciate confinement iu a puddock, it is easy to lame u fawn and it makes a delightful pel until it attains t.o years pf indiscretion, says the Badminton Magazine. A fame roe used to follow the children everywhere round the old castle of Duntroon and even up the stairs and into the rooms. One of his little playfellows hud been obliged to give up his room so u gentleman who had come to stay there and the surprise of the guest was unbounded when the head and neck of a roe protruded through his half-open door. “Dear me!” he said, "game must be extremely plentiful in t liese parts.” Yet, just 11s a kitten would be the most delightful of pets except for its unfortunate habit of growing into a cat, so a roe and especially a buck, becomes too much of a handful as a pet when it grows up. Their beautiful little horns are both sharp and dangerous and a tame roebuck very nearly put an old woman off the road and into the Crinan canal by its obtrusive attentions. It meant no harm; it really expected to get u lump of rock salt, with which it had usually been rewarded for its caresses, but the old dame did not appreciate its uncanny approaches and narrowly escaped with her life.

Parrot Diseases.

Psittacosis, the peculiar form of bronchial pneumonia communicated by parrots, has broken out in Genoa, 14 cases, eight of them fatal, being traced to a single importation of two sick Brazilian parrots. The health board lias warned the citizens aguipst harboring parrots us pets. At Berlin the veterinary school has found that out of 174 sick parrots 54 were suffering from tuberculosis. The disease is hereditary in the birds, and is intensified by the close confinement and discomfort of the voyage to Europe.

Queer Funeral Music.

At a recent funeral in Vincennes, France, the remains were those of a man past ho. a band played a series of polkas and mazurkas and wound up with the M arse liaise at the grave. It was done in obedience to the orders left by the deceased. He said he had lived HO years and had had a good time and snw no reason for mourning over the depnrtyire.

New England's Cultivated Area.

In 20 years the cultivated area of New England lias diminished from 11,150,000 acres' to 10,740.000,