St. Joseph County Independent, Volume 20, Number 20, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 1 December 1894 — Page 2

™ ®s I^^ DI CHAPTER IX—Continued. Reaching the Reyniers’ door, Roderick did not oiler to e iter. In truth, [ he felt that the usual social evening would bn as impossible to him as to I bilence. In their present crisis of pain : they needed either to be quite alone with each other or entirely apart. Still, when he saw her next morning, looking deadly pale, b.it assuming a faint smile of welcome, and sitting down beside him in the old wav, though ho noticed, with a slight he i- I tation, as of doing as a duty what had j before been so natural and sweet, Rod- | crick's heart sunk. He waited in a ( fever of apprehension for what she j ; had to tay, or rather he tried to pre- j , vent her saying, by talking ab >ut ■ ; what ho had been writing in tho mat- I , ter of Blackball. To all of which sho ■ answered only by a pale smile, then j said, gently; ’ j , “You forget, my friend, the matter I f we had to speak about this morning.” ; i “No, I do not forgot—but yesterday, ; , when I spoke of our marriage, it seemed ■ 1 to pain you." I j “It will not to-day, for I have been I thinkii git all over, and ” i j “You are trembling! You are ill, my ’ 1 darling " “Oh, no!” gently putting aside and s then y elding to his tender car. ss. i “Don't mind me, lam not ill but I lay I awake tho whole of last night, and it i is trying when the morning breaks ' upon one and there is no rest, no divis- I j lou between two days—two such dreadful days. ” * , “Dreadful! Why? What do you mean?" She took his hand and stroked it with a gesture almost motherly, i “Listen to me. I have a pood deal to * say, and you must listen. You will? I < shall not hurt you, my RodericK not ' very much! And that I love you—ah, ! i you know it—only too well, if that I । were possible. But it is impossible! ! I Were you a vain man, or a tyrant, or selfish, it might harm you, and I should * bo afraid; but you are none of the three. You are Roderick, my Rode- I rick! 1 shall never love any man in t this world but you!” i “Os course not, it would be very ' wrong.” But suddenly his attempt at a smile faded in a vague terror. “Why 1 tell me this'? What do you mean'?” 1 “I think”—she spoke voq —a * softly—“l think we ought to part.” For a luumcm Ku-urick was completely stunned. Her whole manner 1 was sb quiet that a stranger might have imagined she felt nothing, that * she had no feelings at all. A slight ' quiver about the mouth, atigh er com- ' iiression of the fingers—she had taken J ler hand away from his and claspe 1 them together on her lap—that was s all. Shallow people might have 1 wholly misjudged her; even her lover ‘ did, a little. “Anl —you say this quite calmly— ! * as if you aid not care.” “Not care! Oh, mon Dieu! mon < Dieu!” ’ Then she turned impl ringly to Roderick. “Do not be angry with me. Ido f not deserve it; only li.< m, it is for your 1 good I speak. Yesterday I believed ’ you ma le me believe —that it would bo the best thing in the world for you to 2 marry me. Now, 1 doubt. J “Now it is over. 1 have made up my mind —that is. so far as, being fiancee, Iha ea right to make up my mind. 1 1 think it would be best for you t ’ go home at once, an I tell your mother ‘ that we have parted, that'wo thought ‘ it best to part.” Roderick sat dead silent. “Otherwise, think what will happen! You will be comparatively poor ” “And you are afraid of poverty?” The moment he had said the words he felt their meanness, their utter intrueness, and passionately begged her pardon. “What need?” Silence answered, half ' sadly. “The question is not whether you hurt me, or I vou. or whether we vex one another, ’but whether we do what is right, absolute r ght. That is the real heart of love. If I thought a thing right, 1 would do it, and help you to do it, 'though it killed me—ay, । even though it killed us both ” "I understand you." he said, with a quietness that was a marvel even to I himself, “rut it is a very difficult matter to decide, and we must decide. } f'>v our whole two livos la.a.n.<x iu. the ’ balance. letme jo away and think it ; out alone—quite alone.” He roe with a grave, sad air, and ; went to the door, then came back and । kissed her hand “My love! my only love! Yes, 1 have • found you. It is not every man's lot so [ to find you. Whatever happens, I I thank God.” Without more words he went away to his favorite “thinking place.” a cuiet walk along the lake shore. Many i an hour had he spent there within tho last few months, but never such an hour as this. He would go back with the fiat of life or death in his hands. Byron, who wrote so many false things, wrote one true oue: Man’s love is of man s life a tiling apart, ‘Tls woman’s whole existence. At least, this is true of most women: and she of whom it is not true is scarcely a woman at all. Though all the time Sophie sat chatting besi Ie her Silence neither wept nor cmplained, asked no sympathy, and betrayed by no word that anything was amiss, still, when the door opened and she saw her lover appear, a shiver ran through her, which made the kindhearted Sophie, with a troubled and anxious look, immediately disap, ear. “My love,” he said. “I have been thinking over everything, trying to see the right and wr ng of things — simple right and wrong, without relation to ou selves at all. My father could do it, and used to say he believed I could when I was tried. 1 hope so; I hope I can judge calmly,

Without being either selfish or unjust »^ 0 ’ a thousand times no ’’ My darling, we must love one another— wo must be married. You left it to me to decide, and I have decided it w ill be a pang in some ways—a risk in others—but it must bo; it ought to be. Love is best. Gome ” & T° Uld i .\ aVe she Cl 'ied— J®®’ I T" haVe hved ' ()no has nf ’ right to break one s heart and die till God chooses. But life with you. and life without you oh, the diiterence.” Roderick clasped her in his arms and they wept together like little children. Once again Roderick wrote to his mother, informing her that ho had delayed his marriage for throe months, hoping against hope that after all it might not he the saddest of weddings without a parent’s blessing, but thah whether or no, it must bo. He allowed her no possibility of believing that he could change his mind. While opposing, he never deceived 110 l 101 ti’GGOlt Im Bk 1 w s# “nd whatever he was, Roderick was no coward. It was on one Sunday afternoon, which they were spending with the good Reyniers at Chaumont. They had climbed tho hill through the long pine woods, and were now standing watching that lovely view, tho triple chain of lakes, with its long lino of snowy Alps beyond. The air was mild and soft; there were violets in tho woods. It felt like tho first day of spring, which always comes, as it wore, with a message of promise to the young. Ay. and even to those whose youth is only a never-fulfilled remembrance. "Silence, ” Roderick said, as he took in his the hand that would bo his own through life. "1 have finished all tho work 1 had to do here. Now, when shall we go homo’?” “Home?” “1 our new hi mo, and mine; the home wo are to share together.” Martled, sho faltered out something about "waiting a little longer.” “1 have waited. It is now nearly nine months since the da ? at Berne, when—- “ *1 Ual i ui se« bar pa-song by. And vet I love her t il Idle.’ •’ . "I, hat would have lieon very foolish, said Silence, with a naive gravity; "unless you have followed up the acquaintance, and come to know mo well.” Suddenly putting her two hands in her lover's "You do know me, faults and all, so take me; and oh! Io good to me I have only you! "And I you. You will be go< d tome also.'” •“ho smiled. “Little use in talking, I but 1 think there will never come a day when I would not cheerfully die, if my dying could help vou. My living will, much more. Sol noantolive.” And she looked up fondly, with all her soul in her eyes, at her young bridegroom. Would she forty,* fifty ypars henco. the old man's fa<e that of tills lover u, ... . , b lace forgotten by all but. her. twa knows! but it is good to believe so. ““ The marriage was arranged, of j course, to be quite quiet. All the usual Swiss festivities, tho solve? aux ! bou piets before th ■ wedding, and the ball after it, were of necessity omitted. ! The Reynier family alone were to "assist” at tho ceremony, for which the girls implore i Silence would, for one uay only, put off her mourning and us- - sume proper bridal white. She as- ; sented, "because my mother would have like ! it. Sho used often to talk of the day when she wo lid dress mo as a bride. “And sho would be glad, so glad! if she knew that you were taking care of me,” said Silence, with a bright smile, though her tear - were dropping down. "Al oa little, that 1 was taking rare of you. She used to say it was my metier always to take care of somebody. Therefore, adieu, my mother! You will not forget me wherever you are; nor 1 you.” She laid her cheek on tho white headstone in a pa sion ol solv, then suddenly checke I them all, gave her hand to her bridegroom, and suffered him to lead her away home. I o did not seo her again till next morning, when Sophie, Marie and Jeanne Reynier led into tho salon and loft be ide him, shutting the door upon them both, tho whitest, loveliest vision More like an ang d than a woman, ho thought then, nor ever ceased to think, though he never saw it but once in his life, on that wonderful wet morning when the .Deluge itself seemed to have c mo back up >n Neuchatel, as if to sweep away w ith its torrents all his old lif -. and begin the new life with his wedding day. Suddenly he stooped and kissed, not her lips, but her han I. She looked suprised for an instant, perhaps ju-t a little hurt then perceived at once the deep emotion, the tender reverence. “Oh, my love, my love forever! : "TKifW twat* said she’ of rather I i breathed than sai 1 it. as she put both j I arms round his neck and clung to his : i bosom. She was but a woman after all. ; j Soon after Roderick led his bride, I I both quite ca m now and smiling, to ! the two carriages waiting below. He | ! and she and the good Reyniers drove 1 through the soaking streets to the I damp, empty church, where, strange ’ contrast to his sister's brilliant mar- ’ riage, they two stood alone, with not i a creature of their own blood beside ; them, and heard tho old minister in ' his unimpassionod voice addr -ss them as "mon cher frere et ma chere steur,” ' recommending them to observe “une I inviolable fidelite, une entiere confij ance, et une affection toujours plus i profonde.” Then, having answered tho I few questions of the Swiss marriage ] liturgy, simple and Brotestant, not unj like his native Presbyterian service, j the young bridegroom listened as if in । a dream to the final blessing. “Que Dieu, notre Pere en Jesus Christ, fasse reposer Sa benediction sur vous, qu ll seelie dans vos c ears le lien que vous venez de former, qu'll sanctifie de plus en plus, et que vous viviez ensemble en Jesus Christ, dans i l’attente du jour ou ceux qui se seronte | aimes en Lui, saront reunis dans Son sein pour I'eternite. Amen.” CHAPTEK X. 1 A “fiat” at a Richerde.t terrace, furnished after the true Righerden style, not tawdry certainly, but very solid; solid and ugly. Large-patterned flowery carpets, and curtains to match, there being just that slighc difference

no consequence ^but^m P ’ e tWnk " of a dally torment, sHRug 18 edge like an untidy room \ ° U of tune, or any oth i J n ’P r a p,auo out avoidable miseries ° f those small difference Sw^n make all the difference between reaT 1 Bhaiu re * nnmt. But the sense 1 ndSham reflne * °r and form a thin , f lann °ny In colof riches, and often X? Darative poverty «•„ U nable ln com “ to, and dlsreganL.i u mastl y unknown habitants of this by ’^ he wealthy inthose who Imnn ? a bttle painful to stltuted 11 ° tO be ^‘’Terentiy conexact/y HkeTeaT witi? ^\ rnom ’ T . up the wrong way ” ing to make a Joke on 1 n derl ^ 80 different n't / 10 bad Or even exluuted. They had been traveling a month abroad, and had begun to wea’ry of hotels, and look forward eagerly to the settled life of dual solitude, which to all people who are truly irone and one without need of that ^shadowy third," which marks, alas! ttk bu ' perfectness of married unloll- is . And theirs had been a sadhomSconihm—not a soul waiting there to welcome the bride. It was now two days iince they had arrived, yet not a visit, not a card, ! not a letter, came to show that any body remembered there were such people in the world as Roderick Jardine and his young wife. "\Ve might as well be in the desert of Sahara, only there it wouldn't rain, ns It seems always to do here,” continued he. “What a change! We left spring, we come back to winter.” “I don’t mind it. And I like tho merry crackle of the open fire,” said Silence, who was kneeling before it, tlu' blaze brightening her sweet face, upon which had already come the mysterious look which even a week of mari iage sems to bring, the deep, contented calm of a girl who has passed into a woman, whose' lot is settled, whoso life is filled. 1-or good or ill, God knows! but it is filled; and all uncertainty Is ended. “Do not vex yourself, dear,” sin* said. 1 hought I allow, it might lx? a prettier salon, or parlor. Is not parlor the word?” "Drawing room; parlor Is not half genteel enough for Kicherden,” said Roderick, laughing, Mell, whatever it is. it is very comfortable. lam quite happy in It—with you. And I like our being here, all alone, with no ‘n^ceptlons.’ We shall not need to have any, I suppose?" "No ‘at home,’ you mean? to receive our wedding callers? Apparently we shall have none to receive. Oh, there Is tlie door-bell." to ns coxnxißo’j "ImtH’iue SxjumWw* Sherman, or any other <»h / grave, dignified, and revc^HU statesmen being called upon to ue ide tho question as to whet! <-r, when a lady rides on a tandem bicycle uith a male escort she should sit behind or in front!" exclaims Vogue’s Paris correspondent. “Yet this is the problem which has been seriously propounded to the venerable Senator Jules Simon; to tho pompous and inten'ely dignified Gomi' de Hnussonviile, who represented the Gomte do Paris’inter© ts here and was his principal lieutenant to the po: t'y Duke of iJoudeauville; and to the octogenaria i, Senator Barthelmy St. Hi aire. They have, after due c >nsideration. responded to tho inquiry with the same gravity with which it was put to them, and with as much uuctu n a* if they were determining some intricate problem of statecraft or cccb siasli al lore. 1 need scare !y say that th ir unanimous deci ion wa- that tho lady -honld sit in front, since she is bound to pre er the green hori ons and the varieties of tho landscape to the back of a man. while tho latt- r, for his part, ought to prefer to the beasties of the landscape and the roe^y of the hori on the little crisp curls that grow in the nape of every pretty woman s neck. \etit is easy to understand why this decision should l>e declined by the majority of the bicyciists, especially those of m own -ex. For it is in the nape of tho neck and at the base of the skull where a woman first begins to manifest signs of her ago. where her beauty shows its first token of waning, and tho fair one must be very young ami sure of her loveliness in order to place herself for hours at a time in the manner that shows her under the most trying c rcumstances to her escort.” A Grewsoine Calling. Th ■ most grewsoine modern callingI beyond all question, is thuL*. ■ --qruc ptea di. er employed in exarrf* a i n & and e’earing away sunken wrecks. Putting aside the fact that his life is in I constant danger from the as aults of j submarine enemies or accident to his diving-dress and apparatus, the sights that ho is called up m to see, and to see, moreover, ami ■ the mo-t horrible surroundings, e ceen in ghastliness even tho o which c mfront the hospital or the army surgeon. Nowhere else on land or sea are so many accumulated horrors to be found as in the hull of a ship which has sunk with crew and passengers. Tho hideous condition in which tho diver finds tho victims of the wreck, some hall-devoure.l by fish, so i o standing upright an l flo iting to and fro with a ghastly parody of living motion, some still lo Rod together as though yet in the last agony of the death ’ struggle, each j fighting for some re lor fancied chance of escape, and some swollen to twice I j their natural size, floating about the interior of a ship, and knocking and rubbing up azainsthim with a hideous life-likeness that is utterly indescribable—these are some of the horrible s : ghts which deep-sea divers have t> work amid when they are employed on ! sunken wrecks. When to all these are added the awful gloom and silence amid which the work has to bo performefl, there will not seem to be much doubt that of all modern callings that of the deep-sea diver is the most gi ewaome. Massachusetts is said to be the great shoe producing commonwealth of the world.

UNCLE SAM’S CASH BOX ^TREASURER MORGAN SUBMITS HIS ANNUAL REPORT. Total Fiscal Receipts on All Accounts Were $734,000,538 and the Total Expenditures $008,908,552-Insufli-cieut Revenues Impair Gold Reserve. Bond Issue a Necessity. e iA S “. r r r of the United States, Hon. 11. D. Morgan, has submitted to secretary Carlisle the annual report of ”, op ®™ tlons «nd condition of the treasury. Ihe net ordinary revenues for the hseni year ending June 30, cents omit«w’oo-°^! a decreil se of , ^,OJ <( 009 as compared with the year before. The net ordinary expenditures ,l decrease of $15,v0~,6T4. The total receipts on all accounts were $724.00(5,538, and the expenditures $608,908,552. At the close of business on June 30, 1893, there stood on the books of the department charged to the treasurer a balance of $738,467,555. Adding to this receipts on all accounts gives $1,462,474,093 as total to be accounted for, and deducting the expenditures leaves a balance of $763,565,540 on June 30, 1894. In addition to these balances, however, there were other liabilities, arising from the postal revenues, from disbursing officers and from other sources, which I brought the total to $776,041,808 at the i former date, and to $804,854,753 at the latter. After setting aside the amounts treated as unavailable, the principal of i which are the deposits made with the i States under the law of 18tM, flier*, rumalned the sum of $746,538,655 in 1593 . and the sum of $775,310,559 in 1894 represented by live assets in the several , offices of the treasury and mint, together j with deposits in national banks. Os these balances the sums of $584,593,920 and $616,155,820, respectively, were on deposit for the redemption of outstanding certificates and treasury notes, leaving $161,994,735 and $159,154,739 as the balances on account of the general fund. Impairment of the Gold Reserve. The treasurer remarks that the Impairment of the gold reserve rendering necessary the issue of bends in February, was caused chiefly by the depletion of tho treasury resulting from insufficient revenues. Even when tho supply of paper had become so reduced that the treasury was obliged to pay out largo sums of gold in the ordinary disbursements the coin was freely returned in the revenues. Tho proceeds of tl.:s loan were $.">5,G60,000 in gold coin ami certificates, but during the month of February there were redeemed of notes in gold, presumably to moot subscriptions to the loan, so that tho not gold proceeds were about $30,SiiO,(M)O. This, with a gain of $1,500,000 in gold fr»>m ordinary sources, brought up the r< servo during tho month from $65,000,000 to $106,500,000. while tho net assets of tho treasury, with an excess of $7,000,000 of expenditures over receipts for the month, increased from $125,000,000 to $177,000,000. Lhtring the succeeding months till the end of the first w . rrrwftf’PM export, the m 'vetneut abroad 7 finv|tig been stisnuhited by tho necessity which the treasury was under of furnishing to exporters new full weight after tho supply of old pie had b> '*ome exhausted. TTio lowest point touehe.l by the reserve was ss2.lS'j.sm,i on Aug. 7. 1894. Prior to July. 1892. the gold reserve was but little affected by tho withdrawals of com, there never having been any considerable demand for the redemption of nob*. Even when gold exports were heavy tho metal was furnished by bankers from their vaults, or was obtained from tho treasury for gold certificates, of Course without impairment of the reserve. During the last two years, however, the | treasury has been called upon to furnish nearly the wh Jo of the requirf merits for exportation, and there have recently been considerable withdrawals for other uses. To the end of September last the total redemptions of I’nio d States notes in gold since tho re-coup'om specie payments were and the total redemptions of the tri astiry notes in gold from their first issue were SGS,SoO,OIX). The two important events of the year affecting the condition of the public debt were the Issue of S.>),(!’HUW of 5 per cent, bonds to replenish the gold reserve and the stoppage of the purchase of silver bullion by the issue of treasury notes. Retirement of Treasury Notes. With reference to the retirement of treasury notes the Treasurer says that j prior to August, 1893, the treasury had been able to provide for the redemption of treasury notes in silver dollars out of tho holdings of free silver, so that there had not been, up to that time, any impairment of ihe total amount of the silver fund accumulated under the act. Un th.o 3d of that month, however, the silver j dollars and bullion in the treasury had become reduced to the amount required I by law to be retained for the payment of outstanding treasury notes and certiti cares, ana Hie Uemuna for tiie redemption of notes continuing in consequence ! of the scarcity of the small denomina- ! tions of currency, it became necessary to ! draw’ upon the dollars coined especially for that purpose. The silver fund being thus impaired, the notes so redeemed ' were canceled in order to preserve the required equality between the silver in the treasury and tho notes outstanding. The j total amount of the notes retired in this way, up to Oct. 31, was $4,790,434. The ! amount of the new issues of United j States paper currency put into circulation । during the year was $350,959,100, havI ing been exceeded but once, in 1892. The j amount of worn and mutilated notes rei deemed was $319,002,290. This also has I been exceeded but once, in 1893. Tho I total paper circulation reached its hlghj est point in May last, when ft stood at $1,175,000,000. Since then there has been a slight contraction, caused chiefly by the ! gradual redemption and retirement of I gold certificates, the issue of which was ! suspended, as the law requires, when the gold reserve of tho treasury fell be--1 low $100,000,090. ( The management of the Columbian ; Exposition having finally declined to dej fray tho expenses of recoining the Columbian half-dollars, which have found I their way into the treasury, they have I been offered to the public at par in exi change for gold or gold certificates, and ■ a considerable sum of them has been j distributed in that manner. I The Isabella quarters in the treasury are retained for the requisition of tho board of lady managers of the Exposi- ! tion. | The amount of counterfeit silver cola

and fractional currency detected at th» offices of the treasury during the year j was $10,500, an increase of S9OO over thei year before. I here was an increase during the year of $1,552,250 in the face value of the I bonds held on account of the sinking j funds of the Pacific railroads, which amounted, on June 30, to $18,960,000. ' Notwithstanding a change in the regulations, whereby senders of national bank notes for redemption were required to bear tho charges for transportation, the redemptions were the heaviest since 1886, amounting to $105,000,000, or more than half of the average circulation.' ST. LOUIS’ NEW STATION. The Most Beautiful Railway Building In the Country. Probably tho most costly railway station In the country is that which has been lately built at St. Louis. It the largest station in the world i Ihe train shed covers 424,'_00 s ( ua e feet of ground: there are 30 tracks capable of holding "00 cars under shelter and tho whole place is illuminated by 126 arc lights. The st iu l< on« building j P r °Per covers an area of square feet This station has the further di-tinc-tion of being the most beautiful in the country^ The floors are for the most 2,'i 7" ■ ■- new union station at st. mvi& part composed of mosaic bricks im-i ported from Holland, and ornamented 1 with fleur-do-lis or some s: ch dainty d sign. Tho sides are either of enam*, eled brick, scagliola or tiling. The ceilings are u-ually ornamented by son e graceful design or other, a wreath of roses or a gr. up <f cherub;. In fact, the ornamentation, under the di* re ti n of J. D. Millet, whose work at the fair was so highly prai ed, has but served to emphasize more strongly the talents ot this artist In the r >tunda ornamentation Is at Its height. At each end, grouped in! the form of a semi-circle, a:e sevenj ww iOl ifiuiu 'll I THE SOUTH AR< ADES. OKAND HALI, naiac-’iko figures, delicately inter* woven with the design, whose extend* ed aims 1 ear torches glowing with < rnamental electric Sights. Along thfl south side, high from the ground, ex* tend seven large stained glass windowl i that, especial y in the late afternoon, j cast n mild orange light over the hall, harmonizing perfectly with tho othei ornamentation, and imparting a delicate richness of effect that one mighl expect to find in an eastern mosque, UfiaHsi’l LADIES' WAITING- ROOM. FROM CHAND HALL, but not in the railway station of an American city. NUMBER OF ARRESTS MADE, 687 Work Done by the Secret Service Department of the Treasury. William P. Hazen, the Chief of the Secret Service of the Treasury Department, in his annual report shows that during the year the total number of arrests made was CS7, nearly all of which were for violations of tho statutes relating to counterfeiting United States money. Os those arested about 300 were either couvicted or pleaded guilty, and 120 are now awaiting the action of grand juries. The fines collected amounted to $5,947. The amount of altered or counterfeit notes captured during the year was $21,300; coins, $10,755. There were also captured 134 plates from which counterfeit notes had been printed, 33 dies, 156 molds, and a large quantity of miscellaneous matter, consisting of tools, melting pots, etc. WHOLE CITY WAS IN DANGER. Shelbyville, Ind., Has a Narrow Escape from Hiirniug Down. At Shelbyville, Ind., by mistake the natural gas was given high pressure in the low pressure mains, and at midnight it was discovered that over 500 stoves and heaters in all parts of the city were melting under the intense heat, and buildings were igniting in every direction. The . firo alarm was turned in, bells were rung, whistles sounded and the citizens were aroused from their slumbers to dir cover themselves in the midst of a geffr eral conflagration. The flow of gas was arrested and only three houses were burned. Tho destruction of these build- I ings amounted to considerable loss to the I owners. If the alarm had been twenty i minutes later nothing could have saved the city from destruction. Elmore Knight and Sam Dunn were killed and Charles Seals and Andrew Magee were horribly mangled hr an explosion of dynamite at Huntington, ‘ ’ 1

WHAT "CHIC” IS. — The Meaning of the French Word Not to Be Found in the Dictionary. Chic—"knack, style.” is all ray ; dictionary ghes. It might be supplemented with smartness, flick, piquancy, sauce. For chic is the untranslatable word, and I doubt but it would be difficult for the wittiest Frenchman to define it, even in Drench, of all the likeliest words I have given it is the last word and the cream. Os a dress, it is the highest p:aise. and it has to stand for its ; own explanation for him to understand who can. All the same it is to be doubted if I word could be used with propriety of the greatest art in dress if such art is to be conceded to the ( Greeks— chic being such an entirely mundane attribute, while, sinca । clothing was tirst invented by Eve, the Greek has seemed the likeliest iu 7* v^ b the would appear to man. t has been said that every man's god is an enlarged seif, but I doubt if it j ever occurred even to the bouievardier to imagine heaven as a concourse of I smartly dressed angels or to the modi ern pagan to hope tor any forgiveness tor that in the days cf his natural i lie ^ hls bows u ke the cods. । Lliere is a reserve even beyond । chic—though in chic itself it is ditH-- '* j cult to say how much the artist has held his hand and how much has been sacrificed. So far is chic, however, from being an attribute of the gods that it should, to be the partake ftfrpnrstophelean, the streets and booths of Vanity Fair, indeed, being the likeliest place to find it It is often of the exact weight of a feather, and oftener still lighter and as evanescent as a summer cloud. It is as difficult to attain as the Fata Morgana, and as deadly when missed. In a day’s march through London—and I always maintain an 1 nglLhwoman is as well dressed as any—you will see perhaps one who has it, and you will wonder whether it is a fluke or no. it may depend upon a ribbon, a flower, or a rosette. It sits in the tilt of a hat or the aigrette of a bonnet.—Westminster Budget. Things Worth Knowing. In Burmah it is rather a suspicious thing to give money for a charitable object. It is supposed that the donor has been very wicked and is desirous to make amends. During the reign of Elizabeth men of fashion wore shoes three feet in length, the toes pointed, and I fastened to the garter with golden chains to which little bells were attached. What is said to be the oldest and largest chestnut tree in the world stands at the foot of Mount Etna. It I is more that 213 feet in circumference, and is known to be at least । u years old. . * Tbffgsana a trit'ing suin — per acre, never altered through long centuries, is paid as rent: this is tha only tax in the country, and it amounts to about $1.25 per head. Florin is the name of a gold cola first struck in Florence, in the thirteenth century. It had on one sida I the head of John the Baptist and on the other a lily, borne derive tha name from the city, others from tha । flower. In the northern part of Peru in what is otherwise an arid desert, tha celebrated “rain tree” grows. It has Ihe extraordinary property of con. densing what little moisture there is in the atmosphere so as to cause a ' continual mist to exude (seemingly) from its leaves, which, when exam, ined with a strong glass, exhibit many of the qualities of the sponge. T.ib cloth ot the old Egyptians was so good that, though it has been used for thousands of years as wrappings of the mummies, the Arabs of to-day can wear it It is all of linen, the ancient Egyptians considering wool unclean. The word Baal really means lord or master. As a diety Baal is represented with a handsome and power^ ful human face, surmounted by tha horns, ears, and frontal tuft of the ox. Three stars are added, one between the horns and one on each sida of the head. In many countries the rainbow Is spoken of as being a great bent pump, or siphon tube, drawing water from the earth by mechanical means. In parts of Russia it is knows by a name which is equivalent to "the bent । water pipe. The Same as an Election. Dropping in on some legal friends I down town the other day I found them drawn up in a knot at a remote corner desk I supposed it was over some difficult point of law. and as no one appeared to notice my entrance 1 modestly sat do\ n near the dcor till they should be disengaged, “That’s only five,” said one. "I got seven the first roll.’’ "But you haven’t beat my frame of yesterday,” said another. “I’ll do it or bust the machine.” retorted the legal gentleman at tho I desk. That seemed to be a funny case of law, 1 thought, and got up and camo back to the trio of Blackstones. Then I saw it was one of the new puzHes . —a bit of quicksilver on a slip of i board like a diminutive ten-pin alley, with holes at the end in place of pins, the holes to be filled with the quicksilver. The game was suddenly brought to a close by the last speaker smashing the toy into a coal scuttle. Then he looked very red as he saw me and said ; ‘ I’ve wasted S2O worth of time over that confounded thing and there she goes! It beats a!l, this fascination in an uncertainty—that’s what sets people wild over the election.” - i Pittsburgh Dispatch.