Semi-weekly Independent, Volume 2, Number 7, Plymouth, Marshall County, 4 December 1895 — Page 3

Congress officers.

DISTRIBUTION OF SENATE AND HOUSE PATRONAGE. vMwajs a. Lively Scramble for Plnccs at the Beginning of Kacli New S-e-Mion, WhenThcreHas Dccii a Change, of Ailminiütrutlon. Rewardinc l'urty Kealty. 'CVaihlngtur. corresp n.ku-e: OEE thnii "00 anxious lircitil winners an; interested in tili' O'ltcollle of the contest tivt-r the reorganization of tin' House at the beginning of each new session of Congress when there is n change of adiuinis-tr-'ti.i'i f-.r that lfRff:'5n'!iiiler of salaried xi'' positions are vacated by the out. coin; incumbents to le filled mi by representatives of e party coining inin inri. i in- in i uw i pa tron aire connected with the offices of tlie serjeant-at-arms, r 'erk. doorkeepers, and postmaster reni!rr the fontost for the elective positions Jnforestin g. inasniueh as the representatives taking part in the campaign expect to benefit ly the result in providing for their customers. The major. ty of the positions included in the list of patronage -it the disposal of the newly elected officials command lucrative salaries, end ach Representative has a following of .-ager constituents anxious to till the ijftifv and drew the emolument therefor. The elerk of the I Luis:. doe. n,t have the largest amount of patronage at his disposal, Mit the respective otliees in Iiis department command the most attractive salaries. He himself draws JC.hk a year and is required to give a hond of '.. X 0. His is a position of some honor and more responsibility. The clerk has forty-three mploycs under him, commanding aggregate salaries of $71,."0S a year. His right-hand ruau. tho chief clerk, draws o.i'ik por annum. The clerk appoints he journal clerk and an assi:taiit, who n"f'! the official record of the proceedings f the House; two reading elerks, who, f if lat years, have been selected by competitive examinations, indicating their -ability to read to the satisfaction of the House; a tally tlerk, who keeps track of "he yea and nay votes, together with a number of minor oJlicials. There is one salary of ',0(io, four of $J..",no each, .-even at $2.(HM each, four at ."jd.SOO each, -svcn at .Sl.tJOO, two at Sl.ioo, two at T,-J. and ten at .T'Ji. He also appoints arpenter, who earns about l5lü at liec v. ork. The seigeant-at-arms gets a salary of r"5 1.7.mt and is now compelled to furnish a ".oiid of $00,000. His most important duty is to take charge of the disbursement f the salaries of the members, their mile-.-ge and other perquisites. He is supposed to be responsible for the good oraler in the House, to preserve the peace nmong would-be belligerents, to prevent 'ights on the floor and to arrest absentees --u:d bring them before the bar of the House when ordered to do so. The sor-goant-at-arms dispenses one salary of $o,OtiO, two of $'J.00, one of $1,KIH., one of - H'KK one of ijw'Jo, and one of S:jW. He ; ti-c appoints one-thiril of the Capitol I obre, consisting of eight privates, nt L-bV, one lieutenant at $1,000, and two watchmen at ? 1,000. The doorkeeper of the House is paid r oe .smallest salary of all the elective ofv.ievf8. except the postmaster and chaplain, but dispenses the largest amount of ; patronage. He draws ?.".,500 a year, and is not required to give a bond. His duties sii re defined by his title. He puarda the - loor to the floor and the galleries!, apTxi:its t-Ievator men, page and folders. ?."nder him there ure live positions at SLtx.:ü fach, one at $1.S00. three at $1,- :."''. one at $1,400. one at $1,314, sixteen ; it $1,200, nine at $lt(K), fifteen at $0X), Vive at $S4o, twenty-live at $7LC, ten at $.'J)0. and tliirty-thrpe pages at $5J per jnont.'i during the session. - The postmaster attends to receiving and lelivtring the mail of the members and frxarding the public documents sent Mit fromt.he Capitol. Ilia salary is $2,."mj and he is not required to give bond. ' There are no sinecures in his office, for - very man has to work hard. The post- : neu tor appoints one clerk at $2,000, ten at '.I'JssiJ, eni at $720 and eight men during it he session at $1U0 a month each. . The chaplain of the House draws $900 Ver year, in session and out, and has an "asy berth. He is supposed to open the J louse with prayer, and is not blamed if Tj makes it short. Sometimes the chaplain pays pastoral calls among the members of his llock during business hours, JJnzering after the House has assembled "o chat with members. He neer aims at !iis congregation in his prayer, although :n times of turbulence and great public tweitemeri in the House he may try to invoke the spirit of peace and a blessing . f wisdom upon the public councils. It is usual to elect a minister of the District - fif Columbia with a regular salary, for the emolument of the place is not large. The Speaker of the House has a bit of patronage at his own disposal. He is dlowed one clerk at $2,oo0, one at $2,250. ore nt $1,(VXJ ami a messenger at $1,K The Speaker himself receives $.,- KKj in addition to his regular salary of $.VMJ as a member for the added duties . of the speakership. The Senate Officers. The patronage of the Senate Is much ' less than that of the House, but the jh- . t-itions are usually more secure. Some of ihf employes have been in their present positions for many years. "Old Man" Kassett, as lies is called, has been in the service of the Senate a little over sixty .years, and there is but one Senator, Mr. Morrill, who has been continuously in the Senate during the term of employment of Mr. Nixon, the financial clerk, though lie is still a young man. The Senate does not like repeated changes. There are Imt three elective officers the secretary, the sergeant-at-arms, and the chaplain. The patronage, except committee clerkships, comes under the secretary and the nergeant-at-arms. The chaplain gets Mnall pay and has no employes under him. The sergeant-at-arms has the appointment of the acting assistant doorkeeper of the Senate, the postmaster and his fubordiaatea, the 8Mierintendent of the .document room and his suWdinates, the Superintendent of the folding room and his subordinates and the laborers, messengers And pages. This patronage is, in accordance with the .custom of the ..State, apportioned according to t regular

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gystom among the Senators, the minority getting a certain proportion. This apportionment being fixed nt the beginning of tho Congress, is not changed in any respect. If a vacancy occurs the Senator who had the original appointment is calle! upon to name some one to till It, and if his choice is not satisfactory lie is called uiMin to make another. Etlieiency is always exacted of the employe, and every Senator has enough friends to provide for to enable him ultimately to present the riht sort of man. Tli clerks to the committees are appointed by the chairmen of the various committees and do not form a part of the patronajje under the elective otlkers.

CHICAGO'S CANAL. It Is Hard to Grasp the Vastness of the Undertaking;. The drainage canal which Chicago is building between it and Lockjiort is nearly twenty-nine miles long and is a wonderful undertaking. Work on it is divided into twiity-nine sections. (.Jivea under contract to twenty lifl'ertnt and responsible firms, the work on all these subdivisions is in full progress, and on two or three of them- and that in the most diiiicu't rocky part is already finished. The width of the great trench at the bottom is nowhere less than llO feet on the lirt nine sections from Chicago, while on other sections it will b- 202 feet, to in red need aain to HiO feet. A large part of the excavation lias to be made through a solid ledg limerock, underlying the track of the Desplaines Kiwr. The width of the upp r edges of 1ho lino' ditch will vary from H2 to Ö05 feet, the former width prevailing only on the ten solid rock sections of the excavations, where the walls are vertical and not sloping down as on the remaining nineteen sub-divisions, which are excavated by digging, shoveling and dredging. The clear water depth will be twentytwo feet. This will be uniform throughout, oven at the lowest jtossible condition of Lake Michigan, which will feed the canal at the rate of ÖOO.OOO cubic feet a minute and later, when the bottom width of the fivst nine sections shall have, been enlarged to 200 feet, at the rate of 00MH cubic feet of water a minute. From the estimates lecently made there will have been removed by 107, when it is expected the canal will be completed, 40.O7O.4.I0 cubic yards of earth, or in other words, nearly two-thirds of the excavation o4" the newly opened Baltic einal, five-sixths of the Manchester canal, twofifths of the Sueii canal and three-tenths of the abortive Panama ditch. Of the 4()!WtiMM cubic yards of excavated soil, clay, gravel, broken stone and crushed primeval rock fully 12.000,00 cubic yards alone will belong to the latter class, making the Chicago enterprise a really unique one. A stroll along the works Is highly novel. One sees big dredges, flanked by flying bridges and gigantic scoops, ladling up whole loads of dirt at one sweep. One sees leviathans of machinery expressly invented and built to dispose of the loose stone rubble and blasted pieces of rock along the second half of tho "Kig Ditch." Under the name of "cantilevers." they tower like oblique gallows of antediluvian monstrosity over the landscape, loosening, lifting and removing tons of blasted rock with no more exertion than that with which children handle their toys. Along with those and kindred eyclopic devices, there is a whole army train 0 steam, gas, water and electric motors, together with from 0,000 to N.000 men, OX) teams, numberless graders, carts ami trucks, and finally an array of blasting machinery, needing five tons of dynamite as their daily bill of fare. During one month recently 1,100,010 cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated and the cost of this one month's work amounted to $G05,0.V. In the beginning the cost of the work was estimated at between $ 10.00: ,XX) and $4ö.(M0.O( M . but it is now estimated that at least $..o,O.0,000 will sullice to complete the work. MEISSONIER-S STATUE. Great Fainter Is Keprcscntctl as Seen in Iiis Pari Studio. A statue was unveiled in the garden of the Louvre at Paris last week in memory of Jean Louis Kniest Meissonicr, one of the most celebrated painters of France, and the statue was the work of one of France's most celebrated sculptors, Marius Jean Antoine Mercie. The monument is in white marine. Meissonier is represented as he was seen in his studio, clad in a voluminous dressing gown, as in the portrait of himself which he painted in 1SSD for A. T. Stewart to accompany his most ambitious picture "1S07." Marius Jean Antoine Mercie, who wrought the statue, is one of tho most famous of modern French sculptors, now r0 years old; he does not excel in statues of repose like this, but in statues or groups of action, such as his '"Gloria Victis, a highly theatrical composition designed to console his country for tho German defeat, which now stands in the Montholon Square iu Paris. lie is an officer of the Legion of Honor and has been medaled at the Salon and at international exhibitions repeatedly. The large five-story building on Middle street, Lowell, Mass., known as the I ur ker Block, was almost destroyed by fir& The fire was aided by repeated explosions of whisky in barrels, which blew out thi windows and created havoc in adjoining buildings. The total loss exceeds $350, 000.

mercie's statue of meissonier.

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WHAT OF THE FUTURE? TIIK tires in our furnaces and rolling mills will never glow wi'.ii their old-time brightness, the bustle in our workshops and factories will never bo renewed, our unemployed :ui;l hungry thousands will never liud employment, and prosperity will never return to our depressed industries while wheat is 00 cents a bushel in the Chicago market. This is an absolutely correct prophecy. Restore prosperity to the farmer and every smokestack in the nation will pour forth its cloud of smoke, every boiler will throb with its imprisoned steam, and the wheels of our factories will again go round with their former vigor. Hut the stupid or the intentional ouemy of the masses will say, with a contemptuous sneer, how can the price of wheat be raised when there is not enough demand for wheat to raise the price"; The asking of such a epiestion is a wretched commentary upon the intelligence of the man who asks it. No holiest man, with intelligence enough to go to bed at night, but knows that there Is to-day In this country a widespread demand for bread that cannot be satisfied because there is no money to make the demand practical; and every intelligent man knows that reason for this is found in tho fact that an incompetent Congress, with either a profound dullness of perception or an astounding bl until oss of conscience, has steadily legislated against the people's interests or failed to legislate at tho bidding of professional capitalists and scheming corporations. Steadily for two decades has Congress been dealing blow after blow to our agricultural and other industries until, reeling under tho unprovoked punishment, they finally sank into a lifeless stupor. No such raving insanity in Government was ever before seen as the closing of one important class of mines of a country and the turning of thousands upon thousands of citizens out to beg and starve, simply to please an impudent, money-grasping, over-bearing foreign Government, on which our Congress would let loose the dogs of war if an Knglishman would happen f spit on the American flag. To please Great 1 ritain we adopt a course to starve Americans and to paralyze our industries, but are always ready to unload our guns and unloose our warships to defend a sentiment. The people are tired of such schoolboy statesmanship; tired of a Congress that legislates all tl time for Europe; tired of the poliey of curtailing the volume of American currency for tho benefit of our own financial Shy locks ami the robbers of Lombard street. There is no necessity for tho present state of things; no insed of a rich nation like this being a gigantic almshouse, and Congress is alone to blame. Turn out the incompetents and tho roscals, and put honest, capable business men in their places next year. Then, under a very little decent, common-sense legislation, prosperity will return and the future will be all right. Farmers' Voice, Chicago. Our National Mistako. International free coinage is impracticable. It will never be adopted by gold-money-loauing England, unless that country is forced to it by independent free coinage in other countries. England led the way in adopting- tho single gold standard, and by hoarding gold has brought nearly all the other nations to her feet. Her gold-produc-;ng colonies have greatly aided her in this policy. Nearly all the other nations, the I'nited States included, demonetized silver at the bidding, of England. England is the chief gainer by gold monometallism, the I'nited States is the chief loser. Ry the remonetization of silver the 1'nited States would gain more th;n any other country could hope to gain by a similiar policy. More than this, the Fnited States would profit far more by independent free coinage than by international free coinage. Tho resumption of the double standard monetary system, such as existed in this country previous to 187.'., would depreciate the present dishonest value of gold to an extent that vould save to the Fnited States hundreds of mill ions of dollars in tho payment of foreign obligations, even were all those obligations to be paid in gold. Hut the terms of the-obligations do not demand gold. Therefore, this country, holding to the expressed terms of Its contracts, should pay in coin of the standard value of 1S70. That was silver and gold at the ratio of It; to 1. Such are the clearly expressed terms of tho $10.',tNo,ooOof boncTsauld principally abroad since the beginning of the last Cleveland administration. These lionds, however, are rapidly coming back to this country, and will reach here by the beginning of 1S00. Foreigners have no confidence that the Fnited States will much longer cling to the single gold standard. They realize that such a policy Is suicidal, and the great wonder abroad is that we do not return to the double standaril at once. Had the same selfish monetary policy prevailed in the United States that has obtained In England for a century ami a half, we would never .have demonetized silver. It was. the one great mistake of our national !ife.-KaiLis City Journal. What Is It? Richard M. Smith, a member of the Legislature of Texas, says: I favor the restoration of silver to the place it occu-

pied pior to lsT.'I as a full money metal, a place to which it is entitled by constitutional consecration, by the history and traditions of our people. It is, abmg with gold, the money of common v. of civilization and of freedom one of the inalienable rights of the people of this country. If the money of the constitution ?s not sound money I am not a sound money advocate, but there are two so-called sound money parties tho Republican and the Cleveland party, and to them we are indebted for the money we have. Is it sound? I) they call the silver dollar sound money? It is their creature. What is it? It is not redemption money, nor is it redeemable. It is not an honest measure of value, because gold is the legal standard and the metal of the silver dollar Is worth but half as much as the metal iu the gold dollar. It is not good credit money, because it is not legally convertible into standard money at the will of the holder. If not a liat dollar. I repeat, what is it? Monetary Science. Political economy has been called 'the dismal science. The most dismal branch of it, if men are to en

deavor to force conclusions to lit some proeonveived theory without reference to principles, is that which relates to money. The persistent determination to make the whole science subordinate to the absurdities of the gold standard has opera toil like a YVostinghouso brake on the progress of the civilized world. Rut there is one principle of monetary science that, if held steadfastly in view, will constitute an unerring guide through what would otherwise be a path of inextricable difficulty. That principle is that tho value of the unit of money in any country is determined by the number of units in circulation. In other words, the value of every dollar depends on the number of dollars out. The greater the number of dollars out. other things being equal, the less will be the value of each dollar; the fewer tho number out, other things remaining the same, and this without any regard whatever to the material of which the dollars are composed. This is the key to the financial situation in tho United States. Much more, it is the key to the financial situation in every land. Without this key it is in vain that the stndent attempts 10 unlock the door leading to the arcanum of monetary knowledge. Unlike many of the locks made by man. the lock on that door is unpiekable. The household of science is one that thieves cannot break through and steal. He who would enter must first lind the key. With this key in hand, the most secret recesses may be explored with confidence. Without it, tho student travels in a circle, returning after much 1u1mp to the point from which he started upon his journey. Like one in a maze, when most confidently expecting to find his way out. he but sees himself coming up against impassable barriers. If money were unlimited in quantity, it would have no value whatever. Nothing has value which is unlimited in quantity. If instead of sand the ocean beach were strewn with gold dust, it would have no value whatever as a commodity. Yet if that gold dust were taken up and coined into pieces of money, the number of such pieces being limited, they would have value precisely as gold pieces have value today. And. oh the other hand, as Adam Smith says, if gold should reach a certain degree of scarcity, the slightest bit of it might become as valuable as a diamond. May "Wait Forever. The gold men say, "Oh! yes. bimetallism is the proper thing, certainly, but we must wait for the other fellow to join hands and make it international." They know, you know, and everybody ought to know, that we may wait until the end of time for England to assent. Its financiers labored in season and out more than half a century to effect the demonetization of silver. It was a great scoop. They got some of our great men our best citizens to see it their way, and before wo knew it, they had us foul. Will they let go their hold? Did you evpr see an Englishman let go of a good thing? Don't you know they've got tho biggest thing they ever had control of the world's trade? Do you suppose they don't know it? llnglanil Not to Ida me. Who will blame the Englishmen for wanting to get silver cheap, as a business proposition? They command the trade with India, China, Japan and the Stralt.s. As they can buy just as much tea. silks and other products for a dollar in silver now as they could when it was worth par, the difference between its present cost, 52 cents in gold, and $1.'H) in gold then. Is so much additional profit. It is to be noted, however, that some of the business men of the "far East have dropped into the ;anio and an sharing the winnings. The common people there don't get much less consideration than they do hero they get nothing. If a book comes from the heart It will contrive to reach other hearts. All art and authorcraft are of small account to that. Carlylc

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mMaJ JOIIX r. JONES.

DRUNKENNESS A DISEASE.

Acknowledgment of the Fact iu the Austrian Kcichsrath. Medical men generally have forvears been of tho opinion that drunkenness as it exists to-day is a disease created, perhaps, by moderate indulgence, but ultimately becoming as much a part'of the human system as any other disease of the blood. The first instance in which a legislative assembly has treated the drink habit as a disease rendering its victim a source of danger to the state has just been provided by a bill now about to bo introduced to tht? Austrian Iteichsrath. This bill proposes to treat the persistent drunkard as a person who is mentally incapable and likely to intlict injury upon the community, not only by actual violence, but by his example. It is therefore proposed that tho authorities shall keep him under control, both during good behavior and for such a longer time as In the opinion of competent physicians will serve te wean him from his craving for strong drink This bill is the result of a long continued series of efforts by tho medical profession of Austria. The ground has been taken that the position of the drunkard in social life has not been hitherto properly estimated. It Is argued that he should ubo regarded more as a lunatic than is at present the case, and that he should be treated accordingly. There has always existed a feeling that the craving for drink, with its consequences, ought to 1. treated as a mere bad habit, a temporary and recoverable error, not really a form of mental disorder. This, there can l but little tioubt, is a false reasoning, for evidence has multiplied In recent years that the victim to alcohol Is subject to disease, just as much as a maniac or lunatic. The bill to which reference has been made may be taken as fairly representing medical opinions on tins .subject. Modification in detail may, perhaps, bo found advisable as time goes on. Mit the profession will probably approve the bill on its general outlines. Tue attempt to repress the excessive drinking habit and to treat it as an ingrained vice, which has absorbed all traces of a resisting will, certainly deserves a fair trial. Every precaution will be mndo to render the preliminary investigation as searching as possible, and no personal privileges will be lost by detention. The Captain's Dinner. A woman who has just crossed to Europe for the first time writes homo of the pleasant pomp and ceremony with which the end of the voyage 1 celebrated on the last night out. It seems, she says, that it is always customary, on the Uerman line, at least, and probably on all, to have an especially elaborate dinner just before arriving in Southampton, which is called "the captain's dinner." Every one is supposed to order wine and drink to the health of the captain, while he responds, toasting the health and safe arrival of his passengers. When wo came to the table we found it decorated with most showy cakes, four stories high, with little American and (Jerman flags stuck on them, and paper ornaments. We went through an elaborate menu, and when we came to the dessert, the music stopped, the waiters suddenly disappeared and the lights went out. A hush and sense of expectancy fell upon .the company. Suddenly the. music started into a lively inarch, the doors opened, and the waiters appeared, bearing trays. On each was a globe of rice paper with a lignt inside, and around this sat small Japanese figures made of ice cream, each holding in his arms a little umbrella of light-colored paper. The room was perfectly dark, and the effect, as the waiters inarched round and round, forming different figures and bearing their illuminated burdens, was novel and interesting. Everybody clapped and cheered. Then the lights were turned on, and we ate the ice cream men and kept the umbrellas as souvenirs. It was a captain's dinner without a captain, for we chanced to be passing at the time through a rery dangerous place, and he could not leave his post on the bridge. Haydn's Joke. Humor seems inseparably fm genius, and Haydn dearly loved a joke. (Jiving concerts in London, where he had an enormous sutvess, he had noticed that during the symphony, especially in the tranquil andante, the ladies sitting in their chairs were sleeping. "I will give you something to make you sleep better," he said to himself, lie lost no time in writing a new symphony, which began with a tranquil andante. After mucli "pianissimo" all at onco there came out the whole orchestra "forte,- with all tho bass drums, and after that the pianissimo came again. Having written this composition Haydn rubbed his hands, thinking about the effect of It. The result surpassed all his expectations; the respectable matrons began to sleep after the first soft sounds of the andante, but suddenly bum! And in the ranks of the audience: "Oh:" "Ah!" The ladles jumped from their chairs and were perfectly awake; by the platform "Papa Haydn" stood tranquil and beat time, but from his fine smile nobody rould understand whether this was the effect of Inspiration or only a joke. A Steady Thine. Visitor What has become of your ossified man? Museum Attendant-He's got a better Job at a cigar stand in a hotel. Visitor Selling cigars? Museum Attendant No; they use him to scratch matches on. Judge. A Supreme Test. (In a quiet corner at reception) She You say you would be willing to risk your life for me? He Only try me. She Then go down to the supper room and get me something to eat. Scrlbner'd, ''"'"..

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The arrival of "Trilby" in Australia Was much delayed, and the public bail anticipated it with an eagerness wliio'a no other volume has ever called out. The two thousand copies landed on? Saturday morning, and the booksellers made special arrangements for immediate sale. Many a Sunday congregation was sadly reduced in consequence. "In printing its 'White List of Editors' of periodicals that deal fairly and honestly with contributors," says tho Independent, "the Author's Journal finds but thirty-one that are not under suspicion. Of course there are many periodicals not mentioned that belong on the list, and their names will 110 doubt be added in due time." Clarence I'rmy, the young Californian whose poems have been appearing of late in the Independent. C'osmopoliytn, the Youth's Companion, and other Extern periodicals, is one of the few CalilNnia writers who were born, ia California, most of them, like Erot Harte, Joaquin Miller, and John Yaiuv Cheney, having migrated froia other, parts of the country. Era m Stoker, who lias been Henry Irving's man of business for several years, has a way of dropping into literature to the extent of writing a short story now and then. His latest effort is "The AYa Iter's MouV a noveictta dealing with a young coastguard on the North Sea coast of Scotland and a fisherman's daughter. 1'nder stress of hard times, the fisherman encages in a smuggling venture, and the girl tries to get the young coastguard to betray his trust, but, failing in this, she sets out to sea and warns the smugglers, and in returning is drowned, and her lover meets the same fate in an attempt to rescue her body. Mr. Stoker's theatrical experience is apparent in the melodramatic way he has handled the Incident, but he has made a pretty and pathetic story of it. ; : Giving Arabs an Electric ShockI stood upon the highest point of the pyramid and held up my own forefinger in the air. There was a slight, hardly perceptible prickling observable on tho skin of the finger which w is opposed to the wind. I could only explain this fact, observed by all of us, as an electrical phenomenon, and sue'.i it proved to be. When I held up a full .bottle of wine, the top of which was covered with tinfoil, I heard the sam singing sound as when the finger was held up. At the same time little sparks sprang continually from the. label to my hand, and when I touched th head of the bottle with my other hand I received a strong electric shock. It N clear that the liquid inside the bottle, brought into metallic connection with the metallic covering of the head of thbottle through the damp cork, formed the inner coating of a Leyden jar, while the label and hand formed tho outer coating. When I had completed the outer coating of my lwttle by wrapping it in damp paper, the change wa so strong that I could make use of it as a very powerful weapon of defense. After the Arabs had watched our proceedings for a time with wonder, they ca;ne to the conclusion that wa were engaged in sorcery, and requested us to leave the pyramid. As their remarks, when interpreted to us. were without effect, they wanted to use tho power of the strongest to remove us from the top by violence. 1 withdrew to the highest point, and fully charge I my strengthened flask, when the Arab leader caught hold of my hand and tried to drag me away from the position I had attained. At this critical moment I approached the top of my flask to within striking distance to the tip of his nose, which might be about ten millimeters. The action of the discharge exceeded my utmost expectation. The son of the desert, wbos. nerves had never before received such a shock, fell on the ground as though struck by lightning, rushed away with a loud howl, and vanished with a great spring from our vicinity, followed by the whole of his comrades. We now a full opportunity of carry in our experiments. had out A Few Question. "Oh, see that beautiful white blrl flying over the lmatl" "Not quite so loud, dar. That's a carrier pigeon just sent off with news about the race." "Say, pa, how does tho pigeon know anything about it 'n' w can he tell what he does know? I sh' think a parrot would be better." New York liecorder. . ' . : Just Keating. Little Johnny has been naughty and has to be sent from the table without having any dessert. For an hour, ho has been sittiug in the corner of th3 rotom crying. At last he thinks it tima to stop. "Well! I hope you have done crying; now," says his mother. "Haven't done," says Johnny, in a passion; "I'm only resting." Tit-Bits. Didn't Seize the Opportunity. '' "What's tho trouble, Jim? You look angry." "My uncle has prom!sed to pay inj debts." "That's a funny thing to get ma maj about" - "I'm wild that I didn't make mora debts."-Tit-ltits. j Not AVliat lie Meant. 1 Mab And is this really the first tlma you were In love, Freddie? u Fred Absolutely, darling; but I sin cercly hope it won't b the lost! Illustrated Bitt.