Bloomington Telephone, Volume 13, Number 42, Bloomington, Monroe County, 3 May 1889 — Page 2

YBAVroITOFlUE FUTURE-

BT CHAUT1K8 RKKKT WXBB. I've been reading, Mr, RiW, in a recent magazine. Of your Poet of the Future with the truly rural mien. Of the carolees, pimple fashion in which hell ihoose to come -With the leauty of his bugles overbalancing the Sruva : And by what his bands held not, and by what he doos not wear, t I rather think I'd Itnow him, if I met him anywhere : But really, Mr. Riley, 1 do not clearly Bee Howyouc.-in at such a distance aay that the Poet s "he." Tor it may be thar, this singer who shall our souls confess And comes to us with bugles will wear them on he r dress ; That we shall find her skining with pearls upon her breast, Car radiant in some cotwge as she lulls her babee to rest ; In the choir of the cathedral wo may hear her pure voice swell ; Or murmuring seme sweet measure as she serveti us fror.i the well ; For her hands may not be sunburned although her gloves be tan : And your poet, Mr. Biley, may not be at all a mans Oh, the Port of the Future shall find welcome and have room. Whether singing at the plowshare or sweeping with a broom ; But this "hoaest arm of Labor" that you speak of invour song. Always to "him" pertaining, may it not to "her" beloni;?

For some women's "palms' are Bisters to the "honest toiler s too, And they cannot iCways fold them when the plowman's toil is through, And it may be that this Poet, on whose coming we agree, When really come and with us will be spoken of as "she. Tad Cmhtry.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE:

The Story of X)etective

An English lavyer ofice said that circumstantial evidence would, hang the King of England. While that was putting it pretty strong; it is admitted that a chain of circumstantial evidence has often sent men to the gallows. If a circumstance can be explained away, it is but a shadow. If it cannot be ex plained a way it becomes a menace to the prisoner's life. A witness may be bribed, abducted, or impeached. A circumstance is a lion in the path demanding Wood. It has often been asserted that innocent men have been hung on circumstantial evidence- There may have been such instances, but they have been rare indeed. In my own experience in law and detective work, I have seen some curious things about circumstantial evidence. It is, in one sense, the strongest chain that can be forged, in any other the very weakest About twenty ye&rs ago I was detailed

on a murder. case in a Kentucky town. It was not to work up the case, but to save, if possible, the young man arrested for the crime. When I got the facts and details I felt hopeless to accomplish anything. He was a young man of 23, named Graham, and was of respectable family. He had been engaged to a young lady of the highest respectability, but they had quarreled about something. Common friends had brought about a reconciliation, but a sew suitor appeared upon the scene, and Graham's jealousy had provoked another quarreL He had not visited her for two weeks, when, on the evening of Sunday, October 30, one of Graham's friends met him and said: "Your rival is up to Lossing's and seems bound to cut you oat Adele seems very sweet on him.9 Graham truly loved the girl and this speech made him wild. Returned pale, trembled, and finally said: "He is an adventurer and an interloper. Let him lookout for himself!" An hour later he started for Lossing's. He passed several people who saw that he was excited. Tbe house stood back from the read in a grove of trees, and was approached by, two paths or drives from the front. Graham fully intended to enter the house, but when he came upon the grounds his courage failed ma He was afraid he might say or do something rash in his present mood, and very sensibly decided to return to town and defer his call till the next day. Next morning his rival's dead body was found on one of the drives, about half way between the house and the fence. He had been struck down with a bludgeon. Conclusions are always jumped at in murder eases. Two cf the negro servants were at once arrested, but before noon they were set at

liberty and Graham was taken into custody. The chain already contained several links. Others were added the moment he was arrested. He was dreadfully agitated, hesitated to acknowledge that he had been near the place, and a blood stain was found on the right sleeve of his coat Before he had been in jail one day even his own father believed him a murderer. He was examined and bound over, and it was only after that event that he began to protest his innocence. The girl who had been the cause of it came nobly to his rescue. While she truly loved him, she had been willing to make him jealous, and when murder had come of it, as die believed, she felt terribly conscience stricken and anxious to believe in his protestations of innocence. When I came upon the ground the State had its case all worked up, and when I went over it to look far a flaw I oonld find none. I had to acknowledge that I was without hope. Indeed, I believed Graham guilty. His own explanations rather strengthened that belief. Lossing's house faced the east. The highway in front ran north and south. The lawn was twenty rods wide, and one drive led in from the north and the other from the south end. Graham approached from the north. He would naturally turn in at the first drive, but he claimed to have gone on to the second. He followed it to the house, passed around it, played for two or three minutes with the dogs, and then circled about the fish pond, and took a short cut across the grove and struck the road, not hitting the north path at alL The dead man had come from the village as well, and on foot. He had oome and attempted to return by the north drive. If Graham was innocent, who was guilty? Not the sligl test suspicion had been directed elsewhere. It seemed hopeless to look. I questioned and crossqueetkmed him, but he could not give me the slightest foundation for ft due or a

theory. What I got came by accident I asked to see the blood-stained clothing, and I found it to be a single daub ef blood on a white vest. It was a curious mark, such as I had never seen before, and when I quietly investigated further I discovered that the murdered man had been struck on the back of his head and fallen forward on his face. He had very thick hair, and while the blow had crashed the skull, he had bled but little. The blood would not spurt from such a blow. The body had not been lifted, and so how did Graham get that bloodstain? Accident gave me the knowledge. I was looking the ground over at Lossing's for the fourth or fifth time, when one of the dogs came and leaped upon me in a caressing way. Lossing observed it and remarked: w01d Fan was always very fond of Graham, and I believe she misses him. Here, Fan, let me look at your paw. Ah ! it's about as well as ever, isn't it?" "What ails her paw?" I asked. "She got a terrible out on a piece of glass, a few weeks ago." "About the time Graham was arrested?" "Yes." "Then it was her bloody pay that made the mark on his vest that night!" ."Good heavens, but it rauat have

been I" I had a clue and a hope. Everything changed in an hour, and I now believed Graham innocent, and went to work to secure proofs. I posted up to Louisville and examined the police records for arrests. I followed a score or more of cases to their finish, but got nothing. It was my belief that a white man committed the crime, and that he meant robbery, but was frightened off, I returned to the village and looked everybody over, but got no satisfaction. The day of the trial was coming a:id I was

in despair, but accident came to my aid again. 1 happened into the hotel barn as the landlord pulled a lot of rubbish out of a stall. Hidden away with it was a fine saddle, and as it was brought to light the man exclaimed: "Bless me, here's the dead man's saddle! "Was it missing?" I asked. "It was stolen on the nighb of the murder. That's the reason he went down to Lossing's on foot. Who stole it? What for? An outslier, who stole tlie saddle for its worth would have carried it off. Art insider only would have stored it in the stall. Who was inside? A white man and two negro assistants. Within an hour I had ascertained that the white man, whose name was Foster, was absent for

an hour on the evening of the murder, and that since he had acted very

queerly. I arrested him, charged him with the crime, and he did not hold out fifteen minutes. His motive was robbery. He did not intend to kill his victim, but only to stun him. He had just struck him when the dogs barked greeting to Graham, and, overcome by sudden fright, Foster dashed away and dared not return. He thought he had only to keep still to render himself safe, and, but for my being present .w hen the saddle was found, he might never have been suspected. Graham was cleared and Foster was hanged. The change had been brought about by the fondling of a dog. The second case occurred in Ohio, in a town not far from Cincinnati A young man, Frank Meyer,, had become infatuated with a doubtful woman. The affair created a scandal, and his father and friends made every effort to break it up. The young man was finally brought to see the error of bis ways, but when he attempted to sever the tie the woman

sought to hold him by threats. This angered him, and he indulged in some hard talk of what he would do in case she further annoyed him. Thus matters stood when he set out one evening to see her and make a last attempt to settle. It was a summer night, and they were seen walking in the suburbs of the town. They were overheard in angry talk. She defied him. He returned home pale and excited, his clothing disarranged, and his face bleeding from scratches. An hour later she was found dead, choked to death. Young Meyers was arrested at midnight. He did not even assert his innocence. It was only on his examination that ne protested, and even his own father believed him guilty. I happened to be in town, and the way I came into the case was by relating the incidents of the one I have already narrated. The prisoner himself sent for me and told me this story : "I met the woman, Mrs. Albright, by appointment. We walked out on Clark avenue to be alone. I told her that my mind was firmly made up to see her no more, and she was very angry. T should have returned with her, but at the little bridge she ordered me to leave her, threatening to do desperate things .if I did not relent by the morrow. I did not return by the highway, as our meeting was a secret one and I did not want it known. I crossed a corner of the graveyard, fell off the fence as I did so, and there my face was scratched by .the briers. n "ut you hardly denied your guilt," I said. "Because I was confused and stunned by my arrest, and because I saw no use

of it," he replied. "I have told you the

trutn. x want you to Help me prove myself clear." I left him with the feeling that he was lying to me, and that nothing could be done in his case. Ten or twelve days had elapsed, but there had! been no rain. I went to the bridge, crossed the creek at the point he told me to, and soon came upon his trail At the graveyard fence I found a broken rail and the spot where he had fallen. I found the briers broken and crushed, and from the thorns I gathered several small fragments belonging to the suit he wore. Further on he had stopped into a ditch where mud was soft at the time. It had now dried hard and preserved the print. I measured it, and when I returned to town I had begun to believe that Meyer was either a good talker or an innocent man. His story was all right in once sense, but all wrong in the other. Did he mako the trail while leaving the woman alive or dead? An old saying always goes with tm arrest: aIf be didn't do it, who did ?" Somebody must be held responsible. After two or three interviews with

young Meyers and his parents, I doubted if he could have choked the woman t! death. He was frail and in poor health, and Bhe was robust and strong. She had scarcely struggled at all, proving that she had been attacked suddenly and that the grip was a terrible ona. Her neck was discolored as well as hot throat; proving that two large hands had been employed. However, no suspicious characters had been seen in the ne ighborhood, and the murderer, ii other than Meyers, had made his escape. I was completely blocked, and could only hope that accident would help me out. It was said that the body had not been robbed. The only theory seemed to be revenge. If it were not Meyers, then it was some former lover, and I

went to Cincinnati to inal'e inquiries. On the way up my watch stepped, and my first call was at a jeweler's. I had not been in his place sixty seconds when in walked a stout, strong fellow, who laid a lady's watch on the show case and said: "I am going away, and I want to sell this. It belonged to my wife, who is dead." "We don't buy second-hand watches," replied the jeweler, but he carelessly picked the watch up, examined it, and then said: "This is one of our watches. I remember selling it two or three months ago." "Yes," replied the man, reaching out for it. "Let's see the name," continued the jeweler, as he went for a book. "Never mind," replied the man. "H you don't want to buy, very well; I'm in a hurry." "Sold to Mrs. Albright, of said the jeweler, as he handed it over. "The woman who was murdered!" 1

said to the stranger. "Were you her

husband?" "N , yes!" he stammered. "And you have not been near ? That is strange! You will go with me to the pob'ce." He tried to draw his pistol, bu t I was too quick for him. The police recognized him as a bully and a degraded character, and inside of half a day I had established the fact that he was formerly a lover of the murdered woman. Then I traced him to the depot, and on the train to the village, and later on found two villagers who remembered seeing him there that night. When I had got him reasonably sure, I confronted him with my facts, and he broke down and

made a full confession. He and the woman were bleeding young Meyers.

He had come out to see her that night, J

and he had found her on the bridge and quarrelled with her. She was desperate and defiant, and in a fit of passion he had choked her to death. Ha had seized the watch, but left all else, so the coroner's jury had been misled. The fellow whose name was Dan Cu minings, was a craven as well as a bully. He confessed all- and cleared Meyers, but while awaiting his trial committed suicide.

Lassoing a Snake Such stories as the following, from Forest and Streamt which is a fact, are much more interesting than mere fiction : We passed the nests of several' hornbills. When they are ready to lay, the nest is made in a hollow tree, the female goes within, leaving her whole immense beak sticking out, and the male plasters the hole around it up with mud, that hardens at once ; she lays her eggs and sits on them until they are hatched, the male feeding her all the time. The monkeys and snakes looking

for egfjjs see this formidable-looking beck sticking out of the hole and are

afraid to tackle it, so she batches in j

peace. The poor male in feeding her gets so. poor he can hardly fly. After about an hour of crawling and pushing through, our men suddenly stopped and began to point ahead, chattering and gesticulating. Looking the way they pointed, we saw in a tree an immense boa constrictor waving his head to and fro, with his scales glittering in the sun. My friend said, "Get back, quick, he is preparing to jump!" and we did so as fast as possible. After consulting a few moments, the Malays cautiously advanced with a lasso, which by a dextrous throw caught the snake around the neck, and jumping behind a tree tightened it on him. He thrashed and pulled, and it wfes all the four Malays could do to keep from being drawn near enough for him to crush them, and once or t wice it seemed as though he would get them. We could have shot him at first, but they wanted to capture him alive. After awhile, by pulling and choking him, he gave up and they pulled him down from the tree. He was a big fellow, twenty feet long, and very large around.' They have great strength, and this one I wa3 assured could swallow a goat or calf. He wan looking probably for leopards, that are plenty there, living principally on monkeys, and the snakes also catch them when they can, but usually the monkey is cleverer than the snake. They sometimes gather in big bands and club them to death. By this time we were so hot and tired that we concluded to let the moneys res, although we could hear them chattering and jumping not so very far ahead of us, so we turned to our horses with our coolies carrying our trophy. The Malays made a cage very quickly cutting lengths of bamboo and notching them together, into which they put tlie snake, and swinging it on two poles, marched off with ic on their shoulders. The Old Man Was Prepared. A curious story comes from Orilla, Canada. A Daniel King, a lawyer of that place, was run over by the cars and killed. The accident took place at 2 o'clock in the morning, and at daylight a brother drove a few miles out from the station to tell his father of the occurrence. To his surprise ho found his father up and dressed, awaiting him. "Where's Daniel?" he eagerly asked. "I saw him about 2 o'clock this morning. He came to my window and rapped. I saw him three times and spoke to him. The old man was prepared to hear of something unusual. She How conceitedly that man talks 1 Is he an actor? He Worse than that. He's an amateur ctor.

Servants In America. Jonathan's servant all appear to me to be reduced duchesses and noblemen in livery. When you speak to a man servant, before answering you he scans you from head to foot and seems to say: "Who may you be? Be careful how you talk to me. We are a free nation, sir; all equals here, and I am as good as you," And you feel inclined to say to him : "I congratulate you, young man, upon living in a free country ; but since wo are all equals here, and I am civil to vou, whv on earth cannot you be civil to me'?"" The fellow is lacking in logic. The manner of the maid-servant is different; she wears a look of contempt and profound disgust; ehe seems to say with a sigh : "How can men be such brutes as to allow women to work? What despicable creatures they are, to be sure !" To get an idea of the prodigious labor undertaken by an American servant girl, one has but to see her at work doing a room, feather broom in hand. Servants' wages range from $200 to $500 a year I mean, of course, in good ordinary houses, and not in millionaire's mansions. Mr. C. Vanderbilt pays his chief cook ten thousand dollars. I write the sum in letters that the reader may not exclaim: "Surely there is a misprint here; the printer has put one nought too many." In spite of the enormously high wages they pay, the Americans have so much trouble in gotting good servants, that numbers cf them are, so to speak, driven from their homes and obliged to take refuge in hotels and apartment houses. Negro ones are the orily ones at all deferential in manner, or who have a smile on their faces from time to time; but many people have an objection to them and charge them with serious faults such as finding things that are

not lost, and breaking the monotony of life by dressing up in their employers' raiment when occasion offeis. An American of my acquaintance, upon going; to his room one evening to dress for a dinner party, found his dress coat and waistcoat missing from the wardrobe. Guessing there whereabouts, he went upstairs, and there, in his negro butler's room, were the missing garments. He rang for tbe culprit. "Pompey," he said, "I have found my iress clothes in your room. What is the meaning of it?" "I forgot to put dem back, sah." "You have had them on, you rascal. " "Yes, sah." "How dare vou wear inv clothes?"

"Please, massa, I got married yesterday," and tbe broai black face of Pompey wa3 lit up with a rather sheepish locking grin. All the caricatures of the comic papers are outdone by realities in America. "Jonathan and His Continent" Max O'liell. Chinese Almanac. Your Chinamen must have a lucky day for everything, and one of the most valuable works turned out at Peking is the Chinese Almanac, which tells of the luckv davsto be born, to be married, or to be buried, and by which all China plants its rice, hoes its corn and cuts its finger-nails. There is a class of priests in China who make their living by expelling evil spirits from d welling-houses. These men oast out devils for a consideration, and they will interpret dreams. They have their fixed ways of operating and they dress in red robes, blue stockings, and black caps. P art of the cere

mony of expelling the evil spirits from a house is the spitting of holy water on the walls and then turning around and calling upon the gods to kill the "red fire spirits, the white evil spirits, the vellow devils, and to drive them from the house." I went to gee the Government Printing House at which the great Chines? Almanac ::s made.' It is a low, narrow shed, dirty and dilapidated, and the work is done by hand. I bought a copy of the Almanac for 10 cents. It is not bigger than a pocket account-book and has a rod paper cover. It begins at the back, like all Chinese books, and reads toward the front. It is sent out from Peking all over the Empire, and the Government officials as well as the people run their business by it. Frank G. Carpenter, Wellington on Napoleon's Memory. A gentleman once said, in Wellington's presence, that great memories are

generally the sign of great talents, and instanced Napoleon, who could single out soldiers iu review and call them by name to step out of the ranks. "That is a great mistake," replied the duke. "Ill tell you how he managed it. One of his generals, Lobau, used to get ready for him a list of soldiers to be called on from each regiment. When Napoleon rode up opposite to a regiment he would call out the name of the soldier to be honored, and the man would step forward that; was all. "I also doubt the goodness of his memory, " continued the Duke, "from the looseness and inaccuracy of his statements. In his works I mean all that he has ever written you never find a thing related precisely as it happened, tie seems to have no clear nor distinct recollection; scarcely once has he ever jrippea into truth ?" . Ia another conversation Wellington mid that Napoleon's genins made him o pre-eminent that all of his marshals eemed inferior to him. "He suited a French army exactly, and at its head ihere never was any tint: g like him. I ised to say of him that his presence on he field made the difference of 40,000 M

nen. The devotion of the French army to Napoleon is illustrated by the fact that teveral of the French prisoners, wounded it Waterloo, bhouted, during the agony f amputation, "Vive rEmpereur!"

armored vessuls of iron, and the Chi cage, Boston, Atlanta, Dolpjiin, and the dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, all of steel, and the torpedo boat Stiletto, of wood. These carry 100 breech-loading rifles of from six to fifteen inch bore, and .ach has in addition one or more secondary batteries. In addition to all these $2,000,000 has been appropriated for floating batteries, rams, etc., yet to be designed and built. Cringelng American Toad) ism. In human nature, the most dospicabU. trait is that cf the cringing toadyism which prompts men and women to demean themselves by a senseless worship of inherited rank. This species of insanity, for it can be called by no other name when found in America, eeems to bo increasing in the ratio of the number of titled idols presented for worship. Li the e;ist the disease has developed t an alarming degree, and tne numbers rf pseudo-Americans who tumble over each other in cringing attempt) to worship at the shtine of some imp5cunious or profligate lordling, ia assuming disgusting proportions. Most prominent among the American turf -hunters is the "bear-leader. " This creature is the person who takes it upon himself to show off the titled wonder to the admiring gaze of an un-American society. The first care of the profligate or pauper, who is possessed of a title and wishes to become a real, roaring American lion, is to secure a competent "bear leader." This is easiest done by obtaining a letter of introduction to

I a New York society leader. As the latter

are all praying fortune to send some princeling their way, and will gladly accept anything from an EL K. II. to a third assistant lord of the back stairs, this is not a difficult task. Orce possessed of such a letter, he has but; to land :tn New York and present his papers; the ret is easy enough Having obtained his leuder, he has only to dance to the former's call and le will, if he so desire, receive both the daughters and the ducats of a class whose wealth weighs more iu the social balance that its self-respect. When we consider that there is not a royal family in all Europe which is unpolluted by vice; when we reriember that the vast majority of the set-called nobility are dissolute and lazy ai d th at those who are entitled to respect have won that right because they are men of ability, and not because they were born to greatness, we may well ask why Americans should get down and grovel in the slime of humiliating servility to unearned rank. America. Feather Beds and Hay Fever "You would scarcely believe that

asthma and hay fever would knock the bottom out of the live geese feather business, would you?" asked a bidding manufacturer. "But it's a fact Fifteen or twenty years ago, when hay fever first came into fashion, some one who was addicted to it discovered, or thought he discovered, that feathtr beds and pillows aggravated, if they really did not cause, the malady. The idea was just as contagious as the hay fever had been, and it got so with some victims of the habit that they couldn't remain in a room where there was a feather bed. Then the man with the asthma found that feather beclr and pillows wait what had been ailing him for forty years or more, and the rest' It was that the downy goose feather gradually had to give way to hair and husks and pine needles. This is a fact. There isn't one goose plucked to-day where there were twenty a few years ago. The goose may not know xt, but he owes a great deal of Ids latter-day

comfort to the asthma and the hay fever." Philadelphia Press. Splitting a Sheet or Paper A method of splitting a sheet of paper so as to preserve the printing on both sides has been published, which works fairly well when the paper is thick and fibrous. It is this: Cover both sides of the printing with a thir coating of best demar varnish and lay between two sheets of stout, strong paper; press t he sheets together so that the union of the' three pieces will be complete; allow this to dry thoroughly. After so drying for a day or two place the whole ill a dish of water and allow it to soak for an entire day. Then carefully pull the two sheets apart and the prinl; paper will split, leaving half on each sheet. Dry and then place the sheets in turpentine to disolve the varnish. After the varnish is removed by the solvent wash and dry. A Good Tiling "What's this fence up here for?" he asked of the ticket taker at one of tbe gates in the Third Street depot. "To prevent mistakes." "How?" "Why, to prevent a man from getting on the Lansing train, when he has a

ticket fox Saginaw." "Urn? but that's a good idea." exclaimed the inquirer after a moment's thought. I wonder if they oouldift fix something to prevent a man from buying a cow when he is after a hoss?" Detroit Free Press.

CURIOUS FACTS.

War Ships. The following are the l ew vessels beng built for our navy : The Maine and Texas, both steel; six monitors of iron; .he Charleston, Baltimore, Newark, Jforktown, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Concord, Bennington, all of steel, and ne first-class torpedo boat, also of steel. The Maine and Texas are armored vessels. In addition to theme now in the )rooess of construction there have been milt the Puritan, Miantonomah, Am)bU.vite, Monadnock, and Terror, all

She Knew. "Mamma," said a little girl who sat behind a:a auburn-haired traveling man in the railway car. "What is it?" "I know what made that man's hair red." "What was it?" "God finished him off with brick dust," was the reply that sent the traveler into the sinoking-car. Merchant Traveler.

A $50,000 Organ. The gorgeous mansion in Hopkinfcon, Mass., which Mrs. Searlo, formerly Mrs. Hopkins has had built, boasts of an organ costing $50,000. Its case is of English ash to correspond with the finish of the room, exquisitely carved with gold molding, is over thirty feet high, and is probably the most costly organ in any private dwelling in America. The music room is large, ever forty feet '.zigh, with paneled ceiling of terra cotta. Whisk? is recommended as arem&dy for weak lungs. It certainly has a tendency to make the breath strong.

The earliest spring bullfrog's jump.

on racord the

lira word "Jehovah 'Occurs 6862 timet la the Bible. A family of four la Nyack, N. T., has an aggregate age of 363 years. Twin sisters are 90 years of age. another lister is 91, and a brother is 92. Tannin has been discovered as an animal substance by M. Vilion, a French chemist, who finds that corn weevils contain about 3 per cent- of it. Insurance statistics lead to the remark of a contemporary that Americans of the middle and upper classes are healthier and longer lived than Englishmen. Dealers recognize four notes in the

song of a canary, and they can tell by listening to it for a few minutes whether the bird is German or American. It is said that American birds fail to hold the rolling note, which is a continuous melody, rising and falling only to .ise again, while the German birds do. A physician in the American Mag azine, illustrating the evil custom of talking to an invalid about his pai ns, says that he once requested a mother to mark a stroke upon a paper each time that she asked a sick daughter how she was. The next day, to her incredulous astonishment, she made 109 strokes! A three months' visit away from home waa prescribed. It is said that in the southern part of Russia the peasants use a coin of such small value that it would take 250,000 of them to buy an American dollar, find these coins are so scarce that a man who has a hundred is looked upon as rich, and one who has a thousand is considered vjry wealthy. It is strange to think a person wealthy who owns twofifths of a cent, and comfortably well off on one-twentv-fifth of a cent The encyclopedia published by the Academy at Pekin, as far as bulk is concerned at least, is the largest in the world, it being composed of 160,000 volumes. We are not informed how long it takes to find a given topic, or how long to read it when found. We have been accustomed to look upon the Britannica as a stupendous work, but here is an enterpise which appears far more colossal in its propartions. An English correspondent gives as a reason for possibility that the English language will become the "world-speech" the mental slowness of the Anglo-Saxon race in learning two languages. They traverse tfafi globe unaffected and undismayed by its eccentricities of speech. The English-speaking countries haveair area of more than one-fifth of the whole habitable globe. English is the language of the high seas, and is spoken in every maritime port What demand can there be for Volapuk ? It is said that 40 per cent of all the deaths from poison in Great Britain are due to opium; and this rate or mortality, according to Dr. Wynter Blythe, "arises in a great measure from the pernicious practice, both of hard-working English mothers and tbe baby farmer, of giving infants 'soothing syrup 'infants' friends,' and the like, to allay restlessness and keep them asleep daring the greater part of their existeneo. It has been circulated that one preparation alone is the undoubted cause of death of 150,000 children every year. In sinking large pits and wells in Nevada stratas of rock salt were out through, in which were found imbedded perfectly preserved fish, which are probably thousands of years old, u$ the salt field occupies what was once the bottom of a large lake, and no such fish are now to be found in Nevada. The specimens are not petrified, but flesh, and all are preserved in perfect form, and after being soaked in water for two or three days can be choked and eaten, but are not very palatable. After being exposed to the air and sun for & day or two, they become as hard as wood. . Strategy Mrs. Broker My dear, do you suppose it is possible for a man, almost aay man, to sit alongside of a beautiful creature all day long, watching her pretty fingers toying with a type-writing machine, withotit falling in love with her? Mr. Broker (suddenly becoming absorbed in a newspaper) Oh, he might if she was pretty; but I never saw a pretty type-writer gM yet. "What! I saw a typo writer girl at your office who could " "That red-haired thing?" "Red-haired! She has the liveliest, runniest tresses I ever gazed on. "Don't know who you can mean. My type-writer girl has ugly red hair, not beautiful black locks like yours, my dear, and her eyes, insteadof being such a charming soulful black-brown, like yours, are a watery gray." "They are divinely blue." "And her mouth doesn t look as if it was made for anvthing but pie.

"I I thought she had the mouth of a ehe: ub. "And I do hate pug-ncmes. "Queer. I had a idea it was Gmcian." "Besides, I can't bear these thin, bony, rail-fence women." Resumes reading. Mrs. Broker (aside) She has the face of a Madonna and the form of a sylph; but bless his fond, foolish heart, he hasn't eyes for any one but me. 3Tet York Weekly. Hew George Wen Her. "It grieves me to give you pain, Mr. Furguson, but I fear ii. can never be. Try, try to forget me.w "111 try, Miss Laura," replied the young man, in a melancholy, hopeless way. "Absorbed in the vortex of business, 'as I shall be henceforth, I may ba able to still the clamor of my !chin heart and banish your sweet image froia my mind.' "Then you contemplate going into business?" "I have made arrangements," he said, in a hollow voice, "to open a large retail confectionary store." "O, George," exclaimed the beautiful girl, wildly, as she flung herself into his arms, "the sight of your suffering ia more than I can bear., I am yours I Chicago Tribune. A Haih.b;m man acknowledges that ho 'En't comfortable without his pint of old rye each day. He calls i lis Old lint Comfort '