o If i r- fC - .4, y I L2r" (JDDDDDDDODDDODD V tT4 . . . ,ri 11 - " -. v $M j O MANY llttlo gods there bo Who help to keep this old earth bright! ThnnksBlvlnB cheer, and Christmas Blec, And New Year's pleasureandde- llght, Has each Its special deity Who sees that things are man aged right. And now comes pood St. Valentine, The merriest god, If not the best. He helps the timid swains who pine To put their courage to the test, And soothes with love's delicious wlno The doubts In many a maiden's breast. No plea of worldly maid or beau St. Valentlne'B true heart can move; For he and Cupid long ago, IJefore they left the courts above, Went Into partnership, you know. To try and keep mankind In love. And Cupid travels far and near To get his patrons well In trim, Then sends his partner once a year To flnlBh up the work for him. All hall the saint both kind and dear, And may his luster ne'er grow dim! -1311a Wheeler Wilcox, in N. Y. Sun. Ml vflSmrm ( worth (cm IN NS 3 60LMv l my grauUicr WUlB ovcr cr hund'ed on he never lied tt an' I say It's the re mains er tlicm pox." . I thought itttlme to bring his mind to the story lie was to tell, so I cas ual y asked if he wns p.rsonnlly ne quninted with the inmates of the great house. "Wal, I should say't I wuz. I went ter vkeool weth the old man, but I ain't een Mm fer years. He shet himself up an' don't go nowhere. 1 bet he ain't nigh scr smart's I be, nn' he ain't scr old by two year; no sir, he ain't." "His name was " "Flint, .To Flint, an' 'twas er good name, too. 1 do 'no none wetter nrcound these parts. He run 'er the idee that everybody wuz tryln' ter git ther best of Mm an' he wouldn't hev no dentin's with nobody, n.n' his haotis keeper she dooz the business for 'em." "He must have a good deal of money to run such n large place." "I bet he's got more prop'ty 'n you can shake er stick at. an' thcr story wuz 'bout the prop'ty, that is in er surtnln way." "1 would rnthcr get the story from you, because, of course, you, having lived here all the years, know all about it, and enn give me the little points of interest that likely to forget." "Wnl, 1 guess yer right, stranger. "Wal, Jo Flint he had er nephy. crsmart young man as you'd most ever see. an' of ooiu'fp Jo he'd likely giv' him all the money, an' he wuz popMnr now I tell ye. Of course 1 believe in love an' nil thet, but 'tain't cr bad idee ter set yer 'fee dions in er place Where's the's cr little money. It coin's pooty handy. I tell ye. nn' so nil the gels wuz er lookin' fer Harold Flint ter make tin to 'em. But he warn't or doin' no seek er thing, an' he went oft" daown ter Cassawaddy, daown ter the south eend ther state, an got ngngcu ter er gel tnout any cash, an' he com' an' told his I'ui'le Jo, an' Jo -he told him ef he wuzergoin' ter merry thet way he needn't never bring liis wife ter see him. an' they lied an awful spat an' it eended wetli Jo er tellin' him he needn't com' himself, an' Harry he jest went off an' merried the younger folks might be see er lot cr kcrrlges crwnltin 'rnouiv I wnrn't er tit kin' no pnrtle'lar notice, but I bet the nln't er pootlcr woman n this state 'n got often them cnr?. She hed her boy with her, an' 1 knowed 'twas hern cozlt favored her miff to be hern. She lied cr box 'n er bag, an' she talked cr spell wcth therdecpo master, nn' then he enme weth her uoiit to my team nn' said she woz er goin ter the Poorc plnce, an' he thought I'd take her scein's I was goin' right by ther'. "Nnow who'd ye s'pose that woman wuz?" He waited n moment, and I opened my eyes to look as surprised as Dossiblc when he said: "Harold Flint's wife, nn' his boy. tew, nn' she'd gut er big frosted cuke in thet box. an' she took ofT'n ther cov'r an' it lied er big red sugar heart in ther middle an' cr little heart In all them corners, an' thet boy bought 'em wcth his own pennies an' stuck 'em on himself fer Uncle Flint, and she thought he'd like It coz prob'ly he didn't hev no cake much wher' he wuz iiviu'. nnd then she 'nounced she'd com' ter take him home'weth her! Wal, sir. it struck me all of cr heap. 1 wuz scr sick to my stomick I couldn't breathe; them pox I s'pose. Harold wuz dead, and she'd been er doin' dress mnkin' an' tnkln' kcer of herself nn' thet boy. nn' she'd liear'd his unelc hnd gone 1cr live on the poor fnrm an she Mowed Harry'd like ter hev her take care of him an' she wuz able ter dew it. nn" ter-morrer wuz Valentine's day an' she thought they'd ecl'brnte. Wal. I jest couldn't sny cr word. Her' she'd com ter Ink' kecr er the old man an' he wutli bis thousands. Ye see she'd made er mistake. The place wuz the old Poore place, the Maj. I'oore place; yns, Eir. an' she'd gut it 'twas ther poor fnrm. the tnown farm. Wal. she kep er talkin' on 'bout the nice room they'd gut fixed fer him nnd we drove in. an' she said she thought 'twould be pooty in summer, but 'twarn't like livin' weth yer own folks an' Uncle Flint hadn't nobody ter Ink kcer an Wal, i carn't tell ye nothin' how 1 felt, seems 's ef 1 hed whol' streaks er shiv'rs daown my back er ihinkln' know she'd feel when she fun nnd .'tout. "Wal. I gut her ter hold thcr boss, AGRICULTURAL HINTS AROUSING THE PUBLIC. Tlint In the Flrnt (Jrcnt Duty of All llontl Hrfuruium, At the meeting of the J2vangclloal al liance, held in Harrtsbnrg, Pa., an ad dress on "The Necessity of Educating Public Opinion" wns made by A. J J. Fnrquhnr, and one of the first subjects he considered wns the effects of ronds on urban nnd rural population, nnd the importance of educating public opinion on the subject. This portion of the ad dress wns ns follows! "The rnpld increase of our tirban population Is fraught with danger. Temptations increase with increnscd facilities and opportunities. Children are tumbled together in the streets as indiscriminately as garbnge in the sewers, and they pass into the com munity a mass of filth. People are Hocking to the cities, believing they can lie a happier and a better life there, and were they not debused by concentration, there would be less dis appointment. The evil conditions must be discovered nnd rectified. MMie thought that where society ought to exist in its highest state, with most con genial environment, It must lapse Into vice and immorality is intolerable. "Country life has a thousand ehnrms and advantages ovcr life in the city. Our bad highways have a great deal to do with driving the countryman to town. The mud ditches in -place of the beau tiful, smooth roads of civilization shut him out from society and make it cost him more to carry a ton of his produce a few miles to the nearest market than (neither of which propositions can bo questioned) then why is it that tlio vast majority of our thoroughfares nro bndly Joentcd nnd. worse mnnngcdj.thnt country trnvel, Instead of being accom plished with ensc and pleasure, is usual ly a vexation to the spirit, n perpetual financial drain on our resources, and a disgrace to our bonstcd civilization? "There can be but one nnswer. whilo nil persons individually nre well and painfully aware of these facts, yet, tho people collectively have not been suffi ciently impressed with their importance In short, public opinion on this ques tion hns not been sufficiently educated.' AY, stranger, 1 could tell e er pooty good story 'bout thet haouse up ther'." 1 was tukinga trip through the couu try on my bicycle. 1 had just passed through the pretty village of D , and here on the out skirts 1 found a great, beautiful house, with a wide driveway lending between big stone posts and up to the pillared portico. It was such a beautiful place, up there in the sunlight, that 1 wanted to look longer at it, so I dismounted, and, leaning on the stone wall, I wns admiring its line proportions when L heard the rattle of a farm wagon and in a moment the rattle stopped just behind me. and then a voice which announced a story in connection with the mansion. A good-natured looking old gentle man was sitting in a long farm wagon, such as is used to bring the potatoes from the field or the apples from the or chard. The horse was a dappled gray, so fat he could hardly move, and cer tainly if 1 had been in any hurry 1 bhould have kept to my wheel, but then time with me was of no consequence, and 1 did like stories, and there would be an unusual charm about this, foi the old man had the. peculiar pronunciation and queer nasal twang of that part of the country. So 1 loaded the wheel in behind and climbed in myself with the driver. "Goin' fur, be ye?" "Well, friend. I don't just know how far. I'm out for fun, takiug my vaca tion on my wheel, partly because 1 want to be out of doors and partly be cause 1 haven't the money to lay out in car fare." "Sho, neow. Wal. ye ken ride weth me fur's 1 go, an' thet'Il 6iive yer wheel some." "I'm sure you are very kind to help " nnd right there 1 hnd such ti spell of coughing that the sentence never was finished. It seemed so funny that he never thought of the wear and tear on his equipage, but in his generous heart only sought to save me and my wheel. "Consumptive, be ye?" and he looked at me anxiously. I hastened to say that it was the dust or the heat that made me cough so. "Wal, I'm 'tarnal glad ter hear't. I've hear'd said consumption, the kind the' hev neow. wuz ketchin'. I bet I wouldn't hev lived out half my days ef I hedn't er ben keerful ter steer clearer them discases't I knew wuz ketchin'. I ain't but 60. but I bet ef scarlet fev'r er diptheree bhould git holt er me I'd never'd git over't. Youth don't count fer nothin' weth them things." 1 looked at him to see if he was jok ing, but not a smile on his face as he tqiokc of his youth and the uncertainty of his recovery from either of those dis eases. Did he really think himself a young man? I could not I ell. "Haven't you had any of the diseases common to children?" "Will, I should say't 1 hed. When Jane's baby hed ther chick pox I went down't .Mollie's ter live in the village, an' I'll be pizened ef them blnmrd pox didn't ketch me ther'. I tell ye the blis ters wuzsuthin' ter see, an' I ain't never got over't yit an' I never shell. It ketches me somewheres every little while. Jnne i-nys it's rhumatlz. but I Mow young folks don't hev rhumatlz; I "SHE TALKED Ell SPEl-l. WETH THER DEEPO MASTER." gelan' went daown ter live in thet part cr the kentry, an' ther' ain't never been up here foiicc. Leastways he didn't never -coin'. "Ye see thet great piece er meddcr land au' thet low haouseout ther'? Wal. thet's wher Jo Flint lived, an' 'tain't fcetter'n four year senee he moved outer the hill place. Th' old man like't ter died, an' the doctor he told him thet low land wuz rhumaticky an' he'd bet ter mo.y out, an' old Maj. Poorehe wuz livin' on ther hill and Providence killed hi in jest in time ter let Flint hev his place. Jo Flint he made er bnrgin out, un' what dew ye think, I bet the' ain't 'notlier man in this taown 'twould er done it. He moved in ther night; yns, sir, in ther night. One day he wuz ther" an' the next he waiui't. He went in the fall, an' everybody gabbed 'bout it. but the doctor he sot it right by leilln' 't he'd got ter moe er die, but I reckon't majority ov 'pinion wuz't he'd better died. Strange how little use some folks ken be; yns, sir, ain't it naow?" 1 assured him it was, nnd he looked su astonished that I judged he was used to talking and receiving no answer, even though he did ask r. question and seem ingly expected an answer. I mentally agreed to keep still. "Wal, long in Feb'uary I wuz daown. Ye bee 1 ain't nothin' to do an' Jnne she thinks its good fer me to be aout eon sider'blc, an' I guess 'tis, an' 1 gut ther old sleigh weth er back an' er place for eomf'ters, an' ye don't hev ter keep er tuckin' in an' er tuckin' In. an' then I ken drive ther colt, but Jane feho says what'd old Dobbin think ter see ye driviu' olY ther colt an' leavin' him be hind, mi' I deeiar' Dobbin is the hu mnnist critter I ever see. Hut, as I wuz sayiu', 1 sot ther by ther deepo. 12 f I'm daown'I most gen'ly git tor ther I deepo; it sorter advertizes er place to an' I went 'raound ter ther side door, nn 1 gut hole er Mis' Beau an' I jes laid out all erbout it, and she cried. Women alwuz cry, whether it's good news or bnd. M'hey'd cry over er weddin' jes' 's quick ez er fun'al. Wal. .Mis' Dean she said she'd fix it up, an' so she gut 'em in and they went ter bed pooty soon, coz ther old man warn't wal an' he couldn't sec 'em. so Mis' Ilenn said, but I s'pose she warnted ter git cr holt on hi in fust, an' she told me hence that ye never see nobody wuss broke up 'n he wuz when iic knew't she had com' ter tak him and lak' kcer of him fer Harry's sake, an' the hoy'e name's Harold, an' lie's sinnrter 'n his pa ever thought er belli', an' I 'xpect old Jo Flint hadn't never hed no sicli er val'ntine 's they'd giv' him an' lie won't never ergin hev her s'prisin cr one I calk'late. 1 tell ye er lovin'er creter 'n thet boy ye never see, er buying sugar hearts fur the old man, an' of his nine's heart ain't made cr love she'd never cr com' daown here ler git the old man out'n ther poor haousc; no, sir, not by er long chalk I" He stopped to think, and waited so long that 1 asked if Harold's wife went back? "Oh. yns. Wal, she wanted tew jes' 's quick's she faound aout 't he'd gut lots er money an' warn't in the poor hnousc, but the old ninn wouldn't hear to 't, an' bhe sent for her things nn' ther' they be nnow, an' Mis' Dean she says thcr old man's heart's jest all wound up lu thet boy. Folks said when he sent Ilnrold off his heart wuz jest like his name. Flint, but I guess they've hed 'enslon ter think oth'wiso senee." N. A. M. Hoe, in Oood Housekeeping. A .MIntnktMi Youth. IIo labored o'er It, line by line, It was for her, this valentine. Ills prudent rival hired one writ And he It was who made a hit. Wusuingiou S'.nr. STUCK IN THE MUD. (Tho Horse Has He mi Taken Home, "l'luycd Out.") to transport It a thousand miles on the railroad. The prosperity, contentment, intelligence and happiness of the rural population, depend largely on the con dition of the highways. No wonder the value of farm land is decreasing. The best means of benefiting the agricul turists is to improve ills roads. The countries of liuropc, impoverished by their standing armies and their cuor mous debts, build thousands of miles of road, and wisely spend millions annu iiljy in keeping them in repair. What a transformation there would be in our country if we had this European sys tem of highways! Au aroused public opinion only can secure them. "An accidental cross-path made no one knows how a century ago, widens to a wheel track, aud becomes estab lished as a country road, simply be cause the actual traveler has not time to look after the condition of his high way; the citizen who is not au actual tiavelcr neglects what concerns other citizens equally with himself, and the county officer is not spurred to his duty ol providing a suitable road by thepres sure of a sufficiently x-obust public opin ion. As a result every mnu, woman nnd child who has occasion to pass between one and the other of two important sec tions of the country ,is compelled to go considerably out of his way, and toil up and down more than one long steep hill. "Day after day, week after week, month after mouth, summer und win ter, year after year, decade after deende it will soon be century after century, the pnticut thousands who pnss Unit road submissively pay tribute (hill and Mjunro corner taxes) to the ignorant carelessness of their forefathers and present county ofilcinls. Were a band of robbers to infest that road and exact one-tenth part of the cost that our citizens now willingly pay for this extra time, labor and nnnoyauce, nn outcry would be raised that would resound throughout the globe. "What is best now and hereafter for the many must and should overthrow the personal preference or en price of the indivldunl. Other forms of improve ment are temporary; buildings fnll into decay, harbor and river courses are filled up witli deposits, mncliinery be comes obsolete, inventions are super seded by new and better ones; organi sations of men, whether socinl, educn tionnl, political or religious, nre dis rupted and scattered by the relentless I processes of time, but a properly located 1 nnd constructed rond will prove nn ever- brightening blessing to countless fu ture gencrntlons. "Then, grunting the vital nnd fnr rcncliing importnnce of hnving public ronds where they are wanted, nnd of the best nnd most enduring character; granting the absolute power to accom plish this object, in the hands of agents chosen by the people themselves FILTRATION OF MILK. Sent TJiMvnril Ity 1'renNiiru TlirniiRla l.iiyorM of ShiiiI. The control of the milk supplies at itn source is n subject which is engaging much uttcitition at the present timc;i but, while something lias been accom plished, nobody enn renlhy nnswer for the cleanliness of the cows nnd tho milkcrsnt five o'clock on a winter morn ing on small homesteads in the country. The more conspicuous objects, ns cow hnirs, arc indeed removed by slrnining through coarse muslin, but n quantity of fine dirt, ulhieh would suffice to ren der n transparent liquid visibly turbid, will probably remain. Some of the dirt to be seen nt. the bot tom of n pail, jug, or even n glass, con sists of a mineral dust, but the greater part is neither more nor less than cow dung, a fact which furnishes an obvious explanation of t he myrinds of bacillus coli present in so ninny samples of milk; yet, strange to say, no one seems to think it necessary to filter milk, though it always contains a vast num ber of the bacilli, a fraction of which would be deemed sufficient to condemn nny wnter ns unfit for drinking, and the known outbreaks of typhoid fever traceable to milk are far more numer ous than tliosc attributable to public water supplies, for milk presents nn ex cellent culture fluid for the bacilli of tCic bowel. Sand filtration of milk on its arrival, whether by road or rail, at the central depot hns been practiced for several years in some cities, as by the Copen hagen Dairy company and by Messrs. Hollc, of Merlin, whose arrangements, nlike for the purity of the milk nnd for the physical imhI moral welfare of tho persons (over t.OOO in number) in their employment, arc well worthy of imita tion. The filters used in this dairy con sist of large cylindrical vessels divided by horizontal perforated diaphragms into five superposed compnrtments, of which tllic middle three arc filled with fine clean sand sifted into three sizes, the coarsest being put into the lowct and the finest Into the uppermost of tho three chambers. The lowest of nil Is partly occupied ny a perforated, Inverted, truncated cone, which assists in supporting the weight of the filtering material. The milk cn tcrs this lowest compartii....i.u v.rr under gravitation pressure, and after hnving traversed the layers of sand from below upward, is carried by an overflow to a cooler fed with ice water, whence It passes into a cistern from which it is drawn direct i.nto the locked cans for distribution. It is the rule of this dniry, also, when ever any epidemic or epizootic occurs in tlio districts whence its supplies are obtained, to subject the whole bufore ndmission to the filter to temperatures first of IGO degrees Fahrenheit, and thqii about 2J0 degrees Fahrenheit, in two apparatus interposed in the course of the pipe supplying the filter. The filtered milk is notonly freed from dirt, but the inumbcr of bacteria is reduced' to nbout one-third, without sterilizing; the loss of fat is in new milk stated to be small, but the quantity of mucus and slimy matter retained In the sand- which is, of course, renewed every time is surprising. British Medical Journal. PEN FOR DEHORNING. Enal y Unlit ii ml Perfectly HtTccflvu for It I'liriioac. Kendall Perry suggests a dehorning pen easily built and perfectly effective for its purpose. The sketch is enough to show how built, lint some of our folks think it dreadful to dehorn stock. Then try this pinn: When the calf is not more than three weeks old, tnke tin DEHORNING PEN. old pair of shears nnd clip the hnlrnway around the little knob where the horn is coming. Wrap a stick of caustiu potash in a piece of paper, leaving one end uncovered, Dip the stick in a little water, take the calf's head be tween your legs nnd bend its neck around agninst your side. Hub the horn thoroughly with potash, It will smart a little, but the pain will soon go away. So will the horn. Farm Journal. Dried butter on dniry implements is hard to remove. Wash oil' with cold water nt once. Western Plowman. Moisten corn stover with" -wnter -unci; sprinkle with bran to improve its flavor. iTtmmiF -