ft, f
'
THE LITTLE ARM-CHAIR.
f arts Ib Ska JHtH ana-ahatr ;
ll
Al4 imrtrty thmkm n him.
Baa aferoaah Uka Soak at lha loaui a
Tfca Whom of bar boy'a Maaat tmtm.
A Im racaa u auwnir is w ira.
acta to BMCTllT is iu I
liagti taat cfeaara law
Wit
fcaimiiii ha haaia a book In Ua hand,
awiwiaill paaHl aaa alaxa.
44 aaa linl ia aara 10 aadarataaa,
ana taa Saaraa hard to mat ;
aWi aba aaaa tba ao4 ol aia iai bars aad,
As laruad ths lit lis auu,
Aaa aba hasra tba wori m otta aaid,
"4a fasr tut our littls ona."
Vfcay awndsring day!, tba dear avast dart
Wkn child un auujr oair
SVaa bar to w jld, lo kia and to praiaa.
At bar a una in tba little cbair.
ha lual huu bacji In tba bujr yeara
V ban tba gnat world caotit tba ujb,
And ta aurada away put hiipea and taara
Tti hia )rfaaa in tba baltlo Tan
at now aad than in a willful draaju,
Uka a ptalore out ol date,
ha aaaa a baad with a goktan glaam
Bant o'ar a pan-.-U and slate.
And aha Uvaa a(aui tba happy dar,
Tba da of bar Touuf Ills' apriDg.
Wha tba auall arm-cbalr atood juat Is tba
rf warrtnicg.
IN ARIZONA.
T CONAN DOYLE.
"It air strange. It air," he was say-!
ing as I opened the door of the room I
where our little se in i-literary society 1
met; "but I could tell you queerer
tbiags than that 'er almighty queer ;
things! You can't learn anything
out of books. sirs, nohow. ou wt, i
It aiet thai irjn as ran string Famish
'together and as li.nl no kI eddication
as Hods theiu.v'lves Id tbe queer
places I've been in. They're mostly
Tough men, sirs as can scarcely speak
aright far less tell with pen and ink
the things they've seen; but if they
could, they'd make some of your
Luropians hair riz with astonish
ment They would sirs you bet.'"
Hia name was Jefferson Adams, I
believe; I know his initials were J. ;
JL, for .vou tuav see them yet deeply
whittled on tbe r ght hand upper
panel of our smoking-room d or He
iett us this legacy, an I also some
artistic patterns done in tobacco
juice upon our Turkey carpet; but
beyond these reminiscences, our
American story-teller has vanished
from our ken. He gleamed across our
ordinary quiet conviviality like some
brilliant meteor, and then was lost
In the outer darkness. That night,
however, our ew Mexican friend
. was in full swing.
-".ina you," he continued, "I
'hain't got no grudge against your
"men of science. 1 likes and respects
a chap as can match every beast and
plant, from a huckleberry to a grizzly,
with a .'aw-breakiu' name: but it you
- wants real Intere-tin' facts some
thing a bit juicy you go to your
'whalers and jour frontiersmen, and
'.our scouts and Hudson Hay men.
'Chaps who mostly can scarce sign
their names.
Sow, which of you gentlemen has
ever been in Arizona? None, I'll
warrant I've been there, sirs lived
there for years; and when think
what I've seen there, I can scarce
fit myself to believe it now. I was
one of Walker's fiibusters and after
we'd busud up and the chief was
hot, some of us made tracks and lo
cated down there. A regular English
an1 American colo iy we was, with
our wives and ;:hilJren and all com
plete, i
"To think of such a land being
, built for a few greasers and haif
treeds lfsa rn susin' of the gifts of
Frovid nee. Grass as hung over a
chap's head as lie rode through it and
t ees so tbick that you could n't get a
glimpse of blue sky for leagues and
leagues, and orch ds like umbrellas!
Maybe some on you has jeen a plant
as they ra'ls the "fly cather" in some
parts of the States "
"l Manor muscipula." murmured
jur sc.eiitiflc man par excellence.
'Ah, 'Die near a municipal,' that's
him! You'll see a fly stand on that
'ere plant and then you'll see the
two sides of a leaf soap up together
and catch it between them, and
grind It np and mash it to bits; and
hours after, ir you open the leaf,
you'll see the body ly ng half digested
and in bits. Well I've seen these
flytraps in Ari ona with leaves eight
and ten feet long, and thorns or
teeth a foot or more.
"Jt's about the death of Joe Haw
kins I was going to tell you 'bout as
queer a think, I reckon, as yon ever
. heard tell on. There wasn't no
body In Arizona or New Mexico as
didn't know of Joe Hawains 'Ala
bama Jo ' as be was called there. A
reg'lar out-and-outer, be was; about
a I ard a ease as erer man clapt eyes
oo. ' Ml him, and he war worse nor
blizzard. I'va seen him empty his
is-shooter in a crowd as chanced to
Jostle him a goto' into Simpson's bar
when there was a dance on; and be
bowied Tom Hooker 'cause he spilt
Ills ii nor over bis weakit by mistake.
' ' Kew, at tbe time I am tellin' ye on,
treo Joe Hawkins was swaggerln'
. shoot tba town and layin' down by
laws with his sbootin' Irons, there
. ' 'eras an Engl shman there ot the
. Savrue of Tom Scott This chap Scott
' car a Britisher U his boot-heels and
; , Trt be didn't freeze much to tbe Hrit
, . l ieet there, or, rather, they didn't
much to him. He was a quiet,
e man, fleutt was rather too
.lit for a tough set like that He
r biases! f mostly apart an" didn't
jrttn with nobody so long as he
Jeft alone Baa luck or good,
t MM kept a stiff Up oo him.
' KOrttwata sort o" butt among
)9t Art? da for he was so
' 1 1&4 simple like.
:ied la Simjeoa's bar.
if-J ot of the other
zS n tte Britishers
f 1 Oaf their
rarMelaf
jtntkkie
, , pa
loungio' about and Tom Scott stand
in' alone before tbe stove. Joe sat
down by the table and put his revol
ver and bowie down in front of him.
Them's my argiments, Jeff.' he says
to me, 'if any white-livered Britishw
dares give me the lie -I tried to
stop him: but be weren't a man as
you could easily turn, and he began
to speak in a war as no chap could
stand. Wny, even a Greaser would
Care up if you said as much about
Greaserlaod: There was a com mo
tion at the bar and eery man laid
his hands on his wepins: but afore
they could draw we beard a quiet
voice from the stove: '.ay your pray
ers, Joe Hawkins; for you're a dead
man"
' J e turned around and looked like
grabbin' for his irwn. But it weren't
no use. Tom Scott was standing up,
covering him with his Derringer; a
smile on his white face, but tbe very
devil shining in bis eyes tj'lt ain't
that the old country has served me I
over-well.' he says, 'but no man shall ;
insult it before me and lire!' For a
second his finger tightened round the
trigger, and then he gave a laugh, i
and threw the pistol on the floor. '
No,' he says: '1 can't shoot a half-
drunken man: Take your dirty life, i
Joe, an' use it b tier nor you have j
done:' He swung contemptuously)
round, and relit h:s half-smoked pipe ,
from the stove; while Alabama slunk :
out ' thf bar, with the laughs of the
Brittishers ringing in bis ears I
saw bis face as be passed me, and on
it I saw murder,- sirs murder, as
plain as ever 1 ieed an thing in my
life'
'I tayed in the bar after the row,
and watched Tom Scot' as be shook
bands with the men about. It seethed
kinder queer V) me to see him smil n'
and cheertul-like; for 1 knew Joe's
blo:xithirsty mind, ami that the Eng
lishman had small chance of ever
seeing tbe morning. He lived in an
out-of-thc-waort of place, you see
clean o'l the trail, an I bad to pass
through the Flytrap Gulch to get to"
it. This here gulch was a marshy,
gloomy place, lonely enough during
the day een for it were always a
creepy sort o' thing to see the great
eight and ten-foot leaves snapping up
if aught touched them; but at night
there was never a soul near. Some
parts of the marsh, too, were soft
and eep, and a body thrown in
would be gone by the morning. I
could see Alabama Joe crouchin'
under the leaves of the great flytrap
in the darkest part of the gulch,
with.a scowl on his face and a re
volver in his hand. I could see It,
sirs, as plain as with my two eye.
"'Bout midnight Simpson shuts up
his bar, so out we had to go. Tom
Scctt started oil for his three-mile
walk at a slashing puce. I just
dropped him a bint, as he passed me,
for 1 kinder liked the chap 'Keep
your Ierringer there or about it ' I
says, -for you might chance to need
it' He looked round at me with his
quiet smile, and then 1 lost sight of
bim in the gloom. 1 never thought
to see bim again. He'd hardly gone
afore Simpson come up to me and
says: There'll be old hell in tbe
Flytrap Gulch to-night. Jeff. The
boys say that Hawkins started half
an hour ago to wait for Scott and
shoot him on sight 1 rale' late the
Coroi er '11 le wanted to morrow."
" ha pas ed in the gulch that
night? it was a question as were
asked pretty free next morning. A
half-1 reed was in fergu-on's store
after day bieak, and he said as he'd
chanced to be near the gulch 'bout
i In the morning. It warn't easy to
get at Irs story, he seemed so uncom
mon scared but he told us. at last, as
he'd heard the fearfuilest scream in
the stillness of the night There
weren't no shots, he said, but scream
after scream kinder murl'.ed, like a
man with a serape over his bead, an
in immortal ;:ain. Abner Brandon
and me, and a few more, was in the
store at the time; so we mounted and
rode out to. Scott's house, passing
through the gulch on the way. There
weren't nothiDg partic'lar to be seen
there no blood nor marks of a tight,
nor nothing, and when we gets up to
Scott's house, out he comes to meet
us as fresh as a lark. 'Hullo, Jeff"
says he, 'no need for the pi-tols, after
all! ome in an' ha-e a cocktail,
boys.' 'Did ye see or hear nothing as
ye come home last night?' says L
'No,' says he; 'all was quiet enough.
An owl kinder moaning in the Fly
trap Gulch that was all. Come,
jump off and have a glass.' Thank
ye,' says Abner. So off we gets, and
Tom Scott rode into the settlement
with us when we went back.
"An all 11 red commotion was on in
Main street as we rode into it The
'Merican party seemed to have gone
clean crazed. Alabama Joe was gone
not a darned particle of him left.
Since he went out to the gulch nary
eye had seen bim. As we got off our
horses, there was a considerable crowd
In front of Simpson's, and some ugly
looks at Tom Scott, I can tell you
There was a click I u' of pistols, and I
saw as Scott had bis band Id his
bosom, too. There weren't a single
English face about -Stand aside,
Jeff Adams." says - ebb Huraphrey.as
great a scoundrel as erer lived; you
hain't got no hand In this game.
Sa), boys, are we, free Americans, to
be murdered by this sort o' scum?'
It was the quickest thing as erer 1
seed
There was a rush, an' a crack;
ebb was down with Scott's ball
in
his thigh, an' Scott hlsself was on
tbe ground with a dozen men
Holding mm. it weren't io rue
struggling, so he lay quiet They
seemed a bit uncertain what to do
with him at flrst, but then owe of
Alabama's special ehaasa pat tbeat
up to It Joe's goes,' he said,
lag ain't surer onr ttat; aa Caere
Ilea the. maa ee kiltej Ua. Caca on
you ktawi as Joe waotM tootteei to
tal MxHsff I?: airti Ft rrttferr i
l ,X"....Cf1 r to Its wic'-lJt
t- - V,j uJp v VX-rl rltrmratsSt caa dl kae
rc v j la t J ' Hiurrjc .oCUe4oa saHret for
t:-y icy rv, .tt j!jjcxxcua X3
?.:: .
poor Joe some o hi sneakln' tricks.
an' thrown blm into the swamp. It
ain't no wonder as the body is gone
But air we to stan' by and see Kn
glisb murder in' our own cbums? 1
guess not Let Jedge Lynch try
huu; that's what I say.' Lynch
him:' snouted a hundred angry voices
for all the rag-tag an' bobtail o
tbe settlement was round us by this
tim-j. -Here, bo s. fetch a rooe an'
swing him up: I p with him over
Simpson's door." "See here, though.'
' says another, coming forrards: "let's
hang him by ibe great riyirap in the
giuch. Let Joe see as he's revenged,
: it so be as he's buried 'bout there:'
There was a shout for this, an' away
jtheywtnt with Scott tied on his
' mustang in the middle, and a
i mounted guard, with cocked revol
I vers, round bim: for we knew as there
: was a score or so Britisheis about as
didn't seem t'j know any jedfc'eof that
, partic'lar name.
"I went out them, my heart
bleedin' for Scott though he .didn't
seem a c-nt put out he didn't J Je
were game to tne backbone, .-eems
kinder queer, sir, bangin' a man to a
flytrap; but our'n were a reg'lar tree
and the leave like a brace of boats
with a hinge ltween 'era and thorns
at the tiottoni.
'-We passed down the gulch to the
place where tbe great one grows, and
there we seed it, with the leaves.
some open, wiue shut But we se-d
soineihiiig worse nor that Standin'
round ng the tree was some twenty
men Britishers all, an' armed to the
teeth. They was wailing for us,
evidently, an' had a business-like
look aUiut em, as if they'd come for
something and meant t have it
There was the raw material there for
aUiutas warm a sen u, midge as ever
J seeu.
"As we r'Kle up, a great red-bea-ded
Scotch man Cameron wre his name
stood out afore the rest his re
volver cocked in his hand. 'See here,
boys', he says, 'you've got no call to
hurt a hair of that man's head. ou
hain't proved as Joe is dead yet: and
If you had, you hain't proved as Scott
killed him. Anyhow, it were in self
defense; for you ail know as be was
lying in wait for Scott to shoot him
on sight So. 1 say agin, you hain't
got no rail to hurt that man; and
what's more, I've got twenty six
barreled argument against your
doin' it 'It's an interesting pint
and worth arguln' out' said tbe man
as was Alabama Joe's special chum.
There was a clickin'of pistols, and a
loosenin' of knives, and the two
parties began to draw up to one an
oth r. an' it looked like a rise in the
mortality of Arizona. Scott was
standing iiehind with a pistol at bis
car if he stirred, iooKin' quiet
and couii(sed as having no money
ou the table; when sudden he gives
a start an' a shout as rang iu our
cars like a trumpet 'Joe" he cried,
Joe: Look at him.' in the flytrap'.'
We all turned an' looked where he
was pointin'. Jerusalem.' I think
we won't get that picter out of our
minds agin. One of tbe great leaves
of the flytrap, that had been shut
and touch In' the ground as it lay, was
slowly rolling back upon its hinges.
There lying like an oyster in its shell,
was Alabama Joe, in the hollow 'of
the leaf: The great borns bad been
slowly driven through his heart as it
shut upon him! We could see as he'd
tried to cut his way out for there was
a slit in the thick fleshy leaf, an' his
bowie was in his hand; but t had
smothered him first He'd lain down
on it likely to keep the damp off
while he were a-wa tin' for scott,
and it had closed ou him as you've
-cen your little hothouse nes do on
a I'y: and there he were, as we found
him, torn and mashed, and crushed
into pulp, by the great jauged Ueth
ot the man-e.itin' piant There, sirs,
I think you'.l own that as a curious
story. Ltica iIobe.
Meditrval Mathematicians.
Tartaglla discovered the solution
of cubic e juations. (Jardan employed
toward bim ail the persuasions in his
power to obtain a communication to
himself of the famous dlsccvery. "I
swear to you on the holy Gospels," he
promised, "that if you teach me your
discoveries I will never publish them,
and will, besides, record them for
myself in cipher, so that no one shall
be a le to understand them after my
death"
Tartaglla, trusting in Cardan's
good faith, communicated to him his
rules, summarized in twenty-seven
mnernoteebnic verses, in three
strophes of nine verses each. Cardan,
assisted by bis pupil Ferrari, suc
ceeded in extending tbe rules, solved
e juations of t le fourth degree, and
published tbe whole in Tbe Ars Mag
na Tartaglla, Irritated at tbe
algetraist astrologer's violation of
his word, fell Into a violent rage lie
sent to bis enemy, according to tbe
fashion of the time, several chal
lenges, and In one of them went so
far as to threaten Cardan and his
pupil that be would wash their beads
together and at the same time, "a
thing which no barber In .taly could
Ida"
Cardan finally agreed
to attend a
deputation, which was to be held In
a church in Milan on the 10th of
August, 1544. He did not appear,
but sent bis pupil Ferrari Ferrari
bora bis part In the contest al ne,
! and the arialr would ba e resulted in
favor of Tart iglia If the hostile atti
tude or Cardan's friends had
! caused bin to leave Milan by a
not
by
road, The Popular Science Monthly.
VsluMt Poi Wfclna.
The skla ot a silver fox. otherwise
called Mack lot, varies la price from
f f to 1200, The whole number ob
iJaed aanrsaily aasonatt to only
'..m, ot which amouat 1,009 are las
psfttf Iota EealatJ. La Iloustaa
eiattlakUateasla of the
NEWSPAPER SCIENCE.
atay LaaUrraaa MaiaaHali
Caaaa Fnamlar CraaWaca.
An Item is going toe rounds of tbe
pre. to theefiectibat t the Fans Ex
petition of l&OO, among the objects of
curiosity will be a telescope which
will apparently bring th moon to
within a yard of the earth 'In other
words, we will be able t observe the
moon about as we do tbe world
around us.
Ou which the National Druggist
vi ry aptly comments thus:
' To anyone acqua oled with the
rudiment of optics, this is so absurd
that it would scarcely merit contra
diction: but unfortunately, the great
bulk of newspaper readers know
nothing of optics, and care less; and,
alo unfortunately, the human being
is proosi to accept as true anything
that smacks of the marvelous the
more marvelous the readier men are
to believe.
Tbe laws reuulatiog the amplifica
tion of an image in a compound in
strument like the telescope are fixed,
and enable us to calculate with great
exactness the foeal length of an eye
piece, and of the object glass, whose
combined effects shall give any de
sired amplification. Not to go into
the scientific discussion of these
principles, we will state, as a fixed
rule the application depends upon
the focal length of the eye-piece and
that of the object glass the shorter
the former the shorter the latter
arid b'-nt e, of the length oi the tube
nece-sary to attain any given am
plification. The formula foi ascer
taining tne magnifying power of a
teiesco. roughly stated, is re, where
F is the focal length of the object
gla-s, and e that of the eye-piece
Let us admit for argument's salte,
that at '.he end of the ce itury cngl
neering skill and tnanufacturi. g
facilities wiil have readied a point
at which the construction of a lube
or body for the telescope, ot any de
sired length and diameter say 600
miles long will be a mere bagatelle.
Let us also suppose that by that time
opticians will be able to construct
ob,ect glasses of any desired diame
ter, and eye-pieces of any desired
shortness of focus. Let us take 1-25
incb as the focal length of the eye
piece (many times shorter than at
present possible), which will give an
amplification (roughly) of 300 times
the image made by object glass. The
moon is approximately 2,'!8,.rj00 miles
away from us, or say 42O.OO0.UO0
yards. To b. ing her to tbe apparent
distance of one yard, with an eye
piece of 1-25 inch focal distance,
would therefore require a tube length
of about 42H,000 yards or say liOO
miles. The object glass would have
to be (roughly speaking) about
twenty-six miles In diameter. We!
think that the reader will agree with
us that this is beyond even tbe pos
sibilities of fin dc siecle engineering
and optica! skill.
A Sncceaaftil Irly, j
The party was given at a fa nj-j
bou-e, and alout thirty couples were
present I told the fanner when I !
first arriv d that I sbou d depend
upon bim to give at least five min
ute,' notice iK-fon; any shooting b
gan, and he leplied:
"I'll do it; I shall be watchln
out and I t.hi k I can give yo'pcotv
of tlm ; to get out of rao'e."
There will be shooting, of
course'.'"
"Oh, certainly. The boys would
feel that they had slighted me if
there wasn't a row.''
What do the women folks do
when the shoot ng logins'"
Sit rih'ht down on the floor till it's
all over. Don't be a bit oucasy. I'll
give yo' plenty of warnin'."
There wns only one lid iter, and he
was also the caller. His calls .u zlcd
me at first, but no one else appeared
to mind it as he drawled:
"Right and left on tbe head, and
Bill Taylor don't want to drop that
revolver on the floor: Balance four
and half-promenade, and Jim Hender
son has a knife in his boot-legl
Ladies change, and Luke Williams is
aching to pick a furse with Tom
Bebee: All balance to partners, and
when the bhoolio' begins please re
member that the fiddler never takes
sides:"
We had been dancing about an
hour and evi rybody s em d to be
thoroughly good-natured and at peace
with all mankind, when tbe tanner
beckoned to me and whispered:
"I said I'd give yo' five minutes
warnin', but I'm two minutes behind
time: Break fer the barn!"
1 broke, but was not oer thirty
feet from tbe door when the shooting
began. It lasted about five minutes,
and 1 cautiously returned to the
bouse to hear the fiddler calling in
the same old monotonous voice:
Taae partners for Virginia reel
and don't make sich a furse over three
men wounded! First lady and gent
fora:d and back and Bill Taylor has
gone after a doctor! Forward again
and sasha, and somebody attend to
that gal In hysterics: Swing with
tbe right now with the left and if
this Isn't the most successful dance
of the season then you folks needn't
pay me a cent!" Detroit Free Press.
KncoaraglBg.
The late Marshal MacMahon was
not a good off-hand speaker. There
was a colored cadet In the St Cyr
Military Academy, and once, when
the Marshal reviewed tbe corpi, the
Instructor suggested that he should
say soaMtblag to encourage tbe blac i
man. .
- Let him stand forth, " said tbe
Marshal. " Ho you are a darky, are
ront" be said to tbe eadst
" rat, Marshal. "
trail, keep it up."
Tvdrjt afraid their eaa
cbeC.tJ Kee about theat, bat
ctlar f- "5M far ttoos who facta
t Jl &l ta trek.
THE "COMMODORE" SIGNED.
A (tea bHmt Abawt 014 VaaaterMIt aad a
aWvolrar.
Id the days of tbe California gold
fe er old Commodore" Vaoderbilt
owned a fast line of steamers between
New Vora and Aspiowali, at which
place they connected with a line run
ning to San Francisco. One day,
while the boom was on, Commodore
('. K. Garrison made a contiact with
Vanderiiilt to buy tbe fast line. But
while tbe contract was preparing for
signature and transfer auderbilt
received information that caused him
to tlieve that he bad sold out too
cheap So when the papers were
brought to him for signature lie de
clined to ratify the bargain.
Four days after this Garrison came
Into Vanderbilt's office again, sev
eral people were there, but he waited
until they bad all gone. Then he
took from bis pocket a roll of papers.
"Commodore Vaoderbilt" be said in
a calm, even tone. "I've brought you
that contract selling your line of
ships from New )ork to Aspinwall
and from l'anama to San Francisco
for you to sign this morning. 1'lease
look over it and see if ll is correct"
and Garrison unfolded tbe papersand
laid tbeui down before Vanderb It
The old man's face turned as red
as fire. He shoved the papers to one
side, and in a voice hoarse with an
ger, said: "By , this and by that 1
thought I toid you tbe other day that
I wouldn't ratify that contract and
I won't Now, that's the end of it"
and be roughly threw the paiiers to
ward Capt Garrison.
Tbe latter picked them up off the
floor and arranged them without a
word. He then started for the door.
But instead of going out he locked It
put tbe key in his pocket and walked
back to Vanderbilt who was watch
ing blm with some curiosity. He
carefully spread out the papers again
before the other man. and drawing a
six-inch Infringer he cocked it and
held it within a foot of Vanderbilt's
rigbt ear.
"Commodore Vanderbilt" said he
slowly, '-do you see that clock on the
mantel? It Is now Ave minutes to
11. If, wheo that clock has tinished
the stroke of 1 1, you have not signed
that contract, by G , I will blow
your brains all over this floor."
There was a dead silence. Vander
bilt turned ery pale. He knew his
man. The clock sounded tick, tick.
It was three minutes, then two. then
one minute of II. "Good God!"
thought Mr. Vanderbilt "must I be
murdered right here with no chance
for my life:"' The wheels of the
clock began their whir preparatory to
striking the hour. Before the flrst
stroke bad rung out Vanderbilt seized
the pen before him and by the third
note of tbe hour he had written his
name to the contract
Then Garrison uncocked f-be deadly
pistol and nut it in his rocket He
took tbe papers, walked to the door
and unlocked It.
"Commodore," he said, "i shall
never tell of what occurred here this
morning."
From that time, though tney
passed ea h other daily on tbe street
and sat in the same Isiard of direc
tors, tbe two men never exchanged a
word.
A Itig Blue Graas Family.
"A specimen of what Kentucky can
do in the way of producing stalwart
sons and daughters," said a proud
native of the Blue Grass country, "I
might mention the old Joe Morrison
family of Lou, bon (Xiunty. Anybody
of the present generation who ever
lived in Kentucky will remember old
Joe Morrison's family. The family
consisted of Joe and his wife and six
sons and three daughters Joe stood
i! feet 4 In his stock inns, and weighed
-lo pounds. His wife was the same
height exactly, but she weighed 2tiii
pounds. The oldest son Tom, was
also U feet 4, and he weighed 2Hii
, ounds. Jim topped bis brother Tom
two inches in height, but he wasn't
as heavy by tcventy pounds. Their
sister Sarah was a slim girl, weighing
only IM pounds, I ut she could look
over the heads of both Tom and Jim,
for she stood feet i inches
"But John was the bl boy of the
family. He only lacked an inch of
I e ng seven feet higlt, and he weighed
.'too pounds. Sister Mary was a
midget ot six feet two, and only
weighed 149 pounds. Kll.ah wasn't
very tall, either, ling the same
he gut as his st-ter Mary, but he was
ofptetty fair belt tipping the scales
at Matthew was sii feet two,
also, and weighed 220, while r.ll,
standing six feel four weighed less
lhau 2oo. The youngest girl, Martha,
was six feet three and I no pounds iu
weight She would undoubtedly have
been the giant of the family, for that
was her height and weight at the age
of I ', a few weens before she died.
When these measurements were
taken, a few ."ears ago, the family
was altogether Mil since then old
Joe and bis wife have died, and the
boys and girls were married and scat
tered aiout the State. I don't know
what their progeny have done 10 keep
up tbe famll.' reputation as to size,
but I'll bet on 'em to rfeep up the
'ocord."
A Brltiah Whalcbaclt.
The enterprise of British ship
owners is evidenced by their adopt
ing experimentally any type of vessel
calculated to cheapen transit and
thus lessen tbe price of food, despite
the prejudice of the "tyrannical per
manent department' of our Govern
ment referred to by Lord Salisbury
An illustration of this is afforded by
the fact that a local shipowners
has now a veritable wbaleback afloat
and running, though be is prevented
from sail ng her under the British
flag bv the absurd restrictions of oar
Board of Trade.-
With this board the ecrlehas of
the bartee W. Wetmore twlet m
IE the Atlaatle aad going rwt-4 Vl
Horn, besides the numerous similar
vessels carrying tbe densest and most
trying cargoes on the American
lakes, goes for nothing; they simply
say: "We can not stop your build
ing such a type of, vessel, but we shall
not permit ou to sail b r out of a
British port beyond such and such a
draught" which practically meant
that the vessel can not earn a living
freight However, under the agis of
the lag of a neighboring foreign
country, she is freely aide to load full
cargoes between the northern portion
of the Continent of Furope and tbe
.Mediterranean, betwe-eo which ports
she has already made one successful
voyage,, and is now prosecuting a
sec nd, demonstrating that for her
tonnage she can carry a heavier cargo
thau any other type of vessel and
that was wbat called the type intoex
istence but that she can net carry so
great a bulk of cargo as a vessel built
on the English model. London Mer
cury. Klrctrlo Flalira.
About fifty species ot fishes have
len found to possess electrical
organs, but their electrical proper
ties have been studied in detail only
in Ave or six. The best known are
various species of torpedo (belonging
to the skate family) loucd in the
Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, the
Gymnotua. an eel found in the la
goons in the region of tne Orinoco, in
Snuih America: tbe Malapterurus,
the raash, or thunderer fish of tbe
Arabs, a native of the Nile, tbe
the Niger, tbe Senegal, and other
African rivers, and various species ot
skates (ltala) found in our own seas.
It Is curious that the Nile is rich in
eleciricaljlshes. several species of
pike-like v creatures (Mormyrus and
Hyperopisus) possessing electrical
organs the structure of which has
been quite recently investigated by
I ritsch. The electrical fishes do not
belong to any one class or group, and
some are found In fresh water, while
others inhabit the ocean.
Two distinct types of electrical or
gans exist One is closely related In
structure to muscle, as found in the
torpedo, gymnolus. and skate, while
the other presents more of the char
acters of the structure of a secreting
gland, as illustrated by the electric
organ of the thunderer llsh. Both
types are built up of a vast number
of minute-Indeed, microscopical
elements, and each element is sup
plied with a nerve fiber.
These nerv fibers come from large
nerves that originate in the nerve
centers b.aln or spinal cord and in
these centers we find special large
nerve cells with which the nerve
titers of the electric organ are con
ne -ted and from which they spring.
We may therefore consider the whole
electric apparatus as consisting of
three parts: (1) Flcctrlc centers in
the brain or spinal cord, (2) ele trie
nerves passing to the electric organ,
ana (.1) the electric organ itself. It
mut not be suppose ', howe er, that
the electricity is generated In the
electric centers, and that it Is con
veyed by the electric nerves to the
electric organ. On the contrary, it
is generated in the electric organ it
self, but is only produced so as to
give a "shock" when it Is set in
action by nervous Impulse trnsmit
te i to it from the nerve c nters bv
the electric nerves The Fortnightly
Beview.
Keata ot Iearnlni(.
"We usually think of the cities as
centers of cultivation," said a college
professor recently, "but my observa
tion convinces me that there is more
reading do e in the farm-houses thaa
there is in the city."
Undoubtedly this gentleman wa
right i eading habits are the ex
ception rather than The rule among
the majority of people in the cities.
These people are "too busy to read,"
but not too busy to go to theaters,
or 1 ase ball matches, or promenade
tbe streets. The life of the city is
unfavorable to reading habits.
The people of the farm are very
busy, too, and generally regret that
so little time Is left them for the im
p ovement of their minds. Neverthe
less, few farm houses are unprovided
with periodicals of various sorts.
Many farmers' families possess ex
cellent books of their own, with sets
of encyclopedias in which they are
accustomed to "look up" subjects.
The state of things on tbe farm,
especially In the winter, encourages
evening reading instead of discour
aging it His a change from the
farm work a delightful peep into a
new world.
The farmer who wishes his boys
and i-'irls to acquire habits of reading
can cultivate in them these habits
nowhere so well as in his own sitting
room or living-room. Books from
the village library, good periodicals
regularly subvert bed for or taken with
reading clubs, and a book now and
then bought with tbe children's own
earnings, will lie read eagerly, if the
home surroundings are made pleas
ant The president of a greatcolleae has
said that the most that a college
education can do for a man is to
teach him h w to read, and In these
days of Chautauqua circles and uni
versity extension, no ono need go to
the great cities to acquire the essen
tials of cultivation. Youth's Com
panion. ilrafta During the Civil War.
There were five drafts in' the
Northern States. Tbe tlrst was or
dered August 4, 1862. The sec nd
draft was authorized by the a t of
March 3, Itf3; It began in July of
that rear, and caused the terrible
draft or July riots In New York City,
Biwtoo, and elsewhere. The third
drait legaa In April, lcJ; the fourth
la August, tbe orth aad. last, in I e-
eomver or w same y
a J. m ' . L
Tokxa Is a eertam
fasti nation
ab&a watebiu uea
ictrer caa withstand.
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