BUT. WC CANT TALK.
MMU MW ft -WT 1M ;
m Hr. ' Mfi-tt
JkM rwU Mtfm . t-t
t mm f TVK'fww fttrm.
tMw4 fc cl oorm.
A Hb:T iMHt mi ,
. w a.ifc nhJr iha es.
fr vt (Aa4t sxTsys tfck n.(h:
si-i H:ras Hr'i
1 v tm bn . b. oaA m fcs.Hl,
I o&JKi 104 i fT-.- d. at"Uvw ft toll
-y jiJ to him ; iaa fa ttv-rw w-
Wfc- b:rm -irx-t acrt -syIom.
Wow vbd 1 h - t Jutft r M.cmd.
Ard ftii Uiw aiu-Va- r'mul,
Tb t wot uimi tHr'fti -Atii's
Y -ilid tair a v oiln-r o fbi
And i.vruugfa ! b iinunji ow.
T uieuwtsil- murtu unug soft k-w ;
lo wbotu I DTr eaull ft'.ftctiy t--fcut
JrKirffti iiiOJi t talk to iue
In winter time, across t h mow
VI h j-ngUn: beJla i c tutU i- ko ,
And. though I'd puJI ii Hl-ih un etv--.
d go fto slaw I d cesuiv fre.
And yet in &ov k rd ot ct'-rni
That Htmry black kept n'" and warm .
Escept on nitu - bft wan alon
just why t in wni uter koo n ;
I kno ran m out o( i-ratb.
And Henry nearly frose to dtiih.
Ofa! I'm an old bor- from a I.verv auhle;
1 could tell a lot of thing, if I ere able.
P'iCK.
causeFbydyxamite
The engineer leaned back content
edly in his cab and lit his pipe. Tne
express was thirty minutes late, and
that makes a very acceptable rest for
the crew of the lo al freight, which
took l e siding at, this point to per
mit the pas-eruer train to pass.
The air-rakes on freight cars
are ureal things Hill," he eiaeu.
lated, as he watched the tireman
rake down the ashes; "(.eats all
what a help they are in hodin' a
heavy train on a down grade. I saw
a times once when I'd have siven a
pile of ru.mey if there had be a sue i
a thing then, and 'twas ri'ht ou this
division, too."
"Let's heir about it. 1'ete," said
the tireroau, putting the poker away
and chipping off some hard tobacco
for his corncob.
"It's a good while ago now," the
engineer answered meditatively. "I
was runnin' a puher between Con -maugh
and Cresson, belpin' freight
and coal trains up the bill. It was
just alter the strike In '77 wh n the
boys raised Ca n. and the caue of
that strike, if yrtu'll reruembor, was
partly on account of the ompany
cuttin' down the crews and douhlin'
the runs. N.iwadays. w.th Ikjx and
coal cars Ht.ed with air, a brakeman
more or less don't make murh differ
ence, but the i every man countel,
and when they .dropped a chap off on
these mountain runs it made the r'st
feel shaky, for there wasn't e:.oagh
men b-lt to leud the brakes.
HJne night it was our turn to as
sist what was known as the Panhan
dle freight up the mountain. We
atartea out from ( oi.emaugn about ,
ll:iO pushin' the train, which was ;
aiade up of aliout ten cars of h gs
two box cars and fl.teen or twenty
fo-.ir-wht tl coal cars 'Jimmies, we
called 'em. The box cars were at
the rear, that is. right in front of us.
We made pretty fair time up to
South Fork, where the Hood broke
afterwards, you know. Then the
engine in front be;an to steam bad,
and what with us pushin' hard and
itpullin' by tits, 'twasn't long bo ore
the cars were pumpin' and jerkin'
pretty rough. Then I saw the con
ductor cumin' back hard as he c iuld.
When be got within hear n' he
yelled. For O d's sake stop t iat
bumpin'. "e hive two cars of dyna
mite in tlie t r.iin '
"Did 1 stop ity You better, be
lieve I did, and mighty Uick, too. I
blowed for brakes and the engineer
in front auweicd. an 1 as the grade
there is ai-out eight, fcet to the mile
we soon stopped. I seut my fireman
forward to teli the other engineer to
try ana get his steam gauge up and
that I wasn't goin' to bump myself
Into etern ty if I knew it. After he
was gone I discovered my water was
low and concluded to run bacn to a
stand pipe about half a mile down
the track to fill tne tank. So, cut
tin' the couplin' my-elf, I dropped
dowa i lound afterwards the crew
didn't know I had gone and had
fa led to put the brakes on the last
cars, thiukin' my engine would hold
'em.
"I hadn't more than got alongside
the pipe than I caught a glimose of
the tali lamps of the train comin
Lckety split towards me. I knew at
once what had happened. The train
had broke in two and part of it was
runnlo wild down the hilL That
often happens, you know, and there
ain't much danger In t-toppin' I he
wild cars; all that's Decessary bein'
tor the engineer of the pusher to run
backward slowly, so as to make the
bump when It comes easier than If
the engine was stopped.
"But you can bet I wasn't hank
erin' to stop two cars of dynamite
that way, and when i saw'em comin'
Idla'tstopat the pioe but kept on
goin'. My old push r jumped, and
then lit out down the bill. Jimlny
crickets how she was a hummln' in
less than a minute, while the runa
way was chasm' us bell t ent Scared?
Well mebbe I wasn't, though It wa n't
loDg before we begun to gain on the
car and leave them further behind.
Lord! bow the little drivln' wheels of
that old pusher did hum.
"All this time I was thlnkln',
sod thinkln' bard as well as fast I
knew that bein' on the east-bound
track 1 might run slap bang into a
train comin' up and what would be
left after that wreck would ts blowed
to Kingdom Come when the dyna
mite arrived. In a case of that kind
man'i got to think and act mighty
prompt, aod it didn't take me long to
form a piao. I bad a good halt mile
toad Uito and ateadiir g alnlo', and
if 1 had wanted to could have bad
lift to i top crawl babied a rock op
M tto kill lde and w tto btg
jpat e7 of Artworks Tr known
vkr. tiM dynastta kooexsd the tn-
Mxa loo tar
"But I coo urd upa better scheme
than that lu less time than it lanes
to telL About three miles further
cown was an abandoned coal mine,
with a biding connecting with the
up track. If I could reach it in time
to thr'iw the switch the runaways
cou d le turned off and do little dam
age let ond desiro. ing themselves.
On the other band, if the night ex
tres should be near, and 1 knew she
was about due, the consequences
would le horrible if I failed, fcad
predicament, wasn't it? liut, as I
said, in such ca-s a man's got to de
cide -juick, and I male up my mind
to ri-k it.
"1 tulh d the throttle wide op n
and fastened the whittle rojie so as to
keep upa steady blow in', dr at Mo
e bow we spun down that grade!
All the time the lam;s on the run
aways were twinkl n' in p'uin sight,
and I knew the cars must be cumin'
a-whizin'. We pasi-ed a train goin'
down on the oth r track, ana, al
though it was makin' pretty lair
spe-il itself, the engineer tol l me
afterwards that I si d past him like
as if the devil was chasin' ine, and
w.,en a minute or so later, the cars
came along like a comet he thought
1 wa-i a goner s.ire.
'Well, I reached the sidin', and by
usin' sand, and reversin' git my en
gine skipped. Theu 1 jumped for the
switch. It was rusty aud bent, but
fortunat' ly not locked. I gave it a
terr.i'.c erk. got it turned and then
run as hard as my legs would carry
me. I was too busy getti.i' out of
the way to watch for the cars, but I
heard 'em cumin', and I remcmier
thinkln' that if they jumped the
switch and kept on down tbe main
tiack it wouldn't be my fault.
'Then there was a crash and a
shocK which seemed to come out of
the sky. 1 was knocked head over
heels b. the concussion of the air,
and when I crawled upon my feet it
was ra!nin' pig. I act. The sky was
full ot ready-made sausage meat. A
car or hogs had broke loose with the
dynamite, and, of course, went up
when it exploded. Spare ribs and
pork chops fell all over Cambria
County that nlht. and a farmer
li via near the railroad got three
whole hogs o'it of the tops of pine
trees uevt day. I was so weak 1
could hardiy reach my engine, but 1
managed to get her side-tracked and
o it of the way just as the express
c line along."
'How d d the company reward
you, 1 ete?" a-ked liilly, as tbe en
gineer knocked the ashes out of his
pipe.
"Laid me of a month for leavin'
the train without notifyin' the con
ductor.'' . V. Sunday World.
The VaniMhinst Ivoe.
A deer when started by a hunter or
drheu by bounds usually returns in a
few days to the same hill or mountain-si,
e where he was Urst found:
but a moose, when once thoroughly
alarmed, will .start on a lonit swing
ing walk, and, taking with him his
entire family, leave for good. It la
one of the greatest diit.cultles and
there are many in still hunting this
animal, to avoid getting him under
way, ior then the hunter may
as well break camp and try other
fields, since not a moose will be found
with n nides. They (.cent a moccasin
track or the smoke f a tire at an in
credible distance. A fresh trail may
le found one day, and arrangements
ma le to follow it at daybreak on tbe
morrow. liuring the night tbe
moose returning to his old haunts,
detects the danger-siifns, and all the
hunters tind iu the morn. rig is a trail
six or eiht hours old leading for
Darts unknown in analmost perfectly
straight line. The moose is at that
mciueiit, perhaps, twenty miles off,
and still going.
Although mo'ise cannot be driven
to water by hounds like a deer, but
will turn savagely t bay, still they
will not remain In a locality ;where
dogs -are running: so that when ttie
white hunters became numerous in
the North Woods, and especially
when they Introduced hounding, the
moose simply left tbe country, and
passed either eastward to Maine or
northward to Canada.
It is a well-autheo Heated but little
known fact that they practically left
In one season. They were numerous
in the Adirondacks, especially In
Brown's Tract. a large district In
what is now the southwestern
part of the wilderness until the
period between I.50 and l.i5 (prob
ably near the latter year,) when they
suddenly disappeared. Hefore this
several had been killed yearly. Scat
tered ones were shot later, but lwr5
marked their exit from the annals of
'ew York game Years later, four
or five were brought back to .-arnac,
but would not stay. Century.
The Velocity of Wild Iu;ks.
The velocity with which a water
fowl flies through the air was illus
trated one night recently. About 11
o'clock a wild duck, supposed to be
on Its way to the feeding grounds up
the bay, flew against the large pane
of glass in the lantern at Thomas'
Point Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay,
with such force as to smash the glass,
though it was a quarter of an inch
thick and five feet square. The lens
was also damaged. The hole In the
lantern was large enough to admit a
small boat's sail, which was tempo
rarily used until the opening cou d
be boarded up pending repairs. Tbe
bird, which bad a gray breast and
brown back, dropped dead on the in
side, after finishing it destructive
work. It was probably s straggler
tbat had been attracted by tbe
bright light at tha lighthouse, as no
other ducks could be seen by tbe
keet era Baltimore Sun,
We sometimes And a poor person
claiming relationship witb a rich one
of the smso name, but never a rlcb
one dalmlog relationship wltb a poor
one
REAL RURAL READING
WILL BE FOUND IN THIS DE
PARTMENT. Utrml Mlndni Ac riralturur Wbo &7
Farming loa How to Fn all
Asparau lit-d Th flavor of Money
rtrrwd aud fed
Flirni-ea on farmlnr.
In the neighborhood of Oxford. 1'a.,
the farmers were successful with
their crops last year. They received
good a'. erage prices for the produet-.
Some of the 1 beral-viewed agricul
turists .-ay that farming did pay, es
pecially in lsyj. Theie is a cau-e
for tbe change from the long-continued
cry, farming does not pay."
It is diversiiied lariuing. l ew in
deed are the farmers of to-da whose
labors are confined entirely to the
same crops year atter ear, as was the
custom not long ao. In uiry shos
that the best crop the farmers raised
last year was potatoes. Fully loo.ouo
bushels were grown. Of this amount
75,000 bushels, for whb h dealers paid
6U cents a bushel, were shipped to
Philadelphia in carloa l.lots, making
a train of 1'.7 cars. Two yeais ago
3o, i. oo bushels of potatoes were
shipped from Oxford. A lo al pro
ducer ays that it costs 4u to raise
and market an acre of potatoes The
average for the season Is 1 o bushels
an acre from eight bushels of seed,
and the return is ( ;.n acre. There
are some farmers who harvested - 0
bushels f tubers fr. m an acre of
land. It is estimated that within a
radius of twenty ruiiesof Oxford 00,
UU'i bushels of potatoes were gathered
from i-cptctuber 1. That the farm
ers were eager to compete in taisirig
potatoes, aod that tneir efforts were
Dot contlned to one variety wassliown
at the local fair, where twenty-Uve
varieties were on exhibition.
A co .servatlve farmer has figured
on the cost of production of grain
compared with totat cs. lie reports:
The cost of raising ten acres of wheat
is .4.a; sale of iw bushels of
wheat at 64 cents aud ten tons of
straw at , lfv, loss on teu a res
4. :ito; e (Uivalent to a loss of
cents a bu hel at the rate of twenty
bushels an a re. The total co-t of
ten acres of oats is sale of :iru
bushels of oats at !:5 cents and six
tons of straw at '.,?.'. 5i; loss on ten
4acres ?lti...o; e uivaknt to a lossof
4 cents a bushel al the rateo thirty
five busbejs an a' re. Tbe total cost
of ten acres of corn is 447; sale of
4. o bushels of corn at .".0 cents and
1,,'iou bund.es of fodder at .'; tents,
net gain on ten a: es tzu;
e uivaient to a profit of about cents
a i ushel. The total cost of teu a res
oi bay is 1107. .s"; saie of tons of
hay at 1-, tl'O: net gain on ten
acres $45.13; e u alent to a profit
of :tiOaton. These estimates are
at the rate of 1 for six days' plow
ing the ten acres; S2S a ton for fer
tilizer, '." an acre for interest and in
surance, and average prices for the
other items. The total co-t of ten
acres of potatoes is MOO; sale of I, O f
bushels of potatoes at Ml cents, 00;
pro, t of k.M), or ..o an a re.
Another crop the fanners realized
an unusual price lor Is apples. Not
withstanding the severe and aes rue
tlve s.orrus last, summer, which re
sulted In the loss of fu.iy half of the
maturing fruit, the app.e yield was
large. i ittsburgh Louiniercial-tia-zeite.
Improved llirkory Nut.
In the attention that has been
given to the nut-bearing trees in re
icntyeaiss vera! i in pro el hickories
mainly of the smaller sized shell
barks have been brought into notice.
One of these. Haie's called Hale's
Paper Shell, at first) has a. ready been
mentioned in these columns. It was
first described by Andrew S. Fu ler
in his interesting work, 'Practical
Forestry, '" published about ten years
ago.
In the report of the United States
Secretary of Agriculture for 1'.C,
there is a description of this variety,
and of two others named respectively
Cu:tis aud Ideal. Ali three, as stated
by Pomoiog.st Van Leman, are good
and desirable so far as flavor Is ion
cerned, but the cracking qualities of
Haie's and Ideal are "not the best,
many hahes of the kernels being
broken, or marred hy the shallow
though clasping part.tion wails,"
Curtis was raised by Curtis Coe of
Connecticut, the originator ot Coe's
Transparent cherry, one of the line
old varieties. He planf d ibe nut
from which Curtie came in 1-.'i:', and
the tree is now eight or ten Inches In
diameter. It is said to bo standing
near tbe original Con's Transparent
cherry tree. Mr. an Iicman states
tbat "tne nut is medium size, has
very slight angles and may be rated
among tbe best in thinness of shell,
fullne-s of kernel, and ease with
which the kernel can be removed In
halves. Its flavor Is good, and the
tree is said to be very produrtive."
Judge Samuel Miller of Missouri
(formerly of Pennsylvania., has I ecn
giving special attention for many
years to improved nuts, persimmons,
and o her native American fru ts
and there are doubtless many choice
varie les in bis possession. The fruit
loving public, both East and West,
are looking forward with much Inter
est to tbe results of his long experi
ence In this and other lines of horti
cultural work.
How to froparc an Anpanfi) Hril. .
Light, sandy, rich soil is the best,
and will not need underdrainlng
other soil should be underdrained.
f-eed or plants .may be obtained of
seed men, and should be sown wide
enough for cultivation with horse and
plow, say three feet by two in the
row. (, alcker results nay be ob
tained by digging up an old bed and
separating tbe roots and planting
them at least four lnrhe below tbe
too of soil. This will allow cultiva
tion over the crown of the piant, and
such deeply planted root will bend
up more vig rous plants and earlier
plants, too. If but few plants are
wanted, a ld In the corner of the
garden may be ued, and the plant
ing may I more close. Cover each
spring with refuse salt and put on
enough to kill tbe growth of the
weeds. No danger of killing tbe
plant, as It Is a salt waler plant.
Asparagus is so easily cultivated and j
so palatable in tbe early spring tbat '
no table Is complete without it. If
plants are covered with a (shovelful
of fresh horse manure in winter they
come up much sooner. They may le
saiu-d w ith the brine and refuse salt
of the smokehouse. National Stick
man. llrf-.-l and !"-.
A buyer of steers for feeding says
he is paving from 1' t LM cents a
lonnd !or fair to good I to - year old
animals, in .stly of the latter age.
They bring f.om iZ to il' eacli, with
occasionally some that tou' h the o
mar. As a rule the prices do not
cover cost of production, in tbe opin
ion of our informant, hut tbe entire
absence of profit is due more to
quality of the animals than to the
very low price, though with the l-l
sorts the profit 1- too email to count,
but even a small profit beats a loss
out of sight. This buyer relates one
Incident to illustrate the dn'.erence
I etw.'t n rearing line grade cattle oT
the pronunced beef tvpe aud those of
the no partb ular-purrise kind.
He found a lot of grade yearlings,
bred expressly for beef, and thougn
they were carried through their first
winter on hay alone, having no grain
whatever, that weighed alout io0
pounds each, and were considered a
good pun base at l.o a head, w hich
their buyer thought must have pa.d
their owner a very fair profit; cer
tainly much tetter than the --year-old
fellows that brought from 12 to
i I. leach. It is such cattle that we
must breed for. It is imperative that
It be done when prices are very low,
and Is vastly more profitable to do it
when prices are high.
I'rumnic rs jm-.
Many exj:riments ha'. e been made
under diiferent conditions to show
the advantages of pruning the grape,
wh -re a projier medium is observed
between too I ght pruning and exces
sive cutting away. We have seen a
vineyard ruined in a single sea -on by
cutting away nearly all the bearing
shoots, the mistaken notion be ng
held tbit they would ripen better by
letting in the sunlight. The leaves
being mostly cut o f the remainder
nearly starved t!i fruit, 'ibe Mis
souri Experiiupnt Station tried prun
ing' different degrees of the vine.
The vine' were pruned from one
bud only V six buds, one portion not
being pruned at ali. Anoth r part
ot the v n -yaid was allowed to grow
four canes from this root, which were
puncd to three feet long. The fruit
subsequently reached its full size.
The grapes which were pruned to one
and two eves haf well-tilled hunches,
the berries being one third larger than
the unpruned vines. The rot was
much worse on the iinpr ned. There
is fully four times as m ich r it in the
unsprayed mies as in those that have
been sprayed
Thf Flavor of Ilonrj.
Mr. C. N. Wilson, a California
writer, claims that the flavor of
honey made by bees in altitude 7o0
to .,000 feet abo.e the sea level is
better than that made i ear the sea
shore. It is po.ss.ble that this differ
ence is due to the less rain rail on the
higher ground, a-, at the medium alti
tude theie is likely to be less rain
than along the seashore or near the
top of high mountains. A wet. suu
less season atlects the qtriiitr of
fruits, aod it may well do tin; same
to the amount and ( uality of the
sweets which the (lowers contain.
Corn Meal for UlllUT Hiltlpr.
While bran is all right to make
quantity of miik, It does rot make a
rich milk full of butter lata. For
this purpose there is no winter feed
so good as corn meal, fed either with
com ensilage or with cut, corn stalks
moistened with hot water. It U
better for a winter feed tha:i linseed
or cotton-see 1 mea', as these have
the elect of making the butter fats
too hard for cold-weather use. The
use of cotton-see 1 m'-al comes just
right in summer. The l.utt-r then
is sure to come soft, and is often un
manageable ff"" "vs cause.
Thk New Hampshire experiment
station finds that gluten meal lends
to produce a softer quality of butter
than cotton seel meal or corn meal,
and, other things being equal, tends
to les-on the cbuinabillty of the but
ter fats.
Tim average production of our
farms. In almost every line, Is only
about one quarter of that which is
secured by the best of our farmers.
This should give food for thought
It is possible for every man lo make
a near approaeh to tbe tour-fold cron
Thk time is coming, when root
crops will have a larger place to our
agriculture than they now occupy.
One advantage that they have over
grain crops is that they are less liable
lo make a complete failure from
drought, , hsects, and other cuu es.
Tiik un erdraincd barnyard or
dooryard is raicly muddy. Though
the e round is naturally dry It will
probably pay to undcrdraln. I nder
drainage mitigates drouth as well as
flood. Tbe undcrdraln dooryard and
lawn will grow a betler and a greener
turf
An eminent Mglculturist says that
there Is nothing more certain than
that (he productiveness of very many
of our fruits and vegetables and
those the most valuable Is often
tremendously increased by bees. In
tbe Important work of pollenizlngthe
flowers
MARK TWAIN'S PUNISHMENT.
i'omprlkd la lia.1 Hla Ow Hooka by m
Jury al I at Nluavata.
A tragedy of palpitating interest
was recently enacted on board of the
sti iimer Lahn during her last tripi
fn.m New York to I'.remen. Shortly j
after losing sight of the American !
coast it was discovered that among
the passengers there was a noted and
dangerous criminal, and a eouci! was
held to decide on the proceedings t
I taken in this emergency. Now.
strange to say. tbe j tsscngers also in
cluded many distinguished American
jurists, and it was decided to put the
criminal in question on his trial forth
with. Judge I Ivtcnhoefer, at pres
ent in Karisbad. took his s-'at on the
improvised judicial b- nch: the prose
cution was intruded to Mr. Isaac
Wallaehof New York, who is also at
present at Karlsbad, while Mr. Welf
ster of Ii iston, app -ared for the ac
cused. The indictment ran as fol
lows: ' You Samuel Clemens, alias Mark
Twain, a'ias the Innocent Abroad,
alias, , having in'divers'an.i sun
dry books and publications unlaw
fully, feloniously and of malice afore
thought published or caused to be
published certain lies and falsehoods
purporting to be jokes, are hereby in
dicted and accused with being the
greatest liar in creation."
The prisoner apsared handcuffed
in view of his dangerous character.
A sjx'cia! jury of experts in the mat
ter of lying was sworn in to try the
case. It consisted of twelve students
from Yale College. Many witnesses
were heard, including several ladies.
The most damning evidence against
the prisoner was thai of a lady, who
declared upon oath that the prisoner
had asserted that certain ladies on
board the Quaker City had retired to
their lierths on account of seasickness,
it being a well known (act that un
lady Is ever sca-ick, and that when
any lady passenger had to retire from
the dinner table at sea it is ln'cause ;
she has forgot ten her handkerchief,
and her failure to reappear for two
days is due to the fact that she has :
slopped to have a few words with a
lady friend. This witness' evidence
was iieing listened to with painlul in
terest w hen the ship gave a lurch and
the witness found she had forgotten '
her handkerchief.
Mint juleps having licen ordered all
round, the Court proceeded to argue
the legal aspects of tbe question. It
was maintained by the prosecution
that, w herc.is, A nauias and Sapphira,
liaroii Munch;iu-eii and others who
had hitherto ranked as the g'eatest
liars the world bad ever seen, b id
prcvuiical"d fur th -.r iersnnal inte--es(s
or giory; the prisoner at tin' bar
lied systematically and on principle
from genuine artist i pleasure iu tbe
pracf !, and that, t here fore, his claim ,
to tie the greatest liar in creation was
not to Ik: contest'-d. Authorities
were, tiowever.quoied for the defense,
to- wit. Lord Tenuvsou, who laid
down the law that "a lie that is half
the truth Is ever the blackest of lies. "
Now, as the prisoners lies were all
pure and unadulterated lies, with no
suspicion of truth thoiilthem, they
could not entitle i,im to is; con
demned as the blackest of liars. Ref
erence was further mane to the well
known legal axiom that there are
three degrees of lying, viz., lies, d d
lies and statisti -s, and as the pris
oner had iij'ver in his life given any
statistics, true or false, except to tbe
tax collector, he could not be held
guilty of the crime named in the In
dictment The jurv having :ethed to consider
their verdict, they returned after the
seventeenth drink all round and pro
nounced the prisoner guilty, but
recommended him to mercy. The
s.-ntence of the Court was that the
prisoner should lie compelled to read
his own books for three hours dally
till the ship arrived In Ilremcn.
When this appalling sentence was
pronounced the prisoner grew ghastly
pale and Hung himself on his knees,
begging that it might be commuted
to hanging. The Court declared -'it
would be hanged If it did," and ap
pointed a commiit e to see the sent
ence carrier' out
This was rigorou.sH enforced, and
needless to !say, the unhappy criminal
broke down under the prolonged tor
ture, and arrived in jjort such a rav
ing lunatic that a hew and interest
ing work may shortly be expected
from his pen. Karlsbad Herald.
Lightning ami Lightning- KimIm.
Prof. L. F. lilake of the University
of Kansas, In an article on "Safety
from Electricity'' in the last Issue of
the Flectrical World, says:
For buildings In cities, except
churches and other high structures,
rods, I think, are unnecessary. Light
ning strikes seldom In the cities com
pared with the country, one reason
being that the many electric wires
telephone and telegraph and electric
light are really safeguards. A build
ing is safer with such wires over it
than without
In the country, how-
ever, buildings may need protection.
Our modern conceptions of light- 1 concerning the drinking habits. In
nlng indicate in general some- j there were 3(15, 875 dram shops
what as follows: For the In l-'ram e. or one for every eighty
rapidly oscillating current the 8';Vt'n Inhabitants. Since then France
surface of the conductor first receives has lost I,(i00,000 inhabitants by the
the ether disturbs rices and becomes annexation of Alsace and Lorraine,
heated, so that the Interior makes but the dram-shops are now 410,000.
but little difference A large The consumption of alcohol Is now
surface is needed, and iron rods are i,J Hires per head, and the alcohol
just as good as, if not better than, i" more generally made from fruit
copper. Tne old idea of a coper rod
to earth, large enough not to become
overheated, would he correct If the
lightning were a direct current, as
formerly held. But for Its rapid Riirg
Ings there must not only be tbe con
ductor, but surface to It and good
grounds; furthermore, all large bodies
of metal In the building must be con -
nectco to it or, nettcr, provided wiin
Independent grounds, In fact, there
Is no perfect safety from lightning
because of the large area over which
tha ether Is distribute! For the
Individual the safest place Is the
center of the room and on the floor.
There he is the farthest removed
from tbe mo.t direct path of the
ether's violent surging.'
Ho tut the Kiips.
A Ixxik by M. lUrjvet which re
cently apared In I'aris narrates an
incident In the life of the famous
architect Yiollet-le-lue, which oc
curred in July. 1S70, when be was in
Switzerland
He was one day on the Schwarzen
lierg (.lacier, at a height of about
nine thousand feet accompanied by
liaptiste, the guide, wh marched in
front The two men were attached
ti ea'-h other by a rope, as is usual In
Alpine moumalueering.
The. guide had passed over a crev
asse, but when M. Yiol!et-de-Iuc at
tempted to cross it he failed, and
fell into the abyss. The guide tried
to pull him out. but instead he foiled
himself gradually descending.
The architect perceived that his
companion. If he iiersisted In the at
tempt to save hiiu, would surely
shaie bis fate, and he asked if Bap
tiste had a family,
"A wife and children," was the
answer
Then," said Yiollet-le-Due,
quie tly. "I shall cut the rope."
He did so and fell, but a block of
ice thirty feet lower down stopped his
decent When liaptiste saw ' this,
and that for a time the danger was
lessened, be went in search of help,
and returned with four stout peas
ants. Three hours afterward Ylollet-le-luic
was extricated.
In spile of his jierilous position,
the ruling passion was strong with
with the artist, for although he was
almost covered with Icicles from the
dripping water, he bad contrived to
make drawings of the novel effects
he was able to jiercelve. In his book
on the Alps be mentions bis fall as If
it were a fortunate accident Youth's
Companion.
Heavy rrfiriitrllon of Oiiht In 1H9I.
Year by year the gold production
of the world Is increasing, and the re
sults for 1VM were the largest on
record. In round numlcrs the pro
duction for the last live years was as
follows: "-, o.OitT, 000 ounces: 148,
.'..'il.o.io ounces; Ihs'.i, 5,41,00(1
ounces: lKDo, .1, 'i(i.no0 ounces; anU
l-m, ii,u:!.'l, iioo ounces:. For the first
time for many years there was a set
back In :iii. A noticeable feature
of recent years has been the develop,
ment of the V it watersrand gold
fields. The production of these fields
has lieeu as follows: ls7, 34,81)7
ounces; lH", 2ifo,!M7 ounces: lHHit,
.';7'.i,7'i:i ounces: l'.io, 4H1,hi;i ounces;
and H'.tl, 7 2'', ounces. Adding in
ism the output of other Transvaal
gold fields, which amounted to about
Io7, oiid ounces, tlx total production
of the Transvaal i for lssu reaches
H'i',2" ounces. For the current. rear
It is expected tbat tfie ""production
will quite, reach l,2.Vi,0(iO ounces. In
Is-'s the Transvaal only produced 4 J
per cent, of the world's yield, but In
IMil the proportion had risen to 13 H
per c lit. and this year it Is tolerably
certain to reach 21 percent
The following was the production
in I "Do for the countries named:
1'nited Mates, alxiut I ,- i, ."iuoouncos;
Australia. l,4i;n,.'iio; and liussia,
l,01'.i,(mo. As the return for thesa
countries has not altered lo any large
extent the Transvaal will probably
take the third place for tlie current
year, and very likely the second place
in si:i. Mining in the Transvaal
has not vet reached IU culminating
point, as new mines arc lxiing con
siantly o'ned and old ones still fur
ther developed.
!ih ppiiintt'il.
Negroes, even more than white peo
ple, perhaps, are given to counting
their chickens liefore they are
hatched. A correspondent of The
Youth's Companion reports a laugha
ble instance.
('us, a young colored boy, grew con
lldential one Friday evening.
"I'm goin' to the cimltery next
Sunday, Miss Mary," he s-aid.
'Put, tins, t hat is a long walk. You
known It Is more than four miles."
"Oh. I'm not a-goln' to walk. I'm
goin' to ride."
'How is that Gus? Has your
father Ixuight a carriage?"
"Nnw: but I'm goin' In a kcrridge
to my uncle's funeral."
All day Saturday Gus could talk of
nothing but the coming festivity, To
a young "darkey" a Sunday funeral
is a great event
Sundav I gave him a holiday, and
on Monday ex'tcctcd a full account of
the funeral, but Gus appeared with a
melancholy face. In answer to my
inquiry he cald:
"I didn't go, Miss Mary. He ain't
dead yet."
The sick man recovered.
lirtnltliia; In Franaa.
It would nol bo surprising if the
friends of temperance In France wer
almost discouraged by iho statistics
and grain than from wine. Absinthe
Is a steadily-growing curse, and
thoughtful olwervers believe that the
Legislature should check its sale.
IMiln'l Know Ilia Prawn t ASatnwa,
A story Is told in (icrrnanv of a
letter which came hack to the general
; posloftlce with these words written bf
. me postman on tne envelope; ';The
addressee has banged himself; nresent
address unknown.' Wew York Trt
buns.