TOPICS OF THE TIMES.
CHOICE SELECTION OF INTER
ESTtNQ ITEMS.
m Criliclm Burd I' pa a
(be Mmpicaisca of the
Va-icai aiul Miai No tea.
Lire i.
eaentx.
luo short t'r long engage-
Kvery summer resort
Ideas of style.
baa Its own
Some men haven't energy enough to
iso work long enough to rubt.'
VTTma ceded Formosa, but Japan la
Trs-rh-nciugdimeulty la reaping the
fcrvt.
The B-Kjtou autboritii-s have decided
that hereafter not a starrer shall fall
uituiut their k no wit-dire.
"What is there to live for?" asks the
Toledo liladf. Well, let's tret even
with the coffin trust for a while.
St. Louis k'-epw right alone at about
me-tbird of the jsipulation of Chicago,
hat Is crawling up to New York slowly
wm surety.
There Is plenty of silver in the Den
ver mint, but f'siMMj worth of gold is
.'i-.isslug, and In its stead are traces of
a little steal.
A Philadelphia policeman who shot
a 10-year-old boy offers as an excuse
Ibe. plea of self-defense. 1'erhap the
txy Attacked the officer with cigarettes.
A New York man who eats five
JCKsmds of steak, twenty eggs and
Jriiiks twelve cups of coffee at a meal
abt to take something" for his at
iietlte.. An amateur pod who sent in a bit of
Jogjjerel the oilier day referred to the
editor's "wickerwoik reccpticulc." It
is perhaps needless to say that he struck
il the first time trying.
In spite of the' pertinent query of i
Miss Wlllard. "Why can't men be beau
tiful?" Chauucey XI. Depew is report
ed to be entertaining the idea that ho
baa itrii(:i"ii! attractions to overcome
- the "now woman."
Tbe b.int cim-v ,,t the French n,1
Russian squadrons into the harbor at !
Kiel may or may not have significance.
but the sight was not pleasant to the
eye of the young 'war lord who re
Ssards the great Oerniau empire as his
.pergonal property.
A man in Haokeusaek, N. J., recently
bought a neighbor's wife for $50, paya
ble in monthly installments of $5. We
don't know whether he struck a good
rg&ia or not, as we have lost track of
the regular Jersey list prices for such
Kwxbi. but it strikes us that $1.50 a week
- ' pretty high.
' The sugar trust has Joined the other
trusts in marking up the necessaries of
life. Its excuse Is that the consumption
uf sugar is about to be Increased by a
Try large fruit crop. "All the traffic
will bear," is the business motto of all
thr- trusts, and they apply it in antici
pation of future demands.
'The adoption of a system of phonetic 1
felling l a reform that will come '
Jwly, if at all. Xlany years would be .
nnqiauvd U teach people that the new j
Mtrtlaod was not simply bad spelling;
- oiitil they could be got out of the !
jia mjii that it had Its inspiration In;
r9ity instead of choice, they would
rvJicub- the writer and the practice, j
A Minnesota hotel advertises, "Flue
p-.velair Imlhtubs free to commercial
taeat, This hotel deserves to live hi
bitJieny as the first establishment of Its
lifcal ou earth which was ever known
ft anything free to commercial
tnTe?ra. It reminds the Commercial
Trwr of what 5en. Sherman said
Sjtt. Irfiuis hotels during the war:
""Ha.tfts. four dollars
arid .dgi tig extra."
per day; board
A. ptir of St, 1ouis lovers tirii'd of
HTe, though apparently not of each
jft'bi, committed suicide by taking
Siison. cutting both their throats, and
vhooftliig each jotber through the heart
A little more ingenuity might have
managed it so that the bodies would
tii.vi have rolled Into the water. They
vxpended a great amount of surplus
uergy,- however, as it was; quite
jarnigh to have served a quartet more
f foolish people. t
Jwm Victoria is reported to have a
arivate fortune of $175,000,000. Sta
Si;Ijb with a taste for easy aritbme-y-
ad tough propositions have fig
nv4 it. out that If a mm could live and
wor atkd aare $500 a year right along
Jfee tymOd accumulate a fortune of toe
ame 1m In 8SO.000 years. No candl
btea Car a job of that length hare ap
peared, And there ia no disputing the
)Rbat that the queen business ia a pretty
sea baatoieaia after all.
-If the coming woman Is really taking
X Aia feigner education In good cook
ajry, aa la reported of her, then all will
tM forgiven. Even political economy
-mud aoctotogle problems will bear ptaas--at
family discussion over a table con
tauttag a well-eooked dinner. Perhaps
therein lie tb bint of feminine final
pWOiauy, for what can man refuse
9m Mag who makes an art of pleasing
to fSfef awl delighting his digestion?
Xart&r few? BMMt yUM aa a rapmM
tr,"i to tbe atafoc power of thla
ast abtl t
tit wort to aotirca of dto-
I wU" to tiuu djeir & uh
I u-lnf niuuhI tlmf inn r " 11 !lr 1i .
Bike" Is not
beautiful, hut It la abort, expressive,
mad unique. It certainly strike the ear
a pleasantly as "dude, that wu ac
cepted after protest; aa "mugwump"
or ma "bulldoie." -Wheel" would do,
bat the bicycle, aa Its naaie declares,
baa two wheels, while "cycW hma an
other use and meaning. Tbia U a busy
world, and the rider who baa learned to
ay "bike" will not uclearn it, even to
oblige I be distinguished purists of the
Eait.
It ia telegraphed from Washington
that the fusty halls of Congress are
undergoing extensive alterations and
Improvements. Thousands of electric
lamps are to be put In, that each night
session may glitter like a ballroom and
all the statesmen be kept awake instead
of sleeping comfortably, as the? would
prefer. New furniture Is to be pro
vided; the ventilation Is to Ik? improv
ed, and altogether the staid congres
sional rooms are to be rehabilitated
Into cleanliness and an air of luxuri
ous presciitability. Good. Now all that
Is necessary is that the new Congress
should renovate and improve the con
! Brohai tatemanship to match the
f uruu-hiug.
Xliss Martha Wilson, of Mount Ver
non, N. V.. died recently, and her heirs
have now discovered that between her
STth and ith years she siient $.UO,umj
of winch she a left lu control by her
Muter, l'p to her bilh year she was
very penurious bccHUe she had little
money. When her ship came In, how
ever, she squandered money right and
li ft. As a landlady hv was Ideal, It
being her habit every now and then to
send the tenants receipted bills for
their rent, flowers on Faster Sunday,
lavish gifts on Christmas, and at other
times checks 'for handsome amounts,
oecasiwmlly she would give a house
to a friend. In this way the good old
lady managed to squander the $.Vm,iKK
In three years. The Wilsou heirs are
now trying to get hold of the scattered
estate, but they will not have half as
much fun as the old lady had lu sjiend-
inK lt
Probably too much attention Is being
paid to the vexed bloomer controversy,
but this does not mean that the con
troversy Is not likely to continue. It
will go on until either the costume
gauges or me popular point or view
cuaf. "t from growing famll-
larity, the bifurcated thing no longer
seems strange. Whatever the outcome,
the bloomer discussion Is here to stay.
Note the recent flurry In Canada, when
a member of a Ixmrd of education tried
to prevent school teachers from wearing
the new costume. Note a similar ef
fort to abolish the bloomer by calling It
an article of "male attire." Note also
i that these efforts have failed lamcuta
j bly. While the wordy rumpus con
! tinues the new bicycle costume, advanc
ing firmly and boldly on Its two legs,
is working Its way into public tolera
tion. The accusation that the new gar
ment Is "male attire" may be parried
now by calling attention to the fact
that as It Is already worn by women
as much as men, It Is no more man's
attire than It is woman's. To rap the
climax, there comes an edict of the
west park board of Chicago prohibiting
racing wheelmen from wearing their
meager racing suits. This last looks
like an Insidious flank attack of the
advocates of bloomers. Can It be that
the new woman, having appropriated
male attire for herself, means to drive
the new man luto petticoats and stays:
.
Though It lie a sad fact that Mark
Twain is bankrupt there still remains
the duiy of drawing the obvious moral
of his downfall., lie was a great and
popular humorist and his nimble wit
rtill Insures him a salary that millions
of men would covet In tiie heyday of his
success he was literally coining money.
Everything that he wrote for the mag
azines brought a high price and his
books ran through edition after edition,
netting half a dozen average fortunes
without the author Incurring a risk or
responsibility.- Of course the publish
ers were also reaping a golden harvest
and Twain thought to divert thla into
his own exchequer by establishing a
publishing house of his own. With; two
r three partners he launched Into the
enterprise and the event shows that he
had less financial ability than that
character of bis own creation, I'ndd'n
heud Wilson, who was phlloao)iher
enough to say, 'Tut art your eggs In one
basket and watch that basket.!' Mark
Twain's uoiise first jiublfshe'dthetinint
memoirs. They bad a sale so enormous
that Mrs. Grant alone realized a, quar
ter of a million as her share. Of course
the profit of the publishers must have
; netted them a fortune, yet that, In addi
tion to $70,000 advanced by Mark
Twain's wife, was loot In future, ven
tures. He can yet make as easy living,
but the days of his great opportunities
are probably past He was a success
In the literary field and should have
been content to remain there pursuant
to the old adage that admonishes the
shoemaker to stick to his last Twain
la no business man. He was without
experience and had no opportunity to
develop any latent executive ability be
might hare possessed. He waa making
money fast enough to sadsfy even an
unreasonable man, and yet with a
greed scarcely consistent with humor,
he wanted it all. lie abandoned his
"forte," and declined to act upon bis
own good advice leave well enough
lone -
Hot laiereatod. .
Hurting from bar sleep, she seised
her husband convulsively by the nose
and one ere -lid. - -
"John," ah cried, "there's a burglar
fotour throat row trotworar ? :
, "What do you wake me forf Irrifa
btjr toMBfed tht hesd of. the hough.
ilpi
Reversing aa Old Haw
A wide tire ordinance failed to pass
the City Council of Minneapolis. One
of the arguments Used aeaiust it was
that it would be too expensive for busl
uess nouses using truck agoiia to
equip them all with tires to come wlibin
the limits of the ordinance. This Is evi
dently on. the theory that a isund of
cure Is worth more than an ounce of
prevention. In other words, these bus!
uess men would rather pay a ixlund of
Increased taxes for repairing paved
streets than an ounce of exts-nse to
have paved streets that do not need re
pairing.
Another, point claimed was that It
would also lie a hardship on the farm
ers in the vicinity. This shows how
lyucu .Minneapolis aldermen know
about the cost of wide tires on farm
wagons. Or If they are posted, they
must have strange Ideas of what con
stlintes a hardship. Five dollars, at
the outside, will cover the additional
cyMt of a farm wagon with three-Inch
tires, and If wide tires were adopted by
all the farmers In the vicinity of Xliu
lieapolis eai-h farmer would save ten
times that amount in the first year.
Are the aldermen of Minneapolis still
voting for Andy Jackson? Turin Im
plement News.
Women anil Good Houl-
Ten years ago no one dreamed that
the time would ever come w hen women
would le directly Interested concerning
the condition of the public thorough
fares. Hut the bicycle which Is resimn
sibleforsticb a general stirring up of old
conclusions has really set them to think
ing ou this very bijdc. And when a
woman thinks she's very likely to act.
Just one weak little woman's momen
tary impulse will often result in more
real punose being ac-ouipllshed thau
will 3 titree days" convention of wise
old professors whose excessive pru
dence is a positive prohibition to pro
gress. It is said that twenty pretty bicycle
girls of Kast Lynn, disgusted by the
disgraceful condition of the public ;
roads in the parts, determined re
cently to Institute a radical reform. I
The turned out In full force with picks,
shovels and rollers, and repaired the
worst of the road. When the blootn-
ered beauties finished their week's work
they pointed with pride to several miles
of road which they had made fit for
wheeling.
In Cincinnati recently one hundred
women armed with brooms, hoes,
wheelbarrows and shovels legnn early
one morning to clean the streets. From
early In the morning until sunset the
women tolled and one of the principal
streets of the city was cleaned as bright
as a new dish pan. Whenever a street
denning omcial came along that way he
was loudly hissed. It was an object
lesson which it would seem can hardly
fail to have Its effect
If the women of this broad land seri
ously take up the matter of good roads
and clean streets something definite
and Immediate will be the result, lie-
cause woman Is a determined creature
and "If she will do't, she will; and
there's an end on't"
BLEEDING THE GRANGER.
Description of the Oeration
of
, yuacks Traveling in the West.
The most contemptible Individual
known to modern society U the travel
ing quack doctor. He abounds-everywhere.
His victims are confined to no
class. The rich and the poor, the learn
ed and the ignorant are alike suscepti
ble to his promises and persuasions.
He works in different was. Hotnetlmes
be charters a column In the city papers,
in which lie tells of bis wonderful ex
ploits in medicine. lie Inserts a picture
of himself, which Is sufficient evidence
In Itself that he Is a man of no ability
and less character. He describes him
self as the renowned aud eminent Dr.
Hangs from the Imperial symKslum of
medicine at London, New York aud Chi
cago. He comes by request of his In
numerable patlenu throughout the
Northwest. Consultation free. The
other specimen of this perennial bar
nacle comes without blare of tnnniets.
He steals Into a community with bis ad
vertising material. He inquires who Is
sick and makes a personal canvass.
Sometimes be employs some member of
(he community more contemptible than
himself to go with him and Introduce
bim and recommend him. tie finds
some Individual suffering from one of
the many Ills tbat beset us all and tells
of the great numlier of cases of this
kind that hare been cured by him, and
that notwithstanding the case has baf
fled the skill of the local physicians it
Is a very simple case for him, and if he
doesn't cure be will ask no pay. People-
who are afflicted with disease are
ready to respond to any proposition
that will relieve the weary, oppressed
body. Fifty or $100 they consider a
slight remuneration to man with skill
suffldent to effect cur and they read
ily sign Bot for that amount or
more. The premise of "ao cure no pay"
to sot tawa-rporatod In the not and the
east sent doctor, aa soon am he securea
(he Bora, eooatders hla work ended. r
A ooopto of cams of thto kind hare
rorentlr eosw to the soCkw of the wrlt
w. A certain emlBMt phyttciaji by the
name of A. H. Warren, hailing front
Des Moines or 8benaudoab or some
place down that way, made a tour of
this county about a year ago. The cur
lng of the mast obstinate Ills was a
matter of pastime to blin. He stopped
t the home of August Kolb in Hadger
township and made an agreement with
him to curs his wife, who was suffering
from some chronic trouble. It Is un
necessary to say hs promised a cure
He took Mr. Kolb's note for $Hs)nd
left with Mr. Kolb m printed slip on
which was printed the words "the cure
not guaranteed." Mr. Kolb paid no at
tention to the slip and read it for the
first time when the note became due.
He supposed It was the contract of "no
cure, no pay," wheo It was Just the,
opposite. This professional pirate sold
the note of course to the Herman Sav
ings Bank of les Moines. Mrs. Kolb
was not benefited a particle. The note
became due on April 1 and It was paid.
Frank Black, of Cooper towui-hlp. gave
his note fur d) to the name party. It
was sold to the same bank and was
paid, ami Xlr. Mack received no benefit
from the transaction. Mr. Mack says
that there was a whole string of names
of the refiKmsibie farmers of Webster
County on the doctor's patient list, and
as people who permit themselves to be
swindled In this way may never like to
tell atmut It, it will never lie known,
probably, how much the eminent lr.
Warren stole from the afflicted people
of this and surrounding counties. Foil
Dodge I'ost.
Working a New Dodge.
'Fxciife me, ii ailnnip, but rou are
mistaken. It was only a quarter that
you ,:iive me."
"I I J I jou It was not. it was n "iO-
cent pleee, and I Insist ou having tie-
proper change."
"Well, madam, I will sepd up to the
cashier's desk and verify my state
ment.
' Very well. I will wall."
A Ieticllcd note traveled over the
trolley, and presently returned with
the indorsement:
"The coin was 25 cents."
"I Is-lleve that you took my 50 cents
and put a quarter In place of It," said
the well-dressed customer, who had
Ixiught some trifle at the pins and
needle counter.
The young woman behind the cottnt
r flushed, and replied Indignantly:
"That Is not true, and you know It
not! You gave me a quarter of a
dollar."
You are linjicrtlnrnt as well as d's-
honest." responded the customer. "I
shall address a complaint to the man
a cement ou the subject."
The young woman behind the count
er turned wearily to another person
who was awaiting attention. Said fil
ial tcr:
"I hope that she will not make trou
ble for yon."
I guess not," was the reply. "Sh
was only bluffing."
"lint she thought that she did not get '
her right change."
"Oti, no! I don't believe that she
thought anything of the kind."
"You do not mean, surely, thnt she
was intentionally making a dishonest
claim r
"Yes. I do."
"Whyr
"It Is a little dodge that is tried quite
frequently. . We caught a customer nt
It the other day just set a little trap
for her and sprung It"
"Did you have her arrested?"
"Oh, no! It does not pay the man
agement of a dry goods shop to have
people arrested, even if they should go
so far as to steal things. We simply
told her that her patronage was no
longer desired."
Gospel on Wheels.
Andrew rqience is perhaps the only
bicycle missionary In the worid. Ills
wheel Is rigged with various parapher
nalia, and weighs seventy pounds. He
litis rigged It with a sail, and gets con.
sidernble aid from the wind when It
happens to be blowing just right Tint
Ten Commandments are printed on the
sail for the benefit of sinners, and the
nmsts and yardarnis are uwd for th
difplny of religious charts when tic-
bicycle missionary Is haranguing
crowd
These charts, according to
tiiu.niii lilwitt U'tii.n ffme Mliitll ..ml nml
"
w nai snail oe me nojns poi icuuing me.
annihilation of the unrighteous and
the redemption and reward of the holy.
He Is a Canadian, Oil years of age, but
since 1SS4 he bus made California his
home. He has already covered atmut
5r0 miles on his wheel, but is dlsap- t
pointed In the work of his sail, which
frightens all the horses he meets, and,
owing to the changeful course of the
wind, often retards rather than aids
his progress. New York Tribune,
Why the People laughed.
An amusing scene was witnessed by
an Interested crowd of spectators at the
approach to the Madison street bridge.
An express wagon. No. 5318, was ap
proaching the Incline, going west It
waa heavily loaded with sheet iron,
which projected out beyond the tall of
the wagon. Aa the grade Is rather steep
the equilibrium was lost and front
wheels aud colored driver shot upward.
The rear iirt of the load touched tu,
ground, and the shifting thllis rllowed
the h rse to remain Umui terra flrma,
but the colored driver aud front wheels
were unhappily floating between bear
en and earth. He was the picture of
ludicrous bewilderment, and his futllu
efforts to balance the rig only added to
the amusement of the onlookers. At
length two car conductors and some
other philanthropists rescued htm from
bis lofty perch, and readjusted the load.
With a "Thank you, boss; nearest
heaben I eber expect to git," be drove
on. Chicago Chronicle.
A man wuo la particularly good at
one thing, Is apt to be weh (a many
other.
Work la the enemy of dtoeonteak .
MARKEO MONEY.
Carl on Mania for m ritiaa ttenteo
tloaa Krn 1 1 inia t on Bank otr.
A mania -for advertising and putting
strange communications on the back of
the paper money of the Government has
broken out. As a general thing torn
bids are used, as that gives Uis man
with the manlm mn excuse for his work
for he uses the slip with which the
pieces are put together for his purpose.
Uu a bill that came Into the hands o
one man ou Dearborn street was a slip
on which was printed "Shake the" hot
tie." When he turned it into the bank
the receiving man, whose quick eye
caught It, asked: "Did yon brine the
bottle with you'"
On a ?. bill handed over a bar on
Monroe street was a slip on which w as
this:.-
Touch not, taste not, handle not."
A Dearltorn street bank took In a
bill not long ago on the back of
which was pasted a slip that had print
ed ou It the tea commandments. '
.A cashier lu a mercantile house on
Itandolph street has a bill of $U denom
luutiou ou w hich is a slip, and ou the
slip Is written In a woman's chirogra
phy an offer of marriage. The writer
puts it thus: "I give lip my last uiouey
on tlds. I send It out Into the world,
hoping it may return to mo with a good
man who will love me and take care of
me." Hut no address accon))anles the
offer.
. A bill Is in a frame In an express of
fice. There Is a hole in the bill, and a
note explains that the hole was made
by a bullet fired by a train robber. The
bill was In the side pocket of the ex
press messenger.
A bill handed In at a cigar store on
Madison street had this on the back:
"Don't come back to ine until you can
bring your sliver brother w 1th you."
A physician iu the Venetian building
has a private mark on a $5 bill which
he sent afloat several years ago. It
comes ba"k to him nboiit twice a year.
wholesale merchant over on Adams
street was In China and Japan a few
years ago. lie gave a Japanese fune
, tlonnry a ?5 bill as a souvenir, placing
on thesamea privatemark. About three
weeks ago It came into his possession
again. He Is confident that he Is not
mistaken In the mark, and does not
fi-el complimented over the idea that
his Japanese acquaintance did not
think enough of him 1o keep the bill
A business man of this cily relates
this: He went from Chicago to Flits
burg on a sleeper. He paid the con
ductor for his berth, giving him a mark
ed $5 bill. He went from l'ittsburg to
Cleveland the second day, and ou the
third day he bought a sleeping car
ticket for his return trip. The conduc
tor handed him the same bill be had
given to the other conductor.
There is ft bill floating about the
I country somewhere on the back of
'which Is a prescription written by a
reputable physician several years ngo.
It is a "sure cure" for the grip and was
put there by the doctor out of a fancy
that it might save aomelxidy's life.
Another one is in circulation, presum
ably, on which is written: "If this
should fall into the hands of Itetilicn
Middleman he will please communicate
his address to his brother James, Gen
eral Delivery, Iloston, Mass., on or be
fore January, lHlNi. After that In Frig
land. He knows where." Chicago
Tribune.
Was Willing to Work.
The tramp was very humble when he
asked for something to eat.
"I'lease. mum," he said, "I'm starv
In. Won't you give a poor feller as
has lost all his fom'ly n bite to eat?"
But there was something cold and
suspicions In her manner. Khe was In
clined to doubt his honesty from the
start
"Want pie, I B'pose," she said sharply:
f "No, mum,' he answered . meekly.
"I'm afeared ple'd be too rich fer me
now."
"Doughnuts, mebbe," she suggested.
"No, mum," he replied. "Doughnuts
is an rtgut, out i ami expectiu' 'em.
I A poor lone man that's down on his
tile!? S'flit'r nff.r,l 1. t... -1 u. ......
COIU VlClU.'llS TI1HI left firer il Oil n
humrrv m.'in r.Ientv m,ui mn..Vh Ain't
, ... ...
you got a jittie stale uroau tnat tne dog
(Jn'j want?"
"Poor man." she said, considerably
mollified. "I believe you really are
hungry."
"Yes, mum starv in, regularly starv
iu'." I Then lin It-toil ttm tnuf t.ai utn.
;ct,rt)v
"Hee here." she said. "A man that's
real hungry will work to get something
to eat"
"I'll work," he replied promptly. "I'm
a w ork In' man. I've worked fer the
city, tilve me stithin' to eat an' I'll
work fer you." ,
"I'll try you," she exclaimed; and
then, after be had eaten enough for two
men she said: -
"I a'pose you can use a hammer and
saw?"
"No, mum," he returned apologetical
ly. "Well, you can handle a shovel, any
way." . .
"No, mum." - j ' 1 .
Her first suspicions returned and she
eyed blm sharply.
"You said you'd work for your din
ner," she exclaimed.
"Yea, mum," he replied. "Rut I
ain't used to work In' except on the mu
nicipal aewer pipe extension plau."
"What's that?" aha asked.
"W'y, mum, all a feller has to do la
Jest to atep up an' draw bis pay. I've
drawn mine bow, aa' I cheerfully certi
fy that the cookln' was good. Good
day, mum."-Tlmea-Herald. 1
Pat Mcienoe to New Use. .
Rio do Janeiro, the capital of lraill,
baa a notoriously bad climate., It la a
fastneao of yellow f over aad subtle
tropical allmenta, and tha death rata la
so alarmingly blgb as to seriously affect
the commercial prosperity of the city.
Roma time ago the Itraziilan OoTern
meut tisik la hand the question of re
moving their capital mud appointed a
scientific commission to fix a site, say
the I'ittsbnrg Dispatch.
The commission have selected a p'as
teau which should be a real laud o?(
promise to the transmigrants from th
coast. The spot is between the paral
lels of 15 degrees 40 minutes and 10
degrees 8 seconds south, and the meri
dians of VJ degreed 30 minutes and 61
degrees west. It Is over 4,MiO feet abova
the level of the sea and Its temperature
resembles that of middle France. There
Is plenty of water for agriculture and
no yellow fever. The Journey by rail
way from the coast Is a matter of some
eighteen hours. Thla is believed to lie
the first occasion on record In which
science has lsen called In to choose tha
site of a capital.
He Had a Hour ug-Koom.
"I'm only a smooth-water sailor," the
late millionaire horseman. John A. Mor
ris, used to say. He had his yacht, the
,Cora. named for his wife, built fur the
shallow waters around New Orleans,
and found it almost totally unfit for the
rougher element here. Its cabins were
like the rooms in a house, and all Its
furnishings anil equipments were sumi
tuous. It was slow and rolling, says a
writer In the New York Times, but was
good enough to go to the ra'-es In. When
In command of the deck Mr. Morris
made It a rule to concede the right of
way to every craft he met. "These peo
ple are working," he would say, "while
I am only out for fun. It Is my business
to give way to them." Hut illi bis.
customary shrewdness, be had another
reason, w h'icb he never mentioned: "Hy
getting out of the way of these people
I make them my friends. If anything
were to happen -If the Cora were to
run down a vessel by any clnuice, these
people would not make much of a fuss
alsmt It. They all know tne and my
boat and never give w ay, because they
know I shall do It." lie snored like a
bull. On the. deck of the yacht he built
a snoring room, where he could bellow
und snort without disturbing his guests.
The boat, was stocked with the finest
wines ami liquors, cordials, etc., but
they were for his friends. He never
touched them, lie was the finest carv
er I ever knew. He used the most
wonderful knife, and never was known
to miss a Joint When the Cora was at
New Orleans Mr. Morris turned it over
to his young friends. Every day some
young lady would receive a note to the
effect that the yacht was hers the next
day, and ns many of her friends as she
cared to Invite.
Statist ic of Hurls in Italy,
Duel statistics, gruesome though they
are, are Interesting reading. Au Italian
"man of figures" has taken the trouble
to ascertain to what extent his coun
try has contributed, during the last ten , .
years, toward the Increase In the ftnny-5
of duelists. The following figures are
the result of his researches: "From
18K4 to 18!4 no less thau IH7 duels were
fought In Ifaly over newspaper contro
versies, 7!i0 by rival lovers, 377 over
political questions, 2i for insults, lh.1
for private reasons, and K) over gam
bling quarrels. In "'. cases the cause
of the duel was unknown. Journalists
and officers In Italy are first among
duelists. Of the 5.'!H duels fought In
IKH-l, l.'sl were fought by journalists
and 1(15 by officers In the army. Of
dueling lawyers titere were 01; tmlints
!.'!; professor 22; Deputies 14; engi
neers and architects l.'l; servants ti;
and bankers 2.
How hoimier Kvaried a Question.
When the Prince De Joluville was at
Hat hurst many years ago he was re
ceived by the Koyal African Corps,
black trooiis officered by white men.
He attended a dinner party, wherein
mulnttocs appeared In full evening
dress, low Isidlces, lace handkerchiefs,
and fans'. Afterward, dining at Wash
ington with Charles Kumner, the great
nlKilltlonist, the Prince amused him
self by telling about bis Jlathurst din
ner, and asked Kumner whether he had-
ver given his arm to n tiegress. The
Prince awaited his auswer with some
curiosity, to see whether he would dare
answer In the affirmative before the
American ladles, who were quite sen
sitive ou the color question, but he got
out of It very adroitly. "My dear
Prince," said he, " Ju every religion
each man has his own share of work.
I preach and you practice Don't let
us mix the two things up together."
Nit l'p Htralglit on Your Iticycle.
There Is absolutely no , reason for
stooping over the bundles In either of
the two ways so commonly seenand
there is no excuse for so doing In ordi
nary road riding. It may be necessary
for the "scorcher' to assume 4he one
or the other of these attitudes to
sprawl with the body straight but al
most horizontal, and the head close to
the handle bar, or to liend the upper
part of the back as If trying to break
it In the middle, and throw the should
era forward as if desiring to make them
meet across the breast Even so one
who Is not "scorching" does not need
to make himself a hideous object to '
look at and also to reduce the benefits
of wheeling to a minimum, so far aa
Ita effects on the chest capacity Is con
cerned. Hcrlbner,
Many Car Fenders Patented.
The patent office la at present hunilng
car-fender patents at the rate of seven
a week. One of Uie latest la In the form
of a horizontal circular brush made to
revolve rapidly when the car Is In mo
tion by means of gearing from the axle,
The brush la a trifle greater Id diame
ter than the width of the track, and la
supposed to brush fne victim out of the
way of the wbeela.
Aa eon aa a woman m. i.
m-m m m Of
aow Hothea, aba dtooorara thai aha la
wBsajome,
