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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1897)
"Cfcmgsjwu 'ft' 4 1 ) Indnntrlal devolution. In tbe early days of petroleum every barrel of thn liquid Lad to be hauled from the wells to the railroads, some times a distance of too or flfteeu miles, says I.alwr Commissioner Wright, Illus trating the uifplacement of labor by In vention. All this work is now done by the National Transit Company, con trolled by the Standard Oil Company. When a well Is completed tin' pipe line's agent connects the well in a few minutes with its main line's tanks. The producer or the owner of the well pays nothing for Laving his oil transported through the pipe linus, but pays 50 cents per day storage for every thou sand barrelH he has lu the tanks of the compnny, and the consumer or refiner pays 20 cents per barrel upon receipt of the oil for transportation, so far as Pittsburg and vicinity ore concerned, while the receiver for New York and distant places pays something more. Some of the producing territory Ik quite remote, and ten barrels per day would be a very liberal average to allow for a team of horses to transport to the railroads. On this basis the pipe lines displace f,700 teams of horses and double that number of men in handling the oil, the production of tin country being pla.-ed at .77,000 barrels per day. The methods of hand culture on the farm have largely given plaet; to labor saving machinery, and the d-'iiiund for farm labor has accordingly diminished. The gnu plow, the horse dr. 11, planter, utotie gatherer, manure spreader, po tato dgger, corn harvester, the 'corn husking machine, the self -binder, the combiii'-d header and separator, the mower, und almost Innumerable other farm Implements of late have Increased and cheapened production at the ex pense of the demand for farm labor. Milking machines have bceu used with some success, and It is predicted by noiiie that ere long the large dairies, which can afford to purchase machines, will be supplied with, a contrivance which will extract the milk from a whole dairy In from five to ten minutes. Iron-Clad Contracts. "There Is a great difference In the degrees of severity embodied In Iron clad contracts," says John McBrlde. President of the Miners' International Union.. "The Ideal Ironclad contract cau be found In coal fields and fixes Lhe price of mining, the hours of labor, the price of mining supplies, the house rents and prohibits employes from be longing to a union of their craftsmen or attending public or private meet ings of laboring men which are held for the purpose of discussing methods calculated to ameliorate their own or their fellowmeii's condition in life. It was such a contract that made the great Hocking Valley strike of 1SX1-K5 the largest and bitterest ever known hi the coal fields in' this country, "In Northern Illinois the Ironclad contract, with the restricting features relating to organisation and peaceful assemblage eliminated, has been In rogue for years ami is yet. The same was true In Jackson County, Ohio, un 111 lately, and It Is true of many parts of Pennsylvania and other mining States. The ironclad contract ny.stem has always been a bone of contention between mine operators and mine workers, but it is passing away, and with the approach of better commer cial and Industrial conditions it will finally disappear. Work and organiza tion strong enough to do the workers' will Is the great panacea needed to eliminate this anil many other evils which alllict our wage workers." Kluht-Honr Uwi a Failure. It has time ami again been demon strated that the contract system of pub lic work is opposed to the interests of both the public and the wags earner, 't-ays the Twentieth Century. The or ganised liilsir of this country has, after Infinite trouble, succeeded In effecting the passage of the eight-hour day law. Some work Is now being done at die nary yard In Brooklyn by contract irs who force their men to work long ho-jrs for very little pay. The labor unions called the attention of the Secretary of the Navy to the matter, but lie slid that contract labor does not come with. In the scope of the law. The matter should be taken to the courts, and tin til they have been pronounced ii)on the question of la w Is an open one. The one thing for the organized labor of the country to do hi to abolish entirely the contract system of public Improve ments. The contract system Is respon sible for all the Jobs and scandals. Indnitrinl Noe. America has 3,000,000 working women. All the cotton factories In Canada propose a shut down for three mouths. The bricklayers Intend establishing a national homo for their aged and In firm. New Haven Chinese laundry owners bare organ lied and fixed a scale of price. Three cent shaves are beginning to make unorganized barbers In New York ask "where they're at." Weatern miners who were defeated IB their long strike at Lcadvllle propose trying co-operative mining. Painter and decorator have 1Zt VtlOM, with 40,000 member. In the Uaitod State and Canada. OrgftolMd labor I gradually assert tSf M laitMBot til over the world. In r3 ktsr the eommlttm on. labor crrtiJ Ikt rttt totii minimum , . . h wage and maximum number of hours of lalor. Victoria, Australia, has adopted a law fixing the lowest wages that, inay be paid workmen In factories. Erie (Pa.) paperhangers, painters and decorators want the nine-hour day and 25 cents per hour on April 1. The Hoston Central Labor Union will employ only Federation musicians. This is a turn-down for the K. of L. Carpenters' Union No. 404, of New York, indorsed the movement for the Saturday halfMioliday and $4 a day. The Supreme Court of British Colum bia holds that it Is legal to employ Chinaman In underground coal mining. Los Angeles (Cal.) firemen gave one day's pay to the fund for the unem ployed. School teachers and pupils con tributed ?1.200. Toledo has been selected as the "na tional headquarters of the Bicycle Workers' Union, and Buffalo will have the next convention. The Building Trades Council of In dianapolis Is to be reorganized. There is n prospect that all building work In that city will be unionized. The older countries of Euro'ic, not ably Germany and S"otland. have met the problem of the unemployed by es tablishing labor colonies. It is rumored in New York that the brewery busses are preparing to make war on their workmen with the pur pose? of destroying, the union. In lS!)i the sum of sfl.oOO.ooo was given by 418 English unions to mem bers sick and disabled by accident. Superannuated members receive 1 $700. 000. The 5-cent cut In the block coal miners' scale in the Brazil (hid.) dis trict has gone into effect. The miners claim it is Impossible to make a living at the reduced rate. First Regiment Band of Denver gave a concert at Cripple Creek to empty seats. Colorado workiugnien are boy cotting everything that sounds of mil itarism. iThe musicians were all union men at that. Miners compelled to deal In the com pany store at Powhatan, W. Va., are charged as follows: Flour, $S a barrel; potatoes, SI. 10 a bushel; sugar, 10 cents a pound; salt, meats, 12 cents a pound. During 1804 and 1S05, when the New York coat tailors were an organized body, workmen received from $0 to $15 weekly. A high average for longer hours of labor to-day Is $0 a week, while many workers receive less than $5. The Minneapolis stonemasons and I quarrymen will assist each other In keeping the price of material and labor ! at a fair standard for the coining sea j sou. The stonemasons will work nine I hours per day the coming scar-on. and j receive "0 cents per hour. I The Manufacturers' Record notes a revival of new industrial ventures in j the South and enumerates for the pre vious week a long list, of such, the ag gregate investments amounting to sev eral millions. A significant feature is that New Kngland cotton spinners are investing heavily in new factories in the cotton belt. The Indus rial revolution Involved In the appearance of American steel in Kngland has created a setisMlou out of all proportion greater there than here, says the National Labor Trbune. How great the sensation Is becomes appar ent In the reports receive. 1 from the English Iron district. Kngliuh newspa pers see lu it. the ultimate supremacy of our steel trade the world over. "The practical results of the free em ployment office may be summarized and recapitulated iirlcfly. In spile of hindrances Incident to tjie establish ment of ft new departure the percent age of situations secured Is gradually getting higher, and the gr-ncral efficien cy of the office has been In every way tidvaticed," writes W. C. Hall, Com missioner of the Bureau of Labor Sta tistics of Missouri. An arbitration agreement has been perfected between the Illinois Fire Proofing Manufacturers aud Contract ors' Association and the Bricklayers and Stonemasons' Union of Chicago, by which amicable adjustment of till disagreements for the current year Is assured. Working rules binding the two organizations were adopted for JH!)7. The rules embody the eight-hour day and make the minimum rate of wages 50 cents per hour, with time and one-half for overtime and double time for Sunday work, as well as for labor required to be done on public holidays. Deceptlre Appearances. It was In a down-town store. A pret ty miss of 18 or thereabout was shop plng. She wore those large sleeve, a jaunty Jacket that no man could de sert Ik- and one of these bell-shaped skirls which remind old-timer of the days of hoops. After making her pur chases she concluded to ascertain her weight aud stepped on the scale. The affable clerk made a mental guea at 130 pounds, and so adjusted the weight. No; that wa too much. Then he tried 125. but that wouldn't do. Then 100, then 05, 04, 03, 02, 91, 00. "Ah! Just even ninety pound, ml." With a "Thank you, air," be tripped away, and a the front door closed after her the clerk heaved a sigh and remarked: "My, but won't some young fellow get badly fooled wbou lie gcta hnY'-tX touts Bepoblk. 1. - A"vJ Aerial Travel. i Prof. S. P. Langley is reporiel as s ly ing in a recent interview that, having proved both theoretically aud practical ly that machines can be made to travel through the air, if he had the time and money to pcnd. he believed he could make one "on a scale such as would demonstrate to the world that a large passenger-carrying flying machine ran lie a commercial as well as a scientific success." Jlamicr from Wall I'anpr, It was formerly supposed that the reason why wall papers containing ar senic were dangerous to health was be cause arsenetled hydrogen was formed through the action of mold upon the j wiper, and then given off in the air of tlie room. Recent experiments in Ger many, however, seem to fdiow that the danger really arises from particles of dunt proceding from the paper. It is saiil that at present few wrll-popers containing arsenic are manufactured. f5uor(linj a Const by l-lectricity. A. correspondent of Nature suggests that a long coast-lino may be rendered safe to ships in foggy weather by j means of ail electric cable lying ten j miles offshore, ami parallel with the ; coast, in about fifty faihoms of water, j When ever an iron ship approached j witliin"Jii0 yards of the cable, he says, I an electric detector on board the vessel would give the alarm In support of the suggestion he asserts that messages sent along an elc-trU: cable lying on the sea-bottom lu.'. t- been read, with suita ble apixiraius, .:i a ship floating above the cable. More Monster of Olden Tinie. The fossil remains of an apparently ; new species of the ancient reptile j named by geologists the "mosawuir" have just been discovered in the chalk j beds of Northern France. These rep I tiles, which became extinct ages ago, I were of enormous size, some being sev enty or more feet In length. They had j comparatively slender bodies, like a ' snake, paddles like a whale, and some of the characteristic features of a liz ard. They were ('specially abundant In America, and their remains have been found in New Jersey and in the States j bordering the Gulf of Mexico, as well as went of the Mississippi River. j? A Van'ahCifl Kiver'n Trnck.' Explorations made last autumn Lrought to light many interesting facts about what ! known to geologists as the "Nipisslng-Mattawa River." This Is believed to have been the ancient ouilet for the Great Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior before their wa ters began to flow through Iake Erie. : The old river bed was traced, in the Canadian province of Ontario, from t Lake Xipisslng, near the northern part i of Georgian Bay, to the valley of the . Otta wa River. At one place the site of 1 an ancient cataract was discovered, 1 and reason was found for believing ! that the size of the vanished river was t very similar to that of the St. Clair and Detroit HI vera, throt-h which the Great Iukc now have their outlet. L'quid CryotuI, Among the minor wonders of mod ern chemical discovery are Doctor Lehman's "liquid crystals." Recently Professor Miers, of the Royal Society, has been experimenting with some of these curious substances, and he finds that when "azoxyphenol" crystals are warmed on a microscopic slide they un dergo a Hidden transformation from the solid to the liquid condition oil reaching a temperature of J.'J4 degrees. Yet, having become liquid, the sub stance nevertheless retains the form of crystals, and these remarkable crys tals possess the property of double re fraction. If heated up to 105 degrees, the substance undergoes another change, and loses Its double refrac tivity. Ih It ii u Ancient Alphabet? Monsieur Plette Las made some re markable discoveries In a cave at Le Mas-d'Azll. ih Southern France, near lhe Pyrenees. This cave, shaped like a tunnel, was evidently inhabited In very ancient days by the race of peo ple called the "cave-dwellers" who lived lu the Neolithic, or Later Stone, age. They left n greaf number of ob long and flattened pebbles on which they had painted curious figures and devices with peroxide of iron. Some of the pebbles contain only dots, or slrlM'S, which, the discoverer thinks, may have been symbols for numbers. Ot liens bear devices having some re semblance to alphabetic characters. E2D One pebble ban painted upon It the singular row of figures here represented, and Monsieur Plette doe not hesitate to suggest that some of thette design are possibly phonetic tymbola. Which had a definite mean ing to the Inhabitants of the cave. A writer in Nature, reviewing Monsieur Piette' "astonishing dlscovcritw," makes an additional stiggeetloa, "As suming thee marking to be syllable sign," he say, "can It he possible that these pebbles ware employed In build ing up word and sentences, much a children we bona of letters r Mirage In Alaska. Tbe most wonderful mirage ever be held by mortal eyes are those that are seen in the twilight winter Caya In northern Alaska. Thorns teuiaraably ghastly pictures of things, both Imagin ary and real, are mirrored on the sur fuce of the waste plains Instead of upon the clouds or lu the atmosphere, says a correspondent of the St. Ixuis Repub lic. Mimic lakes and water courses fringed with vegetation are to be seen pictured an real as life on the surface of lhe snow, while grassy mounds, stumps, trees, logs, etc., which have an actual existence some place on the earth's surface, are outlined against mountains of snow in all kinds of fan tastic shapes. Some of these objects are distorted and magnified into the shapes of huge, ungainly animals and reptiles of enormous proportions. The fogs and mi.sts are driven across these waters by tbe winds, and, as the objects referred to loom up lu the fly ing vapors, they appear like living crea tures, and seem to be actually moving rapidly across the plain. At other times they appear high in the air, but this is a characteristic of the northern mirages that are seen near the seashore. When the vapors and mists are driven out to sea the linages mirrored In them ap pear to be lunging through the waters at a terrific rate of speed, dashing the spray high in the air, while huge break ers roll over them and onward toward the mountainous islands beyond, and against which they all appear to be dashing. Monstrous serpents, apparently sev eral hundred feet long, sometimes with riders on their backs, men on horse back thirty to fifty feet in height, ani mals and birds of all kinds of horrible shapes and colors, seem to be scurrying past, racing and chasing each other, until they are lost: in twilight fogs or da.slied to pieces upon the rocky Islands mentioned above, and which are twenty miles out at sea. Laying Down the Law. "Some years ago," said the Professor, "I bought a tract of land in Southern Missouri. I took the paiiw to have it investigated in advance and had satis factory assurance that the low lands were fertile while the hills were full of iron, coal and some minerals even more valuable. I also learned that there were a lot of squatters ou t'he premises, but my own regaid for law was so high that I anticipated no trouble In having them vacate. "Armed with a deed, and nothing more formidable, I went down to take possession and put things in such shape as to insure a revenue. When I had explained my purpose to two or three of the squatters whom I happened to come upen fishing in one of uiy streams, they entered no protect, but looked at one another aud said I had better see Spud Dearing, as he was the man they had chosen to do the business of the colony. 1 tried to Impress them with tlie fact that there was really no busi ness to be done. They were trespass ers, the property was mine, and they would have to leave. They made no tdgn as to the merits of the question, but told me to see Spud. 'He want no eddicated law'er, but he knowed hid bus'iiess.' " 'Howdy,' was Spud's salutation when I found hhn arguing with a mule that wanted to go toward home wliile Spud wanted to travel a mile out of t'he way in order to visit a still. 'I hearn you bought this place,' he announced with startling promptness. 'Weiins kim in here an' opened up bin' an' rais ed truck and r'ared our fam'lies an' 'sta.blushed a bury In groun' an' made all our 'rangnments ter live an' die here. It'.s too late ter change our plans. But they hain't. nuMiln' mean 'boat us fellers. I 'tend ter bus'ness fur all of 'em an' It won't 'tain you moren's three minutes. You k'n come in here an raise crops an' dig in yer miiifss, but we mus' have th' cabins an' th' little patch es we's got an' stay here. Nobody else kin hot Iter you. That's th' law an' th' rest of it i that ef you don't agree you"ll be planted right here on yer own ianV "I agreed, and never made a better bargain- 1 don't miss what Spud and his colony take and they see to it faith fully that no one else takes anything." Detroit Free Press. The Jlufl'alo Nearly HxtennlnBted. Gen. A. W. Greeley, of the War De partment, in a paper read recently, de plored the wholesale (daughter of the buffaloes which has been going on for 50 years and which has well-nigh ex terminated this useful animal. From the liiwof im old army ollieer he ascer tained that in the valley of the Arkan sas hesaw hi the '4in au enormous herd of buffalo terrifying even to look upon. The old army officer says he crossed at right angles a moving herd which was 7o miles in width ntiu so dense as to render travel dangerous. The general himself saw 50 mileH of territory liter ally covered with bison. In the winter of '75 and '70 he knew of 1(54,000 buffalo sklus iK-Ing brought Into Griffin, Tex. Value of tho Hwallow. The fbod of the swallow Is composed of iusoct alone, and the number these birds destroy in a single summer Is Incalculable. They are lu summer on the wing for fully sixteen hours dur ing the day, and the greater part of the time making havoc among the millions of insect which Infest the air. Cheap Hooka In Kngland. The cheapening of literature In En gland ha resulted In the production of liooks creditably printed and sold for a penny. Dickens, Bcott, UoldMnlth, Lyt ton and other standard authors, bound In stiff, covers, are now procurable In this series. A Mataal PrUnd. Bobby Popper, what is a mutual friend? Mr. Ferry He Is generally one who makes It tils business to see that you don't ml healing tbe moan things your friends eay about you. Cincin nati Enquirer. Type are slightly Icm than 1 inch U length. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Secret of tbe Noted Boatonian'a Pop olnrity. "The secret of the niau who Is unl- j Yersally interesting is that lie in univer sally interested," says Mr. Howells 'n his recent delightful reminiscences of Dr. Holmes; and this lie declare to have been aJove all the secret of the charm which the beloved autocrat ex ercised inion all who came ntar him. Dr. Holmes himself was joyou-dy and frankly conscious both of his magic and its source. Henry James, fattier of the present novelist of that name, once said to him: '"Holmes, you are intellectually the most alive man I ever knew." "I am, 1 am," cried the Doctor, with vivid satisfaction in the fact, "from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, I'm alive, I'm alive!" And alive be remained fully and fine ly up to the very time of his death, looking out ward with keen aud frle" d ly eyes upon the great world And its doings; looking inward to note, cheer fully and tranquilly, the progress of time upon himself, and pleasing him self in employing Ips gifts both as a physician and as a man, to keep his old nge green. A gay and gallant old man, as well as a wise and kindly one, he was, making little of ills and weaknesses, making the most of all things lovely and bi iglir, missing nothing new in science or lit erature th-'t was worth his attention, and enjoying life to the last. It was not in him to complain, and lie shed cheer and happiness about him to the very end. "The querulous note," says Mr. How ells, "was not in his most cheerful reg ister; he would not dwell upon a spe cialized grief; though sometimes I have known him touch very lightly and cur rently upon a slight annoyance, or dis relish for this or that. As lie grew old er, he must have had, of course, an old man's disposition to speak of his in firmities; but: it was tine to see him catch himself up in this when he be came conscious of it, and stop short with an abrupt turn to something else." At !0, Dr. Holmes had doubted if It were wise for him to write "The Poet at the Breakfnst-Tahle," fearing lest he were too old for such a task. But, say Mr. Howells: "He lived twenty-five years after that fielf -question at 00, and after 80 he con tinued to prove that threescore was not the limit of a man's intellectual activ ity or literary charm, During all that time the work he did in mere quantity was the work that a man in the prime of life might well have been vain of do ing, and It was of a quality not less surprising." What a lirave and busy aud benefi cent old age! What a happy one! Youth in the very flus.li of its careless vigor and gayety can look on such au age as that, and feel there need be noth ing terrible or gloomy in growing old. With an alert mind aud an ever-ripening soul it: is possible to enjoy and to confer The best of this world's happi ness, up to the very threshold of the next. Youth's Companion. Died with His Hoots On. A dispatch from Chattanooga. Teuu., says: "With the killing in this city of 'Hilly' Garter, commonly spoken of in derision as the man of the 'long and flowing mustache,' one of the law's most dreaded foes, bit the dust. Car ter was a common Georgia 'cracker,' illiterate, and until recent years a day lalmrer, belonging to the class known as poor whites. One night last fall, for reasons unknown, be shot Police Captain Thomas Russell in the arm. All search for him was unavailing, but he has led a charmed life since, and became a terror to officers of the law and peaceable citizens alike. He had no coufederates.,biit as a lone highway man plundered the country at will, and on several occasions held at bay offi cers who were searching for him. He not infrequently entered the city, aud was seen at entertainments in the out skirts. "A few days since Carter's wife rent ed a cottage In the city oil a back street, aud Friday the police authorities were notified of Carter's presence there. A posse of seven ollicers. under Sergt. Haskins, surrounded thu house. The outlaw defied arrest, and walked into their midst, witli two big Coil's revolv ers, which he discharged right and left? his first shot breaking tbe arm of De tective Charles Brock, but Carter's body was filled with lead lu a trice. The only words he spoke before he died were: "Send my pistols and my body back to Georgia." . Indian (iaiiiblcra. Le Page du Praia tells of a class of obstinate Indian gamblers of the early colonial days of Louisiana, who were so infatuated with a gambling game of their own Invention, which Du Pratz calls the game of "La Perclie." that the player who may have lost all his per sonal belongings would go secretly and purloin the belongings of his wife and play them away also. Very often, when they had slaked their bed cloth ing, and lost even rtiat, the hard-head ed gamblers of this description would. go to the French planters aud bargain for new bed covering, much to the dis like of the planters, who rarely receiv ed ...id pay for the article. Crnahed Him. "Your money or your life," he hlttsed. The girl who was Inking advantage of the gloaming to mount her bicycle frowned. "Sir," she answered, with a trace of Irritation In her manner, "If I felt that H would be necessary for me to be held up I should employ a regular Instructor. Good evening." Detroit Tribune. When a member of a literary society writes an essay out of the cyclopedia, he simply puts tbe eaaay back Into tad BacUsn. URUGUAY'S NAVY. Bow Preo'dent Horda'a Zeal dot flia Into Trouble. The republic of Uruguay has a navy composed of three antiquated wooden gunboats, about as large as an ordi nary New York tugboat. On Dec. 8 last a revolution against the Borda gov ernment, was in progress, and informa tion had been received that one of the leaders of the movement was en route from Buenos Ayres on the river steam er San Martin, flying the Argentine flag. President Borda had none of his gunboats ready for action, and so a fast tugboat, the Knriqueta. owned by an English firm, was 'seized by the chief of thel'iirugay navy. Colonel Bai ley. A Gatling gun was placed on her bow and a detachment of infantry was shipped, and Klie was then all ready to capture the conspirator. ' Early in the morning President Bor da took up a post of observation upon the roof of the custom house at. Monte video, and at break of day the San Mar tin was sighted in the offing. He imme diately ga ve orders that the Enriqiieta jii' juhl steam to meet her, and capture tlie dreaded conspirator. The San Martin, however, did not pursue her course to the regular anchor age, but. hauled close to the Italian war ship I'icnioiite and lowered a boat, into which two sailors and a petty offi cer of the Italian war ship descended and pulled off to their vessel. They had remained behind in Buenos Ayres when the Piemonte left that port. Then the infantry and Gatling gun on the Enriqiieta opened fire upon the San Martin. Several bullets struck her upper works, while others found a mark in the smokestack of the Pie monte, and glancing off, passed across her deck, entering tlie stern cabin of the British war ship Darracoiita. The Italian and British commanders soon had their crews to quarters, and vigorously informed the temporary Uruguaian gnu 1 teat that unless firing was stopped she would be sent to the bottom. Firing was 'stopped at once, and President Borda found himself in a very peculiar situation. He had to tender an apology to the Argentine, Italian and British repre sentatives, and a bill of expenses for damages will have to be met by his government, owing to this affair. There was no revolutionary leader on board of the Sau Martin except in the imagina tion of the ruling powers. The latest mail advices from Monte video say that Borda's overthrow will soon occur and that it is proposed to have a triumvirate rule the republic until political matters can be adjusted. Planted In Its Old Age. Capt. Blake, the man who commands the steamboat that runs daily from Washington to Mount Vernon, aud who was an old '4!er. seeking a fortune aft er the California fashion, is a good deal of a wag. Hearing told the other day the story about tlie tree in the White House grounds that was said to have been planted by Adams, he re called an incident occurring in the neighborhood of what was soon to be Idaho City that seemed to be pertinent to the suggestion that a tree blown down in the AVhite House grounds had been planted by Adams. The story is repeated by tlie correspondent of the New York 'limes. "We have some old trees." said the captain, "at Mount Ver non, and I was guilty one day of di verting a lady visitor to Washington's tomb witli a 'whopiier' to keep up the tradition. On the way up the hill from the landing 1 iointed out an oak tree said to have been planted by Wash ington. I told the lady so, and assert ed that Washington was accustomed to come out and sit. under its shade to get a view of the Potomac as it swept along. I also added that his favorite tree was about 500 years old. The lady did not understand this, particularly as it was not supported by evidence." dipt. Blake explained that, although Washington planted the tree and lived to sit under its shadow, the story was true. "The fact is. madam," he said, "that the tree was about 400 years old when it was planted." The lady did not ask the captain another question during her visit. Pittsburg Dispatch. Drinking Contests. Certain keepers of Parisian drinking shops bit upon tlie Ingenious scheme of 'premiating" every customer who drank a certain amount of wine and spirits. For each petit verre which a consumer gulped down he was presented with a coupon, and the consumer who could first exhibit the stately number of 2,500 coupons received a prize, which iu most cases was a bicycle! This novel com petition crowded the drinking shos, and the contest for cousins develoed Into the most, hideous drunken orgies. The Prefect of Police ordered a raid to be made upon the houses where those drinking matches were going on; aud the landlords have been prosecuted, not for the encouragement of drunken ness, but for a violation of the law on lotteries of the year ls;i(i. The offend-, ers are condemned to Imprisonment, and the payment of fines ranging from 10 to 2,hni francs, Kffcctlve. Maud What do you do when a maa persists In asking for a dance and you don't care to dance with him? Mnrle Tell him my card Is full. Maud But stipimHlng It Isn't and ho still persists? Marie Then I Insist that it Is and lot him sec mat. It tan't.-Pearson'a Weekly. Why He Waa Indignant. "Is It true that Goldy's son eloped with tbe okl gentleman's typewriter." "Yes; they skipped out two wista ago." "I presume Ooldy la Just piwlnf dst air." "Natorally. Ho was ngagsd to ftrl Mmoif."-Dtrolt Fros Praaa. , S if : h 4 "1 ... , f.!i ( . v V 9
