I Clearance Sale In order to reduce my stock I will sell for Thirty Days at Prices That ^cannot be duplicated any where. Sale limited to stock on hand AND FOP CASH ONLY . A $7.50 Rocker will go for $5.00 A 2.50 Mattress will go for 2.00 A 2 50 Bedstead will go for 2 00 A 15 00 Bedroom suit for 11 25 A 50 Lamp for 20 Picture frames at half price ^ND SO ON ALL THROUGH THE LINE. COME QUICKLY AND BUY AT PRICES YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN GET A CHANCE AT Hardware. Stoves and Tinware GARDEN SEEDS IN BULK, FIELD SEEDS ALFALFA, MILLET ETC. A complete line all through and bought before the rise in the market. Yours for business, E. H. W ATKIN SON, Loup City, Neb. THERE IS ONLY ONE OVERLAND ROUTE UNION PARI FIT 1 DIRECT LINK TO ALL POINTS IN Nebranka, Colorado, Wyoming Utah, Pacific Coast and Puget Sound. i -- Palace Sleeping Cara. Ordinary Sleeping Cars. Buffett Smoking and Library Cara. Free Reclining Cbalr Cara Dining Cara. Meals a la Carta. For timetables, folder*, Illustrated books pamphlets, inscriptive of the territory traversed, call on W, D. CLIFTON, . X-~ Agent. Anyone sending a sketch end description may quickly ascertain our optniou free whether an invention la probably patentable. Commenlea. tlons strictly oonndenttel. Handbook on Patents sent free. Oldest agency fur securing patents. PatenU taken through Mann A Co. receive special notice, wltbuut charge, in the Scientific American. A handsomely Illustrated weekly. I era eat cir culation of any sclentllo journal. Terms. H a Fold by all nawsdaaless. J Buy Binder Twine ...IN OMAHA... ■2r*5? ‘TlfmZnn? Ths Wsnbsa Wtss.NAi Cm OMAHA. • r»»o lacUoli.f UU *1. *«4 jnu lltl# tM auttful Maudi>llua b» ripJ-M O. 1» aubjovl to « Uoa If Ku-ul rMtHf mif|i l<« (M 1 11 11*0 OipfOOO OUf HI IaT i>r»» tt i*. w». h u* w«« iho w« or I-..Su *u*J r Ipf«« Ttila mu!*r| *« > ,»trui*4on».»olld ocoooo r,W«'M" '1 *«<1 oW'kir »>i**ohoro4 o, l~ 4Ut i'»4 |H art luUoftlr #k»»d * Oo«oo*<* -I ua/of o*»d*i.*l «*■ brllalt ML You bar ••Ilk* r a M»»4«Uao. *, !*»*.) *V i.*Ha aU*» ■>*•*•»»* rito Mr * KtTft muatv *11 at »W) tno». Ilif |M*» *1 *100 MM Oliull llvl.f*u • 111 b* will i|(HlU AHtl fill' Inf•* |>eot>ie. and I* tbe beat. For ante by Odeodahl Bra'* Bt HI.INOrOM HOI TK Tbe It ir0ti«tHome nf«n rieeed ingiy loo round ir'ji rate* lo I.mcim(He, Ky. M»y II 14 H*tum limit. Mat Ml I'urtU id. Or, M«y 14 Id. H i urn llioli. duly |4 IfcMitrr, I'ul, Hay Id I? K*turn limit, dune IS Mmora|M>|la. Minn .May Id Id Return limit, .‘une Ini M«»uutt, Va, Mat U In Heturn limit, dun* Slid dan I ran. (**-«. t’ol , May IS Id Hrluin limit, duly IS. t all ami obtain full to fornaatbm H I. Amttt'n. Arot.B A M H N K Garden Seeds—New bulk just in at, W&tkinaons* OLUBBIMO RATH Pay Up Farm Journal and get a Big Bargain. Five Years By special arrangement made with the publisher* of the FARM JOURNAL we are enabled to offer a 6-years sub scription to that paper, and one years subscription to the Noktuwkstkian for • 1.50. The same offer is made to eyery old subscriber who will pay all arrear ages and one year lu advance, as well as to new sudacrlbers. Jn order to get the FARM JOURNAL at this low price it will be necessary to walk right up to the captaiu’s office, for we have only a limited number of 5-year subscriptions to dispose of. The FARM JOURNAL is on a solid founditlon and perfectly trustworthy. We will also furnish the Kansas City Weekly Journal, one of the BEST weekly papers lo the west, and the Nubtuwkstkbm for •1.20. This is the same paper we clubbed with last year that gave such general satisfaction. Also the Semi-Weekly State Journal and the Nokthwestkiui for •1.80 TIMK M KONST. When you are traveling, due consld eratlon abould be given to tbe amount of lime spent in making your journey. THE UNION PACIFIC it tbe Bkst I.ikk and makes tbe Fastest Tint by many boors to 8alt Lake City, Portland and California polnta. For time tables, folders. Illustrated books, pbampleta descriptive of tbs ter itory traversed, call on—W. D, Cur Ton. Agent ACTIVE HOl.K ITOKS WANTKD KVKKY "where for The Mtory of the Philippine* ' by Mural Halstead, commissioned by the Oov eramcni ns liflUial Historian to Um War De partment. The book was written in army camps at Han Francisco, on the Pacific with (ieaemi Merritt In tbe hoapttel at Honolulu, la Hons Kona, la the American trenches st Msails, la the Insuraeat camps with Ajruisal do. on the deck of the Olympia with Dewey, sod in the roar of battle at the fall *f Manila Hoanasa for aaenia. Ilrtmful of octalaaI pu ! lurea uken by aorernment photuaranker* on ! tke spot I.*r*e linok l*>w prices Hta prof its rrelahl paid. <'red II alrsa. Drop all tra»k» ouolfclal war books. OutBt free Ad I Arena. r T. Barber Kee y , Star laauraare i it Ida i hleaao m NERVITA PlLLSiEE Cures Im potency, Night Emissions arul wasting diseases, all effects of self* guise, or escess and lndU etloo. A norvo tool*- ami sod builder. Brings the ok glow to pale checks an-1 stores the ire of south 1 mail ft Or per bos, <1 lwir> 1 with * wrlllen gunrnn toe to cure or refund the niuu**). Head for circular Address, NKRVITA MCOICAL CO. Chnssn A jssosse Ms, CtMUUO ,U~ rua asi.a nr ODKNDAIIL naoa l '»up tkf, N*br SPANISH GRANDEES. FAMILY PEDIGREES THAT RUN BACK TEN CENTURIES. The National Vanity Border# on tlie Ab ■nrdly Orotenqne, and Flaying the Oen tlrman Baa Been Called “the Kndeinte Dlaeaae of Spain.” It is related that a young guard, hav ing neglected to pny the usual salute to a Spanish duke at the court of Madrid, excused himself by saying that ho did not know the offended nobleman’s rank. “My friend,” replied his grace, “the safe rule is to assume that everybody in the palace who looks like a monkey is a grandee of the first class. ” The truth is the Spanish are a thor oughly mongrel race, and their conceit of themsolves amazes us. Their country has probably been of ten or overrun and conquered than any other territory of equal extent in Europe. Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, Visigoth and Moor havo all successfully made it their stamping ground, and the effect of all this upon the pure Castilian blood, whatever that may be, is indeli bly stamped on every really Hpanish face. But playing the gentleman has been called “the endemic disease of Spain,” and the national vanity is something grotesque. One of their historians seri ously advanced the theory that tho first inhabitants of the country "arrived by air,” so impressed was he by tlioir superhuman qualities that nothing short of a descent from the sky could account for them. A subsequent historian, how ever, after a long and grave discussion of the question, finally announced his opinion that “they more probably came by land.” Alter this we need not be astomsbcd that the Spanish claim to possess the oldest families in Europe. The surpris ing circumstance is that the olaim is not wholly without foundation. Their family names can in some cases be trac ed back to an incredibly remote period, though it must not be assumed that the original blood persists in any purity. Probably the most ancient family in Spain i» the house of Paoheco, whose estates are not far from Carteia, now called Oartaya, in Andalusia. Plutarch tells us that when Crassus fled from Italy he concealed himself for eight months at Ximena, near Carteia, in oaves belonging to a Spanish gentleman named Paciccns. Cicero also mentions this generous Spaniard, and there can bo no doubt that he was one of the an cestors of the Pacheco family, whose name is obvionsly derived from his and who still own the caves. This carried them back about 2,000 years, to a period antedating the Christian era, bnt it is possible to trace the line mnch further. The name is clearly of Phoenician origin, being nltimately derived from “patai coi, ” the word by wbiob the Tyrians designated the carved fignrehead of their galleys. The identification is made more com plete by the fact that the Phoenicians were the founders of Carteia, as of Cad iz in the same province. That adds another 1,000 years or so to the Pacheco pedigree. Think of it—a landed estate remaining in the possession of the nune family for 8,000 years! This is doubtless the most wonderful family tree in the world and unusually well authenticated. Tho Pachecos may well be pardoned for taking pride in it, though it roots in rather unsavory soil at last, for the great original Pacheco was evidently a Tyrian freebooter. Names that trace back to the Cartha ginian occupation in the time of Han nibal are also found, and the title of Hannibal's own clan, Barca, is perpet uated by tho Barciaa and Garcias, well known families of Andalusia. There are also several names of Homan ante cedents, as Ponce and Cane, in Latin Pontius and Canius. A Spanish gentle man bearing the latter name was a per sonal friend of the poet Martial, all of which seems to bring antiquity very near—in Spain. The fact of the matter is she has never emerged from antiquity. The 8panish, however, are inclined to look back to the Goths as "the purest fountain of nobility. ” This oe. -aiuly seems a strange perversion of sentiment, for of all the barbarians that came down from the north to lay waste Roman civ ilization with fire and sword the Goths, with their cousins, the Vandals, were the most irredeemably villainous. And these Goths were no extraordi nary heroes either, even in war. With supine and braggart inoompetency they lost to the Moors in the eight months' campaign a supremacy which it coat tight centuries of conflict to regain. Yet "Gothic of Spain” is the pet phrase. ao a rank outsider ll would seem t imt the Rusque families have the moat hon orable lineage, and their pedigrees run back to time immemorial, though not Mail? traceable. The Basques represent the original population of the Npauish peninsula. Their seat Is the mountains of the northern district, and In many ways remind us of the Welsh. They have the same simplicity of life, and the name really justifiable pride of birth, for their blood is the purest in Speiu, if that counts for anything. Like tits Welsh also, they have to a considerable eitenl maintained their ancient lan guage, one of the strangest which sur vive upon the earth, bearing u > resent bianco to any other iu Europe. These Basque families, fur the must part, bear names which appear to be ^graphical iu their origin, as Ugarte, meaning "between waters;” Zubin, Mlhe brtdgei" Ibarra, “the valley'*—-a style which reminds as of our American Indian*. allhoegh it is found mute •« lass all over the wurtd. The twruuua lion “«%" an tuouuou in ttpautsh a*m«a la Haaqus, aad signifies '' son. * * as Pare* sen of Peter, asaetly like oar own P*t*r»»o — Pittsburg Impab h A U|M UmSms Util —i>«d you ever try any of (email's •A cent dinners? Jlii—Vas, 1 ale three if them todaf at awa-Iosksn tuiwsns. LONG DISTANCE MAILS. Tltne of Letter* From New York to far ■way I>r*tI nation*. A letter scut from New York to Bang kok, Siam, travel*) overland to San Francisco and thence by water, reach ing its destination in nhont fit days, having been carried nearly 13,000 miles. A letter mailed here for Adelaide, Aus tralia, also goes via San Francisco, travels 12,845 miles and is delivered usually within 85 dnys. New York mail destined for Calcutta goes by way of London, traveling 11,120 miles in 29 days, while mail sent from this city to Cape Town, goes 125 miles farther in two days’ luss time. Mail communication between New York and Hongkong ordinarily con sumes one month of time. The letters go by way of San Francisco and oover 10,500 miles of diltance. Toreuch Mel bourne, Australia, from this oity a let ter will travel 12,265 miles in about 82 days, and to reach Sydney a letter will travel 11,570 miles in 81 days. The mail route from New York to Yoko hama, via San Francisco, is 7,848 miles long, and about 22 days are oousumed iu transit. To go to Honolulu from this city a letter travels 5,645 miles in 13 days. Leaving New York on steamer days, mail matter is scheduled to reach Rome In about ten days, Madrid in ten days, London and Liverpool in eight days, Rotterdam in nine days, St. Petersburg in 11 days, Vienna in nine days, Paris in eight days, Berlin in nine days and Athens and Alexandria in 14 days. Oommunication with South American ports is muoh slower. It takes 24 days for a letter to go from New York to Rio Janeiro, whioh is only about 50 miles farther from this oity than is Alexan dria. Mail matter going from New York to Buenos Ayres, which is 8,045 miles distant, consumes 29 or 80 days. —New York Times. VEGETABLE GEMS. Bamboo Opal* and Coeoaant Paarl* Found In tbo Philippine*, Though Rarely. Among other qneer thing! found in the Philippine! are vegetable gems. There are not many of them, though. The bamboo is empty normally. Otoe might cut open a jungle of the giant graaa and find unaltered hollowness. Bnt once in a million times or more ao oident brings to light in the bamboo •tern a gem. Nature has molded into a lump a little of the flinty material which makes the outer stem so hard. The nodule usually presents the appear anoe of an opal, and several specimen! •re in the museums which reproduce the characteristic lines of that gem. These nodules are known as tabaoeer. It is interesting to note that the first chemical and mineralogical examina tion of them was made by the Jamea Smithson whose munifleenoe establish ed the first of the scientific bureaus of the American government. In the condition in which the fruit is known in the United States the milk in the cocoanut is considered its only oontent. The really ripe nut, however, Is filled with a white spongy mass, rich in the finest oil which the nut produces. This sponge is exposed to the hot sun for two or three days in a wooden trough until thoroughly pulped. The last of tb« oil is then extracted by squeezing the soft sponge in the hands. Very rarely this careful handling has developed the presence of small spheres Which have much of the luster of the pearl. Eight or ten of these cocoanut pearls, all discovered in the Philip pines, are treasured in European muse ums. They range from tlio size of a pin head to that of a very small pea.—New York Bun. The Englinh Flag. England’s national flag has been called "a triplet of crosses,” for it is composed of the cross of Bt. George, the cross of Bt Andrew and the cross of St Patrick. Thus: The flag of “St. George for merrie England," a rod cross on a white ground, the red lines drawn straight from top to bottom and from side to side; the flag of St Andrew for Sootland, a white cross on a blue ground; the flag of St. Patriok for Ire land, a red cross on a white ground, the narrow red lines drawn from corner to corner. By placing the cross of St George on that of St Andrew we have "the Jack,” us ordered in 1006 by James 1, whose signature was always "Jacques;” hence the expression, “the Jack. ” By laying the cross of St Pat riok over thut of St. Andrew and then placing that of Bt. George over both, we have “the union jack,” as borne since the union with Ireland in 1800.— Boston Transcript. Tra« CrartMj. General Robert E. Lee waa in the oars going to Richmond one day and waa ■bated at the cud farthest from the door. The other scat* were filled with officer* and soldiers. An old woman, poorly dressed, entered at one of the station*, and finding no seat, and having none of fered to her, approached the end where the general was seated. 1 ie immediately rose and gave her his seat. Instantly there was a general rising, each one offering hiaeeat to the general. But he calmly said: "No, gentlemen, if there waa no seal fur the infirm old woman, there can be none for me " The effect waa remarked. One after another got on I of the ear. The seats teemed to tie too hot for them, and the ftueral and the old lady soon had the car to themaelvea Is leawtlsto We—ssUy. lira Watt*— What ta ou that button? Wall*—"Remember the Maine. " Mrs Walla— It Would d» more im mediate got si tf you would get u button with "Ue't Purget the tiruuertea" on it, — Indiana pul ie Journal ml cite Haiti la n native name, mean mg m< uutaUe as mesa try The name Cube Is i I native origin The meemug la tut km.wn. Wertiry ud ▼anna. AHtronomeni generally now admit that the more recent studies of the planets Mercury and Venns tend to con firm Schiaparelli's opinion, advanced some years ago, that both of them turn on their axes once while revolving about the sun. This, however, is a very difficult point to settle with oertalnty, the reason given for this being, and very plausibly, that the evidence rests upon observation of the exceedingly (hint markings upon the disks of the planets, the fact being that very few as tronomers have ever seen them at ail with distinctness, and only those who have made a most persist**^ study of them and are favored with vision espe cially sensitive to snch details are com petent to express an opinion as to their oorrect interpretation. It is argued that if, as held by some, the rotation and revolution periods are the same bo a correct opinion, then the climatic conditions of the two planets must be most remarkable. Furthermore, our moon always shows the same face to the earth and no knowledge exists ot the hidden part, nor have the supposed Inhabitants of that oonoealed hemi sphere ever seen the earth. This, how ever, is of no importance to them, as the earth is not the source of light, heat and life on the moon. Ail parts of the moon are brought under the sun’s inflnenoe ji st us all parts of the earth, though the day and night are 14 times as long as on the earth. Bnt how it most be on a planet which has one side only exposed to the sun, astronomers can give no answer. —Exchange. Mnrdsrars Mar B* “Wloa." At daybreak at Sakhalin—yon could hardly see daybreak on account of the ahntters—one of the ugliest looking women I ever saw orept in with a cup of tea that is always given in Asia very early in the morning, and she was a murderess. 1 went to the little tent ont sido to have breakfast, and a man cams up behind me and reached over my shoulder, and he was a murderer. When we rode out after breakfast, a man with magnificent broad shoulders and splen did face drove, and he was a murderer. The fact is, strange as it may seem, they (the governor and Russian officers at Sakhalin) have no choice. All the domestics must come from the material they have, and if you take a thief he is almost always sure to stay a thief, while a murderer may be a very nice kind of a person. They did that kind of thing among themselves, and 1 don’t want any better men Mian some of those that were sent there for murder.—Bulletin Amur loan Geographical Society. A Gallant Thief. A won mu in London recently had her pocket picked, one of the article* being a sealed and unaddressed envelope, con taining a £5 note. The next day she re oeivod back the stolen articles, with the following explanatory note: Dsab Madam—The exigencies* of my profae ■Ion led me Junt now Into poattoaielnn of yoor purse, where I And 00 shillings, which I appro priate to my own need*, and these pupura, which I return to you. I do this because 1 feel especially dcHiruus to restore tbla little white envelope, which I have not been Indiscreet enough to oi» n. I know very well that when a young woinuii goea out with a little white envelope ao cun fully carried in her pocketbook that this envelop-! contains a love letter whloh ■he Is seeking a <•' i since to address secretly to her beloved. 1 will not wrong your lover by taking the sweet v. ords and kisaea whloh yon meant for him, and I am very sorry that I have even for a short time delayed hie receiv ing his letter. May you be happy, dear girl, with him whom yon have chosen, and believe always In the good wishes of your obedient servant._ A Qnlet Nesting Place. A peculiar aocident overtook a Hick man oounty man named Arnold. One morning not long since he arose early and went to the wardrobe, took down his summer trousers and drew them on. This proceeding resulted in such yells that the entire family was awakened. Mr. Arnold was soon surrounded by the family, which was anxious to render him assistanoa. His only wards were, "Pall off the pants.” The oombined efforts of the family were vain, how ever, until some one suggested that a team be ripped. This done, there was disclosed not a hornet’s nest, rats or anything of that nature, but a oat with eight kittens — Hickman County (Tenn.) News Lord Rothschild's Physician. One of the Chinese methods is, I be lieve, to pay the physician as long as the patient is in good health, with the obvious intention of making it the in terest of the doctor to keep the patient well. Apparently this is the method Lord Rothschild has adopted. I hear that he pays Sir W illiam Broadbant s retaining fee of 1,000 guineas a year, conditional on Sir William visiting him every Saturday to feel his pulse and see that be is keeping in good health.— Sheffield (England) Telegraph. Cgly Bam. The Bosjasmamt, in south central Af rica, are exceedingly ugly and exist al most lu a state of animalism. They dwell in holes, live on roots and reptiles and have very much the appearanoe of the ape. The Calmuckt of the gnat Tartar family an, although civilised, extreme ly ugly. They have short, fat nosa* ■nail eye* high cheek booee and a protruding chin. Tim* lk« Motbar—What la Iha irillHf, (Jlara? You Uiuk utirtn-MH'd Ulan* (a tiriilu)—Uaartfa haa--haa had h. * off ou a—a trim aud b« wua't ba baok fur—fur »wo .Uya—buuhuol rtaiua Molhar («>um jmn la tar) Mow lutitf will your huabaod ba a way 7 haata Clara- I fortfut to aah.— Haw York Weakly «M| u*a Mar* af !>»■ I ha uaw r»ti« gaaaa utlUlly at iha •uail buy ia tha haaday whoul uimI atya. “My (bar tiltla fallow, bara you fuMt lb*> 'Thirty um. ArUokaf “ “Nm' rajutaiwi tba Muail buff. "ba* I'ra iwad Iha 'Forty Tkkvti' ' lint