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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1900)
Hi mk II1 III — H II JephthalTs Daughter: § CuTTMUi A Story of Patriarchal Times. By JULIA MAGRUDER... 4*t BT ft BKBT B 'SMrt SOSI. * * * * <*HAKTEK V! — i Continued » N'u«. as Uur h.*»! af Jc-phtbab ! ».or>»4 down the struts of Miner. • k’.Ur all along the people «. beared and J aboaied u they |««ad. brkiid at Jepb- I *b*h * side la front of them tb»rr rude ; tL i-.»a« aaa Adiaa abd toot brhiud M •*» Ala »(iat A ad bjr this token •1* 'hr tariff that hr had a on *Aar» fur fctwarif la battle an 1 that Jrt»h*hah strove tha* to show the favur j **•*•1 ha had toward him. aad with ***** 90km ul their shoutings * i.jug ir J* j..11 ih the (iikid. ■ *” w«ra ctias of “bua| lit# Adlan*"* An. a* then » utxit «am* « »• n to ;Le cars <f Xamarah. behold the flash ej«*h her cheeks gr « deeper and her *yr» ret aw# (kirwn Aad r»rr the swd4;iery pressed aooard followed by #n..«nts of triumph fro* tb< crowd. Aad Jeytltah tfc- mighty «aptain. r**de a Bight-Mark • turg* r while that «d 4i .aa was a bite a» Bill Both *a#a were rtad la gleaming arts or. on »h-• h the rays of rh*- setting sun made blaar* of ffi«td |r# gilding the silffer •if th aid. aaa • beard, aad burnish ing the got4 of Adiaas thick carl* which aw4 a part of his shining heiawit, Aad ever as they rode, the rtr» of Loth were turned toaard the hum* of Jephthah for Jephthah bad vowed a vow onto the Lord, and had •aid “If Thom ahait without fail de liver the children of Ammon into my 9h*|4 then It AMS he that whatsoever • umrth forth of the doors uf my bouse to awe; tnr whea I return in p*<e from the children of Ammon, shall wstwljr be the Lord’*. and 1 will offer it A for a burnt offering * And he looked to see what It should be. Iht the youag aaaa Adica who knew aof of Jephthah'* vow, aad had said oatight of the tidings seat to Nama rah by the carrier bird that bring a secret between the matdra and t.nisclf - knew that Xaaurah wowld be p# tmred for their coating aad rightly t bought that she would come to mee: them. AM now a* tney irpe to t om*- nigh to the hoiut. bt^uli. the |mt door* w» thrown open. and forth there »t*f the asaidea Va marsh «lad all in .-whit* and sold, and after her her maid ens with timbrels and dances But Xamarah came first with her bead wet and all her face made glorious ■tth M The childish timidity she was momt to »tu« had varnished not and she ?a*ed the hand of soldiery a royal princess ia her bearing She felt herself a queen Indeed, for happy love had crowned her. And as she came, behold the two men who were at the head of the great haat drew rein and suddenly checked their home* and all the soldiery halt ed All eyes were on the beauteous fare of the madealt# maiden hers only seeing the faces of the two men who led the boat. Ifer gaae nought first the fa-.e of Adtaa. with a tram herons fealty which she row Id not control. and as their looks met thus fee hold >br joyousaess of his heart gleaned forth lc*o his eyes • hK’h met her* »it*, a . >.k that thrilled her son! with rapture. For n moment aim was blinded with *e a&asy. and ana naught before her but light, swpresne bewildering; and then, with the reduction of that light upon her tar*, she turned he; raptured gaxe upon her father, and suddenly the r' S'- Hght U- a«Se a gTfS*. d»rk!.e,a whkh likewise cast Its refi---ttot» upon her; for the face of Jephthah her fath er ess as the face at a msa ia mortal throws and behold the hand that held the bridle shook and fe.t and his body averted m the aaddir. so that he would have fallen hat that the young man A dins seeing the maiden s sudden * k .age .of countenance had looked to ward its sow*, and w.as Just in time ts put was his hand and stay Jrphthah ia bis place. rhea Adina dismounted and ran to Jepnthak’S side and while the maiden j Ksmarnh herself laid ho.4 on the bridle of hi* horse, the young n-n as sisted him to the ground, and with Ns marsh's help led him lato the house The eyes which had but. lately looked noch pdr »h *m-k other, eat hanged now kwhs of pain aad horror. for it «a» quickly passed from mouth to minr-ir that the great • sptaia had tew sesaed with mortal illness, and that the joy of his Victorians rwtnm sad meet mg with hia danghter was like to tost Ai* hi* mo fVnt abr* be beard the* aord*. deabid ai»t *»•* • I* ** mi a* y* «r. O mra of larad; , aerertbrlms thr hand of tb» l>»rd is . b*a«y upua wm th.» da? < mut to g* Mt from m* all na«* thr mal4*e X» moral std tbr you** man Adma." Asd a bra they had ao 4oa* behold Jn pbfbrh taaf ku riuCfcaa. aad aatd * Aia»* a| daagbf-r thou boat brought nr vary lour; mod thou art oar «f tbrm «bat trotsWr me for I lat* manr< my muatb aato thr Lord. A ad SCaamrah mid aato bias '"'Mf father If thou ha*t «pra**1 thy mouth aato (k Laird, do to m* soporf tag to Hat vbkb bath prwrerded out td tb y mooth; fra—rb a* tb* Lord batb talwa i i muni—- fur tina of thia* lairilir «« tb* children of Ate toon ** Ao r*" d* aad bar rote* a a* Arm a ad dear. but br« far* r**t deadly ymrt, rtr* a* tb* tar* of thr young asaa Ad1** pot oa a ghastly pallor, aad a* b* blood briar* her ta bia shin ing traor a great trembling srtaed bias, ao that hi* armor shook. aad aad mm bi* grnf behold brr heart bled for him., aad for all tb* elsloms of brr happy los* aad *b* taraed to bia f^j~pi"tBets bi# iMW'ii. Am* 44f*« i inspirit b*r to him. careful mtK la hurt brr trader body agatast hi* auul-ctad beuasf. gad it —erne I aato j tbrm both that tb* barrtrr that bad •arb aaa nra a* tin barrier betvern their bodies hard and cruel and im p*»*sb;e Hut there wan no barrier be tween their lips, and as they softly t* at h«*d and trembled on each other, they ku.-« R<»t whether that moment's i*f»ta*> was of pain or joy. And Jephthah sat and Razed on them, ami an he locked he was no longer the mighty man of valor, but a ereature .•me >:ri«*ken. *<» that his hands shook for very weakness, and feeble and im p. tent t» tr* fell down upon his beard and trailed to his armor, while his fare was chanced and piteous to be hold. and he loo.t d. all at onee, an aged man Turning her eyes toward him. and «*-* in* him in such unhappy rase. Na marab flipped from her lover's arms, and went and knelt lieside her father. r;r line his net k with her tender arms, and railing him all manner of caress i:u: naiiof while she kissed hint with deep kmagness on his forehead, his «b«« ks an 1 his lips. Then did she !«,<-. u his heavy armor, and remove ea« h pin e in turn, beseeching him to take comfort, and avowing toward him an affeetio® more fervent and dutiful than ever she had shown him in the pa^* Hut Adins spake no word either with or against her. but stood where ► he had left him. with his right hand ' bolding the elbow- of his left arm. | whuh was raised toward his face, his «hunt sunk in his palm. He was still in complete armor, only he had re moved hi* helmet, so that his sunny curls w>re uncovered. Right goodly to look upon he was. in the majesty of hi» stalwart youth, but his ruddy skin n> a?hen white, and in the great blue eyes, which had so lately glowed with *«> luminous a love-light, there was u * the shadow of great despair. And ever bi» eyes were fixed upon the maiden, following ea< h movement that *he in ole. and the hunger of his sou! was in them. CHAPTER VI' Wt. n Jephtfcah. at h»* bidding stood up. that Namarah mi '..t lift from him the «>igbt of his heavy armor, he turned and looked upon Adina. and a gr*-at cry tm k- from him. and he sank i« kaard into hi* seat and covered bla fa*’** w.th his hands. But Namarab bent above him and drew away his bands kneeling on her knees before him. and holding them in both her own ' Nay grieve thee not. my father,” she said, tenderly. “Let it be done *o me according as thou has vowed.” 1 hv life is mine, and vowed to me!” burst forth Adina. hotly, taking a step toward her. as if he would wrest her from her father. But the compelling eves of the maiden Nam.uah arrested him. and he turned, and began to pa< e the apartment with the angry strides of a *aged beast. " Ah woe, my daughter.” Jephthah -pake “that thy father, who hath sa loved thee, should bring thee now such bur: Ti had pleased me well that thou *boul >.* wrei Adina. It was but the morning of this day on which I dreamed th* *e dreams, and to what are they come? Alas, mv daughter, why earnest thou forth to meet me. so con trary to tby wont and usage? Thou wart ever affrighted before the soldiery and held backward when they came about the door ” "I *** even bold and fearless my father, against ray usual wont, because happy < j*c Namarab slipped from her that love had made me so. and in the presence of my lord. Adina, 1 had but one f»ar only. !e>* I might fall of my honor to him- who knew not my ways ou knewe.«t them—and appear —« cn tag and rngra* ious in his eyes. At these words Adina'* motions vrew more gentl.- and he checked him to fc - walk, and came and stood near by. bis chin sunk in his palm, as be f< and Li- eves, with a most mighty nt up iu N;t mat ah * But bow It newest thou, my daugh ter that the victory was won and thy father* ho-t returning, seeing I sent no m***eitger before me. but made L»*> mjrwHf to bring thee tidings?” Then Namarab turned her fair face upward, and said: ■'UBi *i*aK. It l»e known •into Jephthah, my father, that the thing that la upon us was partly of cmr ova doing—thine and mine.” Then Adina. wftened. mayhap, bv the sight of the old man’s suffering, and more yet by the nobleness and •ti’>mi- ion of Namarah’s spirit, an swered and said: ■'These words be true. O Jephthah. f *r it waa even I that sent unto the fiij leu tiding.-, by whirii she gained the knowledge of our approach.” "But how sendest thou these tid &ai<t Jephthah. ”>»**eing that I ga%e thee no leave to take a mes senger r* "Therein the fault was mine.” Na marafa said ”if fault there be—for. were it u«it tb«* trill of God. naught that waa done or ia to be were pos nt> <—seeing that I jjave unto Adina one of my carrier birds, to send me word of thy triumph and return, anti the bird, in truth, brought me the tid ing- thia morning. Seest thou not then therefore, oh. my father, that this thing that ia befallen us was to be?” Then Jephthah bowed his bead upon bis hands and uttered a mighty groan. "How sayat thou, my daughter, that we shall be delivered? K no west thou not that according to my vow thou must be offered a burnt sacrifice?” Aa he spake these awful words, the maiden's face grew whiter still, though the courage of her eyes faltered not, and through all the body of the young man Adina there ran a great shiver that again made to shake his armor that it rattled and sounded, seeing which. Namarah rose and ran to him, fearing lest he might even fall to the ground, no greatly he tottered and trembled. Taking him by the hand, she led him to a place beside her fath er and gently pressed him to a seat, while she herself sank back upon her knees before them, holding a hand of each, and as she lifted up her head and looked at them, it seemed unto the father and the lover both that her face was as the face of an angel, “Hearken to me. O thou to whom my soul best loveth,” said Namarah, “for there Is a voice within me that seem eth to me to speak, and that most dread and sacred voice saith to me what it shall comfort thee to hear. ’I will deliver thee,* the voice crieth con tinually. and shall we not believe this Heavenly voice? Let us. therefore, be comforted, and take courage and pray continually for deliverance from the terror wherewith we are afflrighted. For what is it that thy soul feareth O Adina, and O Jephthah my father? Is it not even the thought of parting?” As Namarah spake these words, the spirits of the men who listened to her grew suddenly more calm, and the faith and courage with which her own heart was animated seemed to be in some sense imparted to them, so that Jephthah turned unto Adina, and spake unto him in these words: “Let not thy soul within thee hate me, O Adina. for my heart is sad even unto death. Forgive me the harm that 1 have done unto thee through ignor ance. and let it be with us both even according unto the words that this maiden hath spoken, and let us take comfort and have hope. Let us together pray continually for the deliverance that she feeleth to be in store for us.” And Adina answered, and said: “It shall be as thou sayest, O Jeph thah. and the God of power hear our prayers.” Then Jephthah caused him that he knelt in front of him, at the side of the maiden Namarah, and as they rested so. Jephthah lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And as their heads were bowed together, the short golden curls of the man beside the long dark tresses of the maiden, Jephthah rose, and softly left them; and when they lifted up their heads, behold they were alone. (To be continued.) JOSEPHINE LIVED FOR DRESS. Ilrr I.ore of Adornment and Extrava gance In Gratifying It. The love of the Empress Josephine for dress, and her extravagance in gratifying it, are matters of history. Her annual allowance of 600,000 francs a as not sufficient to pay for the grat ification of her vanity, and year after year her debts increased in the most alarming fashion. Dress with her was the absorbing object and interest in life, and she was unwearied in her ef forts to preserve and enhance her beauty. Three times a day she changed her linen, and sht never wore stock ings that were not absolutely new. Huge baskets were brought to her every morning containing a selection of gowns, shawls and hats, and from these she chose wh2t she wonJ1 w»ar during the day. She possessed be tween 300 and 400 shawls, one o! which she wore In the morning, draped about her beautiful shoulders with wonderful grace. Her evening toilet was as careful as that of the morning; then her hair was adorned with flow ers. pearls or precious stones. The smallest assembly was always the oe asion for buying a new costume, and that in spite of having almost incredi ble stores of dresses at the various palaces. For shawls the empress had such a penchant that she bought all that were brought to her, utterly re gardless of the cost. The emperor, ex asperated at his wife’s extravagance, often became angry and rated her soundly, with the result that she wept and promised amendment, and then went on just as before. Her love of dress never wore itself out, and she died decked out in ribbons and a robe ol pale rose-colored satin. Mi<tnntler«tnod Patriotlam. Prof. Alfred B. Adams of New York was a soldier in the civil war, and took part in the Red river campaign un der Maj. Gen. Banks. “At one place,” he said recently to one of his classes, "we surprised a southern garrison and took many southern prisoners. They were guarding a mountain of cotton bales which were intended for ship ment to Europe on account of the southern government. Gen. Banks promptly confiscated the cotton and transferred it to his flotilla. Each bale was stencilled ‘C. S. A.,' and over this the northern soldiers with marking brushes wrote in huge characters, ‘U. S. A.’ I was on guard at the time, and one of my prisoners, a handsome, bright-eyed young southern officer, said, ‘Yank, what’s that writing there?’ 1 looked proudly at him as I replied: ’The United States of Ameri ca over the Confederate States of America. Can’t you read—U. S. A. over C. S. A.?’ He looked at me quiz zically. ‘Thank you.’ he said. ‘I)o you know. I thought it was United States of America Cotton Stealing associa tion" The next question he put to me I didn’t answer.”—Pntladelphia Post. Church’* Mint Presslm; Need. Mm. Dp Silke—“I wish to give a me morial of some kind to the church, in memory of a relative. What would you suggest?" Struggling Pastor—“A—er an appropriately decorated—er—new church furnace. madam, and a—a few tons of coal.' IlentWtry Among the Ancient*. The manufacture and use of false teeth is undoubtedly a pr*-uice of great antiquity. The ancient Egyptians were no mean dentists. Jawbones of mum mies have been found with fa se teeth in them, and also with teeth filled with gold. OIT the Old Block. • James, you ought to control little Jim better.” “Mother, we can’t; he’s loo much like you.”—Indianapolis Journal. World’* Longest Hirer. The Nile is the longest river in the world, 4.200 miles. The Niger is 2,500 miles and the Zambesi 1,600 miles. Seasoned conversationalists are care ful not to put too much spice in their remarks. MERCERIZED COTTON WHAT IT IS, HOW IT IS MADE, WHAT IT DOES. An EnglUhman Discovered the Process bat Didn’t Develop the Wrinkle That Mnde It UseTal—Silk Produced Out of Cotton. A boy sat before the fire anil watch ed his mother's kettle boil. The lid quivered, rose a little, and the boy gave steam motor to the world. John Mer cer, an English dyer, filtered caustic soda through a square of cotton cloth. Thence a new verb—to mercerize—in the language, a new fabric on the mar ket, and a new business, engaging mil lions of capital, to cheer the unem ployed. The story of the boy, John Watt, is old. but Mercer’s story is new and in teresting. Mercerized cotton, either cotton yarn or cotton cloth, resembles silk absolutely. It has the luster of silk; it will take on. like silk, the rich est and most brilliant dyes, and it has the unmistakable, soft-harsh, nestling feel which nothing but silk ever had. Also cotton under this process, does not weaken, as might have been fear ed, but it acquires strength. A skein of cotton yarn in the natural state tnat will carry thirteen ounces without breaking, will carry, after mercerizing, nineteen ounces. And if you take three coats, and line the first with a plain cotton lining, the second with mercer ized cotton and the third with siik, the cotton and the silk will wear out about together, but the mercerized lining will outlast them two or three times over. Mercerized cotton is used in lin ings. in underwear, in spindle banding, in stockings, in dress goods, in neg ligee shirts. There is a profit in mer cerizing of from 100 to 200 per cent. In the last year or two many public dyers have added mercerizing ma chines to their plants, and a good num ber of mercerizing mills have been es tablished. Mercerizing began as far back as 1846 in the English town of Accrington, where John Mercer, manager for the firm of Hargreaves, filtered caustic soda through cotton cloth. Mercer, by accident, kept this cloth by him, hap pened to test its strength, happened to splash it with a dye. He found that it was about twice as strong and about twice as susceptible to dye liquor as it had been before. He refused for his secret an offer of $200,000 from a French firm. He had the idea of an immense syndicate, with himself at the head, rolling up millions of profits per annum. Then it was found that cotton shrunk in the mercerizing. A yard of cloth would save in dyestuffs and in raw stock, say five cents to its manu facturers, but it would come out of the mercerizing bath only three-quarters of a yard of cloth. Against the profit of five cents a loss through shrinkage of about ten cents would have to be set. That is why Mercer never formed his syndicate, why mercerizing was of no commercial importance until lat terly. For the remaining twenty years of his life the man toiled ineffectually on, and he died disheartened. But his name lives. That is because somewhere around 1890, Horace Lowe, in England, ana Thomas and Provost, in Germany, began to try to see if it might not be possible to mercerize a cotton thread and to prevent the thread from shrink ing in the process. They more than succeeded. They tied the ends of their cotton thread to sticks and then mer cerized them. The sticks did not break, the threads did not even show signs of shrinkage. So easy was it U) do what Mercer had been failing at for years and years. But, more than this, they found that cotton mercerized under tension came out glossy, soft and rustling. To their amazement they found that they had transformed cotton into silk. The ex planation of the luster that cotton, being mercerized, takes on. is simple. The soda and the tension together change the nature of the cotton fibre. The natural fibre is flat, shriveled; the mercerized fibre fills out, becomes round and smooth. And just as a flat, dried raisin has no luster, where as the full, ripe grape catches and throws back the light, so there is no luster to the flat fibre of the natural cotton, but on the mercerized sort the light shines and is reflected just as on the grape. COLD FIGHTING IN THE CRIMEA ltritiili Soldiers Were Cl»«l in Kurs Dur ing the Terrible Winter. Remembering the bitter blasts which so recently swept over the city Chi cagoans will realize how valuable to British soldiers were the fur garments provided for them during the terrible winter weather of the Crimea during the war with Rdssia. The coats of the officers were made of a fine brown fur, cut in the well-known military shape of the time. The coats and cloaks for the men were not of so fine a quality, but were, nevertheless, of a good sub stantial make, and were, furthermore, supplied with water-proof shoulder covering. Both officers and men alike wore very strong overalls of cowhide, and it is on record that one London firm alone secured a contract to sup ply 50,000 suits of this material for the men and 100.000 more for officers. A noted London furrier made no few er than 50,000 pairs o? large fur gloves to complete a single order. Those reg iments that did not wear bearskins, as did the guards, were supplied with a sealskin head dress, an exact copy of that worn by Arctic explorers. This cap was ; renounced to be both warm and easy to wear and was a boon to many poor fellows who otherwise must have suffered terribly from frost bite. Whatever may have been the mistakes of the Crimoan-British war there #us no stinginess on the part of the gov ernment in providing the soldiers with warm clothing, as is evidenced by the fact that one cosignment of stores in cluded 250,000 pairs of gloves. 200.000 pairs of lambs wool stockings, some 50,000 flannel gowns for the hospitals and 60,000 greatcoats for wear over the others.—Chicago Chronicle. Men and women agree oftener In love than in money matters. bluff of land. That Haa Iioon Mllding Toward the SlUsonrU for Twenty Tears. Atchison (Kan.) Cor. Chicago Rec ord: a mile south of this town tho entire side of a bluff is sliding into the Missouri River. The avalanche is “ <luarter of a mile long, and at i's base is the most expensive piece of railroad track on the Missouri Pacillc system. There is probably not another quarter of a mile of track in the United States which it cost more to maintain. 1 he odd thing about this monster land ^bde is that it has been slipping down for 20 years, and unless it takes an un expected plunge will probably be slip ping down for the next 20 years, and possibly 50 or 100. The avalanche is | moving more or less at all times, but not enough to require watching by the Missouri Pacific except about two months in the spring. During the winter the moisture is held in the ground, and when the first thaws and the spring rains come the great mass of earth begins slipping. Sometimes it (omes down a foot in 24 hours, and once in a while it slides six feet. Tho Missouri Pacific then puts a force of from 20 to 50 men at work pulling the track back to its proper place and keeping it level. A man is employed to watch the track at night and see that it does not get so far out of lira as to topple a train over into the river. Orders are issued to engineers to go slow over the bad track, for the jar of a train might cause an unprecedented move. The current of the Missouri River is always very swift in the spring, and it wears away the earth as it slides in. and it appears a few miles below in the form of an island. The bluff is one of the highest of tho very high bluffs along the Kansas side of the Missouri River from Kansas City to the Nebraska line. Lying un der about 15 feet of earth there are one or more strata of rock aggregating from 20 to 40 feet in thickness. There seems to have been a perpendicular split down through this rock dividing the bluff almost half in two, and extending a quarter of a mile north and south. The side which lay on the river, or east side, slid because there was nothing to hold it. while the opposite, or west side, was up against another bluff. Thus the cast side began gradually to sink into the river and has laid bare a wall 30 or more feet high in places. Here and there enormous bowlders, which hung for a long time undecided with which side to identify themselves, finally lost their balance and crashed down, dashing themselves to pieces be low. It costs the Missouri Pacific sev eral thousand dollars and causes a great deal of anxiety every spring, but there is no way of avoiding it. A DOCTOR PRAISES TEA. Declares It Is Kefr’s'iln; When Taken In the Erfainj. “Nature is. after all. to be depended upon pretty thoroughly,” says a phy sician who has made a study of the effects of tea on the system. “For ex ample. it is the exceptional person who craves tea at breakfast, a time of the day at which it is least needed and is frequently most injurious. Tea with dinner, too, is not to be recommended, because even if perfectly made there is sure to be a little tannic acid in its composition, and the stomach, in at tempting the digestion of a heavy meal, is much better without this principle. About 5 o’clock, however, the hour that fashion and custom agree in pro viding tea. is an hour that is also proper and favorable to the system. The supply of energy with which the day was begun is about exhausted, and a cup of well-made tea is often a re freshment and tonic that is both ac ceptable and desirable.” In England it is not only in the households, both modest and elaborate, that 5 o’clock tea is served, but in business places «.s well, says the New York Post in some, at least, of the newspaper and periodical offices, everybody, including the office boys, may have his cup of tea in the afternoon. One wonders how the exptriment would succeed of a tea room in lower New York for the re vival of the weary crowd that every evening sets its face homeward, manv of its members often unequal to the scrambling and jostling necessary to secure even standing room in our pub lice conveyances.—Rehoboth Sunday Herald. Awful Railroad Fatalities. More persons are killed and wound ed each year in railway accidents in the United States than on either side in the terrific three-day battle of Get tysburg. Looked at in this light, the ;early casualties on the railroads are appalling. According to the latest re port of the interstate-commerce com mission, those killed in railway acci dents in one year numbered 6,859, and the injured 40.882. Of the dead. 1.958 were employes of the railroads, and 31.761 of the injured. In coupling and uncoupling cars 279 employes were killed and 6,988 hurt. Two hundred and twenty-one passengers were killed and 2,945 hurt. It can easily be seen that the combined number of fatal ac cidents to employes and passengers does not make up the total for the year. There is still left, of persons other than these two classes. 4.6S0 dead. Of these, 4,063 are classed as trespassers—that is to say, the> belong to the vast army of hoboes who steal rides on brake beams and trucks, or on the tops of freight cars. Intl'iftn' Rave fa the Bine Foi Fur. Most of the fifrs worn by New York belles come from Vnga Island, Alaska, the great center for sea otter and fox skins. The Indians there have caught seventeen sea otter this year—to the unknowing one a small quantity, yet enough to carry the entire village of 250 persons through the winter. For the skins they receive $700 each. Blue fox is another popular fur sent south by our Alaskan brothers. The Shum agin group originally was planted with black fox by the Russian-American Fur company to augment the scant supply left. I^ater the United States leased the islands to different traders and the Aleut chiefs, who stocked the islands with blue foxes. The cross ing of the two varieties has resulted in the fine fur so popular for the past two or three years. Few persons have sufficient wisdom to prefer censure w’hlch Is useful to praise which deceives them. PRESERVE FORESTS URGENT NEED OF STOPPACE OF WASTE. The Greed of the Prenent Generation of Capitalists Slay Leave the People of the Future Without Necessaries Even at Any Price. Popular disinterestedness in the fate of our forests is due to popular ignor ance. Unless our supply of all kinds of wood is kept up, every man, wom an and child must help pay the penalty in the near future. We read about multitudes of people in Europe that have to be satisfied with meat once a week, because they have not a bounti ful supply at hand. Meat Is scarce there, and consequently high, so high as to be beyond the reach of some. The people find it easy to obtain any thing of which there is an abundant supply. It is for the interest of all of us therefore that the supply of wood in every form be kept as abundant as at the present time, that the things that are made of wood be not advanced so far in price that the masses will have to be content with a very small supply of the things that are made from wood. A critical scarcity of tim ber will mean a frightful advance in the price of nearly all our utensils. Building operations in Chicago last year were the smallest in volume for ten years due to the advancement in the cost of material. Thousands of artisans were reduced to straitened cir cumstances and would have been ren dered destitute wrere it not for in creased activity in other lines that made it possible for them to get work outside of their trades. What will be the effect on the building trades when cost of lumber is many times what it . juniiuns oi Duiuiings nave roofs that need shingling this year and new millions will need shingling next year and the year after that and so on into the distant future. When shingles cost several times their present price the owners of the buildings will find these annual repairs a heavy tax. Sub stitutes for wood, such as slate, will be more costly than at the present time, because their great rival—wood—will have been taken out of competition with them, and they will occupy the whole field. Every carriage will be costly on account of the wood in it. Our agricultural implements will feel the effect of the scarcity and every piece of wood in the reaper or mower will cost good bard money far in excess of the cost today. Let every man ponder the fact that he himself will be affected in a thousand ways. He will be taxed e.^ra for about every thing he uses. What objects? The chairs he buys for his home, the tables for his sitting and dining rooms, the book cases that hold his library, the picture frames that hang on his walls, the boxes that contain his goods in transport, the barrels that hold his fruit, the coffin that contains his dead. He will be charged more to ride in the palace cars made of wood and running on rails laid on wooden sleepers; more for journeying in the steamboat, which must still be largely made of wood and furnished by the same. His leather will cost more because tanning bark will be high, and even tar, pitch and turpentine will be luxuries because of the disappearance of the pitch pine forests. The price of telegraph poles will raise the toll for telegrams, and his newspaper will cost more because of the price of wood pulp. A man needs only to look around him to see how seriously a decreased lumber supply must affect our prosperity. The result must be an immense falling off in the sales of hundreds of manufactured ar ticles into which wood enters largely. The secondary effect must be the lay ing off of multitudes of artisans that are now engaged in making those ar ticles. The enhanced prices will help no one but the few that control the limited forest supply, or those foreign coun tries that can sell us some of their trees. It is full time that we, as a na tion, were looking after our own in terests in the shape of our menaced forest supplies. NATIVITY PLAYS. They Existed Before the Time of St. Francis. Nativity interludes and plays existed before the time of St. Francis; the first extant regular drama performed at Christmas belongs to the precious manuscript of the Abbey of Saint-Be noit-sur-Loire, and it is one of the earliest specimens of a modern drama (as distinguished from mere dialogues) which we possess, says the Contem porary Review. Hrotswitha’s imita tions of Terence alone preceded it. The Saint-Benoit play is called “He rode.” The shepherds (rather ne glected in earlier art and literature) now make their formal appearance and describe how they have found the Babe lying between two dumb animals. The three kings follow with their of ferings. w’hich they present almost in the words of the Greek Christian poet Synesius: "O king, take this gold. Gold is the symbol of kings. Take the myrrh. Myrrh is the symbol of tombs. Take the incense, for Thou art truly God.” The Infant Jesus is brought out to them, not by the vir gin, but by two nurses; the non-ap pearance of the Madonna is perhaps to be attributed to a scruple, soon to dis appear, as to showing her in the first moments of her motherhood. Got Ahead of Queen Victoria. Queen Christina of Spain has con ferred the Golden Fleece on the Ger man crown prince, and has deputed the Duke of Veragua, who attended the World’s Fair as the representative of Columbus, to convey the order to Ber lin. Queen Victoria, who intends to give the crown prince the order of the Garter on his 18th birthday in May next, is said to be much annoyed, as she wished the Garter to be the first great foreign order bestowed on her great-grandson. Justifiable. She—“His arguments seem to have considerable weight.” He—"Of course they have. He tips the scales at 200 i pounds.”—Exchange. , i LION CUBS ARE CHEAP Se Kasll7 Br«d In Captivity, They Ar* a Drug In the Animal Market. The importation of lions has almost ceased, because it is cheaper and easier to breed them in captivity. Formerly an importer of fine lions could calcu late upon getting $3,000 for a good specimen, but today young lions bred in captivity are almost a drug on the market. The only demand for im ported lions is to keep up the stock of the breeding ones, or for very large, powerful creatures, for it is noticeable that the tendency in the cage breed ing is for the animals to degenerate in size and ferocity. Tigers do not take kindly to cage life as the lions, and they do not breed so satisfactorily in captivity, and considerable numbers are imported every year. Elephants do not breed well in captivity.not more than two or three ever having be^u bred in this country; but the importa tions of these animals are so large that the prices obtained for them have dropped from $10,000 to from $1,300 to $J,500 each. Numerous as monkeys are in this country, they are not brel here, as they do not breed well in cap tivity. They are so easily obtained in the country south of 113, however, that prices obtained for them are merely nominal, and there is little danger of their immediate extermination. In their native countries they multiply so rapidly that the supply always keeps well up to the demand. Among the highest priced animals of today are the rninoceroses. They are quite scarce, and they do not breed in captivity. There are probably not more than half a dozen in number in this coun try; all were bought years ago at good round sums. Thus, the full-grown and in Central Park cost the department $7,000. and a similar sum was paid for the fine African specimen in the Philadelphia zoo. The hippopotamus is another extremely rare and expen sive creature and sales of these African products are so few that it is difficult to quote a price for them. The hippo potamus born in Central Park is the only instance of these animals breed ing in this country.—Scientific Ameri can. INDIVIDUALITY OF TASTE. French Women Will Not Dress Alike— Americans* Mistake. French women religiously cultivate individuality. You can pass an entire cfternoon on the promenade in Paris and not see two women gowned exact ly alike. No matter what is la mode, the artistic Parisian adapts the styles she selects to her individual taste and type, rather than copies them. It is claimed that American women are less self-assertive in this respect, says L’Art de la Mode, but the possibilities and innumerable opportunities pre sented this season have afforded her great scope and the effect in the way of greatly improved gowning has been everywhere apparent. Decoration has much to do with the most desirable re sult and if a graceful drapery effect is found becoming, as it always is to women of tall, slender figure, this may easily be accomplished by a certain ad justment of trimming. On the other hand, if severe lines only are suitable, fashion presents any number of perfect styles favoring these effects. Even embonpoint is rendered less marked by the deft application of flat, perpendicu lar or ingeniously curved and gradu ated decorations. It is a mistake to assume that absolute plainness in dress renders unduly large proportions less noticeable. The subtle adjustment of prevailing styles must be carefully studied if an ensembly above reproach is to be produced. Where Woolf Learned Poverty. Michael Angelo Woolf, whose black and white sketches of street waifs en dowed with most of the ambitions of more favored children have given him a lasting place in the hearts of the people, knew what it was to be poor himself. For many years he was an actor. Once his company was stranded as far away from civilization as they could possibly get. Weeks afterwards Mr. Woolf walked into New York an artistic wreck. He was seedy, polished with wear, but clean. He was un shaven and wore no shirt. His boots consisted entirely of soles held to his feet by fragments of uppers, and his toes were painted black so that from a distance he looked like a man with the gout to whom his shoemaker had been uncommonly kind. It appeared that Woolf was the only man in the com pany who had received his salary in full. He had spent every cent of it in paying the railroad fares home of the women of the company, and had walked back every step of the way. A Hie Map. At the Paris exposition the city of New York will make an exhibit calcu lated to enlighten as well as interest those who visit it. It is to be a great relief map of New York, fifty feet square, prepared under the direction of the city engineer. It is expected to cost 110,000. The new library building on Fifth avenue, Gen. Grant’s tomb, and the statue of Liberty will be shown, as will sectional models of some of the greatest structures and “sky-scrapers” in the city, together with models of the best sailing and steam yachts. The compassion also hopes to secure models of a typical ferry-boat, a fireboat, and the best riv er steamers. Did Not Want to Be the Emperor. At the time when the war with Spain had been brought to a successful close a number of statesmen were discussing the future of the country over their cigars in Washington. At last one en thusiast exclaimed, addressing himself to the most prominent member of the group: “In my opinion we are drifting toward imperialism and you, sir. should be the first emperor.” “Not if I know it,” drawled the great man: “I am not fool enough to want to be the first emperor of a nation of such good shots.” Eemintn* Superiority, “Leonidas,” said Mrs. Meekton, sharply, "whom do you regard as the greatest general in history?” But he »’as not to be caught napping. With out a moment’s hesitation he an swered: “Joan of Arc.”