THE WHITE HOUSE CHINA All the Presidential Households to Be Represented in the Collection Mr9. Roosevelt Is Getting Together Widespread interest has been shown In the undertaking which Mrs. Roose velt has started of collecting, as far as it ip possible, and preserving at the White House specimen pieces of all the china which has been used by the Presidents of the United States. There is probably more Washington china of indisputable authenticity in existence to-day than china which can he identified as having been used by all the other early presidents com bined. This is doubtless due to the fact that both George and Martha Washington described the ware in de tail in their wills. Miss Mary Leo, daughter of Robert E. Lee, now possesses a greater quan tity of this ware than any other per son in the country. Her collection in cludes many pieces of the Cincinnati end Van Bran at sets, a quantity of the French gold rimmed white china set, some blue and white earthenware and L number of unclassified pieces. Mi's. Kennon’s collection of Wash- 1 ington china contains many other i things besides china. She has some fine plate, several sconces and can delabra, some of the furniture ami pic- j lures that were at Mount Vernon dur ing Washington's lifetime, and the old brass andirons which steed in the j wide mouthed fireplace of the room j In which be died. The Ladies' Mount j Vcmon association has succeeded in bringing back to Mount Vernon a number of interesting pieces of the Washington ware, among which is a big punch bowl. The National Museum has a large I collection of Washington china which j the government bought of the Lewis heirs. It includes many pieces of blue earthenware, others of the gold and white china set. besides a hand some Neiderweiler bowl, and a very »ld ai d quaint plate containing an j Ancient Chinese battle scene in its 1 center. Aside frqm those collections some « f the presidential china will of course i b*1 found in private homes throughout the country, and from one or all of ! these sources Mrs. Roosevelt hopes to i nhiain specimens for the cabinets , Which she has recently placed in the i While House. It will be difficult to | Secure specimens of all the presiden •ITal ware, hut it is believed that those who own such china will be glad to lend it to the White House for the purpose of exhibiting it there. The matter ot preserving the presi dential china has been seriously con sidered by several of the presidents’ wives Mrs. Harrison, who was per haps more interested in American history and ui preserving the things White House Relics. The Dolly Madison Frtnt Bowl, two dancing girls of Sevres presented by President Lou bet of Prance, and some historic silverware. w* historical value in the White House ^fcian any of her predecessors, felt the Necessity of placing some safeguard fcbont them. For this reason she tried to unraye! the history of the oldest furniture in the executive mansion, and wanted to place on each side of it a small label that would identify and explain if She also designed an elaliorate cabi net, that she planned to have built in of the private dining room at the White House, but when another cabi net is added for the exhibition of the Presidential ware it is intended to give the piece the place of honor. Its shapely bowl is held by a standard, on the upright shaft of which are the figures of the Three Graces, and in its entirety—bowl and standard—it meas ures fully two feet in height. Its decorations are in blue and gold, LIGHTNING RODS ON SHIPS. Experiments Have Proved Them to Be of No Value. Several European shipping periodi cals arc advocating the use Of light ning rods on ships which convey ex plosive compounds, says American Syren and Shipping. One of these pa pers notes that on a recent voyage the foremast of the Umbria was struck by lightning, which shattered It to hits. The writer of the article stated that “if the ship had been fitted with lightning conductors tbe current would have been deflected from the ship.” The value of lightning rpds for ships was investigated by Capt. Folger of Nantucket, Mass., a brother-in-law of , Benjamin Franklin, the inventor of the types of lightning rods in common wse the world over until a few years ago. After Folger many other Americans and British shipmasters studied the lightning-rod question, With the final resalt that thousands «f experiments with masts fitted with lightning rods adduced the belief that {they are of no value in warding of lightning. . *,:'r ■*. ■'<"v ' / As a matter of fact abundant evi dence exists in the archives of Amer ican. British and French scientific so cieties that thousands of ships pro vided with lightning rods were struck by lightning. Time was when naval and army magazines were fitted with lightning rods. That practice ended years ago. It is only among believers in the efficacy of plasters for the back and side, blood purifiers, divining rods and fortune tellers that confidence in lightning rods exists. Where Czars Are Buried. It is not generally known that the remains of all the Czars of Russia since Peter the Great lie in a memo rial chapel built on one of the islands of the Neva. All the cenotaphs are exactly alike, each being a block of white marble, without any decoration whatever. The only distinction by which one is marked is the name of thev deceased emperor. i ■ -. . .... T Money in Canteloupes. Gropers of the famous Rockyford cantaloupe, at Rockyford,- Colo., report so* av4raice.net return of $150 an aero, for th* season <*1903. i the walls of the state dining room, where all of the presidential china would have been placed. Mrs. Harri son did not succeed in putting her plan into execution, but she did suc ceed in restoring many of the dis doubtful historical associations was carded pieces of china and plate, and while she was its mistress none of the first a wide band of gold, then a nar rower curved rim of the blue, followed by a wide band of small gold dots, outlined with threads of blue and gold Medallions of gold decorate the bot tom of the bowl and the same design is carried out on its standard. At this time some of the china oi eight administrations is still in use at the White House, besides a num her of pieces unidentified. Two cabinets have been secured tc display the specimens of the china oi the eight administrations. They have dark walnut frames with glass doors aud sides. Were they entirely ot glass with glass shelving the china would show to far greater advantage Where the Presidential China is Shown in the White House. old furnishings cf the house of even allowed to he sold or thrown into stor age. One day In rummaging through the garret of the White House, she found the three pieces of a high and classi cal fruit, howl which was evidently of great age, but which at that time could not. be identified. Capt. Pen dell. the oldest, employe of the house, remembered seeing it in the state din ing room during the Lincoln axlminis tration. It probably, at that time, be came disjointed and wa: laid aside in the garret and forgotten. Through Col. William H. Crook, who ha? been connected with the clerical force of the White House for forty years and who has made a compre hensive study of its china, this piece was identified by the late Mrs. Nealey of Georgetown. In searching some old Virginia records she was able to iden tify the fruit howl as belonging to the set of Dolly Madison china that was destroyed when the British burned the White House in 1814. Tills bowl now graces the sideboard but as it is they have awakened the interest of hundreds of sightseers who daily throng the public part of the White House. They stand in the east ground floor hall of the mansion, one on its north, just at the entrance of what is known as the picture gallery of the house. Hanging on the walls near them are the paintings of Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. | Harrison. Mrs. Hayes, the second Mrs. Tyler, and Mrs. Polk. On the upper shelf of the cabinet | on the north side of the hall are j specimens of the latest additions to the Presidential ware—the Kooseveit set. it is beautiful china in both tex ture and design. It is Wedgwood, and each piece bears a simple Colo nial device in gold, with the observe | of the Great Seal of the United States ■ enameled in color as the decorative ; feature. The display includes a large dinner platter, a dinner and breakfast plate, an exquisite round dish for chilled oysters, and a coffee and tea ' cup in their saucers. Mrs. McKinley selected but little china while she was mistress of the Executive Mansion, but the cabinets include three of her plates, two with green and gold borders, and one hav >ng a deep wild rose design outlining it. There are also two tea cups and saucers matching them. Like President Arthur. Mrs. Cleve land selected a large number of plates to supply the White House table, and of these there are displayed in the cabinets specimens of what are known as the Cleveland red. green, gold and porcelain plates. Besides these there are a cup and saucer decorated with rosebuds and a gravy bowl bordered in red. Six plates of what was called the gypsy set and two dainty cups repre sent the Arthur selection in the cabi nets. Mrs. Harrison was nothing it not patriotic, and this was shown even in the decorations of the dishes which she designed for the White House. The margin of each dish of the set bears the American golden rod and Indian corn, as well as the coat of arras of the United States. She also selected a quantity of cut glass, and two or three pieces of it are included in the cabinets with the dishes of her selection. The Grant china is white French ware with a pale yellow border, and each piece of the original set bears the coat of arms in its border and an American wild flower in its center. Of this set a long fish platter, a large openwork fruit dish, a small compote, a breakfast plate, a tea plate, and small butter plates are shown in the cabinets. Of the Lincoln china, with its red dish purple border and dainty seal of the United States, there is compara tively little left in the White House, but Mrs. Roosevelt has put into the cabinets a large fish platter, a tall fruit dish, one of three remaining .water pitchers and two plates. This completes the collection as it now stands, but as the way opens tc secure more of the historic ware othet cabinets will be added, and it is the earnest desire of the mistress of the White House to make' the collection complete by including some dish from the administration of each of the Pres idents.—New York Sun. Rather Than Pay Rent. Blox—Does Rover move in good so ciety? Knox—I don’t know about the so ciety, but I know he’s always moving Plenty Going On. Mrs. Greene—You’ll excuse me, Mrs. Gray, but they tell me this is not a very popular neighborhood. Mrs. Gray—Nothing could be fur ther from the truth. Why, it is aw fully popular; people are moving in and out all the time. And then it is so interesting here! One can’t be lonely, so much of one’s time is taken up criticising other people’s furniture as it is being put into a house or ta ken out.—Stray Stories. Pike’s Peak Electric Line. The famous cog railroad up Pike’s Peak, in Colorado, may soon be sup planted by an electric road, plans for the building of which are now under consideration. Failures in Germany. Commercial failures to the number of 11,952 were reported in Germany in 1903. The average amount of each failure was $10,856. Big ‘ Gain in Churohes. The Methodist Year Book for 1904 reports a gain of nearly a thousand churchaa during the last year. . Jt is a sad commentary upon our scholarship and our civilization that lie average life of a man to-day should be somewhere between 30 and 15 years, says What to Eat. With •ill our scientific advance and our .'o one can say how many words there are in the English language, because there are so many words of doubtful standing. The Century Dic tionary contains 225.000 words, and j the new edition of the Standard Die-| tionary lays claim to over 300.000. Of j these many are obsolete, and many j others are rarely us^d. Science has j added a vast vocabulary of polysylla- j bles that are scientific formulae j rather than real words. They have no place in general literature. The .ordinary English vocabulary may be said to contain from 30,000 to 50,000 words, the latter estimate being large, j No single writer of literature has used so many as the lower number named, j Shakespeare, whose vocabulary is ! larger than that of any other English poet, unless it be Browning, used : about 15,000 words, while Milton, i whose range was narrower, employed i only about half that number. The vocabulary of the illiterate has been set as low as 300 words, but this must be exceptional. It is more like ly that the “ordinary workingman" uses from 2,000 to 3,000 words, while of course he is familiar with several thousand more, which he recogigzes in print, but does not himself use. The common estimate of the aver age vocabulary of educated people is from 5.000 to 6,000. but in this case the number of words which are not used is enormously increased. A well-read college graduate should be familiar with perhaps 100,000 words, while in the course of a year he might not use 5.000 of them in his writing or conversation. Shorthand reporters find about 2.500 word signs and contractions ample for represent ing the words which are commonly used in public speaking.—Springfield Republican. | See Interior of Eye j A highly important invention af- , fecting optical science in general, and the further development of the eye specialist's profession in treating eye, diseases and faulty vision in particu lar. was recently made in Berlin. Ac cording to a German exchange, the as sistant of the university clinic of the Royal Charity hospital. Dr. Walther Thorner. has succeeded in solving a problem which had received much at tention from many others before him, but with little or no success. He has managed to photograph the back ground of the eye and obtain good pic tures of it, too. His invention repre sents a material improvement on the ophthalmoscope Invented by Helm holtz in 1850. The latter, however, only admitted of viewing the back ground of the eye. The fact that all attempts to pho tograph the interior or the back ground of the eye had remained fruit less so far. was due to the peculiar construction of the eye. It is difficult to light up the interior to such an ex tent as to enable one to take a pho tograph of it, and even in the use of strong sources of light the exposure would require so much time that the eye would have to be fixed, which would mean great inconvenience to the patient. Now Dr. Thorner has con structed an apparatus with which he first succeeded in photographing the eyes of animals, especially cats.— Jewelers’ Circular-Weekly. | A Little Further On j There will be time—I shall find rest anon; Thus do we say. while eager youth in vites Young hope to try her wings in wanton flights. And nimble fancy builds the soul a nest On some far crag; but soon youth’s flame Is gone— Burned lightly out—while we repeat the Jest With smiling confidence—I shall find rest A little further on. A little further on— I shall find rest; half-flercely we avow When noon beats on the dusty field, and care Threats to unjoint our armor, and the glare Throbs with the pulse of battle, while life’s best Flies with the flitting stars; the frenzied brow Pains for the laurel more than tor the breast Where Love soft-nestling waits. Not now. not now. With feverish breath we cry. I shall find rest A little further on. « A little further on— I shall tind rest; half sad, at last, we say. When sorrow's setting cloud blurs out the gleam Of glory's torch, and to a vanished dream Love's palace hath been turned, then all depressed. Despairing, sick at heart—we may not stay Our weary feet, so lonely then doth seem This shadow-haunted world. We, so unblest. Weep not to see the grave which waits its guest; And feeling round our feet the cool, sweet clay. We speak the fading world fhrewell and say; Not on this side—alas!—I shall find rest A little further on. . —Robert Burns Wilson. Coal Consumption by Czar’s Plant. The coal bill of the Russian Pacific squadron at anchor is said to be $1, £30*000 a year. One ironclad used twelve tons of coal daily for electric lighting. It is principally Cardiff coal* which costs $17.51 a ton. i » - . Criminals IjCept in Suspense. In France, when a convict is sen tenced to death by the guillotine, the day of his execution is not named in his presence, and he knows not when he is to be led forth until within fif teen minutes of the fatal moment ^ L “ “ \ Spilkins is a man with a father-in law. He has not been married a great while, but being a philosophical sort of a fellow lie has about the salme regard for the opinions of his newly acquired dad as a country boy has for a bird’s nest. This father-in-law is not a bad fellow. In fact, he is a very congenial sort of an old codger, who thinks the world of Spilkins. He likes his daughter’s cooking pretty well, too, considering everything, and every Sunday he goes out to the new ly wed couple’s little flat for din ner. Spilkins' one objection to this father-in-law is the stale old jokes and stories he is always working off as brand new material. The old man has told the young fellow the same stories time and time again. During Spilkins' courtship he heard them re peatedly, and since the wedding they lave become intolerable. Last Sunday afternoon the old dodger rang the bell at Spilkins' flat.' Spilkins, wearing a demoniacal smile, mshed to the door, grabbed the old •'eilow by the arm and dragged him nto the little parlor. "Oh. I must tell you. father, I must ell you before 1 forget it. Did you ever hear—no. you haven't. It'* a new one. Well—a young Irishman by the name of Pat—” Spilkins stopped to laugh, and the old man laughed too. Then the young fellow continued his yarn. "Here, here." said the old fellow, as soon as he recognized his favorite story, one he had told Spilkins a hun dred times. "Here, what are you try ing on me now. l told you that once.” "No. it’s a brand new one," said Spilkins. But the story was told ami then came another one of the old moss grown yarns, and then another am! still others, until the father-in-law be gan to get a little ruffled. "Confound if, boy. what is the mat ter with you?” he said. “Those are my stories. I've told them all to you time and time again." "Oh, have you?" said Spilk.i “Then 1 beg your pardon. I’ll n r tell another one, but say, have y> heard about—” "Yes, yes. I’ve heard It,” said tl.< old man. throwing up his hands, "am I'll never tell you another one either And Spilkins feels relieved.—Cl - cago Inter Ocean. Got Rid of Agent Blivins had learned by many years i >f experience that one of the sure signs of spring is the activity of the ife insurance agents. He has for a rood many years been paying premi 1ms on several thousand dollars more insurance than he feels like he is ible to do. and for that reason, he considers the spring insurance solic itor as one of the worst ills of the season. Ingenuity has always been the one narked characteristic of Blivins. and if ter the first one of the agents tackled him the other day and began telling him how soon he was to die and in what an awful state he would leave his family and creditors. Blivins dit upon a new scheme. The next morning Blivins took to his office all the old photographs he ■ouId find. On each one he tied a i 'ittle crepe rosette and then hung them on the wall, stood them on his iesk and put them at every point R the office where they could be seen. Blivins had not been in his office for an hour when an insurance agent came in and began reading Biivir obituary. The latter lengthened hi< face out an inch or two and drew out his handkerchief and mopped his eyes. ‘ I fully realize the value of insur anee," said Blivins. as blue as indigo ‘and I wish I could get a million do! lars on my life, but-" “You are the man I like to talk to ' said the agent enthusiastically. "Our company will write a million dollars on your life and-” “Isn't that too bad?" said Biivir. “I am sorry, but I can't get a polic for a cent. See that dear face?" h* said, pointing to one old pictur. “That’s dear Uncle Ephraim. Cor sumption did it. There 13 dear Cou sin Seth. Consumption. And there is grandfather. Consumption. And there is-** The life insurance agent had turned purple. He arose, bowed, and told Blivins there was no hope. As the agent went through the doorway Bliv ins leaned back in his chair, laughed and then arose and picked up a 2e<>. pound letter press and swung it un der the tabje. r---< Scraps Are Worth Money In the successful management of the railways of the country there are many seemingly insignificant matters that require constant attention. Thou sands of dollars are saved to the com panies each year by detailing men to look after and care for their scrap, the pieces of iron and steel that fall off moving cars, that come from aban doned machinery or from broken pieces of equipment. Almost all the big transportation companies in the United States main tain what they call scrap departments. At two or three points on the road, generally where there are any con struction or extensive repair shops, this scrap is gathered from all parts af the system. One of the duties of the trackwalk ers and repair gangs is to pick up and brow into little heaps along the track ill bits of iron and steel that may be ound along the right cf way or that may be left whenever any piece of .vork is completed. At irregular intervals a scrap train is sent over the road for the purpose of gathering up these odds and ends. They are taken to the gathering point and there carefully sorted. Some ingenious mechanics have de vised machinery to separate and handle these scraps. After being run through a sort of hopper that divides the small and the large from the oth er different sizes men are put to work to pick out from the various heaps what may again be utilized. Bolts, nuts. bars, couplings and the like which may be used again are worked over for further use. Tho refuse, amounting to thousands of pounds, is shipped to some iron works that has a contract with the company for using all this waste iron and steel. This plan of systematically caring for the waste iron of railroads is of recent origin. It is one really of slow growth. Of course, pieces of iron aud steel waste material or the refuse of shops or wrecks has been taken care of for years, but only in a desultory, haphazard way. r, i On the Paris ’Change ^ --- —— It may be said that a seat among he Seventy (they call it a charge) ?osts about 3,000,000 francs ($600,000) >r sometimes 2.500,000. a charge earns Yom 5 to 15 per cent (net! a year, so hat the annual profits are from $30, >00 to $90,000, or more in exceptional rears. But these are usually divided >raong several associates, for it rare fy happens that an agent is the sole >wner of his seat. More often he has paid for only half of it, or a third of it. and has three or four silent part ners who o.vn the rest and who maj again have sub-partners, so that you will hear of a person owning an vighth or a sixteenth of a seat, or ?ven a thirty-second, these being sarn oie investments that carry no rights )i' privileges on the bourse. As to procuring a charge, the thing aas none of the Stock Exchange sim ilicitv, where the main requirement ior getting a seat is to be able to pay for it. Here a candidate must be a Frenchman and at least 25 years old. He must have served four years In certain forms of business. He must be personally acceptable to the agent from whom be would purchase the seat, and often to his family, including the ladies. He must be passed upon by the Seventy with formal voting, as if he were joining some select club, which he is. There must be no stain on his business record and no slur on his personal character. A candidate I vas rejected recently for bad habUs. '.ml another for no fault of his own. nit because his brother had been con cerned in questionable transactions. With all this faborably settled, there is till needed the tipproval of the min ister of finances and the approval of the president. This makes it clear enough why many of the ablest on the bourse have not been members of the parquet, but of the coulisse. They could not get into the parquet.—Cen tury. f Stray Poem of Moore’s H. J. H. Petry of Trinity College School, Port Hope, Canada, claims to lave discovered a copy of some verses iy Thomas Moore, hitherto unpublished. ‘I found them,” he says, "some little :ime ago among the papers of my uncle, .he late Wentworth O. Petry of Quebec, ogether with a memorandum to the iffect that they had been copied for him n 1870 by Major Johnston, to whom they lad been given by Moore. Major John iton was a British officer, who lived for ■ome time in Quebec and who after he eft the army was appointed stipendiary naglstrate in that city. Ife was a lepnew of Lord Palmerston.” When Time, who steals our years away. Shall steal our pleasures, too; The memory of the past will stay And half our Joys renew. Then. Chloe. when thy beauty's flower Shall feel the wintry air. Remembrance shall recall the hour When thou alone were fair. Then talk no more of future gloom. Our Jogs shall always last; • For hope shall brighten days to come. And memory gild the past. Come, Chloe. fill the genial bowl; I drink to love *nd thee! Thou never canst decay in soul. Thou’lt still be young to me. And as my lips the tear drops chase Which on your cheeks they find. So hope shall steal away the trace Which sorrow leaves behind. Then fill the bowl, away with gloom; Our Joys shall always last: For hope shall brighten days to come. Whilst memory gilds the past. But mark, at thought of future years, Wh«n love shall,lose Its soul; Mv Chloe drops her timid team. They mingle with my bowl. How like this bowl of wine, my fair. Our loving life shall fleet, Tho' tears may sometimes mingle there. The draught shall still be sweet. Then fill the bowl, away with gloom; Our Joys shall always last; For hope v«tU brighten daye to coma. Whilst fesmory glide the peel. •—