Flunking I ' Game On the Ocean U The swordfish is lord and roaster of every creature that lives in the sea. He is an absolute ruler, and holds the power of life and death over all the inhabitants of the mighty deep. “What about sharks?’I hear some reader say. The shark is a fraud, a fakir, a sneak and a coward. He eats carrion and attacks only cripples and weaklings; he is disgusting to look at. Every deep-sea fisherman holds the shark in utter contempt, not fear. He is the most despised inhabitant of the ocean. The only man a shark ever attacks is a dead man or a man the shark thinks is dead. Get the shark once for all in your mind as the hyena of the sea. • The swordfish is a “ruler by divine right” if there ever • was one. He looks every inch a king. He is the incarnation of independence, courage, strength and speed. He eats nothing he has not killed with his own sword in open battle, and when angered or wounded he will attack anything afloat. The killing of the swordfish is more suggestive of hunting big game than of catching any kind of fish. Indeed the sport may be justly compared to hunting lions or grizzly bears. The element of danger is, I believe, even greater, for these ani mals are not more ferocious when wounded than is the swordfish, and you have the added danger of being drowned if upset by one of their charges. It wa3 4 o'clock one July morning. The sun made the eastern sky look like a fire in the oil tanks at Green point. The Earl and Nettie, a two master, sailed out of Block Island har bor “under power,” with Capt. Tal at the wheel, bound for the swordfishing grounds, thirty miles to sea off Mon tauk Point. * cquipmcui iUI iUlLillUg swordfish is a two-masted schooner, having a twenty-five horse power gasoline engine to furnish “power" for rapid maneuvering, and a crew of six men, who are not only expert sail ors, but are also expert swordfish hunters, as this is a very special and dangerous kind of sport, and one which novices had better let alone. A heavy bar of iron is firmly bolted to the free end of the schooner’s bow sprit; it is long enough to reach to the waistband of an average man. and stand perpendicular and almost at a right angle to the bowsprit. A strong iron band bent into a half circle is wel#ed at its middle to the free end of the upright bar, the half circle be ing large enough to admit a man’s body. The free ends of this semi circular band are braced by iron bars, which slant backward and are bolted to the sides of the bowsprit-some dis tance from its end. This structure is called the “pulpit.” And it makes it ! possible for a man to stand safely on the very end of the bowsprit with both hands free while he leans against the semi-circular band, which catches him around the middle. The man in the “pulpit” is called the “striker,” and it is his business to drive the dart into the swordfish. He has a wooden pole some fifteen feet long, in one end of which an iron rod , two feet long is firmly set. A barbed dart, made of brass or bronze, four ! inches long, is loosely fitted on the end of this rod. In the middle of the dart there is a hole, in which a thin, strong rope is fastened. This rope passes taut along the pole and is grasped by the striker’s hand along with the pole, and thus the dart is kept in position on the end of the iron rod until it is driven through the swordfish, when the striker lets go the rope and draws back the rod and pole, leaving the dart buried in the fish’s body or hanging below its beDy and at right angles to it, thus ren dering it impossible to pull out the dart when the fish rushes through the water or when it is being hauled aboard. The rope, the end of which is attached to the dart as described above, is three hundred feet long and ig coiled up in a tub on deck. To the other end of this rope a keg is attach ed by a bridle fastened round each end of it. This keg is about the size of an ordinary beer keg, but lighter, and is painted black so it can be read ily seen at a distance. Three stanch rowboats in tow com plete the “rig” necessary for sword fish hunting. On July 4, 19*)4, at 4 a. m., the Earl and Nettie lifted her anchor, put up her sails and, with her gasoline engine giving an imitation of a Gatling or Nordenfelt rapid-fire gun in action, passed out of the har bor at Block island. JttUf&ZTfCT' TJVE was putting (.mugs iu riguu> in the fo’castle, while Frank, the lale student, and myself were on deck, alert, he scanning the port and I the starboard for any game which might escape the eagle eye of ‘be "gannett.' “Steady!” shouts Arnie from alolt. “Steady!” repeats Capt. Tal, at the wheel, and there a hundred yards directly in front of us were two black triangular fins, five feet apart, show ing six inches above the water and slowly moving in a direction at right angles to our course. For the next two minutes, “Starboard!” “Port! ' “Steady!” “Keep off!” etc., came in rapid succession from aloft, as Arnie gave Capt. Tal the necessary steering instructions to follow the zig-zag course of the swordfish and bring the “pulpit” right over his back. Will Hooper steadied himself, lean ed forward over the pulpit, gripped the pole with his brawny hands, pois ed the harpoon two feet from the water for an instant and then “chug” we heard, and the bronze dart had gone clear through the swordfish, car rying the rope with it and hung at right angles six inches below its belly. The fish darted toward the ocean depths like a flash of light. “Over board with the keg!” shouts Capt. Tal, and overboard we threw It, to gether with 300 feet of coiled rope, and the Earl and Nettle sailed on. The fish straightened out the coiled rope in a few seconds and began tow ing the keg. Away it went over the surface of the ocean, sometimes half submerged, again disappearing entirely in a wave to bob up on the other side, suddenly stopping and starting and changing direction as the infuriated fish strug gled in the depths to free itself from the dart. After a time Hie keg became more quiet and the Earl and Nettie, which had been circling in the neighborhood, sailed near to the keg, and Tony went out to it in a rowboat to “tend the fish.” He put the keg in the boat, and siaumug in inu siern ocgan naming iu on tho rope, coiling it in a tub, as it is dangerous to have the coil in the bot tom of the boat, where the feet may get tangled in it. The fish submitted to be hauled up for a time, but when about 100 feet of rope had been coil ed it suddenly parted. The rope was jerked from Tony’s hands and the coil went out with a rush. The Portuguese laid down on the keg to keep it in the boat, and away w’ent boat, keg and Portuguese, the square stern of the boat throwing up a spray which at times nearly hid it from view. The fish was so exhaust ed and the tow was so heavy that this performance did not last long, so witn some minor struggles Tony finally hauled the fish up to the neighbor hood of the boat. When the fish saw the boat it summoned its remaining strength and charged it. This slack ened the rope and Tony soon had him alongside. Holding the rope with one hand he drove a gaff just behind the gills; the water about the boat was red with blood and the battle was over. He passed a noose over the two flukes of its tail, hauled it up to the stern of the boat, made the noose fast to a thwart and was ready for the Earl and Nettie. We sailed by, caught the painter of Tony’s boat, and with block-and tackle hoisted the fish on deck. We caught altogether fourteen swordfish that day. And as the sun sank down into the bosom of the ocean we sail ed homeward. The crew dressed the fish on deck with knife, axe and saw. When their heads, tails and fins were cut off, and they were all ready foi the market, the fourteen weighed three thousand four hundred pounds. —Dr. John H. Clrdner, M. D., In New York Sunday World. Motor Lifeboat. Successful experiments have been made with a motor lifeboat at Folke stone, England. A two-cylinder motor of ten horse-power was fitted to an old lifeboat. * * * ^*^ vv\njvt_ MILLIONS ARE NOT CLAIMED. British Paymaster General Has $273, 612 of Fund Now on Hand. The funds in official custody in England awaiting claimants amount to- an enormous sum. During the recent parliamentary session ques tions were asked as to these unclaim ed deposits, and several returns on the subject have been made. The total .bailees in the band* of the paymas ter general were $273,612,305 on Feb. 18, 1803. ' la the chancery division a large portion of this great fund is dormant, but as a fund is not considered as unclaimed until it has not been adju dicated by the court for fifteen years, the proportion due to missing owners can net be estimated, but is an enor mous amount. Many persons are neg ligent in collecting government securi ties and dividends, or have died with out leaving heirs who have demanded the funds. The balance of govern ment stock and dividends unclaimed for ten years In the hands of the na tional debt commissioners on March H, 1864, was $13,812/106. The govern ment has taken over $5,000,000 of this fund for current expenses. Similar appropriations of these un claimed funds were made by the gov ernment in 1791 and 1808, and in 1803 Gladstone canceled not less than $15, 000,000 of the unclaimed stock. A large estate, $720,000, that of Mrs. Helen Blake, reverted to the crown in 1883 in default of claimants who were able to prove their right to the estate. British Colonial Agents. At present the offices of fourteen agents-general of British colonies are scattered all over London. A proposal to have them all in one great colonial building has been favorably received in colonial circles. Such a building would be less expensive for the colo nies than the present offices, the total rent of which is in excess of $50,000 a year. Big Supply of Baggage. When the Baltic sailed from Liver pool on Aug. 24 it took forty porters two hours to carry the cabin passen gers’ baggage aboard. Save* the Waste. The Tacoma smelter, controlled by D. O. Mills and associates, is making $24,000 a month hy saving precious metals that have heretofore been car ried away in smoke from its furnaces. The smoke is passed through a cooler and then strained through light can vas. The result is a harvest of gold, silver, copper, etc. Deported Anarchist. An Italian recently from Europe ar rived In Jackson, a mining town of Amador county, California. He pro ceeded to try to make anarchists of some of the miners. A quiet meeting was held and a committee of citizens waited upon the newcomer and in* vited him to take a trip to San Fran cisco. He concluded to do so. Troops Pillage Chinese Town. When a brigade of mutinous troops took the city of Liuchufu, south China, they pillaged and slew for forty-eight I hours. So great was their booty that i they compelled 4,500 of the inhabi tants to help them carry It to the i hllln. where they Joined the rebels. THIRTY-TWO YEARS SINCE THE FIRST CASE OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION - Have been deposited withtheTreasurer of the Unite d S tates *ay& C fljtZXELftfo/lGAN&-Co.2\IoJ?TOy,I}ziSS& Co. JL 00ZE& Co or their order d^OtL. AjymmI ’tt'JZU. St .,, },LS * /cS73 &0Z27 C2?jV72SY£/37Z'JFZ2& &j'S/,SOO.O0OZtfZ72? VSST’Gff’72£&^£M23MD££[ JiWTHZZ} J&ZL&J&LZZJ. * uu ij i. »> j vai 3 iu uu >» fne first fruits of international arbi tration, in the award of the high com mission which settled the so-called Alabama claims of the United States against England. The world has made a strong ad vance toward the settlement of inter national disputes by the judicial meth ods of arbitration since the days of the Alabama award. Differences that before then plunged nations into war are now considered, as a matter of course, fit subjects for the deliberative methods of settlement embraced by arbitration. The high court which settled the Alabama claims was the first of its kind. The parties to the disputed claims had long been subject to in tensely bitter feelings of resentment against each other. The United States charged to England practically all the damage done her shipping by confederate ships in the civil war, while England refused, until this com mission sat, to recognize the right of any nation to question her methods of maintaining her proclaimed neutral ity. Long and delicate diplomatic nego tiations were necessary to pave the way, stsp by step, for the formation oi the court which was to settle these claims. Even after the sessions began it appeared for a time as if they would come to an abrupt and friutless end ing. After months of deliberation on the part Okf the arbitrators a settlement was reached, however, in which the principal of international arbitration was imperishably perpetuated, while the United States government re ceived in settlement of its claims the substantial sum of $15,500,000. Russians Drop Alexander. It has been a Vadition since the time of Nicholas I. to name the czare vitches alternately Alexander and Nicholas. But the murder of Alexan der II. caused his name to be con sidered unlucky, so there will be no more Alexanders on the Russian throne, as there will be no more Pauls or Peters. The czarevitch was there fore named Alexis, after the rather of Peter the Great. He was a powerful and successful ruler. (Pcuy& t£u K&Cb & fz ffcjvtsyu* ttiy /frUZts'**^ „ /&S. 0Z £. MZJZBMFZA J1WAXZ7 G£Z>iyj7CaZ&. Columbus Brought Watermelon. It is customary to praise Christo pher Columbus for many noble char acteristics, to say nothing of his far seeing intelligence, but the south owes him a special debt of gratitude for the prescience that led him to bring the watermelon to America when he first came, says the Rich mond Times-Dispatch. The first water melon seeds were turned loose to hustle for themselves on San Salva dor island and thence the hungry Spaniards took them to Florida. When once the succulent melon was started in America it took care of itself in the struggle for existence. It was certainly doing a big business in Georgia before a certain Oglethorpe put in his appearance. Abyssinian Intoxicant. Honey is used for the manufacture of alcohol and hydromel in Abyssinia. The beverage last named is very in toxicating and has an agreeable flavor not unlike that of cider. Enormous quantities of honey are used in the production of hydromel, which is con sumed in the same way and as gen erally as red wine in France. Price of honey, thirty-four cents per 2.2 pounds. Maxim’s Aeroplane. At the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, experiments showed that the lifting power of Sir Hiram Maxim’s aero plane, placed at a slightly horizontal angle, and traveling at a high veloc ity, was much greater than had been supposed. Metcalfe Wood made an ascent and attained a speed of from eighty to 100 miles an hoar. Fine Present from Czar. A boy of eleven, who lives at Ham ilton, Oot.,* wrote to the czar, asking for some Russian postage stamps. Recently he received from the czar a complete collection of Russian postal departmental and local stamps in a magnificently bound album. The col lection is said to be worth several thousand dollars. To Prosecute Press Schools. At the recent meeting in Glasgow of the Institute of Journalists, the opin ion was expressed that part of the in stitute’s “defense fund” should be used in prosecuting people who professed to teach journalism and “held out illu sionary hopqp to unwary aspirants for a position on the press.** Helps Distinguished Husband. The wife of Camille Flammarion, the astronomer, never allows anyone to cut her husband's hair but bersdlf, and she uses the shorn locks for pil lows. Her home in Paris is full of pillows stuffed with such clippings. Telescopes, heliometers, sextants, as trolabes and other astronomical in struments are scattered all about among them. The Flammarions were married thirty years ago, taking their bridal tour in a balloon. In all the time since then the wife has been a veritable helpmeet to her husband. She not only makes observations and calculations, but measures the dis tances of stars for him. At the ob servatory of Juvisy, which she helped him establish, she made studies of the planet Mars. New Coal Field in Mexico. A company composed principally of British and German capitalists has been formed for the purpose of work ing a recently discovered coal field near Sabinas, in the state of Coahuila, Mexico. The principal vein is from seven to eight feet wide, and underlies an area of 15,000 acres. The new coal field is about 7^ miles from the Mexi can International railway. Timber for Panama Canal. It is thought the Panama canal commission will procure from the Columbia river the 40,000 piles that will be needed in the construction of tne canal. That will be equivalent to 32,000,000 feet of timber, or equal all told to lour of the huge rafts that are built on the Columbia river and towed to San Francisco at the rate of three each summer. Ready for Revolt in Spain. On the farm of a well-known repub lican in Catalonia, Spain, the police recently discovered 5,700 Mauser ri fles, 5,200 bayonets. 700 sabers and 150,000 cartridges. The weapons and ammunition, which were hidden in the orchard, had been made in Germany and were intended to be used in an approaching rising. Censor's Love Message. A Russian news correspondent in Manchuria telegraphed to his wife on the anniversary of the wedding day: “Dearest Maria^ I kiss you devotedly.” It was duly delivered after the censor Rad marked it: “Allowed. Senior Lieu tenant B—.” NEW USE FOR THE CAMERA, Fitting of Clothes by Tailors Done With Aid of Pictures. A new method of measuring for tail ors has been patented in Paris, ac cording to the St. James Gazette. The person to be measured is placed be fore a camera, and between them is introduced a network that is photo graphed at the same time and serves a-- a standard. Certain artifices are r cessary to obtain a complete result; t ns, the armpits, etc., must be indi c ced by objects visible from without; ! r'd, finally, several views must be t lien from various standpoints. The subject is also fitted with a sort of harness which indicates points of comparison. These points may. how ever, be marked directly on the per son instead. The relative positions of the camera, the network and the subject are carefully adjusted so that the subject appears always on the same scale, and then the photograph is taken from the various necessary standpoints. _ Biography of Andree. The life of Andree, the lost explor er. is to be issued by the Geographical Society of Stockholm, of which he was a member. Made Suit for Irish Patriot. A tailor named Guilding died in Dublin. It was he who made the suit of clothes for William O’Brien when O'Brien was in Eullamore Jail. O'Brien refused to wear a prison suit and re mained unclothed in his cell for sev eral days. One morning his keepers were surprised to find him wearing a suit of tweed. It had cost $750 to get the suit to him, however. Oklahoma Is Growing. In 1900 Oklahoma contained only two towns having more than 3,500 in habitants. and these contained from 10,000 up to 25,000. At least 75,000 have been added to her population since June, 1900. Since that time five counties have been organised, with a total population of 130,000. These esti mates make the present population more than $00,000. Study American Railway Methods. The Northeastern Railway company, England, has arranged for a number of its leading officials to visit the United States to report on the newest methods for dealing with passenger and freight traffic. Her Father's Daughter. I m the “tlaughter of ray father," And he’s a millionaire. And so ’tis only natural That men should deem me fair: At least, that they should tell me > And ask me for my heart— But oh. I wish that I could tell The false and true apart: They flock around me at a ball And beg me for a dance; The sentimental kind they try To kill me with a glai e. And some of them write ver~. . And they rave about my ey — Oh. isn't there a touchstoi: That to lovers’ words appl - ’ There’s one of them who teai ! h i * And threatens suicide. And then another one who sw He’ll make me be his bride He'll come some night when I'm ;i And bear me far away— How I wish that you would t.-ll r What a maiden ought to say: And then there's one who never c He leaves me quite alone. Enough oftentimes I meet his ey When I quickly raise my own; Perhaps, perhaps, were he to come With tender words to woo— On. won’t you please tell me What a maiden ought to do? —William Wallace Whitelock in N Tork Times The Antiquity of Chairs. Chairs were in use in Egypt so lor.5 ago as 3399 B. C. The Chinese err ployed them from about 13f»u B. C. In India they were used, and are men tioned as dating from 1100 B. C. Hou chairs, with backs, were in use ir India A. D. 300. They are known tc have been employed in Rome >0 early as A. D. 70, being mentioned by p r.y at that date. Chairs with foot r-- ~ were used in Rome A. D. 150. Fine View From High Peak. From Mt. Genevieve, a peak in Gil Pin County, Colorado, a person can see into four states and one territory On a clear day the observer can dis cern the Uintah Mountains of eastern Utah, the Medicine Bow range ol Wyoming, the tips of the Rockies in New Mexico and the principal peak of Colorado. The plains, stretch::.* to the east, are plainly visible ti into Nebraska. Dogs Became Intoxicated. A beer wagon collided with an !<*-> cream stand at Providence. R. I an the stock of cream was precipltar Into the street. A leaky beer bar' turned the mass into a sort of froien pudding, which was partaken of by several dogs. Two of the more vora cious of the animals became badly . toxicated and wandered aimlt--'; about in a most amusing manner fj.* a long time. New England Industry. An interesting instance of per- st ent industry is offered by the case ! J. P. Keyes of Poland, Mass., who two weeks ago missed his Saturday trip with butter to Ccmway village f■>: the first time in twenty-six years. Mr. Keyes is about 70 years old. and al though his home is reached by hilly roads that are badly drifted in winter he has always managed to get through. New Use for Automobiles. The Ceylon government is seriously considering the proposition of subst tuting on all fit roads light automo biles for the old stage coaches which still exist on important routes for mail and passenger traffic. The required speed is thirty miles an hour, and each vehicle must carry six passen gers, 300 pounds of letters and 26 pounds of baggage. Deer Just Looked Around. A deer entered the garden of Chas Morgrage of Goffstown, N. H.. and wandered around quite a while, not offering to eat anything. At last it squeezed out between the barbed wires of the fence on one side of the railroad, passed across and through the other barbed wire fence without injuring itself in the least. Coin of George III. A. O. Peabody of Wilton. N. H picked up a coin a few days since On one side are the letters ”DeorgiU!> III Dei Gratia.” In the center was a cut of a king. On the other side were the letters MBFET H-REX FD BETLDSRIATE, coat of arms with crown upon name. The date on the piece was 1797. Broke Into Swarm of Bees. Bees swarmed through a hole which Ernest Mills made in the wall of the town lockup at Martinsburg. Va„ and stung him until he shouted for help. The bees have a nest between the plaster and clapboarding. Mills ad mits he was trying to escape, but be says he will sue the town for dam ages. Colt Has Woolly Coat. Marshall Phillips of Willlsboro, XL. has a curiosity in the shape of a colt six months old, which in every way resembles the mother, except that in stead of being covered with hair it is covered with wool. With the long legs of a colt and the wool of a sheep it presents a novel appearance. Peculiar Traits of Family. In Brooklyn a father and mother raised up a family consisting of nine daughters and one son. All the chil dren are married and have offspring.