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MR
&D CLOUD CHIEF
V. C. HOSMER, Proprietor.
RHtLOUD.
- NEBRASKA
MY DEAR FRIEND.
Adow; tjc vale oT Life together
c wiu,e. in -prins anil winter weather.
t he. day., were dim, when days were bright;
My fnn! ,t whom God's will bereft me.
Whose ini, congenial spirit left we
And wnt '.mb in the Unknown Night.
I saw histcp ctow more invaliJ.
t iw hU-)i,.rk ktow pallid-pallid,
Witherike a dying roe:
fntil at lti:h beins ull too weary
For Lifc'Tude 'o-aei. :md places dreary,
lie rudearcwell to friends and foes.
rhii is his xavc: The pring with ilowcra
Bostrew. itn the innniini; hours.
Her rarostroses o'er him lowed:
And suinmuroauses to deplore hira.
And wecpityr Vinter arches o'er him
Her solemn trapery of cloud.
He was not faut;es: God who save him
Life, and Christ ho dutl to save hini
Snt Sorrow. wurewitti he was tried;
And if as I, who lovM hii, name him.
There should he hcavl a vtice to "olame hira.
May we not answer: Clnst hath died?
Ah. verily' I fancyoften
1 e; his kindly features soffcn
I mark his melting eye ktc dim.
While Hunger, with its painej apjwalins,
Its want and woe and Brief nvealins;.
Stretched its imploring paliis to him.
lie can not answer now: He lever.
In all the dim, vast, deep Fonver.
Shall speak with human worls arain,
IT1 can not heir the sons; hirdscallms:
He can not feel the spring dewsfallins,
Nor hear the winter winds couplain.
TVep is his sleep : He would n waken
Thouch earth were to her center shaken
Hy the loud thunders of a God.
Thiiuuli the strong ea, by temper driven.
With wailing waves rock earth ant Heaven,
He would not answer from the so
So !e it. fnend. A littl while hence.
Anil in the dear, deep, dreamless Silence;
We too shall share thy couch of rest.
When we have trod Life's pathways dreary.
Kind Ieath will take the hands srown weary.
And gently fold them o'er the breast.
Sleep on. dear friend ! No marble coltvna
Gleams in the lights and shadows solemn
Over the fe'ra es on thy jnave:
But flowers bloom there the roses love thee;
And the tall oaks that towpr above thee
Their broad, CTcen banners o'er thee wave!
Sleep, while the weary years are flying:
While men are born, while men arc dying;
Sleep on thy curtained couch of sod.
Thine le the rest which Christ hath given;
Thine be the Christian's hope of Heaven;
Thine be tne perfect peace of God:
F. L. Stanton, in SmilhrilU (ffa.1 Stm.
m m
THE WJIOXG STATION.
A School-Ma'am's Blunder and Its
Happy Results.
I.ie afternoon train that connected some
lonely, obscure towns in Maine with the
rest of the world, was over two hours late.
The premature darkness of a stormy win
ter's nipht had set in comparatively early
in the afternoon, and, though it was barely
seven o'clock, it seemed to the few weary
pascu?crfc as though they had been travel
in? half the night.
There were two representatives of the
Rentier sex present, but one, I am almost
tempted to say (and I think the conductor
and brakeman would bear me out in my dis
tinction) ; for while one, a shy, timid jrirl of
nineteen or twenty, had quietly pone to
sleep, the other, a lady of great asperity of
voice and demeanor, would neither go to
sleep' herself nor render this comforting
performance possible to any one in her im
mediate vicinity, but jwrsisted in adminis
tering large pieces of her mind to the afore
said conductor and brakeman concerning
the delay of the train, and their shameful
complicity with the storm that caused the
delay.
When at last the brakeman threw open
the door, in a plow, despairing way that
showed great depression of spirit, and
called out something that began with Hunt
er's and ended in a mournful, inarticulate
bowL ho brightened visibly at seeing tho
severe lady start up with a jerk and gather
up a collection of heterogeneous parcels
with an air of relief which, oddly enough,
immediately communicated itself to the
rest of the passensrers.
IW helped her off the train with a cheerful
alacrity that was not apjwrently abashed
by the icy contempt she unmistakably enter
tained for the railroad and every one con
nected with it from the president to the
water boy.
The qnnductor promptly swung his lantern
to signal the engineer, called out briskly,
'all aboard."' and sprang on to the moving
train without stopping to notice tht his ex
isasscnger was in a state of violent dissatis
faction o-er the trunk.
May Smith, the girl who hail been asleep,
started up with a bewildered air as the train
left the station, thrust her hand into her
pocket to see if her jmrse was still there,
and pressing her face close to the window
pane, aeainst which the whirling snow
dashed and clung, tried to make ont some
thing of tie landscape.
It was of no use; the window refused to
do any thine more than to give back an int
ake of a homesick girl with a tired, white,
s-cared face, and also that of her near neigh
bor, a geKleman of such on exaggerated
bucolic apiK:arancc that he seemed the cari
cature of himself.
She was afraid that she had been carried
past her station, and made a little timid,
irresolute movement toward addressing the
formerly dejected brakeman, who now
passed through the car. actually whistling
the frollickingairof "Hegone, bull Care."
He passed by without noticing her slight
movement, and a sudden recollection kept
her from repeating it.
The aunt with whom she had lived ever
since she could remember, had always emj
tied her largest vials r f concentrated wrath
on the heads of thoso girls who tried to "at
tract attention.'
Fearing lest by an unnecessary question
she herself might bi elassed with these rep
rcncnib!e delinquents, she made no second
attempt, but leaned back in her seat an un
.resisting prey to loueliueind foreboding.
She had never before oe'en out of the
quiet little town of Massachusetts where
she had lived with her aunt until the death
oJ the latter forced her to find some means
ot earning her own living.
Having had some correspondence with
the 'hirinc' committee of a district school
in a small village in Maine, she was now oa
her way to have her fate decided by the ex
amining committee.
As her mind was firmly made up before
leaving home that she could never return if
she were disgraced by not passing her ex
amination, and as her stock of money was
rot suflicieiit to hold outagainst any extend
ed siege of expenses while she was waiting
reinforcement in the shaie of employment,
her depression was not wholly unfounded.
The train soon came to another halt, the
"brakeman again roared out something that
began with Hunter's and ended In some un
intelligible syllable. May's face lighted up
when she heard the name, and, starting up,
sho grasped her shabby, old-fashioned
carpet bag with one baud, felt nervously in
her pocket with the other, to make sure that
her purse had not been abstracted within
the last two minutes by any of the listless
passengers, and hurried to the door.
The train had stepped at a little flag
station, whose only accommodation for pas
sengers was a small platform, at present
covered with snow.
As May hesitated an instant on the car
steps, a tall figure seized her, and carrying
heracross the platform deposited her in tho
sleigh, and the train moved off before she
could recover from her surprise enough to
ask timidly: "Where's my trunk!"
"You don't mean to say that I'm such an
idiot that I've let the train go off an' carry
off your trunk!" demanded the tall man in
tones of jioiguant disgust.
"I don't see the trunk anywhere," she
answered, ignoring the question of the
stranger's imbecility.
"Wal, I snuin," said her disconcerted
companion, "you roust think I'm the gol
dern the biggest gump you ever come
acrost. There wa'nt nothin' in it you want
ed, was they V ' he asked, as though people
were in the habit of traveling with baggage
for which they had no earthly use.
"Yes," she admitted, "every thing I have
was in it, except what I have in this bag."
"Jewhitaker!" exclaimed the other, "cf
you'd only chuck somethin' at me to pay for
Infill' such a loon, I'd feel better. I spose,
though, you hain't got nothin' you want to
waste on such a fool."
"You see it snowed, so I didn't much ex
pect ye, though of course I'd hev come ef it
had snowed bilin' water, an' ez I'd been
a-waitin' for ye nigh on to three hours, I
was so consummedly tickled to think you
come I didn't stop to think about nothin'
else. Can you git along without it to-night !"
"O, yes,'" she answered, "I don't care, if
it isn't lost."
"Then that's all right " he said in a greatly
relieved tone, getting in tho sleigh beside
her. "I'll get it for 3-e to-morrer ef I hev to
overhaul every train in the State with my
own hands, (i'long!'' t
The horse moved a little, but refused to
start.
"Git up!" he called louder, "what ails
ye!" Then in adiffcrent tone he exclaimed:
"Wal, bv gracious! ef I ain't the biggest
fool thot ever I don't know what I ain't
unhitched the critter!"
While the crestfallen stranger proceeded
to remove this slight obstacle to their loco
motion, May burst into hysterical laughter.
"I don't blame ye none for laughin'," he
said. "I shouldn't find no fault cf ye said
you wouldn't ride one step with such a
knownothin' ez I be."
As there was no house in sight, and the
snow was nearly two feet deep and still
falling, no inviting alternative seemed to
present itself, and he got back into the
sleigh, saying plaintively: "I ain't always
this way, but I was so bejiggled at scein' ye
I don't seem to know whether I'm a-foot or
a-horseback."
May was too bewildered and frightened to
make much reply to the stranger's self-accusations.
She supposed that lie was the "hiring com
mittee" who was to meet her at Huntors
ville, where be lived, and take her to his
home, where she was to board, but her
natural timidity and morbid fear of doing
any thing to 4iattract attention" kept her
from asking any questions.
The night was very dark. A lantern
hanging on the dashboard cast grotesque
shadows of the horse on tho roadsides, from
which, now a snow drift, now an evergreen
loaded with snow, apparently leaned for
ward for an instant, and then draw back
into impenetrable gloom.
A vague sense of horror added itself to
the homesickness of the trembling girl.
Perhaps the man beside her was no com
mon-place committeeman at all indeed this
executive stranger was very unlike tho ideal
committee to whom she had sent her little
re-written, re-punctuated letters, fearful
lest his critical eye would discover someun-
pardbnable grammatical error which would
make her timid aspirations toward the
dignity of a school ma'am absurd in his
sight.
Perhaps he might be some robber who in-
habitated the fastnesses of these gloomy
mountains, who had left her trunk for some
not very obvious reason of his own, and
who would shortly add the contents of her
bag and purse to his ill-gotten spoils. His
features were not visible in the darkness
and might wear an expression of inconceiv
able ferocity, but the tonesof his voice were
so sensible, kindly and whole-souled that
she felt an unaccountable sense of comfort
and security whenever he spoke, though in
the long intervals of silence that fell upon
them as they journeyed slowly and labori
ously through the snowdrifts and darkness,
her fears could hardly be controlled.
"You're a little thing, ain't ye?" he Anally
remarked, abruptly.
"Yes,"' she faltered, feeling that he might
consider this an insurmountable obstacle in
the way of her managing the big boys in
school.
'"Would that be any objection!"
"Land, no," he responded, reassuringly.
"I like little women."
May had a dim, undefined feeling that
when a school was regulated by the likes
and dislikes of the committee, there was an
imperative call for civil service reform
somewhere.
A wild and improbable tale she had oneo
heard of a school committee who always in
sisted on kissing all the female teachers
flashed across her mind along with a vague
fear that this roan beside her might resem
ble him in this res'iect, but she blushingly
dismissed it as an immodest suggestion, un
worthy of any decorous imagination.
Presently her companion, after clearing
his throat several times preparatory to
speaking, but not being able to carry his
conversational attempts further than an
abashed "Gid dap" to his horse, began with
a manifest effort and much unaccountable
confusion and embarrassment, which he
tried vainly to conceal by interpolating
various remarks of encouragement to his
horse: "I've got your letters an' you've got
mine g'lang an' I'm suited an' pleased ez
ez gid dap but, ef you haiut, all you've
got to do is just to say git out of that the
word, an' I shan't find no fault what yer
doin' nor blame you none, I'm a kind man
do yer want me to hit j-er again cf I do
say it what ails yer.' an' I don't think
you'll ever be sorry, but ef you should
wanter tend to yer bizness back out, I
wish you'd say so soon's you can conven
ient. May listened to this incoherent harangue
with a deepeningof the confusion and alarm
with which this whole adventure inspired
her. She wished, for not the first time, that
she had never thought of teaching school,
but she answered bravely: "I don't know
why I should withdraw now, if I am consid
ered suitable for the place."
"Thet's the way to talk." responded the
other, with great cheerfulness, "an here
we be to home."
The forlorn would-be school ma'am was
again taken in strong arms, carried through
the snow, and this time deposited in a queer
little room, with a blazing opon fire, pre
sided over by an awkward boy who was the
only occupant of the room.
"Here she is," said her host to the boy,
"an' now take the hone he ain't quite tuck
eredan' go after the minister quick. He
said he'd come, rain or shine, an' he's got
to."
The examining committee in her native
village had always been the minister, and
she realized with a sinking heart that this
energetic man determined to have the ques
tions of her eligibility for the school de
cided this very night.
"You'd ruther hev him come to-night!"
ho asked, seeing something of her feeling
in her face.
"Why yes," she gasped, "I suppose the
sooner it's over the better."
"I kinder thought you'd sorter rather hev
him come to-night," he returned, relieving
his easily aroused embarrassment by poking
the fire vigorously. "D'you ever read that
awful comical book derned ef I can re
member the name of it I with you could
hev read it, you'd died a-laughin'. I can't
remember how it all went, but there was
one feller, be was a-talkin' to the minister,
and sez he to himself, sez he the minister,
you kuow I like you, pard ! an' I'll lick any
feller thet don't. Wal, them's my senti
ments exactly. I'm an awful homely lookin'
feller, ain't I !" bo asked, with sudden irrel
evance. May looked at him squarely for the first
time.
He had taken off his fur cap and coat and
stood before her, a blonde giant. But in his
candid blue eyes and on his large rudely cut
features was an expression so akin to the
kindly, hearty tones of his voice that tho
reassured girl felt that he was no mountain
brigand.
"Why, no, I don't think you arc," she re
plied after conscientious deliberation.
"I think you're pretty as a picture," he
said, boldly. "I do, honest."
May's lace grew hot with shame and in
dignation. At last her bold, unmaidenly actions in
corres)onding with a stranger was bearing
its bitter fruit. She seemed to hear her
aunt's thin, sarcastic voice say: "Men
know who they can say those things to."
"Where is this man's wife!" May thought.
"Is she offended because I wrote to her hus
band and said nothing about her!" She
grew cold at the thought
"I don't want you to say any more such
things to me," she plucked up courage to
say.
"Why, I ain't agoin' to," he said, in a tone
of alarm. "I hain't no such thought. Don't
bemad with me," be added, pleadingly.
"Why. here, I hain't asked you to take off
your things nor hev nothin' to eat I hain't
got no manners."
He got her some cake and tea, and then
with real delicacy left her alone until the
minister came. The minister's wife accom
panied him, and sho came into the front
room to May, leaving her husband and the
man of the house in the kitchen.
"I was determined to come if it did rain,"
sho exclaimed, kissing May effusively.
"Isn't it so romantic; just likoa story, your
coming way up here. Well, I think you've
done well. I supposo you're a littlenervous;
I was."
"Did you ever teach school!" asked May.
"Why, yes. 1 taught one term once," re
plied the visitor, looking as if sheconsidered
the remark irrelevant.
"It was too bad about your trunk, wasn't
it! Never mind, your dress is plenty good
enough. Well, if you're all ready I'll call in
the men. You don't feel faint, do you !"
Wheu the minister came in May rose and
stood before him like a child at school. Her
heart beat so fast and such a mist came be
fore her eyes that she did not realize that
her host was standing beside her.
She made a terrible effort to grasp all the
rules of grammar, arithmetic, geography,
and spelling at once, and felt to her dismay
that her brain was in a state of complete
chaos.
The minister cleared his throat "The
State," he began slowly.
"Geography is the first thing," she
thought, and tried to get an instantaneous
picture in her mind of the entire earth and
all its diversions, but all she could think of
were the names of Mount Popocatapetel and
the river Yang-Tse-Kiang.
"The state of matrimony is one ordained
by God for the purpose of "The minister
had got so far, when he paused, arrested by
the look of horror and amazement on the
girl's face, and her companion thinking the
blank was for him to fill out, ejaculated in
loud firm tones, "I do."
"Stop! quiok!" cried the girl "there is
some mistake."
"You can't expect me to say it just right
the first time," said her host, realizing that
he hadn't responded in quite the right place,
but you'd orter make some allowances, seein'
I never was married before."
"Married!" she cried, recoiling from him,
"I came up here to teach school, and you
know 1 did. I know my aunt would have
said it was a dreadful venturesome thing to
do, but no one has any right to marry me, if
I did."
"But, my dear young lady," said the puz
zled minister, "Tom Mr. Hunter, has made
a confidant of me from the first and he sure
ly understood that you were to marry him."
"I advertised for a wife, vou remember,"
said the crestfallen Mr. Hunter, turning to
her, "and you answered it "
"I did not," cried May, indignantly. 'l
wrote to Mr. Hilliard. of Huntcrsvillc, for
a school."
"There is a Mr. Hilliard at Huntcrsville,"
said the minister.
"This is Hunter's Point," said the min
ister's wife, who had been trying vainly to
get in a word.
"I must have got oft at the wrong station,"
gasped May, sinking into a chair. "I have
made a terrible blunder."
"It does seem to baa dreadful mixed up
mess, but p'raps we can straighten it out,
said Mr. Hunter, dolefully. Isn't youj name
Maria Smith."
"My name is May Smith," she answered,
rather shortly.
"Now look here,my dear," cried the minis
ter's wife, "this is rather awkward, I know;
but I think I can find a way out of tho laby
rinth. My name is Mrs. Seavor we'll begin
at the very beginning and Mr. Seavor is an
ordained minister come up here to marry
you. May Smith, to Tom Hunter, one of the
best fellows that ever lived. Now," said
she, clapping her hands enthusiastically,
"why can't we have the wedding after alii
I'll vouch you'll never get a better husband
if you search the wido world over. I know
you don't know him, but I'll guarantee that
yoa'll never be sorry."
"If you only will," said Mr. Hunter,
pleadingly ; "I've taken such a shine to you."
"My friends," said Mr. Seavor, "I dislike
very much to interfere with the romantic
procedure that Mrs. Seavor has laid out."
"I never could consent to it. never," in
terrupted May.
"In any case," he continued, "it is my
duty to remind you all that Mr. Hunter has
agreed to marry some one, and the lady in
question would have cause to think herself
unfairly treated if he married any one else."
Mr. Hunter groaned as he perceived the
cogency of this reasoning.
"I'll do the square thing by her." he said,
"but I was never so disappointed in my life."
Mrs. Seavor staid that night with May,
keepin? her awake until nearly morning to
listen to the praises of Mr. Hunter.
"If you can't find her," said Mrs. Seavor
in the morning to Mr. Hunter and May, a3
they started to drive over to Huntersville in
search of her school and his stray betrothed,
"if any thing happened to her though most
likely there hasn't things never do happen
the war we want them to, except in books
but if they shouVl, just bring Ma right
back to my houst for dinner, and we'll have
just tho prettiest wedding that ever was
in spite of her" she added, uiearing the
absent Maria Smith.
From which it will bo seen that tne un
conquerable Mrs. Seavor, although a min
ister's wife, let her sympathies run away
with her sense of abstract right and justice.
Tho morning was bright and mild, but the
ride was a very silent one.
Mr. Hunter wore an expression of suffer
ing and resolution that would have doue
credit to a medieval martyr.
Mrs. Hilliard met them at the door,
Wal. yes," she admitted, "there was a lady
there who came on the train the night before,
the new school ma'am, an' she guessed she'd
hev a pretty good gover'ment she's got tho
snap to hor. Yes, they could see her," and
she ushered them into the presence of May's
fellow traveler of the day before.
"Is this Maria Smith!" asked Tom, in a
tone that showed he feared the worst.
"It is," ejaculated that personage, resent
fully. "Ithonghtso," murmured Tom, gloomily.
"There's been some mistake. Miss; this lit
tle girl's come up here to teach school and
made a mistako an' got off "
"Will you shut your mouth, vou ninny,"
napped Miss Maria, with such asperity
that instead of complying with her request
Tom stood with it wide opon.
"If Mary Smith," sho went on, scornfully,
"has made a mistake, that's her lookout
though I guess she didn't make no mistake
she knew what she was about fast enough.
I found that I was expected to teach school
and that's just what I'm go in' to do; and as
for you, you blundering know-nothing, if
you ever open your head and say I didn't
come here to teach school, and found there
wasn't any fool of a man here to meet me,
as he'd agreed to, I'll have the law on you."
As the two guilty culprits hurried toward
the door. Miss Maria added, withoringly,
that she hoped "this would be a lesson to
him not to triflo with a gentle, loving, trust
ing heart meaning her's again."
"There's a trunk here I've no uso for,"
she called after them.
"I ain't a callin' no names," said Tom, sol
emnly, as they dro'c off, "but there's such
things as narrer escapes ! And now we'll
go back to Mrs. Seavor' you Kuow what
she said."
"Mr. Hunter," said May, tearfully, "I
must go home. Pleaw take me to the
depot." ,
"Ho:ie! Git out!" said Tom, incredu
lously; "I can't give you up now."
"You say this because you pity mo for
losing mv school," she faltered.
"No, I don't, honest," he exclaimed; "but
I love you, darling, an' cf you'll only marry
me I'll stan' by yer thro' thick an' thin, ez
long ez we both do live."
She lifted her eyes to his and saw the love
and comfort he offered her in vivid contrast
to the lonely, troubled life she would lead
without him. The horse, judging by the
loose-hanging reins that not much was ex
pected of him, stopped and gazed pensively
at the bright, snowy landscape. A strauge,
conscious silence fell on tho two in the
sleigh.
."I'm afraid," said May, shyly, "that ir wo
stay here we'll be late to dinner with Mrs.
Seavor!" Ethel Oorham Clarke, in Chicago
Jnter Ocean.
UNCLE SAM'S HORSES.
How Animals la the Cavalry Service Art
Examined anil Uranded.
The inspection is done by a board of
three or six officers. One by one the
horses are led up for inspection. An
examination is first made of the horse's
eyes, teeth, limbs and body. His ac
tions tinder examination are likewise
taken note of. He is then saddled and
mounted in the presence of the board.
He must yield to the bridle and bit eas
ily. Then he is walked one hundred
yards and return, after which he is
started on a fierce gallop. Returning
to the inspectors he is unsaddled and a
final inspection is made. If this second
examination does not reveal any physi
cal imperfections he is pronounced ac
cepted and is branded with the Na
tional trade mark. U. S., on .the left
shoulder.
Being- accepted, the equine is turned
over to the care of the Assistant Quar
termaster, who, as soon as he receives
all the horses contracted for. distrib
utes them through the department.
Often special purchases of horses are
made. This occurs when a large lot
of horses are missing in one troop, and
it is impossible to wait until the end
of the quarter. Not infrequently the
ravages of the glanders or other dis
eases peculiar to the horse, or a raid
of Indians on the corral at a frontier
post, are responsible for the depletion
of the "mounts" of a cavalry troop. In
the distribution of the horses care is
exercised in regard to color. As near
as possible, black horses are kept in
one troop, bay horses in another, and
so on. While it perhaps would not
strike any one very forcibly as a bad
arrangement to see a captain riding at
the head of a black horse company on
a white steed, yet it would form an ill
advised combination to see several
troopers 0:1 white horses sprinkled
through the company.
Tho enlisted cavalrymen are supplied
with mounts at the expense of the
Government, but officers are required
to purchase their horses. When the
horses reach the company for which
they were purchased, the officers are
entitled to the privilege of selecting
one or two as each desires, and paying
the assistant quartermaster for the
actual cost of the horse or horses taken.
One troop of each regiment is com
pelled to take the leavings, as far as
color is concerned. This troop, when
mounted, is not a bad imitation of a
rainbow, on account of the diversity of
hues.
The owners of horses name them
with a sort of acrostical reference to
their company's title. Thus the names
of all horses in Company A begin with
that letter. The horses are well cared
for in stables which arc kept clean and
neat. The name of each trooper is
placed on his horse's manger, right
above the name of tho horjse. No pri
vate is allowed to take his steed from
the stable, unless it is in the line of
duty, without securing a permit from
the .commanding officer. Detroit Free
Press.
Thoso who keep a few pigs in
limited space will find that the weeds
from the garden and grass from the
lawn will prove a great part of their
keeping if properly used,
MISCELLANEOUS.
Of cabbages, cucumbers and
tur-
nips, the Londoner eats more than the
Parisian, but with the exception of
these, and also potatoes, onions and
tomatoes, Paris is much the largost
consumer of fruits and vegetables.
Soprano (in organ loft) "That
was a lovely solo our new basso gave
us." Tenor "Yes, rather. But ho
-
shouldn't play ball every day in the
week. It isn't right, vou know.
iltA
l u iiuu iu nuuw nuuii juu iih-uu.
Tenor "Well, that lovely basso is
catcher on week days and makes bass
hits on Sundays." Pittsburgh Bulletin.
It was his first visit to the city.
As he stood 011 the curbstone shaking his
sides with laughter he was accosted by
a policeman, who said: "What's tho
fun, stranger,?'1 "Fun! Can't you see
it? Just look how that thing (point
ing to a watering cart) leaks; why, the
man won't have a drop left when ho
gets home." Xew Haven Xews.
"A man in New York went before
a judge for naturalization. "What is
your nationality?" I don't know. I
wish you would tell me. My father
was an Englishman, my mother was a
Spaniard, and I was born at sea, on a
French ship flying a Dutch flag. I
want to become an American citizen
and make the rest of the voyage under
the Stars and Stripes."
President Willits, of the Agricul
tural College, of Michigan, while ho
disputes tho exerciso of a direct influ
ence of forests in promoting moisture
saying that all tho trees in the world
will not put it wharo it is not believes
that the moisture on the continent is
advancing toward tho west, and that
the planting of forests and increased
cultivation will cause the rainfall to
advance farther west every year. Seven
hundred thousand acres of forest have
already been plantcd4 in Nebraska; the
cottonwood and the willow first, and
then tho soft maple and the hard
woods.
Concerning lobsters, experts say
that young crustace ms have to be put
in the sea almost us soon as hatched,
and they begin to feed voraciously.
They are bora with sense enough to
know that lobsters raako delicious
food, and they attack one another sav
agely and hungrily. For a few days
W 1 Ij"h A " !"& mw m9 md"am t "
tkniwrimnnOiooii.K. itrtini.. Aoif
find the food suited to their earlv re-
quirements. Here their destruction is
enormous. In a few days the lobster s
walking or crawling members are de
veloped, and ho sinks to tho bottom,
where he makes his home.
In the vicarage garden at Evenly,
eays an English paper, is a lilac tree in
which a pair of robins built their nest.
A cat climbed tho tree and killed Mrs.
Kobin. Mr. ltobin, however, kept the
eggs warm by sitting on them for sev
eral days, but a lady who watched him
says that he used to go away some
where for long intervals, but not long
enough to let the eggs get cold. At
last he returned from one of his tours
with another Mrs. Robin, who immedi
ately took the place of the deceased
wife and in time hatched the eggs, and
behaved just as if they were her own.
ABOUT UMBRELLAS.
Srml-ClvllUrd CooatrlM Vtira They An
Considered Marks of Hoaor.
It certainly is strange that in almost
all nations and ir. all ages there should
have been this same singular jealous
rogal monopoly of so useful an object
as a portable sunshade, which was also
available as a protection against rain.
But so it has ever been, even in the j
highest civilizations of early ages. We
find it depicted on some of the most,
ancient sculptures of Pcrsepolis, and
also on thoe of Babylon and Nineveh,
but always as a distinctive mark of
honor for the great men and rulers.
The Assyrian bas-reliefs show slaves
holding a richly-ornamented umbrella
above -the head of the monarch, not
only in scenes of peace, but even in
time of war. It appears to be fringed
with tassels, and is provided on one
side with an embroidered curtain. In
these sculptures this mark of distinction
is reserved exclusively for the monarch,
and it never overshadows any other
person, however eminent. The same
thing is observed in the sculptures of
Babylon and Nineveh, in which the
King alone is thus distinguished. Of
tho ancient Mexican Emperors it is
likewise recorded that not only were
they borne by relays of great nobles,
but also that four more nobles of high
estate were appointed to uphold the
sacred umbrella which added dignity
to the imperial procession. Even in
the beginning of the present century
the Mohammedan rulers of Hindostan
claimed a monopoly of the use of the
sunshade, and no one was permitted to
carry an umbrella in the imperial
presence. Thus it is recorded that
certain English merchants having been
admitted to an audience with the King
of Delhi, the ladies who were of the
company were ordered to dispense
with their parasols, as being an in
fringement of the great Mogul's prero
gative So they had to protect their
heads as best they might from the sun's
burning rays by heaping on heavy
folds of drapery. The magnificence of
the Indian state umbrellas was amaz
ing. Some were of crimson velvet,
richly embroidered in gold, and the
heavy golden handles, which were
eight feet high, were incrusted with
diamonds. That of the Queen of Luck-
South Kensington Museum, is of blue
satin, embroidered with gold and seed ;
neurls.
Some were .of cloth of gold,
others only of gilt paper. Some were '
even covered with gay feathers, but all
had (or have) long handles, either oi
beautifully inlaid wood or precious
metals, or even of carved ivory. The
state umbrella of Indore , is shaped like
a mushroom. English Illustrated Mag-
atine. J
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
Pure iron can not b made perma
nently a magaet. but its magnetism
only lasts while u current of electricity
is circulating around it, and hence it is
called an electro-magnet.
Careful experiments have shown
t . .
that waste silk is the most effective ot
all non-conducting coverings for steam
pipes, and the demand for this purpose
, promises to bo great, notwithstanding
thn birh nriiw
Dr. C. Kellor,
of Zurich, claims
from careful observation of their
habite. that spiders by destroying
aphides and insects perform a very
important part in the preservation of
forests.
A London company is reported to
have secured patents for the chemical
production of aluminum, sodium ami
potassium; and to be able to manufact
ure aluminum at considerably less
than one shilling per pound.
It has been found in California
that a cold-air blast dries fruit in the
most satisfactory manner. Samples of
fruit dried in this way prunes, apri
cots and apples two years ago, are
still in a perfect state of preservation.
In preparing chocolate, the pow
der is made into a paste by grinding
between hot stones. Vanilla, cinna
mon and other spices, with a certain
amount of sugar, are added, and well
mixed with paste. While still hot,
this paste is put into molds to harden.
The new gas engine, known as the
silent engine, invented recently in En
gland, is coming into use on account o!
its simplicity of construction and ex
cellent results. It has an ignition at
every revolution, instead of at evory
two or three revolutions, as in the Otto
and other gas engines.
Tho deleterious effect of arsenic on
the skin was recently discussed in the
Pathological Society of London. It
seems that the skin is the tissue on
which arsenic has the most marked in
fluence, and the poison may spoil the
complexion instead of improving it,
by making it muddy and unsightly.
Tea drinkers will welcome a new
competitor in tho tea-markets of the
world. A few years ago an English
settler in Natal planted a few acres
there with tea. His first crop, pro-
l n.ifl 1 QQI n moiii4am h mniM
u,,uu " icra "" uu ui
I th:m 500 l,ounds' but the Production
has so increased since then that last
j year Natal put upon the market about
100,000 pounds of tea. The industry is
spreading rapidly, and it seems likely
that before long South Africa will be
come a serious rival to China and India
in this trade.
It has been proposed to do away
with the uso of explosives in mine
where their use is attended with dan
ger, and substitute the lately invented
cartridge one portion of which is filled
with a mixture of finely divided zinc
and zinc oxide, which collects in the
condensers of the zinc retort, while the
other part is filled with dilute sulphuric
acid. According to the requirement;
in this case, the cartridge is put in it
intended place, and then by suitable
mecnanism, me acta is aiiuwou iu uuv
into the zino. Hydrogen is then evolved,
and, by its expansive force, the rock i
broken down, without combustion 01
violent explosion.
THE MASCULINE HEAD.
A Hat Deafer Asserts That It Ia Growing
Larger la This Country.
"It is interesting," said a hat sales
man yesterday, "to notice how the
shape of a man's head gives away hi;
nationality."
"Can you tell where a man was born
by sizing up his head?"
"Certainly, but not before he trie
a hat. Americans have long, narrow
heads, and when an average American
comes in for a hat the chances are that
if it is long enough fore and aft it is too
wide at the sides. If it fits exactly at
the sides it has to be pulled out in
front. Now. with Germans it is the re
verse. The heads of Germans are wide
at the temples, and if the hat is the ex
act length, in nine cases out of ten it has
to be stretched sideways to fit."
"How about Englishmen's heads?'
"Englishmen's heads are not so pro
nounced in width. There is more of a
sliding scale with them as to relative
length and breadth. Irishmmen havs
oval heads and, they are generally
easily fitted.
"Some people with apparently small
heads require large hats, and others
who seem to have large heads wear a
small hat. A man may have a large
face, and yet the part which the hat
covers may be comparatively small.
Taken altogether, heads seem to be
growing larger. I have been thirty
years in business, and when I began to
sell hats the average size ranged from
6 to 7. Now the average is from 7 to
7J." X. Y. Telegram.
Thousands of Yfars Saved.
One may get some idea of what rail
ways mean in the saving of time and
money to passengers, by taking the
case of London. It is estimated that
about 500,000 persons, or about one
tenth of the population of the entire
area of the metropolis, require to travel
to and from their business every day
all the year round. If we remember
the distances, it is not too much to
assume that the railway will economize
for each at least two hours in the week,
or, say five days per annum each. This
over 500,000 of people means 2.500,000
days, or an economy of 8,300 years ot
300 working days each. Suppose thr
average earnings of these 500,000 peo-
Ple to m P81" annum each, not too
hiRa a, average when we remember
the number of millionaires included in
the total, we shall see a total money
saving, in the sense of time being
money, of equal to 830.000 per annum,
And this in Loadoa aione.t'Aaie'
journaL
ournai'
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