A DISGUISED ROBBER. A Man mo Refused to GIt Tern But Afterward Gave.Ten Dollar. "Any one who can.get a dollar of oMi KedPolder's money is on the road tm fortune," is a proverb well known to the citizens of Little Rock. Polder is! one of those men who are always cort-J plaining of hard times. He owns a. great deal of property, and raises his, rents every season, yet his income isj always unsatisfactory. Once a little' child, shivering with cold and almpst starving, found her way into old Ned Polder's office. "What do you want here, little girl; what do you want here?" "Won't you please give me ten cents. I am nearly starved." "Nearly starved. Why, where are your parents?" "Dead, sir." "That's bad; that's very bad, indeed, but I can't help it. We've all got to die, and the sooner the better for some of us. Tut, tut, don't cry. Run along, .now. It's pretty chilly to-day, but I think it will be warmer" to-morrow." "But I am so hungry, sir." "Yes, I understand. People get hun gry every nor and then. I was once hungry myself, but I hustled round and got something to eat. Don't give up, keep on trj-ing, and perhaps you may get something to eat after awhile, ph, no, I can't give you ten cents. Couldn't think about it, for my pew rent is due to-day, besides, I have been taxed with foreign mission business. That's right, run along and shut the door." Shortly after the little girl went down, & large man with bushy whiskers and fierce expression of countenance, en tered and, drawing up a chair without an invitation, sat down, crossed his. legs and said: "Is this Mr. Polder?" "Yes, sir, that's my name. Business with me? Please be brief, for I am in a !big hurry." ' "I won't detain you long. I havo beard that you are a man of rare judg jnent and that you have had much ex-' perience in thc'law. I want your ad-. Vice. Don't be impatient I won't de-' tain you long." "And I won't detain you at all, sir, if you'll be so kind as to excuse me." "You must hear what I have to say, for it concerns you financially." "Ah. proceed then, but bo brief, sir, be brief.s' "Several days ago, a man went into the oflice of a well-known gentleman and wanted to borrow five dollars. The gentleman hooted at the idea. The man who wanted the money did not' "hoot. He looked like an owl of wis dom, but not a single suggestion of a Loot escaped him. He fixed his eyes ion the gentleman, just like I am doing, and said that he must have the five dol lars. Now what I want to know is, did the man act rightly in killing the rich gentleman simply because he re fused to give the live dollarsP" "It was murder!" exclaimed Polder. "It was murder in the first degree." "That's what I thought, still I am not willing to risk my judgment in such matters. So you think that it was murder?" "Of course I do." "Yes, I think so, too, but, as I said be fore, I felt a reluctance in risking my own judgment. You may have noticed that the judgment of the average man is as full of holes as a sifter, or the hat which the rich cheerfully give to the poor. Murder well, considering everything, I suppose it was." "But, my dear sir, how.does it con cern me financially?" "In this way. Some man might en ter your oflice some half crazy fellow and demand five dollars. You might refuse, which I have no doubt you would be tempted to do, and he might kill you with a knife. You would re gard that murder, would you not?" "I I hardly understand you, sir," looking suspiciously at the visitor. "Of course I would regard it murder." "Yes, and quite naturally so, but does it occur to 3011 that all the time you were regarding this matter you .would be dead? It would be murder, and you would be the murdered man-" "1 don't think you have any business with me, sir, and you will please re tire." "I came up here with that intention. As I was ascending the steps which I noticed had not been swept for some time I said to myself, 41 expect to re tire from the presence of that man.' Yes. that is the way I mused. "But did you think that you would retire as soon as I requested?" "Strange,, but that did not enter my head. The human mind is a curious piece of machinery, full of odd cogs and little wheels that fly around and larger ones that labor like the editor of an agricultural paper. You under stand, 1 suppose." "Yes, but I do not understand the object of vour. vis.it." "No? Well, 1 said that it concerned you financially." "You said so, but I don't see that it does." "Now, you see, there's evidence of another mental phenomenon. I should think that a man of your brow, bulging with acumen and pressed hard by lore, would have divined the object of this pleasant visit. 1 want to borrow five dollars, and sav if anyone should come up here after 1 am gone if the police should be nosing around, don't mention the fact that I coinmittedmurderin the first degree because a man down in Texas refused to lend me five dollars. "What! you hesitate. A strange cbil1 seizes me. Haven't five dollars! Oh, well, that ten dollar note will answer. Thank you, sir. You tremble. Tw well. So, you see, the visit concerned you financially." When the man descended to the street, he removed his disguise and was talking to the Governor of the State when old Polder, pale and almost breathless, came down. " Did you see a man with bushy whis kers come along here?" "Yes," replfcd the robber. "He seemed to be in a great hurry. Unci Ned. I think he went down on the river bank. Did you wish to see him?" "No no not particularly. He was up in my office just now and wanted to 6ell me" some some hogs. But it makes no difference." "Little girl," said a man approaching the child who had begged for ten cents, and who had told her story in the pres ence of the robber, "come into this store. The man who refused to give you ten cents rave me ten dollars for you. He would have given it to you, but he hadn't the time. He is a very busy old gentleman. Come on, and when we have bought some warm clothes, we'll go over and get some thing to eat" "Oh, he's a good oldnnan, isn't he?" "Yes, he is such a good old man, little girl. But don't ask him for any more. It bothers him. Come on, and when you have had a nice dinner, you must go home with me." Arkansas Traveler. Queen Victoria rarely indulges in a joke, but she once gave a good hit at Sir Charles Dilke, who had Tittle sym pathy for the royal family. Some one 8oke disparagingly of Sir Charles ilke's criticisms of the civil list whereupon the Queen remarked: 'It is strange, for I remember having him as a boy on my knee and stroking Sua hair. I suppose," added Her Ma jesty, after a moment's pause, "I must pave'stroked it the wrong way. Good 'Gvur. THE FOES OF FISH. lBolrlc bj the Halted J State Hah CommiMlAi. I The recently issued bulletins of the "United States Fish Commission contain' much interesting matter concerning; ithe habits of fish and of the enemies of 3ish. A paper by G. E. Sims, Jr., de scribes a novel and unexpected enemy :to the pisciculturist, discovered among 'the weeds in his aquarium, in the shape of a fish-eating plant "My attention was first drawn to it," Mr. Simms says, "by observing that several of the tiny .fish, without any apparent cause, were lying dead on the weeds, while the rest of the brood looked perfectly healthy and in good condition. At first I was somewhat puzzled at the strange posi tion in which they were lying, and in trying to more one with" a small twig, I was still more surprised to find it was' held fast bv the head, in what I thought, when I pulled the plant from the wa ter, were the seed vessels; and a still closer examination revealed the strange fact that others of the little fish had been trapped by the tail, and in one or two instances the head and tail of the tune fish had been swallowed by adja cent bladders, thus forming with its body a connecting bar between the two. This is a plant known to botanists as Dricalaria vulgaris. A peculiar fact in connection with it is that it has no roots at any time of its life, and the floating, root-like branches which are , covered with numerous capillary anil much divided leaves are interspersed with tiny green vesicles, which were sup posed by a former school of botanists to bo filled with water, by which means the plant was kept at the bottom until the time of flowering, when the water gavo place to air, and the plant then rose to the surface to allow its bloom to expand. As a matter of fact, these vesicles exercised no such function, their real work being to entrap minute crustaceans, worms, larva?, etc., for its support and without a good supply of which it is impossible to keep it alive in an aquarium. bnakes and muskrats appear to bo chief among the enemies of the carp. Reports made by Rud. Hessel, Super intendent of the United Suites carp ponds, during August and September, 1883, are quoted to show the destruc tion of young carp by snakes. In this' report Mr. Hessel says: "During the East few dajrs a great many snakes ave appeared at the ponds, man' of which have been killed, as follows: August 4, 16 August 5, 82; August G, 52; August 7, 32; August 8, 39; August !. 14; August 10. 15; August 11, 21. This makes 221 snakes killed in one week. In the smaller snakes I found from nine to fifteen young carp, and in the larger ones sometimes over twenty five, besides undigested skeletons of fish. They contained no frogs or tad poles. We can, therefore, see that one medium-sized snake devours forty young carp per day, for they digest very quickly. That would make for 225 snakes 9,000 carp per day, and 63,- 000 per week. That number is correct; and it shows that snakes are more in jurious than cranes, herons and other birds. I kill them by shooting, some times only seeing a small part of the head in the water, or hiding beneath water plants. I have had opportunity to see how they catch the young fish, and how they devour them. An old wall constitutes their best hiding place. 1 often shoot them sitting in the cracks of the old wall, the head look ing outside, watching the poor little fishes." A paper by Dr. C. Hart Merriam on "The Muskrat as a Fish-eater," says: "At a meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, held in the National Museum December 14, 18S3, Mr. Hanry W. Elliott spoke of the 'Appetite of tho Muskrat' He stated that in certain parts of Ohio the muskrat did great in jury to carp ponds, not only by perfor ating the banks and dams and thus let ting off tho water, but also by actually capturing and devouring the carp, which is a sluggish fish, often remaining motionless, half buried in the mud. In the discussion that followed Dr. Ma son Graham Ellzey said that from boyhood he had been fa miliar with the fact that the musk rats sometimes cat fish. In fact, he had seen muskrats in the act of devouring fish that had been recently caught and left upon the bank. The president, Dr. Charles A. White, narrated a similar experience. On the 7th day of Febuary, 1884, I brought this subject to the notice of the Linnsean Society of New York, and asked if any of the members knew the muskrat to be a fish-eater. Dr. Edgar A. Mearns said that he had long been familiar with the fact, and that it was no uncommon thing to see a muskrat munching a dead fish upon the borders of the soft marshes along the Hudson. He had shot them while so engaged. In a letter dated Charlottesville, Va., March 18, 1884, Mr. R. T. W. Duke writes: "On Saturday evening J caught, with a hook, a carp which would weigh about four pounds. I put it in my bath-tub filled with ivater. Yesterday, about eight o'clock a. m., 1 put the carp in a small box, surrounded it with wet moss, and forwarded it to Lynchburg by express. It niched there about four p. m., and 1 learn this morn ing from my friend to whom it was sent that when taken out and placed in a tub it was as lively as could be. Wo ate a small carp Sunday morning, and thought it very good." The method frequently adopted by fish culturists to destroy noxious fishes is to introduce quicklime iulo the pond. This for a time exerts a very destructive influence, but before long becomes inert by slakiug and forming a harm less combination. If the water is drawn off af tor liming, of course it would bo very much better, and at the end of a week carp or any other fish could bo introduced. Dr. Rud. Hessel, Superin tendent of the carp pond, said, Novem ber 23, 1883: "Some forty eels have been killed during the last eight days in the East Pond, and there arc still more. One barrel of lime is required to exter minate them." Chicago Times. A Horrid Husband's Irony. "I see, dear, fiat you arc getting along well with your household duties," said a young husband to his wife, hold ing up a biscuit and looking at it critic ally. "Oh, goody," she exclaimed. "lam so glad you like the biscuit, George." "Yes, he replied, "you are getting along well; but," he continued, "allow me to offer a suggestion. Put some bar iron into your next batch of bis cuits. I have a lingering suspicion, dear, that.you used sheet iron this time, because you sec I can break this bis cuit easily over my knee. What tho American home-made biscuit most needs is real solid iron iron that you can depend upon, and the hotels will get all the trade, or men will begin to marrj wooden tobacco signs.' She called him a horrid thing, and they never speak now unless there is company present The cider mills of Maine are groan ing beneath their task, and the cider is flowing from the presses in great abundance. Many thousand bushels of apples, which in other years, when there was a paucity of fruit, would be valuable for sale in the markets, are being ground up forvinegar. Farmers say that they derive more profit from their fruit manufactured into vinegar than in any other way. Cider barrels are in treat demand, ami nmnv nn K Ing shipped to Maine from Boston. Wl MCTUH. AN INQUISITIVE POSTMASTER A Reporter's Adventure fa aa BUmfe PostoiHce His Experience as a Spring Poet Bouncer Comes in Good Play. A reporter was in a very small town, in Illinois one day this week. We were expecting a check from the editor, and consequently our footsteps were directed towarau the postoffice. Arriving at the office, which is in a little one-story frame building, we inquired, "Is there any mail for me?" forgetting to give our name. The postmaster eyed us for a second, then turned and glanced over a big package of letters; he found none, and then scrutinized another bundle. Again failing to find the expected letter, he turned towards the reporter andsur- I veyed him from head to foot t "Say, what's yer name?" he then in quired. , We told him and again he turned and carefully inspected the very same letters that he had only a moment before ex amined. Then he turned and queried; "Where's the letter to come from?' "Evansville," we answered. "Oh-o, so! Guess I'll find it, then." The same performance was again in dulged in, but without effect. He lazily laid the letters aside and asked us if we were any relation to the so and so's, that used to live in Rattan County, Kansas. We answered him in the neg ative. "Visiting here, I s'pose?" "Yes; is there any mail for me?" "What did yer say yer name wasP" We told him again, and he remarked that if the letter was there it came in on the morning train. "O, yes, that's so. I'll look over this bundle," and he extracted another from a pigeon hole. Evansville Evansville let's see, that village is in Ohio, ain't it?" "No, sir. It's in Indiana." "Small place, I guess, near Ft Wayne?" "No, sir. Southern part." "Near Posey County ? How's politics there?" "Hang politics! Is there a letter for me?" "O, letter? I'll sec," and he finished mmmaging over the package, and found one that he eyed for half a min ute ncai'lv. Just then a voice in the rear of the office yelled: "Chicken light. Bet a dollar on Jones' cock!" With the letter in hand the postmas ter made his exit through the baek door. We sat down and waited ten minute, then called in a passing boy and gave him a dime to go round the back way and call the government official. "Want to see me?" he mnocently in quired, coming to the window. "For heaven's sake, man, aro you crazv? I have been here an hour." "Want mail? What's yer name?" "Come outside, you danged stinker, and I'll show you." "O, you're the fellow that was stand ing here awhile ago?" "Arc vou going to give me my mail?" "Here is a letter." But before he gave it to us a young lady came in and the postmaster turned his attention to her. They chatted away for live or ten mimitcs, but our patience was gone. "Will you excuse me, mam? This in- fernal jraloot has been two hours hand- injr me that letter that he is holding in his hand!" "Letter? O, yes! Here it is." We grasped it eagerly and heavens, it was for Smith. "Sav, this letter isn't for me!" Thegirl tittered. "Isn't your name Smith?" This was too much. We remembered the many days we had acted as spring poet bouncer at the Argus oflice and jumped over the partition. The maiden tied, and then the matinee for gentle men only commenced. First one of that old party's heels would knock over a pile of "dead matter," then as ho sftvung around again another would knock over a lot of Congressional re ports that he was saving to sell for old paper, and about four hundred packages of garden seeds sent by Congressman Snags to his constituents in that county. Then his right arm would hit his date stamp and knock it so that it would strike his rau&lage bottle and carom onto the ink bottle and break both. Then another arm would go through the air and knock off a lot of circulars from the Henry College Lottery, and finally with a wild yell we picked him up and tired him through a back window, right through a bi poster of the Snags County District Fair that was acting in the place of glass. As we got on the train the next morn ing at St. Louis, we heard the newsboys yelling: "All about the bloody affair at Snagsville. Eight masked robbers at tack the postmaster, who shoots two and drives the others off. Object sup posed to be robbery!" We only smiled. We could afford to smile; we had succeeded in borrowing lift- cents of a friend in St. Louis to buy dinner with, and our pass was safe in our pocket Evansville Argus. NOVELTIES OF CHINESE TUME. COS- Nothing Fits Kzcept IIU Stockings, .Jackets and Caps. The principal feature about a China man's costume is the fact that nothing ever fits but his stockings. His cloth ing consits really, of three or four shirts, or garments made after the fashion of a shirt, each opening in front and having five buttons, a sacred number. These buttons are never in a straight row, but in a sort of semi-circle half around tho body. The outer garments have sleeves a foot longer than the arm, a fact which affords abundant opportunities for theft. A Chinaman's jackets are his ther mometer. He will say: "To-day is three jackets cold, and if it increases at this rate, to-morrow will be four or five jackets cold." Their shoes arc well known, and their caps are of three or four different forms. One they call the "watermelon cap," of tho shape of half a watermelon, having no front-piece, but instead, a knob on the ton bv which it is handled. The second is like a round top felt hat with the sides turned up, and others are of various shapes. The color of the knob on top of the hat is the sign of rank among mandarins. The lowest wear a gilt knob, then a white stone, a clear crystal, a pale blue stone, a deep blue, a pale red and a deep red, in order of rank. Yellow may only be worn by the Emperor'sfamily.but as a mark of respect to age, men'ovcr sixty years by special edicts arc allowed to wear yel low, this always entitling them to great consideration among all classes. The dude pantaloon probably origin ated among the Chinese, for, from the dawn of history, on state occasions, officials and dressy persons will wear a sort of pantaloon, fitting as tightly as possible to the leg and each leg being entirely separate from its fellow. These trousers are of silk or satin, and the legs are held in place by being fastened to a waistband or belt around the body. On the approach of cold weather the Chi nese increase the number of their gar ments, until sometimes tfcey are like animated bales of cotton, their arms being forced into a nearly horizontal position; nor do they take off their masses of clothing until the return of Bprinsr. St. Louis Globe Democrat. There are rumors of several large engineering enterprises as likely to be brought to the attention of manufactur ers during the winter, and a large amdunt of railroad building is projected. Railway Review. FABLED MONSTERS. Wonderful Stories Told or Serpents with Iecs and Lions with Snake Tails. At what period fancy began its work in zoology is a question which is dis creetly avoided or acknowledged a puz zle by those writers who have diligently delved through the records of all people for traces of fabulous denizens of the earth, the sea and the air. That fasci nating terror of the nursery, the fiery dragon, it is agreed, is probably the de generate offspring of the awful ichthyo sauri and plesiosauri of prehistoric ages. Chiseled on the earliest stone monuments of Egypt and Assyria and India exact representations are found of the dragon which St George over came in a mighty battle, and which the annals of Winchester say existed in England in such numbers in 1177 as to be a great danger and scourge Diodorus saw one which was sixty feet long, brought to Alexandria by a slave to please Ptolemy II. St Mich ael's dragon the Monkish Chronicle says, was much larger than this. Marco Polojsays he saw a roc whose outstretched wings measured sixteen paces from tip to tip. Not to be outdone by the latter, that adventurous Englishman, Sir John Mandeville, relates that he beheld one in the Chinese seas which was, beside Polo's like a hawk to a sparrow. El Wsrdee, the Persian, writes that upon an island, in an unnamed sea, there was in hi3 time a roc's egg 100 cubits high, a firm, white, glistening dome, big enough to serve as shelter for an army. An island in the Chinese sea was marked out as the home of theso great birds. Of all fabled birds the most interest ing was the phoenix. This is a beauti ful legend, a yearning, it has been elo quently said, for a visible sign of im mortality. St. Cyril wrote: "God knows man's unbelief and provides the phcenix as an emblem of the resurrec tion." Clement said this bird goes to the land of Egypt once in 500 years, not to the desert" but to a notable city, to show forth the resurrection, that as the Lord was killed and rose again, so the phcenix immolates itself in a lire of hemlock boughs, and from its ashes comes a world which straightway grows into the bird of golden plumage with a purple body. The polished literature of the Latins from its birth until its im mersion in the fogs of the Dark Ages, glows with the description of the phce nix as a reality. Pliny knew the bird well. The populace believed in it. The brave Manlius rose in the Senate to mourn the denarturo of a phcenix which had resided near his house for five hun dred years. Among other Hying crea tures "which existed in the popular be lief of the Latins were the Hying pig, an enormous hog with an appetite that ravaged the growing crops of Ilcrzo mernc; and the gritlin, a lion with an eagle's head and wings. Sir Jolm Man deville saw a grilliu lly into a field and carry off a yoke of oxen. The Romans firmly believed in the satyr. Pliny said they lived in India; Albcrtus Magnus, that they inhabited the woods of Sax ony; another writer that their home was in the Atlas Mountains, and another that the were to be found in what is now Little Russia. There is no record that a satyr was ever seen alive. Al bertus Magnus, however, wrote that he once saw a satyr pickled in brine at Alexandria, where thePtoJemys reigned and collected such curiosities. imagination has sounded the myste rious "depths of the ocean and brought up the terrible krlrKen or kraxen. There are thousands of Norwegian fishermen, it is said, to whom this monster is no fable. They can tell its presence by the water rising when it rises to the surface in warm weather. Bishop Poutlapidan's kraken measured a mile and a half across its back, and its arms were as long as the masts of a man-of-war. Though the fear it has inspired has ex aggerated its size, there is good reason to believe that the kraken, which is doubtless the great cuttle-fish, grows to an enormous size. In the ago of the Crusaders dwellers on the coast of the Mediterranean be lieved in the zitiron, a iSh with its head and breast clad in steel armor. Tho Arabians had the zedmsus, a fish so big that its bones were sawed into planks. The pretty fable of the mermaid and the siren is slow in dying. Less than fifty years ago the people "bf the country for miles around swarmed to a little sea port in the south of England at a rumor that a mermaid had been seen sitting on a rock combing its luxuriant locks in the moonlight. The sea satyr and the tri ton were familiar beliefs with the an cients. About two hundred years ago one of the latter was alleged to have been captured oil" the coast of Portugal in the very act of blowing his conch. Barnacle geese was a curious and strong belief in the Middle Ages. Sir John Mandeville did not omit to state that he had seen the diminutive goliugs dropped from the shell of the mussel. Within a comparatively short period a letter ap peared in an English newspaper rela ting how a barnacle goose, grown to a great size, had swallowed a full-rigged ship and all on board save the writer. N. Y. Star. Two Very Smart Cats. We hope none of our readers, who pride themselves on their skill as fisher men, will indulge feelings 4 jealousy on reading the following story of a cat that belongs to a lady in Vermont: A few mornings since she was called to the front door of the house by the strange actions of tabby, and discov ered an eel over two feet in length on the steps. After a few words of aston ishment and approbation from her mis tress, the old cat started for the brook again, and soon arrived -with anotfier, but smaller, eel. A third journey to the brook was made, and a large dace was brought back. Hardly a day passes but the eat brings in one or more fish. Another Windsor cat has dovelopcd a singular method of hunting birds. Thomas climbs a certain tree and seats himself on a limb overhanging another, at a place where the way to the ground is clear of branches and boughs. If a bird happens to light on the lower branch, Sir Thomas makes a dive and catches the bird in his month on tho way to the ground, and dines at his leisure. His movements have been watched several times, and he has not yet been known to miss his prey. Ho invariably catches the bird in his mouth while making the Hying trip. Vermont Journal. A Woman's Nature. I think I have several times alluded to the very curious kind of thin"- wom an is. I came across a French play which illustrates one phase of the fe male nature most amusingly. A voun man has run away to escape a woman he has been flirting with. He is makin love to a fresh flame, when the deserted! one hunts him up. After a few bitter reproaches she says: "Henry, darling, I love you. You know it " I have never hidden it from you. Perhaps you have not returned it. But mine is no selfish love. Tell me that you love another, and I will say no more. Tell me frankly you do not love me, and I will leave you without a mur mur." "Well," says the youth, frankly, "I do not love you." Then she proceeds immediately to tear all his hair out, and leaves him on the floor a battered wreck. San Fran cisco Chronicle. About 10,000 Jewish immigrant land at our ports yearly, and they hrd been coming at that rate for ten jeaiaw AN OXFORD PROCTOR. Tho Origin of the Term "Plucked" as As pHrtl to I-Viilure in lixamlniitlon. Picture to yourself a gentleman be tween thirty-nine and fifty years of age, dressed in a black gown, with ample velvet sleeves edged with wasp color, and white bands (such as cler gymen were wont to wear) depending from his throat, and vou will have some 1 idea of the external appearance of an j Oxford proctor. I His dress is symbolic. Tho black j gown represents the public ceremonies in which he takes part; the white bund j denote-the solemnity of hisoflko; while the velvet sleeves express the softness of his manners, and the wasp-colored ' border suggests the sting that lurks be- , ncath. I lu dignity he ranks next only to the j vice chancellor: he walks second in the j procession of magnates wkich files into ' St. Mary's Church every Sunday to hear the University sermon; he receives the names and fees of candidates for the public examinations, and plays a conspicuous and highly amusing part in the ceremony of conferring degrees. After each batch of new-made graduates have had a Latin iucautation mumbled over them by the vice chancellor, two proctors in the presence not only of university oflicials and students, but also of any outsider who chooses to look on sheepishly stride up the long room and back again without saying or doing anything. At first there is an attempt at solemnity in their gait, but after the senseless exercise has been re peated two or three times they look, as they doubtless feel, thoroughly wretched; the effort to appear dignified and the desire to get it over as soon as possible combine to produce one of the most comical effects ever seen. The reason for this absurd perform ance is not fair to seek. In ancient days any tradesman who had money owing him from an undergraduate might arrest the proctor's course by plucking his sleeve, and so prevent the defaulter from taking his degree till his debt had been discharged. Few people know that this is the real origin of the term "plucked," as applied to failure in examination. But this is by no means the only oc casion on which the proctor has to go on duty. It is a sad fact that this splendid dignitary, with his velvet sleeves and snow-white bands, is com pelled to prowl about the streets by night, fulfilling the functions of a policeman. He is supported by three stalwart fellows in plain clothes, whoso official title is "proctor's men," but who are popularly known as "bull dogs." CasseWs Family Magazine. CARRYING BUNDLES. An Interesting Collection of Anecdotes, Including One of Longfellow. In the matter of carrying bundles: A gentleman td threescore years a millionaire was once clerk in a book store, and tells this story of the late Jonathan Phillips, who came into the store one morning and purchased a book. After doing it up, the clerk said: "Mr. Phillips, I will scud this to your house." "No," said he; "young man, I will tell you a secret. When vou get to be as old as I am you will learn that the most independent man is he who is his own servant" It is re lated of Dr. Parkman the same who was murdered that whenever he bought a leg of mutton he carried it home himself. On being asked why he did this, he said "he wanted to be sure of the one he had picked out" There is somewhere a dictum of Lord Eldon, the famous English lawyer and judge, that a lawyer might carry a green bag or a fresh fish through the streets. The latter perhaps for the same reason that Dr. Parkman carried his mutton. But query, whether this would be good law in Beacon street? An eminent ex judge of Massachusetts, who was born in the country, returning to Boston with a class-mate from a short jour ney, kindly carried the portmanteau ol the latter through the streets in order to save his feelings in case they should (meet any Bostonese of his acquaint .auce. This was almost half a century 'ago. To-day so many men, women and children are rushing about with bundles to reach the cars that even an undergraduate of Harvard might not be ruined if seen with a portmanteau especially one made of alligator skin. 'Whether the polite public would tol erate a fresh fish or a leg of mutton is "doubtful. Perhaps some of our rcad ers may remember the horror ex. pressed by an English traveler at see iing President Lincoln with a parcel in 'his hand. That such a man could suc ceed in the war then raging the Eng lishman could not believe. That wflj 'do for bundles. And this ex- iression reminds us of a little story re ated of Mr. Longfellow. A Parisian once remarked to him that there was one American word that he never could understand or find in any dic tionary. "What is it?" inquired the poet, "lhateldo," was the reply. "J never heard of the word," said Long fellow. Presently a servant came in to replenish the fire. After putting on a little fuel Longfellow remarked to him: "That will do." "Ha!" ex claimed the Frenchman, "that is the very woKd which has puzzled me." Boston Every Other Saturday. "Shakel" Some years ago an emigrant from the United States kept a small restaur ant in a town situated in one of tho great stock-raising districts of South Australia. Ho was presumably the only Yankee in those parts. There was an enormously rich old stockman who came into town from his lordly cattle range at intervals, whose nationality was a matter of doubt, though he usually passed for a taciturn and un communicative bachelor Scotchman. One day this wealthy but solitary old chap entered the restaurant of the mau from the States. When he left he looked hard at the proprietor, and then simply remarked: "American, aren't you?" On being answered in the affirmative the millionaire cow-puncher walked away without another word. Regularly once a week he reappeared, silently ate a hasty lunch, and made the same stereotyped inquiry, receiving the same emphatic, "Yes, siree!" in re ply. At last there came a time when the eccentric old customer did not re turn. One month went by two. At last a wagon stopped at the door, and the old fellow, pale and wasted with sickness, was helped out and supported into tho saloon. He called for his usual steak -with a weak but dogged determi nation, ate a morsel and then tottered up to the counter. As he paid his bill he whispered, hoarsely: "American, aren't you?" "You bet" replied the proprietor, pleasantly. Stretching out his shaking hand, the odd customer said: "Shake! So am I." Then he tottered away without an other word. Three days afterwards a lawyer came into our young country man's place and told him that the queer old guy out on the Thompson range had died and left him a cool $1,000,000. San Francisco PotL m m New photograph albums have sil ver legs and a cover that automatically becomes an easel that holds up the pages one by one. MISCELLANEOUS. A Sardinia, (Pa.) physician has taken forty-six needles out of the arms of Mrs. Srfi'ley. She don't know how they came there. It is said by an authority that in stead of being lean and lank as hereto fore, American women aro round aud buxom. growing In Germany a man dare not cut down the trees on his own land without consent of the proper authorities, so zealous is the Government In preserving the forests. A recent estimate, made by moans or a very intricato testing apparatus, places the rate at which an electric dot travels over a telegraph wire at 16,000 miles per second. A wonderful chasm has recently been discovered in San Luis, Obispo . County, California. An adventurous ex plorer was lowered into it to the depth of 4,000 feet without finding any bottom. The sides of the chasm are covered with ruaguilicent cream-colored stalactite. San Francisco Call. A very simple plan for a street rail road has been devised by Dr. H. G. Davis, of Newton, Mass., by which a track and pavement can be put down at about one-half the present cost, aud yet be more durable; it will also save a large percentage in repairs. Boston Post Richard Hoodum, a poor mau who resides in Westmoreland County, on the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, found a package of money three years ago. He advertised it, but it was never called for, and a few days since he opened and appropriated it Tho amount is said to be about $25,000. Pittsburgh Post. A young lady, recently "ouK" at tended her first wedding the other day. On goiu up to congratulate the bride, her mind became somewhat confused, and having been at a birthday party the day before she could think of nothing better to say than to wish the blushing young matron "many happy returns of the day." And then she wondered why the newly-made husband looked so sour as she passed on. Chicaqo Rambler. One of the most remarkable arti cles for export ever dispatched for scientific purposes from any country is, without doubt, says Nature, the "con signment which lately left Norway for Germany. It consisted of fifty-two skeletons of Lapps, which had during the summer been unearthed at Utsjok, iu Russian Lapland, and which an en terprising dealer of Vardo sold to vari ous museums and societies on the conti nent at the price of $30 apiece. Hithey.o it has puzzled eminent surgeons to account for sudden death caused by apparently inadequate wounds in the heart, such as those made by the prick, without penetration even, of a needle. Herr Schmey, a student of the Physiological Institute, Berlin, has, however, just discovered that when a needle pricks a certain small spot on the lower border of tho upper third of tiic septum cordis quite instantaneously the movements of the heart are arrested and forever set motionless in death. Figures are wonderful things. Here ! a sample of what can be done with thi-.n: By placing one grain of corn on the first square of a clicks board, doubling the number of grains for each succeeding square, the quantity of corn w uir'-d for the whole boardof sixty ft :r squares would fill 1,844,375 barns, each holding 1,000,000 bushels of 100,000 grains each, bushels round numbers. If the United States grows 1,800,000,000 bushels each year, it would require a little over 550 years to make enough. Chicago Herald. When a Chinese boy is one month old his head is shaved and a bladder is drawn over it, and as his head arrows the bladder bursts and the queue sprouts forth. The first shave is made the occasion of a magnificent banquet, and the guests are expected to make the host a handsome present iu coin for the newly-shaven baby, with which a bank account is started to his credit. This is the most pleasant feature of the affair for the baby, as the razor always pulls, and he can not take part iu the" feast Chicugo Times. m a m An Approaching Star. One of the most beautiful of all stars In the heavens is Arcturus, in tho con stellation Bootes. In January last the astronomer royal commuuicated to the Royal Astronomical Society a tabulated statement of the results of the observa tions made at Greenwich during 1883 in applying the methods of Dr. Higgins for measuring the approach and reces sion of the so-called fixed stars in direct line. Nearly two hundred of these ob servations are thus recorded, twenty one of which were devoted to Arcturus, and were made from March 30 to Au gust 24. The result shows that this bril liant sinctillating star is moving rapidly toward us with a velocity of more than fifty miles per second (the mean of the twenty-one observations is 50.78). This amounts to about 8,000 m& per min ute, 180,000 per hour, 4,320,000 miles per day. Will this approach continue, or will the star appear stationary and then recede? If the motion is orbital, the latter will occur. There is, how ever, nothing in the rates observed to indicate any such orbital motion, and as the observations extended over five months, this has some weight Still it might be traveling in a migiJty orbit 0 many years' duration, tho bending 0 which may, in time, be indicated by 9. retardation of the rate of approach, then by no perceptible movement either toward or away from us, and this fol lowed by a recession equal to its pre vious approach. If, on the other hand, the four and a half millions of miles a day continue, the star must become vis ibly brighter to posterity in spite of the enormous magnitude of cosmical dis tances. Our eighty-one-ton gnns drive forth their projectiles with a maximum velocity of fourteen hundred feet per second. Arcturus is approaching us with a speed that is two hundred times greater than this. It thus moves over a distance equal to that between tho earth and the sun in twenty-one days. Our present distance from Arcturus w estimated at i,ozs,uw times mis. Therefore, if the star continues to ap proach us at the same rate as measured last year, it will have completed th whofe of its journey toward us in 93, 000 years. Gentleman'' s Magazine. The Clock in Trinity's Tower. The clock in Trinity Church tower ia this city is the heaviest in America. Tho frame stands nine feet longr, five feet high and three feet wide. The main wheels are thirty inches in diameter. There are three wheels in the time train and tiirec each in the strike and the chime. The winding wheels are formed of solid castings thirty inches in diam eter aud two inches thick, and are driven by a "pinion and arbor." On this arbor is placed a jack, or another wheel, pin ion aud crank, and it takes 850 turns of this crank to wind each weight up. It requires 700 feet of three inch rope for the three cords, and over an hour for two men to wind the clock, The pen dulum is eighteen feet long, and oscil lates twenty-live times a minute. The dials are eight feet in diameter, although the' look little more than half that ze from Broadway. The three weights are about eight hundred, twelve hundred and fifteen hundred pounds respectively. A large box is placed at the bottom of the well that holds about a bale of cotton waste, so that if a cord should break the eotton would zhtck the ceucussioo. 8ciintifio 'American. OF GENERAL INTEREST. Young lady physicians are multi plying in Germany. An elephant herd is always led by a female, never by a male. A ranchman in Texax owns six thousand horses. Chicago Herald. Carrots, turnips and cabbages arc the only vegetables that can be raised in Greenland. The demand for nankin rings made of wood grown at Walter Scott's home, Abbottsford, is proving a great drain on the forests of Maine. A country road near Dublin is s'owly burning up. of peat, and a lire ing it up, burning It was constructed is gradually eat trees out by the roots. At Charlotte, N. C, is a fountiin which sends a stream two hundred aud sixty-eight feet high, icy cold and vicar ai crystal. It has its source in the adjacent mountains, aud is said to be tho highest in the world. Fifty thousand tous of soot are taken from Loudon chimneys every year, and it is subasqucntlvput to good use as manure about one thousand pounds to the acre the value bu:ng Bet at forty-one thousand pounds. A lady of Wood River. Idaho, while preparing potatoes for dinner the other day, found flakes of gold in the water. The gold was assayed, the value being fifteen cents. The settlement is now anxious to know where the-e potatoes were raised, but 10 oneseemtokuow. Chicago Times. A deaf family in New Hampshire has been traced back to the fourteenth century in England, and in all that time has regularly shown a succession of deaf mutes. In Maine there is a family in which there are ninety-five deaf mutes, all of them connected by blood or marriage. Boston Globe. "Of all tho watering places com mend me to Prymont Fratilcin Schultze, from B:Tlin, came here suf- lenng lrom a severe attack 0: mipecu niosity, and in three week she was jvr fectly cured." "By drinkinir the waters?" "No; by a wealthy Anvr". can, whom sho is going to marrv." Der Ulk. The people of England and Scot land are, remarks the Sjicclator, multi plying so fast that pessimists may wel be excused for feeling some anxiety as to the future. The population of the kingdom, which in 1815 was 15,(1-0.000, is now 30,000,000 that is to say, it has grown more in the hist seventy years than in all the untold ages of the pre vious past. Fat people have now their choice between foursystems. 1. The original Banting, which consists of eating noth ing containing starch, sugar or f.st. 2. The German iJautiiig, which allows fat, but forbids sugar or starch. .'. A Mu nich system, which co:-its in bei::r lothed in wool, and sleeping in llaim.-l blankets instead of sheets. 4. Not eat injj and drinking at the same time. A traveler in England writes from the celebrated Muifby .Junction (Rug by), satirized by Dickens, that the rail way refreshments are as bad a ever they conld have been. Whih flirting with the barmaid at the station he wrote his name with date o: tin- lid of a pork pie. Three months aftfr, com ing that way, he saw the autograph still there on the same refreshment Queen Margherita of Italy is mak ing an effort to revive the making of Venetian point lace. She h:is estab lished a school, from which the gradu ates go out to teach to others the mys teries of the craft. Already there aro four thousand pupils, all at work, and thirty-four varieties of point are turned out Only by the color, it is said, may the new product be distinguished from the antique lace. Between Damascus and Jerusalem is said to be a tribe of about three thousand Israelites, who have probably been there since the beginning of the Christian era. They have neither city nor town, but live in tents, and speak the Hebrew language among them selves, but Use the Arabian with strangers. They have remained, like the primitive races, exclusively tillers of the soil and warriors. They go armed from head to foot "Ferdinand, my love, why, do you sit so far from me this evening?" she anxiously inquired. He was silent and remained sitting at the opposite end of the sofa. Again she spoke. Again he was silent, hesitated, and finally mur mured: "Isabel, my dear, I blush to tell it, but I have been eating onions to day." "You darling!" exclaimed the lovely girl, with a look of glad surpriso illuminating her face as she sprang close to his side, "so have I!" Lowell Citizen. In 1827 Charles Babbage superin tended the printing of a set of trigono metrical tables for the ordnance survey of England and Ireland. Only thirty copies were printed. The tables con tained six millions of figures. They were prepared and corrected with the utmost care, and when completed were hung up in the hall at Cambridge Uni versity and a reward offered to any one who could find an inaccuracy. Since their first issue in 1827 no error has been discovered, and it may rea sonably be concluded that they are ab solutely correct. A young medical student named luttrell, 01 Mississippi, nas been ren dered temporarily insane by the sights in the dissecting-room of the Vander bilt Medical College at Nashville. He was found bv the police wandering about the streets, gesticulating wildly. He said to an officer: "It weakened mv stomach. I can't stand it I can't be" a doctor. Oh, horrors! to think that thev should know I could not live, and want me to sell them my body for dissection before I died. Nev er, I will go home to Mississippi if I have to walk. Heaven help me. I am mad." St.Lotiis Globe. Silver mines never die. From the days of Cortez, in 1521, down to the beginning of this century, and even to the present time, except when inter rupted by revolution, the Mexican silver mines have poured forth an un ceasing stream of silver, such as the world bas never seen. It is estimated that the value of the silver coin and bullion of the countrv since the con quest is over $30,000,000,000, and it is well-known that some of the mines have been profitably workod almost without interruption from that time to this, and that one of them at least is still running out silver at the rate of $5,000,000 a year. California has yielded about $1,100,000,000 of gold and silver. Nevada has turned out something like $300,000,000 possibly more. Cliicago Times. A New Gunpowder. For a time it looked as if other ex plosives were to take tho place of gun powder, but now it seems an improve ment in the composition of the latter has given it vastly more power. The improved powder is now used alto gether in Krupp's famous gun factory in Germany. One seventh in bulk of this powder gives as much projectilo force as an ordinary charge of the old gunpowder; the smoke is less dense, and clears up quicker. It burns more slowly at iirst, but gains intensity at the final explosion. Lieutenant Day, of this country, has an equally good powder that is called "coeoa powder," because its color is like onocolate. Mankind are not only adding to their stock of terrible explosives, hut are also improving the older inventions. DemoresCs Monthly, GO TO A. & I. TURNER'S BOOK AND MUSIC STORE -FOIt THE- BEST 2 GOODS AT- The Lowest Prices! CONSULT THE FOLLOWING ALPHA BETICAL LIST. AI,I!i;:VlN, Arithnttftif). Arnold's Ink (genuine). Algebra?, Autograph Al bums, Alphabet It ocks.Author's drill, Arki, Accordeons, Abstract I.eal Cap. BUUIlES,Basket.n.-lvTovs,looks, Kiblcs, Hells for I ov, "Blank Hook. Itlrtnday Cards. Basket Hu-mies. boy's Tool-chests, Halls, Banker's Cases boy's AVaj,'ons. Sleds and Wheelbar rows, Butcher Book. Brass-edired Ba lers, Bill -hooks, Book Straps. Base Balls aud Bats. CAZVEMEM, Cards. Calling Cards. Card Cases Combs, Comb iVo, Ctear Ca ses, Checker Boards, Children'. Chairs, Cups and Saucers Tancv) Circulating Library, Collar and Cult Boxes, Copv Book.s, Christmas Cirds, Chinese Tovs", Craj ons, Checkers, t 'lic.ujen, Croquej set. DOMKK'rit: einic .Machine, Draw ing Paper. Dressing Cases, Drums, Diaries. Drafts in books, Dolls. Drcsed Dolls, Dominoes. Drawing books. KVEI.IK, Kk-mentary school books, Erasers (blackboard)", Erasers (rubber). I-'ICri'lOrV Books, Floral tuture polish. 11:iiii, Fur- jiieA.Ta.HAICS, Geographic, (ieome tries.Olove boxes, to Oiuis.Uwoscopes (to illustrate the laws of motion). lUHl'KK'.oi Keuil.Ts. handsome Holi day gitts, Iluiiu-viassr, Hobby-horses, HanU-satcheN. Histories. l.'KM, (all good kinds and colors). Ink stands (common and fancy). J i:VKI. Cases, Jeiv harp. KIICSS of ink. Kitchen sets. I KliI-:M. Ledger paper. Legal cap, Lunch baskets. Looking-ilas-es JIA.M .t II imliu Drir.ni, Jiairnet, 31u.sic boxes, Jlairainc. Mustache cups, .Mouth organs. Memorandum, Music books. Music holder. Machine oil. Mats, Moderator record. Muci laire. Microscopes. EKUI.frX for sewini paper. urichinc. N'ote OltWAZVS, Oil for sewing machine. Organ stools. Organ seat. PERIODICA E.N. Pictures, blocks, Presents, Picture book Pen, Papetnes. Pencils, pur- Puzzle Piano-, es. Pol. , Paper ish for fm mture, Painp'ilct case. cuiiers. rajier iatein-r. ri-tiire puz zle, Picture trames. Pocket books, Pertumery and Pertumerv cases, Paper racks, Pencil holders. lti:WAKI her dolls. cards, Itubber balls, Bub- SCHOOL books, Sewing stands, School Satchels, Slates, Stereoscopes and pic tures, Scrap books. Scrap pictures. Sewing machine needles. Scholar's com panions, Specie purses. Singing toy canaries, Sleds for boys. Shawl straps", Shell goods. 1'KI.i:iCOIS:S. Toys of all kinds, children's Trunks, Thermometers, Tooth brushes (folding), Tea sets for girls. Tool chests for boys, Ten-pin sets lor boys, Tooth picks, Tin toy. YIOIjIAS and strings, Vases. tVOODHRIIMiil-: Organs, Work bas kets, Waste basket. Whips (with case), Webster's dictionaries, Weather glasses, Work hoxe. Whips for boys. Wagons for boys, What-nots, Wood'en tooth picks. Ebuth Street, "Journal" Builik Cures Guaranteed! DR. WARN'S SPECIFIC No. 1. A Certain Cure for Nervous Debility, Seminal Weakness, Involuntary Kmis sions, Spermatorrhea, anil all diseases of the genito-urinary organs caused by self abu.se or over indulgence. Price, ?l 00 per box, six boxes $."i.uo. DR- "WARNS SPECIFIC No. 2. For Epileptic Fits, Mental Anxiety, Loss of Memory, Softening of the lirain, and all those diseases of the brain. Pne 51.00 per box, six boxes $."i.00. DR. WARN'S SPECIFIC No. 3. For Impotence, Sterility in either sex, Loss of Power, premature old age, and all those diseases requiring a thorough in vigorating of the sexual organs. Price $i00 per box, six boxes $!0.00. DR. "WARN'S SPECIFIC No. 4. For Headache, Nervous Neuralgia, and all acute diseases of the nervous srtem. Price ."0c per box, six boxes $."0. " DR. 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Wakefulness, Mental Vo proMion. 8of tonirnr of tho Brain resulting in m Banity and leadinc to misery, decay and death. lrematuro Old Aro. Barrenness, Loea of power in either scr. Involuntary Losses and fa'perrnat orrheca caused byovor-osertion of tho brain. Bell abuse or over-indulgence Each box contains ono month's treatment. $toTOabox,orBir boza Cor$W. cent by mail prepauln receipt of pneo. WE GUARAXTEE SIX BOXES To care any caso. With each order received byna for six boxes, accompanied with $5X0, wo will send tho purchaser our written Bo&ranteo to ro fundtao money if tho treatment doca not euecl euro. Guarantees issued only by JOHN O. WEST & CO., 862 W. MADISON ST., CHICAGO, ILLS., Sole Prop's West's Liver Pills. S500 REWARD! VgwUlpTtS(iitird foraar cof liw Con pMal PjipiU, Sick Htadic2ia.lndJfMUiK, Ccsulptioa or CottWratt wf csnsot can with Wcit'i V.gtU&! Liver PU1 whta th tflnc Uousre itrlctly cosplkd wfeh. They r partly TrgtU&I,ai MTtr&Il to cir utiibctloa. Snjr Coated. Luj boin,coa Ulalaf 20 fillets ccnti. r ul by all drcRliu. Duel tocrUr&lU aad '"''"" Th ftamina Buobctortd onlr by JOHJf C. WEST CO., 1S1 A 1S3 W. VaJboa St. Clucica. tat MU fUktgt atat mtll prtpakloa race;! of 3 cut MS9 WIN k more money than at anything else by taking an agency for best selling dook out. ue- ginners succeed grandly. -oue ian. Terms Tree. Hallktt Hook Co.. Port land, .Maine. 4-32-T k 4-. j