Where Dun the Italn Come From?
-HEnE does all the ruin come from?
WFrom the clouds, you sayT Yes;
.mmmmmt I'ut that doesn't go very far.
bgV-fcj What are clouds? Think a bit.
iVivVJ Have you ever seen anything
close at hand which look like a cloud? Of
course you have. There is the steam that
cornea out of the spout of the kettle or out
of the funnel of a locomotive. Yes, that Is
cloud, and it Is exactly the gamo thing that
you see up In the sky on a rainy day.
It may seom a funny thing; to say, hut a
cloud is simply water dust. Watch the
puffs of steam coming: out of the engine,
and you will notice that quite close to the
funnel you see nothing at all. It is only a
few inches away from the mouth that it be
gins to look cloudy.
The steam or water vapor, which Is made
in the boiler of the locomotive you can not
See. It is as clear and Invisible as air it
self. But the moment the steam gets out
Bide Into the cold air It begins to cool. The
tiny little Invisible particles of which it Is
composed. Join together Into larger ones,
Which are still very small, but largo enough
for you to see, and so you get the milky
wnlte looking thing we call cloud.
Now, I want you to notice another thing.
When the cloud from the kettle has floated
a lltOo way it begins to disappear again.
That is because the heat of the kitchen
changes the water dust back into true
steam or vapor. The vapor is still there,
but you can't pee It.
If you made the kitchen very hot and
went on boiling kettles all day long, the
air would gat very moist Indeed, but you
would not see the moisture except on the
wails. But if you suddenly opened the
window and let in the cold air, the kitchen
would get quite cloudy.
There is one way in which we boil waJer
alt day long, and that Is In our own bodies.
Have you ever noticed on a cold winter's
day the cloud that your breath makes right
in front of your nose? That is because our
breath has so much water vapor or steam in
it. This steam Is made by the heating of
our blood, which is chiefly water, in our
bodies, which are full of little fireplaces,
of which I will tell you another time.
Tw Little mmplei,
Two little dimples went out to look
For snug little places to hide.
They thought that they never could find a
nook.
Till dear Minny Apples they spied!
Then down these two
Little dimples flew.
Till each was lodged In a cheek.
Arid for years they've tried
But they cannot hide.
For when Minny laughs out they peek.
$
How Little Java Play.
In Japan the boys and girls have many
holidays.
The favorite holiday sport for both boys
and men is kiteflying. Their kites are very
gorgeous and very large, many of them,
soma of them being as big as two doors
put together. These huge ones, of course,
it takes several men to raise and fly.
And they are in all sorts of wonderful
shapes birds with outspread wings, flow
ers, butterflies and hideous ogres.
Then, too, the boys have just a simple
square kite with a picture of some favorite
military or naval hero pasted on it.
The boys like to wage kite battles with
one another.
The way they do this Is by pasting bits
of glass to the strings and then running
with all their might trying to cross the
strings of the other boys with their own
and to cut them by means of the glass.
Many of them make their kites sing. It
is probably done by fastening various little
things to the strings. The sound is like
that of an eollun harp.
' fa
The favorite game of the girls of Japan
Is battledore and shuttlecock. And a very
pretty sight It is. you may be sure, when a
bevy of pretty Japanese girls enters inU
this Rimo.
Their faces are painted perfectly white,
while their lips nre colored a brilliant Ver
million. Their hair is done up into bowa
and butterfly shapes, and from head to
font they are dressed in robes of brilliant
colors, fastuncd with handsome girdles and
sashes.
tirnnitpn's Toy,
When grandpa was a little boy
And that s a far-off day.
For now grandpa Is very old.
And never thinks of play
Grnndpa lived In the Rood old times
When "everything was right";
They had no carpets on the Hours,
And they read by candle-light.
And his toy-horse looks very crude.
Its tail is like a broom;
The wagon Is high anil funny,
And has but little room.
Hut grandpa thinks it the nicest toy
That ever yet was made;
He would not for on automobile
This queer old wagon trade.
I suppose when you are grandpas
You II think your toys were great
'Way hack In tho days when you were
young;
But you'll be out of date.
St. Nicholas.
A Fish that "hoots.
Though a captive In a bowl of water,
a beaked pet of the Japanese Is allowed
to use its blow-gun. It could not very
well be otherwise, because Its beak serves
as the tube through which water Is forced
as shot. This fish, the chaetodon, feeds on
(lies and other insects, but It is not forced
to depend, as nearly every other fish Is,
on the accidental fall of Its victims Into
the water. When it sees a fly above the
water the wily creature tries to hide, with
only its peculiar beak above the surface,
the point directed toward the prey. Sud
denly It shoots a drop of water at the fly
with such true aim that the Insect falls
and la immediately snapped up by the
fish.
Many little Japanese boys and girls
amuse themselves by holding toward the
fish a fly on the end of a slender rod for
the fun of seeing the finny archer take
blm.
This fish has a most remarkable form,
and Its colors are bold and beautiful. Its
figure Is almost circular or disc-like, and
it is about a foot in Rise. Over its head
and body are five dark gold stripes edged
with brown and white, and In the middle
of the soft back fin there is a large spot
of black edged with white.
A near relation of this Japanese' pet
Is called a charioteer because of the
enormously long spine like a whip. The
use of this whip has never been learned.
The body of the fish is striped with black
as if a person had varnished It. The first
band passes over the neck and upper part
of the head, making it a fitting back
ground for the very bright eye of this
peculiar creature.
Thee chaetodon Inhabit the Indian and
Polynesian- seas, but only the beaked fish
Is made a household pet on account of the
development of Its snout, which Is more
than half the length of the whole head,
and the fun of seeing It shoot.
Making; Glut Soap- Rubbles.
Blowing soap bubbles used to be more
popular among the boys and girls than It
Is in these days, but still there Is plenty
of amusement to be had by those skillful
in the art. These spheres are too frail
to last long. It is true, but there is a way
of making them far tougher than is com
monso tough, indeed, that they will roll
around the carpet of a room for some
time before bursting. Into a pint of warm
water shave a piece of brown laundry
soap nhnut an Inch square, containing a
good proportion of lye. When this Is
thoroughly dissolved add a table-spoonful
of gum arable and stir till melted. Then
a tcaspnnnful of glycerin Is necessary, and
lastly a quart of cold water.
If the hubblemaUers are not very little
pe.iple nnd know how to keep the water
out of their mouths wonderfully colored
hubbies can be made by separating this
mixture Into cups and adding a pinch of
different diamond dyes to each. Hut for
little people strawberry or currant Juice
for pink bubbles and orange Juice for yel
low ure perhaps safer. The lye In the soap,
plus the glycerin, Increases the brilliancy
of the bubbles and the gum gives them
elasticity. Hot water Is necessary to dis
solve the various Ingredients, but unless
cold water Is added they expand and break
too rapidly In the blowing process. A
curious pipe that will blow several bub
bles at one time can be obtained from any
kindergarten supply houso.
When the Cat's Away.
A Town Mouse went to his country cousin.
Ami had a taste of his homely tare;
He ."aid, "Why, my dear, 1 could give you
a dozen
Of better things than this bumble fare;
Come up to town, and we 11 go and dine
Together in my bouse so flue."
t
So the little Country Mouse hurried up
To where her relative lived In state
Prepared on all Rood things to sup.
Though the hours they kept were some
what late.
"Oh, shan't we Just have a dainty bite,"
Said the Town Mouse, "after supper to
night?" So off they went to the tables where
The guests late feasted, and ate their
crumbs.
And dined full royally, till, "Who comes?"
Cried the Country Mouse, "See two cats
there!
No doubt they are here to hunt for a
mouse,
So let us be off; I don't like this house!
An enemy lurks In these halls to mice.
So we'll cease to bite- 'neat a this tempt
ing board.
And they'll make short work of us In a
trice.
So what's the use of your larder's hoard?
I'd rather go back to my plainer diet.
In my own little corner, snug and quiet."
So off they went to their humble dinner.
That the Country Mouse left cooking at
home,
And though it's certain they both got
thinner,
I think they were wise not to try and
roam;
For It's only when the Cats ore away.
That Mice in comfort ran dine and play.
Philadelphia Ledger.
Jwuii Hsea.
Tou ought to sea a Japanese house, boys
and girls.
You know what a sliding door Is like?
Most of us have sliding doors between the
parlor and sitting room, or between the
sitting room and the dining room.
Well, try to Imagine what our houses
would be like if they consisted altogether
of sliding doors, so that you could go from
one room to another at any point in the
wall that you might choose.
Wouldn't that be queer? But that Is the
style of house that Japanese boys and
gtrls live In.
AH that a Japanese carpenter does when
lie builds a house Is to put up four corner
posts, put In a floor, place four crossbeams
from post to post, put a roof on top, and
then ranke a groove all around ths under
side of the crossbeams and In tho floor
(Just like the grooves that our carpenters
make for sliding doors), then between the
grooves In the floor and the grooves In
the crossbeams the Japanese carpenter
tits ever so many running shutters.
Then he divides the house up Into as
many rooms as the nwnur wishes, and
these aer divided from each other by th
same kind of sliding shutters.
So, you see, a Japanese house really has
no doors at all, for It Is easy enough to
shove any shutter back and pass from
one room into another. F.very shutter has
a little burnished handle tu It for Uiat
purpose.
limit In NT Klepbants.
What a vast number of objects are made
of ivory! Knife handles sometimes and
pni ei' cutters and all sorts of useful and
ornamental ohjtcts, carved wood of all
kinds, stamp Iiiixph, penholders, rare little
carved statuettes. Kven thrones have been
made of ivory. If the elephant had toe.Lb
and tusks enough, it would be hard to say
what people would not manufacture out
of this beautiful material. In Russia flours
of the state apartments in the palace ars
inlaid with Ivory, and one African sultan
has surrounded his straw-thatched palace
with a fence of elephants' tusks, a barri
cade far more valuable and curious than,
beautiful.
That the elephants annually slain In
Africa and India could furnish half ths
Ivory used In one year, those who are ac
quainted with elephant bunting as well as
with the quantity of Ivory used annually
in Kurope, America and Asia know very
well to be Impossible. The ivory diggers,
therefore, have to assist tho elephant hunt
ers.
With the same zeal with which the petro
leum borers in America week to discover a
new oil well do the Ivory diggers on thai
Arctic coasts search for mammoths' tusks.
Every spring, when the Ice begins to thaw,
the marshy land of Eastern Siberia reveals
new mines of fossil ivory. The traders ars
very Jeaous, and allow no one else to work,
these mines on the coasts and Islands
under their control. They make every ef
fort to send at least GO, Out) pounds of fossil
Ivory a yeur westward along the great
caravan road.
It Is a strange Bight to see an ivory cara
van as it silently hurries onward through
the desolute plains in the extreme north.
The closely muflled-up figures, their faces
hidden, balanced on lofty saddles, Journey
on and on by the strange light of ths
Aurora Boreal is, through the long nights,
sometimes across steppes so swampy In
summer that they are scarcely passable.
Nothing seems to arouse- these quaint fig
ures from their stolid apathy. The snow
storm does not affect them, nor does ths
biting cold terrify them. Yet the danger te
the caravan from these two causes Is very
great.
When next you see a piece of Ivory think
how many days of toll and nights of bitter
hardship the ivory caravan endures in
order to transport the smooth, whits ma
terial to civilization.
A Child's Thought t God.
I.
They say that Ood lives very high;
Hut if you look above the pines
You cannot see our Hod; and why?
II. 1
And if you dig down in the mines
You never see Him In tho gold.
Though from Him all that's glory shines.
III.
Ood Is so good. He wears a fold 1
Of heaven and earth across His face
Like secrets kept, for love, untold. '
IV.
But ptlll I feel that His embrace
Slides down by thrills, through all things
made.
Through sight and sound of every place:
V.
As If my tender mother laid
On my shut lips her klsues' pressure.
Half-waking me at nlnht. anil said,
"Who kissed you through the dark, dear
guesser?"
Elizabeth Barrett Browning.