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The Burden of 1 he Wafer.
The voices of brooks and of fountains,
The burden of bountiful streams —
The cataract hurled from the mountains,
With the rainbow’s miraculous beams—
How secrets of joy and of sorrow,
The records of forest and fen—
A language no poet may borrow
To read its rich meaning to men 1
And when, through long distance
The deep rivers roll to the main,
And the sea-wi .ds above them have
W eird poems of passion or pain—
The tides, in their rythmic emotion,
To the gathering waters unfold
The infinite grief of the ocean
On the breast of the billows ontrolled.
— William II. Hayne.
A Regular Conspiracy.
“Just what I expected!” said
Delavbme, mournfully.
bho was sitting out on the balcony,
xvhere the xnisrnoiiotte and asters were
all a blaze of vivid color, to enjoy tlic
Siuis- C but she didn’t enjoy it'any
more, after Muriade Vail had told her
the news. There vas a band playing
n the little park, whose green grass
and sparkling fountain formed such a
pretty living picture, hut she did not
hear its music any longer. Delavigue,
“Married!" said Miss
lifting her hands and drawing a sepal- whole
ebral sigh, “married! Does the
world think, and dream, and trouble
itself about nothing else?”
“ I’m verv sorry, aunt,” said Muri
ade; “’No, “but—”
vcm are not,” said Miss Dei a
rigue. “Don't begin at this late day
to tell me falsehoods.”
“1 don’t mean that I’m sorry be
cause I’ve promised to marry Tom,”
sai l Muriade, with a bright spot on
each cheek, “ because that would be a
falsehood. Vo, indeed, I’m not sorry;
but I mean I'm vexed to disappoint
vou. aunt.”
Muriade Vale was a dark, .Spanish
eyed girl, with brows like two perfect
arches; a red, cherry-cleft mouth and
the most roguish of dints, scarcely
large enough to be dignified with the
name of dimple, U. i came and went
in a capricious fashion in her chin.
She stood, with folded hands and head
slightly drooped, before the prim, el¬
derly lady, whose black silk dress re¬
solved itself into such perfect folds,
and whose iron-gray curls hung so
precisely on either side of her face.
“Didn’t 1 take you when you woro
seven years old, and bring you up as a
young lady should be brought up?”
sadly demanded Miss Delavigue.
“ Yes, aunt."
“And haven't I had you educated
at Mademoiselle Melissa’s, with extra
piano lessons, and your voice culti¬
vated at two dollars a lesson?” went
on the old lady.
•• Yes, aunt,” confessed Muriade.
“ And," severely went on the cate¬
chist, “just as you were getting in to ad¬ he
a real companion for me, ail my
vancing years, you forget this and
run off with—Torn Whitworth."
“ I haven't run off with him, aunt!”
flashed out Muriade, scarcely knowing
whether to laugh or to cry. couldn't
“But you would, if you
wring a consent from me. You know
you would,” said Miss Delavigue.
“Y ou’d scramble down a ladder, or
climb out of a four-story window.”
•• I love him, aunt,” said Muriade,
earnestly; “and he loves me.”
“ Rubbish I” said Aunt
with an energy which nearly tipped
he. eyeglasses from her Roman nose,
“ You mean that he loves your exp'-e
tat ions. He loves the idea of inherit
ing mv money and this brown-stone
house, and all the. .sluin' in the Mexi
can silver mines. That’s the begin
ning and end of it!”
“ Never, aunt i” cried poor Muriade.
“That’s well,” grimly pronounced
AH-- D'-lavigue; “because I have my
own ideas on the subnet. 1 don’t
know that I'm at all too old to many
myself.” Muriade in
“ Aunt!” exclaimed sur
p r ( s ,._
••Why not?” said Alias Delavigue.
“ I suppose there can be old fools as
well as voting ones.”
“ But,” pleaded Muriade, “are you '
in earnest?”
“ Whv shouldn’t 1 be in earnest?”
“Aurit,"burst out Muriade," is it
Major Larkington? Is it? Oh, 1
know it is! And oh, aunt, dear, I do
so hope you will lie happy* And
Major Larkington Is perfectly splen- <mlv,
did since lie got his false teeth;
aunt, those Lxlious stories of his about
the war in Florida—-won’t vou get
* !*"?. •“««■ "> h “
'SJ'Sivliti'ir loouml She in had ...me supposed per
olexitv at her niece.
that this hint would have tilled Muri
ale with dismay and disappointment;
but on the contrary that young damsel
a'.peared to wc“pt the ideaas the most
i i Aural thing in the world. And Tom
Whitworth, chancing, entirely by aeci
dent, of course, to come in just about
that time, coincided in Murtade’s view
of affairs entirely. l heard of!"
“ The joilieet thing who ever fair-coni
declared Tom, was a
picxioncd young Saxon, with curly
V. How looks, a blonde musta* lie and
superb teeth—which latter was a for
tunate circumstance, because Tom
Whitworth was always laughing. “It's
regular middle-aged romance !”
" I dare say,” said Miss Delavigu >,
primly. "But what do you say to
somebody else getting all my money!”
“ Dear me 1 ” said Tom, lilting his
M ade brows. “It was Muriade 1
warn d. not your money, Miss Rela
vigu» Of course, if you chose to leave
it • > os. a t r vou had done with it, it
w ild have "been very acceptable,
K >dv cash always comes handy. Now,
von know that, Muriade. as well as I
do.” in response to a warning “ gesture '
fnm his fiance*; “ but—”
“ Oh, Tam, you are such a bungler'."
said Muriade, half laughing,lialf cry
mg. confessed
Well, perhaps I am."
Tom. “But 1 want Miss Delavigue
t> understand the whole thing. The
money is hers, and we don't gru ige it
to her. And w. re ready to work for
cur own. aren't we. Muriade? I’m
not rieh, but my office brings me a
t ' 1 ;sand dollar-a rear,and we’re both
g ing to economize like everything—
aren’t we, Muriade? And Major Lark
ington - 'a bri-k, and we hope you’ll be
happy. Ami e\a. tlv us we’re going to be.”
Tom Wh.lwerth squeeze! Miss
Delavigue’s hand until the old lady
cru d out tor mercy.
“And now, aunt,” said
radiantly, “when is the wedding
be? And why haven’t you said
thing about it before? ”
Mi-s Delavigue hesitated a little.
She blushed. Apparently she did
know what to say on the spur of the
moment.
“ Well,” she faltered, “ Major Lark- _
ington did say something about the
twentieth of December.”
“ Christmas-time !” exclaimed Muri
ade. “Oh, Tom, how perfectly do- to
lightful! Couldn’t we manage
have our wedding at the same time?”
“No,” said Torn, stoutly. “We
must he married on the first of Decern
her. You said we should, Muriade,
and you mustn t go back oi your
word.’ '
“But, Tom, it would only . be , three ,
we -ks. ’
“ Three weeks or (hr e days, stoutly
maintained Tom Whitworth, “
promised me, and I can t h t you oil.
" Well, then, you obstinate R-lIow,
said Miss \ ale, “ we can he l a «. ir.an
our trip just in time to dance at Aunt
Delavigue’s wedding.”
“ Agre-d !” said Tom, looking very
happy indeed.
Appanntly the young couple were
in no wis - discomfited at the idea of
going to housekeeping on a capital of
love, and love alone.
Tom Whitworth began to look dill
gently around among dim, old auction
rooms and musty, second-hand stores,
to find oiictiiing astoundingly cheap
and delightfully comfortable, wliere
with to garnish the small cottage
which he had decided to take a little
out of town, so as to economize in the
article of rent.
And Muriade joined a cooking class,
made herself a. bib-apron and began to
come down into Mr . Delavigue’s
kitchen to experiment tea-biscuit, in pies and and salad pud
dings, dainty little
which might, have tempted an an
chorite to break his vows,
And she studied up the question of
polishing brasses, cleaning plate-glass,
mending china and darning table linen
with notable earnestness. And she
was more affectionate than ever with
her aunt.
“ Because,” she told Tom, “ there is
something so pathetic about Aunt De¬
lavigue’s happiness, coming so
strangely in the autumn of her life.
And l’in afraid, Torn—now don’t tell
anybody—that Major Larkington is
only going to marry her for her money.
For he is certainly ten years younger
than she is, and lie lias only come from
Philadelphia once to see her since l ho
engagement.” like measles,” said Tom,
>• Love is
philosophically. “ Every one has it
in a different way.” been
While Miss Delavigue, who had
judge and jury all by herself, at last
rendered the. verdict to a public con¬
sisting of herself alone.
“They love each other, after all. My
money had nothing to do with it.
Tom loves Muriade, and Muriade has
not ceased to love her old aunt, now
that she no longer believes herself to
he an lieirei-s. There is such a thing
as honor, and truth, and real affection
in the world, after all.”
The first of December came, and
Miss Delavigue gave Muriade the
prettiest of weddings, under a marriage
oell of white rose iaids and sinilax,
with an artistic little dejeuner,and she
went away in a dove-colored silk dress,
j with daisies in he. she hat. said, “ it's
“ But, aunt, ’ so
strange that Alajor Larkington isn’t
here!”
j “ He couldn’t come,” said Alias Dela
__
vigue. “ He'll he on hand on the
twentieth. Mind you and Tom get back
: in time!”
“Oh, we'll be sure to do that!” said
Muriade. “And he sure, mint, that
you thank the major for tiie dear little
pearl locket that he sent me.
I The twentieth of December came; so
ilil Mr. and Mis. lorn Wentworth,
Iri sh troni the icy spray of Eiagara
Falls.
Miss Delavigue’s parlors were once
m re decorated with the choicest liot
house flowers, while Souberctti’s men
were arranging the supper-table.
The old lady herself, in pearls,
point lace, and the palest of lavender
silks, stood in tiie middle of the room,
receiving her guests. Alajor Larldng
ton himself was there, looking very
stiff and military, and an old-young
lady in a dress exactly of the same
pattern of Aliss Delavigue’s.
“ You arc late, Tom and Muriade."
said the hostess, beamingly. performed I he
nmrriug ;■ ceremony The was major thought
half an hour ago.
he would rather have it over before
il^-rSYStc'™Tl-m not tiie
brMe. This." intr«tnrin s the old
young lady with the profusion ot curls,
and the slight soupoon ot powder mi
her cheek bones, “is .Mrs. Major Lark
ington, and my old schoolmate, Helena
Dove, who has given me great pleasure
by accepting my hospitality on thisoe
casinn.”
“Delighted, 1 am sure! stammered ,
Toni, staring with all his eves.
" Many congratulations I' faltered
Muriade, scarcely less amazed.
And then they took advantage of a
striam of newcomers, who inonopo
li e.! the bridal pair, and taxed Alias
Delavigue with her duplicity.
•* Sold," said Tom, succinctly, “ com
pletely!” could deceive
“Aunt, how you us
so?" said Muriade.
“1 didn't deceive you," said Miss
De’avigue, laughing. “1 said there
could he old fools as well as young
ones, and I say so still. And you your
self mentioned Major Larkington! I
didn't feel myself called upon to go
into any disclaimers, although I knew
then that he was engaged to Helena
Dove; and the only point I gained
was the certainty that my dear niece
and nephew were not heartless for
tune-seekers, but loved me just as
well as if they believed themselves
my heirs, as well as the conviction that
Tom Whitworth loved Muriade just
because she was Muriade and not the
rich old woman's only relation.”
Aliss Delavigue made her will the
next day and 1 ft all her money to
Muriade and Tom, because she was
easy in h* r mind at last.
" It was a r gular conspiracy,” she
said; "but it revealed to me exactly
what 1 wanted to know .”—Helen Par
r Grov<s.
-
“Smelt” is the name given to a
light shu t" of cadet blue. We have
»e -n an oil army overcoat of the
same - whew ."—notion Star.
TIMELY TOPICS.
-
There are now in the United States
115,034 miles of railroad, of which
I 10,821 miles were constructed during
the past year. It has been the great
; es t railroad-building year in the coun
try’s history.
-
; German settlers in Brazil say there
is no better country to live in, but it is
almost without progress. They com
plain that they must sell their produce
j native planters at a fixed price, and
the planters will not sell, but will
only rent the land.
-
AraW Pasha wa3 banished on a
sal of There are plenty of
mon nnt nniv 7 in Cirviit but in the
T ; n jted States, who would willingly be
banished on the same terms. There
are about j 8 q 0 applications for consul
ships on file in Washington.
_
The record ot desertions from ser
vice . in tlio rT United a States . army , last ,
year shows that a sixth of the enhsted
men walked or rode away from camp
or garrison with all the clothing and
equipments they could carry, the
cavalry men even taking their horses
when they had the opportunity,
Reports come by the way of Paris
that King Humbert, of Italy, issinking
into a condition of confirmed melan¬
choly. For days together, says a cor¬
respondent, he does not speak a word
to any human being. He appears at
the queen’s receptions, hut does not
open his lips. Italy has a national
debt of $2,500,000,000. With this load
she maintains an army of 1,000,000
men. She fears war with France not
many years lienee.
The famine in Ireland has forced the
farmers to send their sheep to Scotland
in large numbers. A scarcity of bid¬
der lias reduced the number of sheep
on the island from 500,000 in 1881, to
less than 300,000 the past season. The
income from the clip of wool was thus
cut off in a great measure, and now it
is necessary to reduce tlie stock still
further. The scarcity of food for stock
also has obliged the farmers to kill
many ponies, another source of in¬
come, tiie 32,000 having become less
than 20,000.
The, inti national exhibition at Am¬
sterdam, \ ich is to be held this year,
promises t . he a very considerable
affair. Holland has awakened from
the lethargy with ywliich the project
was first regarded, already and great made prepara¬ for the
tions arc being
reception of the many thousands of ex¬
pected visitors. A thousand Dutch
firms have already entered their names
as exhibitors, and demand 8,000 square
yards of space. Belgium surpasses
ttiis figure. Germany is sending a
large number of exhibits, including
those of the house of Krupp. Eng¬
land is said to be fairly represented.
The expression “white as snow” is
not strictly accurate, for there is such
a thing as red snow, Aristotle, in
his writings, mentioned the phenom¬
enon, hut could not explain it. M.
Sossure, a French scientist, observed
red snow on the Alps, and upon ex¬
amining it with a microscope discovered
that the snow owed its red hue to a
minute plant, Protoeoecus Nivalis,
which consists of a single cell. Red
snow has been observed in this coun¬
try on tiie Wasatch mountains, 10,000
feet above t he si a. II looks like snow
that has been sprinkled with fresh
blood. How many persons living in
cities ever saw piiro white snow, any¬
way?
Some person of solemn and at the
same time statistical turn of mind has
taken the following means of ascer¬
taining how many 8011,0(X>,000 people die every
year: Asia lias inhabitants;
Europe, 305,000,000; Africa, 201,000.
000; America, 86,000,000; Oceanica,
5,000,000. These, remember, arc low
estimates, and give a total of only
1,400,000,000. Allowing to the inhabi¬
tants of the earth an average life of
thirty-nine years, we find that every
year 35,135,000 people die, which gives
ii total of 00,720 deaths per day, 3,780
deaths per hour, sixty-three deaths
every minute, or more than one every
second.
]{ ‘ t) ,. urious i , t 0 f figures n is
..'K . 1 t 1 ,, , , , A, (iil j 0 fthe
death .V.!.on niteTn lattin •, t ttu he^m jimui i nd pal al.Utepriso^ State prisons
wSfiTSS «■•!*!“ Tta! ...non?
-- ‘
• • ~ ^ (
j) " r ..^ r ( liidon ( ( >6 r
j’ . t t over The
, ‘ 1, , , ,, in Wisconsin ' and the
= ■ •
L .iVttimr work* in
‘ ...mvo-ts to
; j ( ; u railroa Is causes heavv
,tenth * n.tes ’ ; in liamushire several Southernstates 48*
ii figure is
f ,r u! it iSSmSto re is. n does not is15£Wine appear The
’’ in Vermont ”5 U and in Connecticut
*• . ‘ j i; in (lu , wost
, district lJiv and the
, . s k .i lv v erv in the states
1 v
‘
The crown of England is a costly
“bauble,” bedazzled with jewels
enough to found three or four public
charities, or a half-dozen ordinary col
leges. There are twenty_ diamonds
round the circle, worth $7,500 each,
making $150,000; two large center
diamonds, $10,000 each, making
$20,Ot-O; fifty-four smaller diamonds,
placed at the angle of the former,
each $"ibU; four crosses, each composed
of twenty-five diamonds, $60,000; four
large diamonds on the top of the
crosses, $$U,WW; twelve diamonds con
tained in the fleur-de-lis,
eighteen smaller diamonds contained
in the same, $10,000; pearls, diamonds,
etc., upon the arches and crosses,
$50,tXX>: also one hundred and forty
one small diamonds, $25,000; twenty
six diamonds in the upper cross,
$15,500; two circles of pearls
the rim. $15.'XXX The cost of the
stones in the crown, exclusive of the
metal, is, therefore, nearly half a
million of dollars.
-
A trustee of the New York Metro
politan Museum of Art, in explaining
tailing off in attendance of the
t q ass designed to teach young women
decorative art for self-support, said :
“Put in a nutshell, the whole trouble
is this : Our experience has taught
us that young women who enter the
class were in too great a hurry to
make money; they expected to be
coached at once into a state of affluent
remuneration. Anybody can easily
learn a smattering of anything, but
there is no royal road to thorough
knowledge. To design well, to exe
cute art-work that is artistic, a pro
tracted drill in elementary principles—
particularly in the principles of draw
j n g—jg indisputable. As soon as we
began to teach them drawing they
were impatient to get into coloring. As
soon as we began to show them how
to make money they were so eager to
be making it as to spurn the necessary
prerequisites thereto. This has been
our difficulty, and it is one that can
not he overcome untd young women
who aspire to support themselves by art
consent to make themselves at least
respectable draughtsmen.”
The wife of fasting Dr. Tanner has
lately taken up her abode in France,
having obtained a divorce from her
eccentric husband under the following
circumstances: Dr. Tanner, it appears,
is peculiarly addicted to extraordinary
fancies, and some time since he thought
that he had found out that the human
character becomes modified according
to the food taken by the individual
and especially in relation to the vegeta¬
bles consumed. Carrots, he avers,make
people fidgety and sly; turnips produce
extreme amiability, while a prolonged
diet of French beans induces great ir¬
ritability of temper. The carrying out
of this theory has brought great trou¬
ble into Dr. Tanner’s home. He made
a heavy wager on the question with
some friends, and experimented on
Mrs. Tanner with French beans, giv¬
ing her to eat about three pounds of
this vegetable daily. It is not alto¬
gether to he wondered at if, after such
a regimen, Mrs. Tanner became rather
more irritable than was contemplated
and threw a jug at Dr. Tanner’s head.
The doctor, however, gained his bet;
and, more thoroughly convinced than
ever of the truth of liis theory, put his
wife on the turnip Diet, so as to make
her as amiable as she was before the
French bean regimen. This time, how¬
ever, the result was not so strictly in
accordance with the theory. Airs.
Tanner objected to being any longer a
subject for these vegetarian experi¬
ments, sued for a divorce and, what is
more singular, obtained it.
A curious case lias been decided by
the English courts of queen’s bench.
.Mr. Belt, a sculptor, well known in
London society, was charged in the
newspapers by Air. Lawes with im¬
posing on the public statues not liis
own ; they were made by an employe,
and one for which he obtained a prize
was made for him by a workman. A
great deal of social excitement was
caused by the publication, and Air.
Belt sued Air. Lawes for libel. Many
witnesses called by the defendant
swore that in their opinion tiie plain¬
tiff was only a fifth-rate artist, and
that he stole the ideas of those whom
lie employed in his studio. They fur¬
ther stated that whenever visitors
came to the studio while Air. Verhyden
was engaged in modeling that gentle¬
man used to disappear through a trap¬
door, when Air. Belt would go and sit
before the clay, pretending to be hard
at work. If such was the case it
is evident that Air. Ver¬
hyden was a party to the
deception, and really deserves punish¬
ment. After this evidence had been
given, it became necessary to test Air.
Belt’s capacities as an artist, and at
the suggestion of the judge the plain
tilT executed a model of a person in
court in one of the rooms of the law
courts, into which no other person was
admitted. When the artist appeared
in court with liis model and the proto¬
type he was received with applause,
and the likeness was pronounced strik¬
ing. lion. Alexander Yorke, Sir
Richard Wallace and others testified to
having seen the plaintiff model busts
which were highly satisfactory from
beginning to end, and it further trans¬
pired that Air. Belt’s best works had
appeared since he had dismissed Air.
Verhyden. The judge charged in favor
of Mr. Belt, and the jury awarded $25,
000 damages, which is not too much
considering the gravity of the charge.
A Jliuer After His Money.
The Oro Alining company of Bodie,
Cal., one day recently paid off its late
employes, giving them checks for one
third of the amount due, and notes
payable at sixty days for the balance.
The men generally accepted this ar¬
rangement, with possibly some reluct¬
ance, with the exception of one Alike
McCallum, who said he wanted his
check in full. William Barker was the
only other person present- besides Ale
U’allum and Superintendent Thomas
stwk The latter informed McCalhun
that he was only authorized to give a
cheok tor ono-ihird, and could do no
- ^UPallum said that he was
ff-’ing to have his check before Steel
left the office. “How are you going
to get it?” said he. “Iain going to
> ou P 1V1 ' to me,” replied
McCallum. The manner of the latter
had become so threatening that Air.
Steel said; “ I am not heeled. Are
you?” “Yes,” answered McCallum,
i am," and lie drew from his pocket
six-shooter about a foot long. “ Is
it loaded?” inquired Mr. Steel, now
thoroughly interested. “Yes," said
McCallum, and ho pointed his pistol
,mt of the door mid fired off a shot.
* Now," added he, "tiie company
owes me this money and 1 want it
right off.” Mr. Steel saw he was in a
p a q (j x The man evidently intended
to kill him if he did not write the
check, and he had no authority to issue
it, “Air. Barker,” said he, “what
would you do if you wore in my
place?” “ Do!” said Barker, “ 1 would
make out the check pretty quick.”
And he got down and wrote it out.
M.-Callnm kept his gun i:i his hand all
the time, and after he ha i received
check and he was requested to sign
the pay-roll, lie turned his attention
to AIr.‘Barker. •• 1 have got the drop
on yon now.” said he. “but if I put
my gun in my pocket you may get it
on me. Barker, you go and sign my
name to that pay-roll.” Air. Barker,
who wished to be friendly with both
parties, signed the document with
great alacrity and McCallum withdrew.
He went immediately to the bank and
got his check cashed, and has not been
seen since .—Bailie Free Press.
Peasant Life In Fayal.
Peasant life in Fayal recalls the time
of Homer. The methods and the tools
are those described in the Odyssey.
There is not a wheelbarrrow, a spade
or a shovel in all tiie Azores; and the
hare soles of the laborers arc so cal¬
loused that they very often scratch
matches on them in lighting their
cigars. The grain is taken from the
ear on a threshing-floor like those of
: the ancient Hebrews, and it is ground
in a mill such as the Romans knew,
The peasant's hut has no chimney. The
chimney is merely a broad shelf built
; out from the wall, and on this is a fire
i f furze and fagots. The blinding
smoke escapes as best it may through
roof and open door. For cooking uten
sils there are an iron pot and trivets,
and one or two red pottery
jars and saucers. Meat is a rare article
of food with the peasant. Coarse
corneake. baked on a trivet over the
coals—hard, sour, heavy and smoky—
this, with a bit of cheese, fish, or a
pepper, and a cup oi cold water, is his
principal foo l. Most of the clothing
and household stuffs are spun and
woven bv the women, who also per
form much field labor, weave baskets,
braid hats, knit and embroider beau
tifuDy, and make exquisite laces from
the split fiber of the aloe. Both sexes
are poorly paid for their labor. Alen’s
wages in Horta range from twenty
four to forty-eight cents a day. The
best dressmakers get twelve. The
Pico women go up to the clouds on the
mountain, and milk for eight cents.
Those of Horta carry water from the
public wells for two cents a bucket.
Cremation.
The time is rapidly approaching when
the problem of the disposal of the dead
of our large cities must find some other
solution than the cemeteries. That
cemeteries are noxious to health, and
especially when they are on the banks
of streams which furnish the water
supply of the city, is a point that
needs no argument. The advocates of
cremation seemed at first more like en¬
thusiasts with a “ fud ” in their heads ;
hut as time passes on it would seem
that they are slowly, but surely, win¬
ning at least a hearing, and after a
time we believe they will win the day
—and justly.
From the hygienic point of view,
disposing cremation is plainly the best way of
of the dead, and, as now
conducted, it is done decorously,
quickly and cheaply. The Pall Mall
Gazette states that in Milan two bodies
can be cremated in an hour, the cost
being from $3 to $5. The Siemens
furnace at Dresden, which cost only
$250, is still more quick in its action.
There are several furnaces in France,
in which the time of incinera¬
tion ranges from one hour
to two, and the cost from $4
to $5. The Kuborn apparatus is in¬
tended for the battlefield, and reduces
twelve bodies at once in an hour and a
half to an indistinguishable mass of
gray ashes, so that a dozen of them
could dispose of more than 2,500 bodies
in twenty-four hours. Professor
Gorini, of Lodi, professes completely
to destroy a body in twenty minutes by
immersing it in a hot solution believed
to he chiefly clirorcic acid.
There are practically but two argu¬
ments against it. Sentiment, at least
with the general public, is the chief
one, and, although it will not long hold
its own, especially while in this coun¬
try the want of proper facilities make
cremation difficult, yet in the end it
must yield. Health must he the first
consideration, and the dead must yield
to the living.
The other is a more serious one
from a professional point of view, for
cremation may easily destroy the
evidences of poison. But exhumation
has won few laurels in our courts of
justice, so that we shall lose little by
the proposed change. Moreover, not
a few mineral poisons can be readily
detected in the ashes, which deprives
the argument of at least a part of its
force. In spite of its disadvantages,
we believe that cremation is by far
the best method of disposal of the
dead .—Medical News.
A Chinese Child’s Funeral.
Alany curious sightseers stood
around Wall Sing’s laundry in New
York. On the bare floor in the rear
room in the basement rested a coffin,
which contained tiie remains of Fung
Oy, a girl five years old, and at the
head of the coffin stood Cha Lee, her
sister, three and one-half years old, the
only two Chinese children of unmixed
blood that have ever been in the city.
A Chinaman engraved the plate
upon the coffin, and, according to
Chinese custom, the parents nailed it
down. Forty small candles stuck on
eight small pine sticks, inserted in five
wooden sockets, shed a grim glare on
the surroundings. The funeral cortege
consisted of two carriages, one of
which bore the corpse.
The remains were buried in Ever¬
green cemetery, where the Chinese
have a plot. The coffin was quickly
lowered into its resting-place and
hastily covered with a few shovelfuls
of dirt. Then fires were lighted about
the grave, into which the effects of the
dead child were thrown and burned.
While they were being consumed the
mourners sprinkled a white powder
from their paper hags into the flames.
It burned with a bluish light and
emitted a disagreeable odor. 'When
the fire had completed its work the
grave was filled up and at the foot of
it was placed a pine board inscribed
with the name of the dead.
Dr. Chew Kin Fong, the Chinese
physician who attended Fung Oy, and
who signed the certificate of her death,
which was rejected by Dr. Jayne, of
the health hoard, because he was not a
registered physician, said, through an
interpreter, that when he was first
called in to see the little girl, he saw
at a lirst glance that her days were
numbered and that no medicaments
could be of the slightest benefit to her,
and he so informed her parents, who
were very loth to give up all hope of
their child’s recovery as long as the
breath of life remained in her body.
When at last she died, he gave the
usual certificate as to the cause of her
death, supposing it was all right, and
did not know to the contrary until so
informed by the health officer. He
said he would go before, the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, and submit¬
ting his Chinese certificate, will under¬
go such examination with regard to
his qualifications as a physician as may
be desired.
Id dio Selfishness.
“ Don’t you go there,” he said, as he
turned around on the passenger who
announced that he was going through
to Idaho. “ They are the most selfish
people you ever saw.”
“How?”
“ Well take my case. I ran a wild¬
cat under a school-house and discovered
a rich mine, and yet they wouldn’t let
me do any blasting under there during
school hours for fear of disturbing the
children. I had to work at nights al¬
together, and they even charged me
thirtv cents for breaking the win
j dows.
“ Ira.ceu ^ ^
.
“ anotner case, w, ^ ere
! staxed out a claim am ni-e men
jumped i . e governor Fl Jj
; i s - va ' ammunition or let tne .iiemr
move; anddo you sn. w a im o
1 ,“ ai 0 ’'‘y * ’ ‘_ J ' e
.
river, tnree mnts ana , i -
" a-er in to dnv e le jumpers ou^an
; nie P*T * or °»ifa 0 °„l^f aad
-
charged me $i- tor a t r.u sermon
° n ' se ' ea ln ‘ n 0 ’ ?°
orado 11 . t lo he
° f '-°,‘ T0 wan
-
. used well.
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.
Since 1843 an average of 575 earth¬
quakes a year has been known to oc¬
cur.
In all European countries except
England, elections take place on Sun¬
day.
When elephants are tamed the tusks
do not grow so long and the ivory is
not of so fine a quality as when the
animals are in a wild state.
A superstition prevails in Devon¬
shire, England, that any one neglect¬
ing to kill the first butterfly he may
see for the season will have ill luck
throughout the year.
In the Malay Peninsula a traveler
found the smallest coin in the world.
It is a minute wafer made of the juice
of a tree. One such coin is worth
about the millionth part of a dollar.
The Roman Emperor Valens was
burned alive in 378 by the Goths.
He was wounded in a battle fought
near Adrianople, and sought refuge in
a peasant’s hut, to which the savages
set fire.
The Egyptians seldom used lime¬
stone or alabaster for colossal or life
size statues, for which they employed
colored granite diorite, syenite and ba¬
salt. Burnt and glazed clay was em
ployed for small images,
The rate of vibration of the rattle¬
snake’s tail has been determined by
I)r. Ott to be sixty per second. The
method of experiment was to attach
pen to the snake’s rattles, the record
being received on a revolving drum.
On the back of Miss Delia Moncrieff.
of Boston, is burned in by lightning a
representation of the large elm tree
which stands within a few feet of a
piazza, where she was sitting when
the house was struck by a thunderbolt
She suffered no injury whatever.
Professor Kaposi, of Vienna, has in¬
troduced continuous baths for skin af¬
fections. The patient is placed in
them on a mechanical bed, and remains
there for fifty or one hundred days,
not only taking his meals, but sleeping
while thus immersed in water. The
Progres Medical pronounces them suc¬
cessful and recommends their intro¬
duction into the Paris hospitals.
Pliny informs us that the art of
making glass was accidently discovered
by some traveling merchants who had
a large quantity of niter with them.
Not finding stones to rest their kettles
upon, they employed some pieces of
niter for that purpose. The niter,
gradually dissolving by the heat of the
fire, mixed with the sand, and a trans¬
parent matter flowed, which was glass.
In ancient Egypt when a cat died in
the house the inhabitants shaved
their eyebrows; if a dog died they
shaved their whole body. In Athens
one of the laws of Triptolemus de¬
clared that no one had a right to in¬
flict a wrong upon a living creature.
The Greeks were aware of the tender
and affectionate care which the young
of the stork exhibited for their old
parents, and recorded that, when the
latter lost their feathers from age,
the young stripped themselves of
their down for them, and fed them
with the food they collected. This
was the origin of the Greek law
called “ the law of the stork,” by vir¬
tue of which children were obligated
to take care of their aged parents, and
those who refused to do so were de¬
clared infamous.
WORDS OF WISDOM,
He who knows much has much to
care for.!
It is better to lend without interest
than to give alms.
Enterprise loses strength if its ef¬
forts hear no fruit,
Those who know the least of others
think the most of themselves.
What we are at home is a pretty
sure test of what we really are.
The more an idea is developed, the
more concise becomes its expression ;
the more a tree is pruned, the better
the fruit.
He is a good man, people say
thoughtlessly. They wonll he more
chary of such praise if they reflected
they could bestow none higher.
Never swerve in your conduct from
your honest convictions; decide be¬
cause you have seen reason for de¬
cision, and then act because you have
decide
When we are in prosperity we are
ready to think our mountain will
never be brought low; so when we are
in adversity, we are ready to think
our valley will never be filled up.
Give your child a sound education
and you have done enough for him.
See to it that his morals are pure, his
mind cultivated, and his whole nature
subservient to the laws that govern
man, and you have given him what
will be of more value than the wealth
of the Indies.
A ship on the broad, boisterous
and open ocean needeth no pilot.
But it dare not venture alone on the
placid bosom of a little river, lest it
be wrecked on some hidden rock. Thus
it is with life, ’Tis not in our open,
exposed deeds that we so much need
the still voice of the silent monitor, a?
in the small, secret, every-day a As of
our life.
Spoopendyke’s Time-Table.
“ My dear,” said Mr. Spoopendyke,
running his thumb down the list of
towns on the time-table, and glaring
helplessly at the columns of figures,
“ my dear, the man must have given
ire the wrong business. We can never
get anywhere with this.”
“ Let’s see,” murmured Mrs. Spoop¬
endyke, laying her hand on his arm
and drawing the time-table before
her. “ There’s Boston Lv. and Al¬
bany Ar. 8:30 to 2:40. That’s plain
enough.” ?” Mr. Spoopen¬
“ It is, is it snorted
dyke, abandoning the table and bend¬
ing his eyes on his wife, “ Think that’s
plain enough, do you? Show me how
you make it. If you’ve got this thing
by the tail, wiggle it once for my in¬
formation !”
“ Why,” buttered Mrs. Spoopendyke,
“ you just add ’em together. Ought’s
ought; four and three’s seven; eight
and two’s ten; put down the ought and
carry—” !” roared
“ Carry swill to the hogs
Mr. Spoopendyke, bracing himself in
his seat and surveying his wife with
marked disapprobation. “ That’s
about as much as ye know how to do,
any way ! What’s Boston got to do
with it? What interest has Lv. and
Ar. got in this thing? Got some kind
of a notion that they own the road,
haven’t ye ? P’raps ye think one’s a
tunnel and the other’s a bridge. Well,
they ain’t; and they’re not half baked
females who don’t know a time-table
from a dog law! Now, you let me
figure this thing, if you don’t -want to
spend the balance of your life on the
road 1”
“ Certainly, dear,” cooed Mrs.
Spoopendyke, nestling up to her hus¬
band, and glancing round the car to see
if he had been overheard. “ You can
make it out if anybody can.”
“ Now we started from New York
at 10:30 A. m.,” continued Mr. Spoop¬
endyke, and we get to Buffalo at 12:15
a. ii. Then, according to this, we leave
Buffalo at 12:35 and 12:40 for Chicago.
What I want to know is, why we leave
Buffalo twice!”
“ I suppose it’s to make sure of get¬
ting away from there,” suggested Mrs.
Spoopendyke, fastening her thumb and
forefinger on the margin of the time¬
table with a death grip. “Maybe the
engine leaves at 12:35 and the last car
at 12:40,” she added, as the new ex¬
planation occurred to her. “ Anyhow,
it is better to get away from there
twice than stay there altogether;
don’t you think so, dear ?” And she
looked up at him confidingly.
“ S’pose anybody along the line of
this road knows what you’re driving
at?” snarled Mr. Spoopendyke, table. haul¬ “Let
ing at his end of the
go, will ye? Engine leaves at 12:35!
Last car leaves at 12:40! That’s the
idea! It took you to hit it. When I
get time to fit you up with a cow¬
catcher and a schedule of cut rates,
I’m going to start an opposition road
with you! Now, you let this thing
alone, I tell ye!”
“ There it is!” exclaimed Mrs. Spoop¬
endyke, flushing with another discov¬
ery. “ I’ve got it now ! You see, we
arrive at Chicago twice—at 7:40 and
7:40 again. Look at it there! Of
course we’ve got to leave Buffalo twice
to get to Chicago twice ! ” and Mrs.
Spoopendyke settled herself back and
regarded the table with much com¬
placency. Oh, you’ve it! ” roared Mr.
“ got
Spoopendyke. “ That explains it!
This railroad is twins ! Leaves every¬
where twice and gets everywhere
twice! Nobody would have ever
found it out but you ! All you want
now is a misplaced- switch and
a coroner’s inquest to be a through
I trunk line! Can’t you see that
it’s two different trains that get in
there at 7:40. S’pose they only
run one train on this dog-gasted road ?
Got a notion that the train goes both
ways at the same time? I know all
about getting there as well as you do,
hut what I want to understand is how
this measly train leaves Buffalo twice!
Got it now ? Think you’ve fathomed
my design on this time-table?”
“Perhaps there are two different
trains out of Buffalo?” hazarded Mrs.
Spoopendyke.
‘the Mr. Spoopendyke deliberately tore
time-table into a thousand pieces,
‘dropped them carefully under the seat,
buried his hands in his pockets and
'glared out of the window.
“ I don’t care,” soliloquized Mrs.
Spoopendyke. “ There can’t two trains
arrive anywhere without leaving some
place, and, anyway, I suppose we’d get
to Chicago just as well if we didn’t
understand about this Buffalo affair.”
With this consoling reflection, Mrs.
Spoopendyke settled herself in her
seat and gave herself up to considering
how that girl on the other side of the
aisle would act if she knew how much
her laughing and loud talking with her
escort offended the more virtuous
minded of her s ex.—Brooklyn Eagle.
Strange Meteoric Displays.
A letter from an officer of the United
States steamer Alaska gives an account
of a meteor which was seen from tiie
ship one evening a few minutes after
sunset. All at once a loud rushing
noise was heard like that of a large
rock descending from the heavens with
immense force and velocity. It proved
to be a meteor, and when within ten
degrees of the horizon it exploded with
much noise and flame, the fragments
streaming down into the ocean like
great sparks and sprays of fire, The
most wonderful part of the phenom¬
enon then followed, for at the point in
Xhe heavens where the meteor burst
there appeared a figure shaped like an
immense distaff, all aglow with a blu¬
ish light of intense brilliancy. It kept
.that form for perhaps two minutes,
when it began to lengthen upward,
and, growing wavy and zigzag in out¬
line, diminished in breadth until it be¬
came a fine, faint spiral line at its
clouds. upper end, It dissolving into gathering
remained for about ten
minutes, when it began to fade and
finally disappeared at eleven minutes
past 5 o'clock.
A girl of Waukon, Iowa, being ex
'cessively fond of babies, borrowed one
of a neighbor for the day. It fell into
a fire and was burned to' death, The
girl was not immediately the cause of
the accident, and yet she was so
grieved and frightened by it that she
died within an hour.
Our silver coins are made of nine
* arts silver and one part copper.