Newspaper Page Text
6
fEIMA'S FORTUNE!
on,—
The Stolen Heiress.
A TALE OF NEW YORK IN 1835,
BY PROF. WM. HENRY PECK,
ACTHOB 07
* The Queen Secret “ The Toner of Go'J,’
* The llilf-li, - ed,” "Harold's llitef
* The llride of Barcelona Etc.
( H AFTER XXVll.—Contintkd.
“Well, what of that, Senora?” he asked,
with a vain effort to appear at his ease. “I
care nothing for that."
Fame Grippard returned the letter to hei
pocket, cackling horribly to herself, and
said quietly:
“This letter was written last night bj
James Bratton, to be delivered to me this
morning. That is what it means, Captain.
Tie wrote it just before he was murdered
and I repeat that he was murdered by you,
or by your connivance.”
The Captain, hot as fire and cold as ice
in rapid alternation, stared at the dame in a
helpless way, unable to utter a word.
Had he be- n sure of escaping the con
sequences of another murder, he would
then and there have leaped upon her, and
strangled her with his own hands.
But at this instant both ho and the dame
heard the sound of approaching footsteps
on tho near stairway.
The sound was made by the undertaker
and his assistants, on their way to take
charge of the body of James Bratton till
the wishes of his widow should be fully
ascertained in regard to its future disposal.
Th v passed the open door of the room in
which the Captain and the dame were
seated. They were seen by the pair, and
also thems lves saw tbe pair in the room.
They passed on in silence, after bowing.
The dime then continued to the Captain:
“While I was just now in the room to
which those men are going, and after I had
gazed for a moment at the dead face on the
bed, I chanced to wish to take a look at the
contents of a waste-basket, which stood
partially under the writing-table in the
middle of the room. You are listening,
Captain'”
“Oh, yes, Senora —I am all attention,’
gasped the Captain, his heart in his throat.
“Good, Captain. You will hear some
thing which will surprise you and that fel.
low below —your tfoir Secretary Bazilio
The waste-basket was nearly full of shreds
of letters and papers which Bratton nc
doubt tore up last night. ”
“But Bazilio swore to me this morning,’
thought the freshly terrified Captain, “that
he burned to ashes every letter written last
night by Bratton."
“You are trembling. Captain, and well
you may, " continued'tlie dame, exultantly.
“I had already wondered that Bratton had
left no scrap of writing for bis wife, tc
whom lie was foolishly devoted. I won
dered if he had written to her, and after
ward torn the letter to bits. I have befoi'6
to-day found a clew to important secrets ir
bits of paper in waste-baskets, Captain.”
“May she be strangled some near day!’
he ejaculated in his heart.
“I had hardly put my fingers into tht
waste-basket, Captain, when they grasped
the letter whose superscription 1 h ive just
shown to you. There was a man iu the
room—left there to guard the body—but he
did iot look at me. He was looking out of
the window. I broke the seal and read tho
letter unseen by that man. Are you very
attentive to all I am saying, my dear Cap
tain?"
‘'Certainly, Sonora, though the affair does
not touch me as you imagine.”
“Perhaps not. Captain. Wait, Hear me
to the end. The letter informed me that
Bratton intended to vacate Old Anchors
this very day. Also, that you paid to him
at about sunset last afternoon live one
thousand pound Bank of England notes.”
Hero the astounded Captain nearly
bounded from his scat.
“Patience, my do ir Captain. .Tames
Bratton set down the individual numbers
of those five notes.”
“Saint- ot Castile!” menta y ejaculated
the terrified Captain.
“Bratton a’so dates in this letter, Cap
tain, that hr yesterday received by the
English ntiil packet- which you may re
number arrived at noon yesterday, Captain
Bank of England notes to the amount of
ox thousand four hundred pounds!”
“Ho, that is news to me!” thought the
Captain.
“Bratton a’so sets down in this letter,
t ap i:u. the individual numbers of these
note--, as he had s i down the others. Ho
states, aiso, tnat it was ms intention to pay
me in full to-day, here at Old Anchors, if I
came—every penny he owed me—and re
quests me in this letter to meet him here
to-day, to receive all he owed me. Now,
Captain Alfonso Balbata —for the present—
does this look as if James Bratton com
mitted suicide last night? Eh? Now. my
very dear Captain, who is the fortunate |
holder of the five thousand pounds von t
paid Bratton yesterday at above su- set. and ]
ihe six thousand and odd pounds which he I
received by yesterday’s arrival of the j
English mail packet? Eh?”
Balbata had now heard for the first time !
how great a booty Bazilio had obtained by j
the murder and robbery of the unfortunate
shipchaudh r.
But Bazilio's treacherous concealment
was a mere trifle in the Captain’s mind
compared with what had become known to
Daiue Grippard.
CHAPTER XXYIIL
THE CAPTAIN' CONFESSES.
While the Captain was casting wildlv
hbout in h,s terrified mind to find some
convenient reply to Dame Grippard
pointed question, she grasped iris arm, am
said sharply:
“Are you going to try to lie out of >bi
niatter, Balbata? It will be useless. Yo
aud your men— Bazilio and Urbandt—com
mitted yonder deed. Listen, Captain. Yo
will remember when we were above, wait
ing for the scuttie to be removed by th
Swede, and conversing of our intended
contract, aud when I asked you if you had
come prepared to pay down this diy, here
in Old Anchors, the five thousand pounds
sterling required by me. you said you wore
ready, and took out your pocketbook and
displayed to me >ev ml one-thou sand
pound Bank of England notes and said, ;n
your arrogant manner, .'■ee, Sonora! lam
ready to pay cash for what pleases me.
You remember all that. Captain?"
“It was probably so, irenora," replied the
Captain, much crest-fallen.
“I am glad yon think so. Captain. I have
a quick eye. and a keen mem ry. Especi- :
ally for the numbers of banknotes. Tie
number of the uppermost of the notes yon
displayed to me was on e-hundred-thousu: and
and one. That is easily remembered, is t
not? Now. Bratton's letter states th ,t one
of the Bank ot England notes paid by you
to him yesp rday afternoon was one-hun
dred-thousand and one. Now. my dv.ai
Captain, pray teil me how that note found
its way from Bratton’s pocketbook Ia k v
yours. Y'ou state. What can yon do but
stare r Let me com; are the numbers of the
other notes now in your pock.'Book w :h
numbers which are set down Bratter s
lettet Ha, I see that you dare ik : -hew
those notes to me now!”
Dazed and abashed by thi- -t a -y am l >. •-
sistless attack, the Captain h i no • t-fm -e
to make, save to growi snpp.icn n.g’y
“Senora, you have me on the h p
my hands are not in the deed. Y\Y at :u,.. \
am I to expect from you. ”
“This mercy, and no other, B It i ]
am going to keep my h t-d on yur L:o ,
Captain, till you have paid me. or - ui and
Speedy payment to me, of the fifty-five
thousand dollars of which you robbed
THE MONROE ADVERTISER: FORSYTH. GA„ TUESDAY. FEBRUARY U, 1888.—EIGHT PAGES.
James Bratton iast night. I am going to
force you. under peril of the ga lows, to
givi me a y aid I may ask of you in the ie
incval of this young officer, Edward Hawks
worthy. in the abduction of \ erneena Bo
land. and in the securing for myself the
inh ritance which I alone can place within
her grasp. And you shall begin the work
this very day.”
She seem- and to t.ixe huge delight in terri
fving the burly Spa ish Captain with her
terrific eyis. as she leaned forward in hei
chair and glared into his face.
Footsteps of someone coming up the
stairway fe.l u-n their ears as they gazed
; nto i-a h other's eyes—his, a gaze of dis
may; hers, a gaze of vindictive triumph.
She hissed at him. venomously:
“Baibuta, you at h ast aided in the mur
der of James Bratton. Confess tho deed
to me, or I will shout, ‘Murder!’ while this
person coming up is passing this door.
Confess, or I will denounce you as the as
sassin and robber of James Bratton! List
en! You hear approaching steps? If you
do not admit the murder to me before that
person ”
“Hear, me, Senora! Bazilio did the deed!
By my soul, and the soul of my mother,
Senora, I did not kill the man, nor did I
wish Bazilio to kill him. I ”
“Enough!” commanded the dame. “The
person will hear! Ho is alone. He is
another of the undertaker's assistants. I
know him. He is coming to us. ”
A moment later the man who bad ascend
ed the stairs paused at the threshold of the
room, looked in, bowed to the dame, and
said:
“Please tell me where to find Mr. Crape
field, Dame Grippard. ”
“Keep straight on in the passage, Harly.
You will soon hear him and others,” re
plied the dame, and the man walked on.
She then turned to the Captain and con
tinued, sneeringlv:
“I am glad you hid your face from that
man, Captain. It is as pale as paper. Bah,
what a coward you are, after all! But you
did well to confess as soon as you did.
Another instant’s delay would have heard
me denouncing you to that man.”
The Captain mopped his forehead hasti
ly, growled a curse, took the five one-thou
sand-pound Bank of England notes fr m
his pocketbook, held them toward the
dame, and said, gaspingly:
“Senora, take these!”
“Not yet, Captain. Wait a while. Go
on with what you were about to sav. ”
“I was about to repeat, Seuora, that I did
not wish the m.tn to be killed. In fact, I
told Bazilio not to kill him. Bazilio
planned and executed the whole affair.
But take these notes as an installment of
the sum you demand from me. The saints
alone know where I am to obtain the bal
ance speedily! Here are five notes. Bazilio
has the others. And by heaven, Senora,
he robbed me in not letting me even sus
pect that ho had obtained so great a sum by
the deed! Why not take these five notes
now', Sonora?”
“Wait, Captain. Another man is coming
up the steps. Ah, it is the Swede! Here,
Jansen, here!” she added loudly, for the
Swede was about to pass on to look again
at his dead employer. “I have something
important to say to you, Jansen. Come!”
Jansen, despisingaud detesting the wom
an, nevertheless concluded to comply with
her request, and did so.
“Th ink you, Jansen. I have an apology
to make to you. and will do so presently,”
said the da mo, affably, as Jansen baited
within the room. “Now, Capta n Balbata,”
she added, “will you be so kind as to pay
it)b> Jansen’s bands the money of which
you spoke just now to me? Do, my dear
friend. ”
The Captain knew very well that this
“Do, my dear friend,” really meant—“if
you refuse, I will put the hangman’s rope
in the gras,) of this Swede who so devoted
ly loved his master!” He at once placed
the live notes in Jansen’s hands. The
'Swede accepted them with a stare of amaze
ment.
"Ho, ho!” cackled the dame. “We do
not intend to make you a present of the
notes, my good Jansen. You have a pencil
and note-book, of course? Yes. Well,
record in your note-book the numbers of
those fivo notes, please. Then give the
uotes aud a duplicate list of their numbers
to me, and take c are to keep your list till I
call for it, my good man. Captain Balbata
pays them to me, you see.
“Thank you, Jansen. And now' let me
beg your pardon for having even intimated
ihat you could have Harmed your late em
ployer and for all the bitter and unjust
ihings I have said to and of you this day.
Oh, lam sure you will forgive a petulant
md afflicted old woman like me, my good
nan!”
“I will bear you no ill-will, Dame Grip
pard. I forgive you for all that you have
raid of me, but I cannot forgive you for
ivhat you have said of Mr. Bratton. He
was a good and an honorable man, Dame
Grippard.”
“And do you still think he was murdered,
Irmsen?” she asked.
“Indeed, I do, Dame Grippard. Some
lay it will all come out.”
“Oh, I hope so, Jansen. And now, my
good mail, will you do me the favor to go
below to the counting-room and ask Mr.
Pettis to come right up to this room with
Lrs inventories, and to bring with him Mr.
Bazi io Alfanti and—and what is the name
of your first mate, vajta’u? 1 desire to
speak to h m also. ”
“His name is Herman Urbandt, Senora;
but as ho is almost a fool in matters which
do not pertain to ships and th > like, and
knows not ing of my ai‘air3, it will be well
if li lemains below while we converse with
Bazilio.”
Very well, Captain. You know best, of
course, vausen, say to Mr. Bazilio Alfanti
that Cai tain Balbata wishes to speak to
him before me in lefeieuce to the cargo
aud s pplies desired bv the Captain for the
next voyage of his brig. I think that was
what you said, Captain.”
“Yes. Eenora. The man can say all that,
if he pleases.”
Jaus u d'parted. A moment later the
Captain whisper -d to the t ame, with con
centrated fierceness:
“Do not drive affairs too far and fast,
Senora Grip; nrd! 'lhe man Pettis is a
constable. If Iso much as suspect, after
he appears, that you intend to betray me to
him. by the soul of my mother I will shoot
you dead with this!”
Here the C iptain threw aside the lapel
of h;s coat and revea < and the butt of a pis
tol. lie hid the weapon the next instant,
saying sternly:
I once shot a tigress through he - head
whe :uv own Heal eras let ween the jaws
of the beast!”
-Be ca n:. Captain. It is not to my in
terest to betray you n .w. AVhen the day
comes—if i: ever dee—when I shall desire
to play tigress u on your throat, any threat
you may make wdl not cause me to hesi
tate in my pur c*e. Take care now. sir.
how you presume to play bully with me."
■‘By my soul, Senora, it doe- not please
me to Lave a constable at my elbow under
the present c rcumstances! He may be
quick eno igh to have his sns_ -icion- aroused,
despite all your or my cant;o :sn Th it
is why I did not wish Urb mlt t ■ co: le up.
For I again swear that 1 ibandt knows
nothing of vital was done here last night.
He is not a -a:‘e mm to have over iv. ■ in
what you have discovered. 1 ran m-t him
only so far an l no farther. “
* Peitis is drdl-w.tt .and fe low. Captain,
i Never fear iu-al he will see or hear aught
to arouse his suspicion. He is an ass! A
| sleepy-beaded a<, or Biattou would not
! h ive been murdered last night Pettis
: shall sus- ect nothing —provided yon and
j Ba. Tio ob y my command.’’
i “Ah—and what are commands. Senora?”
- First te 1 me a’l you know of the mur
der. Captain. Take good care not to even
try to conceal the slightest fact from me.
You know my power to pum-h you. P,e
member it, Captain!
He swallowed a curse, and replied
somewhat sullenly
“By my soul, Senora. I am not likely
to gain acl ance to forget it! But I know
nolung of how th deed was done, rave as
I!: V, been told by Ba- dio I row know
that he deceived me iu r* g id to the
■ mount of money he obt n by the
i-riiu*. It is posable that he m y have
lied more or less about how it was com
mitted. However, you 6hall hear all he
told me.”
He then rapidly narrated to Dame Grip
yard all that had been told to him by
Bazilio. It did not take him long to do
this. The evil pair then began to discuss
ether matters, and had been thus engaged
several minutes when the dame whispered
warningly:
“Enough! I hear Pettis and Bazilio
joining up. Be calm. ”
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
New clover-leaf lace pins are encircled
by the stem of the leaf.
Tucks are likely to be revived as a
garniture for dress skirts.
The study of astronomy is becoming
fashionable among French ladies.,
An odd baceiet is composed of twelve
small gold enameled flags of as many
nations.
The newest departure in bangle rings
is a tiny vinaigrette pendant, attached
by a slender chain.
When two fabrics are used on very
rich princesse dresses the fronts of the
corsage are different.
The most popular black silk dress at
the present time is a combination oi
falle Francaise and watered silk.
Some of the newest large hats on chil
dren have the sides tied down over the
ears by a ribbon which passes over the
crown.
Anew principle has been devised for
cutting dresses of checked materials,
thereby minimizing the number of
seams.
Wide flichu collars of plush, that
cover the shoulders and are pointed in
front, are used upon short cloth cloaks
with pleasing effect.
A joint stock company, composed en
tirely of women, has been incorporated
in Stockton, Cal., for the purpose of
dealing in real estate.
Some of the newest embroidered wool
ens are wrought in self colors, the em
broidery being edged with a sort of
open-work woolen lace.
When passementerie is used upon
black dresses, apjrle green, cherry red or
white silk is often inserted beneath the
gimp, with excellent effect.
Some new black jackets of English
manufacture have heavy cord epaulettes,
and show a narrow waistcoat of red
cloth, bordered with small gold but
tons.
White cloth with Turkish embroidery
of gold is a favorite material for dressy
bonnets. It is generally used for the
soft crown with dark velvet edging on
the front.
Anew braid is silk soutache, edged
with gold or silver. A charming dress
of gray striped woolen was decorated
with gray braid edged with silver, laid
upon gray poult de soie.
Inexpensive combination dress pat
terns are partly of plain wool and paitly
of velvet, striped or barred, either match
ing or contrasting with the wool, and
come in all the fashionable dark shades.
New clothshaving a border woven on
one edge are used for long cloaks, the
border being placed in two rows upon
the front. These borders are of con
trasting colors, sometimes showing
cashmere designs.
Dressy black costumes have the skirts
composed of lenthwise rows of cord pas -
sementerie and black velvet sash ribbon.
The ribbon, which is seven or eight
inches wide, has inch-wide stripes of
velvet and repped silk.
Overdresses of black ladies’ cloth or
Henrietta cloth, above lower skirts of
plush or cloth in tan color, green terra
cotta or the lighter tints, chamois and
pearl-gray, are favored by both young
and middle aged ladies.
A tailor-made costume of fine red
serge had the entire bodice, from the
throat to the edge of the basque,
covered with inch-wide black braid,
tapering at the waist, a very effective
and becoming arrangement.
A lady living in Rappahannock, coun
ty, Va., had twelve stands of bees, which
were very valuable until a distillery was
in the neighborhood. Since it was
started, however, the bees pay frequent
visits to the still, get very drunk, and
are of little profit.
Braiding is, as everyone knows, very
fashionable, in both wide and narrow
braids, and in every conceivable design.
A novelty in this line was worked in
intricate patterns with smooth rat-tail
chenilie, like that so popular in fringe
two or three season’s ago.
Garabaldi waists, with a pointed yoke
and belt, are popular for house wear.
Cashmere Jersey cloth, light-weight
faced cloth aud line striped liannels are
all utilized for these waists, and the
yoke, collar, cuffs and belt are generally
braided in black or a darker shade of
the same color.
A stylish costume of black and tan
color was made with a polonaise of black
cashmere, tan-colored silk being used
for the lower skirt and vest. The skirt
was edged with .slender leaf points, over
fold of velvet, and the fronts of the
black bodice were cut in similar points
next the tan-colored vest.
Now that plain skirts are preferred to
•ill others, much depends upon the per
fection with which they are hung and
the arrangement of their draperies. The
highest skill of the dressmaker is often
taxed to make the skirt of a heavy cloth
costume stand out stylishly at the back
without visible support from beneath.
Dresses of green wool, combined with
green and red velvet, are in high favor
With the young ladies. The skirts of
these dresses are perfectly plain,
and are nearly covered with a
long, full overskirt. The velvet is set
on the lower skirt as a wide border,
either at the edge or three or four inches
above it, aud is also used a vest, plas
tTon or revers upon the basque.
The Queen of Portugal wears the
Paris life-savers' medals because, in 1874.
while bathing at Cascase with her sons,
Charles and Alfonso, eleven and nil e
respectively, she swam out to save hei
children from drowning. A large wave
suddenly swept the children off theii
feet, and their mother, in trying to
rescue them, came near drowning also,
but they were seen by the lighthouse
keeper, who dashed in and succeeded in
getting them safely to land.
Circumstances Against Her
Wife at breakfast table) —‘‘Oh dear,
I have so much to do. and the children
and servants try me sol”
Husband—"And you don’t look well,
either, my dear.”
YVife—“No: but when there is noth
ing but turmoil and confusion, and one
is expected to look after everything,
what possible pleasure is there in being
sick?”— Hew York Sun.
In All the Papers.
Snob—“ What ! Y'ou say you never
ieard of me? Why, sir, my name is in
ill the papers.”
Gentleman —“I’ve no doubt of it. but
vou see I never read the criminal court
proceedings. ” — Siftings.
GINSENG.
A WORTHLESS ROOT THAT IS
A CHINESE CURE ALL
More Than 400.000 Pounds Gath
ered Annually in America For
Ifexport—lts High Price —
Where It Is Found.
One of the mysteries in the world of
commerce is ginseng. If you speak to an
ordinary man about ginseng, he will ask
yon what you mean. If you tell him
ginseng is an article of commerce iu
wh.ch a trafiic of about a million dollars
a year is done by Americans, he will stare
at you. If you tell him that it has been
in certain place- of the world worth its
weight in gold, he will probably staie
ha.'dcr. If in addition to this you tell
him that it is ajvast humbug, and that it
is a very ordinary root of an American
shrub, almost without a particle of any
but imaginary value, he will concede that
it is a strange article for traffic. Finally,
when he learns that the populace of a
vast nation, high and low, consider it a
cure-all, and that it enters.into every
medicine for every ailment in that nation,
he will only understand the matter when
he learns that it is the eccentric Chinese
to whom this in reality unimportant root
is valuable.
In China, if a man lias a headache,
ginseng is the prescription. If his trou
ble is toothache, ginseng is the same
remedy again. For all ills, from de
pression of spirits to a sore toe, ginseng
is the universal remedy.
Physicians and authorities of the civil
ized world give the assurance that in
medicinal properties the root is almost
inert—at the most, contains to a very
mild extent tonic properties. None but
the singular and rice-eating Celestial can
feel any effects from the use of.it; but
among the Chinamen of this country
there is almost no consumption. The
root is bought hereby resident Chinamen
for home export. They do not use it
themselves, however, and inquiry from
these Celestial worthies has seldom
brought out any satisfactory statements
is to what ginseng is good for.
The belief among the home Chinese is
mostly superstition. It is a sort of
fetich, its powers are supposed to be oc
cult, of the nature of magic.
Iu China the belief is still implicit, and
besides the vast amount grown in that
country, it receives all that America can
supply, which is on the average 425,000
pounds a year.
The American wholesale price is now
$2.25 a pound. The article is sent mostly
in a crude state, but carefully cleaned.
A process of heat clarifies it to a hard
substance, with a pithy-like, petrified
jelly. It is used there as a table delicacy
by the rich.
Ginseng in China is a Government
monopoly, and Prof. Lockhart, of Lon
don, is the authority for the statement
that it is sold to privileged dealers by
the Imperial Government of China, at its
weight in gold. This is denied by some
American dealers. But the value is still
high. The root is very light aud the
f>2.25 a pound, its wholesale price here,
is enormous.
There are certain single roots, espe
rially of certain shapies, very rare,
which bring from $25 to S4OO, and are
aniy possessed by the wealthypelass—
mandarins anuT>Th?*s.
And yet the wholesale price here is
slowly but always steadily rising, and the
ridiculous fact i- before us that the price
of this futile drug, used by nobody in
this country, will in time become greater !
than that of opium itself, as the gradual
but sure process of its extermination in
America continues. The amount is lim
ited by the fact that it can not be culti
vated—only the wild kind is of commer
cial use, and this is becoming scarcer
every year.
What, then, is ginseng? Ginseng is
the root of a shrub which has flourished
for ages in China. It is called in botany,
aralia quiriquefolium, quinquefolium
meaning five-leaved, and its five-leaved
twigs branch off, to the number of three,
from a smooth, round stem about a foot
high.
It happened that in 1700 a priest, one
Father P. Fastoux, was diligently em
ployed in making a map of Tartarv.
During this labor he saw the plant grow
ing iu this mystic land, four leagues
-lway from the kingdom of Corea, in the
■pot where a Tartar village lay.
The Tartars were full of the praise of
the fabulous ginseng and its wonderful
powers, Father Fastoux becoming an
enthusiast also. He had missionary
friends on the oilier side of the world, in
Canada To these the priest sent some
of the root and an extoliment of its prop
erties as a cure for ail human ills. Back
in due time came the reply that the same
root was -well known to the Canada
piriests and in full use by the Indians.
The American ginseng perhaps differs
slightly from the Chinese, for there are
five or six varieties of the root, but it
possesses all the external attributes of
the celestial variety. The ginseng was
sent at that time to Europe, and was then
first introduced to the civilized world.
Even at that date, in the iast century,
European savans rudely shattered the illu
sion as to the root, and pronounced it
almost inert as a drug.
It grows about the wild lands and
farms of the Northwest and Northeast.
As cultivation ruins its flavor, it cannot
be made a regular industry, either in
growth or collection. In 1840 its price
was about i cents per pound. In 1865
it had risen to b 0 cents a pound. Its
export now is ;75,000 pounds. The big
ge t yield o, all was in 1841, when the
export almost do .bled: 1800 had seen a
ginseng-collectingci ize.likeag >!d fever,
in the rake :-tates where the i eople left
their homes, camped for weeks in the
hills, raised the export of ginseng to
C -C0 ! 0 pounds, the highes export evc-r
made, and roote l out the plant so that
it has been s arce ever since. At present
the best region- for it are New York,
Pennsylvania aud hio, the primearticle
coming from New Y'ork, the poorest
from Miync-ofa. North and south bare
lina. In =hort. all parts of the United
States where the suuar maple grows were
originally i: habitat.
The root, the only valuable part of the
ginseng, is four or five inches long, and
forked. The India;: name for it, “garent
oguen,” means leg- apart. “Ginseng”
means about the same.
Its flavor i- bitter and slight, and
ne; her unpleasant nor delectable.
Ginseng grow - along the great wall in
C hinese Tartarv and Corea The Ameri
can is the on'y other supply, except
Japanese. The Chinese think this poor,
and will not receive it.
The Chinese gin-eng mountains are
fenced i-. by Government, and patrolled
by guards —C i at) • Tim
Quill toothpicks came from France.
The largest factory in the world is near
Paris, where there is an annual product
of 20,000,000 quills. The factory was
started to make quill pen-, but when
these went* out of use it was turned into
a toothpick mill. Wooden toothpicks
are made principally in Michigan, Wis-
CMsin, Indiana and Ohio.
Arab Children and Their Games.
If the little Arabs are heathen, says ]
writer in St. Nicholas, they are
least picturesque. In their colored cloth
ing, with their dusky skins, their black
eyes, and their lithe, active bodies, they
are very picturesque. But. it must be
confessed, they appear best at a distance;
for soap i- not so fashionable among
them as might justly be expected from
the people of a country which manu
factures the most cleansing soap in the
world. In watchingtlie children a’ play
one soon notices that the girls do nut
alwavs have a good time. Arab boys
are not trained to be gentlemanly and
courteous to their sisters, altougb they
treat their elders with a delightful de
ference and respect. Little girls in the
East are never welcome. When a baby
is born, if it be a girl ‘‘the threshold
mourns forty days.” So, in taking a
glimpse at the amusements of the Arab
children, we must be prepared to find
that they are chiefly boys’ games, in
which the girls seldom participate.
A little boy in America asked a person j
who had lived in Syria if the boy- there
ever played base ball; and on learning
that they did not, he said: “Well, they
can’t have much fun there.” It is xe;j
natural for the children of any country
to imagine that the children in othei
countries amuse themselves in the same
ways. And the number of games that
are in reality universal among children
in all countries is really remarkable. I - oi
example, the Arab childen often play
blind-man’s-buff (they call it ghmn
maida) and biz zowaia or pus
in-the-corner, and a g. me like “button,
button, who has got the button?” (whirl:
they play with a pebble,) and owal how ah
or leapfrog, and giileh or marbles.
But there are other games of whirl:
you probably have never boat d—such
as kurd murboot, shooha joora, taia
ya-taia, khatim, and the greatest and
most exciting of all games —the na
tional game, it might perhaps be called
—jereed.
Finest Dissectinar-K mm in the World.
The College of Physicians and bur
geons has the finest dissecting-room in
the country, if not in the world, says a
New York correspondent. It lias forty
tables. These are of modern design and
simple in construction, consisting of an
iron frame supported by four iron legs,
upon which rests a slab of slate weigh
ing two hundred pounds. An inch front
the margin of this slab is a groove half
an inch in depth, intended to convey the
drippings into an iron receptacle fast
ened to the head of the table, l ive
students are assigned to each “cadaver,”
so that with the forty tables two hundred
men are enabled to work at once. Five
hours a day devoted to a subject will en
able a group of students to dissect it
completely within one week.
Each student is assigned to work on
a specified portion of tire “cadaver” by a
demonstrator of anatomy, and is re
quired to dissect an entire body during
the first year of his course. If he has
failed to'pass a satisfactory examination
he is again subjected to a similar task,
until his knowledge of anatomy is
proved.
Strange as it may seem, some students
acquire a fanatical fondness for this
branch of their study, and are never so
happy as when in the dissecting-room.
Clad in a loose gown of calico, scalpel
in hand, they seem to be in their element,
laughing? and jesting merrily as they
divide tendon after tendon, and separate
muscle after muscle, in their investiga
tions of the deep and intricate structure
of the human frame.
The Talking Dog.
Credulity has not often been exempli
fied more funnily, a Paris correspondent
says, than in a case which has just come
off in a police court. The keeper of a
public house told a long story of how a
customer came into his place one day
and asked for a bock, his dog taking a
seat beside his master and asking in a
strange voice for “a piece of meat” for
himself. The other customer, astounded
at hearing a dog talk, recommended
boniface to buy the animal aud to re
christeu bis place “The Talking Dog.”
The complainant took the advice, and
offered four hundred francs for the dog,
who, on hearing the bargain,[cried out to
his master: “bo you sell me, do you?
Then I shall not talk any more’.” The
animal kept his word, and boniface could
not get another syllable out of him. At
last it dawned upon him that he had
been made a fool of, and happening to
meet the vender in the garb of an acro
bat at a fair, he gave him in custody.
When the “poor player” was brought up
he confessed that he was a ventriloquist,
but protested that he did not oiler to
sell his dog. On the contrary, the land
lord insisted on buying it, and, without
any incitement to do so, went up quickly
in his bids from two hundred francs to
four hundred frances, throwing in the
refreshment which had been given to
man and beast. The case was dismissed.
Locomotion n T k o
The significance of e.euts depends
V6ry much on the mood of their interpre
ters. A few years ago there were nearly
80,000 jinrik’slias plying in the streets of
Tokio. Siati-ticians pointed to such a
state of affairs with uneasiness. They
concluded that the times must be very
bad indeed when so many person de
voted themselves to such a lo v and p-.in
ful manner of earning a li ing. Now, the
total numberof jinrikishas in the metropo
lis is only 30, .44, of which 7,213 are
single vehicles and 23,541 are double.
And what do the statisticians tell us?
Why, that this marked diminution is to
be attributed to trade depression: that
there are fewer people who can afford to
ride, and therefore fewer coolies to pull
them about. Whichever view be cor
rect, there is one thing that seem to
have been omitted from the calculation,
namely, the eTe tof tram cars and river
steamers. Both of these methods of
locomotion are largely patronized now
adays and the same may be said of the
Procrustean vehicles euphemistically
termed carriages, that ply far more
briskly than they did half a dozen years
ago. We hope the day is iot far distant
when jinrikishas will disappear alto
gether, though they are certa nly one of
the most convenient mac din - for g-eUing
about in that ever were invented.—
Japan Mail.
The Miser and the 1J 1.
On one of the island- of the Maine
coast there lived several years ago a man
noted for his miserly disposition. How
ever that mav he. he became quite
wealthy. One winter, during the session
of the Legislature, this person had o -
casion to vi-it Augusta. Hest<- : ped into
a restaurant for dinner and a waiter
spread before him the printed bill of
fare. The eyes oLUhe novice opened
j wide as he quickly added the figures at
the right of the page, indicating prices;
then, springing to his feet he indig
nantly cried . “What! all this to pay,and
I hain’t eat a mouthful yet ? ’ The out
come we ar<- not told, but on a subse
quent visit the gentleman c arried a pail
of victuals with him from home.— Le r
isten Journal,
SHOPLIFTERS.
SHKEWI) THIEVES TH A T INFEST
METROPOLITAN STORES.
"Watching the Movements of the
Shoplifters—How Professionals
Are Distinguished—Amateurs
Who Pilfer —A Mistake.
A New York Commercial Advertiser
reporter recent ly had an interesting con
versation with a policeman who had been
detailed to special duty in one of the big
Sixth avenue shops as a detective. ‘Y
suppose,” said he, “that the cost to the
retail merchants in this city for protec
tion against shoplifting, by the employ
ment of floor walkers and special officers
amounts to fully isloo,ooo a year. It is
interesting to watch the flocking of simp
lifiers to new stores or to the older estab
lishments which open new departments.
The ground is usually studied by these
persons on opening day. They generally
come in pairs and pay particular atten
tion to the younger of the shop people.
Most of them show au astonishing knowl
edge of fabrics, and in this w ay, as well
as in more obvious cases, become very
friendly with the girls whom they pro
pose to victimize. A thorough paced
shoplifter is never a stranger iu a store.
Asa rule she makes frequent purchases
as a cover for her thefts. 1 speak, as you
see, only of women shoplifters, but there
are, perhaps, a dozen men well known to
the police who make a good living at
this kind of larceny. They confine
selves, however, to fields lying out of the
domain of retail dry goods stores.
“One can almost invariably distin
guish a professional shoplifter. She is
usually between thirty and forty years of
age, eminently respectable in appearance,
dressing quietly and moving about in
such a manner as to attract the least at
tention to herself. She carries a loosely
wrapped paper parcel or a wide
mouthed handbag, aud wears either a
shawl or a dolman. The use of the wrap
is evident. The paper parcel comes in
handy in many ways. Into the folds of
the paper, while the parcel is resting upon
the counter, the shoplifter can tuck away
more things than an unskilled person can
get in a Gladstone bag. Of course, all
the articles so stolen must be small.
When she desires to get away with a
quantity of silk, a bund gloves or a
box of handkerchiefs, she uses her con
venient wrap. It is not often that a
woman of this kind does not increase
considerably in size from the time she
enters the store until she leaves it, and an
observation of this change in her appear
ance is, after all, the surest way of de
tecting the ‘crooks.’
“ The special officers who are detail* <1
to these big stores make, as a matter of
course, a special study of these women.
I have often lost three days out of a week
by trotting around the Police Courts
getting acquainted with the faces of
shoplifters x\ho have been arrested.
Most of the large stores have rogues’
galleries of their own, the pictures in
which consist almost exclusively of shop
lifters. In a special division of the books
in which the names and pedigrees of the
professional shoplifters are ke.-t, appear
the names and addresses of women who
are otherwise reputable, but who have
been detected at .shoplifting. 1 pon the
return of or payment for the articles
stolen they have not been prosecuted.
Queer as it may seem, the shops suffer
more from this class of amateur thieves
than from even the professionals. Some
women are a liicted with such a lust for
possession of articles which they cannot
afford to buy that they are willing to
sacrifice their own and their families’
reputations by a systematic course of
stealing. I know of one lady living in
West forty-third street, whose name was
on our books, and whose husband had
made an* agreement with the firm to pay
for anything his wife uYght steal. In
one year his biil amounted to within a
few dollars of •‘57,000. This lady x\a a a
patroness of several charitable institu
tions and a member of one of the most
prominent Presbyterian churches on
Murray Hill.
"It is very rare that mistakes are made
in arresting women for shoplifting who
arc not actually guilty of it. It is al
together too dangerous. The most
notable case I remember occurred in
Brooklyn some years ago. The wife of
the District Attorney of Kings County
bought a quantity of goods in the store
of one of the leading dry-goods firms
across the river. An over-officious floor
walker thought that she had taken some
thing which she had not paid for, and
he directed her to go to the office. She
indignantly refused. Thereupon the
man obtained assistance and carried her
there, where she was searched by three
female attendants. Nothing was found
upon her for which she had not a re
ceipted memorandum. 'I hen she was
told that she could go. She positively
refused. ‘But.’ she said, ‘I desire to
have my husband sent for, and
he will inquire more particularly
into this outrage.’ She wrote a note
and directed it to her husband in his of
ficial capacity. A member of the firm,
who by this time had appreciated the
gravity of tlie mistake, begged that the
lady would say no more about the matter,
declaring that he would indemnify her
for the outrage which he acknowledged
had been perpetrated. This the lady also
refused to do. When her husband ar
rived the overtures for settlement were
renewed, but were again rejected. The
floor walker, the man who assisted him.
and the three women who made the
search, were ariested for assault. The
matter wa= given the widest publicity in
the newspaper-, and die re uit of it all
was that so strong was feeling against
the firm became of the outrage that it
was oblige i to retire from business.
This was a salutary warning which dry
goods men in genera! have not forgot
ten.”
Are Stones Alive?
We generally think of minerals as dead
lumps of inactive matter. But they may
be -aid to be alive, creatures of vital pul
-ations, and separated into individuals
as distinct as the pines in a forest or the
tigers in a jungle. The disposition of
crystals are as diverse as those of ani
mals. They throb with unseen currents
o' energy. They "row in size as long as
have opportunity. i hey can be
killed, too, though not as easily as
an oak or a dog. A strong electric
shock discharged through a crystal wilf
decompose it. very rapidly if it is of soft
structure, causing the particles to gradu
ally di-integrate in the reverse order from
its growrih. until the poor thing lies a*
dead, -hapeless ruin. It is true the crys
tal’s life is unlike that of higher
creatures. But the difference between
vegetable and animal hfe is no greater
than that between mineral and vegeta
ble life. Linmeus, the great Swedish
naturalist, defined the three kingdoms
by saying: “ "tonesgrow: plants grow
ad feel: animals grow and feel and
■neve.”— K It A ale.
The wise prove, and the foolish con
fess by their conduct, that a lift of em
ployment is tho only lifo worth living.
Ages of Congressmenn.
The oldest member of the House is
Jndge William D. Kelley, of Pennsyl
vania. Although he is seventy-three, he
is not the oldest-looking man in the
House, or the least active. He was
forty-seven when he entered Congress,
in 1861, and he has been a member con
stantly since then, a period of twenty
six years. The youngest member is
Benjamin F. Shively, of the Thirteenth
Indiana District. Born in 1857. he is
only a trifle under thirty-one years of
age, but he is tall, strong and vigorous,
and has already served a part of a term
in Congress. Mr. Ralph Plumb, of the
Eighth Illinois Pistrict, is an old men.
her. He was born in 1816, the same year
in which .Mr. Gay, of Louisiana, first
saw light. There is quite a batch of
members too modest or too sensitive to
furnish their ages, the last including Mr.
.Miliken, of Maine; General Hooker, of
Mississippi, and Air. Heard and Air.
Hutton, of Missouri; Air. Sowdcn, of
Pennsylvania, aud Air. R. Q. Alills, of
Texas. Some of these gentlemen are in
good preservation, and upon the efige of
that period when men are ndt inclined
to gratiouslv lead people to consider
them older than they really are. Air.
\ audever, of California, who was born
in 1817, was a member of Congress from
1859 until the breaking out of the civil
war. lie and Air. llolman, of Indiana,
who was in the Thirty-sixth Congress iu
1860-61, saw service before Mr. Kelley,
but Air. Yanderver has not returned
until now, and Mr. Holman’s service has
not been continuous. Mr. Randall did
not make his first appearance as a mem
ber until ISO:’, four years later than Mr.
Holman, but he has begun his thirteenth
consecutive term, standing next in length
of service to Air. Kelley. —Vitthunj
Chronicle.
Where Flies Go in Winter.
Someone has asked where do the flies
go in the winter. This is a question of
some interest, for the natural history of
a house fly is not generally known. Few
persons know that a house fly is born
fully grown and of mature s’z.e, and that
there are no little flies of the same
same species, the small ones occasionally
observed being different in kind from the
large ones. The house fly does not lay
eggs, but extrudes living larva*, which
go through the usual transformations in
their temporary abodes iu heaps of de
cayed gari age, and rubbish thrown out
from houses. It does not bite or pierce
the skin, but gathers its food by a comb
or rake or brush like tongue, with which
it is able to scrape the varnish from cov
ers of books, and it thus tickles the skin
of persons upon which it alights to feed
upon the perspiration. A fly is a scaven
ger, and is a vehicle by which contagious
diseases arc spread. It poisons wounds,
and may carry deadly virus from decay
ing organic matter into our food. It re
tires from the sight at tlic beginning of
winter, but where it goes few pcisons
know’. If a search of the house is made
they will be found in great numbers se
creted in warm places in the roof or be
tween the partitions or floors. AYe te
cently bad occasion to examine the roof,
and found around the chimney myriads
of flies hibernating comfortably aud suf
ficiently lively to fly when disturbed in
overpowering clouds. No doubt this is
a favorite winter resort for these creat
ures.—New York Timer,.
Remarkable Crystals.
Borne remarkable crystals were found
a short time ago in a gravel bed near
Mokeumne Ilill, Cal. 1 ney are of such
hardness that the hardc-t file doesn’t
make the least impression, and they will
cut glass like a diamond. AH the .speci
mens are hexagonal cubes terminating id
pyramidal points, the sides being as
smooth and regular as the finest cut
and of such cleanic: that objects can be
plainly discerned through pieces afoot iff
thickness. They are of immense size,
the largest having thirteen points start
ing from a single base three feet in
length, two and a half fe<-t in thickness]
and weighing 500 pounds: the next in
side is two feet long, eighteen inches in
thickness and weighs about DO pounds j;
the others, about two dozen in numlier,
range from one foot to one and a halt
feet in thickness,aud w eigh from fifty to
seventy-five pounds.
A Valuable Gown.
The old door keeper of the Hotei
Milan at Florence, Italy, named bap
vador Cecchini. died recently and lefjl
his property to his nephew. Tlielatteji
came and looked about in the dingj
porter’s lodge and was much dis
satisfied at not finding anything worth
carrying away. The deceased had fojr
years worn an old gown made of coar.-o
cloth and had never changed his atiirts
in winter or in summer. The nephexjv
took up the gown md threw it down
again in disgust. As it slipped fioin his
hand he felt some hard object striking
him, and, taking up the gown again, lie
felt there was a thick paper parcel in it.
it was sewed under the lining. Gutting
the folds lie found seventy-five Govern
ment bonds in it of tlic value of about
S4O each. That gown was no longqr
treated with disrespe t.
Rattlesnake Neckties.
Mr. A. Judson Cole, who is the man
ager of one of the large ( hicago
sale houses in the line of gentlemen’s
furnishings, shows a novel necktie which
he lias just received from Texas. It is a
a rattlesnake skin made up in the forin
of a four-in-hand tie. Th point-rattle
is set in the center of the outer fold-j—
--to serve the purpose of a tie-pin. As it
glistens and shows all sorts of shifting
colors in the sunlight or gaslight, St
makes a very attra<ti e, if not exactly
conventional, tie. Mr. Cole says that it
was sent to him as a sample, the sender
saying that, as the stor k of rattle-nukes
in his country is inexhaustible, be can
supply as many of these strange ties ks
the Chicargo house may want. —Chkatyo
Notes.
American Maniioof.
The grand feature of American man
hood is that it is composite, made up of
the best characteristics of all nations.
Our forefathers were of foreign birth br
parentage, and yet, where in history will
wc- find more illustrious examples of up
right manhood? \Ye do not care what
percentage of foreign blood is in our
population, provided it assimilates with
our own, and good results are attained.—
New Haven Jleguter.
An Old Epitaph.
Here is an epitaph still to be found in
an English churchyard:
HERE LIES THE BODY OF
: LADY O’ROONEY,
: FrRST Cousin to Burke.
: Commonly Called "The Sublime.” ;
Bland, passionate and deeply religious, '.
: She also painted in water color— ;
“Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” ;
His Majesty Dong Khan, of Annam,
has fifty cooks taking part in the prej a
ration of each royal repast, but each chef
is confined to the elaboration of a single
one of the fifty dishes of which the menu
is invariably composed.