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I AGRICULTURE. Composting Manure.—Few farmers have an idea how much manure can be saved when the proper mean3 are taken. In the fall, stable manure may be cart ed directly to the field and spread as made, with less expense in handling and waste than in any other way. But there are accumulations with which this cannot be done. These are best put into a compost heap, which should be started with a thick layer of sods, or road-dust—better if the ground stratum is of clay. Have ready to hand road-dust to form layers with the ma nure, which is derived from different sources and of varying composition— from the privy or earth closet, the pig pen and the fowl roost; there are also ashes, leached and unleached, kitchen slops, garden weeds; the night urine, and broken bones. Some peel sods along fences and other useless places, and all go into the compost heap, not heaped high, or into a conical form, which sheds the water and induces fire-fang. Make it fiat, a few feet in thickness, and as wide as is convenient to work, then add to the length as the material accumulates, occasionally fork ing it over and mixing as it rots, keep ing it covered with a coat of road-dust. It will be surprising at the end of the season how much has been gathered, and how rich the material. All the ele ments of fertility are present, the more valuable well represented, so that it is entirely reliable, fit to be applied to anything: just the thing for a garden, and especially suited to meadows, giv ing an even covering, which will start a growth black and thick, the stimulus helping to sustain the plant during the winter and starting it early in the spring. Such a dressing (with soil in it)is more lasting, and will invite the roots up into it the land thus being added to instead of being lessened as with the usual culture. There is noth ing filthy about it any more than about so much soil; it is comparatively light and dry, and pleasant to handle. The difficulty is, there is so little of it, when there might be so much by saving the materials that now go to waste. Raising Ducks.—Many a farmer has realized far more from breeding ducks than he could obtain from his chickens, for they are very hardy, and lay re markably well during some parts of the season. As soon as they commence to lay the eggs should be carefully gather ed and put away. As soon as a hen (not a duck) warts to set, put her upon duck’s egg8, and let her hatch and care for the brood until they are able to take care of themselves. A hen will care for a brood of ducklings far better than will an old duck. If the ducks think they have laid eggs, and show unmis takable signs of wanting to set, put them into a convenient coop, put one of your most vigoraus young drakes with them, and they will soon be wil ling to shell out eggs again, which should be set under hens as fast as con venient, so as to bring as many out at a time as possible, thereby lessening the cost of attending to them. A shallow tub, kept well-tilled with water, will afford plenty of bathing room for the ducklings until they are two or three months old, and perhaps longer. SCIENTIFIC. The value of manure should be a ser ious consideration in feeding. By using concentrated foods we are actu ally laying in a supply of the most val liable artificial fertilizers at the lowest possible cost. It is, in fact, making two profits from the same outlay; one In the shape of a useful food, and one in the extra quality of the manure; and the latter is frequently one of the most important points to consider in feeding. If the hens are kept warm, and are fed well with warm feed once a day, and provided with clean nests, eggs will soon be plentiful. Hens that have been laying may become broody, and may be set if a glazed coop is provided and placed In a sunny spot before a window in a warm poultry house. One early * chichen thus raised .will be worth in market during summer as much as two or three later ones. Winter Mulching.—Invei ed sods make a good winter mulch for trees for trees and shrubs. Let the sods re main in the spring until they rot, then fork up and they make a good dressing for the summer and also serve as pretty good mulch then. Avoid exposure of the animals to cold when they are warm. If a horse is brought in warm and wet with sweat, rub him dry bofore putting on a blan ket. He will then keep warm; other wise he will become chilled by the wet blanket and surely take cold. A New Order. The other day, after a strapping young man had sold a load of corn and and potatoes on the market and had taken his team to a hotel barn to “feed it became known to the men around the barn that he was very desirous of join ing some secret society in town. When questioned he admitted that such was the case, and the boys at once offered to initiate him in a new order, called the “Cavaliers of Coveo.” He was told that it was twice as secret as Free Ma sonry, much nicer than Odd Fellow ship, and the cost was only two dollars. In case he had the toothache he could draw five dollars per week from the re lief fund, and he was entitled to receive ten dollars for every headache, and twenty-five dollars for a sore throat. The young man thought that ne had struck a big thing, and after eating a hearty dinner he was taken in a store room above the barn to be initiated. The boys poured cold water down his back, put flour on his hair, swore him to kill his mother, if commanded, and rushed him round for an hour without a single complaint from his lips. When they had finished he inquired: ••Now I’m one of the Cavaliers of Coveo, am I?” “You are,” they answered. “Nothing more to learn is there ?'* “Nothing.” “Well, then, I’m going to lick the whole crowd .’’’continued the candidate and he went at it, and before he got through he had his two dollars initia tion fee back, and three more to boot, and had knocked everybody down two or three times apiece. He didn’t seem greatly disturbed in mind as he drove out of the barn. On the contrary his hat was slanted over, he had a fresh five-cent cigar in his teeth, and he mild ly said to one of the barn boys: •‘Say, boy, if you hear of any cava liers asking for a Coveo about my size, tell ’em I’ll be in on the full moon to take the Royal Sky fugle degrees.” Nolhing disposes us better to confi dence, to the pleasures of intimacy, than a common subject of suffering. Thus our companions in misfortune be come almost always our friends. Heat and animosity, contest and*con flict, may sharpen the wits, although they rarely do; they never strengthen the understanding, clear the perspica city guide the judgment or improve the heart. Leisure is time for doing something useful, this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never, so that, as Poor Kichard says, a life of lei sure and a life of laziness are two diff erent things. The Lord of Life should not be wor shiped with faded flowers. Those that grow in thine own garden are far better than any others. With the flowers that are gathered there must be reverence— itself a flower. The Telectroscope.—M. Senlecq, of Ar- dres, France, has recentiv submitted to the examination of MM. Du Moncei and Hallez n’Arros a plan of an apparatus intended to reproduce telepraphically at a distance the images obtained in the camera obscura. This apparatus will be based on the property possessed by selenium of offering a variable and very sensitive electrical resistance according to the different gradations of light. The apparatus will consist of an ordinary camera obscura containing at the focus an unpolished glass, and any system of autographic telegraphic transmission; the tracing point of the transmitter in tended to traverse the surface of the un polished glass will be formed of a small piece of selenium held by two springs acting as pincers, insulated and con nected one, with a pile, the other with the line. The point of selenium will form the circuit. In gliding over the surface, more or less lightened up, of the unpolished glass, this point will communicate, in different degrees and with great sensitiveness, the vibrations of the light. The receiver will also be a tracing-point of black lead or pencil for drawing very finely, connecting with a very thin plate of soft iron, held almost as in the Bell telephone, and vi brating before an electro-magnet, gov erned by the irregular current emitted in the line. This pencil, supporting a sheet of paper arranged so as to receive the impression of the image produced in the camera obscura, will translate the vibrations of the metalic plate by a more or less pronounced pressure on that sheet of paper. Should the seleni um tracing-point run over a light sur face the current will increase in intens ity, the electro-magnet of the receiver will attract to it with greater force the vibrating plate, and the pencil will ex ert the les3 pressure on the paper. The line thus formed will be scarcely, if at all, visible; Che contrary will be the case if the surface be obscure, for, the resistance of the current increasing, the attraction of the magnet will diminish, and the pencil, pressing more on the paper, will leave upon it a darker line. M. Senlecq thinks he will succeed in simplifying this apparatus by suppress ing the electro-magnet, and collectiug directly on the paper by means of a particular composition the different graditions of tints proportional to the intensity of the electric current. The London Mining Journal points out that, aside from its other advantages, the success of the electric light would solve a most important problem affect ing the lives of many persons now working in mines. “There appears to be no reason,” says the Journal, “why electricity should not be made applica ble for mining instead of lamps, and this would effect what our mining en gineers and foremost chemists have so long been looking for. It would give the men a light such a3 they have never dreamt of, enabling them to get a much larger quantity of coal in a given time than it is possible for them to bring down by the light of the lamp, which barely suffices to make the blackness of the working places visible. It would also benefit both masters and men, and greater safety would be insured, forex- plosions would be all but impossible, whilst the miners would be better able to guard against falis of roof and coal.” DOMESTIC. Some Economical Dishes.— Rice pud ding for five persons can be furnished at a cost of nine or ten cents, as fol lows : Take a small teacupful of rice and sugar each.half a teacup of raisins, two quarts of sweet skim milk and a little salt. Bake slowly from two to three hours and you will have some thing nutritious, healthful, cheap and satisfactory.—A family supper, consist ing of good home-made bread and but ter, canned huckleberries, cream tartar cake, and milk or sage tea well trimmed, is prettv good living for common people, is very simple and cheap, and the persons who- practice it are not conscious of having done any thing extrordinary in the scrimpings line.—Not long since I bought a hog’s head, costing four cents a pound,cut off the jowls and salted them, and they furnished pork for two messes of baked beans, enough for two meals for a family of six, and it was much more delicious and tender than the ordinary side-pork. After divesting the remain der of eyes, ears and snout, it was soaked in water for 54 hours, scraped thoroughly, then boiled until the meat was ready to drop from the bones, chopped fine, season with salt, pepper and sage, and pressed. When cold, cut into slices and fry slowly in a batter ma le of milk eggs, flour. I prefer sour milk, one egg to a cup of milt, and use a little soda. This makes an excellent breakfast dish. Enough fat presses out and rises on the surface of thje water to pay for the work. Professor Dolbcar of Tufts College has invented a galvanometer which measures the strength of the electric current directly, instead of indirectly, as is done by the needle galvanometer. He has utilized the attractive force ex erted by a common helix to draw the core within itself when a current of electricity is passed through it; the stronger the current the greater the at tractive force, and by a simple mechan- anism, consisting of a spiral spring, a pointer and graduated scale, the strength of the current can be readily seen. Professor Dolbear has also in vented an electric lamp which has an illuminating power equal to 2000 can dles and gives a steady light. An instrument called the stathmo- graph, for recording the speed of rail way trains, has been invented by a Ger man mechanician at Cassel, and works so well that the Prussian government is about to test it on some of the State Swiss Pudding.—Sift together half a pound of flour, one heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, and one of salt; rub together four ounces of granulated sugar and two ounces of butter, and when they are well mixed, so as to be granular, but not creamy, add the flour gradually until all is used; make a hol low in the middle of the flour, put Into it one egg, half a teaspoonful of lemon flavoring, and-half a pint of milk; mix to a smooth paste,put into well-buttered and floured mold; steam the pudding three-quarters of an hour, or until a broom splint can be run into it without finding the pudding sticking to the splint. Turn the pudding out of the mould and send it to the table with the flavoring sauce, btir together over the fire one ounce each of flour and butter; as soon as they are smooth pour into them half a pint of boiling milk, add two ounces of sugar and half a tea spoonful of lemon flavoring, and use with the pudding as soon as it boils up. French Bread. — As a rule the French bread is always sweet and good, and two things contribute in a great degree to this—that is the manner or form of baking. They never make a thick loaf; no matter what the size or shape, it is always thin, and more than two-thirds crust. They bake their bread until it is perfectly cooked. The loaves being so thin, the heat strikes through very soon after they are placed in the oven; hence all fermentation is stopped, while in the case of large loaves fermentation goes on after the bread has been in the oven for some time, and of course much ot the sweet ness is lest. Then in baking so long and having so much crust, there is a peculiar sweetness given which can be obtained in no other way. To Prepare Pumpkin for Pies.—Stew it in as little water as you can without burning; when thoroughly done, drain off the water if there is any left, and pass through a cullander. While hot, add a quarter pound of butter to about a gallon of the pumpkin, and ten well- beaten eggs, one quart of rich milk, one tablespoonful of salt, thesame of cinna mon, ginger, nutmeg, one teaspoon of cloves, a half tumbler of whiskey or other spirits, and sugar to suit the taste. Bake rather quickly but weli done. HUMOROUS. The sanguinary battle of Franklin was at its height, and now and then there was a soldier who would not face the music, and holding to the idea that “ distance lends enchantment” on all such occasions, would exhibit his faith in the idea by taking “ leg-bail ” for the rear. These cases were getting too numerous toward the close of the bat tle, und Col. B , A. A. G., of our brigade, was sent back to the rear to intercept those seeking for safety and return them to their respective posts of duty. Col. B said he hailed one fellow who was making tracks for some place of safety with all the energy of despair. “Halt! I say, and return to your command!” The flying son of Mars took no notice of the command. “ Halt! I say, and go back to your post!” The soldier paid no attention to him. The colonel now became exasperated, and yelled out: “If you don’t turn and go back to your command I will shoot you, sir!” Without pausing in his flight the soldier yelled back at him : “ Shoot and be hanged! WhatWone bullet to a basketful?” Col. B let him go, and after the battle told the incident as a good joke. At the Masquerade. — They were gliding the happy hours away, she, a Roman princess, he an English noble man. “ I think I know you,” whispered the princess. _ “ Who, whispered the noblemanTufs- guising his voice. “ Fred! ” “So?” • “ Yes.” “ And you are Miss Ella, are you not?” “How did you know me?” she re plied, in great surprise. “ Is not my disguise complete?” ‘Ah; yes,” said Fred, “but you could not disguise those dainty feet, these soft hands which I hold in mine, nor your graceful, lovely dance. Give me one little peep, Ella?” “ I will if you will,” replied Ella. “All right,” said Fred, and both raised their masks. He didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. “John,” said Mrs. Smith, “what smell is that?” “ Cloves.” “ But that other smell?” “ Allspice.” “ But isn’t there another?” “ Yes—apples.” “Just one more?” “Cider, my dear.” “Well, John,” she said, “if you’d only drink a little brandy now, you would make a good mince pie.” YOUTH’S COLUMN. mi* “How much do you ask for that goose?” inquired a customer of a mar ket woman. “Seven shillings for the two,” replied the woman. “But I wantonly one,”said the customer, can’t help it,” answered the woman. “ I ain’t a-goin’ to sell one without the other. To my certain knowledge them ’ere geese have been together for more’n thirteen years, and I ain”; a- goin’ to be so onfeelin’ as to separate ’em now.” Two Hibernians were passing a stable which had a rooster on it for a weather vane, when one addressed the other thus: “Pat, what’s the reason they didn’t put a hen up there, instid of a rooster?” “A’ thin.” replied Pat, “that’s aisy enough. Don’t you see it would be inconvanient to go for the eggs.” To Sugar or Crystallize Pop Coun. —Put into an iron kettle one. table spoonful of butter, three tablespoonsful of water, and one teacupful of white sugar; boil until ready to candy, then throw In three quarts of corn, nicely popped ; stir briskly until the candy Is evenly distributed over the corn; set the kettle from the fire and stir until it is cooled a little, and you have each grain separate and crystallized with lines. A dial in view of the engineer < tlle sugar; care should be taken not to enables him to ascertain the velocity of his locomotive at any moment, and the changes or speed are graphically repre sented upon a roll of paper, which can be studied at the end of the jouaney. The theory that periods of great com mercial depression throughout the world coincide with periods of solar in activity characterized by the absence of spots in the sun, is advocated in Eng land by such distinguished men of science as Professor Stanley Jevons, and Professor Roscoe, of Owen’s Col lege, Manchester. Fine shreds of India rubber dissolved in warm copal varnish makes a water proof cement for wool and leather. have too hot a fire, lest you sco.ch the corn when crystallizing. Nuts thus prepared are delicious. Ancient Medicine. In the time of plague some carry toad powder, a toad, a live spider (enclosed in some convenient receptacle), arsenic or some «uch poisonous substance, upon their persons, which they say attracts the Infection of the air to themselves, which otherwise might attack the per son who carries it. It is also claimed that this same toad powder attracts all the poison of a pestilential tumor. Re ceipt for toad powder. Take three or four large toads, seven or eight spiders and as many scorpions, put them to gether in an open crucible and allow them to remain for some time; then add virgin wax and seal the vfcssel well; cook quietly till all is dissolved, work it well with a spatula into an ointment to be put into a silver box well sealed and habitually carried on the person. Remedy—Choose large black spiders, marked with yellow spots, inclose three or four in a linen bag—they must be alive—and tie around your neck. Thev would keep better if put in a box either of gold, silver or tin, with air holes on all sides. Equal quantities of crude mercury, corrosive sublimate and ar senic, pouud well in mortar, and put into quills, sealed at either end with Treatment of Boils.—Boils should be brought to a head by warm poul tices of camomile flowers, or boiled white lily root, or onion root by fer mentation with hot water, or by stimu lating plasters. When ripe they should be destroyed by a needle or a lancet. But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved. Stings and Bites. — Carbonate of soda wet and applied externally to the bite of a spider, or any venomous crea ture, will neutralize the poisonous ef fects almost instantly. It acts like a charm in the case of a snake-bite. The Little Hand. Votive offering were common among the Norweigian fishermen. A legend states that a mariner wished on Christ mas day to give the spirit of the waters a cake; but when he came to the shore, lo! the waters were frozen over. Un willing to leave his offerings on the ice and so to give the spirit the trouble of breaking the ice to obtain it, the fisher- took a pickaxe and set to work to make a hole. In spite of all his labor he was only able to make a very small hole, not nearly large enough to put the cake through. Having laid the cake on the ice while he thought what was best to be done, suddenly a very tiny littl« hand, as white as snow, was stretched through the hole, seized the cake, and crumpling it up together, withdrew with it. Ever since that time the cakes have been so very small that the water- sprites have had no trouble with them. In this legend originated the compli ment so often paid to aNorweign lady : “Your hand is like a water-sprites.” The man who dodges behind his newspaper when a lady enters a crowded car is the man who piou|ly hates a hireling ministry and refuse* to pay his pew rent on principle. 1 “ I have a great ear, a womleiw ear,” said a conceited musician, in fl course of a conversation. “ So haj jackass,” replied a bystander. A little boy, when reproved for breaking a new rocking-horse, said : “ What’s the good of a horse till it’s broke.” Now is the season when the sturdy wood-chopper will be judged by his ax. Boots are made on the Pacific coast with pockets for pistols in their tops. The Chinese say there is a well of wisdom at the foot of every gray hair. The man who is always as “ cool as a cucumber ” is generally as green. A True Bear Story.—“Now I’m ready for that true bear story,” said Liza, as she climbed into papa’s lap; and papa began it at once,— “Your grandpa was born and lived among the Cumberland Mountains. One day; when he was about eight years old, he was sent, with a brother a little older than himself, to carry dinner to their father, who, with two or three of his neighbors, was at work on a mount ain road about a mile from their cabin home. “The boys climbed along the rough way, first one and then the other carry ing the dinner-basket. As they neared a large cak-tree, close to which their road passed, they heard two dogs bark ing very fiercely. When they came to the tree, and looked up to see what the dogs were barking at, they saw a large black bear. “They ran on towards the place where their father was, as fast as bare footed boys can run. Their hats flew off, and the dinner was dropped long before they reached him. As soon as they saw him, they cried wildly, ‘ There’s a bear down there—a great black bear. “The men took their axes, for they had no guns with them, and started down to find the bear. They soon came to the tree where the dogs were still furiously barking, and saw the bear up the tree, growling fiercely, and six lit tle bears with her. “ When she saw the men she waited a moment, and seemed to talk to her babies Then she began slowly to back down the tree, and the men ran off sev eral rods, for they saw that she was dangerous. As soon as she reached the ground, she gave one of the dogs a stroke with her paw that sent him ten feet into the bushes, and then she caught the other and hugged him till he couldn’t breathe. “ Keeping her eye on the men all the time, she gave a low growl and her baby bears came down from the tree one after another, and scampered, first under the Jow bushes near, and then off up the mountain side. The mother bear stood on guard until the last cub was at a safe distance, and then, growl ing defiantly at the men, she started af ter her younglings. She went about a rod, then turned and growled again; and this she did a dozen times in as many rods, watching closely to see if the men followed her. She kept this up till all were out of sight.” “Any more, papa,” said Liza. “I might make up a little,” replied papa. “ Well, make up a little.” So papa went on.— “When the mamma-bear got her babies far up the mountain she met the papa-bear, and he said, ‘ Why, what’s the matter with you all?’ and she told him how she had got away from the men and the dogs, and he said, ‘Go in to the den and take a sleep, and I will watch at the door, and afterwards get you a good supper.’ ”— If you catch a man stealing your umbrella arraign him on the spot. Proposed to Ills Grand-Mother. Come unto Him, and in his greatness we shall finch the enlargement of our littleness, in His tenderness we shall wax, wrap the quills in silk or fine lin- 1 ^ ie softening of our harshness, in en, and wear Ween the coat and shirt j Ten.^ fl “ d the on either side of the breast. Take four dried toads and apply on the groin and the arm pits. During the last plague at Marseilles, all those whose clothing did not touch those of the in fected escaped all harm, though fre quently exposed to the breath of those walking skeletons. When in the sphere of the emanations of the body of the sick, do not swallow your saliva, but spit continually. Saliva imbibes poison more easily than anything else, and if swallowed, seems to introduce the poi son in the system. Burnt sulpherpur ifies the atmosphere very well. Inter nal Remedies.—Take one or more toads —the largest you can find—put in an unglazed vessel, cement it well, and put in an oven until reduced to ashes. Dose, one drachm in a glass of wine. Good bath before and after the plague. Eat a little rue with butter on your bread, with shaFp-tasted (Limburger) and loud-scented (Schweitzer) cheese : after that a large glass of claret wine. Dr. Winceslas Dobizinski, convinced that the saliva is easy impregnated with poison, ad vises the keeping and chew ing of bitter substances in the mouth, to excite the salivary glands. Every blade of grass in the field is measured; the green cups and the col ored crowns of every flower are count ed ; the stars in the firmament wheel in cunningly calculated orbits; even the storms have their laws. The child’s grief throbs against the round of its little heart as heavily as the I dying bed persuaded his young ward to Colonel Thornton of the East India service, tells this romance of his youth: “One clear star light evening in June, Helen and I were walking on the terrace among flower-beds that were cut in the soft green turf. Inspired by he stillness and odorous influence of the air, I told her my hearts secret, with all its hopes and fears. “She looked up at me wonderingly, aud tears glistened in her beautiful eyes as she said: “Ah, Captain Thornton, are you sure, do you—do you love me ? It cannot be. No, never!” “ ‘Why,’ I cried, impetuously press- my suit with her, ‘you love another?’ “ ‘Sir,’ she said almost sharply, ‘do you know who 1 am ?” “ ‘The loveliest girl in England!’ “ ‘No, sir; I am not; Great heavens, Captain Thorton, I am your grand mother.’ “My grandmother! Talk of sudden shocks alter that, won’t you? 1 tried to speak, but my voice failed me. reached out my hand and touched her. Yes, she wa3 there, real enough, and I was not dreaming. “ ‘Tell me all,’ I gasped. “ ‘And standing there, by the broad stone coping, she told me all. How her parents had died when she was lit tle more than an infant, and Sir John, her guardian and my grandfather, had watched over her with jealous care al ways keeping her at school, however, until he brought her home—a young lady. “Then, while I was in India, the poor old man fell suddenly ill, and on his man’s sorrow and the one finds as much delight in his kite or drum as the other in striking the strings of enterprise or soaring on the wings of fame. The great moments of life are but moments like the others. Your doom is spoken in a word or two. A single look from the eyes, a mere pressure of the hand, may decide it; or of the lips, though they cannot speak. The Intellect has only one failing, which, to be sure, is a very considerable one; it has no conscience. Napoleon is the readiest instance of this. If his heart had borne any proportion to his brain, he had been one of the greatest men in all history. The family is the miniature common wealth upon whose integrity the safety of the larger commonwealth depends. It is the seed plot of all morality. We express the noblest longings of the hu man heart w hen we speak of a time to come in which all mankind will be uni ted as one family. marry him, just in order to share his vast estate, which she had refused to take as a legacy. “And believe me,’ said Miss Helen, ‘I did it only to keep it for you, the right ful heir, whose wildness had tempora rily provoked the old gentleman.” When the tongue is silent and dares not speak, there may be a look, a gest ure, an innuendo that stabs like the stilletto, and is more fatal than the poi son of the asp. Have enough regard for yourself to treat your greatest enemy with quiet politeness. All petty spites are mere meannesses and hurt yourself more than anyone else. Let us carefully observe these good qualities wherein our enemies excel us and endeavor to excel them by avoiding what is faulty, and imitating what is excellent in them. The Orphan Cub.—In a forest in Italy lived a bear-cub, whose mother had just died. He was very lonesome, and found it hard to supply himself with food. Four little children had to pass through this forest daily on their way to school—three boys and one girl. One pleasant morning they came along with their slates and books, sing ing merrily, when suddenly the young bear came out from the bushes. With the cry of “A bear, a bear!” the children turued to run. One went one way, another went another way, and they kept stumbling over rocks and stump?. At last they reached home, more frightened than hurt. They told the people of their adven ture, and their father, with two or three other men, went out to hunt the bear. They found him, and brought him home captive. From that day forth he was the children’s constant playmate. Tony, as they called him, was very playful, and they had lots of fun with him, though he was sometimes rather mischievous, and played tricks upon them. He used to sleep under the children’s bed. One day the father killed a kid, and brought it home, and put it in a covered dish on the table. In the night, while every one was asleep, Tony crept from under the bed, climbed up on the table, knocked the cover off' the plate and began to devour this dainty dish at his leisure. When he had finished it, he crept back again tohi3 bed, and went to sleep, just as if he had nothing to trouble his conscience. In the morning.great was the hue and cry when the folks awoke, and found their dinner gone. After that, Tony was made to sleep in the stable. ne did not like this, and at meal times, when he heard the children coming with his food, he would run and hide; and sometimes they would have to look for him a long time before they could find him. At last the children got used to tliis trick, and would lay his food down and go away. Tony would then come forth from his hiding place. But one day the children watched and watched, and still no Tony came out, and they ran for their father to help them find him; but, when he entered the barn with them, there was Tony eating his dinner, and looking as though he had played them a nice trick. The Cat.—What food do cats prefer? A $20 mocking bird is their first choice. If the family are not able to keep a mocking bird, the cat must put up with an oriole or German canary. It is only when suffering for food that a cat will accept a sirloin steak. Cats can’t sing, can they? No; but, bles3 ’em! they can keep trying to learn how. They have got so they can sound the first four notes on the scale, and they are determined to get the rest. What time do they sing the sweetest? At night between the hours of 11 P. M. and 4 A. 31. You have probably read Items about bold, bad men flinging boot-jacks, sticks of wood and other missiles at singing cats. Don’t ever as sociate with such people. Cats have as much right in America as any one else, and it is only the meanest kind of folks who will try to keep ’em from rising up in the world. How long do cats live? NobDdy knows, as no cat ever had a fair show to see how many years he could put in. After he has hung around one neighborhood for fifteen or twenty years some one murders him in cold blood. f’harmacop<t!la of the Period. With a view to advancing the scien tific accomplishments and popularizing the “practice” of our lady doctors of the period we beg to herewith present young feminine practitioners with a few' highly useful prescriptions for their pretty patients: Lady Doctor—“Well, my dear, and how’ are we feeling to day?” Interesting Invalid—“Not much bet ter, doctor. Do you know I feel so aw fully depressed.” Lady Doctor—“Depressed? Put out you tongue, please—Ah, yes, just what I thought. Now, to remove that feel ing of depression, I’ll order you a new bonnet.” Interesting Invalid—“And then I feel so cold. I can’t get warm any how.” Liidy Doctor—“That’s ve-ry bad. Well in addition to the bonnet I will give you a velvet coat, lined and trimm ed with real fur to be applied to the back. I think that will relieve you.” Interesting Invalid—“Then, too, I can’t sleep at night.” , Lady Doctor—“Dear! dear! We real ly must take more exercise. We must positively go to the opera often than we do.” Interesting Invalid—“But it seems quite an exertion to stir from the house.” Lady Doctor—“Of course; I under stand. Now, if I prescribe you a coup le of silk dresses, do you think you could take them.” Interesting Invalid—“I a sure I will try anything if I could only get well. I have such dreadful, dismal thoughts; I fancy all sorts of shocking things.” Lady Doctor—“We must be patient. We can’t expect to be cured in a mo ment, I will tell you what we must do. To-night you shall put your feet in new boots, and whenever you go out be careful to wrap round your throat in a thick and new gold chain. We must cheer up, I will tell your husband to give you a stimulating draught which they will make up for you at the banker’s and then I think we shall do very nicely. Good morning.” Three Hundred Thorough-Bred*. Curiosities of the Bible. The Bible contains (3,566,480 letters) three million, five hundred and sixty-six thousand, four hundred and eighty letters. Seven hundred and seventy-three thousand and ninety-two words. Thirty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-three verses (31,173 verses): One thousand, one hun dred and eighty-nine chapters (1,189 chap ters), and sixty-six books (60 liooks). The word “and" occurs forty-six thousand two hundred and twenty-seven times (46,227 times). The word “Lord” one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five (1,855 times). The word “reverend” occurs only once in the Bible, which is in the 9th verse of the 11th Psalm. The middle and least chapter is the 117th Psalm. The middle verse is the 8th verse of the 118th Psalm. The 21st verse of the 7tli chapter of Ezra contains the alphabet. The finest chapter to read is the 26th chapter of the Acts. The 19tli chapter of the 2d Kings, and the 37th chap ter of Isaiah are alike. The longest verse is the 9th chapter of Esther. The shortest verse is the 45th of the 11th chapter of St. John. The 8th, loth, 21st and 31st verses of the 107th Psalm end alike. There are no words or names in the Bible of more than six syllables. The stock ranch and sununer_esidence of Leland Stanford is in some respects the most noticeable country estate in the United States. The ranch includes 2,000 acres of the most fertile land in the valley, made up of the Gordon and Hoag ranches, purchased by 31 r. Stan ford about three years ago. It begins at 3Ienio, at San Franeisquite Creek, and extends toward the southw est along the creek, the southern end lapping over a low spur of the coast range west of Mayfield, California. The whole ranch is under the superintendence of Alfred Poett. Senator Keyes has charge of the agricultural department. The stock stables, the chief point of interest, are near the south end, not far from the foothills, and in charge of II. R. Covey, who is assisted by his son, F. W. Covey. They are most remarkable for number and variety of blood stock. There is no collection of horses in New York, a State given to horse-flesh, which ap proaches it. The Alexander stock farm in Kentucky is the only one that nearly equals it in extent and value. Gov Stanford’s love of horses dates from his early childhood ; in fact, it is hereditary He conies from a part of New York where the admiration of fine horses imbibed- in infancy. He had a ghod stud of horses when lie bought the present property, and since then, till 3Ir. Covey made the last purchase of 19 blood brood-mares in Kentucky, he hai purchased whatever he laid his eyes on that pleased his fancy. His ranch, and especially his horses, have for the la: year been his chief pleasure. It lias been his custom when living at the ranch during the summer to spend sev eral hours among them alter leaving the railroad offices at the corner of Fourth and Townsend streets of an afternoon and during the winter to make them weekly visits, taking with him a friend or two to whom he could point out their beauties and rehearse their parentage It is said that he knows every colt by name, and can tell his pedigree to the tenth generation. A stable with three hundred blood horses of all ages must be a curiosity to the most indifferent observer of rare animals. It takes mile of sheds and stables to accommo date them, and a host of serving-men to supply their daily wants. The trotting stable Is a building 150 by SO leet, as warm, comfortable, and as well ar ranged as a gentleman’s dwelling. Be sides this, there are stables for stallions, for brood-mares and for colts in train ing, with quarter sections in paddocks- and a fine, hard race track, splendid in the Summer and dry and hard during the fiir weather of the Winter. Here the younger animals are taught the»r paces, and Occident, that handsome bit of horse-flesh, and Elaine, the fastest of four-year olds, can be seen speeding in harness on any fine day at any time of year. Occident is curiously looked rt by every one who visits the trotting stable. He welcomes all comers kindly, and receives the caresses of ladies wiih gracious aud amiable courtesy. It warms one to hear a zealous horseman talk about his favorites, he is so much in earnest. No one can be more in love with his occupation than the elder Co vey, Stripped of some of its technical ities, that which he has to say is much as follows : Of brood-mares there are 120 in the stables, many of them with very bright records—records, say, of from 2.27 or less to 2.30 or a little over. The list of celebrated mares includes Aurora, who has trotted a mile in 2.17; 3Iaid of Clay, with a record of 2.38; Barnes’ Idol, who trotted in 2.34% W’hen four years old; Daisy C., who made 2.3S when three years old; Lucy, with a record of 2.39; and these, with the records annexed : 3Iaggie Mitchell, 2.40; May Fly, 2.30%; 3Iayflower, 2.30; Prussian 3Iaid, 2.19; Rio Vista 3Iaid? 2.35. The stallion stable is an expen sive luxury. The stallions are sleek animals of great size, strength and beauty, and with the fiery look which they have inherited from their ances tors of the desert. It were useless to inquire too closely into their pedigree, however delightful to devotees of the turf. Suffice it to say that it includes such names as Resdick, Hambletonia, Prospera, Dame Trot, Toronto, Gray Messenger, Blucher, Abdul Kader, Ab dallah, Old 3Iembrino, Belmont and Eclipse, with other names. There is Electioneer, the father of a line of Princes; Mohawk Chief, an animal of superb figure and spirit; General Ben ton, tenderly cared for by Charlie Cor coran, who had charge of Goldsmith Maid for five years. General Benton’s record Is believed to extend backward untarnished to the conquest of Spainlby the Saracens. His keeper claims, with a glow of pardonable pride, that lie has fourteen crosses of Messenger blood, the true source, it is said, of the trotting quality. A fourth stallion, Don Victor, though possessed of less personal grace, is conspicuous as being the only thor oughbred stallion on the premises. This quartette is of great value, three of them, as we glean from statements made from time to time in the public prints, having cost over $50,000. From similar sources we learn that a scarcely larger number of brood-mares cost not far from $30,000. A shrewd mathema tician might estimate the entire worth ot horses and colts on the place to con siderably exceed $200,000. From the list of so many swift steeds, each of which has some claim to distinction, some must of necessity be omitted here. The groom will take you through the trotting stable, and as he open* each stall reel off a little story of fascinating interest, now giving some entertaining matter of detail regarding Occident, now specifying the good points of Elaine, or narrating incidents in the life of Abe Edgington, the “gallant gray.” Elsewhere may be seen Mater Occidents, the mother of Occident, an animal rarely seen, and the only hon ored with a purely Latin title. It may be said in passing that her beauty does not correspond with her celebrity. Stalled near this distinguished matron is the beautiful white trick horse 31a- homet, a pure Arab, brought from Ben gal by Chiarini for 31ilton S. Latham. It is a well-known fact to horse-breed ers that physical beauty does not al ways correspond in animals with their speed or other useful qualities. Gov. Stanford is endeavoring, by inter breed- thoroughbred mares with trotting stallions, to remedy these defects, and his late purchases, especially the last importation from Kentucky, have been made to that end. From these royal marriages may be expected an aristocratic lineage. White labor is principally used on this ranch, there not being more than a dozen Chinamen among sixty >vorkmen. Each depart ment, as has been shown, has its own superintendent, in this manner thor oughly systematizing the business. About 1,400 acres were last year put in oats, hay, wheat and barley, all of which was consumed at home. This same acreage will be sown the coming season. Gov. Stanford has all the stock he needs, and will hardly purchase more unless he should be sorely tempt ed. The produce of the stock will hereafter be about 100 annually, which will be disposed of at auction every spring. The estate, with its present improvements, may, perhaps, be val ued at $600,000, and will easily be worth a million when the new house which is in contemplation shall be completed. OHgin anti History at Cnees'. Fifty EggH m his Pockets. “Fifty eggs you stowed away in your pockets, the groceryman tells me. What have you got to say, William Goetz. “I don’t got no eggs,” said a collar- less, unshaven Polander, as lie stood with a large msrket basket over his aim before Justice 31urray, at Essex 3Iarket Court, New York City, yester day morning. “Henry C. Witchen says that you called at his store. No. 15 Hester Street? this morning while the clerk was serv ing customers, and that while standing beside the stove you filled your pock ets with eggs. After awhile you put down your basket, s:cid you were going out for a drink, you returned with your pockets empty.” “Shudge, It’s everywhere a mis take.” “Where is your wife?” “Yas, mine vife in the hospital, and I got tri diner kinder.” “Give the officer the key of your rooms; he will search your place.” “Shudge, te key is in te lager-beer saloon.” “All right,” said the Justice to the officer, “you go to the house, break in the door, and see if you find any eggs-” ‘No, nine, nixy, Shudge, 1 py me 75 eggs in Washington 3Iarket yester day.” The officer proceeded to No. 55 Essex Street, found the door open the priso ner’s wife and three children, but no eggs in the house. A smile of triumph came over the prisoner’s countenance as the officer reported. The Justice then said; “Goetz, you told me your wife was in the hospital, and you had 75 eggs in the house. “Ha, ha, Shudge, you see, I dell you dat mit fun,” and he gave a long grin of satisfaction. ; see. Shudge,” Goets resumed “l go to dis shtore, I says “gif me mine dings,” Dis poy he dells me, you vait. 1 vait me sometimes a little while. He He say, ‘here’s den cends, go take some drinks.’ I leaf mine basket down ven I come again he say, ‘go and get me anoder some drinks awhile,’ und I go; i’en I come pack he say. ‘veil ver are mine eggs,’ und a bolioeman he say. cooommitme.’ See, Shudge, I don’t got no eggs.” The Law-Boned Nag. Horse dealers were surprised in Des Moines, a couple days ago because a horse which they refused to buy at twenty-five dollars trotted under 2.50 and made a couple hundred dollars for impecunious-looking owner. Graves and a few others were standing out at the corner of Third Street when a rustic looking fellow drove up in a rickety gig patched-up harness and banged wagon. Two horses were hitched in and one of them seemed about ready to lay down under a load of years and short grass. This horse the fellow tried to sell. He was very hard up and wanted to dispose of him the worst way. In recommending he did not forget that the old horse had go” in him. But the lookers on didn’t think that plug could go, and some of them were rash enough to bet he couldn’t go a mile in four minutes. They put up money on it, and kept bet ting on time clear down to 2.50. The then wanted to bet five hundred dollars his horse could make a mile on our track in 2.25. The exceedingly wily horseman in the crowd got scared about this time and refused to inve.-t any more monej , preierii>.g t<> >•-<* L< w the old nag could go. Tuey all ad. journed to the fair grounds where rus- ticus, hitched to an old sulky drove around a few times to limber up, and then got the word “go I” Away he went, like the wind, in a cloud of dust by the stand and down the first quarter past the half mile in 1.22, and never skipped as he came down the home stretch and passed under the wire in 50. The boys haven’t got as much money as they had, but they found out something. The origin and history of the game of chess form a most curious and interesting study, upon which an immense number of volumes have been written, in prose and verse, in Latin, in Hebrew', and in nearly every living European tongue, and by au thors of various degrees, including at least one King (Alphonse X., of Castile), and tradition says one Pope, (Innocent III). The different questions, to the solution ot which so much labor has been given, arise with respect to not only the game itself, but also to the name and origin of the queen, the bishop and thecastle or rook, the other pieces—the knight, the king and the pawn—having remained substantially un changed, except .with respect to their moves, since the earliest time to which the records of the game extend, to wit: about 4,000 years before the commencement of the Christian era. The game, as imported into Europe from Arabia, represented a battle, the piece now called the queen being the king’s vizier, or commander-in-chief, the rook being a war dromedary and the bishop a war elephant. Accordingly, the Eastern name of the latter was “phil,” sig nifying an elephant, or, with the Arabic article added, “al phil." This name was Latinized into “alphiius,” often corrupted into “alphinus," which, perhaps, because its origin was forgotten, gradually came to be regarded as a proper name. Dr. Hyde says (I translate somewhat freely from his Latin;: “The Europeans change the game from the representatives of a battle to that of the court, and thus have introduced the bishop and the queen, who have no busi ness in a battle, and they have given them the second and third places, in accordance with the etiquette of the court.” I cannot ascertain precisely when this change took place, hut it was probably aliout the twelfth century, for one of the Hebrew treatises contained in Dr. Hyde's work, in which the old names of the pieces are gi^en, was about that date, for the author was liorn and died in that century; while in the Latin poem already referred to, which Dr. Forbes thinks is of the same century, the second piece is called “regina,” and the third “calvus.” But in nearly all the works of that period, and for two or three centuries later, the . third piece, notwithstanding the change in its symbolism, still retained the name “ai- philus" fc or “alphinus,” which became, in the vernacular of many European countries, converted to “allin,” “auphin,” “fil," ami other similar names, and thence underwent several variation of sound and meaning, some of which are yet preserved. Thus the Spaniards calls the piece “alferez," and the Italians “alficro," which are evidently de rived from “al phil.” On the other hand, the Russians and the Sw edes have preserved the original name, as the}' still call it the elephant. I confess myself unable satisfac torily to account for the German name of the place—“laufer,” the hound or runner: but the origin of the French name “fol," modernized into “fou,” the fool or jester, is ven r clearly traceable. Here I will let old Dr. Hyde—quaint and insular as he is with all liis learning — speak again: “The French,” he says, “finding in this place a ‘fil,’ and not knowing what it was, substi tuted something better known to them, *fol, ’ which signifies a fool, who cannot have a place either in war, or the political econ omy of a kingdom, unless, perhaps, they foolishly thought that the jester or mime of the king was to l>e introduced here. The Germansjjplaced here a foot-runner (pedisse- quum) or, worse yet, a dog, which shows how little they understood The game. The Italians placed here an ‘alfiero,’ who is the ‘alferez’ of the Spaniards, that is the stan dard-bearer, which is more to be approved. " As regards the name “bishop,” as we call the piece In English, in which the Danes and Portuguese agree with us, it was doubt less given to the piece as a consequence of the change in the theory of the game, which Dr. Hyde mentions, in recognition of the ecclesiastical element, which is also recog nized by the word “calvus,” applied, as al ready stated, to the piece in the Latin poem copied by Dr. Hyde. But I have ven conclusive evidence in my own possession that the piece was thus named long before the modernization of the game in the six teenth century, and in the country where it is now regarded as symbolizing a standard bearer. In an illuminated manuscript ',4 the thirteenth century, belonging to me^ which came from Italy, and was exhibited during the past year in the Loan Depart- m ‘lit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a treatise in Latin hexameters upon the game of chess, in which, after describing the pieces and the moves, (the bishops being designated as “alphynus”), the author states that the chess-board represents the sky; the squares the constellations, and the pieces the planets, among, which, of course, the sun and moon were then supposed to lx* included. He say9: “The king is the Sun; the pawn is Saturn; the knight is Mars; the queen is Venus ; Alphynus, the Bishop, is Jupi ter, and the castle (rook) the wandering Moon. ” Table Etiquette. Bread should be 'broken, not cut; hut if you don’t like bread, “cut” it. In “break ing'’ bread use a curb bit. Do not fill your mouth too full; rather allow some of the food to get into your moustache. Split a biscuit with your fingers, in stead of opening it with vour knife, like an oyster. If the biscuit be hard, a beetle and wedge are admissible in the best so ciety. Do not pick your teeth at the table. Pick them at the dentist's, if he has a good as sortment to pick from. Salt should never be put on the table cloth, but on the side of your plate. If, however, you want to pickle the table cloth in brine, you must put salt on it, of course. Do not rattle your knife and fork. A knife and spoon will lx? found more musi cal. Eat soup from the side of your spoon, either inside or outside. Do not take game in your fingers. This, however, does not apply to a garni- of cards. Do not rest your arms on the table-cloth. Stack your aniiR in a corner of the room be fore beginning dinner. When asked what part of the fowl you prefer, answer promptly. If you want the whole of it, don't hesitate to say so. Do not drink with the spoon in your cup: put it in your pocket. Forgetting it, you will lx? so much ahead. bad taste for the host and hostess to finish eating before the'r gueits. It is 1 e - ter to move their chairs so as to finish lx*- hind them. Never leave the table until all are through, without sufficient excuse. The sudden entrance of ji policeman with a war- rant for your arrest is generally considered sufficient excuse in polite circled Pay no attention to accidents or blunders on the part of servants. If Bridget blows herself up while encouraging the fire with kerosene, keep right on eating just as if you had never (kero; sene it. Never help yourself to article's of food with your knife or fork. Use a harpoon or a lasso. W hen you have finished your meal, lay your knife and fork on your plate, side bv side, with the handles toward the right, •a little south by sou-west, bearing north erly, when the wind is off the side-board quarter. Invest your fund9 carefully and intel ligently. Beware of the brilliant bub bles that are blown up to tempt ingen uous speculators. On the beaten road there is tolerable traveling; but it is sore work, and many have to perish,fashioning apath through the impassable. We should cheerfully make the best of our situations, remem Dering that true endeavor achieves success and noble purpose wins substantial good. Men will cheerfully give up their property to save the life of the body, and yet, for the sake of property, they will sacrifice the life of their souls.