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MIDWINTER.
At sun'B so short and low
From morn to evening go.
Tbs world behind its window-bars
Must sit by candle-glow.
The year has donned his ermine suit.,
And gazing mute his eyes salute
The empire of the moon and stara
Around bis tent of snow.
Can touch or voice unfold
His silence and his cold?
Yea, love that April’s heart could rule
Can charm December old;
Nor life hath less of sound or sight
To make delight of winter’s night,
When chime the carillons of Yu’e,
And flash its lamps of gold.
I hear the sleigh-bells ringing,
And mirth on careless wing
Bo by, as o’er the slippery land
The steel-bound runners sing.
Where capped anil wrapped in furry stats
Sits Ralph with Kate, his rosy mate.
And steers his courser single-hand
As proud as any King.
There’s heyday on the hill.
And the stream above the mill
U gay with childhood's swarming feet
And childhood’s laughter shrill.
With joy that wakes the country-side,
The skaters glide, the coasters ride,
For youth and gladness merriest most
When nature’s song is still.
!
The long, long evenings fly.
And playmates homeward hie,
But pleasure tunes the last halloo,
And lights each lingering eye.
Then night dissolves in frosty sheen
The frolic scene, ami, crowned serene,
The young moon in her while canos
Bails down the tranquil sky.
Within home’s happy door
The sunshine gone before
By social fires is glowing yet,
Tho’ icy winds may roar;
For love provides when days are dark
Her summer spark, her singing lark,
And life would half its joy forget
If winter eayie no more.
Therein Brou-n, in Yorth’s Companion,
ONE VALENTINE’S DAY.
I>T KF.trA H SHELDON.
The early days of February came
stmny and smiling; the birds that had
passed their Northern winter in the warm
branches of the fir and spruce trees of
the woods, were hopping lightly from
the silvery blossomed pussy willows to
the fringed and tasseled hazel and alder
shrubs, now and then trilling forth from
their tiny throats purest spring-like songs
of joy.
Adown the hazel bordered country road
came two rosy girls clad in navy blue
walking suits, with here and there in
their costumes a dash of red; their bright
laces and wind-tossed hair crowned with
jaunty crimson yarns with dark blue
tanseis.
Their steps were elastic with health
and youth’s uudoubting hopefulness;
they gave the finishing touch of life that
made the scene a perfect one to two
young men who were sitting, unobserved’
by them, in a sunny corner where two
walls met, sketching the stretch of grey
roadway with its shrub befringed edges
and fluttering birds.
“By Jove! Be quick and sketch them,
Jack, it is the one thing needed to make
♦he theme perfect. There, they have
paused, and how unconsciously graceful
they arc posing! Not often do you get
such an accidental touch as this, and the
picture will be the envy at the Annual
Exhibition.”
Rapidly the sketching went on, and
later the girls resumed their steady tramp,
tramp, keeping perfect step, and passing
the two young men who looked as inno
cent as only the guilty can! If they had
not sketched the girls, they naturally
would have shown some consciousness of
their approach.
Now, it was the girls who gave almost
a start of surprise as they suddenly dis
covered the artist and his friend.”
1 ‘What handsome’ stylish young men!
Did you notice the moustache of the dark
haired one? What a natural wave it had,
not that horrid waxy curl at the ends that
makes you feel that it must have
just come fresh from the barbers tongs,”
said Mattel Tinkham, who was some
thing ol an artist in her taste
as regarded masculine beauty. Being
herself a rich hued blonde, it was
but natural that she should have been
attracted by the dark stvlc of Roland
Holland.
“No, I did not notice the dark one as
being other than a common looking man,
but the brown bearded man—what a fig
ure he had! And a perfect face!” and
Mary Peck, with a graceful movement of
her arm put up her hand to her hair, to
assure herself that the wind had not
blown it “every which way.” “Really, i
are we blown quite into frights, Mabel ? j
I wonder who those fellows are, and where
they came from? One was sketching and
the other leaning on the wail and look
ing; or do you suppose he was posing? I
Wouldn’t he make a splendid portrait?” ;
“He? No, he couldn’t hold a candle I
to the dark one. I wish we could know I
them, but what is the use of talking
such nonsense; you and I shall never
know such as he out in this wilderness! i
I wonder if pa will ever get his business j
straightened out,so that we can once more
have a comfortable home in the city? i
For one, I am heartily tired of living out
here in the country, shut out from all
society. I don’t see why men who know
enough to do business on change don't'
know enough not to get ‘fleeced.’ as nu
calls it. Ob, dear, what made him ‘•fail' ;
all at once, and send us out here to .
grandfather's?"
“I don’t know, f am sure; buying
long and selling short #ud buying short
and selling long, and being rich a few
years, and then suddenly ‘as poor as Job’s
turkey,’ is a conundrum I cannot under- j
stand. But 1 began to feel that when pa
and bis clique was rich, than somebody
was fleeced and made poor; we didn’t
know who it was. that was all, and we
just enjoyed it. Now pa talks about out
being ‘fleeced,’ and l suppose somebody
is flourishing on the fleecing just as wr
did; and never dreaming that out here i
in the woods we, the fleeced, are drag-
ging along miserably; shut out from all
the things we used to have. How long
have we worn these suits? Mine is act
ually sprouting a fringe around the bot
tom, sort of growing its spring foliage as
one might say. I wonder if we can have
some new ones this spring?”
“I don’t know. We have actually
worn them three years; they were the
last we had before we came here two
years ago the fourteenth of this month.
Don’t you remember we were planning
for the novel valentine-party Lucy Hoyt
had sent out invitations for? Then pa
failed and we arrived here at grandpa’s
the evening of the party. I thought I
should die as we sat that night iu the
kitchen and watched grandpa popping
corn and grandma cracking walnuts, and
actually feeling that they were making a
real good time for us!”
“Never fear, I remember it all; it was
just horrid. And grandma says now she
don’t see what all our ‘opportunities’
have amounted to when we can’t do half
us much to help ourselves, as girls who
never had half our chance!
“How provoked she is because we
don’t want to teach; and she is right; we
couldn’t do it if wc did wish to. She
told me this morning, if I wanted anew
dress I ought to find some way to earn it;
I that it was a shame that pa had spent
thousands of dollars on our school bills,
piano lessons and French teacher, and
after all we couldn’t teach even the school
in this district! And there's Nancy Far
num, who’s never had a dollar spent on
her schooling, got it all in the public
school, and has earned ten dollars a week,
for forty weeks a year, for the last five
years; has helped her ma for her board,
’foro and after schocri, has dressed well,
furnished her ma’s parlor up, and put
money in the savings’ bank; and you two
girls can’t give even the neighbors’ chil
dren lessons on a melodeon! Oh, lam
sick of hearing it all; and the worst of
the whole is—it is true; and, as much as
we hate that old farm house and the way
I grandpa and grandma live, we have no
j where else to lie!”
; “Well, what can't be helped, can’t; so
I what is the use of talking? We may just
I as well make the best of it and come
| right down, and take what fun there is
■ going; so let’s walk on to Betty Plum
| mer’s and tell her wc will accept her in*
; vitation for to-morrow night,and go right
i in for a good time with the neighborhood
■ young folks. I said at first I never would
j do it, but then I did not expect to stay
! here forever; now I begin to think we
j may. But, let’s draw the line at marry
ing; we will flirt with the boys and have
j a good time. ’Twill be something to
take up our time, Grandpa and grand
jma will like all but the flirting; they
j will begin to have hopes of us and think
we are at last growing sensible, and we
can keep dark about our real opinion of
' folks and things. I hope, though, they
j witl not play kissing games. Just think
of having grandpa's hired man kiss us!
| Of course, he is invited.”
n.
j Betty Plummer was quite overcome by
the sudden cordiality of Mabel Tinkham
1 and her adopted sister, Mary Peck, and
for the rest of the day was m quite a
flutter of excitement over the event.
Roland Holland and his friend. Jack
: Staples, had chanced upon the Plummer
farm for their halting place in this neigh
horhood while sketching. When they
returned to a late dinner the voluble, gay
hearted Betty chattered of her morning
callers, and with country freedom soon
had given the young men a full history
;of neighbor Tinkham’s oldest son,
■ who had ‘’years ago left the farm and
i gone to New York as a clerk, and later
had become what the country people
called a stock-gambler; had been rolling
; in money a few years, and married a city
girl; later had lived in Europe a few
years, and then, iust as all gamblers do,
1 suddenly he began to lose, and all at once
j found himself at tho bottom of the heap
and glad enough to send his two girls
| out to his old home, which had never been
; good enough for them to visit when they
; had lots o’ money.”
She told the young men that the girls
were real nice, but couldn't do a thing to
earn a dollar, and seemed actually proud
| of it!
Then she talked of her valentine party,
and the young mea having identified
Mabel Tinkham and Mary Peck as the
two stylish young ladies of the morning
episode, entered heartily into Betty’s
plans, and soon had given the quick
witted country girl some hints about
valentine tricks. Betty was always ready
for a good-natured joke and readily agreed
to their suggestions.
Im response to one of these she went
over to grandpa Tinkham's on the eve
ning of the thirteenth and told the girls
of these tricks. One was for the girls to
take an early morning walk on the four
teenth and the first man they met would
surely be their future husband! Others
were to be tried at the house. One of
these was to go out into the dark, and
standing on the doorstep unwind a ball
of twine for a few yards and holding the
end of the twine in one hand, with the
other throw the ball as far out into the
darkness as possible, then begin to wind
up the end in their hand, repeating these
lines:
“I wind this long line so very fine,
Hoping to find at the other end.
The love I would call my valentine,
The man I’d choose for lover and friend. ’’
Then, unless one was a predestined old 1
maid, at the end -of the line would stand !
before the maiden her future husband,
who would yield the line to her, clasp
her in his arms and take his first kiss and !
disappear in the darkness.” and when the !
Fates were propitious she would meet
this very man. perhap> be introduced to j
him in the most prosaic and orthodox i
planner; but surely some day he would
conje to claim the hand of the maiden he
had kissed in the dark!
“I shall go for a walk before break
fast to-morrow morning, Mary; will you ,
go too?" cried Mabel, gleefully.
“Indeed I will not. You'ii be sure to
meet somebody’s hired man driving the
cows to the spring for water,’’ replied (
Mary, scornfully.
Then she continued, "I will control
my impatience to seq my hero until even- 1
ing. I shall throw the ball of twine •
from your back door step, and let it
roll down the elope into the garden, and
then gently draw my hero up to give me
that betrothal kiss, and as it is hardly
proper to accept anything from a stranger,
I will return it at once,” and Mary joined
in the general laugh.
Betty went home and reported.
Early the next morning Mabel weut
out for a walk, and for half a mile met
no one, not even a hired man driving
cows to water, nor a milkman going to
ward the village.
Suddenly, as she turned a corner, she
came face to face with the dark, mous
tached stranger she had seen a few morn
ings ago posing so gracefully beside the
stone wall as his friend sketched. With
a chivalrous air he lifted his hat and
passed around the corner.
Mabel was not more romantic than the
ordinary girl, yet her heart throbbed
more rapidly, and the rich color swayed
back and forth in her shapely cheeks, as
she wondered if there could be anything
iu such happenings, and queried mentally
over and over again, “who could he be,
where from, and with whom was he stay
ing in that neighborhood, and would she
maybe sometimes really meet and speak
with him?”
But it was time to return for breakfast,
and, lo! he was returning, and politely
lifted his hat once more from the close
cut, dark, curling locks.
Evening came, and Mabel and Mary
were much entertained by the society into
which they were for the first time intro
duced. Hitherto they had held them
selves aloof from the young people about
them.
The hours ran on in games until ten
o’clock, when one by one,the unbetrothed
maidens slipped away from the party to
try some trick. Unobserved they were
not, and it was easy to guess who hoped
to be the favored one, as, after each girl
passed out, some admiring swain was
sure soon to follow.
None of the country youth dared fol
low stately Mary Peck, and the envious
tongues whispered: “She’ll not meet
anyone; she holds her head too high.”
On the back door step Mary stood,half
shivering with the chill night air, half
with a superstitious thrill.
Slowly she wound the ball after throw
ing it, softiy repeating the rhymes as told
by Betty. For a while the line was slack,
as if lying along the ground, then it be
came a bit more taut, and soon she was
sure there was some unknown attachment
at the other end of the line.
When she saw a figure actually coming
toward her in the darkness, she nearly
lost her self-possession; but her pride
came to her aid; she would not scream
and make herself an object of ridicule
before those country youths; she felt her
self so much superior to them, that it
would have been the last, thing she could
have endured. The light from a window
suddenly flashed upon the advancing fig
ure. It was the brown bearded stranger,
who at that moment clasped her in his
arms, kissed her lips rapturously,released
her gently and disappeared like a dream
iu the darkness!
It was some moments ere she had re
covered sufficiently to re-enter the house
with a calm, undisturbed face, except for
a rich, deep flush, not at all au ordinary
color with her.
Here she had need of all the self-pos
session years in soeiety had given her, for
in her absence two guests had arrived.
Mabel was already chatting freely with
Roland Holland and Jack Staples!
Why prolong the story? The end was
the usual one; the new acquaintance
soon ripened into an old; the acquaint
ances became friends, and in time lovers.
Then came the quiet wedding at grand
pa’s; the short bridal tour, and the pro
saic settling down as housekeepers in
two small flats in New York, where iu
domestic contentment they dwelt, in as
great a degree of continuous harmony
as falls to the average families.
Grandma made this domestic peace
possible, by persistently insisting that
both girls should take daily practical les
sons in her kitchen; that the period of
courtship should commence in learning
the art of household economics. The
girls sometimes rebelled, fancying that
things would manage to go one somehow,
without all that trouble.
But grandma had her way, knowing
that a young man with a moderate in
come has double need of a competent
home-keeper.
“Pa” never made a second fortune,
but drifted from Mabel’s to Mary’s, and
haunted Wall street with other ghogts of
“better days.”— Oodey't Lady's Book.
Americau Hides Going Abroad,
The low point to which the price of
hides has been forced through the de
pression which has existed of late seems
to have tempted sellers to try to find a
new market for their merchandise. Dur
ing the past few weeks about 80,000 to
100,000 dry Western hides have beeu
shipped to Europe, in order to try that
market. How this new departure will
turn out is at present entirely problemati
cal, but if European tanners can use our
hides to advantage it will open up anew
field and tend to give a tone of steadiness
to this market that has not been felt for
a long time. The recent shipment of
African hides to Europe from this mar
ket, while anew feature in itself, was
not of that importance to the trade here
that this later shipment will be if it
proves successful in opening up anew
market. African bides are well known
in Europe, where they have a general
market price, and the fact that shipments
were made from this side simply showed
that our market was lower than the rul
ing prices there. These Western hides
shipped are at present unknown in Eu
rope. and the parties making the venture
are doing it on speculation alone, and are
takiug their chances of its coming to a
successful issue. —Boston Advertiser.
The thriving and enterprising town of
Plymouth, Pa., has a novel society in
its midst. It is known as the Young
Ladies' Protective Association, and its
primary object is the protection of the
matrimonial interests of the place. Girls
between the ages of 17 and 30 aro elig
ible. No woman can be admitted over
the age of 30,
WOMAN’S WORLD.
PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR
FEMININE READERS.
■ 1 " r_r
SIMPLICITY THE STYLE.
It may be interesting as well as profita
ble to the young ladies who have limited
means to dress on to know that the com
ing queens of society make a study of
simplicity. Not u particle of jewelry is
worn, and even the belles eschew every
ornament but a string of pearls. In the
hair aigrettes half wreaths of lily of the
valley or white violets are often seen and
occasionally small side combs bound with
carved silver or gold hold the hair in
place. A girl who prides herself on her
good taste would as soon wear a girdle
and chatelaine pendants with evening
dress as a bracelet or earrings. Gauzo is
the regulation fabric for her dress and
ribbon bows or garlands of flowers the
only garniture permitted. Washington
Star.
FRENCH DRESSMAKING.
French women are clever in the little
niceties of dressmaking which give
ish to the appearance. For example,un
less a skirt sits quite evenly, it looks un
sightly. They insure this by sewing a
large-sized dress hook on the stays, not a
big stay hook, which might show, but
just an ordinary one. Every skirt has an
eye which fastens on to it and renders
moving impossible. Possibly some reader
would like the dimensions for the foun
dation skirt of a good French dress. I
think vou will find that it hangs well.
The front is 29 inches at the hem, and
diminishes to 9 inches at the waist.
There is only one side gore at each side,
24 inches at the hem, 16 inches at the
top. The back is straight and 37 inches
wide. —Mail and Express.
A FEMALE PAWNBROKER.
There is a woman up in West Fifty
fourth street who does a thriving busi
ness in tiie sale and exchange of what she
sails ladies’ miscellany. Party dresses,
itreet suits and wraps, tea-gowns, furs,
hats, bonnets, shoes and silk underwear
aro brought to her by ladies’ maids and
sold for a song. The owner may be go
ing in mourning, going abroad, or in such
straitened circumstances as to regard a
few dollars ns a fortune. Brand-new
gowns and bonnets are daily received
from ladies who are penniless. They
have unlimited credit, but to get spot
cash orders are sent to the modiste, and
as soon as filled their garments are dis
posed of to the female Fagin for a tenth of
their cost. Legitimate sales of second
hand, slightly worn clothing are made by
economical women, who receive an extra
dollar or two for the waist-band or bon
net-lining bearing the name of some good
house. Nine-tenths of the sellers are
carriage people, and of these sixty per
sent, demand spot cash. The rest are
content to give a wrap in exchange for a
jrard of good lace, a carved fan or some
lucli confection as a manicure tray, bou
bonnierc or viniegrette. For a sealskin
wrap an old cabinet has been accepted.
Quantities of gloves, slippers and shoes
are almost given away, and so ignorant
of value are the patrons of this “miscel
lany” that jewels watches and shell goods
arc bought by the house at a profit of
from 200 to 300 per cent. The buyers
for the most part are actresses. They
are capital judges of fabrics, they buy
closely, and when the garments are re
made get a lot of good out of them.—
New York World.
DOWDY WOMEN.
It is feared that Boston women can
never claim the title of being well dressed,
jays the Boston Herald. Do what the
few may to aspire to that favorable ver
dict, there is always the ordinary, un
corseted, hygienic majority to counter
act it.
It would be laughable, were it not pa
thetic, to note the shortcomings in this
one direction of the average Boston
woman. She has as much opportunity,
as many means of dressing well as women
elsewhere, but she invariably fails in pro
ducing the effect which strikes the ob
server in New York.
Regard the throngs of women who daily
pass up and down Boylston street, for
instance, and point out ten, if you can,
who become their clothes, or who carry
themselves with grace and elegance.
Nearly all have been to fashionable tail
ars, who have done what lay within their
power to give chic, • air, style; but the
Boston woman is stubborn. She will
not permit her preconceived notions to
be displaced by the newest fashions; she
will wear a hygienic waist, if she wants
to; she won’t wear her hair except so,
and she will kick up her skirts at the
back because her gymnasium teacher tells
her to bring all tho muscles into play
when she walks.
Beside this, she is in haste. How can
jhe tak- life easily and gracefully when
sixty different calls are being made on
time and brains all at once?
Tho art of wearing her clothes well is
unknown to her. She puts them on.
She does not make her toilet. She
wouldn’t be guilty of “prinking,” nor of
being sure her boots were welt blacked;
nor would this usual Boston woman con
sider it worth her while to take a hand
mirror to 6ee if the angle of her virtuous
bonnet corresponded with the angles of
her profile and her back hair.
It is these little omissions, this forget
fulness of detail, which renders two
thirds of our women dowdy—in the eyes
of appreciative, though critical observ
ers.
foe woman's weisi*.
The iavored bracelets just now must,
first of all, be unique, and the Expo
sition has, because of its wonderful ex
hibit in jewelry, afforded opportunity to
whoever had the good taste and ducats
to get just the jeweled band that one
woman would most envy another. One
of the most beautiful is of fudiau work,
the background being of that soft gold
in which the Indian workcra so delight;
in this is set a circle of every known,
and, I do believe, unknown gem, uncut.
The effect is marvelous. A pink pearl
fs wooing your eye and claiming admi
ration close to an opal, while a black
pearl is making more beantiful the depth
of color in a ruby. Three different
shades of turquoise are shown; a dark
and a light amethyst form a contrast,
while one of the most perfect emeralds
imaginable seems to be throwing out a
ray of hope as it nestles closely to s
milk-white poarl. The ordinary, every
day bracelet designated by even the
extraordinary jeweler sinks into insig
nificance beside this wondrous band of
color, which can be traced to opal and
]>earl, turquoise and emerald, ruby and
diamond, chrysoberyi and chrysopiase,
onyx and amethyst, Alexandrite and
moonstone, garnet and sapphire, and all
the wondrous family of gems that mean
so much in color, and delight so the
artistic or poetical mind.
Another bracelet which also had its
biith in India is lucky to wear because it
is made of iron; but unless you had it in
your hand and knew what you were tc
look for, you would never be conscious
t hat such an unromantic material was used
for it. It is entirely overlaid with gold,
which on the other side is smooth, and
on the upper is etched out in the finest
way possible, after a curious design of
flowers and birds, giving the effect of a
gold band heavily enameled in black; on
the top a medalion outline is achieved,
and engraved on this, in the most in
tricate manner, is one of the thousand
blessed names of Allah. This bracelet
was submitted to a jeweler to be made
smaller, but he said it was imposibio for
him to do it, as it might be necessary to
pass it through the fire, and the etching
once injured or defaced, there was no
one in this country who could restore it
10 its original condition.
If you haven’t an Indian bracelet, then
get one such as is worn by the Chinese
women. The lady of the higher classes
wears one of gold, the next grade of
silver and the next of iron; in pattern
they do not differ, being a twist of the
metal that can be slipped over the hand
—that is, not a complete circle. The
Chinese ladies are far-sighted in possess
ing these bracelets, for whatever the ma
terial may be, it is real and solid.
Whenever Madame Oliinois gets a little
hard up she doesn’t create a racket in the
establishment trying to get a little more
than her usual allowance from monsieur,
nor does she borrow from her women
friends, or play against her luck at poker:
not she! She simply marches off to the
place where they make the money, takes
off her bracelet, throws it in the scales,
and the obliging man heaps up the otliei
side with money until the weight of the
bracelet is reached; it is worth exactly
what it weighs in the money of the
realm, either in gold or silver. —Neu
York Sun.
FASHION NOTES.
Nearly every dress is double-skirted.
The polonaise dress will be the rage in
the spring.
One of the Yankee notions is a glove
with a purse in the palm.
A rosette of colored velvet ribbon
trims a large muff of black martin fur.
Velvet sleeves and chatelaine are added
to elegant evening gowns of satin 01
lampas.
The Russian collar of fur, lapped tc
the left side, remains the favorite finish
for long cloaks.
Very large muffs of beaver, sealskin oi
sable are shown by modistes among the
midwinter importations.
Dressy waists of soft silk or satin ir
some brilliant or artistic color are wort
with various skirts at the theatre.
Useful dresses of serge, cashmere and
plain merino are trimmed with a good
deal of braid, especially of fancy weav
ing.
A substitute for the boa is found ir
the new capes of coqs’ plumes with long
mantilla fronts, with tasseled bits o;
plumage all over them.
French furriers combine sealskin and
Russian sable in the same garment, in
the same way sealskin and Persian lamb
are used in this country.
Plain dresses of cloth and serge an
made with jacket basques and straight
skirts, relieved by straight rows of braid
ing in various arrangements.
Jacket bodices, with a deep pointed
Swiss belt and full plastrons laid in
tucks, are very fashionable for complet
ing the walking costumes of young girls.
Entire toilets of velvet often have petti
coat fronts of satin in a contrasting color,
and the rich effect is sometimes enhanced
by garnitures of gold cord passementeries.
Ostrich feathers in profusion trim the
large-brimmed hats worn by little girls,
and the rule seems to be, the smaller the
girl, the greater the number of feathers.
The very swellest visitiug costume
consists of patent-leather shoes, brown
gloves, a close-fitting bonnet and a long
polonaise buttoned diagonally from neck
to hem.
Combinations of velvet and broadcloth
are now made up in such similar styles
for cloaks and costumes that it is some
times difficult to tell which a lady may
be wearing.
Fur-trimmed, tailor-made costumes of
brown or gray cloth are very much af
fected by young ladies, the only outer
wrap worn by them being a princess oi
other shoulder cape of fur.
Garnitures of silk cord, made up in
V-shaped pieces for the front and back
of the waist, and in deep Vandyked
borders for the bottom of the skirt, are
the usual trimmings for costumes oi
plain velvet.
Full velvet sleeves, darker than the
material of the costume, and hilf
breadths, inserted between the breadths
of the skirt, give * striking effect to
many of the newest gowns of dark or
black cloth and silk.
The late Thomas Parker, of Washing
ton. became so attached to a cane, which
he had carried for years, that he kept it
in bed with him during his illness, and
before he died expressed a wish that the
favorite stick be buried with him. His
wish was carried out, the cane bemoan b
in the coilia. , u. -a*r.
rober o t Congro.
<B yfcri Aju’t U. ti. AttV-ChfU.
POLL PARROTS.
SOME PHACTICAti HINTS ON
THEIR HABITS AND TRAINING.
How They Are Imported and Accli
matized—Dying for Want or
Proper Care—Teaching
Them to Talk.
“I suppose you know that every ship
from the isthmus lands at least a score
of parrots in San Francisco,” said an
enthusiastic bird tamer to a reporter
lately.
“What becomes of them?”
“I believe most of them die within a
month for want of proper care, and very
few of the rest learn to talk. Of course all
the parrotsdon’t come from the isthmus or
the coast towns where the steamers call.
But enough come from these points at a
low figure to make it well worth while
for a man to undertake the business of
training and acclimatizing them. You
can get a young parrot at Corento or
Acapulco, or at almost- any Central
American port, for five pesos (about $4),
that will be worth from SSO to SIOO
when properly taught. It’s easy enough
when you know the way.”
“Some varieties are better than others,
are they not?”
“Yes, but practically any parrot can
be trained to talk if you commence when
the bird is young. There is a common
but foolish notion that it is only the
male birds that talk. Asa matter of
fact there is no more difference in this
respect than in the human species. The
hen parrot can do her share of talking
about as well as a woman's rights ad
vocate.”
“Do the different kinds of parrots re
quire different food?”
“Certainly, that is one of the secrets.
Let me describe to you here the kinds of
parrot commonly met with in this coun
try. Of course you know they are all
imported and acclimatized, the bird
being strictly tropical in its natural
habitat. The Mexican double yellow
head parrots are among the best birds
we get; they have better talking power,
greater sharpness in picking up words
and tricks, and a more pleasing human
like voice than the other varieties. They
are also quick to become attached to
their owners, and to make strangers feel
like strangers, which is one of the chief
charms of a parrot for the average man
or woman. That’s human nature, isn’t
it? If a parrot will take to everybody
the owner has no use for it. This va
riety has another good quality: that of
fearlessness. A Mexican double yellow
head parrot will convince any cat in
about two minutes that distance lends
both enchantment and safety to the view.
As to what these birds can learn I will
only say that they have been taught to
imitate all the nnimals in the barnyard—
the rooster, the dog, the pigs, the pea
hens, the turkeys; they can be made to
repeat half a dozen letters of the alpha
bet correctly in succession, spell words,
and as to swearing—they will pick up
‘cuss' words as quick as any ten-year-old
gamin in Tar Flat.”
‘ ‘Are these’Wds the ones which die
off so fast?”
“Yes, because they arc tho most sen
sitive of all parrots. They require spe
cial care the first winter, and should be
kept warm and out of the draught.
Just here I will give you a pointer. If
you put a monkey, an ant-eater, a par
rot or any tropical animal in a draught of
air—as, for instance, by opening the
window in a room where a fire is burn
ing—you are going to lose your pet. It
will catch cold and die as surely as if
you had put it in a refrigerator car.”
“Then the imported parrots die of
cold?”
“Not all of them. It is not really cold
enough in San Francisco to kill a parrot,
even on a cold day, but draughts are
fatal, in summer and winter alike. The
real trouble people have in raising parrots
is because they will not try to believe
that the birds will get along much better
it first without drinking water. If you
let a vessel of water near a freshly im
ported parrot, however healthy, it will
drink itself to death; that’s what I
mean.”
“Then you would give them no water
at all?”
“Not exactly that. A little water may
be given to a young bird every day; say
one or two teaspoonfuls. But the proof
that water is bad for a green parrot, if
you let the bird feed itself, is shown by
the fact that a parrot which has been
getting along finely for a whole week
without water, but with plenty of green
food, which contains all the water it re
quires, will get dysentery or some other
trouble directly it is allowed to swill ail
it wants.”
“Parrots improve rapidly in value ac
cording to their talking powers, I sup
pose?”
“Yes, so much so that a good talker is
worth SIOO where a finer-looking bird
that cannot talk is only worth $10.”
“How are they taught to talk?”
“You must tame them first. For in
stance, by giviDg them water at a regu
lar hour; instead of allowing them to
help themselves you will accustom them
to look for your presence and that is
everything. Then try placing a cover
over the cage, to confine the bird's atten
tion, and say a short word or sentence
every day till learned. Once the parrot
gets a start at talking the trouble is to
keep the gift under control. The bird
has no knowledge of good and evil; it
will learn swear words just as easily as the
others. The best plan is to have a stock
of words and use only these in the bird’s
hearing, always pitching them in a par
ticuiar key so as to fix the attention.”
“Apropos oi the diseases of parrots; is
there any remedy for them?”
“Yes, if not too far advanced. Dys
entery is very common; it is cured by
cutting down the water supply, which is
generally the cause. Ileirteniber, once
for all. that- it is only a thoroughly tamed
sud acclimated green parrot which can
be trusted with a glass in its cage.
Cold is best dealt with by given the bird
a dose of warm rock candy, strong and
’sweet, or even a little rum punch,
' kbad. Very oftew -
- Address hT.
may he cured of a bad cole ea
tery by putting a tcaspoonful / oAi
ic into the drinking water."
“Do parrots breed iucapti
* ‘Never; at least so far as tl
cages are concerned.”
“What age do they attain, „ |
care of by an expert, for inst
“Anything from twenty to „.flj
It all depends on the feei
trouble is that tame parrots ai
treated as members of the
given everything they screech
forget that young gray parrots cau
trusted with water, green parrots never.'V*'
ban Francisco Chronicle. C
Hari Karl in Japan.
The following description of the Japan- ,
ese method of committing suicide is given V
by an English paper:
The family and friends of the noble t.
commit suicide entered the room led by
a priest, the latter bearing in his hands *
full blooming lotus flower, which he d<
posited across the sword lying upon tl.
platform, and the spectators took seat
around the room. The nobleman the.
entered, dressed in pure white garments,
with a yellow colored scarf encircling hi.
body, and carrying in his hand a littl
saucer in which burned a wick lighted
previously from the everlasting light in
front of the family god.
Behind him came his eldest son, if ovci
five years of age—if not, his nearest re
lative-carrying upon a platter made of
sandal wood the wakizaski, a dagger-like
weapon nine and a half inches long, and
obliquely cut on the left side. The blade
of this lancet-looking weapon was
wrapped in yellow crape, a lotus flower
being placed upon its hilt. It generally
was an heirloom of the family, aad con
sidered the most valuable article in its
possession. It is the instrument with
which hara kari was always committed.
The person to commit this act would
then kneel upon the platform with bis
face toward the north and the wakizaski
placed before him. The priest w mid
take the lotus flower from the .T a pan ese
sword and cut the leaves in pier
ing the tame over the kneeling man.
After blessing him in thi nu.im-r tin \
lights in tho corner saucers we ic blown *
out, by the priest, and the light cam,,
by the suicide extinguished by his son or
nearest relative, and the time for the
final act had come.
After recounting in a solemn voice the
insult suffered by him from his enemy,
he invoked the spirit of his ancestors to
see in what manner he upheld the family
honor entrusted to him at his birth, and
rising upon his left knee he would take
hold of the wakizaski with his left hand,
lift up his white robe with his right hand,
wrapping the end of the yellow sash
around his left wrist, and deliberately
and very slowly insert the dagger-like
knife into his stomach above the right
hip bone. At the moment he inserted
tho knife his next-of-kin would take_f.\e
kahanna (ordinary sword), and with a
swift blow sever the head or the suicide
from the trunk. In every case of this
description, when hara kari was committed
in defence of insulted honor, the insult
ing party was informed by the family
of the act performed, by .sending to
him a sort of affidavit of the next
of-kin ofthe deceased written upon yel
low paper wrapped iu the leaves of the
lotus flower, and if that gentleman would
not be considered a craven, unlit for as
sociation with honorable men, he, too,
would then commit hara kari in a some
what similar manner.
Ericsson’s Three Purposes.
Setting wide minor inventions, three
distinct purposes are appareut in Erics
son’* labors; first, io improve the steam
engine aad extend the scop*’ of .its ap
plication ; next, to discover some more
economical and efficient method for
changing the mode of motion we cal
heat into the modo of motion w<- call
power; third, to force ihe great mari
time nations into declaring the ocean
neutral ground, by making naval war
fare too destructive a pastime to be in
dulged in, and equalizing the conditions
of the struggle between the greater and
the lesser States. On the accomplish
ment of this last purpose depended,
in Ericsson’s judgment, the future of his
native Sweden. Too weak to hold her
own in a contest with auy great power,
under existing conditions, her only sure
hope of defence is in neutralizing the
dominating factors of numbers and
wealth by the efforts of genius stimulated
by patriotism. Love of country was
with Ericsson a supreme passion. In
this controling sentiment, in the traits of
character derived from his sturdy Norse
ancestry, and in the training and expe
rience acquired during the twenty-three
years spent in his Scandinavian home,
we find the secret of that exceptional
development of specialized faculties
which has placed him in the very front
rank of constructive engineers.— Scribner.
A Remarkable Recovery.
There is one man in New York city
who is a living example of how near a
human being may come to death aud be
saved by modern surgical skill. Lieuten
ant Charles A. Myers was an officer in the
late war, and at one of the naval battles
was in command of one of the guns on
board of the Monitor. A shot struck the
porthole of the turret and tilled the in
terior with a shower of iron and steel
fragments. Myers was knocked sense
les° and carried to the sick room of the
ironclad. When examined by the sur
geons, it was found that his skull, collar
bone, one leg, both arms and five ribs
were fractured. Most of the surgeons
predicted his death within twenty-four
hours. A young physician of great abil
ity and promise on board took the suf
ferer in hand, and after a year of hard
work brought him back to health. AmoDg
the many operations involved were the
transplanting of skin, the removal of a
rib and the taking away of a large por
tion of the skull and its replacement h
a piece of hammered silver The
has regrown over the plate, buts
lows the latter’s outlines to be
felt. In the twenty-seven ye,
have elapsed siiHj' 1 ..the v
ant Myers ,Ti and sweet breat
sad strer ' J ifl-'s Catarrh remedy'.
;aV tteShtsTNasal Injector free. 1