Newspaper Page Text
\ All the trado journals and newspapers
speak of the splendid business outlook.
Big crops, increased railroad earnings,
aijd the influx of a tremendous amount
of English capital, are among the signs
of the times.
Even Siam is moving, and intends,
at any rate, to bo civilized by railways.
The surveys for the intended lines from
Bangkok to the northern and eastern
.provinces of Sinm are being rnpidly
pushed forward by a stall of surveyors.
The old ship Tonawanda; one of tho
famous old clipper liners and a very
popular boat in Philadelphia, has fallen
a victim to a storm, but in her old days
she had become-a coal barge, and passes
away ‘‘unwept, unlionored and un
sung.”
The Niagara is to be bridged again.
The Canadian Pacific Railway has de
cided to buili the bridge, aud thus to
secure advantageous connection with six
leading American 1 ail roads—as well as
a good deal of the business now done
exclusively by American roads.
The life-saving crews at Lowes, Del.,
did giand work in rescuing shipwrecked
persons during the recent storm. No
less than two hundred lives were saved
by their efforts from the hungry Sea.
The United States Life- Saving Service
is a nobly useful institution.
A geographical expert has figured
out that by the Nicaragua canal tho
distance from Now York to Honolulu
will be shortened from 14,230 to G388
miles, while the voyage from Liverpool
to tho Hawaiian capital will be cut
down from 14,080 to 9136 miles.
It is nothing now for Roman Catho
lics in different parts of Europe to as
semble together for Ills discussion of
large questions in a congress, but the
first meeting of this kind among tho
Roman Catholics of North America
will be held in Baltimore early in No
vember.
A London statistician figures that 80,-
OOC Americans landed in England the
past summer, the expenses across averag
ing more than $103 dollars each, and
that upon the lowest calculation they
circulated $21,000,000 in Europe on
railways and at hotels, without count
ing the money spent in purchases.
Tho author of the Spanish authorities
of a prize of $6000 for tho best literary
work, written in any of the principal
European languages, in celebration of
the fourth centenary of the discovery oi
America is a stimulus to literary effort
•uch as is rarely offered for internation
al competition. Some American ought
to take this prize.
.A condemned criminal in England
must be allowed to see three Sundays
between his sentence and his execution.
Of course he can thus be hung in a lit
tle over two weeks, but the three Sun
days must pass over his head before the
gallows claims him. The custom it a
relic of mediaeval times, when a crim
inal was allowed that much of a respito
to prepare for death.
Archdeacon Farrar's fervid plea foi
the establishment of an order of mendi
cant monks in the Episcopal church in
England and the United Slates meets
with a very chilling responso from tho
church organs. After mercilessly ridi
culing the whole idea, the Churchman
•ays that, even if such an order were
desirable, it could not be founded by a
well-paid, well-fed archdeacon.
The designers employed by the IL-it-
kh Admiralty are striving to build a
new type of warship which will com
bine the maximum qualities of speed,
strength, stability and fighting power.
The li inown, a barbette ship carrying
an armament of 69-ton guns, will be, it
is expected, tho closest approximation
to that ideal which has yet been made.
Probably there will have to be a long
series of improved and remodelled Re
nowns before the problem can be satis-
factorily worked out. But the aim is
one which can be commended to Ameri
can designers employed upon the new
navy. The New York Tribune cousid -
era that sufficient progress has been
made to justify the department in set
ting its best talent at work in design -
ing a vessel, without reference to cost,
which will be at once the fastest, strong
est and most powerful battle-ship
afloat.
Great fields of asphaltum liavo been
discovered in Utah and Wyoni ing terri
tories. This asphalt was formerly crude
petroleum, which, escaping from natural
openings in the ground, flowed into the
plains, whero it has lain and dried.
An example of tho depreciation of
agricultural land in England was af
forded within a fortnight when a farm
in Lincolnshire was offered for sale.
The highest bid was $10. 500, although
tho property cost $32,500 eighteen
years ago, and a considerable sum has
since been expended in improvements.
The municipality of Paris recently
gave a banquet to 15,000 people.
There were 13,000 provincial mayors,
and tho other 2003 were senators,
deputies, town councillors and journal
ists. The provisions included 600 gal
lons of soup, 125 of sauce, 6600 pounds
of fish, 3430 of beef, 600 ducks, and
1200 geese. There were 1000 waiters
and 40 butlers. They served 80.000
plates, 15,000 bottles of claret, 1800 of
Madeira, 4500 of poniard, and 4000 of
champagne.
‘'There is something refreshingly
complete, if not satisfactory, about a
duel reported from Idaho,” says tho
New York Tribune. ‘‘The principals,
who were unable to agree in regard to
a young woman with whom each was in
love, undertook to settle the matter
with pistols. Both were shot dead on
the socoud round. Duelling is to be
deprecated in general and in particular
cases; but when tw r o men are so foolish
ns to resort to the barbaric practice,
they deserve the fate to which they vol
untarily expose themselves.”
Every American nation has accepted
the invitation of the United States
to the congress to ' meet at
AVashiugtou, except Sm Domingo,
which is sulking became tho Sen
ate some time ago rejected a treaty
whicli the San Domingans wanted. It
has not been stated, however, that the
idea of the congress will he abandoned
because Sin Domingo does not choose
to participate. In fact, observes the
San Francisco Chronicle, were it not for
this refusal, there are many people who
would not know that there was any
such country as San Domingo.
It seems that American editors and
publishers arc not worse iu their deal
ings with English authors than English
editors and publishers are sometimes
with American authors. Maurice
Thompson tells of how an English ed
itor once wrote to him for a short paper,
saying: “I will pay you the highest
rate on receipt of the manuscript.” Mr.
Thompson wrote the paper with great
care aud kept it, as he says, within the
limit of four thausand words set by the
editor. He sent the manuscript off aud
in due time two pounds were sent to
him as the highest rate of payment!
Surely it would be hard for an English
author to surpass this story.
St. Louis, according to Harper's
Weekly, has to thaak tho late Henry
Shaw for the possession, in the Mis
souri Botanical Gardens, of the, finest
collection of plants and flowers in
America, and the third finest in the
world. Mr. Shaw was in his ninetieth
year when lie died, had been an enthu
siastic botanist and plant collector for
over thirty years, and had devoted his
taste and wealth to the formation and
beautifying of tlieso grounds. They
cover nearly fifty-four acres, and within
them were tlie summer residence and
tomb of Mr. Shaw. The gardens were
enriched by statuary and busts, and
were laid out in the formal style that
obtains in foreign parks.
“Necessity is the mother of inven
tion,” and has led the Russians to de
vise an ironclad railway train for tho
Czar to ride in when compelled to jour
ney to and fro iu his dominions. For
merly he rode in a contrivance which
resembled a boiler-plated luggage van.
Naturally it was the chief object of tho
attcution of tho amiable fellows who
make it their busiucss to extirpate tho
Russian crowned head. Now every car
iu the tram is made alike, and if the
Nihilists wish to blow up the Czar they
will bo oblighed to smash the entire
train into “smithereens.” Tho precau
tion may make it a little more difficult
for tho Anarchists to accomplish thoir
object, but they would not scruple much
about sending a whole train load of peo
ple into oternity, provided the Czar
could he included in tho number.
SAND STORMS;
Peculiar Gales in Various Parts
of the World.
Experiences in Africa, Asia and
America.
“No hot winds here anyhow, to
drink up your very life at one gust,
and leave you limp as a wet .rag, ” said
I, as we sat on deck iu tho dreamy
Medi erraaean twilight. “I got caught
by them once in Egypt, and a passing
Arab howled after me, ‘None but a pig
and a Christian can face the khamsin’ ”
(hot wind). “And I answered, ‘So I
sco, my friend, for you and I are the
only living things abroad!’ ”
“Well, I’d sooner face that than such
a sandstorm as wo had once in Arizona,”
said a gaunt, wiry, keen-eyed man bo-
side me, who looked like an old soldier.
'All in ono moment tho whole sky
seemed to rush down upon us as if it
were a big pepper-box with tho lid off,
and instantly all was dark as night, and
I felt as if forty thousand ants were
eating mo up at ouce. You should
have seen how the beasts whisked round
to get their backs to it, and ducked
their heads down! And how the men
shut their eyes, and pulled their hats
down over their faces, and covered their
mouths with their haiidsl But it was
no use trying to keep the dust out; it
seemed to get insido one’s very skin.
When it cleared off wo all looked as if
we’d been bathing in brown sugar, aud
you might have raked a match on any
part of my skin, and it would have lit
right away."
“You need not go to Arizona for
that,” cried his English neighbor.
“You can see the same thiug on the
outskirts of Moscow any summer day
you like. The moment tho wind rises
your surroundings are clean blottod out,
and the whole air is a whirl of hot,
prickly dust, making you smart and
tingle from head to foot. Passing
wagons loom dimly through the driving
storm; ladies hold down their veils with
the grasp of desperation; men shut their
eyes and plunge blindly on like mad
bulls, and every time you draw breath
you feel as if you were taking snuff at
the rate of half a bushel a second.”
“Most Russian towns are like that,”
said I; “but tho worst sand-storm I
ever saw was iu tho Kara- Ivoom (Black
Sand) Desert, between tho Ural Moun
tains and the Syr-Daria (Jaxarte3), when
poor McGahau and I were following
tho Russian army in its march upon
Khiva. It was just about sunset on the
third day, and I was half across the
desert, when a detachment of mounted
Cossacks appeared in the distance, com
ing slowly from tho northward. They
had got near enough to be plainly seen,
when suddenly the biggest of the three
camels that drew my Tartar wagon
stopped short and began to snuff the air
uneasily. Its uneasiness seemed shared
by my Kirghiz driver, who, with his
lean, wolfish face fairly quivering with
excitement, goaded tho bcast3 to their
full speed with yells and whip cracks up
a low ridge in front of us.
“We had hardly reached tho top
when I saw the advancing Cossacks leap
from their horses and fling themselves
on tho ground, with the grayish-white
dust of which their grayish-white
dresses mingled so completely that it
seemed as if the earth had swallowed
them. Just then my camels foil flat on
the earth, and tho Kirghiz, screaming
‘TcbbadI’ (sand-storm) threw himself
beside them. I had just time to notice
that tho horizon had suddenly grown
blurred and dim, as if seen through wot
glass, when my Tartar servant dragged
me down beside him into the bottom of
tho wagon, and pulled a heavy shawl
tightly over us both. The next moment
came a rush and a loar, rocking the
huge wagbn like a toy, the air grow
thick and close, as if we were iu an over
heated room, and the slcirr of tho sand
against the tilt was like tho chirping of
a thousand grasshoppers.
“But just as we were almost stifled,
tho noise began to abate, and we ven
tured to peep forth. Tho passing of
the storm had left tho air bitterly ccld,
and in the dim moonlight wo saw the
wholo plain lashed into hugo ridges,
like a stormy soa. My wagon and cum-
els were more than half buried, and the
Kirghiz was gone altogether, and when
he started up out of tho sand in his
long white robe, it was just like a
corpse rising from ihc grave. But for
$hat high ground, which kept the sand
from burying us, we should, all bars' Rcgrot.
been dead mon. As for the Cossacks, Regret 1 Regret Regret I
they got up, shook themselves, aud
wont on as if nothing had happened.”
Tired eyes with sorrow’s salt spray wet-
By day’s broad boams or midnight deeps
A poignant grief that never sleeps;
That haunts my waking hours and soenus-
Tho specter of my fairest dreams;
The woe Td give worlds to forget
I often think had we but met
Ere all the passion flowers of youth
Had died and left life’s field uncouth;
Ere drouth of disappointment drove
The dewdrops from the blooms of love,
And thorn of withered hopes beset
Tho weary way—Oh wild regret I
Regret! Regret! Regret 1
Like cloud wracks when the sun has .set
That flit across the darkling skies
And blur tho evening’s golden dyes:
That cause the bright-eyed stars to swoon.
And, gathering ’round the maiden moon,
Enshroud her silver coi .met
In widow’s weed—Oh, dark regret I
Regret! Regret! Regret!
The saddest thought iu life, and yet
Through depths of mournful mists afar
I gaze upon that paling star
And feel a wild delicious thrill
Of joy ineffable, and still
A hopeless debtor, dear the debt,
I owe to Fate—Regret! Regret
—Atlanta Constitution.
HUMOROUS.
Cultivation of Peppermint.
The cultivation of peon ;rmint says a
Lyons (N. Y.) letter to the New York And wish and weep-Oh, vain regret!
Sun, is simple, but requires a great deal RogrotI Regret ,
ot labor in keeping it free from weeds. - -
Tno ubiquitous daisy rears its dainty
blossom nmong the peppermint rows,
as much at home as it is iu the mead
ows, aud tho aesthetic golden rod en
riches the mint borders with its color.
But while the daisy and the golden rod
may bo indispensable in my Indy’s cor
sage, their expressed oil mingling with
the pungent juices of the peppermint do
not add to the efficacy of the latter in
curing her baby’s stomach ache. An
other weed, unknown in New York
State until the Wayno County farmers
began to cu tivato peppermint, and
which is still unknown outside of the
peppermint fields, is a perpetual menace
to tho pur.ty of the farmer’s prod
uct. This is locally known as
rag weed, but it is not the old-f.ishioned
rag weed that grows everywhere. It
looks something like lettuce, and yields
of itself an abundance of bitter and
pungent oil. It does not require a
great cloal of this weed, if distilled
with the mint, to diminish greatly the
value of a farmer’s crop. No new in
sect pest has followed the cultivation of
peppermint, unlike almost every other
product of the farm. Insects do not
interfere with tho growth of mint.
Keeping the crop free from all weeds is
the principal care that attends its culti
vation.
A field of peppermint yields two
crops. The sets, or parts of old plants,
are planted in April aud Miy, in rows
two feet apart. They grow to the
height of two feet. Any one who had
never seen peppermint growing would
suppose it was the common spearmint
of the julep and sauce for lamb. If he
press a leaf between his finger, howev
er, the odor of the oil will at once re
veal the difference. Tho gathering of
the peppermint begins in August and
the harvesting is now in progress. The
plants are cut close to the roots with a
scythe or a two-fingered cradle. They
are cured or wilted iu the snu like liny
for twelve hours, tho oil bcirg expressed
more freely with the plants in this con-
dition than when they are fresh. From
the roots the next year's crop springs.
The distillation of peppermint oil is
very simple. The still is a wooden vat
of heavy staves hooped with iron. It
is about four feat deep and six in diam
eter. Into this the mint is closely
packed and pressed down by treading.
When the vat is full it is covered steam
tight. Steam is force 1 in by a pipe
near the bottom of the vat. The steam
volatilizes the oil of the mint, and its
vapor is condensed in a worm, as in or
dinary stills. The mixed oil and' water
arc collected in a receiver, and the
usual separation by specific gravity en
sues. Tho oil is skimmed from the
watei and placed in largo tin cans.
Some farmers distil their own oil, but
the crop is generally treated by regular
distillers, of whom there are about 100
in Wayne county. They toll the crop
fer the distilling, as a miller does the
farmers’ grain for the grinding. The
waste of tho distilling vats is fed by
some farmers to their stock, cattle be
ing fond of it.
Two Big Walnut Trees.
The Calaveras (Cal.) Prospect, tells of
an English walnut tree in Chile Gulch,
Calaveras County, that State, which it
describes as follows; “This walnut
tree was planted twenty- four years ago,
and wns thought to be about two years
old at the time of plautiag. The tree
measures 8 feet and 6 inches in circum
ference 2 feet from the ground nnd
above tho bulge of the roots. It is
about 75 feet high, and has a spread of
branches which cover a circle of 65
feet in diameter.’’
This moves tho Tuolumne, (Cal.) In
dependent to come forward with abig-
g.-r one, of which the following de
scription is given; “Our tree was
plauted from the seed thirty-four years
ago, near the town of Columbia,
on tho well-known Jarvis ranch, now
the property of Mr. G. F. McPherson.
It is 14 feet in circumference 4 feet
above the ground, and about 78 feet
high, with a spread of nearly 100 feet.
One branch measures 6 feet in circumfer
ence, one 5 feet and two others 4 fee|
each. On tho same ranch there is a
mighty oak with a circumference of 30
feet 6 inches from the ground.”
Fruit and vegetable dealers arc alwa^»
in favjr of moderate measures.
The conveying of ideas by telegraph
is merely another form of lightning ex
press.
Railroad men report collections dalL
Nearly all trains are compelled to run oa
time.
She: Well, 'Zjkicl, what d’yer in
tend doin’ fust—pop the question or
question pop?
“Good morning, Mr. Good; you’ve
arrived, I see. How did you leave your
wife?” “I left her talkin’.”
The proper name of the bumblo beo is
humble-bee. But humble as he is, ho
won’t allow himself to be sat upon.
An exchange says: “Thomas A. Edi
son rarely sleeps more than four hours a
day.” The balance of his sleep ho
probably gets at night.
“I heard you were fishing yesterday,”
said one traveling man to another.
“Yes.” “Havo any luck?’’ “Yea,
some; I didn’t get drowned.”.
It isn’t every country that Jias, like
the United States, the free choice of a
national bird. Russia would be a Tur
key-gobbler, if she dared.
Stern Parent (to a young applicant
for his daughter's hand): Young man,
can you support a family? Young Man
(meekly): 1 only wanted Sarah.
What is the difference between an
apple and a pretty girl, unless it is that
you squeeze an apple to get cider, and
you get ’side a pretty girl to squeeze
her?
What wages does your husband get?”
asked Mrs. White of Mrs. Black.
“Wagcsl” snapped Mrs. Black, vicious
ly, “my husband does not get wages at
all, I’d have you understand. He ac
cepts a salary.”
“Now, boys,” said the professor,
“remember that while yon see tho point
of a needle you perceive the point of a
joke.” “Aud the point of a pin pro-
lessor?” “Ah!” replied the professor,
with a soft sigh, “that is neither a
vision nor a perception; it is an experi-
Extraordlnary Smuggling.
An extraordinary case of smuggling
is reported from Sourabaya, iu Java. A
Chinese passenger having died on board
a junk which was anchored in the road
stead, the health officer of tho porl
went off, and, after viewing tho body,
gave the necessary permit for burial.
The master of the junk then carno on
shore and ordered a large coffin of tha
usual Chinese kind. During the early
hours of the morning the crew, with
tho coffin, landed, and the funeral pro
cession passed along the streets. After
the funeral the party went back to the
junk, which immediately put out to sea.
Iu tho middle of the day some natives
found au empty coffiu in the middlo of
the road close by tho Chiuoso cemetery,
which not only smelt strongly of opium,
but also had small particles of the drug
adhering to its sides. The custom
house authorities found tho maker of
the coffin, who identified it as the ono
supplied to the master of the-junk, and
the dead body of tho Chinaman was
washed ashore soon afterward, so that
it was clear that he had been thrown
overboard, nx l the burial permit used
to smuggle on shore a largo c' fliu full
of oj)ium.
