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GOSSIP FOR THE LADIES.
The S'lowM..
Fond husband*, who fain would have home be an
Eden,
For you and your Eve* all complete as a whole,
To read in, to write In, to sleep In, to feed In,
Forget not the closets eo dear to the soul,
But build them in corners, In nooks and i
crannies,
■Wherever a closet may heritor or hide,
And give to your Marys, your Kates, and your
Annies
The big, airy closets, their Joy and their pride—
The roomy, clean closet-, the woli-ordered closets,
Tho big, s’ly closets, their Joy ami their pride.
I'irsl I.ovca.
A long story in one of the papers is
headed, “Her First Love.” We have
no time to read long stories, but if it
was really and truly licr first love it is
safe to say be got away. It takes a
practiced hand to Ki ev just when to
reel in, pay out more line, and “play”
him till he can be landed and put in tlio
basket. It can’t bod lie by a girl with
her first love, because of the excitement
when she first feels He re is one nibbling,
enusing her to shnt both eyes, pull for
dear life and throw him fifteen feet into
the air, when the hook drops out of his
mouth, he falls “ slap ” into the water
and scuds under some old root. The
desert of life is strewn all over with the
bleaching bones of first lov >.s, who have
had their jaws torn off so they could not
masticate their food.— Peck's Sun.
I’oor I deed.
Thousands of girls are never taught
to work, and their condition is most pit
iable. They have been taught to do
spise labor ami to depend iijsin others
for a living, and are perfectly helpless.
If misfortune comes upon their friends,
as it often does, their ease is hopeless.
Tho most forlorn and miscral do women
upon earth lielong to this class. Every
daughter should I* taught to earn her
own living. The rich as well as the poor
require this training. The wheel of fort
une turns swiftly nround—the rich aro
very likely to become jsxir and the poor
rich Skill to labor is no disadvantage
to tho rich, and is indispensable to the
poor. Well-to-do parents must educate
their children to work. No reform is
more imperatively needed than this.
The ( iinr.ii of Womanly Uodmly.
Man loves tlie mysterious. A cloud
less sky and an rose leave him
unmoved ; but the violet which hides
its blushing beauty behind tho liuhli,
snd the nrooii when emerging from be
hind a cloud are to hiua sources of inspi
ration and of pleasure. Modesty is to
merit what shade is to a figure in paint
ing—it gives boldness and prominence.
Nothing adds more to femnlo beauty
than modesty. It sheds around tho
countenance a halo of light which is
borrowed from virtue. Botanists have
given tho rosy hue which tinges the enp
of tlio white rose the name of tho
“maiden’s blush." This pure ami del
icate hue is the only paint Christum vir
tuo should use. It is the richest orna
ment. A woman without modesty is
Jikc a faded flower, diffusing an un
wholesome odor, which tne jn-udjjnt
gardener will throw from him. Her des
tiny is melancholy, for it terminates In
shame and repentuncie. Beauty passes
like the flowers of the ulhc which bloom
and die in a few hours; but modesty
gives tho female charms which supply
the place of the transitory freshness of
youth.
Qnlrl Wcilrt
Quirt weddings ure rapidly gaining
in luvor. 'I1u?ro is no fuss, no, ostenta
tion, 119 at 10 Vi A (tor tho ceremony tlio
hrido uressea in a traveling dress and
ltonnet, and departs for her wedding
tour. But even tho tour in no longer
obligatory. If tho newly-married pair
nAffin )lfilUlVflati'nc n* AU .■ f , -
orally issiio u few 4 * At-home ” cardH, and
thereby open easy door for future hos
pitalities. Certainly, tho onoo-porfnnct
ory bridal tour is not now deemed es
sential, and the more-sensible fashion
ousts of tho taking of a friend’s house a
few miles out of town for a month. Thu
period of card-leaving after a wedding
ib not definitely Used. Home authori
ties say ten days, hut that in a crowded
city and with an immense acquaintance,
would ho quito impossible. If only in
vited to the church, many ladies con
sider that they perform their whole duty
by leaving a card some time during the
winter and including the young people
in their subsequent invitations. Very
rigorous people cal 1, however, within
ten days, and, if invited to tho house,
tho call is still more imperative, and
should be made soon after tho wedding.
If, however, the young couplo neglect
to give their future address, visits must
be postpoued until they notify their
friends of their whereabouts. The
Housekeeper.
Clinruiiiig (alrl.
If yon are fortunate in possessing
beauty, my dear girls, ho thankful for
the gift, hut do not over-rate it. The
girl who expects to win her way by her
beauty and to ho admired and accepted
simply because she is a lady him tho
wrong idea. Khe must secure a lovable
character if alio wishes to he loved, ami
my advice to you all is to lay the found
ation of a permanent influence. To win
and bold admiration yon must cultivate
the gifts that uaturo has bestowed upon
yon. If you have a talent for music,
develop it; learn to sing some choice
songs and to perform upon some instru
ment, for many are charmed more by
music than by handsome features. Pur
sue tho same course with regard to
paiuting, drawing and designing, and if
you have the power to obtain useful
knowledge in any direction, do it 1 have
heard young men in speaking of their
young-lady acquaintances sav, “Oh !
they look well, but they don’t know any
thing.” There ia no necessity for suoli
a state of things ; books are cheap and
accessible. It you labor all day iu shop
or store still at odd intervals you can
gather up an education luideonteud with
nt greater difficulties than did Clay,
Fillmore, Webster and others of our
greatest men. If you go through fife a
flitting butterfly, how will you lie spoken
of by-and-by ? 1 own it m nice to eat,
drink and be merry, and he courted tuid ,
fluttered by all your friends; but how
muoh better to cultivate chi-actor, seuso
and true womanliness 1
JV.pi.lnK ibo qumilon.
Let us suppose that the lady has been
out during the evening before to a patt v.
The gentleman might say that she looks
fatigued. On her rejoining that this
■was a foolish thought he will get an op
portunity of saying, “ Not foolish, Emi
ly. I foel too much interest in you to
permit my own wishes to run counter to
your welfare," This is properly called
the magnificent maimer of beginning.
But very qfteti thg young ladv is con
siderate enough to assist her blushful
lover. For instance, there was oueo a
timid fellow who was fond of borrowing
John Phoenix's jokes ; when she asked
him how he felt he avenged himself ac
cording to the Phoenix plan of being
very definite, and said he felt “ about fpt
peroemt.” “ Indeed,” she said with a
demure look, “ are you never going to
par ? ” And she got in her work tliot
evening.
Another young man was saying, as he
scratched a lueifer on the side of the
house, “ I like these houses with sanded
paint; nice when yon want to strike a
match, you know.” “Is that so?” she
asked demurely; “I wish 1 lived in a
house with sanded paint,” and then she
looked things unutterable. If he had
asked “ What for ? ” she would have hat
ed him. Hut lie didn’t. He took the
hint, and the match was struck then and
thero. This method of “giving a hint”
lias been put poetically in this way :
Young Frorl, a bagful yet perglatent swain.
Was very much in lovo with Mary Jane.
One night pbe told him in her temlereit tone.
‘•lt in not good for inan to be alone.”
field Fred, “Just *o, you darling Utt.'e elf;
I’ve often thought of that kaijj* thing myself.”
Then wiid the la*g, while Fred wag all af? g,
“You ought to buy yournolf a terrier dog.”
What may be called a physiological
proposal in illustrated by the case of
M ins Mary Flynn and Mr. Budl. Tho
young lady—a Boston girl, by the way
was studying medicine and Mr. Bud<l
was courting her. One evening, while
they were sitting together in the parlor,
Mr. Budd was thinking how he should
manage to propose. Miss Flynn was
explaining certain physiological facts for
him.
“Do you know,” she said, “that thou
sands of people are actually ignorant
that they smell with their olfactory pe
duncle ?”
“Millions of ’em,” replied Mr. Budd.
“And Aunt Mary wouldn’t believe me
when I told her she couldn’t wink with
out a sphincter muscle I”
“ How unreasonable I"
“Why, a person cannot kiss without
sphincter I”
“Indeed !”
“ i know it is so !”
“ May I try if I can ?"
“ Oh, Mr. Budd, it is too bad for you
make light of such a subject. ”
Then he tried it, and while he held
her hand she explained to him about tho
muscles of that portion of the human
body.
“ Willie,” whispered Miss Flynn very
faintly,
“ What, darling?”
“ I can hear your heart beat.
“ it beats only for you, my angel.
“Anil it sounds out of order. Tho
ventricular contraction is not uniform.”
“Small wonder for that, when it’s
bursting tor joy.”
“ You must put yourself under treat
ment for it. I will give you sumo med
icine.”
“ It's your own property, darling ; do
wliat you please with it.”
Fortune-Tellers.
Tho fortune-telling sisterhood contrive
to make considerable money iu pander
ing to the credulity of their “clients.”
Tho usual charge for a consultation is
fifty cents Or a dollar; hut tlio prieo is
os clastic as the seer’s conscience, and
can ho stretched indefinitely. The trade
of fortune-telling is now monopolized by
women. Home yenrs ago there wore a
few men in tlio business. They called
themselves astrologists, and had an as
tonishing kind of intimacy with tho
stars. But the women now have the
field to themselves. Tho impression
that till their dupes are of the servant
girl class is a mistake. A groat many
wealthy ladies patrouize them. It is not
l>y any moans uncommon to henr a woman
of average intelligence and fair educa
tion sav that she believes in fortune-tell
ing. With a groat many women of this
sort, tlio first impulse when anything
goes wrong, is to consult a fortune-teller.
Tlio parlor as well as the kitchen contri
butes to the coffers of the card-shuffling
swindlers. When the late Philander
cPoesticks, P. It., wrote up tho fortune
tellers of New York, some live end twenty
yenTR ..non the imde wnt. i.....i.i,r
fiui t, for sonic timo. But it soon flour
ished again, anil is now as ever, if not
more so. We have a law against it, but
the harpies who follow it don't mind
that. The law Bays that those who “pre
tend to tell fortunes, or where lost and
stolen goods can lie found” shall he held
as disorderly persons. But it is easy
enough for them to find bail, take an
other name, and go on with their uefari
iotis business
Fishing in Jnpnn.
Fishing in tlio rivers anil streams of
the Main Island is not considered as a
sport by the Japanese, but as a means
of livelihood, and therefore “the gentle
angler ” will not receive much encour
agement from the brotherhood in the
Land of tho llisiug Sun. Salmon trout,
trout nil ai (a small hut game fish) are
“educated,” ou some rivers, to take tho
fly. Tho Japs work with very small
flics, fine tackle, slight bamboo rods,
with which they are very successful.
Altogether, however, the game will he
found scarcely worth tlio candle on the
main laud, hut capital sport with the
salmon trout can he obtained in several
streams near Satsuporo, in Yezo, during
May and June, with a genuine British
fly. Tho most impel taut export from
Yezo is in dried salmon, which are netted
in incredible quantities in various rivers
of fho northern part of the island and in
tho southern Kuriles ; hut sport in these
rivers among the dense masses of fish ia
out of the question, even if the proprie
tors of the fishings would allow their fish
to he poached. The Japaueso seaboard
is everywhere picturesque, and the seas
abound with fish, giving employment to
the crews of thousands of fishing-boats.
When sailing along tho coasts, numbers
of large black w hales imd sharks, both
lurge and small, will he seen, the latter
being caught by the fishermen, as their
fins arc counted a delicacy and the skins
servo many uses. The hilts of all the
old swords are covered with white shark’s
skin.— Thr London Field.
“ Oh i Thom Golden Slippers.”
111 Judge Jameson's court wlieu a
; comely French maiden took the stand to
i testify against a man who had stolen her
watch it was noticed that the twelve sol
emn jurymen sat with downcast eyes
throughout the whole time she was giv
ing her testimony. Those twenty-four
windows of the soul were all turned to
ward tho littlo platform on which the
witness-chair stood where two small
shapely fit, encased iu the tiniest of
French slippers, saucily kicked out from
lieneath the folds of a very heavy silk
skirt mid knocked all idea of the testi-
mony out of the men who sat in judg
ment. Ihe judge looked severe and
then pleased as he, too, eyed the pretty
feet. The State’s attorney addressed his
question’s to the little slippers and the
oounsel for the defense tried to cross
examine them, bat gave it up and sighed,
“You may go.” The witness stepped
down nnd the spell was broken, but re
gretting the loss the counsel recalled
her, and again the little feet kicked out,
bringing smiles to all faces. Three times
were the pretty bet recalled and three
times was the prisoner at the bar forgot
ten.—Chicago Intor-Ocean.
“ You\o man,” said a college pro
fessor to an under-graduate who had
asked for and obtained leavo of absence
to attend his grandmother’s funeral—
“young man, 1 find, on looking over the
records, that this is the fifth time you
have been excused to attend the funeral
of your grandmother. Y'our leave of
absence is therefore revoked. Your
graudmother must get herself buried
without you this time.”
Dialogue with a Painter.
Citizen—l want you to paint this door
tor me, white, with gray panel#. Can
you do it ?
Painter—[As usual.]
C.—Will you do it ?
P.
C.—Allow me to call your attention to
the heads of my discourse. I have
asked you to paint this door; that means
that the door is to be painted for my
personal benefit, at my expense, and in
accordance with my ideas of what a
painted door should be. I have asked
you to paint this door for me, white,
with gray panels ; that means that tlie
door is to be painted for my personal
benefit, at my expense, and in accord
ance with my ideas of what a painted
door should be; and that my idea of
what a painted door should be is white,
with gray panels.
C.—Are you a betting man ?
C.—Because, if you were, you might
lose some money very comfortubly, bet
ting that I don’t want that door white,
with gray panels,
C.—Perhaps I do mean gray ? with
white panels ; but, wliile I am in my
present state of blind ignorance as to
what I do mean, don’t you think it
would be just as well to humor my delu
sion ?
C.—My friend, I know well that you
never painted a door in that way before.
That is why I have sent for you, and
why I am going to spend my money—
just to give you the gratification of ex
periencing a novel sensation.
C!.—Of course, pea-green, with pink
panels, would look much better; but
then I have sworn an oath, on the tomb
stone of two twin-uncles of mine, who
died in infancy, never to havo a pea
green door, with pink panels, in my
house. I would do almost anything to
please you ; but I draw the lino at per
jury-
-I>.
o.—Yes, I would like to have you
paint that door brown, with blue panels.
As I remurked, I want the door painted
for my own personal benefit, at my own
expense, and in accordance with iny idea
of what a painted door should be; but,
if it pleases you to paint it bro tvn, with
blue panels, do so, by all means. Only,
when you have got through, please paint
it over again, white, with gray panels.
r.—
0. —Everybody does not paint the
panels lighter than the door. Ido not,
and old Triptolemus the Second, the
man with the celluloid eye, did not; and
you aro not going to, this time.
C.—No, my friend, there isn’t a square
inch more to be painted in this house.
C —That window-sill would look bet
tor for a coat of paint; but I mean to
humblo that window-sill’s pride, and
keep it simple in its tastes.
C.—That dado does need touching up;
but I liavo let out tho job to a profes
sional dadoist, who works for tho love of
art, and doesn’t charge anything.
O. —Yes, yon will come to-morrow to
paint that door, as you remark ; but you
won’t paint it gray, with white panels, as
you also remark ; you will point it white,
with gray panels.
P.
C.—l know it will look badly when it
is done. That’s what I’m laying for. 1
want' something to sober me down. My
Is*’,* i<• full qf C lUd mnuj
painters. Oivo thee good don, sweet
slatherer.— Puck. ,
Prose Poems From the Chinese.
A Woman lief ore Her Mirror. —
Heated beforo her mirror, she gazes at
the moonlight. The bamboo blind is
down, and breaks the entering light; it
seems as though all through tho room
one sees jade shivered into a thousand
atoms. But instead of combing her hair
she lets down the bamboo blind, and tho
moon nppoars yet more brilliant, even
oh a woman clad in silk, who lots her
robe fall.
The Porcelain Pavilion. — In the
midst of the little artificial lake there
rises a pavilion of green and white por
celain. It is reached by a bridge of
jade that curves like the back of n tiger.
And iu that pavilion frieuds clad in
bright rolies are drinking together cups
of lukewarm wine. Gaily they converse
or write verses, pnshing their hats a lit
tle hack on their heads, or tucking up
tlieir sleeves. And in the lake itself,
where the littlo bridge, reflected upside
down, looks like a crescent of jade, tliero
are also friends in bright robes, upside
down, in a pavilion of porcelain.
The Stairway of Jade. —Under the
sweet light of the full moon, the empress
remounts her stairwny of jade, all glim
mering with dew. And the hem of her
robe softly kisses the edge of every step
—the white satin and the jade resemble
each other. The light of the moon lias
burst into the apartment of the empress;
as she passes over the threshold she is
all dazzled ; for before tho window, upon
the curtain that iB embroidered with
crystal jiearl, there soems to be a com
pany of diamonds disputing for the
light, and ou the floor of pale wood
there scemetli to ho a circle of dancing
stars.
Characte.rs Eternal. —Even while I
make verses, I watch from my window
tho awaving oi the bamboos. I let char
acters fall upon the white paper; afar off
one would fancy plum tree leaves were
falling crosswise upon snow. The de
lightful coolness of mandarin oranges
passes away when s woman carries them
too long in the gauze of her sleeve—
as a white frost vanishes in the sun ; but
the characters which Fhave let fall upon
the paper will never become effaced.
[Any one who has noticed the peculiarity
of Chinese written diameters will ap
preciate the extremely poetical simile.]
The Fan. —The young bride is sitting
alone in the perfumed elinmlier, into
which the husband entered for the first
time only tho evening before. In her
hand she holds her fan, whereon these
characters are written : “ When the air
is stifling, and the winds are still, lam
beloved, aud they beg the boon of re
freshment from one. But wheu the
winds arise, and the air grows cold, I am
disdained and forgotten.” And while
reading these characters the young
woman dreams of her spouse and sail
thoughts, like clouds, wrap themselves
nbout her. "Now is the heart of my
husband young and ardent; my husband
comes to me that liis heari siay be re
freshed. But when his heart shall have
become chill and tranquil, will I not,
perhaps, be disdained and forgotten ?”
A sontsrisi says—your scientist is al
ways saying something—that each adult
person carries enough phosphorus in his
body to make 40,000 matches. They
who know how hard it is to make a
match of two people will begin to lose
their faith in scientists.— Boston Tran
script,
Jokes of the Conductors.
It is probable that railroad conductors
play more jokes on each other tnan any
other class of people, and we would pub
lish more of them, only the most of the
conductors are big men who might tie
us up in a double bow-knot. We tell
more jokes on Rumsay than any of the
rest, because he is probably the only
one we could handle in a rough and
tumble fight. Fred Cornea and Hum
soy are represensativo conductors, in re
gard to fun, and each is laying for the
other to play a joke. Not long ago
Rumsey hired a passenger that was go
ing out on Fred’s train, a fellow who
had three cat boils on his face, to go
into the refrigerator in one comer of the
car, and when Fred came to pull him
out, to tell him he had the smallpox.
The scheme worked splendidly, and Fred
went into the baggage car and washed
himself all over in a tin wash basin, with
bar soap, and stopped the train at Brook
field Junction and lot the passenger get
off without paying, that being bis desti
nation. As tho train was moving off the
passenger yelled to Comes and told him
if he saw Rumsey in Milwaukee to tell
him that tlie cat boils passed him through
all right. Comes at once saw through
the joke and laid for Rumsey. A spell
ago the two met, and both were tired, so
Fred suggested that they take a Turkish
bath and go up to his house and get
dinner, and then lay down and have a
good sleep. Rumsey consented, if Fred
would promise to wake him up at five
o'clock, as he had an engagement to meet
a lumberman 'who wanted to buy some
of his pine land. Fred agreed, and tney
went up to the house on Keewaunee
street, near the school house, where
Fred comes home once in a while, and
went to bod. After they had slept for a
couple of hours Fred got up and dark
ened the windows, lit the gas in the
room and turned the clock ahead to half
past seven o’clock. Fred’s wife was let
into the joke, and she darkened the
rooms down stairs, and the hall, and lit
all the gas. Then Fred went up and
woke Rumsey, who yawned and rolled
over. Rumsey looked at the gas burn
ing, and then at tho clock, and saying,
“This is a pretty trick to play on a gen
tleman,” ho jumped out of bed and got
into liis pants. As lie pulled on his
boots lie told Fred that was the last time
lie would catch him in that house. “I
havo been drugged,” said he, as ho
grabbed a cigar and his coat and vest
and started down stairs. He stopped in
the hall by tlie dim gas light to button
his suspenders, and pulling on his vest,
he took his coat on his arm, yelled an
adieu to Mrs. Cornes and opened the
door and jumped to the middle of the
sidewalk. Let Rumsey tell tlio rest of
tho story. Says he: “I pledge you
my word it was light as day. The sun
was shining brighter than I ever saw it,
and more than a million children were
coming out of the school-house. When
they saw mo come out of the house on a
hop, skip and jump, they thought I had
been fired out, ane they gave me a big
laugh. I looked around sort of innocent,
just as though I always came out of
houses that way, and then put on my
coat and looked at my watch, and it was
just four o’clock. My first impulse was
to go back into the house and murder
Cornes, but he stood at the window with
his wife, looking so sorry, that I just lit
my cigar and walked off. But lam lay
ing for him, now, and don’t you forget
it. No man can play me for a snoozer.
You just wait. Some day you will hear
more about this. Thero don’t any of
them get away with Rumsey. Why, I
killed u man at Rush Lake Junction,
once, for less than that.”— Pock'a Sun.
A Horrible Trngedy and its Sequel.
I cannot close this letter without
•lironicling a tragic event which took
place recently. It was on the northern
frontiers of this empire, over againsi
Saxony ; the scene, an inn; time, even
ing. Many old customers of the place
were assembled in the snug room, with
its time-polislied tables, its tail-tiled
stove, its amazing pictures of saints and
angels. Beer enough to float an iron
clad, wine enough to intoxicate a conti
nent, had been served out in that place
since its first dedication to Bacchus two
centuries ago. To-night tlio worship oi
of the wine-crowned deity was proceeding
ns merrily as usual, and the air was
thick with tobacco smoke, when a man
with a sleeping child in liis armr
slouched in and sat down iu a corner.
Ho drank a glass or two of beer, while
the child, a golden-liaired little fellow of
about five, rested his head ou tho table
and went on with his nap. The jolly
topers soon forgot all about the stranger,
who after a while desired to be shown to
his room, as he wished to put liis son to
bed. But soon an angry dispute was
heard without, at the foot of the stairs,
the father using shocking language, the
child whining piteously: “Father,
father, you know I have been unable to
go up stairs by myself ever since I broke
my leg.”
“Nonsense,” exclaimed the man
menacingly, “you can get up very well
if you clioose, aud, besides, you have
only yourself to thank for your broken
leg—up you go or I will heat you black
aud blue,” and lie administered a cruel
blow to the cripple. Several of the
guests had come out into tho passage,
and now remonstrated vehemently with
tlio brutal father.
“Is that your child, you monster?”
| asked one.
“What’s that to you?” was the an
swer.
“Yes, oh, yes, he is my father,”
moaned the boy, as he sat helpless on
the stairs, and' rocked himself in an
agony of tears. The man became still
more enraged, and would, doubtless,
have belabored his sou, had not one of
the persons present laid hold of him, ex
claiming, “Cease your brutality, or we’ll
fetch the police.” But this only had the
effect of throwing the father into a real
paroxysm of rage. He drew a knife,
and struggled frantically.
“ Take care, take care,” screamed the
boy, “he will rip us all up, same as he
did mv poor mother.”
“ Little fiend,” yelled the father, and
freeing himself with a great effort, he
burned the knife in the child’s body.
The poor little soul sank down with" a
groan. A shout of indignation came
from the others, who rushed at him on
masse; but the man, taking his hat off
politely, said with a winning smile:
“Gentlemen, we have to do with a
wooden child. lam a ventriloquist and
no mean one either, as yon will admit.”
A pause of speechless astonishment, dur
ing which could have been heard the
dropping of the traditional pin, and then
the rafters shook with prolonged (Hom
eric) laughter. The clever deceiver was
dragged into the parlor, where, besides
exhibiting many a funny trick of voice,
he took much more wine then was good
for him, and finally rolled to bed with
his pockets full of money, and his mur
dered child smiling blandly under his
arm. —From a Vienna Letter .
Thk great men of the earth are but
the marking stones on the road of hu
manity ; they are the priests of its
religion.
■ -
The Stereotyped Smile.
It is impossible, of course, for a mere
human being to fathom the secret springs
of human action in another. A person s
features may express something and it
is very often the ease that they do, when
he gets a full hand or four of a kind ;
but upon general principles it is safe
enough to say a man’s face expresses a
little of what is running through his
head, and his language still less. In
stances have been known where men
speculated, on the board of trade and
lost every dollar they had in the World
and more too, so if they had settled up
they would have been sixteen thousand
dollars in debt, but they never let on.
They continued to do business, buy and
sell,"draw checks, and their bright smile
haunted them still, and before the final
day of reckoning came around they had
recovered lost ground and were ten thou
sand dollars ahead of the game. These
instances, of course, we do not hear
much about. It is only those who fail
to catch on before the settlement comes
around that are spoken of in the news
papers as being “temporarily embar
rassed to the extent of $20,000 or §30,-
000,” and for whom there is much sym
pathy. Actors and actresses have con
siderable control over their features, scJ
that they can be called from clawing
each other’s hair behind the scenes to
go upon tho stage and melt tlie audience
to tears by their gentle tones and silver
plated sorrow. But it all ends at the
drop of the curtain, and they go to their
hotel and sleep like a hired man after a
day’s work in a bay field. Tlie business
man, however, who is skating over a
mighty thin place in the ice, takes his
little comedy right home with him, and
thoughhis countenance may be as smooth
ns though he had been ironed by the
Sheriff—(and feels ho is liable to be at
any moment) —liis dreams will be filled
with cat concerts, and crows will come
and step their feet in the corners of his
eyes. But we started out to tell what a
Boston bankrupt told his creditors the
other day, when they had assembled to
see how much be could pay on the dol
lar. He said he had been bankrupt for
years, that all ho could do he could not
turn the tide ; he kept sinking deeper
and deeper, but he had never seen a
chance to let go. The business hung to
him like a dog to a bone, and he could
not kick it off. People were willing to
lend him any amount of money, on in
terest that he could never pay ; he had a
family to support, and could not see any
other chance to make a living. He was
lashed to the wheel, and the only way
was to keep the old thing dead ahead
until she filled and sunk. The man did
not say this in a gloomy manner, but
with that winsome smile that ho had
practiced for twenty years, until it had
become stereotyped.— Peck’s Sun.
Drnnkenness In Germany.
For many centuries past the children
of Teutons have endured with placid
equanimity the scoffs and jeers of their
neighbors, whether of Latin or Slavonic
extraction, aimer! at their beer drinking
proclivities ; for they were hitherto com
fortably convinced that the asSisuous
consumption of malt liqilors was by no
means incompatible with a high standard
of national sobriety. On the other
hand, among Continental critics of
British manners and customs none have
so persistently denounced the practices
of tippling and dram drinking, as vices
peculiar to tlie natives of these isles,
than have German writers, grave as well
ns gay. The gin absorbing capacities
of English operatives have aroused the
righteous wrath of many a Teutonic
journalist, in whose comments upon his
own countrymen's amazing feats in tho
way of swallowing seven or eight gallons
of ale at a sitting, his readers might in
vain search for auy expression of con
demnation. It would appear, however,
that whether or not the Germans of
times past were justified by facts in lay
ing claim to a conspicuously sober
people, tiie Germans of to-day are un
questionably open to the same reproach
that they have been accustomed to lavish
in such prolusion upon the Englishmen.
We learn from Berlin that so enormous
has beon tho increase of “excessive
drunkenness ” within the last few years
that the Imperial Chancellor has just
submitted to the Federal Council a bill
devised by him for the repression of a
habit which “has become a national
scandal.” Hard times and cheap spiriis
are terrible promoters of inebriety, and
it is more than probable that the severe
trials though which German agriculture,
commerce and industry have recently
passed, and the low prices at which corn
and potato brandy are purchasable
throughout the Fatherland, may have
brought, about the deplorable prevalence
of drunkenness with which Prince Bis
marck proposes to grapple by exceptional
legislation.—New; York Herald.
3,500,000 Seals Robbed of Their Fur
to Make Sucqueg.
The Providence Journal lias looked
into the statistics of the seal trade and
presents tlie following interesting points
relating to it: A seal skin sacque costs
fifty per cent, more than it did five years
ago. Seal skins have not been worn
more than fifteen or eighteen years.
Fashion and the discovery of new
methods of preparing and dyeing, or first
the latter and second the former, brought
thorn into use. The seal fur, as seen
here, is the inner coat. When on the
back of the seat this fine fur is hid by
coarse hairs, which are removed by a
process of pining down the upder side of
the skin. The color of the fur as known
to wearers is artificial. If the govern
ment had not taken measures to protect
the seal new wearers of seal sacques
would be few in a short time. The Shet
land seals were once numerous, but have
' ieeu exterminated. The Newfoundland
seal is iu the market, but is inferior to
the seal of Alaska. The islands of the
Behring Sea are the only ones in the
world where seal catching has great com
mercial importance.
From 1751 to 1870 the scientific world
knew nothing in regard to the history of
the seal. The Smithsonian Institution
did not possess a perfect skin and skele
ton of the seal, although thousands of
men and millions of dollars have been
employed in capturing, dressing and sell
ing fur seal skins for the last hundred
years. The vast breeding grounds bor
dering on the Antarctic have been en
tirely depopulated. Between the years
1797 and 18212.232,374 seal skins were
taken in the Pribylov Islands; between
1821 and 1842, 458,502 skins, and from
1842 to 1861, 372,000 skins. In the year
1808 the number of skins taken was 242.-
000. In 1870 only 9,965 were captured.
During the last ten years the catch has
l>een a little less than 100,000 pier year.
The whole number taken between 1796
aud 1880 was 3,561,051 skins. The seal
catching is done in June and July. After
that time the fur begins to “shed” and
is worthless. The natives are paid forty
cents a skin for their labor.
It cannot be too frequently stated
that strangers are not allowed to carry
concealed weapons in this city. They
do not vote here, and they cannot expect
to enjoy all the privileges of citizenship
on a fifteen minutes' acquaintance,
lYctc Orleans Picayune.
ORIENTAL AMUSEMENTS.
Sou .c of the Fecnarme. ..
The entrances and exitst° and from
the staire of a Japanese theater are all
made through the audience by a long,
raised platform down one side corre
sponding with one of our side a lB1 ®**
and introductory remarks aremade
from it. Prompting is not so adrfflfly
done as with us. An attendant in black
squats behind the star, book m
and reads every word of his part to him
in full view of all but those of the au
dience directly in front, since lights are
not used, but each actor is accompanied
by an invisible (a man with hm face
covered with a black cloth) who holds a
candle at the end of a long pole, just
under his face. The attendant must
be well up in the action ot tho part, for
he is never in the way of his principal,
but nimbly manipulates his candle so as
to avoid intercepting him. Women do
not act, but men represent them, and it
is noticeable that men who are above the
average height aro always chosen, and
whose natural voices are anything but
effeminate. Stars are paid well, the best
at the best theater getting SI,OOO per
month. The dressing is quite as ex
travagant as ours, and he requires no
less than forty servants, so that his ex
penses, like those of all high-salaried
people, are large. The stage has a
thirtydoot turn-table in the middle cf it
by which scenes are changed quickly by
simply turning it around. The stage
machinery is quite simple. An upright
post, a foot in diameter, was the pivot
of the turn-table, and the periphery rest
ed on well-greased wood bearings, and
tlie power was that of a couple of coolies
applied to a stick attached to the rim.
The curtain is a light cotton cloth hung
on a wire. The lights are large candles
with thick paper wicks, which require
snuffing every few minutes,, and are
snuffed by an old fellow who handles
the snuffers with a professional flourish,
occasionally dropping a red end into a
box without stopping to apologize. The
foot and fly-lights he snuffs while the
play is in progress, going in and out
among the players, regardless of the
situation. The play lasts all day and
all night. A box for four costs $2 for a
whole day or a whole night. Parties go
and stay all day, lunohing and smoking
at pleasure. It is an extremely social
sight. The Chinese theaters do not give
any idea of it. The ventilation is good,
odors are not offensive, the gay dfesses
of the people in the boxes are pleasing
as well as their good faces and their
bright eyes. That they are a sympa
thetic people to proven by the fact that
during the melodrama, while a poor
blind orphan was reciting his tale of
sorrow, heads were bowed all over the
house, and women “ had real good cries”
such as might flatter Giara Morris, were
she on the stage. The streets in the vi
cinity of the great theaters are filled
with peep shows, and monkey shows,
and low-priced comic theaters and wax
figures, and side shows of all kinds,
which are interesting for a glance, but
not generally entertaining.
The Sorrows of Singers.
The lot of the famous singer is not
always a happy one. From the days of
Malibran, wbo was In America over half
a century ngo, to those Of poof Christine
Nilsson, trouble and sorrow have spared
none of the great singers who have been
popular idols. The most lucky of these
is Jenny Lind, who retired on a
fortune before her voiee failed, and who
leads a happy domestic life in London.
But Malibran when young married a
rascal and although her second marriage
was not unfortunate, she lived but a
very short time after it. Her contem
porary and rival, Mile. Sontag, married
an Italian Count, and entered iashionable
life, retiring from the stage when quite
young. But her Count was also a rascal,
"who squandered all her money in gambl
ing, and she had, when nearly fifty
years old, to resume her artistic career,
which was brilliant to the last. But her
husband was jealous as well as a spend
thrift, aud when she died in Mexico there
were suspicions that she and the hand
some tenor Pozzolini were both poisoned.
Mile. Grisi, who was the acknowledged
grandest dramatic singer of her time,
wedded a man whom she did not love
and who was not worthy of her, and she
made a scandal by leaving him for the
arms of the equally famous tenor, Mario.
Mile. Alboni, probably the grandest
contralto singer that ever appeared in
public, was married for the fortune in
her voice by an Italian Count, but the
marriage was not a happy one, and they
lived apart for some years. He did not,
however, squander her money, and when
ho died she lost no time in becoming the
wife of a French subalteran officer,
much younger than herself, who loves
her fortune devotedly, and makes him
self generally disagreeable to those that
rent houses or apartments of her’s in
Paris.
Nilsson’s husband, M. Rouzand, is
said to have inherited insanity from his
family, and he was literally madly in
love with her when he persuaded her to
become his wife. He was crazy, too,
about stock speculations, and, after
gambling all his own and his wife’s for
tune away on the Bourse, he died in a
mail-house. Another great singer, Mile.
Heilbronn, who was a pet of Paris some
years ago, married a French Count, and
lost through him, all that she had, in the
crash of the Union Generale. She is
now compelled, after having lost the
freshness of her voice, to return to the
stage. Everybody knows how Adelina
Patti threw herself away upon a poor
old French Marquis, from whom she
fled, after he had enriched himself out
of her earnings; and how she has thrown
herself away in another manner with
Signor Nicolini. Adelina is reported by
a Western interviewer, to have said, also,
that her sister Carlotta’s husband is a
bad fellow, who spends all liis wife earns
in gambling.
These are only a few examples; more
might be given to illustrate the facility
with which popular singers, who can
earn from 8500 to $5,000 a night, sacrifice
themselves on the altar of hymen, who
must be a very mercenary kind of
divinity. —Philadelphia Bulletin.
Dr. Dkclat, the founder of antiseptic
surgery, the first to propose what is called
the Lister way of treating wounds,
claims that the blood can be disinfected
by proper preparations of carbolic acid.
He uses carbolato of ammonia in cases
of pyaemia of pns blood poisoning, and
believes that he cured two butchers of
malignant pustule derived from affected
cattle. At all events two other butchers
similarly affected, and not similarly
treated, died. Borne such treatment as
this ought to have been employed to
combat blood poisoning in President
Garfield’s case.
A bickerixg pair of Quakers were
lately heard in high controversy, the
husband exclaiming: “I am deter
mined to have one quiet week with thee. ”
“ But how wilt thou be able to get it ? ”
said the taunting spouse, in that sort of
reiteration which married ladies so pro
vokingly indulge in. “I will keep thee
a week after thon art dead,” was the
Quaker’s rejoinder.
POPULAR SCIENCE.
I J t•ft ■
Oyster shells are utilized by being
burned to lime. °
Diluted oxygen sustains life ; ptlw
oxygen destroys it.
It is said that hysterical persons have
a marked taste far vinegar and green
fruit -
River mud is mixed with ohalk and
burned and ground to make Portland
cement.
Remedies are said to be known for
the poison of all snakes, except that o!
the cobra.
A herring yields over 30,000 egg,
myriads of which are devoured by raff
ous enemies.
No less than one-fifth the algse of the
Antarctic Seas have been identified with
British species.
A Boston chemist has found seventy,
five per cent, of terra alba in a sample
of cream of tartar.
Experiments tend to prove that hu
man respiration is less rapid in the trop.
ic3 than in cold regions.
A mvEB-DOLPHiIf of South America
bas the greatest number of teeth found
in the order of whales, 222.
More water is admitted to th? atmos
phere from the transpiration of a forest
than from an equal body of water.
Sauerkraut is cabbage in the first
stage of fermentation, which, if com
pleted, yields quass, a Russian tonic. '
Old boots and shoes are turned to ac
count by tho chemical manufacturer in
producing the cyanides and ferro-cys
nides so indispensable in photography.
The best known infectious agent of
the soil, the Bacillus malarias, cannot
live without air, and the more water its
habitation contains the less favorable
does it become to the life of the organ
ism.
"White wine is said to be more injuri
ous to the system than red, the latter
containing tannin, which being an as
tringent, cloises the-pore s of the stomach
and prevents the alcohol from at once
reaching the brain.
The suggestion is made that air for
ventilation be drawn into buildings
through tubes sunk about ten feet in the
ground. By this means it would in
winter be -warmed by 16° "F. and in sum
mer cooled to 23° F.
The chief constituent of the tea leaf
is proved, by analysis, to be the alkaloid
theine. When separated, so as to be
seen in its perfect purity,. theine appears
in snow-white, silky, filifrom crystals,
flexible and fragile, without odor, but
having a mildly bitter teste.
flew England Churches.
About the year 1700, the meeting
houses in New England were plain
wooden structures, in most cases without
steeples. The windows were glazed with
diamond-shaped glass, the walls un
plastered, and the interior without any
means of heating. Through the storms
of winter the congregation shivered in
the cold during public worship. About
a hundred and fifty years ago, in the in
terior of one of "these rough edifices
could he seen the families of New Eng
land. The men were dressed in the
fashion of the age. They wore broad
brimmed hats, turned up into three
corners, with loops at the side;, long
coats, with large pockets and cuffs, and
without collars; the buttons either plated
or pure silver, and of the size of half a
dollar ; shirts with bosom and wrist ruf
fles, and with gold and silver buckles at
the wrist united by a link ; the neck
cloths of fine linen, or figured stuff, em
broidered with the ends hanging looselv.
Small clothes were in fashion, and only
reached to the knee, where they were
ornamented with silver buckles of large
size; the legs were covered with long
gray stockings; the boots had broad
tops, with tassels; shoes were some
worn, ornamented with straps and silver
buckles, The women had black silk or
satin bonnets, gowns extremely short
waisted, with tight sleeves, or else very
short sleeves, with an immense frill at
the elbow. The ministers wore large
gowns and powdered wigs.
Beaten by Chicago.
A toledo commerical traveler who has
been openiug up anew in Indiana
encountered one dealer who didn’t think
he had better change his custom. He
had been, dealing with a Chicago house
for several years, and he had no fault to
find.
“ I can make you brooms for $ — per
dozen,” urged the Toledoan.
“ Yes, but Chicago beats that.”
“ How’s— cents a pound for starch?”
“ Oh, Chicago beats that.”
“I’ll sell you good tea by the chest for
cents.”
* ‘ That's purty fair, but Chicago beats
that.”
“Our house will give you four months’
credit.”
“ Chicago’s ahead of that."
The traveler couldn’t mention a thing
that Chicago didn’t beat, and at last,
despairing of receiving an order, he re
marked :
‘ ‘ I did think of stopping over Sunday
and going to church, but it seems —” f
‘' Oh, it’s no use in trying that on,”
interrupted the dealer. “ The agent of
a Chicago house has been running our
choir over a year past, and a Cincinnati
house has already agreed to send us on
a Sunday-school library! Maybe you
can do something in the next town, but
we’re chuck full here and wouldn’t touch
a Toledo house unless it promised us a
twenty-acre lot for anew graveyard 1”
Which is the Weaker Sex?
Females are called the weaker, but
why ? If they are not strong, who is ?
When men must wrap themselves up iu
thick garments, and encase the whole ia
a stout overcoat to shut out the cold,
women in thin silk dresses, with neck
and shoulders bare, or nearly so, say
they are perfectly comfortable ! When
men wear waterproof boots over woolen
hose and encase the whole in India-rub
ber to keep • them from freezing, women
wear thin siik hose and cloth shoes, and
pretend not to feel oold. When men
cover their heads with furs, and then
complain of the severity of the weather,
women hang an apology for a bonnet at
the back of their heads,"and ride or walk
abroad u the northeast winds, profess
ing not to suffer at all.
What Is Home Without a Mother?
Miss Hortense is working a Beautiful
Piece of Embroidery. It is a Motto in
Gre’en and Gold. It asks, What is Home
Without a Mother. When Miss Hor
tense gets it Done she will give it to her
Beau, who tends a Dry Goods Counter.
You cannot see Miss Hortense’s Mother.
She is in the Back Yard doing the
Weekly Washing. By and by she will
be Bringing in the Coal for the Parlor
Stove, because Miss Hortense’s Beau is
coming To-night, —Denver Tribune's
Primer.
A Minnesota mob did not lynch the
man whom they had intended so to
punish. He argued with them a while,
and then gave them $5 to buy beer.
They were convinced that he was not so
bad as they had supposed him to be.—
Chicago Inter-Ocean.