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THE CELLINI VASE.
Airs. Branscombe had a passion for
bric-a-brac. Not the ordinary mod¬
ern kind, such as any cultivated wom¬
an might have possesed herself of by
the simple process of paying for it,
but interesting things that were valu¬
able for their rarity and their history
and the celebrity of their inventors or
discoverers.
She had a fan that was said to have
once belonged to the last Tycoon, who
had been imprisoned and who was
said to have shaded his face with this
identical fan as he listened to the de¬
cree which subjected him to durance
vile and abolished the tycoon ate for¬
ever. Airs. Branscombe held to this
theory with unshaken tenacity, but
her nephew Will had been the victim
of doubts ever since be hud chanced
upon a factory in Philadelphia which
turned out an inexhaustible supply of
genuine Japanese fans so like that
royal relic that when he replaced it
for a week with one of the late manu¬
facture his aunt did.not seem to know
the difference.
He had not called her attention to
the experiment, because he had never
forgotten one ho had tried with the
famous roc’s egg, and he did not be¬
lieve that she ever bad, either. The
toe’s egg had been the joy of her
heart and the pride of her soul, and
she had treasured it with anxious care
for more than five years until one day
Will, in au unseemly fit of glee, had
accidentally knocked it out of the
nest in which it had been calmly re¬
posing for so long and it was shat¬
tered into fragments. Thereupon it
was revealed that the famous egg had
been cunningly contrived with a prep¬
aration of lime carefully glazed over
the surface, and no mysterious roc
had ever had anything to do with its
production.
Will never got over the impression
that it was scarcely fair that he should
be blamed for the latter fact. He
might have thought it only just that
his aunt should have been vexed with
him for his carelessness in knocking
down her treasure, but she hail never
seemed half so indignant toward him
for that as because of the little cir¬
cumstance that tho egg turned out not
to be genuine. How did she suppose
he could help that?
Will believed it was the roc’s egg
that bad ruined him. She had not
seemed to cherish any violent animos¬
ity toward him previous to that.
Since that tragic event her treatment
of him had been really heart-breaking.
Not that he should have cared so much
had it been merely for his own sake
and hers, though he had always tried
to be a dutiful and affectionate neph¬
ew. There was Alabel. She was Airs.
Branscombe’s niece and lived with
her. It will be seen without difficulty
when taken in connection with the
fact that Will was in love with Mabel,
that the situation was embarrassingly
complicated. It really became neces¬
sary to Will’s happiness that his rela¬
tions with Mrs. Brauscornbe should be
placed on a friendly footing.
There was but one way by which
Will could reinstate himself in the
good graces of Airs. Branscombe, and
even that seemed impossible from a
casual view. She had become pos¬
sessed of a wild longing for a Cellini
vase. Perhaps there was no reason
why a Cellini medal or a Cellini seal
might not have answered the purpose
quite as well but for some reason Airs.
Branscombe’s ambition had taken the
form of a Cellini vase. There was a
tradition of total depravity lingering
about the memory of Cellini which,
by a subtle law of the affinity of oppo-
Bites, rendered all things connected
j with him objects of irresistible attrac-
tiou to a woman of the rigid propriety
| of Mrs. Branscombe. Therefore it
became necessary that she should
come igflo possession of a Cellini vase
j with as little delay as might be.
“You shall have it,” Will had said
in a burst of affection.
That was just before ho went to
Florence. Mrs. Branscombo felt in
an unusually friendly humor with him;
first for his devotion to her interests;
second, for his absence.
He wrote often to Mrs. Branscombe;
not once to Mabel. Neither did he
send her any message. Mrs. Brans¬
combe had always had faith in the
remedial effect of absence in senti¬
mental cases. It seemed to increase
the affection of aunt and nephew.
She was growing almost fond of him
now that he was out of the way.
“Will’s a good fellow, when he’s in
another country, isn’t he?” she said
to Mabel.
“Oh, yes,” assented the girl cheer¬
fully.
“He is improving his mind. It is
a good thing. I have always thought
it needed improvement. I think it
would bear more improvement than
any other mind I know. It will never
be as good as Mr. Aston’s, bat it could
be much better than it is.”
Air. Aston was Mabel's new lover,
and he had a great deal of money in
bonds and oue of the finest houses in
town ; two circumstances which have
a tendency to brighten a mail’s intel¬
lect wonderfully in public estimation.
“I think it will take a long time to
improve Will’s mind to any percepti¬
ble degree,” said Airs. Branscombe
carefully. “He will probably be
abroad five years, at least.”
“AVhat about the vase all that
time?” asked Mabel.
“It will take a long time to find it,”
said Airs. Branscombe with all the
moral superiority of oue who is con¬
scious of aspiring to difficult heights.
“If he should find it sooner he could
send it to me.”
“I have found if,” Will wrote soon
after this. “That is,I have found the
place where it ought to be. That it
is not there is only an indication of
the general derangement of the uni¬
verse. It was sold some time ago to
a member of the ex-royal family of
France. It happens, luckily for me,
however the poor royalist may feel
about it,that be has fallen dead broko
and all his collections are to be put
up for sale. So here’s for I’uris, and
wish me good luck”
The next time she heard from Will
lie had .gone to Home, having been
informed that the precious object bad
been bought for a Cardinal aud taken
to the Imperial City, The Cardinal
had since died, and there was a hope,
that the coveted treasure might be
within grasp. Then he wrote from
Aladrid, where he had gone in conse¬
quence of a rumor that the precious
vase had been sent to the Spanish
Capital and placed in a museum.
After that sue did not hear from
him for a long time, She began to
grow uneasy, first for the Cellini vase
and theu for her nephew, She had
not known before how fond she was of
him.
It was a year from the time of his
departure that Will returned, walk¬
ing in one evening as quietly ns if be
had been down town for an hour ,pr
so, ami had just come back.
Airs. Branscombe sprang to meet
him in transports of delight, After
she had welcomed him and asked him
how he was and where he had been
and why he had not written to her,
she said:
“I forgive you for not bringing the
vase. After all, Will, I think I’d
rather have you. You know I was al¬
ways fond of you.”
Will ulmost whistled in an excess
of incredulity, hut checked himself in
time.
“That reminds me,though,” he said,
taking a box out from some mysteri¬
ous hiding place, “that I did bring
the vase.”
He opened the box and book from
it a vase beautifully wrought of silver
ornamented on one side with a golden
Veuus rising from a silver sea, and on
the other with a swarm of small Tri¬
tons disporting themselves gaily on
the crests of silvery waves.
After a period of breathless contem-
plation Mrs. Branscombe cried:
“What can I do to pay yon for such
a beauty?”
“You know thero is only oue thing
I waut.’’
Mrs. Brausc mibe looked over at
Mabel, standing with eyes downcast,
not looking once at the classic piece
of workmanship.
“Child, how can you be so insensi¬
ble? Do look at the charmiag thing.
If it’s Mabel you mean you can ask
her.”
“I have asked her.”
“Yon undutiful—— !’’
Then her eye fell again upon the ex¬
quisite carving of the master gold¬
smith, and she relented.
“What did she say?”
“She said she would not do any¬
thing without your consent, when you
have been so good to her.”
“Good child,” said Mrs. Brans¬
combe with oue eye fixed apprecia¬
tively on the girl and the other on the
vase. “I can’t refuse you anything
now, Will.”
Will and Mabel withdrew to the
next room to discuss tho subject,
while Mrs. Branscombe remained in
delightful contemplation of the won¬
derful handiwork of Cellini.
“Do you suppose it is genuine?”
Mabel asked tbo day after she and
Will bad returned from their bridal
tour. They were looking at Mrs.
Branscombe’s treasures, chief among
which was the marvelous vase.
“I know it is,” replied Will.
( t How do you know?”
He bent over her and whispered:
“Because I made it myself.”—The
Peterson Magazine.
A New Kind of Beast.
A new beast of burden has been
produced by Professor Cossar Stew¬
art, of Edinburgh. It is a result of a
cross between a Burcbill zebra and an
ordinary mare. Its proper designa¬
tion is the zebra mule. It is a very
pretty little creature, with almost the
same outlines as a colt, and with tbo
charmingly variegated coat of a ze¬
bra.
Tho species of zebra named after
Burcbill is the oue which most nearly
resembles the horse in shape. The
other zebras are nearer to the donkey.
The Burcbill zebra is, in fact, more
like a horse than any other animal.
The zebra, though smaller than an
ordinary horse, is stronger in propor¬
tion to his size. He is extremely
tough, and owing to his thick coat, is
able to sustain fulls and blows that
would cripple a horse.
It was loug supposed that the zebra
was absolutely untamable, but recent
exjKirience has shown that this is a
mistake. He remains, however,harder
to domesticate than any other animal
apparently intended by nature for a
beast of burden. Ho is full of spirit
and go, which are admirable qualities,
when trailed in the proper direction*
hut are apt to lead the zebra to jump
over walls and turn somersaults.
In South Africa six zebras have been
harnesssed to a mail coach and have
given satisfactory results. They were
used in a place where there wero no
roads. They had to drive over piles
of stones and fallen trees, and swim
through a liver. AU this they did
excellently, a few tumbles giving them
no concern.
Modern Gift Enterprises.
That curious weakness for getting
things cheap, or for nothing, whether
they are desirable or not, which char¬
acterizes human nature—perhaps its
female element especially (the Into
Airs. Toodlos to wit),—lias been the
drawing magnet to the food fair. I hear
of the most extraordinary consump¬
tion of samples,of masses of incongru¬
ous edibles carried away in paper
bags, long waits and crushes for trivial
there, by folks who can
afford to buy what they want. They
have developed this absurdly abnor¬
mal acquisitiveness under the same
unlovely stimulus which drives crowds-
the gambling-table or the bargain
counter.—Time and the Hour.
A Common Failing,
She—-Have you many poor rela¬
tions?
He—None that I know.
She—Alany rich ones?
He—None that know me.—Truth.
FROGS FOR MARKET.
An Occupation Which Maryland¬
ers Have Found Profitable.
The Novelty and Sport of Catch¬
ing tho Wily Game.
Within recent years a large trade
has grown up m K.< ut County in pro¬
viding frogs for market. Tho catch¬
ing of frogs for their logs has become
a business, and the financial returns
are rather handsome to the few en¬
gaged in the industry. Along the
small streams tributary to tbo large
rivers the big green or mottled black
frogs may be found by thousands un¬
der the tufts of flag or coarse grass.
One frog shipper has sent to the Bal¬
timore market hundreds of frogs each
season, and has so increased tho de¬
mand by the superior size and flavor
of the Kent product that ho finds it
impossible to meet the requirements
of the trade.
Frog legs are consumed principally
by the patrons of the principal res¬
taurants. Frogs, when cooked, are a
delicate white meat and much more
tender than fried chicken, very nour¬
ishing and easily digested and are
recommended, when stewed, ns one of
tho best diets for invalids with deli¬
cate stomachs. Only tho hind legs
ami quarters aro eaten, and they are
sent to the market skinned and salted
for cooking.
The market frog-catcher’s method
of capturing the game is to secure a
small flnt-botiomed bout, easy of man¬
agement, and in the later afternoon,
when everything is still ho noiselessly
pushes his little craft along the shores
of the small creeks and coves, The
bull-frogs, as they are commonly
known,because of their deep, resonant
voices, are found sitting in a shallow
pool or in the mud under tufts of
heavy grass or llag.
Tho novelty and sport of catching
this wily game are worth a row of ten
miles on a hot afternoon. Two and
sometime three ordinary sized perch
hooks are bouud together and baited
with red flannel. The hooks are at¬
tached to a like of about four feet,and
the lino is attached to a long, tough
angle rod. Approaching the game
noiselessly and with extreme caution,
the red flannel is gently moved within
a low inches of the frog’s mouth. As
quick as lightning and with a sharp
croak the frog dashes forward and
swallows bait, hook and all. Then
follow as gamey struggles as any
sportsman ever saw witti hook and
line.
The amateur frog hunter usually
provides himself with a cat-niul-rat
rifle, tho shells loaded with mustard
seed shot, and shoots liis game, but
this is uusportsmun like and is only
popular with tho uninitiated, Mill
ponds, too, are favorite haunts for the
frog, and ou u clear a night, the deep
roar of tho bullfrog chorus may be
heard for more than a mile.
Tho old-time “afore-de-war” Kent
county cook has solved the mysteries
of the perfect preparation of the frog,
and for those who don’t know how de¬
licious frog’s logs may be made many
a dainty dish is in store. After skin¬
ning the legs should be placed in cold
water for several hours, then placed
on u plate and salted. In several hours
more they are ready for cooking. The
legs of medium-sized frogs are pref¬
erable, as the very large legs are lia¬
ble to be course in texture of flesh.
The most popular way in Kent to cook
them is by frying, blit there iire other
ways of making dishes of them to
the palate of the most exacting
epicure. —Baltimore Bun.
New Aquarium at Castle Garden.
Castle Garden, that historic arid
old structure standing on
York’s water front at the Battery,
has beco/ne a public aquarium, after
checkered career of almost a cen¬
tury, during which it has lived through
strange vicissitudes. Authori¬
huj-e stated that it will contain the
Complete displuy of marine life
be seen in any part of the world
it is fully stocked, but that
a long way off yet. Even now,
it presents many interesting
instructive exhibits, and should
ranked with the other great muse¬
of the metropolis. Within those
walls have already been
many varieties of specimens,
ranging all the way from whales to
coral insects, from timid brook trout
to almost human sea-lions, from ugly
devil-fish to the exquisitely colored
sea- anemones.
Castle Garden was built in 1805, by
the Federal government, for a fort,
and, as Castle Clinton, helped to guard
the entrance to the Jvc-t lt;ver, with
Castle William just across on Govern¬
ors’ Island. Castle Clinton was then
several hundred yards out from tho
land, and surrounded by water, as
Fort Lafayette in the Narrows now
stands, ft was abandoned as a fort-
ress in 1822, however, and ceded t.o
tho State authorities. During the
thirty years that followed, leased to
private individuals, it was used as a
summer garden, from which it re¬
ceived its present name, and within
its walls have taken place many ovents
famous in the history of Manhattan.
Tho rafter and pillars that support
its great roof have echoed many
strange sounds, Those echoes an-
swored to the applause that greeted
General Lafayette when he revisited
this country in 1824; they repeated
the words of Presidents Jackson and
Tyler when they responded to their
enthusiastic receptions in 18.'V2 and in
18411 respectively; they repeated tho
dramatic tonps of all the famous ac¬
tors of the decade; and, a few years
later, ns the recognized homo to
music in America, they were awakened
again by the foremost singers and
musicians of that time.
Perhaps the biggest event in Castle
Garden’s history occurred in 1850,
when Jeuuy Lind made her American
deluit, miller the management of P.
T. B.arnmn. Tho choice of soats for
the first of tho four Lind concerts
given there was sold for $225.—Harp¬
er’s Weekly.
The Art of Being Bailout.
A wise man, in an address to young
men, advised them to learn tho hard-
cot lesson in tho world, the art of
being patient, He said:
“Do your duty,and leave success to
take cure of itself, and then you will
see th« wisdom of tho old proverb:
‘Everything comes to tho man that
cun wait.’ You know,for instance,how
hard it is to learn a difficult subject.
All tho ideas aro unfamiliar, all tho
words are unfamiliar. We go on
and seem to make no f
way. Now tins disheartens nino /
students out of ten—tho nine outp
of ten that will always be obscure/
people—but tho tenth man goes on.
He works harder and harder, lie lets
his m nil play around the subject, he
lets ilie ideas of that subject souk into
his brain, he is determined that noth¬
ing can possibly resist persistent ef¬
fort, and one line day a great ilood of
light conies in—lie suddenly sees all
about it; bis work is easy, his work
is delightful. Everybody says of him ;
‘What an amazing amount of ability
that young man lias!’ No, it was not
ability—it was patient perseverance.
The man had learned to labor and to
wait.”
Contagions Vanning.
Two young men boarded an Old-
town trolley car one afternoon this
week to settle u very peculiar wager,
the one having bet the other a 85 sil¬
ver certificate that he would make six
people out of ten yawn anywhere
without saying a word. A well-filled
car was selected for the purpose, Tho
young man who hud proposed the
wager had not taken his seat many
minutes when he opened his mouth
and gave a feurfnl yawn, followed
speedily by ano!ii' i, and then awaited
results. A moment later a middle-aged
Indy promptly put her hand up to her
mouth tosmolbcr a carvcnoiis yawn.
Almost everybody in the cur after
that seemed in a desperate hurry to
follow the lady’s lead. Out of tho
nineteen people in the car there were
fourteen who Were seized by the af¬
fliction.—Bangor (Ale.) News.
Firemen’s lioll of Honor.
The London tire brigade has a “roll .
honor” commemorating the m tu¬
bers who have sacrificed their lives in
to save others. The county
has recently ordered tho
“roll” to be placed in the main hall
ihe Southwark road station. The
memorial consists of smull brass
fastened to oak panels, en¬
with the names of the eighteen
and the dates on which they
their death’