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SUPPOSING.
Jits’ s’pos’n that you didn’t have to work
An’ to earn month your bread, with the
every was -ummor,
Idue nky overhead.
•Trs s pc* u that a fortune growed in
drouth every one « back yard
An’ was nev< r prevalent an’ time’s
was never hard.
I tell you, when you’re weary, with the
troubles of the day
An’ the shadows gather ’round you an’
the sunshine fades away,
There’s nothin’ soothes your spirt an’ re¬
vives you half so well
As jes’ to sit iu solitude an’ s’pos’n for a
spell.
Your dreams ain’t likely to come true, us
very well you know,
Rut nil the world, they say, is nothin’ but
a fleetin’ hViow.
An’ ’mid the disapoointmente an’ illus¬
I’m thankful ions tlist for beguile,
the privilege of s’pos’nin
awhile.
—Washington Star.
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OOOOGGOOOOOGOOOOOOOGCOOOOO
T IIE nurse patient—a visit doctor for was the had left typhoid night alone made fever with and his last her the pa¬
tient, muscular and raving, It was a
private "contagious” ward; a room
that was always like a ship's deck,
stripped for action, with its metal bed
of white enamel, its metal table and
its gray green wall, decorated only
with “colored supplement” prints be¬
cause these could be changed frequent¬
ly and burned easily. It was a room
of a dim light, and a tempered shadow,
one of those bare hospital rooms when 1
you feel that tin* flume of life, though
it burns low, burns without a flicker,
being protected and watched in its
feebleness with no sentiment of love,
but with the skilled care and the cool
eye of unimpassioned science.
The nurse sat at the bedside, her
hands folded in her lap, like a nun at
nieditat ion. Then* was something
nun like in her face, in her placidity
beside sucli suffering, in the almost
melancholy sweetness of the face of a
woman who had looked many times on
death alone at midnight and who laid
Jived for a long year now in the con¬
stant companionship of pain.
But, indeed, tin* expression belied
her. She was watching her patient
for the signs of a hemorrhage, listen¬
ing Intently to his breathing, with the
subconscious alertness of the engineer
who xvIII sit musing with an eye
on the steam gauge and an ear
strained for the slightest change of
note in ihe regular swing and cadence
of tin* machinery f Tlie poor fellow In
tin* bed tossed and muttered fretfully.
Nile stood looking down at him.
smiling with n motherly pity, Ills
eyes were closed.
lie had been as self-willed In his ill¬
ness as a spoiled child. He had been
almost convalescent when, against all
warning — while the day nurse was
chatting with the doctor outside the
door- lie had staggered from his bed
to n basket of l’ruit on the table and
eaten two peaches before he was seen.
The result was a relapse into a far
more critical condition than lie bail
boon at first. Here he lay now. strug¬
gling against death itself.
Although she was not aware of it he
had changed for her; from being a
“ease ’ ho had become human living
a
with a claim of Interest on her. and
slu* frowned at ills muttering of pain.
Four fellow! Life must have been so
full for him of interests, activities,
promises, achievements, To have it
all end this way, fmilely! lie had
given the college cry once in a delir¬
ium and struggled, panting, through a
football game. And once he had been
standing on the platform of debate.
Another time he had been writing on
an examination in law. And still au
other time sin* thought that she heard
him speak Jim's name in the jumble
of delirious mutter logs.
Jim was to have been a lawyer.
Foor Jim! Her eyes tilled at that old,
tear-stained memory of Jim and her
father drowned together iu that horri¬
ble accident on the Delaware. Well,
she at least had not been a burden on
ber mother's small Income, and soo li¬
as soon as sin* was graduated from the
hospital—she would mit only bo self
mipporting, but an aid to the others.
There were two long years of hard
work before her yet. she bit her lip.
'1 he untiring run and babble of his
delirium had been growing louder,
Mu* went to him again to calm him
with the sound of her voice, and he
looked up at her with a smile that
seined almost: rational. It was only mo
ruruary; he called her "Auntie,” and
began a childish prattle.
“Night-night,” he said. "Kiss
night-night."
SI;, touched his forehead with her
1 r " ‘- \ tjl’-* s!u ' hud bent
down to
hli i. i'he line screen at the foot of
the bed hid her from any one who
might pass in the hall. She touched
luv bps to Ids forehead. "Night
she whispered.
lie locked at her with a childish
sre.de pouting his lips. It
slowly into a pursed mouth of perplex
Ity.
"Hello, old nan." ho said. “Where
He closed his eyes on a frown. ...
Sho was still blushing hotly when
ills regular breathing showed her that
he had fallen into a quiet slumber.
He was sifting in ills arm-chair taking
a KUfl ]jntli at a window tiiat looked
out on the dazzling white of melting
snow. His visitors had just left him,
at ids doctor’s orders. Ho was wait¬
ing for the return of “Nurse Blakely,”
with an impatience which he might
have recognized ns longing if his phys¬
ical weakness had not disguised af¬
fection in him as an Irritable lack of
what he wished to have. She came in
light footed.
He crowed a feeble
“Ah-ha! Did you hear what the doc¬
tor said?”
"What did lie say?”
She arranged the pillows to ease the
strain on a weak back. He was grate¬
ful for that and his gratitude shone in
his smile.
“I’m to be humored, the doctor said;
I’m to have my own way in every¬
thing.”
"Are you?” she said, avoiding his
eyes. "You certainly had your own
way about the fruit.”
lie laughed now at the folly that had
kept him a happy prisoner in the hos¬
pital for the past nine weeks. “That
fruit!” he said; “that was the most de¬
licious—the most- Do you know,
Nurse Blakely, 1 thought those peaches
would kill me, but I was dying for
something to eat — and I just took
them.” She did not reply. “A man’s
a fool when he has a fever, isn’t he?”
he added with apologetic seriousness.
“Only then?” she retorted with ob¬
stinate flippancy.
She was busying herself about the
room. lie was watching her every
movement with an eye of invalid ten¬
derness.
"Oh, I say,” he protested, “you don’t
make any allowance for a fellow being
ill!”
Siie affected a professional cheerful¬
ness in the matter.
“Oh, you’re well on your way to
health,” she said. “We’ll soon have
you back to your friends
"Nurse,” he said, “you’re the best
friend 1 ever had—or want to have.”
Her cloistered loneliness rose on her
in a surge of bitterness.
“Wait till you’ve been away from
here about « month. One feels very
dependent and—and affectionate when
one is ill. It soon wears off.”
“That’s the way you always talk,”
he said moodily. Then, brightening,
“I’ll report you to the doctor. You’re
not humoring me.”
She did not answer. She smiled,
having warded off the danger which
his milder manner had warned her of.
Site seated herself in u chair and took
up a book which she had put down on
the table when his visitors had en¬
tered.
“What’s that?” he demanded peev¬
ishly. “What are you reading?”
“Don’ts,” she answered laconically.
"Don’ts?”
“ ‘One Hundred Don’ts for Nurses,’ ”
she read from the cover. “Things we
are not to do.”
"Well, don't worry. Your sins have
been all of omission. It's the things
you have not done If
She smiled serenely at the page.
“You might read it out, at least,” lie
said.
“Lot me see.” She turned the pages.
“I think that is probably included in
the prohibitions: Don’t let others know
the secrets of the profession.”
lie clutched the arms of the chair.
“You're teasing me. Let tne read
that book or I’ll get up."
She laughed and passed It. to him.
He began to read:
“Don’t sit in a rocking chair and rock
while resting.” “Don’t injure the fur¬
niture in any way and lie careful of
all fancy decorations.” He looked
about him. “The wreckage has been
appalling in this palatial apartment.”
He read again, "Well, great Eli!” he
cried, and looked up at her. “Why, it
was you!”
“Wlmt was?”
“Come here, please.”
She went to him. He pointed with
a thin finger to an accusing "Don’t
kiss your patient.”
She flushed under her dainty Swiss
cap. patients?” he
"Not even delirious
inquired. from the
She ttjrned her back on him
window,
"Not even those who have an lllu
minatlon of reason?” he persisted. She
could find nothing to say. “Do you
know,” he said, “I’ve been puzzling
over it ever since. It was just before
1 fell alseep and woke up to my senses
again. At first I thought It was my
aunt who brought me up, and then
suddenly I thought it was an old chum
of mine at college. You look very like
him. Why, your names are the same,
Was Jim Blakely a relative of yours?
He was drowned—”
She turned on him with a cry of—
“Jim —Jim was my —my dearest
brother.”
“Good Lord,” he gasped and tried to
rise. lie sank back wearily in his
ehair and sat there staring at her.
“What a chump I am.” he said at last,
“So you're little Marjorie.” ITe ro
membered .Tim's picture of her in his
den. "Ilow proud he was of you.”
The thought of her position there came
to him in a shameful contrast.
a brute I've been,” he said, “and whot
an angel you've been here. To let you
wait on me hand and foot like that,
What a brute. Jim’s sister.”
Her back was to him. She stood
looking out of the window. Her hand
was within his reach, and he took it.
"I)o you think.” he said, "being
Jim’s chum, you could-” He touched
his lips to tlie palm of her hand—“for
give me? Could you? It was his old
teasing tone with a new note of se
riousness in it. She tried to free her
fingers. “Take rare now,” he warned,
“the doctor said I was to be humored.”
She laughed and that weakened her
defenses. He caught her other hand.
A ou re a brick, Marjorie, he said.
Let me go, she said sobblngly. I
-I want to wipe my eyes, you silly.”
Iler tone was Itself a surrender. He
lay bark and smiled with content into
her wet eyes.-Waverley Magazine.
MORE SUM DIALS WANTED.
A Renewed Demand For Them—Some Sun
Dialit of High Price.
"We are now called upon for more
sun dials than ever,” said a maker of
optical instruments; “five times as
many, in fact, for the sun dial has
come into favor.
“Sun dials are made most commonly
of slate or of marble; sometimes of
granite. The gnomon, whose shadow
cast upon the dial, indicates the hour,
is of bronze.
“The dial Is set upon a pedestal of
stone, or of terra cotta, or sometimes
of masonry. And sometimes a support
that will serve this purpose well may
be come upon already carved; or some
quaint object Is brought into this use.
“One sun dial now in place has for
pedestal the newel post from the mar
hl * staircase of the Stewart house at
Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street
In this city. We are making now a
dial whose support will be an old cap
stan.
“We are now fashioning for an .an¬
cient sun dial brought from abroad to
replace the original, long since lost
from it, a gnomon that will be in keep¬
ing with the dial in character and de¬
sign and of like age with it, at least
in appearance.
“Sun dials, complete as to the dial,
but exclusive of the supporting pe¬
destal, cost, according to the material
a-d the labor devoted to them, from
about $20 to $120.”—Sun.
Onr Earth In Morliig Slower.
We all know that the earth revolves
on its axis once in twenty-four hours.
Millions of years ago the day was
twenty-two hours; millions of years
before that it was twenty-one hours.
As we look back Into time we find the
earth revolving faster and faster.
There was a time, ages ago, when the
earth was rotating in a day of five or
six hours in length. In the remotest
past the earth revolved in a day of
about five hours. It could revolve no
faster and remain a single, unbroken
mass.
When our day was about five hours
long the moon was in contact with
the earth’s surface. It had just broken
away from Its parent mass. As the
length of the terrestial day increased,
so did the distance of the moon.
Whenever the rotation time of a
planet is shorter than the period of
revolution of its satellite, the effect
of their mutual action is to accelerate
the motion of the satellite and to force
it to move in a larger orbit—to increase
its distance, therefore.
The day of the earth is now shorter
than the month—the period of revolu¬
tion—of the moon. The moon, is, there¬
fore, slowly receding from uso, and it
has been receding for thousands of
centuries. But the day of the earth is,
as we have seen, growing longer. The
huger of the tides is always pressing
upon the_ rim of our huge flywheel,
and slowly but surely lessening the
speed of its rotation. So long as the
terrestrial day is shorter than the
lunar mouth the moon will continue
to recede from us.—New York Herald.
Horse Chestnuts as Food.
Horse chestnuts contain about twen¬
ty-seven per cent, of albumen, this
remarkable proportion being greater
than Is found ’in any cultivated plants,
but their bitter taste, due to the pres¬
ence of about ten per cent, of bitter
rosin, has condemned them as unfit
for food. By extracting the bitter
principle, Flugge of Hanover claims
to have made useful another waste
materiaL After partial roasting to
loosen the shells, the kernels are re¬
moved and pulverized, and the powder
is placed in a tight percolator, with
alcohol, for about a week. To ex¬
tract the bitter completely it may be
necessary to replace the fluid with
fresh solvent. The alcohol dissolves
out the rosin, leaving a pleasant and
untritious meal, which contains all the
albumen and starch of the chestnuts,
and is a valuable food.—New Orleans
Tlmes-Democrat.
A Voyace Under the Sea*
The IYtlc Farisien learns from M.
Goubet, inventor of the submarine
boat which bears bis name, that
there is some question of constructing
a submarine vessel which, deriving
its motive power from a cable ex¬
tending across the Straits of Dover,
would be able to take 200 passengers
from France lo England in less than
half an hour. •
WHERE AMERICAN
SCHOOLS EXCEL.
Particulars in Wl»ich European
School* Are Deficient.
. HE American schoolboy Is two
< I > iuclle( . tallel . thau the aver
.
I age European schoolboy of a
like age . I aul [)0sltive in this
declaration after a tour of inspection
of the various schools of Europe, and
j place the usefulness of the instruc
tion imparted, from an educational
and a hygienic point of view, as fol
lows; First> the United states; second,
England; third, Germany, closely fol
lowed by France and Russia.
There is a great difference in the
school systems, hut in two ways is
this more noticeable, viz., inspection
of school work and its results. The
system of inspection abroad has been
developed to such an extent that it is
more of a science thau an ord'nary
routine, as in this country. The in¬
spector spends at least a day a month
in each room, making copious notes of
both teachers’ and pupils’ work, criti¬
cising in open class tile deficient stud¬
ies and commending those that are
satisfactory.
One report that I saw in Kenmare,
and prepared by the regular govern¬
ment officer, had the results carefully
tabulated. One copy was handed the
teacher, another was sent to the Board
of Education, and another was retained
by the inspector to aid him in his fu¬
ture visits, thus leaving something tan¬
gible for the teacher and pupils to
work on. The report set forth that
the deportment of the pupils was prop
erly maintained, but that the reading
of the class was away below par;
mathematics was fair, spelling excel¬
lent, penmanship could he improved
on, history was excellent, but geogra¬
phy of the Western Hemisphere was
very poor, and grammar was all that
could be expected. With such a report
the teacher laid some tangible basis
to work on before the next appearance
of the inspector, before which time it
was expected the deficiency in studies
would be made up.
The inspection of class work in our
Chicago schools forms quite a con¬
trast with this. Here the assistant
superintendent rarely spends over a
half hoiir, and no report is made to the
teacher that would aid in remedying
defects, but she is left in ignorance of
how her work compares with other
teachers’ efforts.
At the same time I am willing to
concede that it is possible to be more
definite abroad than at home, owing
to more specific aims in the minds of
both the educators and text-book writ
ers. Text-books are rarely changed
abroad, and a student is taught rather
to grasp and retain detailed informa¬
tion than look for it himself. Blinders,
as it were, are placed on his eyes, so
that he is unable to look sidewise.
Certainly these schools are more ad¬
vanced in theory- than ours, but we
surely excel them from a practical
side.
Any one of the foreign schools is
better equipped, more expensive to
maintain and better fitted to exert
an influence in the student body than
ours, but the medieval practice of re-
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AMERICA. ENGLAND. GERMANY. FRANCE.
sirictions places them beyond the pale
of oui work. Omitting the English
schools, any one of the others has
a distinct advantage over our schools
from the fact that reading and spell
ing are mastered in three years, be
cause words are spelled as spoken,
Many of our pupils are unable to read
English after ten years’ steady appli
cation. Arithmetic is much easier
abroad, because the tables are founded
on the decimal system, like our money,
and require very little memorizing.
It is conceded' that a boy coming out
of the preparatory school on the Con¬
tinent is about two years ahead of
onr boy of the same age who is gradu¬
ating from our high school. While tills
is true, our boy has done at least
three years more work In mastering
the reading, spelling and grammar of
our difficult language with its barbar¬
ous spelling and numerous irregulari¬
ties of grammar.
The opennessof mind so noticeable in
the American youth is totally
in the foreign student, and he is held
to the facts in his books uni 11 ho has
no breadth of range. He speiuls much
loss time in the open air and takes less
exhilarating exercise than our boys.
Add to this the scientific ventilation
of our school rooms, the dash of our
methods, lack of desire to cram book
knowledge, shorter hours of instruc¬
tion, more cheerful methods, periods of
relaxation more frequent, and it is
no wonder our boys grow two inches
taller than the foreign boys when
taken age for age.
We aim as nearly as possible to de¬
velop the mental and physical natures
of the student at tne same time. The
success of this plan, 1 think, is evident
from the number of young men at the
head of the many large industrial es¬
tablishments in America successfully
competing with the product of the
world in every line.—W. E .Watt, in
the Chicago Record-Herald.
So Shoveling Required.
The apparatus shown below almost
speaks for itself as a time and trouble
saver, for nearly every one knows by
experience the unpleasant work of
cleaning out the furnace several times
a week in winter. One great annoy¬
ance is the scattering of dust in the
air, to settle later all around the base¬
ment, some even being carried through
the flues into the living rooms above,
to be deposited on furniture and car¬
pets. George Adams and Walter How¬
land have conceived the idea of pro¬
viding a receptacle into which the
ashes may be shaken direct from the
furnace, inclosing the receptacle in an
air-tight chamber, except for the one
passage leading through the furnace
into the chimney. Of course the re¬
ceiving can may he of any desired
shape and sine, and it is possible with
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ASHES REMOVING AEPARATU8
its use to allow several days’ shakings
to accumulate without interfering
with the ordinary working of the fur¬
nace. As it would be impossible to
lift a full receiving can out of the well
beneath the furnace, the inventors
make provision for rolling it to the
opening on a car, and a lifting pulley
is suspended directly above the trap
door to raise the can'to the surface. If
several cans are provided the ashes
may easily be stored In the basement
until the ashman comes to collect, and
as the cans are emptied directly into
the wagon there is no occasion for the
use of a shovel or raising a dust in the
house.
The End of a Capital.
A report from Paris is to the effect
that General Gallieni, the Goveruor
General of Madagascar, is about to
make the port of Taraatave, on the
eastern coast of the island, the capital,
instead of Antananariwo. the present
capital of Madagascar. The reason for
this transformation Is said to lie in
the fact that the country around An
tananariwo is not fit for anv agricul
tural purposes, while the coast dis
triets are reported to be fertile and
rich In mineral deposits, two facts
which will no doubt induce immigrants
to settle down there,
Very Good, Indeed.
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