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WEIRD GHOST STORIES.
A Persistent Dream Tliat Groujht a
Murderer to Justice.
In a certain town in the province
of Minsk, west Russia, a p 1 ant
suddenly disappeared, lie was last
seen alive leaving the church and
going home to his sister, with whom
he lived.
( tie day in a dream his sister aw
her brother, lie looked pale, his
eves were closed and his legs were
broken. He told her that lie had
been murdered by her liusimnd and
bis brothers. He mentioned the ex
act date and place of the deed and
added that his body was put into a
rac k and thrown into the river. Ho
wanted her to find his body and to
have it buried in the family grave.
This dream was repeated several
times, and at last the sister sought
the advice of her aged father-in
law. He tobl her that it would be
difficult to find the body, and if the
culprits were brought to justice her
children would be left orphans. So
after consideration the sister gave
the matter up.
Hut her brother’s spirit would not
rest and appeared in a dream in the
above manner to a friend of his.
Soon the news spread to the local
authorities, who took the matter up.
The river was searched, and the
body was found in the exact spot in
dicated.
This discovery had such an ef
fect on the murderers that they at
once confessed. They gave all the
details of the crime—how after
service they took him to a mill
where they all dined, and on leav
ing for home they attacked their
victim, binding that the rack was
too small, they cut off his legs, tied
a stone to his neck and threw him
in the river. The above is certified
to bo perfectly accurate by the local
authorities.
A Russian paper relates the fol
lowing as having occurred in an offi
eer's family at the time of the out
break of cholera. The oldest son
was in an office in a town nearly 200
miles from his home.
One morning the family was vis
ited by an undertaker, who said he
had received orders from a person,
whom he described, to make a coffin
for their eldest son. The father re
plied that the son was far away and
that all the family were alive and
well.
Directly afterward a message
came that the eldest son had died of
cholera at the same time that his
exact similitude had been seen by
the undertaker.
Squaring the Circle.
One of the problems that are as
old as the science of mathematics
is that of squaring the circle. By
squaring the circle is meant the
problem of finding the sides of a
square exactly equal in area to a
circle of given diameter. To do this
either by elementary geometry or by
expressing it arithmetically in com
mensurable numbers lias been found
to be an impossibility. In other
words, the ratio between the diame
ter and the circumference of a cir
cle cannot be exactly found even
though in the division the decimal
be carried out to 10,000 figures. The
above being the exact facts ill the
ease, we will say that the problem of
squaring the circle is one that has
long been given up by the mathema
ticians as insoluble.
Apple Water.
Apple water is a refreshing drink
for an invalid. It can be made with
either baked or raw apples, the for
mer to be preferred when time is
short, especially if the upples ure
baked and in readiness. They should
be sour and when cold should be
immersed in boiling water to cover
them. Let them stand until cool,
then strain and sweeten to taste.
For the liquor made from raw ap
ples three or four juicy sour apples
of fine flavor should be pared and
sliced. Pour over them two cupfuls
of boiling water and let them stand
three hours. Strain, sweeten and add
a small piece of ice. A pleasant
flavor is added if the rind of a lem
on is mixed with the slices of apple.
Knew How It Would Be.
The simplicity of children is
sometimes hard to fathom. In the
following case, for instance, report
ed bv an exchange was the boy’s in
nocence real or affected? He had
brought home his monthly school
report, which made a poor showing.
“This is very unsatisfactory,” said
his father as he looked it over. ”1
am not at all pleased with it ”
“I knew you wouldn’t be," an
swered the little boy. “I told the
teacher so, but she said she couldn t
change it.”
Open Mouthed.
First Comedian—Did you score a
hit with your new specialty ?
Second Comedian —Did I! W hy,
the audience gazed with open mouth
ed wonder before I 'was half
through.
First Comedian—Wonderful! It
is seldom that an entire audienc*
itwns at once.
HONEST COMPENSATION. ~
“i hour, senator,” said the inquis
iti\ young lady, “that it coH you
$20,000 to lie elected.”
“Ye.-., approximately that.”
‘•Well, that will leave you only
SIO,OOO for six years' work. Isn’t
that rather small for a man of your
ability?”
“For a man of my ability it is
rather small, but I expect the sacri
fice to be not wholly in vain. In
fact, 1 have already been retained
as attorney for three large corpora
tions that would have been injured
by the passage of bills which I in
tended to introduce. So, you see,
there arc honest ways in which a
men may be compensated for the
annoying expenditures which in the
age of graft and chicanery the high
minded servant of the people must
make in order to help to preserve
the foundations of the republic.”—
Cldcago Record-Herald.
Imported Jap Seaweed.
“The Japanese servants who dom
inate so many New York families,”
said a caterer, “are now introducing
with considerable success a relish
that is already popular in Califor
nia and places where Chinese and
Jap cooks cater to American palates.
Asnkusa-nori is the name of this
oriental product, which is nothing
more than a species of dried sea
weed found on the shores of the
Yellow sea.
“This serves as the foundation of
manv Japanese and Chinese sauces,
besides being when boiled a staple
article of food. Japanese living in
New York import it in the cute lit
tle boxes, just as it is sold in the
Tokyo markets, and prepare it with
that curious adaptation to occiden
tal taste for which the Japs are now
famous, whether in warfare, com
merce or art.”—New York I’ress.
The Microbes' Kitchen.
In a London hospital where bue
leriologv is n feature tine crops of
typhoid can be seen flourishing in
the scientific garden.
There is even a microbes’ soup
kitchen, where several highly train
ed and most learned chefs in white
linen overalls are composing dainty
repasts for the microbes.
Their tastes require the most
careful study. Over the fire pota
toes are steaming in a caldron,
and in the course of a few days these
same potatoes may be found under
glass covers with flourishing growths
of various diseases on the top.
In various pots and pans the most
savory soups are in progress —chick-
en broth, meat broth, beef jelly—all
specialty prepared to suit the vari
ous wants of the microbes.
A Bit of English.
A Frenchman was boasting that
he had thoroughly mastered the
English language when he was ask
ed to write from dictation the fol
lowing specimen of our choice ec
centric vernacular:
“As Hugh Hughes was hewing a
Yule log from a yew tree a man
dressed in garments of a dark hue
came up to Hugh and said, ‘Have
you seen my ewes?’ To which he
replied, ‘if you will wait until I
hew this yew I will go with you to
look for your ewes/ ”
After an attempt the Frenchman
admitted his mistake. He used to
imagine he was used to English
speaking, but he would be more
careful how he used the language in
future.
Jackals.
Jackals are much more cunning
than wolves and approach the fox
more nearly in the exhibition of
craftiness. They are natives of
northern Africa and southern Asia
and are nocturnal animals. Com
bining in packs or hunting in asso
ciations of several members, they
'*:ill pull down antelopes and sheep),
but when they seek their prey singly
;hev are content with smaller ani
mals and poultry. They are readily
tamed when caught young and will
act like dogs when called by their
masters, crouching, wagging their
tails and rolling on the ground, but,
like the wolf, are not to be trusted,
for they respect only the hand of
their master.
A Shark's Appetite.
A grewsome collection of articles
was found in the stomach of a huge
ihark recently. The boast was evi
dently a man eater, for his stomach
j contained a man’s heaA, three hats,
\ two fowls and a quantity of bones
IHe weighed 750 pounds and was
j caught by the crew of the liner
! Syria at Suez. The fishing apparatus
j consisted of a rope and a leg of
pork.
The Champion Thief.
The police of Austria are looking
for a man whom they consider the
I champion thief. First he carried off
I all the basalt blocks from a side
street in Budapest; then he netted
all the fish in the lake in Stadwal
chen park in the role of lessee of
the fishing; next he rolled away a
wooden villa in the suburbs and all
its furniture ami other contents.
FOR THE LITTLE ONES.
This Coin and Card Trick Is Mystifying
and Easily Performed.
An interesting and pretty trick
is to make a coin appear under ei
ther of two card.-, according to Un
desire of your audienc.-. P.vy .r.
beforehand two coins, each siighth
waxed on one side. Xow a k - cue
one for a similar coin, and without
letting anybody see the waxed ones
exchange one of them for the bor
rowed one and place it on the ta
tde waxed side up.
Take two cards at random from a
pack and hold them in your hand
with the other waxed coin so that it
will stick to the under card. New
lay llie card carefully on tiic table
near the other coin. Place the sec
ond card over the first waxed coin
e o that every one sees you, press it
down slightly, and you will have
a waxed coin sticking to the under
surface of each card.
You can now make the coin ap
pear under either card that your
audience names by bending the card
slightly upward in lifting it, for then
the coin will not stick; otherwise
it will, and your audience will think
it is one coin that you make pass
from under one card to the other
at your pleasure.
A Rainy Day Game.
The following game is very popu
lar with little French children and
may help you to pass some pleasant
moments;
Choose a letter of the alphabet,
say “I>,” for instance. Each player,
with pencil and paper, is told to
write the name of a country, river,
mountain, city, soldier, artist, writ
er, musician and statesman, all be
ginning with the letter “D.”
At the end of five minutes the
lists are closed. One reads the names
from his list, and those having the
same names on their lists scratch
them off. The winner of the con
test is the one having the most
names not on the lists of the others.
Tim fact of his names being more
uncommon shows him to have the
greater knowledge and memory.
Honest Polly.
A lady was one day teaching a
little colored girl how to spell, says
an exchange. She used a pictorial
primer in which each word was ac
companied by an illustration.
Polly glibly spelled “o-x, ox,” and
“b-o-x, box,” and the teacher
thought she was making right rapid
progress, perhaps even too rapid.
She put her hand over the picture
and then asked, “Polly, wh*t does
o-x spell ?”
“Ox,” answered Polly nimbly.
“How do you know it sp#lU ox?”
Tolly was as honest as the day.
“Seed his tail!” she responded.
Lincoln's Mother’s Tribute.
Though fond of his books, it
ipust not be supposed that the boy
Lincoln cared only for work and se
rious study. He was a social, sunny
tempered lad, as fond of jokes and
fun as he was kindly and industri
ous. His stepmother said of him:
“I can say what scarcely one moth
er in a thousand can say —Abe nev
er gave me a cross word or look and
never refused to do anything 1 ask
ed him. 1 must say that Abe was
the best boy I ever saw or expect to
sec.”—From Helen Nicolay’s “The
Boys’ Life of Abraham Lincoln” in
St. Nicholas.
Hidden Namas.
Find the hidden names of a boy
or girl, one in each sentence:
1. Y’ou know I dare not trust you.
2. Yes, the roses are very nice.
3. Determined I am you must tel)
mother.
■l. I will tell her in a day or two.
5. Will you be at Bicefield villa
today ?
6. I like jam, especially raspberry
7. If red does not suit, try blue.
Answers: 1. Ida. 2. Esther. 3.
Amy. 4. Ada. 5. Beatrice. 6
James. 7. Fred.
Bean Bag Game.
Construct with supports a board
about twenty-five inches square,
with a hole in the center about eight
inches across. A half dozen bean
bags arc needed to play this game,
! and the feature is to see how mam
bags the player can pitch into the
center hole.
Mrs. Mouse and Mrs. Pussy.
138®
\ A mouse went Into the barn one day,
| Where Pussy Cat slept on a load of hay.
But puss waked up and yawned, "Oh.
dear!”
So Mousie remarked. “ 'Tis very clear
1 I'd better away to avoid a row
Betwtxt myself and Mrs. Meow,
For neither hero nor across the sea
Is a big enough bam for pussy and me."
So while pussy blinked on the load of hay
The pinv winked and ran away.
A GILBERTIAN SITUATION.
What the Melbourne (Australia)
papers call a Gilbertian situation
was recently created in that city by
the telephone girls of the central
< xchange. They suspended all tele
phone work in the busiest hour of
the day in order to have themselves
photographed in a group. They
were allowed five minutes for the
purpose by the head of the depart
ment, but the operation lasted for
nearly half an hour, during which
numerous fussy subscribers were
"ringing up” in vain. The metro
politan fire brigade, failing to get
nv response, dashed at full speed
to the exchange and retired disgust
< d on learning the true state of af
fairs. The Melbourne papers are
Hooded with letters calling for the
abolition of the lady telephonist. A
board is inquiring into the inci
dent.
His Novel Security.
The other day a big Otoe Indian,
followed by his squaw, came trip
ping into the First National bank
and asked to borrow sls to liqui
date some indebtedness that he had
contracted while in town. The
businesslike cashier asked what se
curity he could furnish in order to
secure the desired loan. Poor Lo
threw up his head and studied a few
moments, then said, “Leave squaw
here till I come back and pay.” The
cashier and officers present were
very much amused at the Indian’s
novel method of securing a loan.
However, matters were arranged so
that he and his dusky helpmeet
could go to their home, with the
understanding that he return and
settle his indebtedness later.—Perry
(1. T.) Republican.
Bananas, Ananas.
In 1565 is to be found the earliest
reference to the banana. It is in
Captain Laudonniere’s second “Voy
age Unto Florida” in that year and
the year following. Here is the
passage, and it will be observed tli<i
word is spelled “ananas:” “Do
minica is one of the favrest islands
of the west, full of bids and of very
good smell. Whose singularities de
siring to know as we passed and
seeking also to refresh ourselves
with fresh water, I made the mari
ners cast anker after we had sayled
about halfe along the coast thereof
As soon as we had cast anker two
Indians (inhabitants of that place)
sayled toward us in two canoes full
of a fruite of great excellencie.
which they called ananas.”
Magical Finger Rings.
Finger rings have played a more
important part in history than any
other ornaments. They were for
merly symbols of authority, and
subordinates were often invested
with temporary power by the loan
of tho master’s ring. We have ex
amples of this in the case of Pha
raoh, Ahasuerus and many others in
both sacred and profane histor\ r .
Rings were at one time supposed to
possess magical powers, and Plato
tells us that Gyges owned a ring
that would at his pleasure render
him invisible, while from another
source we learn of the wonderful
ring with which Solomon sealed the
jars in which the disobedient jinne
were immured before being dropped
into the sea.
Evolution of Flowerpots.
When you buy a potted plant from
a fashionable florist nowadays he
does not send it home in the ordi
nary red clay pot such as has been
in use from time out of mind, say?
a New York paper. The plant i
delivered in a receptacle of the con
ventional shape, but it is covered
with fine straw, bound around with
ratlia that is either painted a soft
green or a dull shade of red. These
bindings are fashioned in some
pleasing design and are varnished,
so that the whole thing is ready to
stand as an ornament just as it is.
These plants may come high, but
there is one- economy in buying
'.hem —you do not have to purchase
4 jardiniere to put them in.
S.OOOI.
The smallest coin in actual cir
culation is a sort of wafer made
from a resinous juice and used b\
the natives in the Malay peninsula.
It has a value of one ten-thousandth
of a cent.
Tse smallest metal coin is tin
Portuguese tlwee reis piece, worth
six twenty-fifths of a cent, while
the Smallest English coin i 3 a Gi
braltar piece, the five millesima
worth one-quarter of a cent. Then
has been putt into use in the cana !
zone a small silver coin worth abou
a penny, and this is probably th
smallest silver piece ever coined.
Hardly Appropriate.
On taking their seats for tlie firs
time on the bench at the newl
erected courthouse at Delmerhorst.
Germany, the judges were much
perturbed to find that the architect
had ernamented the portico with
the sculptured head of a fox on om
side and that of a sheep on the oth- j
er.
A SERIOUS JOKE.
It Was Almost Fatal to the Willing
Boy, but He Survived.
A business man in lower Broad
way is a practical joker of the most
rabid description. A few days ago
a youth of about fifteen walk- d into
bis place, which is a wholesale store,
looked around curiously and ap
proached the proprietor.
“Want a boy?” lie inquired.
“Nope,” said the man, who was
leaning against the doorway to his
privatc office pulling at a pipe.
“Haven't you got anything a boy
could do?”
The man took the pipe from his
mouth and looked about.
“I guess a boy could sweep up this
floor,” lie remarked.
“I’m it,” said the boy. He hustled
into the back of the store, got a
broom, and in about fifteen minutes
had the floor as clean as that of a
dining room.
“Anything else?” he inquired in
a businesslike sort of way.
“Nope,” said the man, gazing far j
out across the street. “Much oblig
ed.”
The boy looked at him. Intelli
gence appeared in his face and faded 1
away, to be resolved into disappoint
ment, as one picture fades into an
other with a dissolving view stereop- |
ticon.
“I’m on,” he said finally. lie j
walked slowly over to where he had j
laid his cap and coat and put them |
on. He glanced up at the man hope
fully as he passed out. The man !
was fixedly looking at something 1
across the street. The boy looked j
back several times as he walked |
down the street. There was nothing j
doing, lie reached the corner and j
turned into a side street. A moment j
later a hand was laid on his shoul- j
der, and he turned to face one of I
the clerks.
“The old man says here’s a dollar |
for you, and stop reading story |
books,” he said. “What’s the joke?” j
The boy placed the dollar in his j
pocket, and his face brightened.
“It’s a long story,” he said, “but
tell the old man for me that his joke
come pretty near being fatal.”
However, he whistled cheerily as
he walked away.—New York Press.
The Bulgarian Peasant.
In a Bulgarian peasant’s cottage
the floors are of mud. The kitchen,
fronting the street, is also the living
room. Behind there is a sleeping
room, with a bedstead in it for the
head of the house, while the sons
and daughters sleep upon mats
stretched on the floor. The furni
ture consists of wooden tables,
benches and chests. The crockery
and household utensils of every sort
seem of the commonest and coarsest
kind. I should doubt if the/e is a
single house in the whole village in
which any English laborer or artisan
earning good wages would not deem
it a hardship to be obliged to live.
At the same time there was no single
dwelling which, given the habits and
customs of the country, could be
fairly described as unfit for human i
habitation.—“ The Peasant State,”
Diccy.
Willing to Abolish It.
James Merry, a well known Scot
tish ironmaster and owner of race
horses, once decided to run for par
liament. He stood as candidate for
Glasgow. He posed as an extreme
radical and was prepared to abolish
everything, in sight as a short way
to Teform. At one of his meetings
where the heckling of candidates
was the feature, as in all Scottish
elections, he was asked, after he had
disposed summarily of the crown,
the house of lords and most of the
British constitution, whether he
would abolish the Decalogue. “Cer
tainly/’ cried the valiant Merry.
Then, turning to his nearest neigh
bor on the platform, he asked in an
audible whisper, “Jock, what in
thunder’s the Decalogue?”
A City Built In a Cherry Seed.
At the time of the French Crystal
palace exposition a Nuremberg toy
maker exhibited a cherry stone with
in the cavity of which he had built
a perfect plan of the city of Sevasto
pol—streets, railway approaches,
bridges, etc. A powerful micro
scope was used in exhibiting this
wonderful miniature city, and it is
estimated that not less than 500,000
people took a peep at the results of
the toymaker’s toil. Each of these
500,000 sightseers deposited a franc
piece in the hands of the ingenious
workman, the total of the cash thus
taken in netting him a snug little
fortune.
It Was Enough.
For years they had been the best
of friends, but a moment’s absent
mindedness made them deadly and
irreconcilable enemies. It was Mrs.
Hawkins’ fault. Mrs. Brumley had
been ill for a month, and was Telling
her friend all about it.
“A os, Mrs. Hawkins,” she said, “I
was very ill. They were afraid of
my losing my mind.”
“Oh, and did you, Mrs. Brum
ley i asked Mrs. Hawkins, with cor
dial interest.
That was all.
DRAWING UP WILLS.
What Lawyers Will Do and What
They Don't Like to Do.
That it takes a smart man to
dnu. a will is ail adage tne respect
for vi.k-li in the legal fraternity is
CVjL ; , icc d Ly the* fact that few law
yer- ant to famish visible evidence
of their part in drawing up wills,
it ;s perfect 1 v , asy for a man to hire
a ii:w\cr io uiv.it his testament, of
(i,; , iii- matter how complicated
its provisions may be. it is quite
another thing to get the lawyer to
witness it. lie will not even allow
-.lurks in his office to do so, except
perhaps where llie client is an old
or regular one. He wants him lo go
elsewhere to get the neces-ary at
testations. There are exceptions to
this unwritten rule, it is true, but
it is pretty generally observed.
“Lawyers will not so admit it,”
said one of them, “but the true rea
son is they don’t care to lie identi
fied with the instrument. It is about
as difficult an undertaking as a law
yer can face to draw up a will where
the bequests are surrounded with
conditions that will close up all
loopholes to a contest. Most testa
tors know how they want to dispose
of their estates, but it is exceeding
ly hard to express their wishes in a
way that will leave no doubt when
subsequently disappointed heirs call
it into question. The books teem
with instances of the inability of
smart men, some of them distin
guished lawyers, to make a will that
will stand under a stiff fight. Law
yers naturally don’t want to be as
sociated with a document that may
be pronounced bad, and so they are
unwilling to sign as witnesses or to
let their employees do it. I sup
pose it to some extent argues a lack
of confidence in their work. Any
how, the precaution is of little use,
for invariably the lawyer who drew
it is disclosed in any litigation over
a will.”
The “Georgia Grind.”
Colonel Anstruther was distress
ed. His St. Louis host had asserted
that Missouri was the garden spot of
America for the production of wa
termelons. Being a Georgian, Colo
nel Anstruther could not allow such
a statement to pass uncorrected.
“Suh!” he exclaimed. “Proof of
the abundance of watermelons lies
in the facility fob eating them. Can
you show me, suh, a man in Missouri
who has yet acquired the equivalent
of the Geo’gia grind?”
“The Georgia grind!” demanded
the Missourian. “What is that ?”
“The Geo’gia grind, suh, is the
ability to feed a continuous and un
broken line of watermelon into one
side of the mouth while emitting a
continuous and unbroken line of
seeds, suh, f’om the otheh side. The
mere development of that aht, suh,
is proof beyond doubt that Geo’gia
raised the most watermelons, suh.”
—Y outh’s Companion.
Puffs of an Engine.
The train was starting. The putfß
of the locomotive, at first slow, grew
faster and faster, and finally seemed
to cease in the roar of the train.
“It is the emission of the waste
steam through the chimney that
causes the locomotive’s puffing,
coughing sound,” said an engineer.
“As the train’s speed increases, the
puffs increase in rapidity, and when
ten a second are emitted the ear
can’t distinguish them separately
any longer—it hears them as a con
tinuous roar. A good many people,
on this account, think a locomotive
only puffs at starting. Really, she
puffs all the time, only the puffs are
too rapid to be recognizable. A
train going a mile a minute gives
twenty puffs per second.”—New
Y r ork Press.
A Full Answer.
An English rector one Sunday
preached from the text, “Who art
: thou?” After reading it, he made
a pause for the congregation to re
flect upon the words, when a man in
a military dress, who at the instant
j was marching very sedately up the
i middle aisle of the church, suppos
ing it a question addressed t.o him,
replied: “I am, sir, an officer of the
Sixteenth Regiment of Foot, on a
recruiting party here, and having
brought my wife and family with
me. I am come to church because
I wished to be acquainted with the
neighboring clergy and other peo
ple.” This so deranged the divine
and astonished the congregation
that the sermon was concluded with
considerable difficulty.
The Primitive Gun.
As soon as the forces of the explo
sive gases developed by the burning
of powder became known the old
style weapons disappeared, and fire
arms took their places. The first of
the kind was a small gun barrel fas
tened to a long pole and fired with a
slow match. Shot stones, balls of
lead, iron bolts and fireballs to set
buildings on fire were propelled with
this apparatus. Only a short distance
could be shot with these primitive
guns. The old and clumsy s : ege ma
chines which threw heavy stones by
moans of a spring rope were chang
ed into siege guns.