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Bheep grow to au immense size
eouthem California. One was recently
killed in the mountain region of San
Bernardino county which dressed
pounds of good mutton.
Only 12 per cent, of the Russian
population can read and write, and
there are only 38,000 primary schools
to a population of 100, 000,000. Elu-
cation and freedom are generally in the
direct ratio of each other.
According to a Loudon paper, “a
number of leading American ladies are
endeavoring to make London adopt its
fashions from New York, and negotia¬
tions are now going on with a vie w to
to setting up in London a large estab
Ushment having th at object in view.”
The conclusions reached by modern
meteorologists are that cyclones of
great intensity are ascending spiral
whirls of wind havin' a rotary motion
in a direction in the Northern hemis¬
phere opposite to the movement of tho
hands of a watch.
The richest professional mendicant in
the country is “Blind Johnny” of Phil¬
adelphia. lie is 60 years of age and is
worth about $20,000. He travels from
Chicago to Washington, from there to
Baltimore, and ends up in Puiladelphia,
spending about three months ia each
city. He has made all hu money as a
mendicant.
The Forth bridge, which has just
been completed in Scotland, cost the
lives of 56 workingmen during the
seven years of its construction, but the
engineers insist that this i? a remarka-
bly gjod showing. They say: “The
fact that the los? of life has not been
larger on a work of such magnitude
with so large a numb r of men em¬
ployed in dangerous positions shows
that no reasonable precautions for their
safety have been omitted.”
After many weeks of figuring, 52
Decatur (III.) families, including many
of wealth and position, havo united in
a novel manner of living. They have
joined together to maintain a co-oper¬
ative boarding home, the expenses to
each person for the best of food and
cooking being not more than $2.53 a
week, or 11 cents a meal. Tho ladies
take charge a week about in turn and
buy all the food, while a paid house¬
keeper attends to the details and serv¬
ing. Another similar establishment is
projected._
The champion meanest man and the
most heartless justice live in Sturgis,
Dakota. The meanest man lost his
pocketbook, containing $253, and
when the finder returned it to him
after a month spent in discovering the
owner, he demanded that the Underpay
him interest for the use of the money.
Naturally the finder refused this un¬
reasonable demand, whereupon the
meanest man brought suit for the in¬
terest, and the heartless justice gave
the meanest mm judgment for $1.45
and costs.
The Belgium Anti-Slavery Society is
preparing to send expeditions to Africa
for the purpose of protecting the na¬
tives in certain districts from Arab
slave ra’.ds. It is expected that the
first of its expeditions will leave Ant-
werp in October next, Two steam-
ships will penetrate the Dark Continent
to the Upper Congo. It is the purpose
of the society to penetrate north and
south and east and west through the
heart of that part of the Congo country
which is chiefly scourged by slave
raids. The society will form station?
to serve as refuges for hunted natives,
and as centres by which to repress raids
by any means in its power.
The Russian Government is evidently
impressed by the vigorous denunciation
of its Siberian policy, for it is an¬
nounced that the prosecution of the
woman who wrote a threatening letter
to the Czar has been dropped. “There
are scores of women in Siberia,” says
the Sin Francisco Chronicle, “dragging
out wretched lives who were punished
merely because of strong suspicion that
they were what the Russian police cal!
‘untrustworthy.’ Kennnn found several
political exile? at Tomsk and other
places who were mere schoolgirls, and
who had been consigned to this hard
life in Siberia because they entertained
liberal views or had been compromised
by association with relatives who were
nihilists. It is a good thiDg if Ken-
nan’s articles and the recent agitation
have made the Czar of all the Russians
ashamed of waging war on women.”
One of the early settlers of Oscodi
County, Mich., made a peculiar requev
when he died a few years ago. For
some time before his death his stec.:
was being stolen, cither by men or
bears, aad the old man s mind wa-
affected b/ his loss. lie asked that h.
be buried standing, on the cast side o*
a tree which grew on a hill overlooking
his farm. Freni this position he hoped
to detect the thieve?, And he has kep?
the ground round about well dug up.
Lecau e he said that his savings wert
hid near by. People have concluded
that he made a mistake cmcerning the
money, but no cattle thieves have been
there since his burial.
One of the managers of big cest-
ern knitting mill has made a calculation
that the shoestrings of a working girl
will come untied on the average three
times per diem, and that a girl wit:
lose about 50 seconds every time she
stoops to retie them. Most of the em-
pioyes have two feet, so this entails a
loss of 300 seconds every day for each
girl. There aro about 400 girls em¬
ployed in this factory, and therefore
the gentleman find? that 43.800,000
seconds are wasted in the course of s
year, which time, at the average rate ol
wages, is worth $343.17^. Orders
have accordingly been issued that girls
must wear only buttoned shoe? or con¬
gress gaiters under penalty of dis¬
charge. _
Some enterprising metallurgists ir.
Germany havo turned their attention to
the manufacture of fly wheels capable
of double and treble the speed of those
made of cast iron, the resistance o!
which is generally limited to a speed oi
40 metres for the rim of the wheel, an
excess of this speed rendering the fly
wheel liable to break to pieces under
the action of tho centrifugal force.
They havo succeeded in obtaining fly
wheels which are capable of acquiring
three times tho speed of those ordinari¬
ly employe!, by constructing the nave
and spokes of iron or steel, and making
a rim entirely of steel wire wound
round and round itself a great many
times. By means of these wheels, aid¬
ed by immense reheating f urnaces for
the steel plates, and by sorao very in¬
genious apparatus, they have succeeded
in obtaining surprising results.
It looks as if the popular idea that
e size ol the head and brain have a
great deal to do with the mental calibre
is destined to be classed among bygone
delmions. Dr. Starr, of London, who
has been writing very fully on this sub¬
ject, adduces convincing arguments to.
show that it i3 impossible to draw from
the size or shape of the head any con¬
clusions as to the mental capacity. He
shows the absurdity of judging of the
brain surface by .either the size of the
head or the extent of tho superficial Ir¬
regular surface which is covered by the
skull, without taking into consideration
the number of folds or the depth of the
creases, and states that a little brain
with many deep folds may really, when
spread out, have a larger surface than a
large brain with few shallow folds.
The phrenologists are not happy over
Dr. Starr’s strictures.
Frank Q. Carpenter says in tho
American Agriculturist that “India can
raise wheat much mere cheaply than
we can. It costs the Indian farmer
practically nothing to live, and farm
wages are from six to eight cents a
day. Whole families live on fifty
cents a week, and I have never found
a man more willing to work for small
wages than the East Indian. There is
little idleness among these 250,003,000
of people, und it is the only country in
the world where the people seem tc
work all day, aud every day, and
to have nothing whatever but
existence ns their reward. Not¬
withstanding their crowded condition
and their small farms, they are over¬
loaded with taxes, and the main part
of the great revenues which England
collects from India comes from these
farms. England gets $109,000 ,000 a
year from these dusky living skeletons,
and she pays her servants $15,000,000
a year to collect it. She divides up
the land among them, as to many of
the most profitable crops, so that one
man cannot have a monopoly, and so
that few can make more than a com¬
petency. ”_
Dead Sea Fralt.
“Say, pop, what is m.-ant by “deal
sea fruit!’ ”
“I don’t know, my boy, unless it ia
ccchn currents.’’— Chatter ,
WATERY VILLAGES.
The Strange Homes of the
Bololo Tribes in Africa.
Building Houses on Piles in
Swamps to Avoid Enemies.
From a commercial point of view 7 ,the
richest affluent of the Congo, the groat
East African river, is the Lulungu,
whose mouth is situated a few miles
above the Ruki. The Lulungu is
formed by the confluence of two rivers,
the Malinga and Lopori, which, uniting
at the populous village of Massaukuso,
henceforth form a stream a mile in
width, and probably one hundred and
fifty miles in length, until its waters
are sw 7 allowed up in those of the
mighty Congo. This lower stretch of
river is inhabited by Rankundu ivory
and slave traders; the upper reaches, as
far as the swamps around the head¬
waters of the Malinga and Lopori, by
the Balolo proper, and rude tribes of
elephant hunters, who store their ivory
until the perioiical visits of the down¬
river traders, when they exchange it
for beads, cowries and brass ornaments.
These Bololo tribes ara an oppressed
and persecuted people.
Timid an inoffensive, they fall an
easy prjy to the overwhelming numbers
of the powerful inland tribes of the
Lufembe and Ngombe, who are contin¬
ually making raids upon them, captur¬
ing them and selling them into slavery,
and eating those who are less suitable
for the slave market.
The Lulungu and its two great fccd-
ers, particularly tho Malinga, flow
through a swampy country, the greater
part of tho laud during the rainy season
being under water.
So swampy is it, that all the native
villages on the upper reaches of that
river are built on pile? standing in
water from two to four feet in depth.
It is a strange sight, when the water is
high, to see all these houses, dotted
about on the river, looking like float¬
ing boxes, and comical to observe a
native fishing from his tiny veranda or
when ho wishes to pay a visit to a
friend across the way, or journey to
another part of the village to see him
step into his canoe from off his door¬
step, and paddle about the streets of
swiftly running water.
Ivory is hidden for safety in the
water under their house?, or at some
point of the forest known only to the
owner, where the long tree-trunks
stand up out of the brown, dark-shad¬
owed flood of the swollen river, and,
should he wish to sell it, he must dive
down and fetch it up.
The effect seen from the river of one
of these villages is very striking. Large
trees are felled all about, so as to ren¬
der the progress of an approaching
canoe difficult. These wretched hou?C3,
without walls, aad with a fire made on
a flat lump of clay, or a platform formed
by cross-stick?, form indeed wretched
habitations for human beings. Y r ou
will sec on some prominent position a
large war-drum, so that in case of an
attack, or any danger arising, the sur¬
rounding villages may bo signaled, and
timely warning given.
The natives living in these watery
settlements say that inland they can
fi>1 strip? and patches of dry land, but
that if they live there the slave-raiders
find cut their whereabouts, and are con¬
tinually persecuting them, so that,
thvugli it is inconvenient an ! wretched
liv.ng in houses on piles, they naturally
prefer it to the danger of slavery and
death. However, they are not free
from molestation even unler these cir¬
cumstances, as the slave-raiders from
the lower reaches of the river form
large expeditions, sometimes of 200
and 330 canoes, well-armed, and go up
and kill, catch and take them into
slavery. — 1 he Ledger.
Persistence Won Her.
Information through private sources
has just been received in this city of the
death of Silas 31. Wilson, who died in
New York last week. He was born in
Philadelphia forty-five years ago, and
was crippled in his leg3 at his birth.
Besides, both his hands and arms were
twisted out of shape, anci it was with
the greatest difficulty that he was able
to speak. He met his wife, who was a
3Iiss Tneresa Morgan, of this city, in
Rochester, N. Y., in 1873. She had
been sent out of New Orleans by
General Butler in 1862, and at the time
of her marriage to Wilson was teaching O
young ladies how to make wax flowers.
She is said by those who were well ac¬
quainted with her here to have been
quite pretty, very intelligent and at¬
tractive.
Mr. and Mrs. Wi'.son met in the
Central depot at Rochester in 1S73.
He was on one of his jaunts through
the country peddling soap. Miss Mor¬
gan, in common with other ladies, pit-
tied the plight of Wilson. When Miss
Morgan went to the hotel she found
Wilson there. Ho was a general favor¬
ite with all. The landlady fed him, he
being utterly powerless to put his own
food to his mouth. Miss Morgan be-
came interested in him, usel to feed
..and generally became of great assist¬
ance to him in his helpless condition.
He proposed marriage to her one day.
Miss Morgan felt so much hurt and hu.
miliated by the proposal that she
packed up and left the house at once,
going to Erie. She was, however, no
sooner safely ensconsed there than Wil-
enn SfVM na V**»**w rrwa crawling up to the door, and
would not leave the premises until the
young lady consented to be “his for
life,” which, she did, as previously
stated. When he died Wilson was
worth considerable money .—ATew Or¬
leans States.
Store Names in Mexico.
One of the oldest things here, says a
City of Mexico letter, is tho naming of
the store? and shop?, where upon the
signs, instead of the name of the pro¬
prietor, appears some elaborate appella¬
tion that often causes ODe a smile from
its incongruity with the goods on sale.
For instance, “The Electric Light” is a
pulque shop, the Queen of the
World” is a bread shop, the “Palace of
the World” is a boot store, the “White
Venus” is a butcher’s shop, and so they
go. Several of the grocery stores are
called by tho names of the great cities
of the world, which is very appropriate,
for it is from them we obtain all lux¬
uries for the table. Instead of being
directed to the firm of So-and-So, one
is told that certain goods can be had at
tho “City of New-York,” the “City of
Hamburg,” etc. The shadow of the
Eiffel Tower has reached and fallen
upon the city of Mexico. A gorgeous
new sign, all white, blue, and gold,
bears the tall name and a flag-decorated
representation of the same, “The Eiffel
Tower,” and within the store one finds
most delicious French confectionery.
A Wonderful Pneumatic Rifle.
Paul G.fiord, the original invcntoi
of the Paris pneumatic post system, has
made a pneumatic rifle, which is said
to be a wonder. It is described this
way: The weapon is much lighter thaa
any of the army rifles now in use. It
resembles the magazine gun in that a
slccl cartridge about a span and a half
long and as thick as a man’s thumb is
attached to the barrel by meaus of a
screw. This cartridge contains 300
shots, which can be discharged a? rap¬
idly or slowly as a man desires. At a
recent trial the ball travelled w 7 ith won¬
derful accuracy, and penetrated deep
into the wall of the shooting room. As
soon a? one cartridge is emptied of its
300 shots another can be screwed on
the gun in the twinkling of an eye.
Mr. Gifford sajs that the 300 shots in a
cartridge can be produce! at a co3t of
about three pence. Tne gun itself can
be manufactured for about $5.
No Place for Tunnels.
Scotchman, who had been env
ployed nearly all his life in the build,
ing of railways in the Highlands of
Scotland, came to the United States in
his later years and settled in a new sec¬
tion on the plains in the far West. Soon
after his arrival, a project came up in
his new home for the construction of a
railroad through the district and the
Scotchman was applied to, as a man of
experience in such matters, 4 ‘Hoot,
mon!” said he, to the spokesman of
the scheme, “ye canna build a r’alway
across this kentry!” “Why not, Mr.
Ferguson?” “Why not?” he repeated,
with an air of settling the whole mat¬
ter, “why not? And dinna ye see the
kentry’s as flat as a Sure, and ye have
naw place whateever to run your toon-
nels through?”— Argonaut.
Taking a Deep Interest in Him.
Dr. Pille—You’ve been working lik6
a hero, doctor, to save young Starvely’s
And he as poor as Job’s turkey
too!
Dr. Hackem—That’s just it. He
owes me $75 already on my bill, and il
he die? I won’t get a cent.— llp| Harper's
Ihuur.
Hoeing and Praying.
Said Farmer Jones, in a whining tone.
To his good old neighbor Gray,
“I’ve worn my knees through to the bone,
But it ain’t no use to pray.
“Your corn looks just twice as good as min
Though you don’t pretend to be
A shinin’ light in the church to shine.
An’ tell salvation’s free.
“I’ve prayed to the Lord a thousand times
For to make that ’ere corn grow;
An’ why yourn beats it so an’ climbs
I’d gin a deal to know.”
Said Farmer Gray to his neighbor Jones,
In his easy, quiet way,
“When prayers get mixed with lazy bones
They don’t make farmin’ pay.
“Your weeds, I notice, are good an’ tall,
In spite of all your prayers;
You may pray for corn till the heavens fail,
If you don’t dig up the tares.
“I mix my prayers with a little toil,
Along in every row;
An’ I work this mixture into the soil,
Quite vig’rous with a hoe.
“An’ I’ve discovered, though still in sin,
As sure as you are born,
This kind of compost well worked in.
Makes pretty decent corn.
“So while I’m praying I use my hoe,
An’ do my level best,
To keep down the weeds along each row,
An’ the Lord, he does the rest.
“It’s well for to pray, both night an’ morn,
As every farmer knows;
Cut the place to pray for thrifty corn
Is right between the rows.
‘ You must use your hands while praying,
though,
If an answer you would get,
For prayer worn knees an’ a rusty hoe
Never raised a big crop yet.
“An’ so I believe, my good old friend.
If you mean to win tne day,
From ploughing, clean to the harvest's end,
You must hoe as well as pray.”
HUMOROUS.
“Mine is a pane-ful occupation,’*
said the glazier.
Every cloud has a silver lining. The
boy who has the mumps can stay away
from school.
Talking of getting on in life, the
man who slips in the mud is almost
bound to rise.
A Pittsburg reporter tells about i
yawning oil well. Somebody must
have been boring it.
Life i3 too short to spend precious
moments raising up people who would
sooner walk on all fours.
All things come to him who will but
wait, butdn some restaurants the things
are cold when they arrive.
Of course we are all poor worms of
the dust, but some of us have a heap
more of the dust than others.
When a man, by a single glance,
speaks volumes, it is another w r ay of
aying that he talks like a book.
‘Wou can’t eat your dinner and
have it, too,” said the sympathetic,
steward to the seasick passenger.
He—There’s nothing witty in tho
wag of a dog’s tale. She—But it’s the
animals w 7 ay of expressing a smile.
It is unkind to make a jest of aerial
navigation before inventors of airs
ships. It is a soar point with them.
Wickwire—You haven’t got a dol-
lar to spare, have you? Yabsley—>
What a mind-reader you are, Wick¬
wire.
“Well, papa has ratified our engage-.
ment, Josephus, dear.” “Good!” But
what did he say?” “He simply said
‘Rats!’ ”
Old Lady—Great snakes, what dft
you suppose Miss Finkin married that
homely man for? Old Gent—Because,
he asked her to, of course.
She—I didn’t hear anything of
father’s dog. He held his peace to¬
night, didn’t he? He (bitterly)—Yes;
his piece of my fifteen-dollar trousers.
Dodson—Brown seems to take a great
deal of pleasure in writing for the
press. Fogg—Y T es, he takes so all-fired
much fun in it that he leaves none fo£
his readers.
“It is no use telling yon to look
pleasant,” said the photographer to tho;
pretty young lady, “for ypu cannot
look anything else.” And his schema
worked beautifully.
A teacher in one of the public schools
was examining a class in physiology
and asked: “What ara the last teeth
to come?” “Fnlse teeth, ” shouted the
small boy to whom the question was
addressed.
The Alikado of Japan has issue* an
edict against duelling. If the Alikado
will not tolerate such aharmles3 pastime
os duelling it is not likely that he wil
ever permit the introduction of base
bale into hi? empire.