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Statistics seem to show that in most countries insanity is on the increase. The Russian Czar's repugnance to parliaments is said to be lessening. The Xew York Commercial Adver¬ tiser announces that several of the Southern states, notably Virginia, Florida and Arkansas, are develo dug good school systems. One of the results of the invention of smokeless gunpowder, which prob¬ ably was not anticipated, is the neces- sity for making the uniform of soldiers in the field less conspicuous than at ’ present. ----------------------------- ----- lt appears, states the New York "World, that thehard pineof the South, for which there is an increasing de- mand is in danger of exhaustion much more rapidly than was sujiposed pos¬ sible ten years ago. The New York Tribune thinks that the expectation that ice is g<^ig to be uncommonly costly this summer ought to be extremely gratifying to advocates of the theory that ice-water is more deadly than firewater. The civil commissioner of Johannes¬ burg, South Africa, has ordered that only the Dutch language shall be talked in his court, an:l that the English, who compose the hulk of the population, when they appear before him must talk Dutch or hire an interpreter. The question of whether or not it is cruel to dishorn cows is now before the Scotch courts, the defense being that it is necessary to cut off the horns of Insh and Canadian cattle to keep them from goring each other in the feeding courts used in Scotland dur¬ ing the winter. According to the New York Trib une, “the Rev. Mr. Stagg, the famous base ball pitcher of Yale, is pretty sick of the thread-bare remark made to him about a dozen times a day by cheerful idiots to the effect that if his delivery of seimons is as good as his delivery' in base ball he is all right.” Most amazing things are told with an air of truth about the young Ger¬ man Kaiser’s new attitude toward France. He is said now to have set his heart on so behaving that before a year elapses he may be received in Paris as the guest of President Carnet with wild, popular acclamation. I lie Albany (N. H.) Journal pro¬ pounds the following conundrum to the railroad builders of the continent; YYhich will be first constructed, the through line which shall connect with the north and south roads of South America, or the Alaska lino from the Canadian Pacific to connect by a short water route with the proposed Siberian line across Northeastern Asia? Since 1868 there has grown up in Key West, Fla., a very enterprising and successful manufacture of cigars from Havana tobacco. From a very small beginning, and against great difficulties, it has made its way; it turns out about 100,000,000 cigars an- nually, pays §5,000,000 a year in wages, and supports 25,000 people. It is strictly and necessarily an American industry. Says the Atlanta Constitution: “Cheap, flashy novels and cheap, flashy newspapers are running over the country like a flood. There never was a time when so much worthless trash was published and read. Some of our reputable writers, in order to fill their pockets, are turning out stufi which they will be ashamed to see their names connected with a few years later. The Ned Buntline Bohemians of forty years ago weie scholars and gentlemen compared with some of the popular novelists of the present day.” In the estimation of the National Dairyman “the ice problem is a hard one for dairymen to solve this summer, especially those who have been making butter with the various systems of There is nothing left for those dairy- use freely before hot weather sets in, which iust now it looks very much as though they would do ” barons, counts and other noblemei who have run out of funds, er wh< have left their native lands on aeeoun of domestic trials. They live quietly and affiliate with socialists and anarch ists. They make their living mostly by teaching music, and they spent their spare time waiting for the lettei that never comes. Rev. T. L. Cuvier of Brooklyn w! o preached the last sermon of t 30 years’ pastorate recently, and whe lias the record of having written 3,200 newspaper and magazine articles, gives three short rules which have en- ablcd him to preserve his vigor ant accomplish all that he has. “1. Take plenty of sleep, 2. Use no stimu- lants or tobacco. 3. Never touch a sermon on Saturday night.” A fortune awaits the man who can make a watch spring that won’t break Every now and then some one comet to the front with the claim that he lias made the discovery, but all have so fai failed. The breaking of watch springs is largely due to electrical in¬ fluences. After a watch spring ha* been demagnetized it is less liable tc break, of course. But to say that a watch spring will not break or that some Avill break is nonsense. It is now believed that the mammoth abounded to as great an extent upon the east as upon the west coast oi Behring Sea. In fact, mammoths have already been discovered in Alaska, and news comes that a syndicate has been formed for the purpose of procuring their ivory tusks, which are now ol great value and which will unboubtedly continue to become more valuable, as tbe elephant is being exterminated. For about a thousand rears northern Siberia has exported a large amount ol ivory to Russia, And a‘, present it is estimated that not less than a hundred pairs of tusks are found every twelve months and shipped to the czar’s com¬ mercial centres. It appears that the Detroit breweries which were purchased by an English syndicate last spring have not been successful under the new ownership. The reason given for the falling off in business is that Ihe patriotic people of Michigan refuse to buy their beer of a foreign corporation. “This,” com- ments the New York Star,.,“is a return to first principles with a . vengeance. It is only a little over a ecntnrv since our ancestors refused to drink import¬ ed English tea, or to wear clothing made from English imported goods. Perhaps it is, after all, less patriotism than practical business that is at the bottom of this condition of affairs. The American managers, formerly owners of these establishments, may be engaged in a little game of freeze-out.” The mania for building railroads readied its minimum of intensity dur¬ ing 1889, avers the New York Herald. It has raged with such violence during the last few years that nearly every State in the North has suffered from lack of dividends. The speculators thought at one time that hamlets, towns and cities would grow up any¬ where on the line of a road like mush¬ rooms, in a night, but the disenchant¬ ment has come and a more conserva- live view of tbe situation prevails. There are roads enough for the present needs of the country. The South, of course, lias an open field and a large opportunity, but the North and AVesl arc at least a generation ahead of time. Speculation in that direction has re¬ ceived a sharp but wholesome check, and the policy for the next twenty years will be to improve the rolling stock and to build as little as possible. A Curious Case. At the Vienna general hospital tht medical officers are at present watch¬ ing a curious case. The patient is a man of about fifty-four years of age, who was a navvy up till last year when he hurt the forefinger of his lefl hand. The finger had to be amputa¬ ted. Since then the left hand has al¬ ways been in motion, and now the nervous affection has spread over the whole body and tbe patient is obliged always to turn to the left side. YVhen lying in bed lie gives sudden jumps into the air like a fish when lying on dry ground. A similar case attracted, recently, the attention of medical mer at Paris. A SUBMERGED RAILWAY. THE IKSE310US SCHEME FOR LOADING SHIPS A Valuable Mine Very Inexpensively Worked. Hie mines of Onton, near Bilbao, North Spain, have long been celebrated for their richness in the yield of iron ores suitable for the manufacture of steel, but great trouble has heretofore been experienced in the shipment of the mineral on account of the difficulty of placing it on board of the ships. J.ngiand and the Continent are the great markets for this product. The coast adjacent to these mines is high and rocky, exposed to the full force of the sea, there being no harbors in the immediate vicinity. At the foot of the rocks there is a sloping shore which extends out to a considerable distance, with an even grade. It is upon this incline that the remarkable railway we are about to describe has been constructed. J lie roadbed of the railway has a length of about 650 feet and a width of 20 feet, upon which two sets of parallel tracks, each 3 1-4 feet wide, are placed, constituting a four-rail railway. The grade is five feet to the hundred. The car which traverses this railway, upon which the ore is con- veyed from tno cliffs to the ships, con- sists of a high metallic tower made in the form of a pyramid having a wide triangular base. The tower is mounted on wheels, which run upon the quad¬ ruple, railway track before mentioned. Hie platform of the tower upon which the load of mineral is placed is about 70 feet high from the track, a height which is sufficient to rise above the S ° f or(,inai T vessels when the !° Wer 16 run alo, 1 g side thereof; and from the platform the discharge of the ore is made directly into the hold of the vessels. This great rolling tower is operated automatically, It is con- nected to the shore by means of a strong wire cable, which passes over pulleys fastened to Hie rocks. At tne land end of the cable there are attached some weighted cars that move up and down upon an incline. These form a counterbalancing weight for pulling the tower, when empty, in toward the shore. I he mineral to be loaded upon the vessels brjught from the mines, which are not far distant from the coast, up¬ on rope railways mounted upon posts. From the mineral dumps upon the i oeky heights the mineral is conveyed part way down the cliff - to a chute, the end of which projects beyond the cliff, and when the empty tower is drawn to shore by the cars before mentioned, it automatically opens an end gate in the chute and allows the mineral to drop upon the platform in a continuous stream until a weight of ore sufficient to overcome that of the counter¬ balancing weight or weighted cars lias fallen upon the platform, and when this takes place, the tower by its own gravity begins to move down the inclined railway, and the gate of the chute automatically doses. The tower continues to glide down the in¬ clined way through the water until it reaches the side of the ship, which is anchored fore and aft. and then by the throw of a lever, the platform of the tower being inclined, the whole load upon the platform is almost instantly deposited upon the ship, going down through suitable slides into the hold thereof. As soon as the discharge of the load tu':cs place, the counterbalancing cars begin to draw the tower inward again toward the shore, and thus the opera- tun. of moving the tower back and orth automatically,, and automatically loading and discharging itself, is car- ned on with the greatest success. It is said this railway operates even when ihe tea is extremely rough. It certainly is a bold endertaking, and reflects the greatest credit upon its constructor, Air. D. M. Alberto de Palacio. The platform carries for its load 100 tons of ore. It is said that 0 ,000 tons of ore per day can be put on shipboard by means of this appara- tu6, the total cost $18,000.—Panama Mar and Herald. A neat hat for a miss is pok( shaped leghorn with silk crown and , - . , . . ' wreathe Old Gabriel. Old Gabriel was one of the most re¬ markable characters on the coast. So far as can be learned by tradition, he was born about 1740; though there is no record of his birth, and even in the early days when California was still the roving ground of the Mission Indians, around whom so many romances have been built. Gabriel was too aged for the old men of the time to remember his childhood. A.s a venerable chief, who died a few years ago at the age of 115, put it, “Gabriel was an old man when the Indians of his age were still boys.” The storv of the old fellow’s life is interesting, chiefly on account of the length of years it covered, and not by reason of valorous deeds or relentless warfare. He was on the whole a peaceable creature’ ignorant and faith¬ ful. The story of his life has been hand¬ ed down among the Franciscan mis¬ sionaries, who came into California more than a century ago, and when Father Junipero arrived in M nferey in 1769 Gabriel, then a grandfather, was among the little band who receiv¬ ed him. The missionary took an in¬ terest in the man, who was at the time a strapping fellow of six feet and not long after baptized him and guided him into the Catholic faith, He worked for the Church, conscientiously continuing his devotions until a few years since, and one of tiic few things which during his last days brought back the old light in Gabriel’s dim eyes was the mention of Father Juni- pero’s name. It drew out from him in broken Spanish the story of Father Junipero’s first mass under a tree, : nd the build- ing of the Carmelo mission of adobe, its obliteration, and i*s reconstruction in stone, much of which was cut by old Gabriel’s own hands. His services were also demanded during the build¬ ing of the Soledad and San Antonio missions in 1791. From that time on his life seems to have been unusually quiet, and though Father Sorrentine made a search of the records and gathered together all the current stories of tiie remarkable fellow, little of a sensational nature ever came to light, though his great age was clearly established. Gabriel lived in Monterey for years, but toward the close of his career he was a familiar figure on the streets of Salinas, well- known for his love of bright colors, with which his clothes were patched from shoulder to sire. His personal habits were worthy a cultured white man, and to them no doubt, was due his long life. His food was of the simplest character and his practises a model of regularity. He paid particular attention to bathing, and, as old age and circumstances de¬ prived him of the means of attending to this custom, in lieu of his bath he scraped his skin with an old knife, thus keeping the pores open. There are some old residents of the county who well remember the sweatliouse that old Gabriel had on the bank of a creek where he lived many years ago and the persistency with which it was used. His memory up to about five or six years ago was very good and and was equal to what it had been for the fifty years preceding; but since that, and more particularly during the last two years, it gradually failed, as did his speech. The Indians all attribute Gabriel’s longevity to his having been the first to 6ubmit to the pviest > s baptism They looked upon him with great rev- erence, and even to white men he was a remarkable character, for had George Washington lived he would have been scarcely older, and in all modern his- tory there arc few such cases as that of the old, ignorant Mission Indian Gabriel.-San Francisco Chronicle. Art Medal for a Store, The latest recipient at the court of Constantinople of the Turkish “medal for «*” and of the Mejidich Order is mason who lately put up a Russian stove in the sultan's balace. The Sul- tan had fallen in love with the stove at the Russian consulate at Constanti- nople, and had a similar structure of brick and tiles ordered from Odessa. fhe Russian laborer who was sent xi itli it to put it up was a simple mou- jlk, but the sultan was so delighted a ,2S# ’ he C< “ The Difference. A smiling dame, * Unknown to fame, Yet saucy, sweet and and fair, Stood chattering to a girlhood's “flames, 5 ’ Mow gray, in beard and hair. He urged some plan. a And eager ran k ■v The gamut of its pleasures; As oft before, they scan A day of brimming measures. h i “If can go, . \ we Pray, let me know,” She said, “the hour of starting!' “How can I—let you—let you—let y«a know?” ( lUit/t hat in hand ) at parting, A rising sigh, A kindling eye; Vexation. ( though she hid it—') “When we were young”—she made reply, “You never asked—you did it!” HlMOROrS. Hearts are never really broken, but many a one has been fired with a • i bang.” Mepliisto (behind flic scenes)—Ha! what do I sec? Only four wreaths thrown on the siage, and I paid for five. A Paris milliner has made a ten- strike by teaching her parrot to say every time a fair client enters, “Oh, ain’t you just lovely!” Guest (helping himself pretty freely to the Cognac)—It is very peculiar. I never feel an appetite for dinner un- less I take a glass of Cognac after¬ wards. Husband—Can nothing dissuade you from your determination to go on the stage ? Wife—Nothing. 1 have already filed mv divorce papers, i * Well, I’m sure,” said Miss Passee as her poem was returned to her, “l don’t see why the editor returned it.” “Because you 6ent a stamped and directed envelope, my dear.” Mrs. Timothy Seed—I know that speckled hen is laying eggs every' day by the way she cackles, but I can’t find tbe nest. Air. Timothy Seed—Perhaps she has mislaid her eggs. Friend—Were you ever in Switzer¬ land, lieutenant? Pompous Lieutenant—I never have been there. If the people of Switzer¬ land really went to see me, let them come to Berlin. “Say, waiter, I reckon you’ve taken my order all wrong, I ordered a spring chicken and a bottle of ’71 claret. Here you’ve gone and brought me a 71 chicken and a bottle of spring claret.—Racket. Quite Tasteful—“Oh, Sophy! I hear you kissed Mr. Rondo, the poet, in the conservatory last night?” “Um-m- m!” “Tell me. What was it like?” ,‘YV ell, lie has a very pronounced liter¬ ary taste.—Punch. Weighed and Wanting.—Will—“I believe editors weigh carefully all manuscripts sent to them.” Bill (an author) “A es, in order to ascertain the amount of return postage neecs- gary.”—Yankee Blade. A Delicate Hint.—“Return my best thanks to your master, John, and tell him I am much flattered by his kind present of the game.” “ Y'essir—an’ supposin’ master arsks what you guv me for myself—what’ll I tell him, sir?” - Pick Ale Up. Student (to his friend)—See, yon- der comes old Air. N , who has helped to dry so many a tear. “ I lie dear, kind-hearted gentleman! And pray tell me how?” “He is a manufacturer of pocket- handkerchiefs.” Luring Him On.—Servant (at sweet gill s boudoir)—“Air. Xicefellow is in the parlor, miss.” Sweet girl (throw¬ ing down a novel)—“Horrors! And my hair is all down! Tell him he’ll li.ne to wait a little as I'm in the iitchen helping mother.”—Life. Hussle Pullman of Chicago had an oidcr for a parlor car the other day to le done in 48 hours, and he got it out. AVhat do you think of that? I iash Friend o’ mine in New York had 10 minutes to make a traiu in yes¬ terday, and he made it. Still at It. Dr. Brown-Sequard is still working away at his elixir of life, and he says that he will experiment until even the cynical American newspapers will ad¬ mit that he can take an old man of 7d and return him to y nth and bc*uty. W« shall all hope to be there.