Newspaper Page Text
There are more millionaires jn Pitts¬
burgh in proportion to its population
than in any other city in the world.
Professor Boone, of Indiana T ni-
versity, says that of 6500 theological
students in the United States less than
Diic-fourth are college graduates.
General Alger told a Seattle (Wash¬
ington) reporter the other day that the
Uni'ed States could raise an army oi
10,000,000 men within 60 days—“quite
sucffiient te lick the world.”
The subject of irrigation will be
covered in the next census. Few peo¬
ple realize that about two-liftlis of the
United States need irrigation to perfect
their crops. For the whole world it is
estimated that 800,000,000 people are
KUDMnrfad -from irritfat/'il Ian<I.
The indications now are that in a
very few years the island of Iceland
will be entirely depopulated. Her
emigration has been constantly increas¬
ing, and if is estimated that at least
20,000 people or one-third of the pop¬
ulation will leave this year.
1 The Boston Herald remarks that
“this is an age of immense inventions,
wonderful discoveries, unparalleled
luxury and city highways that would
disgrace a third-rate backwoods town.
No doubt the twentieth century will
pity us for our rough and dirty streets.”
Says the New York Witness:
Chauncev M. Depew, who compla¬
cently stood it while his picture did
service as that of a doctor of divinity,
a champion athlete and circus mana¬
ger, is beginning to feel that the line
ought to be drawn. The other day he
discovered in a Joliet (Ill.) newspaper
what he regardsas the best portrait of
him yet published, and underneath it
is the name of an absconding alderman
of that *own.
The spread of the demand on the
part of the workingmen for shorter
hours of labor is bringing some curi¬
ous facts to light, observes the San
Francisco Chronicle. Among those
protesting againBt long and poorly
paid hours of work are the gravedig¬
gers of Paris. They are officially em¬
ployed by the city and number 125.
Ten hours a day is their average labor,
aud they arc liable to be called up at
auy time of the night.
A Pennsylvania court has just made
a ruling that will interest many travel¬
lers. Some time ago a man boarded a
limited train at Erie, having only an
ordinary ticket. The conductor re¬
fused to accept the ticket and ejected
him. The man brought suit for dam¬
ages. The ease lias just been decided
against him, the court ruling that it
was his business to have found out if
tho train in question was the right
train before boarding it.
The natives of San Kemo and Men¬
tone, in Southern Italy, where so
many consumptives from other places
have spent their winters under medi¬
cal advice, are beginning to suffer
from the disease themselves,and twen¬
ty of tlie leading medical authorities-
of the district have taken 6teps look¬
ing to their better protection from in¬
fection from tuberculous microbes.
This will diminish the popularity of
the Iliviera district as a health resort.
The Arkansaw Traveler concludes
that “Insanity and suicide are rapidly
increasing in the United S ates. In¬
sanity is largely confined to the rich,
while the poor, as a Boston thinker ex¬
presses it, have the bulge on suicide.
In extreme alllueuce and in extreme
poverty He our greatest ills. The in¬
termediate state alone, promises hap¬
piness; but unfortunately to most
people, this intermediate state is like
three drinks to the toper—promises
greater happiness for continued indul¬
gence.”
The New York Sun 6avs that when
a man actually has rabies, he cannot be
cured by a madstone or anything else.
But Pasteur’s discovery that the in¬
oculation of attenuated rabid virus
will indefinitely check the onset of
fatal rabies is a boon to thousands.
Already the average mortality in
France in cases of persons bitten by
mad dogs has been lowered from fif¬
teen in\«ftiy to three per cent. Fortunately,
instances, the poisonous saliva
of a dog is wiped ofl' by the clothes of
the person bitten.
The Drovers’ Journal states mat
“tbe problem which Western farmers
now have to solve is how to pay seven
to nine per cent, interest out of
a five per cent, interest on their
crops.” _
From $80,000 to $100,000 worth of
nitrate of silver and gold is unavoid¬
ably wasted every year by photograph¬
ers in the United States in making the
millions of pictures. If this waste
could be saved the cost of pictures
would be greatly reduced.
Mrs. J. R. G. Pitkin, the wife of the
new Minister to the Argentine Repub¬
lic, describes Buenos Ayres as the
most extravagant and expensive city
in the world. Cottages rent for $30C
a month; tomatoes cost a gold dollar
apiece and everything else in propor¬
tion.
The climate of China is said to be
growing not only colder, but drier.
Animals and plants accustomed to hot,
moist regions are gradually retreating
southward. Two thousand years ago
the bamboo flourished in the forest of
North China, but it can no longer be
found there.
George While, a New Jersey man,
circulated the story that a house in
Elizabeth was haunted, claiming to
have heard spooks roaming about and
to have 6een skeletons dancing, and,
according to the Detroit Free Press,
the owner hauled him into court, got
$300 damages and had him sent to jail
for three months besides.
The Detroit Free Press asserts that
a photographic group of fourteen of
the officials of Blackwell’s Island was
compared, point by point, with a like
group of fourteen average prisoners,
and the per cent, in favor of the pri¬
soners was 50. This was on facial
expression, showing intelligence,
frankness, honesty, etc.
No postage is collected on the official
mail matter of the Government, but
the Postmaster General has recently
been keeping an account, states the
Cincinnati Enquirer, to ascertain how
much the postage would amount to if
this matter paid the same rate as other
matter of the same class. It has been
ascertained that it would cost the Gov¬
ernment over $1,000,000 a year.
The bull fight, is the latent Parisian
fad, but there is small prospect that
this Spanish diversion will retain its
popularity in tho French capital, It
takes long training to bring any people
to appreciate this brutal sport. The
French have no relish for brutality,
and brutality is as vital a part of a
bull light as of a prize-ring contest,
and the esthetic Parisians cannot elimi¬
nate it.
The Zoological park in Washington,
for which ground has already been
broken, will be the largest “zoo” in
the world. It will be situated on
Ilock creek, which runs between
Georgetown and Washington, and wili
be a splendid addition to the attractions
of Washington. Tlie first idea was to
make it, strictly speaking, a Govern¬
ment enterprise; but afterward, in a
freak of economy, the Douse concluded
to make tlie District of Columbia pay
one-half.
“If present naval plans are carried
out,” declares Goodall’s Sun, “within
five years the United States will pos¬
sess the second strongest navy in the
world. Now that the question of the
disarmament of Europe is subject of
discussion among the ablest minds of
the world, it is a question whether it
is good policy for us to build up such
a navy. At the same time European
governments are rapidly increasing
their force. Germany proposes to add
fifty-four batteries to its field artillery'.
Tlie Boston Transcript’s gossiper
suggests that the fashion in women’s
names changes every ten of fifteen
years. For instance, he says, the
Nancy epoch occurred early in the
present century. Then came the Mar¬
tha Jane, Mary Ann and Ann Eliza
epochs in the order named, the Mary
Jane epoch dominating the other
two. The Lucy epoch began about
1835, after which came the Helen, the
Ida and the Ella epochs. After these,
Edith, Maud and Mabel reigned until
they were displaced by the brood of
names to which the affix “ie” can be
attached, which are now in vogue.
A MODERN MIRACLE.
A BLIND DEAF AND DUMB GlKL
LEARNS TO TALK.
Tlie Story of Her Acquiring the Power
of Speech.
Little Helen Keller, the blind deaf
mute of Tuscuinbia, Ala., who
has for several months been an inmate
of the Perkins Institute for the Blind
at South Boston, Mass., has acquired
the power of speech. She was the
counterpart of Laura Bridgman, and
scientific men throughout this country
and in other countries have been deeply
interested in her case. She was quick
to learn, and the acuteness of her re¬
maining senses, especially that of
touch, was brought to perfection by
constant practice. The quickness with
which Helen Keller has always im¬
bibed knowledge seems little less than
a miracle.
No child in the full possession of
her faculties ever made such quick
strides, it is said, and what 6he learned
she retained. In one year she ac¬
quired a vocabulary of 1,500 words,
tbe average vocabulary being from
1,200 to 1,400 words, even of those
■who can see. She recognises her
friends as soon as she comes in con
tact with them, either with their hands
or dress, and not the faintest oder
escapes her. She is passionately fond
of music and dancing. She is made
aware of the former by the vibrations
of the floor, and of the latter by feel¬
ing the motions of the feet and the
bending of the knees of her partner.
Her vocabulary has now increased to
over three thousand w r ords, which she
can spell without a mistake and employ
accurately in composition. “I must
learn many things,” is one of her
favorite expressions, and she has ac¬
quired a knowledge of French, Ger¬
man, Latin and Greek that is remark¬
able under tlie circumstances.
Now come3 the most wonderful
event of her history. Helen has
known for a long time that other peo¬
ple spoke, and has been very eager to
learn to talk herself. For instance,
she had tried to say papa and mamma,
accenting the first syllable. She had
tried this by placing her hand on her
teacher’s throat and lips, getting'the
motion of them and duplicating it.
The knowledge that people who were
deaf could speak has been coming to
her gradually ever since last October,
but it was not until she heard the story
of a child in Norway who was deaf
and dumb and blind, and who, it was
said, had learned to talk, that she real¬
ly felt that she could learn. She be¬
gan to make sounds, but they were
quite unpleasant, and did not really
constitute talk. Miss Fuller, principal
of the Horace Mann school, and Miss
Annie M. Sullivan, who has been
Helen’s instructor the past few years,
have been tireless in their efforts to
cultivate Helen's power of speech, and
this is how they -went to work to do it:
Miss Sullivan explained by the sign
language how the little one should
place her tongue so as to produce cer¬
tain sounds which formed words.
“Papa” and “mamma” were the first
words she learned. She would place
her little hand over her teacher’s
mouth, and in that way became ac¬
quainted with the lip movements.
Then she learned the words “is” and
“it,” and in these four words she had
the sounds of m, p, a, i, 6, and t,
which she could combine into a great
many letters.
Little Helen was interviewed by a
Boston Journal reporter, and for the
first time in her life talked with a
stranger. Her first question, addressed
to her teacher, was: “Who is your
company?” To be sure, tlie tone was
a trifle guttural, and there was a slight
pause after each word; but the tone
was not especially disagreeable, and
the enunciation was sufficiently dis¬
tinct to be understood. “Where
does he live?” was the next question,
and this, too, was very intelligible.
As the conversation progressed. Helen
seemed to speak with more ease and
confidence. Occasionally, if she found
difficulty iu enunciating a word or
syllable, she would touch her teacher’s
throat and lips with her fingers to get
the motion, and then the difficulty
would disappear.
Some of tbe sentences which she
uttered with surprising clearness,
under the circumstances, were these:
“I am learning to speak.” “Can you
understand me?” “My *mother will
surprised to hear me speak. ’
be so
“I am going to learn to make my voice
sweet.” “I am going Lome in June.”
“That will be very soon.” “I shall
talk to iny dear little sister, and my
parents and brothers and all.”
The simple sentences coming from
Helen Killer's mouth are evidences of
one of the greatest of modern mira¬
cles. There is no such case as her’s
in this country, and but one other has
been heard of in the world.—[New
York Sun.
Figures Marvelously Like Life.
M. George Bertrand, a talented
painter, a pupil of M. Bounat, who
some years ago exhibited a large pic¬
ture called “Patrie,” which had a great
success, has given up painting in or¬
der to devote his attention exclusively
to the construction of life-size pup¬
pets, which are so jointed as to exe¬
cute movements of the most surpris¬
ing kind. The Figaro newspaper,
which has taken the invention under
its patronage, brought together in
Paris an influential audience to sec and
hear the first representation. The fig¬
ures produce a striking effect on the
spectator, who might imagine them to
be the characters in a tale of Hoffman
taking form and life. A violoncellist
plays an air full of sentiment and spir¬
it; four dancers, carefully dressed af¬
ter the fashion of the opera, execute a
ballet. A clown plays with artistic
skill on the violin, and a Spanish
couple—the male dancer with tam¬
bourine a-.id his partner with castanets
go through the most varied Spanish
dances to the tune of the Espaua of
Chabrier.
The movements, the gestures, even
the expression of the faces are mar¬
velously life-like. The exhibition was
most successful.— [London Times.
Longevity of Birds.
The swan is the longest-lived bird,
and it is asserted that it has reached
the age of 100 years. Knauer, in hig
work entitled “Naturhistoriker,” states
that he lias seen a falcon that was 162
years old. The following examples
are cited as to the longevity of the
eagle and vulture: A sea eagle cap¬
tured in 1715, and already several
years of age, died 104 years after¬
ward, in 1819; a white-headed vul¬
ture, captured in 1706, died in 1826,
in one of the aviaries of Schoenbrunn
Castle, near Vienna, where it had
passed 118 years in captivity. Pare-*
quets and ravens reach an age of over
100 years. The life of sea and marsh
birds sometimes equals that of several
human generations. Like many other
birds, magpies live to be very old in a
state of freedom, but do not reach
over twenty or twenty-three years in
captivity, and the blackbird fifteen.
Canary birds reach an age of from
twelve to fifteen years in the cage,
but those flying at liberty in their
native islands reach a much more ad¬
vanced age.— [Brooklyn Citizen.
The Count’s Bracelet.
Tlie handsome gold link bracelet
which the Countess Pappenheim gave
to her husband as a souvenir of their
engagement day, which occurred on
Lord Cromaties’ yacht last August,
has never been taken off since it was
put on by her fair hands, and the
Count says it never will. The chain
is a massive one, nearly as large as a
man’s thumb, and has a beautiful un¬
cut sapphire on it. The date of the
engagement and the name of the yacht
are inscribed upon it. The chain is
very long, extending around the
Count’s wrist twice, and is fastened by
a small gold locket, in which the
sapphire is set. Tlie Count wears it
on his left wrist, and when the arm is
raised it is clearly visible, lie is fond
of showing it to his friends and always
speaks touchingly of the romantic in¬
cident associated with it. He once
said to a friend that he would rather
lose the arm than the souvenir ou it.—
[Philadelphia Record.
Used to Boughing- It.
Foreign Visitor—“Don’t you think
tie L nited States should have a great
m.vy, to cope with the battle-ships of
other powers in case of war?”
American—“lluh! With one half
tilt country annually 6wept by floods
anc the other half continually being
kicked up by cyclones, what would we
carefor a mere bombardment ?”— [New
York Weekly-
The Transformation.
When Love was young it asked for win u
That it might still be roaming;
And away it sped, by fancy led.
Through dawn and noon and glo-unin &
Each daintiness that b'ooms and blows
It wooed in honeyed meter.
And when it won the sweetest sweet,
Away it flew to a sweeter;
When Love was young.
When Love was old it craved for rest,
For home and hearth and heaven;
For qu^-t talks round sheltered walks
And Jong lawns smoothly shaven.
And what Love sought at la3t it found
A roof, a porch, a garden,
And troma fond, unquestioning heart,
Peace, sympathy and pardon;
When Love was old.
—[Austin Dobson, in the London Globe.
HUMOROUS.
Grate results—Cinders.
Men of note—Opera singers.
A minor consideration—A boy.
Parlor matches—Home weddings.
Slow matches—Long engagement!.
The paperhanger makes money J
going to the wali.
A crowbar 100 years old is just
prv as it ever was.
The man who is in love with himsd
usually has no rivals.
A flat refusal—“We never let on
rooms to large families.”
Curious. There are no counts ijl
this country and yet every man countil
Well, I’ll be biowed—remarked tttj
bass horn, as the band began to plavl
When a barrel is full it usually will gel
bunged up. And this is the case
a man. I
He—Darling, will you love whea
I’m gone? She—Yes, if you are m
too far gone.” I
Dolly—Have you ever seen a mistlj
toe bow ?” Cumso—No; but I've seel
a peanut 6taud.” I
Turkeys are the most innocent cfl
birds. The most silly woman in ttJ
world can stuff one. 1
“Wliat a glorious world this woull
be if people lived up to the epitaptl
on their tombstones! I
How many things there are to iaugil
at in this world to the girl who hafl
pretty teeth and dimples. I
“Is your adversary a polish*
speaker?” “No, but he will be wbel
I get through with him.” I
The way successful flirts treat the*
victims—First they angle, then entail
gle, and lastly dangle them. I
It is strange to see a man buttoni*
his coat up to his chin on a cold da*
when the garment is a chinchilla. I
Giles—What’s the advantage <*
writing poetry iu dialect? Tubbs*
You can spell your words to suit yoi*
rhymes. I
Young Brindle—Pa, can’t I have®
flannel shirt like yours? Mr. Brin®
(speaking from experience)—My sofl
you may have this after it’s washed.!
“Maria, dear,” said the fond nw®
er, “the postman asked me tod®
whether you wouldn't use some otb^
perfume on your letters, Viol
doesn’t agree with him.”
“ Ah!” exclaimed Mrs. Bascom, I
the fragrance of the spring mornil
was borne to her nostrils through tj
open window, “how grateful i» i
odor of the earth to the oil-fact^
nerves.”
“Why, Tommy, you’re not at “I
jam again, and only spanked for it i
hour ago?” “Yes, mar; I heard }A
tell auntie you thought you
whipped me too bard, aud I though
Pd even things up.”
An Elephant’s Self-Denial.
'While in England Captain Mari? 1
the novelist, was intensley interest
in tiie devotion and self-denial °-
huge elephant. The beast was defc 3
ing himself from swarms of mos? 1
toes, using a large branch to keeptw
from the crannies and cracks of
thick hide. His persecutors were eviuj sj
annoying him greatly, as was
from his motion?, when his keep<^ This
peared with a little child,
laid down before the animal, sayi*
“Watch it!” and walked away. ^
elephant immediately broke off a - 0 ]
whisk from the large bough, an<M
stead of fanning himself, directed!
attention to driving away every A
quite from the infant. ’ He contioj W|
this until the keeper returned two
after, thus setting, though a bru^l
example of devotion which fe^ 1
would have intimated.