Newspaper Page Text
ouhEn mastero.
A Dashing Abyssinian Leader of
3000 Cavalry Troops.
HOW She Avenged An Attack
Upon Her Son.
There js something peculiarly ap-
propi iate in the fact that the leading
general and vassal sovereign of the
Emperor of Abyssinia, who claims to
he able to trace her descent in an un-
broken line to the Biblical Queen of
Sheba, should be a woman. The lady
is Queen Jostero Mastero, and she
commands the magnificent Galla cav¬
alry division of Menelek’s army. A
member of the warlike Galla nation,
she first became connected with the
Abyssinian Empire in a rather peculiar
manner in 1887.
It was just about that time that Prince
Area Selassie, the only son and heir-
apparent of the late Negus Johannes,
was sojourning with his tutor and
mentor General, or “Ras,” Michael,
in the town of Sulul, ou the Gallo-
Abyssinian border, v/here he happened
to form a friendship for the only son
of the Galla Queen. On one memorable
day, when a fair was being held in
file town, the two young Princes
amused themselves by performing
divers feats of equestrianism, among
others that known as tent-pegging, in
which the rider transfixes with his
Jance a tent-peg stuck in the ground
while dashing past at full gallop.
The young son of the Galla Queen
greatly excelled in this particular sort
of sport and left Prince Area Selassie
far behind. The latter goaded to fury
by the jeers which his frequent fail¬
ures to touch the peg excited among
the on-lookers in the market-place, at
length ended by drawing his revolvers
ami firing point-blank at the Queen’s
son, who only escaped with his life
anil sustained several serious wounds.
On becoming aware of the treat-
ment to which her boy had been sub-
jected, the Galla Queen became greatly
enraged, and vowed vengeance. She
immediately caused the tam-tam to be
sounded, and having summoned a body
of-3000 cavalry to arms, placed herself
at their head, .md three days later iu.
flirted such a lesson on the arrogant
Prince Area as he was not likely to
forget. Three hundred of his follow¬
ers and adherents were massacred in
cold blood by her mounted warriors,
and the young Imperial Prince was
subjected to most ignominious treat¬
ment before being allowed by the
Queen to take his departure from the
district.
Curiously enough, his father, the
frantic old Negus John, instead of
taking steps to punish the good lady
for her conduct toward the imperial
lad. determined to win her over to his
side. He was shrewd enough lo real¬
ize that such a dashing cavalry general
would be more preferable as friend
than as foe. He therefore lost no
time in contracting au offensive and
defensive alliance with her, almost
overwhelmed her with honors, pres-
ents and dignities, and finally intrust-
ed her with the command of his mag¬
nificent cavalry, which is recruited
mainly from the members of the Galla
Mbe, which is renowned throughout
l!ie w °rid for its superb equestrianism
a >id for its perfect physique.
L na- at the head of the imperial
i uairy that she took part in the 1888
campaign against the Italians, and it is
she wh< was held responsible for the
terrible massacre of the Arab and
riiiv-thinan inhabitants of the district
Aitet, who were rightly or wrongly
suspected of entertaining sympathies
L>r the Italians.
Emperor John was subsequently
fieuied to death by the Soudanese der-
ii'hc' in the battle of Etemmeh, his
03 y son having come to untimely
an
Cn 50,ne months previously by
of poison, which is believed to
ia 'i been administered by one of the
l>5' | I)( the ipal Galla officers of the herself', armv, possibly
therefore Queen She has
given her allegiance to the
" Emperor or Negus, Menelek, and
)!1 t Hu ted not only one of the most
picturesque but also the most iropor-
ant feature of the army with which
. t.iiopian monarch marched toward
A, , *owah.
Although no longer young, her ap-
pearariee is asserted to have retained a
certain number of charms, among
“ ■* may be included
a most com-
mamiiug an,* implosive carriage and
presence. Her apparel is magnificent,
according to Abyssinian notions, and
lier wrists, throat and hair are decked
with gold amulets and jewels, She
is always splendidly mounted on a
horse, which she rides astride, man-
fashion, and which she manages with
marvellous skill.—[New York Journal.
11 heat Field Insurance.
The fact that it never rains in Cali¬
fornia except when it rains is gener¬
al 1\ known throughout the country as
one characteristic of the Golden State.
Lilt just why these long annual
drouths occur is not so generally
known. As the meteorological condi¬
tions which produce the long, rainless
summers are set forth in the encyclo¬
pedias it is not my purpose to explain
them. But some of the effects of this
state of affairs will not be without in¬
terest, to Eastern farmers at least.
lo say that except where irrigation
is practiced the fields become dried up
sand banks is but to relate what every
one might expect. But the resulting
dangers from field fires arid the prac-
tice of insuring the grain in the field
against loss from fires are features of
the country which are novel, Grain
insurance has come to be an extensive
branch of business and has some inter¬
esting features,
The basis of valuation is figured at
so many pounds of grain to the acre,
and is insured at one cent per pound
upon the estimated yield. The premi-
urns are at the rate of one and one-half
cents on the dollar of insurance, and it
continues in force for three months.
This is figured as sufficient time to al
low the grain to ripen and be harvest¬
ed after it becomes dry enough to burn
in the fields. If a farmer writes in¬
surance on the three months’ basis,but
gets his grain in the warehouse before
the time expires, he is entitled to a re¬
bate or drawback on his premiums.
When the grain is stored in ware¬
houses it is then insurable on another
basis. The soliciting insurance agent
gets a commission of 20 per cent, of
the premiums.
To keep track of such a large num-
her of short time policies requires au
army of clerks. The salaries of these
clerks, together with the commission*
of agents and the profits of the com¬
panies, which are usually large, al
come down and constitute a heavy tax
on the farming community. When
therefore we eat hot cakes made from
California wheat, and compute from
the cost to the consumer what the
profits of the farmer are, we must not
overlook the army which intervenes
between the horny handed tillers of
the soil and our breakfast cakes.
Nature seems to have conspired with
the speculative spirit of men in this
case. — [New York Press.
“Snake Editors.”
Observes the Chicago Inter-Ocean:
“The New York papers now all keep
‘snake editors.’ The World’s snake
editor gave a desperate account of a
rattlesnake which winked. But rattle¬
snakes have no eyelids. Another
fearful account told of a black snake
which stuck its fangs into a farm
hand. But black snakes have no
fangs. Still another describes an
enormous bull snake going up a tree,
spirally, a thing which no snake was
ever known to do, although all snakes
are represented in picture books as
doing it.
“The Sun doesn't give as much at¬
tention to snakes as formerly, for it is
now devoting itself to the hog, hut on
Sunday it had a blood-curdling ac¬
count of a monstir snake which had
taken refuge under a man’s porch in
Pennsylvania somewhere, and robbed
his kitchen every day for six months.
Now, here was a snake that had to
have his three meals a day, whereas if
the snake editor had known his busi-
ness lie would have understood that
snakes are slightly irregular at their
feeding, and when they have taken a
good meal go into the digestive busi¬
ness, which lasts, according to the size
of the snake, from three days to two
weeks. So it seems as if the New
York editors arc a little off on snakes.”
An Unsatisfactory Miniature.
Count de Geese—Do you caii that a
good portrait of me? Why, that is
the face of a dead beat 1
Miniature Painter (calmly)—In¬
deed? Then, sir, you will have to pay
for it in advance.—[Jewelers’ Week-
ly.
FOR FARM AND GARDEN.
TOTATOES A GOOD, ALL-ROUND CROP.
Take one year with another, pota¬
toes arc as profitable a crop as fsfrmers
can grow, provided the soil and con¬
ditions are favorable. More often
than with any other crop they yield
extreme profits, thus frequently lead¬
ing to excessive planting and conse¬
quent glut in the market. But even
in these unfavorable seasons those who
have been able to secure heavy crops
can almost always sell at a good price
some time duting the year. We have
often known potatoes to remain very
cheap through fall and winter, and
suddenly become dear as planting time
approached, or after planting and
before the new crop came into mar¬
ket.—[Courier Journal.
SUGAR-BEETS FOR HOGS.
During August and September the
pastures are dry, and some kind of
green, succulent food is greatly rel¬
ished by pigs and stock hogs. If a bed
of beets is near the pasture, where
they can be puhed and thrown over
the fence every day, the good effect
can be noticed. Where the rows are
cultivated with corn plows, they should
be at least three feet apart, and sown
very early in the spring, so. that a good
start may be made before dry weather
comes. • *.
Care must be exercised to keep
ahead of the weeds by raking the
ground frequently—before they hard¬
ly appear, in fact—or a great amount
of work will be necessary to get the
ground clean. All the catalogues give
the names of the different sorts and the
proper quantity of seed per acre. Any
that are not used in the fall can be
pitted and used in early spring when
they are needed. Mangels yield rather
more tons to the acre, but are not as
profitable for swine as the sugar-beets
are. If used at all, mangels must be
fed sparingly and in connection with
other food, or serious results may en¬
sue.— [American Agriculturist.
IMPORTANT POINTS IN POULTRY REARING.
In a report from the experiment
farm, Ottawa, Canada, attention is
called to the following points:
1. Make hens lay when eggs are
dearest.
2. Breed stock when egg3 are
cheap.
3. Keep a non-sitting breed to lay
when sitters are hatching, and pay ex¬
penses of the latter.
4. Breed as many chickens as pos¬
sible and as early as possible. They
all represent so much money.
5. Keep all the puilets. They are
worth $2 each as prospective early
winter layers. all
6. Kill or otherwise disjiose of
hens after three years of age.
7. Breed the best flesh-formers for
market. Feed them up to as great a
weight as possible.
8. Well fattened, well dressed
poultry will bring the best prices from
the best customers.
9. If not accustomed to poultry,
begin with a small number. Learn to
make a success of the few, then go on
with a larger number.
10. Do not neglect the little essen¬
tials to success, such as lime, gravel,
meat, plenty of clean water, green
food, dust bath, etc., regularly sup¬
plied to layers.
GIVING MEDICINES.
Every fanner and horse owner in
the country where the veterinarian is
not accessible should knowhow to give
sick animals simple remedies, and
such medicines as the doctor pre¬
scribes. Ordinary fluid medicines
may be given from a common, thick,
strong bottle. The animal should be
backed against the corner of the stall-
the head raised just high enough to
enable the animal to swallow com-
fortablv. A little practice will en¬
able the operator to perform this as
well as any othei dexterous ai t. Gen-
tie firmness and patience will be nee-
e3sarv.
If the fluid or ball be placed well
back in the month so that the tongue
can not expel the medicines, and the
head and nose held at sufficient height
so that the fluid will run down by the
natural law s of gravitation,the feat will
>e readily accomplished. Self reliance
is an important factor in every voca¬
tion, and tact will follow thoughtful
practice. To intelligently wall, and
to do, are essential to every successful
human effort. The ball is held be-
tween the first and middle finger, and
the hand thus made long and narrow
so as to reach well back.—[American
Agriculturist.
SET ALT. HORSES WEAR SHOES?
This old question comes up fresh
each year, anti most writers seem to
forget that it is largely a matter of lo¬
cality. Where there are no turnpikes
most horses may go barefoot the en¬
tire year, but where, as in southwest¬
ern Ohio, limestone gravel is abund¬
ant, and every road coated with it, not
one unshod horse in a thousand can
stand a week’s work barefooted, and
when the roads are sloppy so as to keep
the hoof soft, the sand and gravel will
very soon scour it to the quick when
drawing a heavy load.
I have seen hoofs worn in one day’s
work so that the horse could scarcely
walk the next day. Something may
be done to give the horse hoofs of
good shape by trimming them when
he is a colt, if need be, and by keep¬
ing him on an earth floor, rather than
on plank, but on a gravel road that
often wears an iron shoe as thin as a
wafer in less than ninety days, it is
impossible to work a horse long bare¬
footed.— [New York Tribune.
TIIE VIRTUE IN SALT. 1
There is virtue in salt, although
many persons will persistently assure
us that it is not a plant food and not a
fertilizer. Plant food is understood
by the simple minded man to be some¬
thing or anything that is taken in by
plants and of which the evidences are
found in tho plants. While, in an
analysis of the plant, no mention will
be found of salt, yet the elements of
which salt consists, viz., soda and
chlorine, arc found in all plants more
or less, and in some these exist in con¬
siderable quantity.
Thus in the ash of meadow hay there
is eight pfer cent, of chlorine and seven
per cent, of soda; in the ash of beets
there is eleven and one-quarter per
cent, of chlorine and twenty-one per
cent, of soda, and every experienced
root grower knows how useful COO
pounds of salt per acre always is to
this crop. Consequently salt is a
plant food and necessarily a fertilizer.
BUI it has bcCti said mat salt cannot
be of use on lands near the sea because
the rains must bring up salt in suffi¬
cient quantity for the supply of plants.
But this is not at all satisfactory,
and just as lime is found useful on
soils having abundance of limestone in
them, so salt has been found very use¬
ful on farms in sight of the sea. The
fact is that salt is a valuable fertilizer
for several crops, as grass, oats, roots,
cabbages, clover, wheat and barley,
and that farmers who use it liberally
have been quite satisfied with the re¬
sults should be taken as of more im¬
portance than the belief of other per¬
sons who have never tried it.—[New
York Times.
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
Don’t push men and teams at mid¬
day.
Never litigate when you can arbi¬
trate.
Give the fish a rest while you’re
busy.
Keep newly-set trees well watered,
so the moisture will reach the roots.
Now is the time to breed sows for
fall pigs and cows for spring calves.
Cut timothy just above the bulb or
bottom joint. The stump will not dry
up so quick.
Wholesome food, pure air and clean
water are the three most potent pre-
ventatives of disease.
A ventilator put through the centre
of a stack, rick or mow will decrease
the liability to spoil.
In trimming, cut off’ all limbs that,
cross each other. Leave only what
grow upward and outward.
It makes a difference in the results
whether you manure a field of weeds
or a field of grass or clover.
It is a good idea to clean out your
g rauarv an( j fumigate it every year,
to destroy insects and their eggs.
The man slow to appreciate that
“thereby hangs a tail” will realize it
when he milks a cow in fly time.
Rub off the sprouts when young and
tender. It will save severe and more
laborious trimmings in the future.
She Recovered.
"Wife (who is always ailing)—“You
will bury me by the side of my first
husband, won’t you John?”
Husband — “With pleasure, my
dear.”—[Epoch.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Large ice-fields have been discovered
on the planet Mars.
A new metal, which will melt at a
temperature of 150 degress, has just
been discovered.
The Zalinski dynamite gun intended
for army use has recently succeeded in
throwing a projectile three miles.
In England and Wales, from 1852 to
1880, the average annua! death rate
from lightning was considerably be¬
low one per million of population.
The photographic telephone is the
latest invention in England. While
you are using the telephone you see
the speaker at the other end of the
wire.
When an infant first acquires the
movement involved in walking tho
brain is severely taxed, but after
walking has become automatic the
brain takes no part in it.
It has been suggested that the phon¬
ograph shall be used as a cash regis¬
ter. Every sum the cashier receives
might be called in the phonograph, and
there recorded as a check on the ac¬
counts.
A queer English invention for use
in warfare is a “smoke rocket” to bo
used to screen the advance of a body
of troops, by throwing smoke in the
enemy’s eyes, as it were. It is pro¬
nounced a success.
According to carefully prepared sta¬
tistics, the people of this country are
longer lived than those of Europe.
Hero eighteen persons out of every
1000 die each year, in England the av¬
erage is twenty, and in Germany it is
twenty-six.
In a water telephone recently pat¬
ented in England the apparatus em¬
ployed for the collection of sound
transmitted through water between
ships has been improved by con¬
structing apparatus so that any pres¬
sure caused by the increased density
of the water has no effect upon it.
French engineers are now occupied
in working out a novel idea. They
propose to utilize water courses as a
railway motive power. The track is
to be lai<J on an embankment in the
middle Jx “ the current, ami the loco¬
.
motive is to have two paddle wheels
dipping into the water and revolved
by it.
When strychniue is administered,
sponges suffer from cramp, and when
cocaine is given, they suffer from leth¬
argy. As these poisons, in the higher
animals, act indirectly on the muscles
through the nerves, it seems not with¬
out warrant to suppose that sponges
also have nerve cells, which cause mus¬
cular contraction.
M. Eiffel is now utilizing his famous
tower in Paris and a balloon for aerial
telegraph purposes by night. It is in¬
tended to ascertain by the experiments
at what distance the lights on the tower
can be perceived from a balloon, and
to what height from the summit of the
tower an aerostat can be seen and com¬
municated with by signals.
One of the most beneficial ways of
purifying rooms in which the atmos¬
phere is especially liable to vitiation, is
to produce ozone by electrical sparks,
and the practice has been strongly
recommended by the highest medical
authorities. The delightful freshness
and vigor which is perceptible in the
air after a series of sparks from an
ordinary influence machine is a proof
of the salutary and refreshing influence
produced. A physician in Philadel¬
phia has taken a very wise step in tho
introduction of a small electric machine
for the production of ozone. It is in
a compact form, operated by a small
battery, and can be conveniently car¬
ried. There is said to be a large de¬
mand fertile machine for purifying
the sick rooms of private patients.
Rarity of the Cormorant.
It seems rather strange that., while
skins and eggs of the great auk are so
highly valued, the public rarely hear
of Pallas’ cormorant, the extinction of
which in the North Pacific corresponds
to that of the great auk in the North
Atlantic. Only four specimens of Pal¬
las’ cormorant are known to exist in
museums: no one possesses its eggs,
and no bones were found or preserved
until Mr. Leonard Stejneger of the
Smithsonian Institution was so fortu¬
nate some years ago as to rescue a few
of them. Yet this bird was the larg.
eat and handsomest of its tribe.—
(Picayune.