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the mistletoe bough.
Singular Notion* Concerning It" Origin
The oak
mystic tree, and to injure one wasi consl
ered an act of sacrilege, the- W survival
*7u. arnressed in the saying that
An in-
XfttSl * t •Mr ±
rtown of an oak, to which the
rt c &“io^d^U^ M Th.
„ became lame, two others each lost
’* 0 ' «hije the man who out down the
an eye,
tree broke his W- _
But all legend does not give the oak as
the first home of the mistletoe. There were
those who believed that It was the forbid
den tree in the midst of the garden of" Eden,
the tree of the “knowledge of good and
evil,“ white still others claimed that it
was once a forest tree, but the cross having
been made of its wood it has since the
crucifixion been only a parasite. Just
why it has been eoolesiastlcally excom
municated and excluded from church dec
orations it is difficult to say. There is an
instance on record of its having onoe been
taken in procession to the high altar of
York cathedral, but Immediately taken
out again, whereupon a general indulg
ence and pardon of sins was given at the
city gates. Another instance is on record
of its having onoe been found among the
decorations of an English church, bpt by
order of the clergyman Immediately taken
down.
* Where and when the custom of kissing
under the mistletoe originated is also un
certain. Some authorities <?lalm that the
mistletbe was not excluded from the early
church decorations, and that at a certain
part In the service the people were allowed
to embrace and kiss each other, but that
this custom became so boisterous a demon
stration that it was abandoned, the mistle
toe, which seems to have been in some
way connected with it, being then and
there excommunicated. We find the pres
ent custom first in the kitchens of great
housiM, where the mistletoe was hung at
Christmas, and woo to the maid who did
not get a kiss beneath it. For one thing,
she was doomed to remain single for that
year at least. Won altos to thol. man who
refused or forgot the ? request of the maid
to furnish holly and ivy for the decora
tions of the house. He was debarred from
the privileges of the mistletoe. It was
long customary, too, to pluck a leaf or
berry after every kiss.
But a more picturesque setting to this
custom of “kissing under the mistletoe”
is that furnished by the Scandinavian leg
end. According to that, at the request of
the gods and goddesses, Balder, after his
death by the mistletoe arrow, was restored
to life, while the mistletoe Itself was given
Into the- keeping of his mother, Frlgga,
who was the Scandinavian Venus, the
goddess of loVe. But her power over it
lasted only as long as it did not touch the
earth, Loki’s dominion, and she decreed
that every one who passed under it as it
hung aloft should receive a kiss to prove
that It was the emblem of love and not of
death. We can see in this also the proba
ble origin of the idea that if mistletoe is
dropped or placed on the ground misfor
tune will follow.
The song of the “Mistletoe Bough,”
familiar to all, has doubtless done much
to keep alive the old custom. At the pres
ent time, however, the mistletoe is rarely
found on the oak in England, and is so
scarce that the “kissing bunch,” a bunch
of evergreens, ornamented with oranges
and ribbons, has taken its place. In this
country, on the contrary, the plant, with
its dainty white berries, is a menace to the
life of thousands of oaks used for shade
and ornamental purposes, and hundreds
of dollars are spent yearly for its destruc
tion in order to preserve the life of the
tree from which it gets its own life and
nourishment. When this is going on in a
southern town, Jn passing along an av
enue of oaks, one literally walks on a car
pet of mistletoe, and as the dainty berries
crack under the feet there comes a feeling
—is it Inherited!—that one is almost com
mitting an act of sacrilege to thus tread
upon the “curer of all Ills.”—New York
Post.
Knows His Bible by Heart.
“While visiting an old friend on the
Tennessee river, near where Shannon’s
creek empties Into the larger stream, not
long since,” said a country minister, “I
saw a negro lad of 19 who fs'as great a
wonder to me as Helen Keller, the world
famous blind girl and deaf mute. He
Ilves in a typical Kentucky backwoods
community and has had no advantages.
My friend asked me if I would like to see
the youth, and I assured him I would. We
went to the child’s home, if the little hut
might be termed home, and before I left
It I had opened my eyes wide In astonish
ment. The boy was born deaf and blind
and with one arm. He was for years,
while a mere tot, called ‘the freak’ by the
negroes, who unfeelingly poked fun at the
unfortunate.. This child was given a raised
letter Bible by an old nomadic missionary
who happened to see the pickaninny white
preaching to the negroes, and from it the
boy learned every chapter In the Bible.
He can quote any verse in the Scriptures
and do it quickly. He spends every hour
of his time in studying God’s word and
says he is going to teach the blind chil
dren of his race. The lad’s name is Harry
William Balaam Freeman, and he is a
good looking mulatto. lam going to.get
some friends of mine to join me in a col
lection to be sent the boy to further his
studies. His mother works in the field,
and bis father is a steamboat roustabout.”
—Louisville Post. « •
"Coin” Harvey.
William Hope ("Coin”) Harvey lectured
in Baltimore the other evening. He has
6 recently turned over to the new political
order, the Patriots of America, the entire
assets of the Coin Publishing company of
Chicago, which he owned, and the value
of which was estimated at about 828,000.
The organization is now in complete con
trol of this company, although Mr. Harvey
still has a hand in its management. With
the Coin company went the copyrights of
all of Mr. Harvey’s works and about 70,-
000 volumes. . i . J? . . v'
Slight Bnror.
1 “I’m very sorry, Mr. Peck,” said the
editor, “that in giving our account cf
your silver wedding wo should have said
you had been ‘tarried’ 26 yean. Os
course wo meant to say •married.’ 1 ’
“Ob,” answered Mr. N. Peck, “I guess
A Moslem Grave.
When once filled in, a Moslem grave Is
never reopened on any account. To re
move the faintest chance of its being thus
defiled a cypress tree is planted after every
interment, so that the cemeteries resemble
forests more than anything else.
MADE IN MAINE.’
tasresting Vacta About th. Gaareto W
• Spool* and Shoo pegs.
“Oxford county, Me., turns out near
ly all the spools on which the sewing
thread of this country is wound, ” said
a wholesale dealer in such articles to
the writer. “The spools are made from
white birch timber, and they are pro
duced by the million in Oxford county.
There are many other parts of western
Maine, also, where the industry is im
portant. There are numerous sawmills
in that part of the state Nvhioh are kept
busy all the year round sawing white
birch logs into strips 4 feet long and
from 1 to 3 inches wide and of the same
thickness. These strips are sent to the
spool factories, where they are quickly
worked into spools by the most ingen
ious labor saving machinery. fl $
“The stripe of white birch are fed in
to one machine, and they are not touch
ed, in fact, are hardly seen again, until
the spools, all finished for market ex
cept polishing, drop out by the bushel
from another machine several rods away
from where the strips started in. The
spools get their gloss by being rapidly
revolved in barrels turned by. machin
ery, &e polish resulting from the con
tact of the spools in the barrel.
. “In the backwoods villages of Ox
ford county one sees scarcely any other
industry but spoolmaking, and every
person in the neighborhood is in some
way interested in the business. The fac
tories have been eating into the Maine
birch forests for years, but there still
seems to be enough of the timber left to
feed the machinery for many years to
come. Hundreds of thousands of feet of
logs are cut and eawed into spool tim
ber annually.
“Shoe peg factories are also an im
portant branch of business once pecul
iar to, Maine, although it has of lata
been followed to "tome extent in other
eastern states and is spreading to the
hard wood forests of northern Pennsyl
vania. Maple is used largely in the
manufacture of shoe pegs, although
white birch is used at some factories.
Shoe pegs are sold by the bushel and
are worth all the way from 76 cents to
11 a bushel, according to quality- More
than 1160,000 was received by Maine
shoe peg factories last year for goods.
“A curious and profitable business
has grown up in the Maine woods near
the sawmills in the utilizing of the im
mense quantities of sawdust by compres
sion. Thousands of tons of this waste
material are bought for a mere nothing
and are pressed into compact blocks and
bales, and in this form is finding a
ready market for kindling and fuel in
eastern cities. ’’ —Washington Star.
A TRIFLE TOO MUCH.
How an Old Darky’* Sympathy Was Un
feelingly Imposed Upon.
General Nichols of Louisiana com
manded a brigade of infantry during
the valley campaign in Virginia which
so immortalized the name of Stonewall
Jackson. In one of the three famous
victories over Banks,Milroy and Shields,
says the Nashville American, the Louisi
ana brigade bore a conspicuous part,
and its gallant commander was carried
from the field mortally wounded, as
every one supposed, but good nursing
and skillful surgery saved the life of
the general. He left a leg and an arm
on the battlefield and lost one of his
eyes. He wears an artificial leg on one
side of his body and an arm on the op
posite. The pluck which enabled him
to withstand these terrible wounds, and
to which he is indebted for his life,
perhaps, more than to any other cause,
sticks to him yet, and he is one of the
most jovial of men, enjoying a good
joke as much as anybody. He tells this
on himself S
When canvassing for governor, he
was invited by a lady who knew of his
loss of limbs to make her house his
home, and he accepted. She ordered her
manservant, who knew nothing of the
general’s misfortune, to see that he was
comfortably put to bed. The darky felt
proud of the honor of serving a distin
guished general and the next governor,
and the general was inclined to be com
municative, which delighted the negro
very much and made him feel at home
with his guest When he took the gen
eral’s arm off and laid it on the table,
he commenced to express great sym
pathy, saying:
“Itsho’is bad for a man to lose he
arm dat erway! An .de Yankees done
dis, diddey?”
When the general told him to take
his leg off, the negro thought he was
joking, but went at it in a businesslike
way, though he was almost ready to
shed tears of sympathy this time. Plac
ing the leg op. the table by the side of
the arm and looking at the general, he
said: j
“Umph! Leg off on one side an arm
off on t’other. Dat is too bad, to cut a
man up in dat sort o’ way. ”
The general saw the opportunity for
a little fun had come, so, leaning his
body forward, said:
“Come, now, take my head off. ”
But the negro was gone.
The Wheat King.
The “wheat king” of the world be
longs to Argentina. He is an Italian
immigrant nKmed Guazone, and his
broad acres are situated in the south of
the province of Buenos Ayres. His crop
occupies an area of 66,870 acres. He
numbers his workmen by the thousand,
and each one receives a certain share of
the profits. When his season’s crop is
harvested, he fills over 8,000 railway
trucks with the grain.
Japanese theaters have their boxes so
arranged that the ladies can change
dresses, as it is not considered stylish
for a lady to appear an entire evening
in one dress and with the same orna
ments. ' ?•
The busiest time on the Atlantic
cable is between, the hours of 10 and 12
in the forenoon. ’ During that time on
an average about 9vo messages pass
over the cable each way.
A NATURAL WONDER.
n« Tramp Ba« SukMmm BawkUr at
the Maw Jaraay XtawwtalM.
Countless thousands of years ago vast
stretches of glacial deposits came slid
ing across the state of New Jersey,
mounted the Palisades, pushed their
way across the Hudson river, scoured
over Manhattan Island and slid out into
the Atlantic ocean, whither they disin
tegrated and sank into the deep or per
haps glided on to the other shore.
But in their onward march these
glaciers left indestructible evidence of
their grinding stride, and today all
along ths palisades the trap rocks and
bowlders are worn smooth where the
mountains of ice and sand passed over
them. In some rooks axedeep sczatobes,
all pointing eastward and showing
which way the glacial deposits drifted.
There is the evidence, mute, but indis
putable.
To the careful observer there are
numberless other evidences of the pres
ence ,®f glacial influences in the post,
but none is more convincing than the
tramp bowlder that has finally settled
down in the woods in the heart of En-
Kxd borough. There it sits, a tow
mass of rock weighing perhaps
300 tons and resting upon three points
which in themselves find a purchase on
a flat rock that is part of and common
to the character of rock Which composes
the palisades. But, strangely enough
and to the wonderment of geologist*,
the tramp bowlder is red sandstone from
the Jersey hills 26 miles inland, and
the pedestal is metamorphite ar soft
granite.
Around this marvelous monument
have grown trees that may perhaps be
a century old, and tbeybave completely
Hedged it in, while the rock itself has
stood where it stands today for thou
sands of years On the pedestal or that
part of it which is protected from the
action of the elements can be seen the
deep ridges and scars made across its
fiat surface by the great grinding pres
sure of the body of ice and sand that
passed over it countless years ago when
New York was ice and snow clad and
the world was a desolate waste in a
state of chaos.
This tramp bowlder has caused geol
ogists much wonderment and is regard
ed today as one of the finest specimens
ever left in the wake of a glacier. It is
equally astounding as though an explor
er should find the hull of a steamboat in
the Sahara desert. The only way it could
get there would be through some great
convulsion that had landed it from the
sea in the heart of the inland sands.-
New York Journal. ' -■ 5 »
BIRDS’ EGGS.
The Bsmcmm Why They Are Het AU el
One Shape.
Why is there hot a fixed form for all
eggs? We can see no reason in the anat
omy of the bird, but we may often find
reasons for the shape of any particular
egg in its later history.
It is noticeable, for instance, that tho
more spherical eggs, as those of owls,
trogons and the lika, are usually laid
in holes in the earth, rooks or trees,
where they cannot fall out of the nest,
and that the eggs of the ordinary song
bird, which makes a well constructed
nest, are oval, while the slim, straight
sided, conoidal eggs, tapering sharply
to a point, belong to birds that construct
little or no nest—to the shore birds,
terns, guillemots and the like. Why?
Because these last drop them in small
clutches and with little or no prepara
tion upon sand or rock, where, were
they spherical, they could only with
difficulty be kept doser beneath the sit
ting bird, but conical objects will tend
always to roll toward a center. An ad
ditional advantage is that eggs of the
latter shape will take up less space—
form a snugger package to be warmed.
In the case of guillemots the single egg
laid is especially flat sided and tapering,
and the species owes its perpetuation
largely to this ’ since,
were it not for the egg’s toplike tenden
cy to revolve about its own apex, the
chances are that it would be pushed off
the ledge of naked sea oliff where the
careless or stupid bird leaves it
This suggests a word in reference to
the popular fable that sitting birds care
fully turn their eggs every day or often
er in order to warm them equally. No
such thing is done, because unnecessary,
since, as we have seen, the germinal
part always rises to the top and places
itself nearest the influential warmth of
the mother’s body.—Ernest Ingersoll in
Harper’s Magazine.
■; A tacky Hind.
Two men walking on Campbell street
toward Twelfth one night were accosted
by a negro woman who was excited, /
“Kin either one of you mens give me
a match?” she said.
“What for?”
“I lost a quahtah down there, an 1
want to hunt fur it. ”
She was given several matches and
ran ahead and began striking matches
and looking along the sidewalk. When
the two men came up, she hafi stopped
hunting and had apparently found the
coin.
"Well, did you find it?” inquired one
of the men.
“No, but I done find this horseshoe,
an that’s better’n two quahtahs, ” she
said.—Kansas City Star.
- Theatrical. .
Bret te—l never saw such a cold au
dience in my life.
Light—Didn’t they warm up a bit?
Brette —Well, when they spoke of
bringing out the author I believe some
of the audience got hot.—Yonkers
Statesman . -
A contemporary mentions that there
are schools in Belgium where the girls
are not only taught housekeeping in all
its branches, but the management of
children as well
Seven British regiments have been
given permistdou to add the word “Chit
tral" to their colon.
HIGH PRICE FOR DITTO.
A EtourewW* Exyertoae* la Grtttag the
lagredleat* of a Jar of Chowabow.
Whatistta power of a ditto mark? A
nice housekeeper In this city knows mare
about it than she did onco.
This is the Umo of year when mustard,
stoves, main. bell peppesa, vtniqfar and
the other fixings that go with cucumbers,
tomatoes, cauliflower, button onions, eel
try, etc., are seething in the pot and the
pickle jar is yawning with open mouth to
receive them. A goad recipe for mixed
picklee or chowchow is at a premium just
now. The lady referred to above had a
receipt for ehowchow which ran something
like this: Cauliflower, 8 heads; button
onions, 2 quarts; small cucumbers, 8
quarts; bell peppers, fl; celery seed, 1
ounce; white mustard seed, 1 ounce; cur
cuma seed, 1 ounce, and so on.
Now everything went well until eh
asked her grocery man to bring these tn.i
terials to her. Ho said he got everythin?
all right until ho struck curcuma reed
The druggist, when he got the rest of the
things, said he didn’t keepcurcuma seeds
“Never mind,” said she, “I’ll get those
myself the next time I go up town. ”
Accordingly she soon called on a loading
druggist for curcuma seeds, one ounce,
holding the recipe in her hand and reading
from it He blandly said he never had »
call for them before, but would order son a
and have them in a day or two. She wait
ed a proper length of time and called
again. The druggist referred to his bill
and read a footnote which said: “None in
this city. Will try Boston.” Boston could
pot furnish them, but would try New
York. New York responded. “Can’t
find. Would probably cost 81 or more an
dunce if obtainable.”
Not long after her husband dropped Into
another drug store one evening, and the
conversation was running on the expen
riveness of acme kinds of drugs, and he
joined in with a bit of his wife’s experi
ence on curcuma seeds. The druggist lis
tened intently to the yarn and said quietly:
“There must be some mistake about this.
It is not curcuma seeds that you want It
is curcuma, ground curcuma. I sell lota
of it every day for coloring chowchow yel
low.’’
“I don’t care," said ho, “the recipe
reads:
“Celery eeSd. one ounce.
Curcuma ” “
“I’ve read It a dozen times, and if those
ditto marks don’t call for curcuma seeds
then I don’t know how to read English.”
So the pursuit of curcuma seed was
dropped, and he carried home some ground
curcuma, and his wife made the chowchow
and it was lovely.
Now the point of this is that the curcu
ma root is the part used. It grows in
China, Japan, Ceylon and East India
countries in general and is an Ingredient
in the famous curry powder of the
orient. When it Is dried, it has a taste
like ginger root and is consumed in great
quantities by the natives of the countries
where it grows as a condiment. It is per
fectly harmless and is used entirely in this
country to give the bright yellow color to
ehowchow and pickles in general.
It is a tuberous plant and is wholly
propagated from the root, which makes it
unnecessary to save the seeds, which are
few and entirely useless. This is why they
would cost |1 an ounce if they could be
obtained.—Jrewiston Journal.
What I* a Title—Half Title?
‘ It is a curious thing that two well known
librarians of the British museum, Messrs.
G. F. ’ Barwick and A. W. Pollard, have
endeavored to ascertain what was under
stood among publishers by the terms
“half-title, ” “title,” “head title” and
“running title.” Mr. Horace Hart, Ox
ford. University Press, says he agrees gen
erally with the definitions given in Ja
cobi’s “Printer’s Vocabulary," 1888, but
he says: “ ’Head title’ I never heard of; I
suppose it means the ‘drive down* or ‘drop
down* title which begins the work or the
first chapter of it. ‘Bastard title* is the
same as ‘half title.’ ‘False title’ is not in
use in England [I am glad to hear this],
but is obviously the same as ‘bastard
title.* ” Mr. Charles 8. JTaoobl says:
“ ‘False title’ is rarely every used, and
then not by printers. I hardly knqw what
is meant by ’head title. * We don’t use the
terin. ’Heading’ is the title to first page
or chapter.”
It is most extraordinary to find printers
and publishers themselves all differing so
much as to these terms. AU I want is
that for the future wo may have some set
tled terms which shall be clearly under
stood without explanation. I therefore
present the following terms in what ap
pears to ma to be their most generally ac
cepted meantag: “Half title” is half or a
portion of the title given before the title
page or whole title. “Title” is the main
title page of a book. “Head title” is that
.at the beginning of the first page or chap
ter. “Running title,” Mr. Charles 8. Ja
cobi says, “is the fixed title of the work
used in headline, sometimes used instead
of title of work,” or, to put it shorter,
that which runs along tho top of every
page.—Notes and Queries.
One Cure Dove and Alnaholl—".
' M. de Fleury, in his “Introduction a la
Medeolne de I’Eeprit,” combats with great
seriousness the old fashioned hypothesis
that bodily ills alone are the province of
the practitioner. The disorders <jf the
psychic half of the human economy are
every whit as numerous and important, if
not more so, than those affecting the
somatic half and every one reflecting on
the havoc they occasion must acknowledge
that systematic efforts should be made to
render them amenable to treatment. Lazi
ness, grief and anger are among the mental
affections discussed by the writer, not only
from a curative, but also from a prophy
lactic, point of view. As might perhaps
be expected, an entire chapter is devoted
to the tender passion under the heading,
“La Medecine des Passions." “Love,”
says M. de Fleury, “is a physiological phe
nomenon which enters the domain at pa
thology the moment it assumes the "enti
mental form. Do we not habitually say,
‘So-and-so is madly in love?’ This passion,
which is beyond the control of senses In
face of which reason loses her rights and
her powers, is incontestably a human mal
ady.” The symptoms of I’amour maladle,
we are further told, bear a wonderful re
semblance to those of alcoholism and mor
phinomanla, Every one who inquires lnt<
the facts for himself will be struck with
the absolute identity of the pathological
processes in each care The point of de
parture is different, but the reeulto axe
precisely similar, and flbe asm* treatment
—namely, separation—cures both.—lxm
don Lancet.
A ret flatted.
Watts-Some of those Chinese playa axfl
six months long.
Potts—What of it?
“I was thinking oneef thssn would be a
good thing to take to the arotio regions fte
• one night stand. ’’—lMlmwoUs J«or
aaL
XX i\l 1 J I I I 1 11111 Mr
I Ihhl I wl IhIB MMB ■ ■ “ ■Bflto B
. -,:f l 4,. ilATUffHft
I q lYiv I ric.rco. t o
EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE WORD “CABTOBIA," AND , ‘
“PITCHER’S CABTORIA,” AS OUR TRADE MARK.
I, DR. SAMUEL PITCHER, qf Hyannis, MassachuseUs,
wu the Oriffinator of M PITCHER’S CASTORIA,” the same
that has bwne and does now s’"* w
hear the facsimile signature of wrapper.
This is the original •* PITCHER’S CASTORIA, ’ which has been
used in the homes of the Mothers of America fir over thiriu
geared LOOK CAREFULLY ai the wrapper and see that it is
the kind you have always bought on the
and has the signature of wrap-
per. No one has authority from me to use my name ex
cept The Centaur Company of which Chas. H. Fletcher is
President. /> ,
March 8,1897.
Do Not Be Deceived.
Do not endanger the life of your child by accepting
a cheap substitute which some druggist may offer yo”
(because he makes a few more pennies on it), the in
gredients of which even he docs not know.
“The Kind You Have Always Bought”
BEARS THE FAC-SIMILE SIGNATURE CF
r * '
Insist on Having
The Kind That Never Failed You.
▼N« eCMTAM* fIaaMWT, TO MVflllMY NEW VNMI JBYW.
. ■■ „j
- -
/
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any office in the state. When you want Job printing of; any dewriplica five n
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