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SCHLEY COUNTY
J. HARP, Publisher.
An Empty N m.
ve old man and a maiden fair
, . r(1 early
Waltsd together at morn;
Ue thrushes up in tho clear cold nir
Sang to the lariner planting Ids eorn.
An J, oh, how sweet was tie fresh-turned
mould I
AnJ, oh, h ,w fair wore ,ll ° budding troes I
F 'iy!re ilvor and daffodil’s gold
full of the happy honey-bees.
„ Ah |o 0 |i! tim e’s an empty nest,” sho sa : d;
,. Al „l I wonder where sing the last year’s
birds V
Then the old man quickly raised his hoad,
Though scarcely ho noted her musing
word*;
He tore the nest from tho swaying tree,
He flu g to the wind* its moss ami hay,
Andsaid, “When an empty nest you see,
p 0 sure that you throw it far away,’’
“But why!” she asked, with a sorrowing
face—
“Why may not the pretty homo abide ?”
“Because,” lie answered, “’twill lea placo
la which the worm and the slug will
hide.
hjst i cir tnas fair enough in its way—
It w.isfull of love aud merry with song;
But Jays t hut are gone must r.ot spoil to¬
ils
Hor dead joys do the living joys wrong:”
rtemaid n heard wi'h a thoughtful face—
Her that false love had gone far away—
lul she thought, is my heart become a
place
For anger and griof and hate to stay i
)o»n, heart, wi:h thy sad, forsakennestl
Fling far thy selfish and i llo pain;
[he low that is ours is always the best;
And she went with a sinilo to her work
again.
-Mary A. Harr, In Harper’s Magazine.
The Way His Mother Did.
I cured my Jeremiah of thinking that
6 could cook jest us his mother did
isy enough. Says I, at the breakfast
ihlc one morning:
"Jeremiah, I biled my meat yesterday,
ul if you’ll bring in that jug of cider
elasscs that you put into the ice-house
keep cool through the summer, I’ll
ike up my mince pies to-day.”
A simple remark' enough, and inno-
nf, hut who can tell what a word
ivbring forth!
"I wish," says the partner of my joys,
Id (when he can’t dodge them) of my
rro w s, “I wish I could taste of some of
r mother's pies again. Them was pies
was pic-.”
Bow, 1 know that if Philura Jane
pcs can do one thing better thau nn-
Icr, it is to make a miuce pie, but 1
It calm outwardly.
1‘IIow was they made?” says I, “what
Is the ingrvgiences? ’
[‘Wall," I says he, “I used to watch her,
if you’d hear to me, I believe I j
Bid tell you jest how. Hil wasn’t
ly good, though? I vuni, I believe I j
Iu m ike ’em myself."
IT rlmps you’d better,” says I coolly.
I‘I can,” says lie, “an’declare for all
Bn’ to h ss a woman round,—1 will.”
[could 1 ’t help but laugh to see him
to vfork. I got him my big clicck-
bn, and tied it on. I brought out
Huiir, ami the lard, and the salqratu*,
I the salt, and the spice drawer, nud
[Migur-box. I Jeremiah he went out
got tii • cider m ilasses. The meat
[apples wis already o 1 the ol l table,
ll’li 'l' 1 ,” suys Jeremiah, “Now I’ll
I'v you something about pies.”
I said nothing, but wont to washing
■lie breakfast dishes and sweeping
I don’t get to baking so early ns this,
[rally," says I. “You’ve got a good
Ml
0, yes," he answered in his gayest
j, “t’won’t be no time aforo I have
fi kry pics shelf. all settin’ in a row on the
Hunt you got no sour
r
fVI'y, |t it for yes," says I, “but you don’t
mince pies. ”
r bo’s mnkin’ these pies?” says lie.
[ mother always used to make sour
f pc-erust, and I believe it would
f 11 g“od once more.”
jahout brought the sour milk. He dipped
two quarts of it in my big
r' f v mixing dish.
here’s the short’nin’?"■ says lie.
I'bere’s the lard, and there’s tho but-
r-'fc if you'd rather have it.”
|!y |' <MVs mother dish used lard,” says he.
11 to melt it in ?”
|°t |hst him folks a dish.
rub their shortening into
Hour,” I'y says I.
motl ‘cr didn’t,” says he.. “As 1
|before who’s makin’ these pies? if
ro ’'d go out and mend the fence,
m—
won t say another word, ” says I.
M some experience in managing
pfiateil pardner before.”
[stirred P'lk, and hi 3 me i ted , ard into h ; s
it rose to the top in lit—
lll l ls - I lien lie began to stir in
1 [“fi he hadn’t put in anysalera-
1 (ll( " too well
J to venture to
: < -' r einiah Jones sometimes needs
111 tl,t ’school kept by experience.
st »red und stirred and stirred.
10 finally got it thick enough
JS ^'tter enough, such as it tvus
ie several dozen pics.
.
1C8U ),i eg are goin’ ho
P,’ to so good,”
“we’ll make up a lot of ’em.
|l F«the l llc plates?”
lt tllcm to him all buttered,
il/ 'JK'uUoroU
out his crust. By
" ,w so thick that it could
rolloii'V ^mducedto ly When ron out at all, , but
'huvn ' h e got his fir it
U to about
^ le an inch in
k stopp od and looked at it.
If
“I liko a good thick crust, myself,
says ho. “An inch thick ain’t too much
for a real juicy inside."
“No,” I answered, comforting myself
with the thought that his crust wouldn’t
rise up to call him blessed, the way most
sour milk crusts do. By the time lie
had rolled out four under crusts, and
used perhaps one-eighth of his batter,
ho laid down his rolling-pin.
“Shan’t I chop your meat for you?’
says I.
“No, sir-e-e!” says he. “Who’s
makin’ these pies? I wisli’t you hadn’t
chopped the apple. I’ve got an oven-
full rolled out, and now I’ll make the
inside. Where’s the choppin’-trnyi”
“Did your mother have somebody to
band her things, or did sho get them
herself?” says I good naturcdly handing
him tho tray and choppin’ knife.
lie put all liis meat, some four or five
pounds, into the fray at once, and began
to chop. lie chopped, and he chopped
and he chopped, and still great masses
of whole meat kept coming to the sur¬
face. After three-quarters of an hour of
hard work he had got it so there wasn’t
any pieces more than ono and a half
inches square, and two inches thick,
though there was plenty that big. Then
ho went for the molasses jug.
“You ain’t going to call that fine
enough for the meat!” says I.
“Course it’s fine enough,” says he.
Takes the life all out of mince-meat
or hash or anything, to chop it too
tine 1”
“But Jeremiah,” says I, loth to sec so
much good meat wasted, “that ■won’t bo
tit to cat. Let me take it;
I’d rather chop than see the pies spoil¬
ed.”
“Spiled!” he cried. “Who’s makin’
these pies, Philura?”
“I wouldn’t want to swear that any¬
body was,” says I.
‘■You always make your pies too
sweet,” he went on, measuring out sugar
by the teaspoonful. “My mother never
used much sugar.”
Then he poured in two teactipfuls of
cider molasses aud a tcacupful of
vinegar, lie liked them real tart, he
said.
“Now for spices,” says he. “Leiume
sec. She used to put in a lot of ginger,
I remember. And thereupon tho whole
two-ounce package was emptied into the
pan. “And cinnamon—ain’t we got any
cinnamon stic ks?”
No.” says I, “you say you don’t like
it."
“It’s best for pies, I guess, but this
will do;” whereupon tho package of cin¬
namon followed tho ginger. “Cloves,
O, yes! Where’s the mortar ’n’ pestle!”
And he ground up a quarter of a pound
of cloves aud stirred them in. “Now,
that’s all but the raisins. O! no, there’s
the apple.” And he shoved in the
chopped apple, ‘O! yes, bread. My
mother used to chop up bread and put
in.”
“That was when she wns short of
apples, I remarked.
“Who’s runnin’ these pies?” he re¬
peated. “Git me some bread, will ye?”
I brought, the bread and lie pounded
some up and stirred it in.
“Now, I guess it’s ready,” and he be-
gan to ladle it into his under crusts.
“Ain’t vou going to taste of it and see
whether it is right?” says I. “Your
mother used to.”
“That’s so,” says he, “and so did I,
and wa’n’t it good I"
He smacked his lips and tasted, but I
noticed he didn’t smack ’em the second
time.
“You ought to set it on fire and cook
it all together,” I couldn’t help saying,
“Why what’s the matter, Jeremiah!”
, The tears was chasing each other down
his hollow cheeks, aud f r a minute I
was real senirt.
14 There seems to be a leetlo too much
<fln"er.” lie said, blowin’ his nose, “but
“i’ll fix ’em.”
Then he went to work puttin’, in more
stuff. A cup more of cider molasses and
a cup more of vinegar, considerable
pepper, but no salt, two pounds of
raisins, whole, and tli.o contents of a
bottle of paregoric, I see him put in.
Then he went to the sittin’-room closet
and brought the bottleof brandy I keep
for sickness, and put half cf that into tho
mixture he wns concocting. I looked
horrified, indeed, for I' never use it in
cooking.
“Doctors say mice-pics ought always
to hev brandy in ’em to keep ’em from
hurlin’ folks,” says he; “I don’t begruch
a little brandy in such good pies as
these.”
Then ho stirred up the whole mess.
My land ! Thero was great chunks of
meat, and grout long stlings of it. And
such a looking pan of mince-meat I never
see!
But I said nothing as ho went on and
filled liis pies, and proceeded to cover
’em. The ci list had got so hard
and stiff be could scarcely roll it
out, but lie finally got it down
not much thicker than the under
crust. Without cutting any air-holes he
covered the pie, tucking in the edge
where it came over, and pulling it out
where it cnuie short. Then his pies went
into the oven.
Ho insisted on building up an awful
fife, and in n few minutes the juice of liis
pics (his meat was floating mound in an
aiubulcnce of'mMasses and vinegar) came
ELLAVILLE, GEORGIA. THURSDAY. MARCH II, 1887.
running out on the floor, Jeremiah
bounded to the oven door. He didn’t
look near so chipper as when ho first be¬
gan his pies.
“I wish, Philura,” says ho, “you’d
jest see here a. minute. That crust don’t
act well.”
I should say not! The insido had liz
up and was runnin’ over all around, while
a thick, leathery-looking substauce rose
up in the middle of it, burnt pretty near
black.
“Whose runnin’ these pics, Jeremiah?"
says I. “You didn’t stick your two
crusts together.”
“Wai, why didn’t you tell me not to
begin with them?” he yelled; “not twit
me with it now.”
But I went back to the settin’-room
where I was sweeping, and left him to
wrestle with the pies alone.
But after a while Ilooked out. I never
see a more dejected-looking picture, or a
more depressed man. llis apron had
got twisted to one side and was all
covered with flour. Great dabs of flour
were on both sides of his face and his
whiskers were jest dredged. The tears
he had shed liau made water-courses
through the dirt and flour, and his ex¬
pression, O my 1 words fail me. He was
jest taking a pie out of the oven
and settin’ it on the table. Hu
put the pan of miuce meat iu a chair to
make room for the next pic, and then
lie took that out, the liquid from it
dripping all over him and the kitchiug |
floor. And if it wasn’t a queer looking j
piel The crust had crawled up in a
roundish heap in the middle aud the in-
side was roaming about everywhere, as
if seeking somebody to devour it. My
pardner stood still (leaving the oven
door open) and gazed at them. Then
he backed back in a sorrowful kind of
wav, and set right square down in his
pan of mince meat. He had had it on
the stove, and it was b’iing hot, and he
yelled accordingly, jumping an’ tearing
around the room like mad. I rushed
out with some dry pants and helped him
on with ’em. The first thing he did
afterward was to take them two pies aud
march into the shed. Here lie deposited
’em in the swill barrel. Next he went
in aud took the two out of the oven and
carried them to the same appropriate
grave.”
“Now,” says he, recklessly, “y°u
may finish the pies, Philura, and I’ll
mend the fence.”
“Who’s making these pies, Jeremiah?”
I couldn’t help saying.
“Throw that in my face, will yc?” he
muttered, in very subdued accents, as
he went out and got his axe.
But I never grudged them poor pies,
for I never heard any more about the
way his mother used to do thiugs.
—Portland Transcript.
New Mode of Identifying Prisoners.
The latest method for identifying
’prisoners which has been introduced in¬
to France by M. Alphonse Bertillou, and
which is now successfully practised, not
only in the chief French prisons, but in
Russia and Japan as well, is the exact
measurement of the prisoner on his ar¬
rival at the jail. His waist, the length
and width of the head, the left middle
finger, the left foot, the outstretched
arms, the three other fingers of the left
hand, the left arm from the elbow to
the wrist, and the length and width of
the ear are measured, an l the color of
the oyes and any peculiarities are noted
down. A photograph is also immediate¬
ly taken, and by these means the mauy
mistakes which liavo been made by
trusting ton photographer only, are avoid¬
ed. The fact that during the two years
since this mode has been in operation
826habitual criminals, who presented
themselves under an assumed name,
have been identified in France, shows
that M. Bertillon’s method is superior
to any other, It is stated that habitual
criminals, parti cu'arly English pick-
poekets, are so convinced of the infalli-
bility of the method, that they will on
no account submit to the measurement,
and offer violent resistance whenever
the attempt is made to measure them.
Iu such cases we are assured that it is
nearly always sufficient to measure the
inside of the lint and boots.—[Amateur
(Juile n Relief.
Grocer- Anybody been in while I was
out? I
New Boy—Yes; a female shop-
lifter.
*>E’;! Wha—what did you do?”
“I tried to call the police, but she
boxed my ears and told me I’d got to
behave.”
“Then what did you do?’’
“I couldn’t do nothing, an’ she emp¬ 1
tied the money- Ir.iwor in her pocket.”
“Great jinks! Didn’t she say any
thing inori ?"
“Nothin’, ’cept she ’spected you was
drunk again. ”
“Oh! That’s all right. That’s my
wife.”
Driven to II. !
Tommy was taken very sick. His
mother discovered that he had been eat-
jng too much preserved stuff, nnd while
awaiting the doctor's visit, implored
him to tell her tile cause of it.
“Mother, ” he said, li ,al y. "Mother, 1
M une Duffy “it rejected mi: jam I”—[Tit! and” J !
(hoarsely) .Love mo to
Bits.
A WONDERFUL LAKE:.
Situated on the Summit of
the Rocky Mountains.
A Beautiful Sheet of Water with Soma
Unique Surroundings.
Ono of the wonders of our great coun¬
try is Henry’s lake, on tho summit of the
Rocky uiountuins, near the line between
Idaho aud Montana, on tho Targee’s
Pass trail. It is destined to be a popular
summer resort, mul tho soil aud climate
are not unfavorable to tho prospect of
permanent settlement. The lake is five
miles wide and ten miles long. It is
the source of the north fork of Snake
river. Like a basin overflowing the
clear water ripples over a bar that forms
the him—a bar of crumbled chrystnlline
quarlz—in a gurgling stream that flows
peacefully through waving grass for half
a mile, and then plunges into a canon
where it is lashed into foam and leaps
over precipices on its way down from
that continental divide as it grows to be
a great river. After a journey of 100
miles over rocky heights and through
mountain defiles we reached the lake.
Men and horses were tired and hungry,
The mild beauty of the smooth water,
level meadows and shaded parks all
smiling witli the evening sunlight was a
happy relief. The blue grass was varie-
gated with wild flowers,birds were sing-
ing in the trees, swans were swimming
on the lake. Before us was the winter
range of the antelope, the deer and elk.
A party of trappers who spent one win -
ter there say the elk came down like
herds of cattle and destroyed their hay.
They were compelled to drive great
droves of elk away to save any grass or
other feed for their paekhorses.
One of the wonders of Henry's Lake is
| the floating island, When we camped
u t night a lovely island was within a
| stoue’s throw of us. Wo decided to ex¬
plore it in the morning. The soft green
carpet, the drooping willows and stiff
little pines, so near the shining surface
of the cool blue water, tilled us with a
desire to rest iu their shade. When
morning came the island was gone.
Five miles away we could see the iittle
trees waving in the wind that had wal’t-
ed them to the opposite side of the
lake. The wind changed, liow-
ever, and the mysterious island
came ou its daily orbit and rested, while
all nature was hushed, that lovely
afternoon, near where we bad first seen
it. We paddled a raft of logs to its
border. It was circular in shape and
300 feet in diameter. The outer edge
was a tough sward, and so thin that it
gave down under the weight of a man
and let him into the water boot-top
deep. A few feet from the edge it
would support the weight of a horse.
The floating mass we found to be a mat
of grass roots overspread with a thin
layer of decayed vegetable matter. The
small trees hatt taken root in that
blanket of mold. They rocked aud
swayed from side to side as wo walked
around them.
Another curiosity near the lake is
what is called Moose Springs. From the
mouth of a cave iu the side of a bluff
bursts forth a river of considerable size.
The sparkling water after seething and
roaring under the weight of great pres-
sure or other hidden forces, spreads out
over a rocky bed of glistening quartz 40
feet wide, and leaps from ledge to
ledge, down the precipitous
bights. Thousands of moun-
tain trout are continually trying to stem
that tumbling torrent. They can be
seen flouncing in the air from morning
till night in their effort to guin the un¬
derground river, after following the tu
multuous Snake to the summit of the
great watershed of the continent. In-
dians catch and pack away from that
place tons of tiout cveiy year. When
we visited the fishing ground a hungry
nomadic tribe of dusky natives, after
weary days of travel, were arranging
camp and looking happy over the pros-
pcct of a sumptuous meal, 1 hey were
to feast on tl-li that were yet uncaught.
After lighting the log fires the fish-
ermen repaired to the foot of the steep
incline by the rushing outlet of the sub-
terrancan river. E ach man cut a slender
rod and shaped the end of it to fit loose-
ly the hollow end of a buckhorn spear
tip. A strong cord attached the tip <°
the rod or shaft'to the spear. A muacu-
lar brave would step forward, a brawny
bare arm would raise the simple irnple-
ment above his head, where it would
balance for a second, and then liko an
arrow it would be hurled into the water
with a sure aim; a trout would
flash = speckled sides in the
sun, 2 blood would flow in a
red cloud down tho stream, and a
fine fish would be landed on the green
sward. The buckhorn tip would pass
through the body and slip from the haft
as it was pulled back. The cord fasten-
ing the tip to the rod would hold the
fish, let him fl muder as he would. After
catching about ten pounds for each mem¬
ber of the company they proceeded to
cook the evening meal in a manner as
simple as it was strange. L'irge quanti-
ties of soft clay were dug from the bank
and kneaded to the consistency of dough,
and each fish was sepnately incased in a
coating about an inch thick and thrown
into the flro to bake. They were cooked
without dressiug. Some of them were
gasping for breath us they were besmirod
witli clay. The caso soon hardened in
the fire like brick in a kiln. The oil
sizzed aud sputtered through the seams.
Experts watched closely and when the
perfect ereiuatic state was reached the
fish were withdrawn from the bed ol
fire. The shells were broken with small
stones and the delicious morsels were
turned out steaming, white, and savory
enough to tempt an epicure.—[San
Francisco Call.
Antiquity of Diamonds.
The diamond is mentioned very
anciently in literature. Jupiter, accord¬
ing to classical mythology, was anxious
to make men forget the days he spent
among them, aud finding that one man
—Diumoud of Crete —remembered him,
turned him into a stouo; not a very cred¬
ible story of the origin of the gem, hut
men of science in the nineteenth century
are not much nearer to knowing tho
truth on the subject. The Greeks cnll
the stouo adarnas, the indomitable or
unchangeable, and from this lias come
down our word adamantine and, and
after the letters have undergone changes
of a kind tlmt arc not rare iu the growth |
of a language, our name of the stone |
itself. But, long before tho Greeks had
emerged from the darkness of the mythic i
age, the diamond was made, among the j
Hebrews, the peculiar jewel of the tribe j
of Zebulon; and Aaron’s breastplate, j
when he was dressed in his priestly
robes, was adorned in the second of the
four rows of its setting with precious
stones—with an emerald, a sapphire and
a diamond; and Jeremiah, when the
Greeks were just beginning to be known,
rebuking the misgoings of his people,
said, “The sin of Judah is written with
a pen of iron, and with the point of n
diamond.”
But, although the ancients consult red
the diamond indestructible, and were
capable of trying the most daring exper-
iments with it, no specimen that is
known to have belonged to them has
come down to us. Some persons sup¬
pose that the Koh-i-nor is five thousand
years old, as man’s possession, but no
one knows or can trace its history back
with certainty for more than a few cen¬
turies.—[Popular Science Monthly.
Blind at Night.
Sir. II. II. Frary, of Joucsville, Vt.,
thusrelateshisexpericnce many years ago,
while on a whaling voyage in the ship
Josephine,of Sag Harbor: “We wore out
three years, from October, 1840, to .Sep¬
tember, 1849, and at the close of the
second year of the voyage, while just
making the land at the entrance of the
port of Petropaulovski, Kamscliatkn, as
night came oil, I found that although it
was a bright moonlight night, I could
see nothing after twilight, and could see
no better in a room well lighted with
lamps. We made port the next day, and
after a few days in port it passed off, but
on several occasions, after being at sea
for some time, the same difficulty re¬
turned, and on the way home, via China
and the Cape of Good Hope, it came on
about the time we rounded the cape and
lasted me home, but passed off after
about a week on shore. My eyesight
was perfect by day, and my eyes were
always strong, with not a symptom of
weakness, and I had not slept in the
moonlight, but could see nothing in the
brightest moonlight night or in a well
lighted room unless it was a little sense
of light sidewise; not a sign of light in
front.”
Churcli Service in Cars.
If we may dine and sleep in saloon and
sleeping cars, why should we not be able
to go to church in chapel carriages?
The ability to do this is a matter of
some importance if you happen to live
j n a country where there are a great many
sa j n ts’ days. In Russia, as everybody
knows, thero is a great deal of pictur-
egque piety) alld saints > tlays come
aroun ,j very frequently, indeed. Rail
r oad guards aud engine drivers, it would
appear, are the most religious class in
]{ ugg j a: since ttiose employed upon the
Southwestern Railway have lately pe
titioned tbe administration that facil-
uje3 migllt be afforded them for attend-
in j, t0 their spiritual duties. There-
qucst hag been granted, and a decree
hag j ust been iagucd thot U p 0Il Sundays
anJ holy daya a s . tloon carriage fitted up
ag a cbur ,. h 0 f the orthodox rite shall be
attached to every train, to the end that
nQt Qnly may lhe railroad servants be
enablcd t0 g0 t0 cllurcb witbo ut going
0 £ duty, but that the passengers like-
w j ge may bav0 a care for their souls’
healtll> _ t8t . Jameg Gazette.
Carnegie and Krupp.
Andrew Carnegie and his partners pay
out more money iu wages every month
than Krupp, the celebrated gunmaker of
Essen, Germany, disburses among Lis
men. Krupp employs 10,000 men and
Carnegie’s various Pittsburg mills are op¬
erated by 6000 men. The difference in
the aggregate of salaries is the difference
between American and European pay.
The monthly payroll of the Pittsburg
ironmaster is over half a million dollars.
Tlie plant owned by the Carnegie’s cover
200 acres of ground. Upon this there
are laid and maintained thirty-five miles
of tracks, and the firm owns twenty-two
locomot vcs.—fPittshurg Commercial.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAl’S.
Fogs are nioro to bo dreadod in mid-
air travel than on tho oceau. For that,
if for no other reason, elevated roads
would never work in London.
Tho oyos of poisonous snakes have
been found by Dr. Benjamin Sharp to
havo elliptical pupils, while in the harm¬
less species they are circulur.
Experience lias shown that a greater
amount of work is accomplished by sew¬
ing machines when run by electric mo¬
tors than by foot power. There is also
less wear and tear to the machine.
Prof. Baird says that ns a fish has no
maturity there is nothing to prevent it
from living indefinitely and growing con¬
tinually. 11c cites in proof a pike living
iu ltussia whose ngo dated back to tho
fifteenth century. In tho royal aquarium
at St. Petersburg there are fish that have
been there 140 years.
The use ot steam as a disinfectaut is
now being recognized us a success by
sanitarians. The high degree of moist
heat attained is iu itself as reliable and
complete an agent of disinfection as
could be desired. It is intended to
tlx the minimum temperature for fumi-
gation and disinfection at 235 degrees
F., which will certainly preclude the
necessity of an additional agent iu cer-
tain cases.
The system of communication by sun
flashes from mirrors lias been lately used
with marked success by Lieut. A. M.
Fuller, the United States signal officer
on special service in Arizona. Signals
were flashed by mirrors for distances
ranging from live to forty miles. A
trial message of twenty-five words was
sent over a lino 200 miles in length, and
nil answer of the same length received at
the starting point in twenty minutes,
Another test which resulted very satis¬
factorily was signalling 300 words twen-
ty-tive miles in a short space of time,
| J I)r. C. Keller of Zurich claims that
spiders perform an important part in the
preservation of forests by defending the
trees against the depredation of aphides
and insects. He lias examined a great
many spiders, both in their viscera and
by feeding them in captivity, aud has
found them to be voracious destroyers
of these pests; and lie believes that the
spiders in a particular forest do more
effective work of this kind than all the
insect-eating birds that inhabit it. He
has verified his views by observations on
j | coniferous trees, a few broad leaved trees
; and apple trees.
\Veed3 are plants iu the wrong place.
They all probably have their right places
aud their uses sonic wliero in' Nature’s
economy, though these are sometimes
hard to appreciate. Tire most of them
may serve to keep some desolate spot
from being entirely bare, aud the decay
of their repeated generations furnishes
mold to tho ground, nud may in time
make it fit to bear something better.
They all, too, have elements of bfeauty,
and those will reveal themselves to every
one who diligently searches i for them.
Many of them, if they 1 were not weeds,
would be prized as choice flowers, and
some of them have been such.
The Finger Nails.
The troublesome bits of skin, familiar¬
ly called hang rails, that loosen at tho
roots of the nails, are caused by the skin
adhering to the nail, which, in growing,
drags the skin along with it and,
stretches it until one'end gives way. To,
prevent this loosen the skin from the
nails once a week. This is best done by
soaking the finger in warm water and:
then pushing bhek the cuticle gently
with a blunt ivory Instrument and never
with knife or seteSOrs, The nails should
be trimmed about once a week. They
ought to be left long enough to protect
the ends ; of the fingers, as nature in-,
tended. In paring and trimming the,
naili} the shape to ■ be - encouraged" is.a
long oval; the centre of tiie nail is left
long and the comors loosely cut, but not.
too much so for fear of causing ingrow¬
ing. To cut the nail off squarely gives
the finger end a stubby look. In clean-:
iug do not scrape the inner side of the
nail with a knife or other metallic sub-
stance, as this tends to destroy its trans-
pnrency and causes it to gr0\v thick
opaque; but remove the accumulations
of dirt with a brush or blunt instrument,
Nails are susceptible of a high degree of
polish, as may be proven by simply rub-
bing them well with the towel every
time the hands arc washed, if the
chamois rubber of a manicure set is not
at hand.—[New York World.
Uititiese (Hunts. >’>
Chang, the giant, has returned to
Shanghai. Ohahg Wu Yay, who went
to England first iu 1865, is a native of
Fyohow, and all his reflations were big
people; his father and grandfather and
his sister were all taller than he is, his
sister being some 10 inches taller, and he
stands 7 feet 2 inches. Ono of his
brothers some 10 years ago weighed a
picul (133 1-3 pounds) more than he
himself did.—[San Francisco Alta.
A Mine i Pie Horror.
Wife—You talked in your sleep last
night, John, and you mentioned mother’s
name.
Husband—That so? It must have
been that mince pie 1 ate before going
to bed.—[Harper’s Bazar.
VOL. II. NO. 25.
Striving.
I started on a lonely road,
’
A few companions with mo went.
j Home fe 1 behind, some forward bent; strode,
j Hut all on one high purpose
To live for nature' finding truth
In beauty ami the eliriues of art:
To consecrate our joyous youth
To aims outside the common mart.
I turned aside and lingered long
To pluck u rose, to hear a bird,
To muse while listening to the song
< if brooks through leafy coverts heard;
To live in thoughts that brought no fame
Or guerdon from the thoughtless crowd
To toil for ends that could not claim
The world's applause coarse and loud.
But still, though oft I bind my sheaf,
Iu fields my comrades havo not known,
Though art is long and life is brief,
And youth has now forever flown;
1 would not lo-e the raptures sweet.
Nor scorn tho toil of earlier years;
Stilt would I climb with eager feet,
Though towering height on height appears.
— Crunch's Ariel anil Caliban.
HUMOROUS.
To be looked up to—The fashionable
hat.
Activity in the building trade—Run¬
ning up houses.
Gray hair being fashionable, elderly
ladies never say dye.
It may bo remarked, iu passing, that
gloves ure liaudy tilings to havo about.
It is never too lato to mend; but u
man cannot expect to have a button
sewed on much after midnight.
“You are picturing rather a gloomy
future for mo, madame,” he said to the
fortune-teller. ‘Yes, sir,” she replied;
“but it’s the best I can do for half a
dollar.”
“I never change my mind,” said Mrs.
Brown, with a snap of the jaw heard all
over the room. “I wish you would, my
dear,” said Brown, mildly. “It must
be an improvement.”
Faith is sometimes represented by tho
figures of a drenched female clinging to
a sea washed rock, but a better personi¬
fication would be a baldheaded man buy¬
ing a bottle of patent hair restorer.
They were talking of the feminine sex,
when Mine. B. exclaimed: “You men
are right to accuse us. I only know two
perfect women." “And who is the
other?” inquired her companion, gallnnt-
iy-
“Yes, Mr. Oldboy,” she simpered, “I
have seen twenty-seven springs. Would
you think it?” “Well, yes, ma’am. I
don’t know but what I would,” Mr.
Oldboy said, “aud 1 guess some of them
springs must have been very backward.”
“Toners of Silence.”
When tlio hour of death is at hand
the dying l’arscc is carried down to tho
cellar, or the lowest room iu the house—
with what notion I failed to learn.
Afterward the body is borne to a great
burial tower, there to be exposed to tho
winds of heaven, tho burning sun, the
beating rain and all the host of foul
carrion birds. Some rich families have
a private tower of their own—a sort of
fumily mausoleum. The public burial
towers, of which there are live, stand
on Malabar hill, in a garden of flower¬
ing shrubs overlooking the sea. Here,
amid fragrant bowers of roses aud jessa¬
mine, stand these towers of silence, as
they nre'called—ghastly receptacles for
the dead. They are about thirty feet
high and sixty feet wide. On the top
of each is an open grating on which the
bodies are laid in three circles—
children in the centre, then tho women
and men on the outer edge. Innumera¬
ble birds of prey a e forever hovering,
with their sharp hungry cries, round
these towers, or sitting perched on
them, solemnly waiting for the grateful
feast that is never long delayed—a feast
which daily average three Parsecs, be¬
sides women and children, for it is esti¬
mated that each day three of these pros¬
perous, intelligent, well-to-do looking
merchants find tlieir last resting place in
the voracious maws of these ravenous
birds. ' And when the birds have done
their part, and winds and sun aud rain
have nil combined to whiten the skele¬
ton to a thing like polished Ivory,gradu¬
ally the bones separate aud fall through
the open grating into a well below the
tower, whence, it is said, they are taken
a subterranean passage aud cast into
the sea, itnd so the space is left clear for
the next comers.—[Macmiilan’s Maga-
ziue. '
The Way of the Speculator.
They met in Exchange place a year
ago this month. One hud just bought
liis wife a pair of diamond earrings, aud
the other had been moving into an up-
towu brown front. They met again ou
SixtTi avenue yesterday,, and the one in¬
quired:
“Say, Green, recommend me a pawn
shop. I want to spout those diamonds.”
“All, has it come to that, old boy?
Say, I can’t do it. We’ve just moved
into rooms over this hat store, and I’m
not acquainted around here.”—[Wall
Street News.
• Wouldn’t (are.
Tender-hearted young lady—Oh, you
cruel, heartless little wretch, to rob
those poor birds of their eggs!
Wicked little boy—Oh! That’s the
old one ’at you’ve got on yer bonnet.
Guess-she wou’t care.—[Forest and
Stream.