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Venus’ Coming Transit.
An Aatronomie Event no Living Being Will
Ever See Again.
The great astronomic event of the
year will be the transit of Venus which
occurs on the Gth of next December.
The Scientific American says of it:
Astronomers have been busy for
years in getting ready for the
trans.it, for the whole Western
world, whore the sky is clear, will
be in the sunlight during some por
tion of the passage. The busy notes
of preparation are now being sounded
in many of the American observatories,
where every aid that science can com
mand will be utilized for the occasion,
while European aslronomers have al
ready formed their plans, received ap
propriations for the great expenses to
be incurred, and chosen stations which
are the best adapted for observations,
as well as those that are at extreme
distances from each other.
The phenomenon is not sublime and
awe inspiring, like a total eclipse of
the sun ; nor simply beautilul, like
the conjunction of two planets; nor
magnificent,like the telescopic Saturn.
The naked eye observer, looking at
the sun through smoked glass, will see
a tiny black spot passing over his face.
The telescopic observer will see a
black round ball, as large as the full-
grown moon, making its way across
the great luminary. The phenome
non to the ordinary observer will be
only this and nothing more. But
thousands of scientific observers will
eagerly note, as if life depended upon
the accuracy, the second when Venus
touches the sun’s edge, the moment
when she is fully embarked upon his
disk, the exact time of her passage, and
the second when her retreating edge
touches the sun’ts edge, as well as the
time when the last contact occuts and
the exhibition closes. There are two
principal reasons for the importance
attached to a transit of Venus. One is
that it is considered the best means
for determining the sun’s distance ;
the other is that it is extremely rare
in its occurrence.
Venus and Mercury are the only
planets that can make transits across the
sun, for their orbits are within that of
the earth, and they are therefore called
inferior or inner planets. In every syn
odic revolution, or when earth, planet
and star come into line, these planets
must pass between us and the sun* the
point being known as inferior con
junction. Venus accomplishes this
period in 581 days. But her orbit, or
path, is inclined to the ecliptic or suu’s
path, and, at inferior conjunction, she
ordinarily passes above or below the
sun and is invisible. When she is in
inferior conjunction, and also at one
of her nodes or crossing points, as in
December, she passes directly between
us and the sun and makes a transit.
The transits at the deseeding node are
In December, those at the ascending
node in June. The intervals between
are 8 and 235 years. The transit of 1874
occurrecmght years ago ; thenexttrfcn-
sit after that of 1882 at the same node
will be in 2117. The last transit at
the ascending node occurred in 17G9;
the next wi 1 occur in 2004.
Whenin20u4 the next transit of
Venus after the coming one takes
place, no human being who now treads
the earth will be alive to see its pas
sage. Nearly four generations of men
will have lived and died before the
brighter! of the stars again passes be
tween us and the sun when at one of
her nodes. Observers wil±, therefore,
witness an event to be remembered
for a life-time, and, for this reason, in
dependent of its scientific importance,
the phenomenon will be eagerly an
ticipated. If astronomers can agree in
their calculations and make the transit
a means of accurately determining the
sun’s distance, a great feat will be ac
complished. For the sun’s distance
from the earth is the unit or yard
stick for measuring celestial distances
outside the solor system, end on its
accuracy the whole celestial structure
depends.
Queer Trades in Paris
One ant merchant, whom the author
knew, was a youog woman named
Blauche. She is described as present
ing a terrible appearance. “Her lace
and hands are tanned as though they
had been prepared by some skilful tan
ner ; she is clothed in buffalo skin,
and in spite of this armor she is devour
ed by her stock in trade. But her skin
has become so hardened and insensi
ble, from long practice that she oan
sleep surrounded by sacks
full of her merchandise undis
turbed by their stinging. Mademoi
selle Blanche has negotiants in the
departments where there are extensive
forests; Bhe pays her employees two
franos a day. Her business extends
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even as far as Germany. Bhe neve^
receives less than ten tacks (millers’
sacks) of ants daily. Th$ ants lay
eggs, and these are sold for feeding
pheasants. At the present moment
Madamoiselle Blanche is on the road
to fortune.”
Another trade somewhat similar to
this is that of the maggot merchan ts.
These supply the fishermen with their
bait, and number from eigbt to ten,
doing serious business. They are wall
known to the fishing corporation, and
i three are mentioned as being celebri
ties in iheir profession. One in par
ticular—Le Pere Ver-de- Ferre—
reckons that he sells from thirty to
forty million maggots epe^y summer.
This gentleman can never part with
one of his loads of maggots whom he
calls his children, without emotion.
A lucrative business is the cooking
of arti chokes. There are but three or
four important retailers of cooked arti
chokes in Pan- 1 . The information M.
Grison gives us on the subject he ob
tained from Madame Pauline G., one
of the extensive dealers in that article
at La Halle, the largest market-place
in the city. “To gain anything in this
business,” says our informaut “it
must be conducted on a large scale, for
though the cooking of artichokes ap
pears a very simple affair, it never
theless demands considerable outlay
in proportion to the price of selling.
Before being put into the copper the
artichokes must be washed. Women
employed for this work earn three
francs a day. Others cut off the stalks.
This done, the artichokes pass into the
cook’s hands, who earn from four to
five francs per diem. They first assort
them, and then pile them in heaps ae-
coidingto their size in the coppers.
The layers are separated by cloths.
This work, of course, takes some time ;
but it would not do to throw the arti
chokes all in together, as some people
imagine to be the case. The largest
traders in this line employ generally
two cutters and sorters, three cleaners,
and five or six cooks. The boiling is
done by night, and entirely finished
by 7 o’clock in the morning. At 5 a.
m. the fruiterers and street veudors
take their stock for the day. The
price varies from a penny to three
pence per artichoke. The chief part
of the artichokes one sees at the fruit
shops, kept warm in large baskets by
means of hot water, come from La
Halle.” Madame Pauline earns on an
average £1,000 a year at this business,
and the season only lasts four months.
But the trades mentioned are the three
ric^ ones out of the petita metiers.
Among the less remunerative ones,
there are the rat'catchers, egg-dyers
for Lent and Easter Days, soup and
coffee itinerant merchants, the scale-
cleaners, and lastly, in connection
with Les Halles, the caller whose busi
ness it is to wake up the porters, car
riers and all who have to begin work
before daylight The callers form a
large company, and anyone walking
in the vicinity of the market-place
after midnight hears a variety of
strange cries and peculiar sounding
notes proceeding from whistles. Each
caller has his particular note, known
to his client, who opens his window^
in reply. Oae of these men, well
known in the market, is Peter, sur-
named “Blackbird,” on account of the
remarkable manner in which he mod
ulates his cries.
Capital Punishment in
California.
Without intending to do it, Califor
nia has virtually abolished capital
punishment. A few years ago a clause
was put into the law enabling jurors,
in returning verdicts oI murder in the
first degree to stipulate, if they wished,
that the penalty should be im
prisonment for life. Tne object was
doubtless, to provide a punishment
whioh juries would be less loth to in
flict than they would that of hanging
in cases where palliating circumstances
existed or there was a slight doubt as
to the evidence. But from the fre
quency with which verdicts of murder
have recently bedn returned accompa
nied by recommendations to imprison
ment for life it would appear that the
humanity of juries is leading them in
the direction of total disuse of the
death penalty. If the substitution of
imprisonment for hanging leads to
convictions in cases that would other
wise result in acquittal—and this in,
by all odds the strongest argument
which the friends of unconditional
abolition of capital punishment have
been able to make—it is an undenia
ble bent fit. Certainty of punishment
is more important in the repression of
crime than seventy.
The importance of C'hicagoa^Pfmht
national butcher shop is only begin
ning to be appreciated in the Eastern
cities.
I Clasped her hand and held It fast,
VVhlle I gt<z-d In her dreamy eyes;
And a far-off look o’er her features passed,
Like the twilight of vesp.-r skies.
While like one too happy or shy to speak,
With a throb I could understand,
She turned from my raptures her glowing
cheek,
And veiled It with faltering hand ;
And the gentle tremor which thrilled her
frame,
And leaned from her pulse to mine,
To my listening soul with its message came,
Like the magic of cordial wine.
At last she pitied the hopeless smart
Of the passion she loDg nad scorned,
And, Just t.s l felt she had opened her heart,
dhe opened her mouth and yawned.
“Pa, what is a pessimist, and what
is an optimist?” “A pessimist, my
son, is one who takes the surplus kit
tens, just after they are born, and
chloroforms them. The optimist is
one who lets the kittens grow up to
live a wretched, starving life; to be
tortured continually by bey:* and other
thoughtless animals, and to be finally
killed with brickbats and left to rot on
the street.”
“What is the difference between
A nabob and a zany ?”
Inquired a youth who thought, I ween,
There hardly could be any.
Replied a maiden fair and coy,
As she displayed a dimple:
“ Why, one Is simply rich, my boy;
The other’s richly simple.”
Advertising has become a science
and great skill is used in the prepara
tion of announcements. One dealer in
Philadelphia employs—and of course
at a good salary—a former publisher of
the New York Nation, for the sole
purpose of putting his numerous ad
vertisements into attractive language.
Skill in this respect, and taste inside
the printing <fli;e, go far toward
making advertising worth the large
amounts annually paid for it.
M. Desire Charnav, in reporting to
the French Geographical Society the
results of his three years exploration of
Central American ruins, mentioned
that during his last journey, in Yuca
tan, he entered the remains of a palace
at the town of Kabab, and found on
the wall thereof an Indian painting of
an armed Spaniard on horseback.
This, he maintained, is indisputable
proof that the palace was inhabited at
the time of the Spanish conquest.
Some authorities hold that these ruins
belonged to a people long ago extinct,
and that they are not less than 3,000,
perhaps 10,000, and, according to one
traveler 40,000, years old. M. Cbarnay
wiy not admit that they are more than
750 years old, and holds that they all
belonged to the race which the Spanish
invaders found in possession of the
country.
Great Rivers.
The Amazon is the greatest volume
of water flowing through any country
of tne world, but it is but 3,000 miles
long. The Mississippi, from Lake
Itaska to its junction with the Mis
souri, if 2,286 miles long; from that
point to the gulf is 1, 286 miles, a total
of 3,902 miles. The Missouri runs
2,908 miles to join the Mississippi, and,
having had given to it the length to
the sea, is 4,194 miles long. To the
sacred river, the Nile, must be given
the credit of running through the
greatest stretch of country. The
“American Encyclopaedia” of 1875,
from which the previously quoted
figures are taken, says: “It is navi
gable as far as the district of Fazogle,
about 1,5(0 miles from the Mediteira-
nean. Its approximate length through
out all its windings from ihe limit of
steam navigation above Gondokora is
3,000 miles. The additional length to
Lake Albert N’yanza can scarcely be
less than 200 miles, and, consequently
the river traverses a distance of about
4,700 miles or 566 more that the
Missouri and Lower Mississippi.”
Small Jokes.
A wife must be like roast lamb—ten
der and nicely dressed. No sauoe re
quired.
Electricity in Franklin’s time was a
wonder, but we now make light of it.
The only man who never, no, never,
changes his mind is the man who has
no mind to change.
r ^he man who has never fished for
trout knows absolutely nothing of the
blessing of patience and wet feet.
Teacher to a small boy: “Whatdoes
the proverb say about those who live
in glass houses?” Small boy: “Pull
town the blinds.”
Our Homes.
Our homes are always more or less
the expression of ourselves. The rul
ing spirit of the household infuses into
its atmosphere her—or his—own in
dividuality. It may have been en
tirely furnished and arranged by the
hands of ttie upholsterer, yet the
“tone” of the h >use is the tone of the
life within ic.
The adorning may be of the most ex
pensive, the arrangement the most
perfect, stir, if not vivified by the
bright and cheerful spirit of loving
human hea> ts, it is cold and dead. It
is ingular to what an extent this in-
visi'.le spirit of the real Jives of the
dwellers will permeate the entire air
of tne house.
There are homes upon whose door-
s'eps we linger, hesitating to enter,
because of the depression and chill we
shall inevitably receive ; we go in with
soft, reluctant step; we speak with
bated breath ; we sit upright and un
comfortable on the costly chairs, and
gaze upon the beauties about us with
stolid indiflerence, for they seem life
less and unreal. We choose our words
carefully and cautiously, and seem to
lose, as we sit, our one little germ of
joy, and fiud creeping in its place an
unknown feeling of dreariness, and
perhaps, bitterness. How we throw
back our shoulders, and inhale long
breaths of relief, as we emerge again
into the open air.
There are other homes to which we
always turn gladly, to which our
thoughts reveit in joy and sorrow;
they may be plain and unpretentious,
lacking everything but the necessities
of life, yet they are filled with beauty
because of the spirit which giveth life.
From the very threshold we are cog
nizant of the delightful “atmosphere,”
welcoming, loving,purilying, strength
ening ; we find the best part of our
natures ministered unto whenever we
enter their sacred precincts.
Such homes are made by those who,
whiit bearing their own burdens brave
ly, still have room and heart and love
for others; who, while living their
own lives, have warmth and tender
ness and sympathy for others ; whose
hands outstreachiug, clasp ours with
comfort; whose voices speak words
that cheer and strengthen ; whose love,
being an emanation from the divine
love, and from it receiving constant
retewa^ fails not; whose lives are so
pure and earnest and true, that they
radiate to all who come within their
influence.
We should make our homes as taste
ful and beautiful as we are able, for
tastefulnesi and beauty have their
uses, and teach their lessons, as do also
harmony and order and neatness.
Yet we shoufd learn to consider these
nut the means toward an end—never
should they lie permitted to become
the end itself. It should not be for
gotten that the home-life is the nu
clews round which all life has its start
ling growth, nor that the influence of
the home is not for one generation
alone, but in succeeding generations
also is its influence felt.
Those who create homes in which
healthy, happy children shall grow
into pure and true men and women,
need no higher crown, no greater
glory. Homes to which their inmates
resort to get their meals, their cloth
ing, and their lodgings are all too
common, and bear only the faintest
resemblance to what a home should
be. It should be a place to think on,
to love and long for; it should be a
haven of rest ih it has an unfailing
“well spring of pleasure.”
Each member contributes his share
toward the making of home, but the
prmcipal presiding spirit is the wife
and mother; she it is that is—or
should be—its heart and life and
centrtf She will interest her-elf in
those things that interest her husband,
so as to be his companion, one in
heart aud life with him; she will
study, so as :o be able to interest her
children in their studies; she will
laugh with them, play with them,
sorrow with them, joy with them,
being at once companion and leader,
friend and guide ; whatever of pleasure
or pain, of sorrow or joy, comes to the
home group, each will be helped in
gladness aud sustained in pain by the
knowledge that the mother knows
aud, oh, blessed assurance ! that she
understands and cares, that there is no
thing that can go beyond her patience
and loveliness.
The mother can say the little word
that shall lead away from collision or
dispute; her loving discernment and
wise tact uhall gently turn the steps
away from the dangerous passes before
another has discovered their proxl-
f
mity. Her loving forethought p Ians
pleasures, duties, amusements and do-
lights; mingles pastime and instruo-
tion, encouragement and warning.
To form a hems that shall thus-
border on the peifection of home-
living, requires thought, study, tact,
culture—every good thing that can bo
found and brought to bear upon it;
aud, above all, through all, more than
all, love—pure, unselfish, devoted love-
It is not a little thing to create a home,
and the results are incalculable. It
requires thought, study, self-devotion,
time—a life-time. Yet in what way
could a life be spent more satisfactorily,
more usefully, more nobly ? When
the homes are reorganized, society
will be reconstructed ; when the foun
tains are cleared and purified, the rills
aud rivers running therefrom through
out the world will be purified. The
surest way to remedy the evils in the
world is to elevate the home life,
thought and home-teaching—to begin
at the root of all society and all gov
ernment.
French Detectives*
An angent de change who had in-
his custody a great number of bonds
and other valuable documents belong-
iug to his clientele was robbed of &.
number of share certificates stolen
from the safe in his office. The value
of these articles was considerable,
amounting to close upon 300,000 francs
(£12,000). As in France all scrip is
payable au porteur (to bearer), it is
much more easy to dispose of this sort
of property than it would be in Eng
land, where a formal transfer has to be
made. In the present case, the
plundered party did not want to make
the affair public for two reasons. In
the first place he was convinced that
the robber was his own sod, who had
absconded from Paris a day or two
before; and, in the second, the fact oi
his having lost the documents woull,
in all probability, have greatly injured
his credit on the Bourse. He went to
the prefecture de police, saw one of the
chief's, and a few hours later an agent
aecrei was sent to his office. He rela
ted his story, saying at the same time
that he suspected his son to have been
the principal actor in the affair. In
return, without a moment’s hesitation,
he was told the name of a firm in Paris
whose chief business was to deal in
stolen property of the kind He was,
moreover, informed a few hours later
that some days previously his son had
been seen more than once in the office
of this firm ; and that it was more than
likely the bends were in tbeir posses
sion. The police agent went to the
suspected office and, with money ad
vanced him by the plundered man,
transacted some stock or share buying
and selling. He returned there again
and again, each time doing some busi
ness which gave the firm a certain
profit. This went on until he had
gained a sort of footing with the sus
pected parties. He then asked them
to purchase for him a few thousand
francs’ worth of the kind of bonds
that his employer had lost. This was
done. The numbers on the script given
him corresponded with those which
the agent de change had shown him
when he first commenced the inquiry.
His work was then plain enough.
The head of the firm was accused of
having in his possession documents
which had been stolen, kuowing them
to have been so. By making a clean
breast of the matter, and by restoring
all he had bought from the son of the
agent de change (for which he had
paid about a fourth of their marketable
value), he escaped with a year’s im
prisonment. In Eiglaad the affair
would have been Impossible. But the
question remains whether it is not
better to fight rogues with their own
weapons than to allow them from mo
tives, which are correct in themselves,
to go soot free. There cau be little
doubt that, iu the present state of the
world, when so many men live by
preying on others, it is very neoessary
to keep some sort of supervision over
scoundrels, or it will be very difficult
for houest people to come by their
own.
In Owensboro’, Ky., a number of
sparrows were building a nest, when
one of them stood off and seemingly
refused to assist. There was a row,
and the next morning a sparrow was
seen hanging from the bough on whioh
the quarrel took place. It was sus
pended in mid-air, with a ootton
string around its neck.
“Now, Sammy, have you read ths *
story of Joseph?” “Oh, yes, uncle.”
“Now, then, what wiong did they do
when they sold their brother?”
“They sold him too cheap.”