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\ I ) 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 ------ ■ ■ 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.”