Newspaper Page Text
THE HONEYSUCKLE.
“The clover," eiild the humming-bird,
“Was fashioned for the bee ;
But ne’er a flower, as I have heard,
Was over made for me."
A passing zephyr paused, and stlrrod
Home moonlit drops of dew
To earth; and for the humming-bird
The honeysuckle grew.
—Harper’s Weekly.
: * 'Of*
BY LESTER L. LOCKWOOD.
“Hello, Jim! What’s up now?”
“Chicken coop—that is, it will be
when 1 manage to get a few more
nails in.”
Sam Simmins vaulted the low fence,
and, standiug with his hands in his
pockets, watched Jim a few moments.
Then he gave an amused whistle. “I
say, Jim, there’s nothing like having
conveniences to work with. Now, if
I were to build a chicken coop I
should be silly enough to use new
wire eightpemiies and a steel-tipped
hammer; but I daresay I’m quite be-
hind the times,and that assorted sizes
of bent and rusty nails and a slippery
stone to drive them in with are the
latest improved implements—a sort of
renaissance in carpentry, ph?”
“Not exactly,” replied Jim, laugh¬
ing, “but it gives you a chance to air
that French pronunciation that you
had to stay for after school for last
night. So there’s some good comes
from my impoverished resources; after
all, that was the phrase I struck on
yesterday.”
“Don’t Miss Lamb put us through
the definitions and pronunciations for
all they are worth, though? Father
says if this thing keeps up he’ll have
to buy a new dictionary before the
year is out—such wear on it,you know.
But, to ‘resume the original theme,’
what are you going to put in your
coop when it is done?”
“That is also Miss Lamb’s doing.
You see, she knows all about my i
poultry craze —knows I’m saving up
to go into tbe chicken business, I
mean—and yesterday she showed me
a chance to begin. Tbe folks where
she boards are regular chicken cranks,
you know—fine stock, incubators, and
all that. Well, yesterday she heard
Mrs. Jansen says that she had a hen
so determined to set that she couldn’t
break her up, and that she’d sell her
very cheap to get rid of her. So Miss
Lamb told her about me, and she
offered to sell me the hen and a set¬
ting of fifteen eggs—all good stock,
too, mind you—for $1. Don’t you
call that, a lay-out now?”
“’Tis, for a fact. And yon happen¬
ed to have the dollar?”
“Yes; I’ve saved up $1.15, and if I
can get the coop done I’m going after j !
school tonight for the hen.”
“Audi suppose you will buy a
bicycle with the proceeds? But that |
doesn’t explain why you are using j
rusty nails and a stone hammer.” !
“Why, usual. you Some see,our of the hammer children is lost, j
as are
always getting away with it, and I
can’t afford to spend my extra 15 cents
on nails. That has to go for chicken
feed, and I don’t know when I’ll have
a chance to earn any more, So I’m
drawing these nails out of the boxes
on the kindling pile. They are really
mine, you know. I worked for them
at Mr. Lake’s grocery last vacation. ”
“Goino (jroing 1 into into business business on on a a stiictly strictly | I ,
cash basis, eh?”
“Yes, sir-ee! That’s my ticket, |
every time.”
“Been reading the life of Eockefel-
ler and all those penniless-boy mil-
lionaires, I suppose?”
Jim flushed.
“Well, that's the way to begin, any-
how,” he said, sturdily, wrenching 1
»t a stubborn nail with the cold chisel;
“but I do wish they wouldn’t always !
lose the hammer.” I
“Why don’t you wait till it turns
up?”
“Too much risk, l'ou must ‘make
liay while the sun shines,’ you know
—in other words, set hens while
they’re in the notion.”
, “Going into the poultry business
■with one hen is too slow for me. I’m
going to Klondike as soon as school is
out,and when I strike it rich in mines
you’ll be puttering away with an old
cluckinghrn aud a half-dozen scrawny
chickens.”
“All right, - responded Jim, j
cheerily. “It 3 be slow, but ‘a
bird in the hand is worth two in the
bush.’”
* i Which, being translated, means
‘a hen in tlie coop is worth two mines
in the ground,’ I suppose?”
“That’s about the size of it. But
I say, Sam, before yon start for Klon¬
dike won’t you please hand me that
stone lying at your feet—the smooth
one that looks like a petrified potato?
This loose granite chips off so.”
“It does look like a potato-—tbe
■white elephant variety,” said Sam,
tossing the stone to Jim.
“Thank you. This will make -a
fine hammer—so hard and smooth.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! I should say so!”
for at the first stroke on the rusty nail j
bead the stone broke in two, one-half
falling to the ground and the nail head
grazing Jim’s hand. As he turned
his hand over to examine the scratch
the broken surface of the stone i
cauglit bis eye. He gave a loud j
whistle. . :
“Look here, Sam. Stop . laugh-
your
ing and see what is inside your white :
elephant potato. ”
With that keen interest in “speci- i
mens” which is the natural birthright I
of every Rocky Mountain forward. boy. Sam j
stepped eagerly
“Geode?”
“Not much! Nothing so common |
as that. I never saw anything like
it.”
“What do you reckon it is?”
Jim shook his heart, taming the
■stone from side to side and letting the
sunlight play over its surface and re-
veal its delicate beauty, for in the
heart of the common brown stone lay
a circular ribbed hollow lined with
mother-of-pearl and in one side of this
polished nest was a cluster of crystals.
“It must be the impression of a
fossil shell,” said Sam,eying it intent-
iy. ,,
„ A^d w . jim ye S Ded° f to*
B t 0 0 nick un the
other “YeV half of *he stone
here it is Did lome vou ever s[,ha! see
anything so perfect?
thing that seems to go way down into
the atone. Just look at the coloring,
wiH you? Rainbow tints every one!
And—see?—hero is the hole where
that little bunch of crystals was broken
out, and the inside of the shell, or
animals—whichever it is—is lined |
with crystals as far down as you can -
see.
“Jim, you’re in luck. You can sell j
it at the museum, and for a good :
price, too.” Lamb
“No, I shall give it to Miss
f or her cabinet. I owe her something
for her starting me in business. ”
“I do belie' e dim, you’d give away
yo ur bead if it was not well fastened
on your shoulders. But come, there’s
the first bell and we must hurry.”
Miss Lamb’s admiration of the fossil ]
was a li that he could have desired,
“I cannot tell you what it is,” she i
said, “but I am sure it is something ;
too rare for you to give away. It
ought to have a considerable money
value. I cannot accept it from you ,
until I have ascertained its worth. ”
“Ail right, then,” said Jim, wink-
ingatSain. “You can sell it if you
wish, and all above $5 that it brings
you may give to me for my chicken
house.”
“It’s a bargain,” said Miss Lamb,
laughing, “and the $5 shall go to the j
Children’s Fresh-Air fund.”
The following Saturday Miss Lamb ;
took the specimen to Professor Black, |
an eminent geologist.
“A turrilite!” , exc . . , „,f X .
7 'r , 1TIT Wlmre , CM you find H?
\ vr ’£ 8 ,| jani ot 6 8 01 /‘
*e ’we v 1 ow . . , |
, , . >
go on leading open s ones wi 1 m y
geologist s hammer till the end of tune
and get nothing for my pains, while
.
is un e ere* joy, y a c ance ow
rnenof StoittS ft^SrtSS !
a per e ec . c , .1 __ i
comp e e. ee low pei eo j 1 " c '
pieces fit together mot a fragment
® 01 1 .f '
. -1 r l ei e you are. .us T , a __
mL lm“r IT I M i I
“ biuet 1 - “ e
■" '
- ,, , f
1 y° u _ la 011 . ;
“Do , 1T you mean to say it is for sale?
would "’make "excellent P use of the
money. He is going into the chicken
business, and that sum would give
him a good start-buildings and all.
1 tetl you, professor, Jim Jones has ,
vea “/judge l pluck and principle. ”
so from the novel way in
which he was using this rare stone,”
giving P..., *? it affectionate, professional: 1 !
1 “vJjTwill
Yes,l will give you $100 «tnn 101 for H it nnd ancl
thank you very much besides.
The professor wrote his check, gave
!t to Miss Lamb and locked the tur-
nlite in Ins choicest cabinet
Ot course Jim could hardly believe
his good luck, but you may be sure
^ time T-^ kis modest cni€i<en i 1 liouse 7 was *
finished and a dozen glossy black .
Langshans ras!y strutted proudly in their i
g run the old Brahma was off
with ten healthy chicks and was given
the most comfortable quarters aud the !
choicest food that the yard afforded.
Miss Lamb and Sam Simmins were I
invited on a special Saturday to iu . :
Bpec t the new buildings and stock. ■
They both smiled when they saw a I
neat arch over the gateway upon
which _____1_ was painted:
T0BEILITE CHICKEN BANCH,
JAMES CONN,
Proprietor. 1
“Did you drive these nails with ,
stones? queried Sam. :
“No, indeed, laughed Jim, sliak-
iug a new steel-faced hammer peril-
ously near Ham s nose, ‘ but I shall
never be,sorry that I drove the first ;
ones so. 1
“Providence helps those who help
themselves, you see, Sam, said Miss
Fa mb.
“Yes,” sighed Sam, “Jim struck
it rich before I even got started for
Klondike, and if I don t get some sort
of a move on me he will beat me get-
ting a. bicycle yet.
“Struck it rich that s pretty good,
Sam. Yes, it was literally a rich
rusty strike, nail. that, —Chicago of the turrilite Record. on the
A Personal Equation. !
In an Edinburgh school an inspector j
wishing to test the knowledge of a
class in fractious,asked a boy whether
be would rather take one-sixth or one-
seventh of an orange if he got his
choice. The boy promptly replied
that be W'ould take one-seventh. At
^his the inspector explained at length
to tbe class that be who would choose
t b e smaller part, as this boy has done,
because it looked tbe biggest fraction,
waB very foolish; but the laugh was
ou the other side when the chirping
voice of another little urchin broke in,
“please, sir, but that chap disna like
oranges. ”—San Francisco Wave.
Where Reason Totters.
Husband—What! Another hnndrqd-
dollar gown? Didn’t I tell you that
you mast keep within your allow-
ance?
Wife (triumphantly)—You absolute necessity! said un¬
less in case of —
Puck.
PEARLS OF THOUGHT.
Success is a fruit of slow growth.-—
Fielding,
Nothing is impossible to industry.—
Periander.
T j 10 conditions of success are tact,
puslli and principle.—Sum Budget,
A man’s manners are a mirror in I
which he shows his likeness to the in- !
telligent observer.—Goethe. j
discovering Eeason is in the action director what of is man’s good; will, for j !
the laws of well doing are the dictates i
of right reason.-Hooker.
Yesterday is yours no longer; to- ;
morrow may never be yours; but to- !
day is yours, the living present yours, ,
and in the living present you may
stretch forward to the things that are j
before. —h. W. Farrar,
1 A every-day and .... duties
0 cares
which men call drudgery are the
weights ami counterpoises of the I
clock of time, giving its pendulum a
true vibration, and its hands a regu¬ I
lar motion. —Longfellow.
Overcoming the world implies over-
coming a state of worldly anxiety,
Worldly men are almost incessantly in
a fever of anxiety lest their worldly j
schemes should fail. But the man ;
who gets above the world gets above
this state of ceaseless and corroding
anxiety.—Charles G. Finney.
Books are a guide in youth and an
entertainment for age. They support
under solitud", and keep us from
becoming a burden to ourselves. They :
help us to forget the crossness of men :
and things, compose our cares and our
disappointments ’
passions, and lay our
asleep. 1 When we are weary j of the i !
living we may repair to the dead, who
have nothiug of peevishness, pride or i
design in their conversation.—rJeiemy
Collier,
"
EUROPE’S HERMIT SOVEREIGN. j
I
Prince of Liechtenstein Has Been In¬ j
Hidden visible for in Forty the Years. exquisitely j j
away ami
picturesque magnificent castle of
Eisg , ub , in Moravia, and an old world
ruler has just celebrated in solitude
the fortieth anniversary of Iris acces-
s i on the throne. He is not insane.
the cout rary,he brilliant is one of the most
intellectuaUy as well as the
mos t kind-hearted of European sover-
fSgXS lie has been practically invisible to
world. No one save his only
brother and bis confidential secretaries
and servants know even wlmt he looks
like, and his subjects, like the rest of
the people on the continent, can only | 1
J«>» conje'i™ »» lo th. m,Uir. of
to *2fESU.
i.
prince of Liechtenstein, an independ-
eu t sovereign, who, theoretically, Prussia. is j
still iu a st at 9 of war against :
elgu Por ’ st 4 “ of It® Germ 6 ’ ‘nV’wlrA y wee called
u !! M lle on of "I Austria or of Piussia, ill the
P™ of Liechtenstein cast m his lot
with Austria, boldly declared against
Pl ' u8Sia ’ aud P u * “ a war footlUg b,S !..
of f about 30 .° meu ' |
After the conclusion of . the , earn-
paign Prussia concluded peace with
the various states that had taken
part 1 iu the eouflict . But somehow or !
overlooked principality of Liechten-
j or forgotten by
Bismarck aud as if his attention bad
been drawn to the matter it would
h re8nlted in a demand for indemni-
the tinC0 natul - a ily forebore to
call the attention of Prussia to the
“ e * , eat , XT P ea “ ba "”* ^ T 1,e i“ Two
cIuded ’ th ® refole > bet ween th
^ theoretically still
m a state 01 wai.
P® 11 ! 3 ® al e awaie uo 1 • • ;
„ f tbls mysterwns _ seclusion^ of the |
°t P . n the “ ce smallness ot ^editens ot Ins em, dominions, who, in spi is e
.
Jae ° ne world. of tbe The fact Tf ot Vn the matter r i ® ra » ; ;
that he is afflicted with an intestinal
,
ailment of such a character as tc.debar
him irom the society ot his., tellow- .
creatures, and to render his isolation j
necessary. 1
He entertains large parties of guests
at his various castles during the shoot-
iug season, and likewise in his palace
at Vienna during the carnival week.
But, while his guests are never per-
mitted to want for anything, and are
simply overwhelmed with delicate at-
tentions, they never set eyes on tlieir
] 10 st throughout the entire time they
are underneath his roof, and if they
have anything to,cominunicate to him
they must do so by letter.
jt j s a very sad life, aud yet that it
j las no f rendered tbe prince a luisan-
thrope is shown by his boundless
charity aud philanthropy and by tile
number of bis scientific studies and
woi'ks which have won for him the
honorary membership of the Imperial
Academy of Science of Austria. He is
close upon sixty years of age now. !
His next heir is liis brother, Francis,
now Austrian ambassador to St.
Petersburg, and who will succeed not
only to bis vast estates, but likewise
to his sovereignty of Liechtenstein
and to his dukedom of Troppau.
The Longevity of Jews.
Professor Ripley has stated in tbe
Popular Science Monthly that if one
hundred Jewish infants and a hun¬
dred American infants, born, say ia
Massachusetts, begin life tbe same
day, half of tbe Americans will have
died within forty-seven years, while
the first half of the Jews will not be
gone before tbe end of seventy-one
years. So Lombroso says that of 1000
Jews 217 die before the age of seven,
while of 1000 Christians 4,53 die be¬
fore that age.
Swallows in Palestine,
In Palestine the swallows are al-
lowed not only the freedom of the
houses and living rooms, but of the
mosques and tombs, where they build
their nests and rear their young.
AMERICAN SOLDIERS’ UNIFORMS.
The Regimentals of the Old Continentals
Considered the Best.
It is a fact worth noting that, in the
opinion of a regular army officer who
is quoted by the New York Evening
Post, the uniform which is best suited
to the campaign purposes of the Amer-
ican soldier is the first one he ever
wore—the one which Washington him-
self urged on Continental soldiers who
were otherwise unprovided. This con-
sisfced of a hunting slurt, with long
breeches made of the same material,
the lower part ffiawn tight upon the
L ”( ^ * Wftsh
V w . nvenielice ’ .
J this il atyle ( )f cloth .
° sma terrors for
* b * BritigU had come to
ith it a uot ion of the skilled
hunter and marksman as found in our
frontier settlements, and they dreaded
nothiug more than coming upon a large
body of rebels thus clad.
In tbo Santiago campaign, our sol-
diers got as near to the essential prin¬
ciples of this early uniform as they
could. Blouses were discarded, and
while the strong, woolen shirt was not
worn outside the trousers, after the
fashion of the old hunting-shirt, it
undoubtedly would have been if it had
been adapted to this manner of wear,
Canvas leggings fitted tightly to
the leg by lacings, were invariably
J rorn ' ancI aa the compression of the
trousers underneath e necessary eg-
pomade the leg hot and uucoin-
R>i table,, the sc»<Reis o eu cut away
the portion of the trousers wllie.i
helow op eggi D .
trousers ikla mad and ° leggings, he .shined much garment, like
very
the Continental trousers drawn tight
below tbe knee.
If the woolen shirt worn by the
troops had been made to wear outside
the trousers, and provided with pock-
ets, thus combining shirt and jacket
like an old hunting-shirt, it would
have added greatly to the comfort and
convenience of the soldiers in Cuba.
The felt “campaign hat,” especially
when turned up in front, as was often
( W, probably approximated more
closely to the Continental hat thau
any head-dress that has been worn by
American soldiers since. However, it
must be said that when flie early Amer-
ican soldiers wore the hunting-shirt,
they commonly wore, not the Conti-
T* *“ * ~* ”
rat-skin.
In 0 ne respect there has been a
great change from the Continental sol-
dier’s appearance; that is in the mat-
ter of dressing the hair. In the days
G f the revolution, the men wore their
]„ir in . „.u. ..d pow.l.re.1, wl
a t general inspections and reviews
“two pounds of flour and one half-
po „ncl of rendered tallow per one
’‘""I'l me! :, sb ° uld be U8ed in dre8S *
nig the ban.
that 11 Z they would »'TT “not be allowed I, T to to
appear with their hair down their
backs, and over tlieir foreheads, and
“ do ak » n f \ hem cbius a PP ear at mol tbe ’5 ! 8ld llk «> e wbl ,f lld .^
beasts than + soldiers, „ and that .. f any
soldier who comes 011 the parade with
beard or hair uncombed shall be dry-
shaved immediately, and his hair
dressed on parade.” P
III 1801 it was ordered that soldiers’
hair should be cropped, and as “whisk¬
ers aud short hair illy accord, they
will not be permitted to extend below
tbe bottom of the ear. The less hair
about the soldier’s head the neater
aud cleaner will he be.” For fifty
years 110 American soldier was per¬
mitted to wear a beard.
A stout black-bearded . '"V'V" gentleman u
walked into one ot the hotels the
other evening carrying a peculiar-
lo °hWg package. It had the genera
appearance ot a gun case, except that
1 was extremely short and inordinately
thick - While he.was registering
and chatting with the clerk a couple
of guests got into a heated discussion
as to the character of the queer parcel,
and one of them finally made bold to
introduce himself and propound the
question to the man with the black
beard. He smiled. “The case con-
tained a gun, ” lie said, and proceeded
to extract a singular weapon. The
stock was like that of any ordinary
shotgun, but the barrel was fully four
inches iu diameter and covered with
leather. At the breech there was a
square box garnished with several lit-
tie levers. “I am an amateur ornitho-
logist, ” he continued, “and this is a
gun camera for the purpose of study*
iug wing movements, I level it on a
flying bird, just as I might a real fire-
arm, and pull the trigger. Instead of
exploding a shell it springs a shutter
and I have my subject transfixed on
the film. I can take twelve shots,and
it reloads very much like any camera.
The form is simply for convenience in
focusing, aud it has enabled me to get
some really remarkable pictures. For
instance, I have photographed such
fast flyers as snipe iu every conceiv-
able position, from head on to point
blank retreat —something that would
have been absolutely impossible with
any other style of instrument. It is
of French make,aud the only difficulty
I find is in getting films to fit the
chamber. I’ve caused a good deal of
surprise among sportsmen in the
field,” added the owner, putting bis
curious weapon back in its case.
“When they see me bring the thing
to my shoulder they expect a report
like a cannon. I've often thought it
would be a fine machine to intimidate
a burglar with and at the same time
secure a portrait for the police.”— I
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
Bacteria multiply rapidly, and the;
do it in a curious way. A single on
breaks itself in two, then each hal
grows until it becomes as large as th
original.
CftlLjOREN’S G8LUIH .
When 7 When sick, Papa’s goohuoss Slek. sakij!
Such papa’ a awful my times it makes;
Ho avyful, oh! such lonesome
And speaks i n, ghastly kinds tones.
gives s uoh of groans,
And rolls hi s eyes and holds his headl
And makes ma help him up to bod, j
While His a: id Bridget run to heat
Hot water t ags to warm his feet;
And 1 must get the doctor quick— I
We have to jump when pupa’s sick.
When papa’s sick ma has to stand !
Right side lie bed and hold his hand
While gis a he has to fail an’ fan,
For And Be there he wants say w hen i the lie’s children “sufferin’ "a dyln’ round man,” pa gets him through;” t i
He says ht wants to say goodbye
And kip u , all and then he’ll die;
Tlidnraoai s and says his ,l breatliln’s thick,”
It’s awjful sad when papa’s sick. 1
When Until lie .pa; a’s sick he doctor acts that way j 1
h ears the say:
“You’ve only got a cold, you know;
You’ll be j ill right’n a day or so;”
And then- -well, say! you ought to see
He’s different as he can bo,
And Just’Caus growjls his and dinner swears ain’t from cooked noon right, to night
e
And ill I he does is fuss and kick—
We're all used up when papa’s siek.
I — L. A. W. Bulletin.
| To Speak Well,Breathe Well.
tinctly It kis.as important to speak dis¬
aud forcefully as to wal t erect,
or to! keep one’s garments i good
order. Many persons who .would
resei t being accused of slovt Uiness
or cr ieltess deportment pay m / atten¬
tion to their voices. Y’et this form of
negl geiice in is as disagreeable as the
others many respects.
Pi oppr speaking depends upon good
bvea hihg. Breathe deeply and halve
jflenty of air in your lungs when vi s
speak. Enunciate speaking,antjl distinctly land W c
not hurry in your till newer
force the breath out while king.
By an unconscious process thb r|ive lungs
will supply enough air to the
desired kind and volume of (sound.
When you breathe aud make a sound
at tbe same time a harsh tone will be
the result, giving you a gruff voice.
A little practice and experimental
talking after taking a deep brejath will
convince you that musical bieasing
voice anil tones may be easily produced
they are worth while.
IjH VHilrfiioorf of Spanish Princesses.
“Three Little Spanish Prin-
ivhfl cesaB’ of several centuries ago, of
Isabel M. McDougall writes
in St. Nicholas, seem to have had
a ni tiresome time of it, even if
poiHBits. the^Heat Velasquez There did paint almost their
were no
faiiHSales or story-books. Spanish
prilBsses did not read much in those
dayx There were no such things as
jolly games, or even informal walks,
or spending the day at other girls’
houses. Maria Theresa’s principal and
exercise was in those very dances
reverential bendings. the'Unc4 Her principal
entei rainment was in 11 th v,n-
tics of court fools and dwarfs, kept f Fools,
or jesters, used to be tit every
coiiirt to make jokes, and the Spanish
court kept more of (hem than anv
othen—perhaps because it deformed was tlie
gravest. Dwarfs,idiots and
persons were also brought there in
large numbers. Many of them, ac¬
cording to tlieir portraits, were hide¬
ous, ijmhappy, iand many looked ill-tempered
and which is hardly to be
wondered at in human beings treated
like pet monkeys. It seems to us
nowadays a strange taste that sur¬
rounded children of high rank with
such unfortunate creatures.
Tbe Story of Tua.
That amiability is a matter of con¬
ditions rather than disposition has
been illustrated in a busy office in
New York. A most interesting story
of an inoffensive little calf has trans¬
formed ail erstwhile amiable young
man into a morbid, sulky, and some¬
times absolutely disagreeable com¬
panion. when
The story came out the young
men of the office at noon one day were
swapping stories about the early days
of Brooklyn—early days so far as they
were concerned. To date ojis of the
incidents mentioned one of 1 lie young
meu and remarked, turned to the “That hero of jliis about story the
was
time vou thought you had killed
Tua.” “Tua” is pronounced iu |two
'syllables, tbe 00 sound being given to
tbe u.
1 “Tua!” exclaimed another of the
young men, “who was Tua? Tell us
about him.” So the story of Tua fol¬
lowed. sjfcill,
“Tua, it seems, was a calf
figuratively tied to the apron strings
of his cow mamma, and the hero of
the story was a very small boy, but
old enough to take the cow and calf
out to pasture somewhere on the out¬
skirts of Brooklyn, not far from his
home. On the day the in calf which tlie frisking i|nci-
dent took place was
around as Calves will, and, being in a
jnore frivolous mood than'usual, it
■d not look to see where it was go-
Hg,and in attending to endeavoring its own afi airs
Hid at tlio same time to
Bliow the cow mamma it fell ove ■ an
Bmbankment, and the litijle cow boy
■as certain it must have bjien killed.
Be knew that meant that he would
He But punished at lip pme for carelessness.
that did not trouble him half so
Biucli Bttle as the thought that the dear
calf, of which he was very fond,
Bras dead. Big tears came into his
Byes, Bis and he rubbed them away ivith
grimy fists, sobbing out ih J the
meantime: I
Boor “I don’t tare for mysef, but, oil, my
’itty Tua, Tua, Tua.”
H Now, this is a very nice little story,
Bnd it was most interesting to the
■young men in the office, and nothing
■uvther would have come of it if some
line had not noticed the color rising
gin the cheeks of the young man who
Pjad driven the cows, as this history
of his early exploits was told, That
meant that there was more fun in the
story than had yet come out.
“I don’t tare for mysef,” began the
observer of the hero’s embarrassment,
mischievously, to try the effect of the
words as a stimulant, They were
effective. Tun’s one-time friend was
mad clear through, and now all that
is necessary in that office to create
excitement is to begin in baby tones,
“I don’t tare for mysef,” or “Ob, my
poor ’itty Tua, Tun, Tua.”— New
York Times,
Some Queer Habits.
The curious little hedgehog of Eng¬
land has a habit, shared by several
other animals,of curling up into a ball
when attacked and presenting its
spines to the enemy, the head and
vulnerable portions being perfectly
protected. Many animals assume a
ball-like shape for various purposes.
Bears have been seen to roll up and
roll down hill, and squirrels and many
others form themselves into balls
when going to sleep. A. naturalist
observed one spring a ball of snakes
rolling down a slight declivity—a
'most uncanny and disagreeable spec¬
tacle.
An investigator wishing to force an
ant family from its nest, diverted a
large stream of water in that direc¬
tion, at which the ants rushed as
rapidly as possible to a common centre
and clung to each other with so touch
vigor thnt a ball almost as largo as a
baseball was soon formed, and it
floated away down tlie little stream, a
liviug craft which undoubtedly saved
many of the ants.
A naturalist traveling in Van Die-
man’s Land some years ago saw one
night as he came home what he sup-
]5oaed the.branch to be a wasp’s nest hanging to
of a tree. Wishing to
secure it he marked the spot, and the
next day returned tor the supposed
nest,when, to his amazement he found
that it hud disappeared. He related
liis experience to a friend, a native,
who expressed the belief that the sup¬
posed wasps’ nest was a ball of birds,
and this proved the correct solution.
That evening the two men visited
the locality mentioned and concealed
themselves in the bush near the
marked tree. Soon numbers of wood
swallows were observed flying about
the limb, some alighting and clinging
to it like lizards, crawling about in a
curious way. Finally they began to
collect in a certain spot, and then to
cling to each other with heads down,
newcomers constantly appearing until
Anally a ball was formed of living
birds, who clung to each other in this
way to sleep. A gun fired near the
ball caused it to separate at once, ap¬
parently dropping into the air as the
birds released their hold and flew
away.
The wood swallow is a delicate little
creature about six inches in length,-
with long vigorous wings and a forked
tail. Its color is a sooty gray, other
parts being blue-black and white.
Among the aniqjals of the sea living
balls are often found, especially among
starfishes, bails of them, closely en¬
twined, having been seen several feet
in diameter and weighing fifty or more
pounds. The oystermen in some lo¬
calities have a theory that the star¬
fishes join in balls to accelerate their
march upon the oyster beds, and that
the ground swell sends them in until
they reach the beds, when the ball
separates, each starfish seizing an
oyster. Be this as it may, balls com¬
posed of scores of starfishes have been
found on the oyster banks.
In excavating in a pond near Boston
some years ago, the workmen found a
ball as large as a football, and made
up of frogs, clinging closely together,
in this way passing the winter in a
state of hibernation.—Chicago Record.
Decorated by the Queen.
Army pets whose sterling worth is
appreciated by their masters and tlieir
masters’ cronies are numberless, but
dogs who rise to the position of ‘ ‘regi¬
mental pets,” who become part and
parcel of the regiment at-home and in
action, and who receive official recog¬
nition, are comparatively few.
“Bob” was the regimental pet of
the Second battalion, Royal Berk-
shires, and a soldier dog to the back¬
bone. He accompanied liis regiment
to Afghanistan and went through in
the battle of Maiwaud one of the most
terrific clay’s fighting that lias been
known during the past generation.
Man after man was cut down, but
Bob would not be denied his share at
the fray. He kept on running to the
front, barking fiercely bullet at the enemy,
until at length a laid him low.
The wound was serious enough as it
tore nearly all the skin off' his back,
but he recovered and once again ac¬
companied his old corps into action.
When the regiment returned to
England tlie next year Eob received
great honor at the hands of the queen,
her majesty not only decorating him
with the medal for the campaign, but
tying it round liis neck with her own
hands when the regiment paraded be¬
fore her at Osborne House.
Like many another warrior, Bob did
not live long to enjoy the blessings ol
peace. Iu a little more than a year be
was run over and killed in the Isle of
Wight,
Not Wliat He Wanted.
To their credit be it said tbe Manx
people are so courteous that, no mat¬
ter at what time of the day or night a
stranger might arrive, he is welcomed
with open arms. ' '
A tale iB told that early one morn¬
ing a dance was in progress on the
pier at Douglass when a shipwrecked
sailor, who had been drifting about
on a spar, and had very fortunately
“landed” on the girders below,crawled
up the steps.
A “master of the ceremonies” came
forward, smiled, bowed and said:
“Exceedingly pleased to see you,
sir. Can I find jou a partner.—Lon¬
don Answers.