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CON YE US, GEORGIA.
The Queen of England in theory
has absolute authority to do as she
will in everything. In fact, she hat
no authority to regulate even her own
household servants.
•T. W. Spencer, who has been exam¬
ining the evidence that the West In¬
dies were once part of a great con¬
tinent, concludes that it existed and
that these islands were once connected
with what is now the mainland of
North America.
John L. Blair, the New Jersey rail¬
road “king,” who has over 825,000,
000 invested in western railroads,
boasts that he has never bought a road
merc-ly for speculation aud that none
of his money has been made by bull¬
ing or bearing stocks.
According to the Electrical Review
there are now.over 500 street railway
corporations in the State of Pennsyl¬
vania, where eight years ago there
were ouly about sixty. The remark -
able increase is due almost entirely to
the adoption of electricity as a motive
power.
France’s great military port at Biz
erta, on tho Tunis coast, has been
formally declared open. By connect¬
ing tho great lagoon with the sea by
an artificial channel a harbor has been
obtained large enough to hold the
whole French fleet and as safe as if it
were an artificial basin iu the centre
of France.
Some attention has recently been
given by certain newspapers and
periodicals to the subject of roadside
shrubbery and flowers in our rural
districts, and tho matter is one worthy
of serious consideration, declares the
New York Mail and Express. Arti¬
ficiality too often stamps the efforts to
to trim this wayside beauty, which is
apt to be seen at its best in the forms
which nature gives it. Landscape
gardening should halt before it attacks
a picturesque country road.
Tho Beyreuth, Germany, newspapers
record a new sample of meanness. An
inhabitant of that city was afflicted
with cataract in both eyes. He con¬
tracted with a skilled physician to
havo two operations performed—one
on each eye—for $250. The first
operation proved very successful, but
when tho doctor offered to operate
also on the other eye tho patient
refused, declaring that ho could see
as much as he wanted to see with the
ono eye, aud tendered half of the
amount stipulated—i. e., 8125. The
physician, however, says that lie fixed
the price us low as he did iu considera¬
tion of the quantity of payment to be
received, not iu consideration of the
quantity of work to bo done, and the
unique dispute is now before the
courts awaiting a Solomonic settle¬
ment.
According to recent reports of Pro¬
fessor Francois, an eminent French
economist, the United States not on¬
ly lead all other nations in tho scale
of wealth, but the wealth of thiB
country is more than a fourth of that
of the entire civilized world. Con¬
verting Professor Francois’s figures
from francs into dollars, the Atlanta
Journal finds that ho puts the total
wealth of the nineteen leading nations
at 8280,550,000,009. Of this amount
he credits the United States with
862,600,000,000. He places great
Britain second with 853,000,000,000;
France third with 45,000,000,000,and
Germany fourth with 32,200,000,000.
The wealth of Russia is estimated at
825,400,000,000; that of Astria-Hun
gary at 810,4.00,000,000; of Spain at
812,400,000,000; that of Italy at
810,800,000,000. It will be seen that
tho combined wealth of the four great
nations, Russia, Austria-Hungary,
Italy aud Spain barely exceeds that
of the Uuited States. Irofessor
Francois also shows that though a
great part of the wealth of this coun¬
try is m the hands of a few people the ,
concentration , here is nothing , like ,
so
, bad , as m Europe. r, Our ^ wealth is
bettor distributed th«„ is th.t of
of the larger couotrie, of EuropiL
it., The condition , , of , the ,, of the
masses
people „ i is better i ** i here and - their o\>
*
^ portumties , abundant. .
more
South America has the greatest uu
broken extent of level surface of any
country in the world.
There are 40,000 blind persons in
France, nearly half of them from
what is now known to be preventive.
Great indignation is expressed in
Paris because for two years mining
problems that cannot be solved have
been set for the examination of the
Ecole Polytechnique through the
blundering of the examiners.
The New Orleans Picayune thinks
that “some steps ought to be taken
for the better sanitation of the pris¬
oners of the country. A scoundrel
hardly gets inside one before his
health fails and he has to apply for a
purdon. ”_
“Progress” is a word of relative
meaning even in this up-to-date coun¬
try. With dozens of little hamlets in
the East now celebrating the advent
of the electric street car, Elk Oitv,
Idaho, was rejoicing on June 29 last
over the advent of “the first buggy
seen in Elk City,” which arrived that
day “over the new wagon road.” This
item also Bhows, by the way, that
“City” is a word with a wide rauge of
meaning, too.
Americans who go to Italy to be
educated in music have a great advan¬
tage—if they master the Italian lan¬
guage aud study its melodies. Other¬
wise they have none, maintains the
New York World. The whole secret
of tho musical nature of the Italian
people lies in the musical nature of
the Italian language. No one can
speak it habitually without becoming
unconsciously educated iu the laws of
melody which underlie all music.
Jndge Millen of the law division of
the Postoftice Department lias ren¬
dered a decision concerning the de¬
livery of mail matter by jail officials
to convicts; and tho same ruling will
apply to inmates of charitable insti¬
tutions. He holds that “state aud
county institutions for the confine¬
ment and punishment of parties con¬
victed of crimes have the right to pre¬
scribe rules and regulations as to
communications from outside parties
to convicts. While they have no right
without the consent of the convicts,
to open the letters addressed to them
yet they have the power to refuse to
deliver or permit to be delivered to
the convicts any letters addressed to
them, unless they will consent that
the letters be opened in the presence
of some officer. Where mail is ad¬
dressed to a convict, it is proper to
deliver the same to the officer in
charge of the prison, While this
would not authorize the officer to
open such letters, he would have the
power, if tho state aud county laws or
regulations of the prison so author¬
ized, to refuse to deliver such letters
to the eouvict during his imprison¬
ment unless he consents that they bo
opened in the presence of the officer.”
General John Gibbon has written
an article on “Can West Point Be
Made More Useful?” which commands
more than usual attention among of¬
ficers of the Army. He cites that in
some respects the Military Academy
remains tho same as it was fifty years
ago; that, although the course of
studies has undergone radical change,
the number of professors and instruct¬
ors increased, the scientific apparatus
improved, and the number of cadets
increased with the growth of the
country, yet the qualification required
by law, with some few additions, re¬
main about the same. General Gib¬
bons makes special objection to the
rule that a candidate of a certain age
and height should weigh at least a
certain number of pounds. He main¬
tains that this objection may be over¬
come in a few months with good ra¬
tions and exercise, but that if adhered
to strictly a Grant, a Sheridan, even
j I a Napoleon would be shut out. He
! aRo says that there is a hurtful pre
j judice against the Military Academy
I j among the people at large, because
of its supposed aristocratic character.
He maintains that the academy can
. be made , more useful bv extending its
education ... in such . . to leaven ,
a wav as
'
,, .... el . "* . . ,hG
™ G “
“ d " T” °‘
L. would be in a better 6tate of * prepara
tion 4 to take the field „ ,, than ., they have
i S eler , been . before, , ‘
Rose and Weed.
A little weed grew at the foot of a rose,
And they both breathed the soft summer
air,
But the little weed sighed ag it looked at the
rose,
For the rose was so tall and so fair.
At sunset the little weed tremblingly spoke
And told of its love to the rose,
But the rose did not hear, for the language
of weeds
Is a language a weed only knows.
When the little weed wept, washed the fair
rose’s feet,
And the rose was refreshed for the night,
The songs of the morning birds opened her
heart,
And she lifted her head to the light.
Then taller she grew, and her green leaves
spread wide,
Till the shut out the sunligb t and air;
So tho little weed died at the foot of the
rose,
And the rose never knew it was there.
MISS DORINDA’S HEIR.
BT HELEN WHITNEY CLARK.
“And so MissDorinda Beam is dead
an’ buried!”
“Yes, an’ bain’t left no will—that’s
the wust of it”
Mrs. Grimes stopped churning to
liaten to the news brought by Neigh¬
bor Hockins.
“You don’t say!”
“It’s so,” declared Neighbor Hoc
kins, emphatically.
“Beuly Bittersweet won’t get noth¬
in’ after all, then,” observed Mrs.
Grimes, lifting the churn-lid to see if
the butter was “coming.”
“Not a stiver. An’ her alius brought
up to think she’d git all.”
“Tis too bad. I reckin Peter Fogg
an’ his woman ’ll come in for the
proppity, then?”
“Course they will, bein’ they’re
the nighest of kin. All the kin-folks
she hed, I reckin, fur her an’ Beuly
wasn’t no ways related.”
“I shouldn’t think Miss Dorindy’d
sleep quiet in her grave, with them
Foggs a-handlin’ of her things. She
hated ’em like pizon while she was
alive,” remarked Mrs. Grimes.
“She hedu’t ort to of put off mak
in’ her will, then. But that’s alius
the way—folks keeps a-puttin’ off, a
tbinkin’ they’re goin’ to live forever,
an’ then all at once they’re gone ’fore
they know it. An’ then it’s too late.
Miss Dorindy died awful suddint,
they say—some sort of appellexy or
the like. I dunno what Beuly is a
goin’ to do, I’m sure.”
And indeed poor Beulah herself
scarcely knew what she was going to
do.
“Everything here will bo yours,
Beulah, when I’m dead an’ gone,”
Miss Dorindo had often declared.
“That miserly Peter Fogg an’ his
stingy wife don’t get a stick nor a stone
of what belongB to me, I Kin tell him,
if he is my nephew.”
And now Miss Dorinda was dead
and gone, sure enough, aud Peter
Fogg and his “stingy wife” were the
heirs-at-law.
Tho place had been thoroughly
searched for a will, but none could be
found, and Lawyer Green, who at¬
tended to all Miss Dorinda’s affairs,
declared that he had not been called
upon to make any will; and so poor
Buelah was left penniless and alone in
the great world.
One year ago Beulah was the prom¬
ised wife of Richard Barrymore, a
stalwart young farmer, who lived with
his mother in the old homestead
with its green orchard trees, its mead¬
ows of sweet grass and waving fields
of wheat aud corn.
But Beulah was young and giddy,
and when the new physician, Dr. Clar¬
ence Virden, began to pay lover-like
attentions to her, Richard grew jeal¬
ous, a quarrel ensued, and a broken
engagement was the upshot of the mat¬
ter.
Since that time Dr. Yirden had con
tinued his attentions, until Miss
Dorinda’s death occurred, and Beu¬
lah’s unfortunate position was made
public.
Then bis visits suddenly ceased, and
he found it convenient to “pass by on
the other side. ”
A week later, Mr. Fogg and his
wife came to take possession.
He was a hard-featured, miserly
man, and she a sharp-nosed, avari¬
cious woman.
“Ike ole woman hed a heap o’
plunder,” remarked Peter, as he went
lumbering through the parlors with
his heavy cowhide boots. “That
there pie-aimer won’t be here long,
though, nor them picters on the
wall!” he declared, eying the articles
named with a calculating gaze, “I
rekin they’ll fetch right smart o’
money at the auction-rooms, an’ I’ll
cart ’em off an’ sell ’em. ”
“There’s ahull trunk full o’ the ole
woman’s good clo’se,” put in Mrs.
Peter, who had been exploring the
upper rooms. “You mout as well cart
them off, an’ sell ’em, too, Peter. I
kaint wear ’em.”
“Course you kaint,” said Peter gruff¬
ly. What do you want of any more
clo’se, anyhow? Them you’ve got on
your back i3 good enough for any¬
body. i
Shocked and pained at their course
remarks, Beulah went to her own
room, to think over her plans for the
future.
“You kin stay here, if you work for
your board,” Mrs. Peters had in¬
formed here, but Beulah had declined
the offer.
“I had rather beg my bread from
door to door,” she declared to her¬
self, “than to stay with them, but
where can I go. ”
“Beuly, ” called Mrs. Peter’s sharp
voice, “come down, here’s a feller to
see you.”
“Could it—oh, could it be Doctor
Virden?”
She caught her breath her heart
beat so violently with a sudden hope.
She hurried down with a pink flush,
like the tinted heart of an ocean shell
staining her cheeks, to meet—Bichard
Barrymore.
He took her hands in a firm, gentle
clasp.
“Get your things, Beulah. I have
come to take you home with me
Mother has a room ready for you,
and you are to come and live with
us.”
“O, Richard,I—I don’t deserve it!”
sobbed Beulah.
“Hush! Get you things,” ordered
Richard authoritatively, “and let me
carry out your trunk; my wagon is at
the door.”
And half-reluctantly, though with a
feeling of relief at her heart, Beulah
allowed him to lift her into the wagon
where he had already placed her
trunk, and they drove away.
Peter Fogg was as good as his
word, and before many days he drove
into town with his lumberiug farm
wagon filled with the big piano, the
handsome pictures, and Aunt Dorinda’s
trunk, containing her best clothes.
The honey-suckle and madeira vines
clustering about the old Barrymore
farm-house were full of bloom, and
the scented petals of a tall cinnamon,
rose bush were dropping lightly on
Beulah’s nut-brown curls, as she sat
on the south porch with a basket of
yellow September poaches beside her.
“Dick is so fond of peaches and
cream,” commented Beulah to herself,
as she peeled and sliced the ripe, gold
en-hued fruit. “He shall have them
every day while they last.”
Just then the sound of wagon
wheels was heard in the lane.
“What on airth is that Richard got
in the wagon?” asked Mrs. Barry¬
more, coming out on the porch just as
the wagon came into view. “Kin you
make out what ’tis, Beuly? Your eyes
are bettor’n mine air.”
Beulah shaded her eyes with her
hands and looked again.
“It—it looks like a big box,” she
said, doubtfully.
And so it was a big box, with a
piano inside of it. There was another
box, also filled with pictures and a
trunk.
Richard drove up to the door.
« ( I’ve brought you a present, Beu¬
lah!” he cried, gaily. The piano and
pictures we’ll put in the parlor, and
this trunk I’ll ju3t take up to your
room.”
And calling Sim, the hired man,
they carried it up at once.
Beulah could only look her thanks
and then ran up stairs to hide her
tears.
Half an hour later she came danc¬
ing down stairs, laughing, crying to¬
gether.
“Oh, Dick! Oh, Aunt Laura!” she
cried hysterically. “There was a will,
after all; and here it is! It was in the
bosom of Miss Dorinda’s dress, be¬
tween the lining and the outside. I
thought I would hang up the clothes,
to air them, after being shut up in
the trunk, and just happened to i'eel
this in the bosom of her silk dress.
It was one she had not worn
good while.” for*
It proved to be a genuine
made three Louis’ wil]
years ago, i n St.
where Beulah and Miss Doriud had
few a
spent a weeks one summer.
This accounted for Law ye* Green
having no knowledge of it.
Beulah was soon reinstated i h
n er
old home, and Peter Fogg and his
wife, after refunding the money paid
for the piano aud other articles
back to their farm went
greatly chagrined
at the unexpected turn of affairs
“I wish the pesky trunk had f
burnt ’fore 0
up ever we went aud sold
it,” grumbled Peter.
In which unavailing wish Mrs. P t
e er
coincided with him.
Among the visitors who soon flocked
to congratulate Beulah upon her good
fortune, was Doctor Clarence Virden
but much to his discomfiture he was
informed that “Miss Bittersweet was
engaged.”
And so she was, in more senses than
one.
For when the first October frosts
had crimsoned the trailing ivy vin es
and turned the sumac aud sassafras
leaves to scarlet and gold, Beulah Bit
tersweet was transformed into Mrs
Richard Barrymore—Saturday Night.
Remarkable Lakes.
Little Shuswap Lake is stated to
have a fiat bottom, with a depth vary¬
ing from fifty-eight to seventy-four
feet, measured from the mean high
water mark. The deepest water found
in the Great Shuswap was 555 feet,
about six miles northward from Cin
nemousuu Narrows, in Seymour Arm,
though the whole lake is notably
deep. Adams Lake, however, ex
ceeds either of the Shuswaps, as its
average depth for twenty miles is up¬
ward of 1,100 feet, and at one point a
depth of 1,900 feet was recorded. Ia
the northwest corner of this lake, at
a depth of 1,118 feet, the purpose of
the scientific explorers was defeated
by the presence of mysterious sub¬
marine currents, which played with
the sounding line like some giant
fish and prevented any measurement
being taken. It is a complete mystery
how the currents could have been cre¬
ated at this depth, and scientific curi¬
osity will no doubt impel either pub¬
lic or private enterprise to send a
second expedition to the scene thia
summer to endeavor to solve the rid¬
dle. As the height of the surface of
this lake is 1,380 reet above the sea
level, its present bed is, therefore,
only 190 feet above the sea, although
distant 200 miles from the nearest
part of the ocean, Dr. Dawson aud
his associates believe that the beds ol
some of the mountain lakes in the
region are many feet lower than the
sea level.—Vancouver (British Colum¬
bia) World.
A Romantic Marriage.
Tennessee papers are telling of a
romantic marriage at Memphis some
time ago, where, in order to be safe
from the interference of the object¬
ing father of the bride, the couple
were married in the county jail, the
jailer being a friend of the bride¬
groom, and agreeing to keep the
troublesome parent outside until ad
was over. But the point about the
case that is apt to strike a non-resi¬
dent of Tennessee as most notable—
it is merely mentioned incidentally
there—is that a prisoner awaiting
trial for assault and battery acted as
best man, going from the jail to the
county court with the jailer to get the
license; supporting the bridegroom
during the ceremony in the jailer s
parlor; giving away the bride, ami
performing other functions that
might seem strange in a jirisoner not
so favorably situated as one in a Ten
nessee jail.
Wanted to Make Sure.
Mr. Nil wed (on honeymoon tour)
My darling, we shall have to get out
at once. The two front cars are tele¬
scoped and the whole train is on fire.
Come, dear, come before it is too
late.
Mra Nuwed (determinedly)—No,
dear ; not until you have told me ones
more that you love me.—Brooklyn
Life.
it is proposed to erect the largest
railway station in the world at Forty
second street and Seventh avenue,
New York City, the terminus of the
great Hudson River bridge, It will
be used by eleven railroads.