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declaration. „ ,UJ! T say tr the? }‘n wr>rti% . ,v. n:l he better 1 by birds " ,'!Io I by hu<L in sprite? • v :| 1 f might trust the night.ingala ' ‘ ‘ a vie lit- so n tale if \[ to thee I bring! ~ • (he rose r’oi< r ight be . v wsador from mto thee. ‘ , ; n , --enpevs above; r • [ n ,t the oigM : r~nle in turn. v n-lth eViuence of June, , voice to thee my love. y, •. s still, n onc. ■A my heart, the whole Jay long, 1 \*tnve, AV'th thee anear, , r . ’ itself a silver tongue, , ■ jis golden secret sung. 1 then. oh. love, shalt hear, . Hope Kinney, in The Century. ft TiL PART OF THE STORY j ,:.;s fins an Idea—The Thing ir, he tv Is He ta Cel It on Paper ? all very well having an idea for a S : iiy. but it’s a very different mat ter writing it. Three difficult parts of wri ing a story are the beginning of ir th? going on with it. and the finish: r of it; and even when these facts ve been accomplished to the satisfaction of the writer he still has an arduous task to perform, which is to .soil it. There have been cases on r, mrd in which the last feat has never b.-en accomplished at all. To the young writer, like Jones, for instance, the beginning of his story appears the most painful, jon has his idea, his story skele ton, dancing in his brain, but he can’t get a bolt on any of its limbs and lav it flat. It eludes him and laughs him to scorn as he tries to put pa per and ink flesh on its bones. Jones thinks of the various open ings of stories lie has read. The ro mantic style, as adopted by Scott, Dumas and G. P. R. James, comes to his mind. Two solitary horsemen were trav ersing a lonely wood at the end of a hot July day. The steeds picked their way carefully as they passed ever the underbrush, and for an hour or two the animals’ footfalls were the only sounds heard. At length (yes of course) the elder horseman was the first to break the silence. (The elder horseman always is the. first to break the silence.) But there aren’t any horsemen in Jones’ story, and it’s a matter of in difference to him who breaks the si lence first. The New England style next oc curs to him; “Louisa,” called a hard, sharp voice from the rear kitchen, “you come right in this minnit! Louisa! Loo-ee-zer! Drat that gal, where is Gallivantin’ araound them Hicks’ medders, I reckon. Fer the lan’s sake, here she is naow!” Jones realizes that this kind of opening attracts attention from the start and gives promise of interest ing domestic trouble for Louisa. The spelling of “minnit,” though unnec essary, has a strong local color, and if Jones has a young girl and a cross stepmother in Concord, N. H., lor his principal characters he will do well to ponder this opening. But he hasn’t. He thinks and think?. Ah, here is the society novel style: Helen Van Mustard came down the steps of Mrs. Gallashin’s house in the Seventies, near the park, with compressed lips but cloudy eyes. Heme, Julius,” she said, as she tepped into her limousine, and as well appointed machine flew .‘dong the avenue, barely’ w r ithin the of the law, she wondered unilly how she was going to right .sell with her recent hostess. Helen felt convinced that the Count s Szlgzkzowski had cheated, but how to prove it? s '°, that won’t do. There are no over-moneyed people in Jones’ work, spending twice as much as they've got. Hnce upon a time there was—- Ridiculous. It sounds too much 1 a lairy story. Going to the oth ei exl|, eme suddenly, Jones conceives this start: * /he thousands and thousands of 'Occidents which occur in the daily lv, *s of the present century toiler “ ! My lead to the conclusion that v, ‘ we term accident or chance is really only—. ■ ang it* That leads nowhere. By ime Jones has almost forgot tn what his story is about. H -1, he must concentrate his Let him think. There's a ni j :lu an R a woman who marry and separate immediately afterward. Now, why? Oh, yes, because must meet again twenty years !;i order to threaten ruin to the f; the hero and heroine, one mi is the child of. the woman by / ' ‘Sequent marriage and the other _ i!, J of the man by a subsequent 'dgamous marriage. And the b ‘ is—the point is—well, what is lh e point? ! / Point might be several things, “ J°Res hasn't got that far yet. "ones wants to do is to begin his but he can’t decide whether 1 Hu with the marriage of the llts or the lovemaking of the 1 Rers and go backward when ~ s Hi the middle of the narrative. ‘V? lßht start this way: l u liler pawned and threw’ down n', i)o °k- The hammock felt uncom- tu her shoulders and she j' b lif e held more novelty for ‘‘ Ok for the mediaeval days of vv hen knights came riding up | )!l > the East and threw’ dow r n gaunt lets - Oh for the- • • Jones Lagan to get nervous him self now r . One more try: % “Well, fer a new’ly married couple them two is the rhost businesslike parties as ever I seen,” muttered the secion as he watched the ceremony from the rear of the church. He thought of the blushing brides and the eager bridegrooms who had Stood lip before the Rev. Amos Dain ger field during the last fourteen years of the latter's incumbency of the— Suddenly there was a muffled cry and a dark flash through the air. Jones had lost his reason and thrown the bottle of ink at himself.—From tile New York Sun. GIIOST ANSWERS ’PHONE. Queer Shade Delivers Messages After Church is Locked. Old St. Paul’s Church, headquar ters of the Protestant Episcopal City Mission, has a ghost. It is an eccen tric shade which whisks up stair ways and disappears into nothing ness, but it is also up to date. When the office force has departed and the quaint old building on Third street is secure against intruders with stout locks and bolts the ghost an swers the telephone, which conduct is so utterly foreign to the popular conception of ghosts’ abilities that it has dumbfounded Rev. H. Cresson McHenry and his assistants. On two occasions the strange vis itor has answered the ’phone when the office force was absent and the building locked. Its answers, al though briefly made, have indicated that the ghost is well acquainted with the movements of the staff. The shade informed a friend of Mr. Mc- Henry that he “had just left the mis sion,” and to Mrs. George Sommer er, wife of one of Mr. McHenry’s as sistants, it imparted the information that her husband “w’ould be home to supper.” Both persons who con versed with the unknown occupant of the mission declare that its voice was modulated to the softest tones. Mr. McHenry saw the ghost on July 4th. The office force had a holiday, but Mr. McHenry visited the church to open his mail. As he was unlock ing the iron gates at the entrance to the churchyard he glanced up at one of the windows and was astonished to see what appeared co be a man stand ing on the stairway inside the build ing. The stairway leads from the offices of the City Mission in the basement to the church auditorium. As Mr. McHenry opened the gate- the figure glided rapidly up the stairway, disap pearing from view. The minister en tered the church, locked the door be hind him to prevent the escape of the intruder and searched the entire church from cellar to roof. He failed to find any trace of the visitor. Every door and window was locked securely and the desks untouched.— Chicago Tribune. Knew What He Was Doing. For once tho American had dis covered something British that was better than anything that could be produced “across the pond.” His discovery was a fine collie dog, and he at once tried to induce its owner, an old shepherd, to sell it. “Wad ye be takin’ him to Amer ica?” inquired the old Scot. “Yes, I guess so,” said the Yq.’ “I thought as shepherd. “I couldna pa^M^ock.” But while they an English tourist care^gand to him the shepherd for much less than the had offered. “You toUowne you wouldn't sell him.” sardelle Yankee, when the purchaser had departed. “Na,” replied the Scot, “I said I couldna pairt wi’ him. Jock’ll be back in a day or so, but he couldna swim the Atlantic.” Detroit b rea Press. Itoad? and the R. F. I). Notice is being sent out from the Postoffice Department to many rural communities that unless roads are repaired and placed in condition for uninterrupted service during the year the rural service will be discontinued. This is work for good roads that will doubtless have a wide and whole some effect. The rural mail service has become so much a part Of the farmer’s life as to be regarded as a necessity, and he isn’t likely to let it lapse for the sake of a little time and energy needed in road building.—At chison Globe. 11 is Deep Concern. The kind old lady noticed a small lad entering a cobbler’s with a small package. “What have you there, sonny?” she asked kindly. “Ma’s slipper,” replied the lad; •you see, there is a tack out of place in it, and I want to have it fixed be fore ma notices it.” “Ah, what a considerate little boy! I suppose you are afraid the tack might hurt your mother’s foot?” “Well, it isn’t exactly that. You see, the tack is sticking out on the sole, and this is the slipper ma spanks me with.” —Chicago News. Defense of the Top Hat. Its doom has been pronounced, but it defends itself. The top hat is not much more ugly than another hat. And, above all, it is not uglier than the rest of our masculine costume. It has its peculiar qualities; it re quires to be taken care of. The soft hat does not exercise our will; it lets us go, and it is wrong. Honor to the eight or ten reflections which are the last safeguard, or very nearly, of in dividual energy in the civilized states, —Journal des Debats, Paris. Fur’s For, Dili Wiist For? Black Msrlen May Be Skunk and Also Alaskan Sable , \ ,lr coat *3 a fur coat. That is o.k a3 muca as most persons who n.ei a furriers store know about 1 e history of a piece of fur.” Thus spake a n experienced fur salesman. ~“ ven the experts do not know every mg about the origin of the furs.” His remark was illustrated by an expert connected with one of the best known of New York’s retail fur riers in a conversation with a repre sentative of the New York Tribune. ‘How old is the animal from which . ® Persian lamb skin is taken when it is killed?” he said lie had asked of another fur expert. “Oh, two or three years.” replied the other in the offhand and cocksure manner of a person who is pleased to be able to show himself superior in knowledge. The expert had been “raised” on a farm, so he did not accept this state ment at its face value. All the lambs that he knew of began to grow wool as soon as they began to eat grass, so he was willing to wager that the lambs whose coats find their way to the shoulders of many women were not more than two weeks old when they gave up their lives at fashion’s dictation. He determined to find out the truth about Persian lamb. He put. the same question to another dealer. This time he was told that the lambs were about on 4 year old when their lives were taken. An acquaintance was going to Eu rope to attend the fur sales, and he asked him to get an authoritative an swer to his query. In course of time he received a long letter from Leip sic, the sum and substance of which was that the lambs are really lambs, being invariably less than two weeks old, and quite frequently only two or three days old, when they are slaugh tered. If this be true, then the article published within the last year by a magazine which aims to be exact and informing, describing in an almost heartrending way how the ewes are killed in order that the coats of their unborn offspring may be used to pro tect the carefully groomed bodies of America’s fair sex fro'm the wintry blast is a. sentimental dream. Even the experts do not know how many neits are obtained in the world, nor what the value of th° animal catch is. This is because the Hud son's Bay Company, v/hich once al most had a monopoly of the fur busi ness of North America, now has com petitors. A number of the fur deal ers have their representatives in the centres to which the trappers come with their furs. Some of these men plant their trading posts within a couple of hundred feet of the posts of the company whose control was once unquestioned. Asa result large ouantities of fu~s come to New York, the centre of the fur trade for the United States, directly the trap pers. without the intervention of the middlemen. The number and value, therefore, are not recorded in a pub lic way. Not only has the Hudson’s Bay competitors in the wilds of yßnada, but also in London. Many Tears ago, when it had undisputed sway over the fur catch of North America, it established the custom of annually selling its stock at auction in the English capital. About sev enty-five years ago outsiders estab lished another market, which was held at the same time and conducted in the same manner. The only dif ference was that those who managed it did no: own any furs, but sold for others. At the present day this mar ket handles two or three times as many furs as are taken and sold by the famous old company. It is at these auction sales that the prices of furs in the raw state are determined. The cheaper fursaresold in “strings” of a hundred. The rare and high priced ones, of which only a few doz en may be taken in the course of a year, are sold by the single skin and upon inspection. Manufacturing furs is a very exact term. With few exceptions, even the most expensive furs are actually man ufactured. Making a fur garment is more of an art .than most persons re alize. It is not a matter of taking a few sldns, cutting the legs off and patching together the large pieces which once covered the bodj r . The foreman and designer of a fur manu factory does notget a salary of S4OOO or SSOOO a year simply for his knowl edge of patching together large skins. It is for his ability in cutting the skins a quarter of an inch wide and then putting them together again so that the skins will be greatly in creased in length while the shading of the original skin is preserved. The skill required may be understood when it is known that in some cases it would be cheaper to carve lip a $lO bill than to cut up incorrectly a piece of skin of similar area. These ribbons are all carefully sewn to gether by machinery. A few of the furriers save the skins that represent high values and de vise articles of wearing apparel in ■which they can be used without cut ting. Muffs and stoles offer such uses. Fine furs rank with cash in the measures taken for their safety. Large safes with combination locks are provided for their care. Not in frequently the contents of a safe are equivalent to the contents of a ’vault in a national bank in a city of 20,000 inhabitants. Furs valued at $60,000 to $70,0 JO are sometimes stored in a safe six feet high and about three by four feet in the other dimensions. The most valuable skin is that of the black fox. Its range in price Is from $2750 to S3OOO. The animal is found in Alaska and Siberia, in the latitude of the Arctic circle. The most valuable fur in the man ufactured state is the black Russian sable. A single skin would cost from SSOO to S7OO, according to its qual ity, and a mantle made of this fur would be worth 22 0,000. It is not unusual for a Russian sable coat to sell for 2SOOO to $15,000. Muffs and stoles are frequently sold at prices ranging from S4OOO to S6OOO a set. The skin of the sea otter, which is generally used for trimming, is val ued at SIOOO. A robe of this skin would cost from S2OOO to S4OOO. One is inclined to ask cynically, “What is in a name?” when he learns definitions of the names bestowed upon certain skins. For instance, you can buy black marten in Chicago. The buyer will discover if he puts it alongside the Alaskan sable sold in New York that the two are the same fur. According to Mr. Mc- Quinn, of C. C. Shayne & Cos., both are the skins of the American skunk. “There is no such animal as the Hudson Bay sable,” said Mr. Mc- Quinn to a representative of the New York Tribune. “It is the American marten. The dealer buys this fur under the name of marten, and it is billed to him under that name. It is similar to the Russian sable in every respect, except in the shade and tex ture of the fur. “Up to the present year,” he con tinued, “muskrat skins sold for from eighteen to .twenty-five cents in the raw state. This year.they bring from forty to fifty cents. This is be cause of their demand for manufac ture into ‘Hudson seal’ and ‘Aleutian seal.’ They are sent to Europe. There the long guard hairs are plucked out and the fur sheared to the depth of the seal fur. The skins are then subjected to a dye that will make them look like real seal. They are then returned to this country and manufactured into coats of various styles. They are on the market ad vertised under the heads of ‘Hudson seal’ and ‘Aleutian seal.’ “The catch of Alaskan seals is 12,- 000 to 14,000 a year, but 300,000 skins are sold under that name in the course of a year. They are all real sealskins, but not the of the famous sealsof thePribylov Islands.” Popular superstition has a part in the fur business. There is a consid erable sale of robes and garments made from the skins of the common house cat and the rabbit. It is said that this demand comes from persons afflicted with rheumatism who be lieve that these furs when turned in ward have curative qualities. Morning in an Indian Comr.ound Ey MARY ANA RLE CHAMBER LAIN. All over the compound, from ver andas and “go-downs,” forms are seen rising from sleep, each one “wrapping the drapery of his coqch about him,” with no idea, in doing so, of conforming to any standards urged upon the attention of the race by Mr. Bryant, but for the simpler, if less poetic, reason that these drap eries constitute his bedding by night and his nether garment by day. But do not make the mistake of thinking that, because the requirements of the Hindu’s costume are scanty, his toilet is. therefore, a perfunctory matter. Follow him to the well. The chances are that you will never drink water again, but you will obtain knowledge. On the brink of that great, yawning hole in the ground known as the compound well, whose sides are of stone and whose steps lead you down to the water's edge, behold the “males” of the compound. Divested of the draperies already re ferred to, and in attitudes ranging all the way from the pose of the “Disc Thrower” to that of the most resolute “squatter” upon a Western claim, they are lined up in a row from the top of the steps to the bot tom. In the hand of each is a chatty, and one and all are engaged in the offices of the morning bath. And their tub is the well. brimming chatties are passed up and the empty ones down, legs are curried, feet are scoured, teeth are polished with.char coal and stick, throats are gargled, noses trumpeted, and, in short, the whole man receivesJsuch a washing and splashing, such a rubbing and scrubbing, such a molishing and pol ishing, as leaves nothing to be de sired, except in connection with the well. This latter consideration, how ever, is one that does not disturb the Hindu, who, priding himself upon being, externally, the cleanest plat ter in. the universe, devotes but little thought to the inside of the dish. His ablutions and those of his coK leagues concluded, he fills his chatty once more from the pure fountain below, lifts it high in the air, throws his head back, and with unerring aim, pours the crystal libation in one long, steady stream do<vn his open throat, skillfully poised to receive and conduct it to his germ-proof in terior. This done, his draperies are resumed? and he departs to his work. Suddenly,, as out of a catapault, the sun leaps up from behind the eastern hills, and day is at hand.—■ The Atlantic. As Vain as a—Pigeon. The peacock is not singular in his self-admiration. Pigeons are so no torious for the same vice that it is, I am told, illegal to put a looking-glass in a dove cot, as it would attract and retain the birds from the neighbor ing pigeon houses. —George J. Mur ray, in London Spectator. The treasures of the Louyre are now guarded by watchdogs. Privilege of Voting. Miss Grace H. Ballantyn®, of Des Moines, lowa, is being congratulated by the women of her State on her success in securing a decision of the Supreme Court of lowa establishing the right of women to vote at any city, town or school election on the question of issuing bonds for munici pal or school purposes or borrowing money or increasing the tax levy. Cheerful Ignorance. “You'd be surprised,” said the woman who is supposed to be wise, “ho?. r many people are perfectly ig norant of the correct way to write ac ceptances and regrets when they are asked to entertainments. It would pay some enterprising woman to go around writing them for those who don’t know how. You’d be ashamed to see the people who come to me to ask how it is done or to get me to write them. And,” she admitted, “if the truth must be told, I don’t know so awfully much about it myself.”— New York Press. A Russian Beauty Farm. A wealthy Russian noticed that many of the recruits in the Russo- Turkish War were inferior in phy sique. He accordingly established wnat really is a beauty farm. He employs on his estate only the hand somest and healthiest villagers. These he encourages to enter upon matrimony by free grants of land, payment of all marriage fees and an annuity of fifty rubles a year for every child born. Since the institu tion of this farm forty model mar riages have taken place and more than 100 children have been born.— Woman’s Life. Not Merely 'Fattening. A noted skin specialist has declared that chocolate and potatoes are the two worst things a woman can eat who has regard to her complexion. Of these the former is much the more injurious. It used to be that -we shunned these staples of diet only when we dreaded too much flesh; then we learned that the potato was bad for the digestion; now that our skins suffer as well it would seem as if their doom were sealed. But with the soda water fouhtains to tempt, and the greatest potato eat ers in the world, the Irish lassies, Sand Tarts.—Beat half a pound of butter to a cream and half a pound of granulated sugar; then add the yolks of three eggs and the whites of two, beaten together; add a teaspoonful of vanilla and just a little grated nutmeg. Mix in sufficient flour to make a dough. Dust your baking board thickly with granulated sugar. Take out a piece of dough, roll it into a thin sheet, cut with round cutters, and bake in a moderate oven until a light brown. Dust the top of the sheet with sugar instead of flour, to prevent the roller from sticking. By adding half a pound of cleaned currants to the above recipe you will have Shrewsbury currant cakes. —Washington Star. Oar Cut-out Recipe. Paste in Your Scrap-Book. famecTfor their exquisite skins, there is still a probability that neither chocolate or the “praty” will be ta booed immediately. New York Press. . . * Mr-y Young Girl Renounces Sex. “From woman,” said Miss Mattie Currie, an attractive young woman, of Hamlin, W. Va., “I wish to be known as a man.” Dressed in male attire she visited a barber shop and had her golden curls shorn, and in sisted that the barber go over her face with a razor. Miss Currie is a leader of the younger social set at Hamlin, near Huntington, and is well known in that city. She rode into town shortly before noon astride of a spirited horse. • “I intend to open a general store at Dingess, Mingo County, in a few days,” she said. “I will go into the settlement as a man and I wish to be recognized as such. In the future I wish to be known as Matthew in stead of Mattie.” • New Jewels. One of the latest Parisian fancies in jewels to be taken up by smart London women is a corsage garniture of a fishnet drapery set with dia monds, the whole forming a brilliant scintillating drapery. The fisher net is filet work of ex ceedingly fine gold threads, the meshes formed of diamonds. The drapery covers the shoulders and droops several inches, and is made entirely by hand. Mrs. Cavendish-Bentinck, a sister of Mrs. Ogden Mills, wore this sort of diamond meshwork on the corsage of a royal blue robe, and Mrs. Edward Ward,'a recent bride, wore a similar net of diamonds over a clinging black satin. Lady Camden was also seen in a pink robe having the diamond meshed net, and in each case two large diamond tassels and diamond set cords fastened the jeweled drapery at the back. The inverted tiara is another little fad in jewels. This is a straight band from -which jeweled joints descend, disappearing in the coiffure. Mrs. Waldorf Astor wore one of these inverted diadems the same evening that the diamond studded corsage draperies were seen. The Duchess of Rutland also wore anew pattern in diadems; in this instance it was a pointed crown of wheat ears meeting in the front, and Queen Alexandra -wore a similar coif* furs ornament, but instead of wheat ears a diamond thistle rose from the centre. —New' York Times. The Cleveland Romance Holds. The romance of President Cleve land’s marriage was one of the most interesting in our Presidential his tory, relates the Kansas City Times. It was the first marriage of a Presi dent of the United States while in office. Mrs. Cleveland’s father had been a law partner of the President, and when he died his daughter, then a young girt, became Mr. Cleveland’s w r ard. At the time of the marriage the President was forty-nine and his bride only twenty-two. Such a dis parity in years is ordinarily frowned upon, but the circumstances of this match were extraordinary. Mrs. Cleveland became one of the most charming mistresses the White House has ever had. She bore her self with great dignity, reserve and distinction, yet was quite as demo cratic as her station would justify her in being. Her attitude toward her husband was at all times wholly exemplary. She exalted him, but without ostentation and without in the least belittling herself. In pri vate life she maintained the reserve, even the seclusion, that her distin guished husband sought. Through out Mr. Cleveland’s illness, in their common joys and sorrows, in her hus band’s long period of suffering, and now in her own bereavement, she has set an admirable example of wifely devotion, patience knd dignity. The Queen’s Own Fashions. Queen Alexandra does not follow the fashion either of long silhouettted figure or of wide and high crowned headgear. There is a style of dress in England which the Queen has made her own, which the Princess of Wales follows closely and which is in favor with every member of the royal family. This has gradually become dis tinctively their own. “I want a roj'k.l toque” is a request understood any milliner, as is a “Queen’s sleevqf A or a “Queen’s hv; a, dressmakeiy On the opening i-jIJ Queen wore a dress of delicate orcnT mauve marquisette, lace inserted a v * embroidered, and a toque made of tulle and flowers the same shade. The Princess of Wales was gowned in soft rose pink chiffon, lavishly em- broidered in the same shade, and wore a cream colored toque with os trich feathers. Another day, according to the Ladies’ Pictorial, the Queen wore a lovely dress of French gray silk voile, a mass of very beautiful embroidery in the same color. The Queen’s toque was of crinoline straw and tulle of the same delicate shade, and was trimmed -with an aigrette of heliotrope and crimson damask roses. jl A novelty on hats is white mar abou. The shades of red are so dyed as to be softening and seductive. Flowers and foliage of colored ba tiste trim hats of pure white straw. The hat is not huge, but just big enough to be a pretty frame for the face. Hats are made of tulle and lace and trimmed with black velvet and rases. A sash accompanies many tailor gowns, either inside or outside the coat. The very dressy robes for afternoon or evening wear are now composed of marquisette. Shoulders are made exceedingly narrow, and there is no curve in at the back of the waist. Belt, tie and shoes match in color where colored shoes are worn with a white or neutral tone gowu. Soutache is about the only garni ture put upon these cotton frocks, which are, of course, tailor made. Big buttons of passementerie fin ished with silken cords are used, un less one selects white or black pearl. Drapers declared that goods were to have more* body a year or two ago, but heavy goods have not yet made an appearance. An engagement ring brought from Europe by the wearer is of the finest platinum set with tiny diamonds, and inside there is a space for name, date, and even a motto. Plain taffetas make up into practi cal and pretty skirt and coat suits, while, if one can wear the bordered goods, there is nothing smarter for ?J[ternoon frocks.