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LOVE-SONa
Weetheart, life is drifting by,
Casting chances an the shore;
WFbat is there that yoa «nS J
Fain would gather for oar
Chance is gold, bat gold anmineC
We must labor for the ore —
Only he who works will find
Precious treasure at his do on
Little sweetheart, stand up strong,
Gird the armor on yoar knight
ling your most inspiring song.
Flame aloft Love’s cheering
riere are battles to be fought,
There are victories to be won;
Righteous labors to be wroiu'b'
Valiant races to be ran;
Grevious wrongs to bo retrft.
Right and justice to be done,
Clarions aims to be achieved—
Heaven on earth to be begun.
Little sweetheart, stand tip strong,
Gird the armor on your knight;
Smile your bravest, sing your song,
Speak your word for truth and right
Annie L. Mnzzey, in Frank Leslie's.
THE TIGER MAN
When at Bombay in 18G9, making
preparations to go up the country aud
fill an order for six tigers for Amster
dam, a very singular personage crossed
my path. I had been in India for two
years as the agent of the great German
animal house, and had sub-agents in a
dozen districts. We were constantly
forwarding serpents, jackals, hyenas,
wolves, buffaloes, tigers, and such curi
bsitios as fell into our traps, and now
and then received an extra order. The
brder for “six wild, full-grown tigers,
Wales preferred,” came from Egypt.
Messengers were sent to sub-agents, and
I got ready for a trip to the northeast,
among the tiger jungles. One afternoon
& stranger was announced under the
name of Gwal. He was a tall, stiff-ap
bcaring figure, moving with all the
5. 'r> O — • ~ O " •***
ignity of the prince, bu; his face was
lo horribly disfiguffiEd that I couldn’t
a start of surprise. life had been
>orn with a single eye, and that almost
n the center of his face. His nose was
ike that of a dog, his mouth was wide,
almost without lips, and full of fangs,
tie was more of a freak than Jo-.To, the
dog faced, and would have been a great
Card in a museum. lie expected to see
We start with surprise, and he expected
me to look at him with surprise. He
gave me plenty of time, and then bowing
Very low, he said:
“I am told the sahib is a hunter of
beasts.”
“ Yes.”
“ You capture them alive? ”
“Yes.”
“ I should like to go with you. lam
called the Tiger Man. I am not afraid
of any wild beast. No animal dares at
tack me.”
S He informed me that he had come
jfrom a village called Johnur, on the
jGadavery river, two hundred miles away,
and that scores of people would vouch
for the truth of his statements. Twice
within the year I had heard of this man
and his wonderful doings, but had put
no faith in the stories. That he pos
sessed wonderful magnetism over the
animal creation he soon gave me proofs.
The next bungalow on the right was oc
cupied by Captain Richard Taylor, of
the Fifty-first Native Infantry. He had
a savage dog chained up in the rear of
the house. The brute was dangerous,
and had not been free from his chain for
two months. The servants had to throw
him his food, and even the Captain
dared not go within reach.
“If you are a tiger man you are not
afraid of a savage dog? ” I queried as he
finished a statement of his wonderful
powers.
“Lead me to the beast,” he curtly re
plied.
The Captain was at home, and I went
over and told him of the native’s
[presence. Then we called the man over,
and after the Captain had satisfied his
curiosity he said to him:
“You may be a brave man, but do not
expose yourself. My dog will kill you
if you go near him. I shall have him
shot this week.”
“Your dog will cower and whine,”
soberly answered Gwal.
“Well, the risks be on your own
head.”
We passed around the bungalow and
through a gate, and the dog, who was
about fifty feet away, at once sprang up
and tugged savagely at his chain. There
could be no doubt of his savage fury.
His eyes blazed, he frothed at the mouth,
and his efforts to break the stout chain
filled me with alarm. The native waited
a minute before showing himself. As
Boon as the stepped in front of us there
was a change in the dog’s demeanor.
Ipdeed, he seemed to dodge, as if a mis
sile had passed close to his ear. The
native slowly approached, and before he
was within ten feet of I *}! m the dog wa3
down and uttering whines for mercy.
Gwal unfastened the collar on his neck,
spoke three or four words in a low voice,
and then walked about, and the dog fol
lowed at his heels. Such a change from
savage fury to utter servility 'was as
tounding. It was plain that the dog
was cowed and afraid, and that Gwal
had wonderful powers. He approached
us, and as he came close up the dog
never raised his eyes to give us a look.
He kept his eyes on the ground, and we
could see that he was in a tremble of
fear.
“Is the sahib satisfied?” quietly asked
Gwal at the end of ten minutes.
“Yes.”
He readjusted the collar, and the dog
slunk into his box. so cowed and over
come that a child might have used a
whip on him. While this adventure
with the dog did not prove that Gwal
would have equal success with wild
beasts, I saw that he was a valuable man
for our party, and at once engaged him.
He stated that the district from which
he came was infested with many large
serpents aud wild beasts, and his sug
gestions as to our proceedings were very
businesslike tind valuable. " Besides the
six of us regularly engaged in the traffic,
Major Lawrence of the Eighth Light
Cavalry, Colonel !~haw of the Nine
teenth Regiment, and Captain Smith,
commanding a battery attached to the
Eleventh Nath e Regiment, were allowed
to accompany us, they hiving permits of
absence and desiring to go on a hunt.
We occupied twelve days on our journey,
which were without startling incident,
and one afternoon arrived in good shape
at the village of Johpur. Without a
,hint to me, and in some manner yet un
known, the Tiger Man had sent word on
ahead, and the first thing we saw on
entering the village wera six stout cages,
which the natives had constructed lo
hold the six tigers we had come for. It
wa.s a case of providing the cage before
the bird was caught, and it settled my
belief that Gwal was what he claimed
to be.
We received a warm welcome at the
village, and after a little the head man
told me further about the Tiger Man.
He had been found in the forest when
only a couple of weeks old, aud had ever
since been regarded as only half human.
He possessed a strange power over wild
or domestic animals, and had several
times compelled mau-eating tigers to
follow him into and about the village
like a dog. When I asked why he had
not used this power to clear the district
of its many dangerous pests, he ex
plained that Gwal, when thus magnet
izing a beast, was deprived of his
physical strength to such an extent
that he could do them no injury. That
evening just at sun-down we had
a fair example of his wonderful
powers. One of the largest and fiercest
hyenas I had ever seen suddenly ap-
“J vuuo X. nan dcuu ouuucuij ajr
peared on the edge of the thicket, about
809 feet away, and stood and gazed at
us, and bristled up with anger. Gwal
| was called for, and he started for the
I beast at an ordinary gait. At first the
j beast acted as if it meant to attack him.
Then it showed signs of running away.
Then, as he drew neaier, it crawled and
began to whine, and we saw that it was
terrified. The man uttered some words
we did not catch and started to return,
and lo! the hyena crept at his heels, tail
dragging on the ground, and its whole
demeanor that of abject fear. Gwal
walked past us and around us, between
the huts and around them, and the beast
gave us no attention whatever. It
panted, as if after a hard run, and one
could see that it was actually suffering.
When Gwal had satisfied us, he led the i
hyena to the outskirts of the village,
pointed to the thicket, and exclaimed,
“Go!” and the beast slunk off as if in
fear of its life.
“Wonderful! wonderful!” gasped each
onq of ua in turn.
It was "more like a miracle. Gwal
stood near us, leaning up against a tree
as if greatlyworn out, and when we went
Over to him we found ljim covered with
perspiration. The old woman, with
whom he made his home, led him away
after a little, and we saw no more of
him until next morning. Before we
turned in for the night the head man
told us that at least ;four man-eating
tigers had tlieir haunts within a radius
of ten miles, and that we should depend
upon Gwal, and let him manage the
campaign against them as he thought
best. There was no need of firearms, and
Gwal would sooner or later find an oc
cupant for each cage. He talked of
caging up full-grown tigers as carelessly
as another man would of trapping house
rats, but he knew the Tiger Man better
than we did.
At sunrise next morning Gw r al was all
right. I had agreed to pay him sls per
month and his keep when he set out
with us. This was a magnificent sum in
the eyes of a native, but I now told him
that if he preferred I would give him
$101) for six tigers. He jumped at the
offer, and his very first move was to run
to the bank of the river and bargain
with the owner of a rude but seaworthy
barge to float the six cages down to tide
water on the eastern si£ of the peninsula
for us. The distance by river was all of
400 miles, and there would be eight of
us in the party. The owner of the craft
agreed to take us and the tigers, feed us
well, and employ two <yrtra helpers for a
sum equal to about tmrteen American
dollars. When I told him I would make
it SSO he came near sinking down in his
astonishment, and for an hour or two
moved about like one in a dream. Here,
then, we had prepared our cages, con
tracted for our passage, and none of us
had yet seen so much as the tip end of a
tiger’s tail. After breakfast, when we
were ready to move, Gwal said to me:
“I know the lair of a couple of tigers.
It is distant about an hour. I shall go
and bring in one. No one must come
with me, and you must not fire your guns
or make a noise. Let one of the cages
be placed under that tree over there, and
i in a couple of hours it shall be occupied
by a fine tiger. The last time I saw him
he had a sore ear. It should now be
well.”
It made us stare hard at each other to
hear a man talking that way, but I had
the cage carried to the spot designated,
and Gwal took his leave of us as if simply
going out lo search for a bee tree. When
he had disappeared, the head man ad
vised that the villagers go indoors and
keep quiet, and our band was divided in
half and placed in trees where we could
plainly see the cage. Stray rumors of
Gwal’s wonderful magnetic powers had
reached the ears ot the three British of
ficers, and they had seen the performance
with the hyena with eyes wide open,
but they were skeptical as to his powers
over a tiger. All of us were, for that
matter. The idea of a man, no matter
what gifts he had, bringing a fierce man
eater to crawl, was too absurd for be
lief. But Gwal settled it to our satis-
I faction as well as chagrin. In two hours
and twenty minutes after his departure
he reappeared, and right at his heels,
and acting the same as the hyena had
| acted, was the largest tiger I ever saw.
It was plain that the beast was terror
j ized. A whipped puppy could not have
| shown more servility. Gwal came along
at a moderate gait, swinging a hand on
either side of him, and apparently pay
ing no heed to the tiger, but all those in
our tree vie re sure we heard him mum
bling under his breath. The tiger
never looked up, nor to the right nor
left, but kept its head down. As they
halted at the cage Gwal threw up his
hand, as one does when he wants a dog
to jump,and the man-eater bounded into
the cage and cowered in a corner. The
native secured the door in a leisurely
manner and then approached us. We
were now on the ground, and as he came
up we noticed that he was in a tremble
and very weak.
“The other one was not at home, but
I shall have him to-morrow,” he said. I
will now lie down for a little time.”
Couid we believe our own eyes? Were
we dreaming? There was the living
| proof of Gwal’s wonderful powers, and
what could we say? We moved down
| to the cage to get a closer view of the
! beast, and the sight of us and our pres
ence broke the strange spell. For the
next half hour the tiger was wild with
fury, and a dozen different times it
seemed, to us that he would regain his
liberty. Every bar held, however, and
he finally tired himself out and became
more quiet.
Gwal slept until three o’clock in the
| afternoon, when he came forth refreshed
and full of talk. The tiger was then
j raving about his cage, but the instant
| the man appeared he cowered and was
as quiet as a lamb. The next forenoon
his mate was brought in as he had been,
and within a week we had four tigers.
We then moved to a spot about eighteen
miles away, and Gwal brought in two
others, both males. His performance was
the same in each case, and in each case
his demeanor and that of the beast was
the same. It was magnetism developed
to a wonderful degree. That single eye
of his was a blaze of fire when he started
out. We could all feel his electricity.
Protected as he was, the man had no
fear of any living thing, and twice I saw
h m pick up poisonous serpents and carry
them along for half a mile.
When the six tigers were stowed on
the barge I paid Gwal his SIOO, and
added SSO to it. He was not to go with
us, but in case I wanted more tigers I
was to come to him. We went down the
river in safely and twice in after years I
heard from this strange man. He once
shipped me four tigers on' speculation,
and made a neat sum by it, and then came
the news of his death—torn to pieces by
a tiger. The natives who gave me the
news explained;
“When asleep he had no power. It
was the fire in his eye which cowed the
beasts. He fell asleep outside the hut
one evening, and a tiger crept up and
killed and carried him off.” —Now York
Sun.
A Traveling Clock.
See here!” said a jeweler to a New
York Telegram reporter, “what do you
suppose this clock is worth?” and he held
up a small, plain looking clock, swing
ing it around by a curious handle at the
top. “Will vou give me ten do”'”-® for
it?”
“No, I guess not!”
“Lift it and see what you thTWt R
weighs—take care there, don’t drop it!
That clock just got back from Europe,
where ’twas sent to be repaired and put
in good health. I can’t afford to have
it banged up again.”
“I should say it weighed about twenty
five pouuds.”
“Not more than five, 1 think; the
weight is in small compass, you know;
makes it seem heavier. It cost $l5O,
well worth it too; as useful a little arti
cle as I ever handled. It’3 a French
traveling clock, very carefully made and
lots of gold in the works.”
The clock was about five inches high by
seven wide and two in depth, with heavy
moulding at top and bottom, and looked
like a miniature bookcase, with two
square doors of glass taking up the front,
separated by a narrow space.
A clock face looked through the glass
on one side and on the other was a round
faced barometer, the space between being
occupied by a thermometer.
“And thereon the top is a compass,”
said the jeweler, “and do you notice, the
thermometer is double? There’s a
Reumer scale on that side and a Faren
heit on this, convenient, now, I tell you;
and look at this door in the back, where
you go in to regulate the clock part, all
shut up tight from the dust, though it
has a leather case besides. It’s a mighty
fine piece of workmanship, couldn’t be
repaired in this country.
“There’s a pretty combination of
scientific ideas you don’t often see—a
fine illustration of applied science,
electrical phenomena, astronomy, physics,
echanics. all brought into play.
clock is invaluable, for tourists
-.way®!now what kind of weather they
have to depend upon next day. If the
thermometer is rising and the hand on
the barometer is running ’round toward
‘stormy,’ they need not plan an excursion;
while if the mercury is running very
high, the barometer hand flying back and
forth, and the magnetic needle is ‘wab
bly,’ they may look out for a hurricane.”
Expensive Sugared Violets.
As the listener stepped into his favor
ite confectioner's—a place where he
enjoys some acquaintance, and where a
certain degree of impertinent inquisitive
ness might consequently be pardoned
him—he noticed in the showcase a box
containing a few curious looking objects,
the like of which he did not remember
to have seen before.
“What are those, please?” he asked.
“Those,” said the confectioner, “art
sugared violets.”
“Sugared fiddlesticks!”
“No; sugared violets.”
“Bear mel Can 1 afford to buy a few
of them?”
“Possibly. They are imported from
England, and we sell them for $4 a
pound.”
“Is that all? Well, you may send me
up half a ton, please; and be sure and
have the men on the wagon take along
baskets to deliver them in.”
The listener was inclined to treat that
matter as a little joke on the part of the
confectioner, but he found that the
sugared violets were a reality and the
price actual. Upon closer inspection
one could see the violets nestled in its
coating of sugar. Dainty food for an
exquisite generation! —Boston Tran
script.
A Petrified Tree.
A portion of a petrified tree was dis
covered in a solid sandstone rock quarry
at Zanesville, Ohio, the other day. The
tree is about the thickness of a telegraph
pole, has well-delined bark and roots,
ilt was found while blasting, or im
mediately after a blast, fully sixty feet
j below the top of the hill, and was in
i solid rock. Over it is the earth forma
tion, then a species of shale, then lime
stone strata, followed by a conglomera
tion of stone, then some forty feet of
j solid sandstone, near the bottom of
! which is the petrified tree. —Pittsburg
Dispatch.
The Doctor.
The doctor by our be i will stand,
With sober, thoughtful face.
And hold our wrist, with watch in hand,
To diagnose the case.
And though he sees our tongue is brown,
He gives us worffs of hope,
And says we must not be cast down,
The medicine cast up.
And what a paradox it is,
As everybody knows—
We’re feeling good to have him come,
But better when he goes.
—Detroit Free Press.
HAIR OF SAVAGES.
BARBARIC HEAD DRESSING A
CAREFULLY STUDIED ART.
The Less ot Hirsute Adornment the
More it is Despised—Fashions Rig
orously Followed —Grotesque
Methods of Adornment.
Why should savages care for their
hair? The question is not easily an
swered, for savages, apparently, care for
so little—according to our notions —in
the way of personal appearance that re
gard for their locks would seem to be
the last matter to which they would give
attention. But, nevertheless, there is
reason to believe that savages have much
more concern for their looks than we are
apt to believe; and, indeed, no pages of
travelers' books are more interesting than
those which give accounts of the man
ners and dress of the barbarous races;
for, by means of the hints imparted by
travelers’ notes, we are able to gather
that vanity is as prevalent among sav
ages as among the civilized, and fashion
as imperious in her mandates.
Among the American Indians great
attention has always been paid to the
hair, and well it deserves it, for, al
though coarse, harsh and strait, the hair
of the American Indian is of a deep lus
trous black, and when properly arranged
is capable of making a very beautiful
coiffure.
Among the Shawnees the favorite style
was to closely clip the sides of the head
in front, above and behind the ears, and
allow a straight ridge of hair to grow
from the forehead to the nape of the
neck, adorning this with feathers,. and
sometimes plaiting the top into a long
cue behind.
The Indians of the North Atlantic
coast had a habit of clipping the entire
head, with the exception of a scalp lock
just at the top, though not infrequently
the savage beau, instead of clipping,
would permanently destroy the growth
of hair on all portions of the head except
the apex of the cranium by pulling out
the hairs by the roots and rubbing ashes
or some other strong alkali on the skin
to destroy the growth.
The Indians of the Pacific coast fre
quently clip off or pull out the hair on
the top and back of the head, leaving a
lock over each ear, while in the South it
was a practice among the Indians to ex
tirpate the hair on all portions of the
head save the back, and leave that for
a scalp lock. In all cases, wherever the
lock or locks were left they were always
adorned in the highest style of Indian
art, sometimes with feathers, occasionally
with wampum or beads, and not infre
quently their size was increased and their
length extended by the use of horse
hair.
The Indians of this country were skil
ful in the matter of head dresses besides,
and in the National Museum at Washing
ton there is a very curious collection of
headdresses, mostly from the Southwest.
They are of all shapes and sizes, and of
every degree of grotesqueness. One is
the shape of a barrel hoop, within which
is a similar hoop adjusted to the head,
the diameter of the external circle being
somewhat over four feet. The two are
connected by pieces of wood, while
above the outer hoop rise two arches
meeting at the top in the shape of an
imperial crotyn. Feathers, beads, coins,
medals, bits of colored cloth and other
objects, more cr less worthless, are used
in the decoration of this curiously un
wieldy article of headgear.
Others of these head dresses are in the
shape of huge, round baskets, resem
bling in shape that which is popularly
supposed to stand by the desk of every
editor in the land; while others again
are shaped like birds, the eagle being
the favorite type, while the vulture comes
next in the point of popularity; of ani
mals, such as the bear, wolf, fox and
dear, not infrequently the heads of these
animals being prepared in such a way as
actually to act for head dresses, while
even fish and serpents and the large
lizards of New Mexico and Arizona are
made to do duty in adorning the ab
original heads.
The Ethiopians have no true hair,
properly speaking, but what answers
them for hair is really different from the
liair of the white races. If a hair from
the head of a Caucasian be examined
through a microscope it is found to be
hollow and composed of sections or
joints somewhat resembling those of a
cane, or in some cases like a ladder with
its rounds. The hair of an African is
entirely different in this respect, being
solid and round, this constituting the
difference between wool and hair; but
nevertheless, the fact that his wool is
solid appears only to endear it to the
African, who gives it all the more atten
tion, perhaps because he has so little of
it, and divides his scalp into patches,
gathering up the hair from each into a
circular knot, and tying it with a string
as carefully as though it were a treasure.
In the interior of the Dark Continent
the wool of the natives is frequently
long, though never straight, but so diffi
cult is the task of disentangling their
locks that not much attempt at ornateness
is made in the African head dresses. Liv
ingstone said that when an African
chief makes his toilet the most he ever
attempts in the way of arranging a head
dress is to comb his wool up into a
pyramid shape, stick a few feathers in
it and hang one or more strings of beads
along the facades, so to speak, of th s
unique edifice.
The Asiatics have always been famous
for decorating their heads. The Mo
hammedans of old shaved their heads,
except a single knot of hair at the exact
top of the head, which was left for a
practical purpose, the Mohammedan doc
trine being that at the resurrection of
the dead the Angel Gabriel was spec ially
detailed to attend to the Mohammedans
and he raised them by the top knot. Ac
cordingly, the top knot was left full and
! strong in order that the hold might
I not break, a hole being left in the top of
the coffin in order to facilitate the angel’s
work.
The head dressing of the South Sea
Islanders is ornate in the last degree,
while not unfrequently their styles of
dressing their hair are so ingeniously
grotesque as to create the impression
that the arrangement was solely for the
purpose of creating laughter. Some
times most of the hair on the head is
clipped away, leaving a number of short,
round tufts, as though the scalp were
planted with short paint brushes. Oc
casionally the hair is cut away from the
' forehead and temples, leaving it at the
top and back of the head: sometimes
the back of the head is shaved, leaving
the hair on the top and sides; bat
generally the entire growth of hair is
left upon the head, and as the capillary
adornments pf the New Zealanders are
very long and bushy the coiffure of a
chief generally assumes enormous pro
portions.— Globe-Democrat.
A Chinese Market House.
A New York merchant, who has more
money than he needs, has just returned
from China. He said to a Telegram re
porter :
“The market place in Canton was a
most interesting place. I never saw any
thing like it before, and don’t want to
again. In some of the shops the count
ers were covered with tubs filled with
ducks, already plucked. They were half
covered with water of a dirty color. The
necks of these ducks were long and sickly
looking, and the skin of a peculiar death
like whiteness. I would as soon work
in a morgue as to handle such poultry.
Mangled halves of fishes were spread on
other counters, while men were busy
hashing and mincing them into a sort of
dough. This paste, I believe, is rolled
into cads aud fried in ill-smelling grease.
Rig's flesh is most commonly seen in the
markets.
“The Chinese seem to love it. Beef,
strange to say, is a forbidden flesh. The
Chinamen consider beef eaters worse
than cannibals. It is a common sight to
see the streets lined with men going to
market with long cylindrical baskets of
live pigs between them. Alter being
killed the pigs are cut into scraps. The
only inviting feature of the entire mar
ket place was the fruit stalls. Pyramid*
and baskets of tine golden oranges were
the only redeeming features of the pretty
streets. The orange ped'.ers peel the
fruit and display it all ready for eating.
They save the peel and dry it on their
housetops. From the dried peel wine
and bitters are made. There are no pro
vision markets in the world like ours,”
said the patriotic butcher.
A Potentate Who is a Paragon.
The King of Annam, in the Empire of
China, is attended daily by a number of
women chosen from all the ranks.
Thirty of them mount guard at the doors
of His Majesty’s private appartments.
Five are attached constantly to his per
son ; it is these who have charge of his
toilet; they dress him, perfume him,
pare his long nails and arrange his tur
ban, They also attend on him at table.
The King takes three meals a day. Each
comprises fifty dishes, prepared by fifty
cooks. The dishes are borne to the door
of the dining rooms by the cooks, who
hand them over to the women on duty,
for no males are permitted to enter the
royal apartments. His Majesty drinks
as a rule a peculiar kind of scented
spirit, specially distilled for him, but
occasionally, on the advice of the doc
tors, he takes a little Bordeaux wine.
The quantity of rice eaten by His
Majesty is always the same; it is measured
and weighed; but should his appetite
fall off and he be unable to consume the
prescribed amount, then the doctors are
called in to provide remedies, of which
they have to partake themselves before
the King will touch them. His Majesty,
it appears, is a hard worker, notwith
standing his effeminacy. He rises at 5
o’clock and goes to bed at 8 o’clock.
All the affairs of the country pass through
his hands. At regular periods he makes
a tour to his dominions to see how his
subjects are getting on and to redress
their grievances, should they have any.
In short, he appears to be the paragon
of a
A New Presidential Chair.
It is not often that a newspaper man
has the honor of filling the President’s
chair, but a Boston Traveller reporter has
had that privilege. That is to say, he
sat in the new office chair to be occupied
by President Cleveland in the Executive
Mansion at Washington. The chair was
made to the order of Mr. Cleveland by a
Boston firm, and is a massive swivel and
tilt-back structure of quartered oak and
cane, its total weight being sixty-two
pounds. The seat and back are square
in shape, and are made of the very finest
quality of cane. The former is twenty
three inches wide between the arms and
the latter is thirty-five inches high. The
general design of the chair is antique,
and the legs, arms and framework are
elegantly carved in fern and other pat
terns. The oak is highly polished, and
the whole effect is one of great finish
and beauty. Aside from its elegance,
the remarkable width and height of the
chair are its distinguishing characteris
tics. It took a month to complete it,
and the cost of the chair will, of course,
be quite heavy. Some 1700 feet of the
finest cane were used in its construction.
The arm pieces are broad and set on
carved spindles. It was made from
original designs, the measurements being
furnished by Mr. Cleveland, and is a
great credit to Boston workmanship,
which has constructed furniture for
Kings as well as for Presidents.
Taking a Live Rattlesnake to Bed.
The uses of the live rattlesnake as a
medicinal agent are not well known.
The father of one of my present neigh
bors suffered some years ago from an
ulcer on his leg. -lie did not seem to
receive any benefit from rattlesnake oil,
so he took the advice of an old resident,
now dead, and carried a live rattlesnake
to bed with him, aud kept it there
three days. The old gentleman always
insisted that he was bitten by the snake,
and that ttie poison simply counteracted
the poison of the disease that was in
the blood and drove it out. How true
that may be I do not know, but it is
certain that the man’s ulcer disappeared,
and he got well and lived for several
years. I don't know whether the snake
died or not, but very likely it did.—A Tew
York Sun.
A Gigantic Spider’s Web.
Lieutenant W. Smyth, of the British
Royal Navy, while on a journey through
South America, saw at Paehiza, on the
River lluayabamba, in Peru, a gigantic
spider's web suspended from the trees.
It was twenty-five feet in height and
near fifty feet in length. The threads
were very strong, and it had the empty
sloughs of thousands of insects hanging
on it. It appeared to be the habitation
of a great number of spiders of a larger
size than we ever see in this country.
CURIOUS FACTS.
The first Rostoffice was establish
1516.
A land owner at Elko, Nev. i s
inghis ranch to tea.
John Gowgne, a printer, pub!M lc ;
London, in 144 h, the earliest . D ,
treatise on bookkeeping.
Books with leaves of veil ;m were
vent'd by Attalus, King of Reovan
about 198 B. C., at whi h time* k
were in volumes or rolls.
The signs of the approaching p,
dential canvass thicken. a
house has contracted with a Taur
manufacturer for 200,000 torches f™
this lull. I
One of the leading stored of s a ,
meuto, Cal., has pla ed seats i -ehiud
counters for the acc ommodatiou
women and girls while not waiting
customers.
A favorite amusement of the Po™
said to be that of catching birds!
huge net which has been made e eia
for him. After haying played with
birds he sets them at liberty.
A tomahawk, with the blunt end
shaped that it could be a pipe of pea
has been ploughed up lately in a<>eoi
field, and the odd part is that its*
stance is not stone, but steel of then
best quality.
For the first time women are emplj
in the municipal department of j
York City. They do pasting in
Comptroller’s office. In the l)ist|
Attorney’s office one young lady is |
ployed as a typewriter.
A Charlotte Harbor (Fla.) lad; h
small green frog with its home is
calyx of a lily in her room. The li
fellow is quite a pet and perches high
the pistil of the flower to receive his (
ner, consisting of flies fed to him fi
the point of a pin.
Matthew W. Sodam, an eccentric
man, who recently died at Terre Hai
Ind., was buried in a coffin which
twenty-five years he had kept in hist
room. The monument over his gi
was erected according to his orders f
thirty years ago.
Michael Knikomoke, who died i
miserable hut in Quincy, 111., recentl
the age of eighty years, was once a I]
garian nohle who was exiled with 1
suth. He was linguist of more than
dinary attainments and was familiars
all the tongues of Eastern and South
Europe.
A large bird that looks somewhat
a crane, dropped down as if from
heavens on the corner of Sixteenth i
Carson streets, in Pittsburg, tHe oi
day. No one who has soen it km
what the strange bird is, but it is $
posed to be a German bittern, which
very rare in this country.
Ur. Walter Cheatham, of Dawsonj!
has a young shepherd dog which ms
a practice of catching and eating
common little grass sparrow. T 1
birds rarely ever fly high when frighte
up, and this dog simply outruns
catches them before they light. He
only eats the birds but seems to en
the sport.
A certain citizen in a far West tc
possessed the only tree in the place. «
a large, strong limb at the propi rj
tance from the ground, which he vra
the habit of renting out to lynch
parties at $5 per meeting. The adv
of the Western Union telegraph Cl
pany, with their long telegraph p<
ruined the industry completely and
stroped a valuable source of inconf
the owner of the tree.
A remarkable freak of nature, a m
known as the “Oregon Beauty,” was
cently on exhibition in Louisville. I
color is sorrel, and that of the mane,l
and forelock a creamy tint The mi
is ten feet in length, the forelock fi
feet, while the tail sweeps the groui
Although the mare is eight years of a
the mane and tail are of only four yei
growth, having grown an average oft
feet a year during that time.
The Thibetan Steppes,
extreme clearness of the
Thibet renders surrounding objects
their black, clear-cut shadows aim
startlingly distinct, and distances m
deceptive. A natural consequence of
transparent an atmosphere is that
sun’s rays strike through it with
most astonishing power. Indeed, ft
the moment that the sun appears o
the horizon it commences pitching i
our face, and especially your poor no
and even although these may be sha(
from its direct beams, the radiation fr
the dry, stony ground is so great as
make some sort of covering for the f
very desirable. And oh! the mercfll
marrow-searching wind that hardly e
ceases blowing on these bare Thibe
steppes, except for a few* hours in
morning, and not always even thf
How it, combined with hard frost ev
night, parches and cracks the sj
scorched skin on your face and li
until speaking becomes painful, to lai
is a torture, and to wash is almost 1
possible. Day after day the skin J
off your face and hands. There is
escape from this evil in Thibet: it is'
great drawback to a trip there. I gei
ally wore a kind of mask made ol '
cloth, extending just down over*
nose, with apertures for the eyes, s
always kept my face well smeared w
a salve composed of bear’s grease a
spermaceti, which acted like basting
roast meat, inasmuch as it prevented <
skin from beiDg quite frizzled HP
Blackwood's Magazine.
A Vicious Horse.
Robert Staines, 57 years of yea”*
age, aud in the employ of Thomas Sol
a farmer near Lynn, England, was n
ing a field with a team, including
stallion, which w r as muzzled, as R vas
the habit of biting, (suddenly it turn
round, and, making an attack upon
shaft horse, brokothe muzzie.
went to quiet the animals, when he
knocked down and crushed beneath'
stallion’s feet. It plucked with its te(
at Staines's left hand and tore o tJ
fingers, caught his right arm in
mouth and broke and crushed it 1
the elbow, and dislocated his si on* ll
Mr. Robb had three of his ribs ; "•
in trying to get the horse a
Staines, and a lad who wa- i<
assistance had his arm bitten aim ■
sinews drawn out by the brute.
horse had been in Staines's c
ten years, and was fifteen years oil.— J
Lotus Sayings.