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IN A DREAM. The old f armhouse, I see it again: In its low, dark eaves, the twittering wren Is nested as long ago; And I breathe once more the south wind's balm, And sit and watch, in the twilight's calm, That bat flit to and fro. The white cows lie at the pasture bars, And the dairy, cool, with its tins and jars, 'ls stored with curds and cream; There s'somebody putting the things to right, And through the window I see the light From the tallow candle gleam. The garden is rich with its old-time bloom, And I catch, in fancy, the faint perfume Of.blos.soms dank with dew; And overlt wffis the starlit doSe, And round about it, the peace of hom* How it all comes back to view! The night wind stirs in elm and oak, And up from the pond comes the croak • (it tba hull-frog’s rich bassoon: And I catch the gleam, as over the brink There peeps with a tremulous, shivering bliilk,., ~ ■ The rim of a crescent moon. It all comes back from the dusk of time, With the mournful cadence and swell of rhyme That is half remembered, still— Like a measure from some forgotten Strain, That hauntingly comes and flees again, And under a duty, twilight sky, It, mingling, floats with thepiainfciveery Of the desolate whippoorwill. —Hollis W. Field, in Detroit Free Press. A SUCCESSFUL RUSE. r.Y IIEI.BN FORREST GRAVES. “Plev.se',;'' sir,” said; oltt* Zeruiah, the housekeeper, “there’s a man up in the plum-tree 1” “t p in the plum-tree?” repeated .Mr. Brown. And what's he doing,up in the plum tree? ' It-ain't trie time o’ year for ripe plums. ” “No,” said Zeruiah, giving the fry ing-pan that she was'’cleaning an extra scrape with the knife, “ ’tain’t time o’ year for plums to be ripe. But it’s al ways t me o’year for young men to make fools of themselves—and the third branch of thit’ar plum-tree is ou a line with the window of Arabella Arden’s room.” “Eh?” said Mr. Brown, dropping his newspaper and opening his eyes very wide. “As true as you live, sir,” said Zeruiah. “But that was precisely what my brother sent her down here for,” said Mr. Brown, contracting his bald fore head into innumerable wrinkles. “To keep her out of Hubert Wynton’s way!” “Humph!” said , eruiah. “The world is wide - but it ain’t wide enough to keep two fools apart.” “ p the plum-tree, is he?” said Mr. Brown, with a sardonic smile. “What sort of a looking fellow is he, Zeruiah?” “Wal,” answered the old woman, stilt holding the frying-pan as Minerva of old might have held her shield, “the leaves is th ck, and my sight ain’t what it once was; but he’s got light-colored clothes on, as was cut in Beau Hollow; and his hdt, that lays out on the grass, has get a city maker’s n;ime in it.” “Good!” nodded Mr. Brown. “You ought to haye been a detective, Huey. They would give you good wages, I’ll bet a big apple. Where is the hat?” “I lining it in and put it ou the hall table,” answered Zeru ah. “Very well. Go out and chain Csesar under the plum-tree Give him a good length of chai , Huey. Then come bai k and move all Arabella s tilings into the west bedroom I'll take the end room myself. If there’s any‘serenading, or poetry-reciting, or anything of that sort,, I’ll have the benefit of it myself.” A slow smile broke out over Zeruiah’s wooden face. "Hut what’ll you tell her ?" said she. “Tell her? Why that the end room is a better aspect for my rheumatism,” said Mr. Brown, chuckling. “And make haste, or she'll be back from Widow Peet's. Everything must be moved be fore she returns. And pu.l the shade down, so the city chap won’t suspicion what we’re up to.” Off trudged Zeruiah, who, in spite of her having first seen the light on the rag fed coasts oi Maine, was at heart a true pamsh duenna; and took a grim delight in frustrating the intents of Cupid. Bella \rden was young and pretty. Bella had dared to rid 1 ulu her old fa-h --ioned ideas. Bella had nicknamed her “Medusa,’ and though . eruiah had not the least idea who “Medusa” was, she dimly suspected that it was no compli mentary term. And therefore Zeruiah was not sorry to see the pretty Boston girl “come up with,” as she phrased it. “Why, Uncle Brown,” cried Bella, when she came in, with her fair hair blown about her face, and her cheeks reddened by her brisk walk across hill and hollow—“why have you change® my room?” “Well, you see, my dear," said Mr. Brown, craftily, “I’ve an idee that the east room will suit my rheumatism bet ter. You don’t mind!” “ h not in the least!” said Bella, cheerfully. ‘"And I’ll go right to work and arrange the things that that cross old / eruiah has flung about so recklessly. Oh, by the-way. uncle, there was no let ters fo: me, I suppose”' as she glanced at the weekly paper lying unfolded on* the tab e. “For I see they’ve brought the mail.” “No, my dear, said Mr. Brown, no letters.” And the cows came, with tinkling bells, home from the fern scented pas tuies, and the sun sank behind the maple swamps, and the purple dimness of twilight began to brood over all thing 1 -, and still Hubert Wynton, prisoned up among the tossing plum boughs waited in vaiu lor some prospect of his release. “Confound these good people!” said he to himself. “What on earth have they ch tined that savage beast here for just n<> \ And I believe I must have made a mistake—that is not Bella’s room at all. A stout o'.d man has sat there, reading the.4>aper, all the afternoon, and I haven't dared to stir, for fear of being allot for a burglar. I’ve seen the darling once or twice pick ng flowers in the garden, and bringing water from the spring, but I haven’t venturid to call to her, for fear of betraying iny hiding place. Shades of Kpicu:us! how good that frying chi ken smells—Coilee, too! I’d give a king's ransom for a cup of it 1” Poor Hubert! He could not stir for fear of rousing Cn gar’s deep,low-pitched bark and compromising himself and Bella, but he grew stitfer and more cramped with every second of his en forced vigil. “They must take the dog to his ken nel before long,” he thought, as the dew suffused the air with moisture and the night-birds began to wheel about the 1 luxuriant branches of the old tree. But presently Zeruiah came out with a tin pan of water and a platter of bones to break Caesar’s fast. “Is it all right, Huey?” said Mr. Brown, in a sort of stage-whisper, from the kit hen door. “Ail right, sir!” Zeruiah answered. And then, in a lightning-flash, as if were, Hubert comprehended it all. He was entrapped. That weazen faced old woman and the malicious eld erly uncle of his beloved were in league to be his jailers. He whistled softly to himself. Casar, from below, left off crunching his bones, and uttered a deep, thunder ous grow! at the sound. From the dis tance, the echo of voices reached him— careless lau.ghten and stray sentences here and there. “It’s Helton and Ralph Weir, corning back to the inn after their day’s shoot ing,” lie thought. •* ‘lf I could only ge't word to them!” He tore a leaf from his pocket-book, .scribbled a line or two pn it as well as .he'could in the uncertain dusk, and wrapping it around his watch, flung it as far as his aim could reach toward the swamp. “Matters are getting serious,” he said to himself. But the missive had not been without its use. “Hello!” said Weir; “a shooting star. ” “A,white bird!” exclaimed Belton, checking his long, swinging stride, “No it isn’t, either —it’s a watch with a let ter wrapped around it.” And then, in the swampy fastnesses, by the light of a few matches, they de ciphered the cry for aid which had come from the plum-tree. “Whew-w-w!” said Weir. “Let’s go and shoot the dog.” “Let’s do nothing of the sort,” said Belton. “What would we—or poor old Wynton, either—gain by declaring di re: t war in that sort of way? Let’s be polite, or nothing.” And he fired his rifle three times in the air, a sort of signal recognition of his prisoned friend. “What’s that:” said Mr. Brown, who was computing the interest on a promis sory note at the sitting-room table by the light of a kerosene lamp. “I dunno,” said Hue, “unless it’s Dea con Hall shootin’weasels in his hen roost.” “Oh, Unele Brown,” cried Bella, with clasped hands. “I hope there are no burglars around.” “Never heard of such a thing in all Bean Hollow, my dear,” said the old man. - . In the dead of that same night, how ever, two masked men appeared mysteri ously in Mr. Brown’s bedroom. “Your money or your life,’’.said one. “Miser,unhand your treasures!” shout ed the other. Old Mr. Brown lay quaking there, quite helpless, when, in an instant, a lithe form sprang through the open win dow, balancing itself a second ou the sill, and then hastened to the rescue. A brief struggled ensued; but at last the masked burglars fled precipittubdy. Casar barking wildly at them, vs.'nd strainirg his chain to the utmost, in his efforts to wreak his vengeance upon them. “Young fellow,” cried the old man, scrambling out of bed, “you’ve < rt, ed my life, besides the government coupons that were under my pillow. What can I do to reward you He was very pale and trembled vio lently. “I’d like something to eat, if you please, sir,” said Wynton. “To tell you the truth, I’ve just come outof the plum tree.” “Yes, I know.” said Brown, recover inghimself a little. “You’re the fellow that is in love with our Bella, ain't von” “I don’t deny it, sir,” said Wynton, boldly. “Well, you deserve her,” said Mr. Brown; “and you shall have her. It was I that ordered the dog chained up to the plum tree. I meant to balk you if I could, but I’ve changed my mind. I should have been a dead man, young fellow, if it hadn’t been for you. Come right down stairs this moment. Noth ing in this house is too good for you!” And he wrung Wynton’s hand until it seemed as if it were grasped in an iron vise. A strange midnight collation it was— the coffee and cold fowl, the biscuits and tongue, eaten with Bella nestling close at his side, and Mr. Brown heaping all s rts of indiscriminate dainties upon his plate, while old 7en:i ih's face glow ered out of the darkness of the kitchen, like a badly-lighted polyopticou. But a happy one—yes, a very happy one. The constabulary force of llean Hol low were promptly notified the next morning, and a search instituted; but to no avail. Nothing was ever heard of the two masked burglars. But when Mr. Wynton came back to the Kean Hollow Inn, the following day, to order his portmanteau removed to the Brown farm-house, and bid his late col leagues adieu, he wrung Belton’s hand alternately with that of AVeir. “I don’t kr ow how I can ever thank you, boys,” said he. “Not for the res- cue from a rather sorry plight—brute force could hi e done that with a blow on the dog’s head—but for the vmnrirr of it. I’m a great man now in old Brown’s estimation, and Bella thinks I am a hero. And it’s all owing to you.” “Oh. don’t mention it. old follow!” ! said Weir. “How did you like me as a first-class ruffian “By-the-way,” added Belton. “I’ve • burned the masks. Circumstantial evi dence, you know. They might get us into trouble.” “You'll invite us to the wedding, of course ” queried Weir. “Oh. yes ” said Wynton, beamingly. “And I may kiss the bride”’asked Belton. “Of course you may!” said Wynton. And Belton observed, thoughtfully, that he considered that reward enough for any man. —Saturday Niyht. The mau wh ; knows everybody knows few friends. ENGRAVING BANK NOTES. THE DELICATE WORK DONE BY GOVERNMENT ARTISTS. Intricate System of Transferring a Design —Difficulties that Coun terfeiters Must Overcome. “During my long career I have heard j of but two or three good engravers who had anything to do with counterfeits,” said L. .1. Hatch, formerly of the Govern ment Bureau of Engraving and Piinting, to the Chicago Herald: “The good en j graver would scorn to engage in such j work. His standing as art artist and a i citizen is too high lor that sort of thing. Moreover, Ido not think that there is any one artist who combines in his per son the aptness for the three great specialties of bank note work—the let tering, lathe and scroll work and pic ture engraving. Especially the latter specialty is one in which the height of art is reached by but few. In fact, there are not more tiian six or eight proficient artists in the line of bank note picture engraving in this country, and their ser vices are so well paid that they would be worse than fools to throw their talents away in criminal pursuits. The bank note as you see it -of course I speak of the design only—is not the work of one endeavor, but of four to each plate at least. Each artist engraves a part of the design and the different parts or dies are united to one plate by an intricate and delicate system of transferring.” One can readily gain an idea of the minuteness of banu-note work when it is learned that it takes a good engraver from twenty to thirty days to complete the vignette—portrait or scene—alone. “Each portrait requires a different combination of lines and dots to har monize with the features of the man por trayed,” continued Mr. Hatch, speaking in the Chicago Herald. “There is no system of portrait engraving. If an art ist would attempt to employ a settled method he would distort the features. In fact, each engraver puts his own in dividuality into his work and his pro duction is as characteristic of him as the signature of a writer. So much is this the case that one engraver in this line will be able to tell the work of another at a glance. For this reason the counter feiter encounters insurmountable difli culties in copying a vignette, unless he discovers some mechanical method, like photographing, litho-engraving or elec trotyping, and these aids of the counter feiter are, of course, at once apparent to the expert. The counterfeiter who copies a portrait by hand cannot keep his in dividuality out of the work. Piciure work requires the highest grades of en graving. The artist has not only to produce light and shade, but he must understand how to harmoni/e lines in order to obtain what is called a ‘speak ing illness.’ • In this respect the en graver’s art is not unlike language. You may express the same idea in differ ent words which expresses the idea ex actly, beautifully, not a word too much nor one lacking. Thus there is but one harmony of lines and dots which makes a. correct portrait. To copy such por trait by hand without the copyist being able to transplant himself into the creative individuality of the original artist is preposterous. This is the reason ' Why the inferiority of a counterfeit is nearly a : wavs first observed in the picture work. ” Truly, the lot of a bank note engraver is that of a patient toiler. Day after day he plods away with his assortment of diamond pointed gravers, some of them as tine as the finest needles. I.ine by line and dot by dot he _aives into the shining steel plate before him a minia ture of the design e reprodu. ed. The days lengthen inw weeks and weeks into months, before his work is finished. That part of the plate, however, is not the one from which the note is printed. The lathe worker and the letterer have been busy on their parts of the design while the portrait engraver was working, each artist working on a separate piece of steel. These pieces are hardened and form the die. From the latter the de sign is transferred to a steel roll of softer nature by applying an immense pressure, actually impressing the design of the die to the roll, on which of course the parts sunk in the die will be elevated and the elevations depressed. This part of the work, though mechanical, re quires the greatest degree of nicety and exact adjustment of parts in the com plicated machinery. The steel roll, con taining now what may be termed the matrix of the note, or rather one side of it, is hardened in turn and from the roll the design is transferred to a softer plate by an immense pressure. The latter plate is the one from which the printing is done. Inasmuch as not more than lO.OOOTo 12,000 impressions on paper can be taken from one steel plate it is clear that numerous printing plates have to be made from the original engraving, which is known as the “bed-piece.” The plates used for pr niing are im mediately destroyed wh n the impres sions begin to show flaws. The “bed pieces” are preserved in a vault of the Treasury and temporarily transferred to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing when it becomes necessary to make new printing p ates. All this is done under the strictest supervision, of course, yet it has happened that wax impressions got into the hands of counterfeiters. These wax impressions have been treated with chemicals, known only to producers of I the “queer.” until every line, dot and filament of the genuine original was transferred to the counterfeit plate. Of course, in such cases nothing remained for the Government but to retire the entire series of genuine notes from cir culation. But there are methods of operating on steel plates which expert counterfeiters know how to handle with great dexter ity and no mean quality of workmanship. Two methods are especially dangerous be ause they produce the original design w T ith such exactness that only the quality pf the engraving—like in the recent five dollar certificate—furnishes a criterion to determine whether a note is counter leit or genuine. One of the methods of transferring is by means of gelatine, on which the de sign is carefully copied and then trans ferred upon the etching ground by the usual process of acid baths. Another process, still more artistic and giving a higher degree of exactness, involves the destruction of the genuine note The latter is fastened to the steel plate by means known to the craft, and then the paper is seaked off, leaving the design, I slightly elevated on the plate, which is | then subjected to the etching process, very much in the way the liner grade of J electrotypes are made. Of coursS, this' counterfeit can be readily distinguished ! from the work by hand, but it takes an ! expert to do it. The general public is usually taken in until the counterfeit is exposed. NEWS AM) NOTES FOR WOMEN. A revival of coral and gold jewelry is predicted. teal brown cloth is a favorite material for riding habits. Showy tennis gowns are of white seigo; braided With gilt or silver. .Miss Jessie Patton won the honors at the University of Texas this year. Black hats and small black mantles are worn with dresses of all colors. There are four women studying med icine at the Christiania University, Nor way. Advices from the French capital state that short waists are again coming into vogue, .Mrs. Cleveland wears a Gainsborough hat of black leghorn in her afternoon drives. Crepe lisse is a popular material for pafiasol covers. It is gathered or laid on in full folds. Professor .Maria Mitchell has been of fered a home for life at Vassal - College free of cost. Polonaises may be draped alike on both s des, or long on one side and short on the other. Black and yellow r , black and pink and beige and red are favorite color coinoin ations in millinery. Bows of light green ribbon are some times combined with white artificial flowers in lieu of foliage. Miss Annie Bomberger, of Philadel phia, is believed to have been the first woman dentist in America. Imitators of Amelie Rives and Ella Wheeler Wilcox are springing up in dif ferent parts cf the country. Gold, silver and other fancy embroid eries are used to trim summer costumes of pongee and cashmerctte. In many of the latest imported cos tumes there is a tendency to combine several shades of one color. Belts to wear with dressy blouses are of silk belt ribbon, with buckles of Rhinestones and other brilliants. Some of the newest street jackets are fastened only at the color, falling away below in a modified cutaway style. The cornor-stone of the State Indus trial Home for Girls, was laid a few weeks ago in Chillicothe, Missouri. White feathers, either alone or com bined with ribbon, are by far the most elegant trimming for Leghorn hats. Poppy red, ecru, old rose, reseda, and Gobelin blue are popular colors for the foundation of dressy black lace toilets. A Hindoo Girls’ High School has been started at Allahabad, India. It has already more than one hundred pupils. Mrs. Mackey recently presented her daughter, Princess Colonna, with a pair of jeweled bracelets valued at $45,- 000. An Albany (N. Y.j physician asserts that many young ladies of that city use belladonna to give brilliancy to their eyc3. The wife of the Russian Consul at San Francisco, Mme. Olarovsky, is consid ered one of the beauties of the Pacific coast. Vests of white pique, plain or em broidered in all over designs, appear upon tailor gowns of light rough woolens. White lilac and Guelder roses, with ivy and maiden hair fern, are the fash ionable artificial fiowers of the summer season. Garden hats of basket braids are very stylish, and are simply trimmed with a garland of wild fiowers carelessly ad justed on the front. Eighteen young women were passed as qualified for the sick chamber by the Illinois Training School for Nurses, at their commencement. A pretty feature of a cream-tinted surah tea gown was a bag front, With a box-plait in the centre, which was daintily feather stitched. Miss Tosse Jones, of Oregonia, Kan., is only eighteen years old, but she ploughed, planted and cultivated forty nve acres of < orn last spring. Mme. Alice de Plongeon, wife of an eminent man of science, claims to have found Maya writings which locate the Garden of Eden in Central America. As many as three slender bracelets are often seen on each arm of very young girls, while the number of rings worn by some fashionable women would seem to indicate great strength of wrist to carry such a burden. Fine checks in sunshades are stylish, and with a wide flounce of lace are very dre-sy. Color and broken effects in plaids, and cross bars take the place of all the simpler and less conspicuous shades this season. Ellen Terry, the actress, has just worn an overdress knit of pure silver thread, and a fashion writer wants to know what good American will follow her her lead, aud so provide a new handi work for less fortunate sisters. A gold bangle, with the date of mar riage engraven on it, with a tiny lock and key, is now often given to a bride on her wedding day, and when the cere mony is over the bridegroom locks it on her arm and puts the key on his watch chain. The rage for smocking extends to cot ton gowns, many of which have the yoke of it and deep cuifs and borders to the full sleeves. It looks well when first put on, but when the average laundress gets in her fine work it is something fearful to contemplate. The selvage is left on nearly all fabrics, and now has not the unfini-hed look it had when it was first in style here. Some fabrics are woven with a very wide and ornamental selvage for this purpose of a finish, The heavy as well as the light fabrics are with selvage. The wife of Hermann Kaulbach, the painter, is a beautiful, clever and a notably fine swimmer. She has lately received the gold medal of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown for having, at the risk of her own life, saved a i young man from drowning. THE CULTURE OF TOIACCO, VISIT TO A VIRGINIA PLANTATION OF ANTE-BELLUM TIMES Making a Plant Patch —Troubles of a Young Plant—Gathering a Crop—An Old Style Barn. There have been great changes in the methods of cultivating and curing to bacco during the past twenty years, and nowhere are these changes more notable than in Virginia. Those familiar with the tobacco plantation of ante-bellum days would hardly recognize that of to day. He would see the immense estates divided into small farms, he would* no tice improved tools and machinery in use everywhere, and he would see every department thoroughly systematized, where before it was carried on ir rathar a slipshod manner. However, the trav eler will now and then come upon a plan tation where the old methods are un changed and the work is carried on in much the same manner as it was in slavery days. It was the good fortune of the writer, on a recent trip through the Old Dominion, to visit one of the plantations that retain the characteris tics of thirty years ago, and he had the opportunity to inform himself about the old-time methods. The plantation is situated in Pittsylvania couuty, near the enterprising city of Danville, which is a center of the section producing the finest tobacco grown in Virginia. The planter, whose principal crop is tobacco, is kept pretty busy all the year round, and has not much time for holiday making. Early in tlie year the first step is taken, and it is nearly Christmas time again before the crop has been fully cured and partially dis posed of. Fiist of all the plant patch must be prepared, and the operation is something the like of which cannot be found in the culture of any other plant. The soil must always be “new.” On these old plantations few plaut patches are used a second time, or, if so, very rarely. The ground selected is generally on the side of a hill, with a Southern exposure, and naturally pro tected by underbrush. A great pile of dry rubbish and rotten logs is heaped upon the spot, and this inflammable material is set fire to. It is constantly replenished, and is not allowed to die out for two or three days. A good lot of ashes remain, which makes a splendid fertilizer, and these are plowed under and carefully mixed with the fineiy granulated soil. Now the patch is ready for the reception of seed, and when the favorable weather has brought them up they are drawn and set in rows two or three feet apart. After the growth has been fairly started the troubles ot the young plant begins. It has to be as carefully watched as the youngest baby of the household, and the planter must of necessity be a most patient nurse. It has to be de fended from late frosts and that arch enemy the worm. Thu ever present worm is the only living thipg of the insect or animal kingdom, with the single exception of man, that relishes the seductive weed. Frequently they destroy entire fields three or four times, and the planter host of the writer told him of an instance where a field in his plantation had to be reset a half-dozen t mes. The Virginia worm is long, round and green, with a smooth skin, protruding eyes and numerous legs. It keeps pace in its growth with the plant. When the latter is small so is the enemy, and as it grows so does the worm, until it reaches a length of three or four inches and the thickness of the index finger. When the plant is small and tender the delight of the worm is to eat through the stalk, bringing it to the ground, but after it reaches any size it contents itself with eating great holes in the leaver It is the chief work of the pickanin nies (children) of the plantation to keep the plants free Irom worms. Two or three times a week they go up one row and down another, carefully looking under every leat in the hunt. Now and then you will hear a joyous “ki-yi” come from the direction of some worker and you may know that it sounds the death knell of an unusually large pest. The ‘•miller,” a large white moth, is respon sible for the tobacco worm. It is exceed ingly prolific and sometimes deposits as many as a hundred eggs in a single night. The planter gives a reward of 5 cents for every ‘‘miller” captured and on bright moonlight nights, when they are most numerous, you can see the youngsters moving stealthily about the fields on a still hunt lor scalps. Thus the warfare goes on all through the spring and summer, and when au tumn approaches the big leaves which have been so carefully tended commence to take to themselves a golden hue. This is the time the planter has been waiting for,it is a sign that the harvest is at hand and soon the keen tobacco knife is being wielded by a hundred dusky laborers. Loaded uoon wagons the once rank exu berant leaves become as limber as a man who has “only been down to the club,” and when the barn is reached they are withered and can be handled without breakage. The methods of curing tobacco have undergone a great change in Virginia since the introduction of flues, but on this old plantation they are as primitive as when the colonists first learned the use of tobacco from the Indian. The barns of the farm are unlike any other used for farming purposes in the world. They have no agricultural pretenses, be ing generally a perfect square with a height seveVal times the width or length ancf surrounded by a deep thatched roof. There are no w indows and but one door, just large enough to admit of an en trance. The eves of the house serve the purposes of chimneys, and otherwise there is no ventilation. Without excep tion these barns are built of unhewn logs, the crevices being plastered over with a mortar made from clay, making the structure as nearly air-tight as it could well be. Tiie interior of this peculiar building is just as unpretentious as its exterior. There is no floor other than mother earth affords, and in the center is a deep trench in which a tire is built. Around and above this primitive grate are stretched numerous beams, from which the plants are suspended. Then the tire is started and the work of curing is begun. In tne opinion of the old-time planter, the tire must not be allowed to blaze. It is smoke that is wanted, and so the coals are kept in a continual smoulder. Oak and hickory are much used for curing purposes, but many of the fid planters preferred sassafras and sweetgum, under ! the impression that it improves the i flavor of the weed. Those who have adopted the modern improvements, ho-v. | ever, scout the idea as ridiculous, but j many of the older p'anters still believe in a tradition that was handed down j from the Indians. j Great care is taken with the curing, I for much depends upon it. Shades im perceptible to the novice are only to be brought out by the most skillful and ex perienced handling. After the tobacco is of the requisite color the leaves are stripped and tied in bundles. The at mosphere must be just right for this kind of work, and when a damp season c omes on the planter calls all his force to gether, inn, women and -children. Se-oa the tobacco is packed in a wagon or hogshead, or tierce, and sent to market. —Detroit Free Press. WISE WORDS. Discontent is the echo of unbelief. Wit without wisdom is salt without meat. Every day is full of a most impressive experience. Our virtues spring from our needs; our vices from our luxuries. Contentmentconsisteth notin adding more fuel, but in taking away some tire. To be dexterous in dauger is a virtue; but to court danger to show it is weak ness. We never practice a greater cheat on ourselves than when we wish to be thought humble. Our grand business is not to see what lie 3 dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present; it is thine. He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances. If we would build a Arm wall we must not hurry it up too fast; we must go on gradually, and allow the cement time to dry. Few thing are impracticable in them selves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail of success. In all negotiations of difficulty a man may not look to sow and reap at once, but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees. No true man can live a half life when he has genuinely learned that it is only a half life. The other half, the higher half, must haunt him. What is there in the world to dis tinguish v rtue from dishonor, or that can make anything rewardable, but the labor and the danger, the pain and the diflicuty? There is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequen es, that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end. Phases of Moorish Life. At a distance there is no more beauti ful sight, says a writer in the New York Commercial Advertiser , than a Moorish city graining white in the sunlight, spiked by the minarets of the mosques, which alone are kept in good repair, and surrounded by groves of tropical vegeta tion. But enter these cities and you will find steep and narrow streets, dirty courtways aud interiors so dark and mean that you hesitate to enter. Although the streets are crowded with the tur baned Moors, there is little noise, and the foreigner, accustomed to the sound of horse-car bells and the shrieking of steam whistles,is struck with the silence. These thousands of slippered feet make no noise upon the stones, and the sound of wheels is seldom heard in streets that are too narrow to admit more than the panniered donkey. These animals are highly valued by them, and the price of a good mule is double that of a horse, except, of course, horses of the finest breed used for the Sultan and Sheriffs, these being the only aristocracy the Moors possess. A knowledge of the absolute and unjust rule of the Sultan well explains the people’s indifference to gain or advancement. I once saw the harvest of a Moor ungathered, the grass and grain rotting in the field. Upon asking him why he had not cut his har vest, he replied: “Oh, what use; it would only be for the Sultan.” Upon inquiry w T e found that this was true, a man dares not become rich, or upon some pretext his wealth goes into the Treasury of the Sultan. Sometimes a Moor who is suspected of having money hidden away is accused of some crime, no matter how petty, taken to prison and made to slay there until he has paid a ransom tor his liberty which takes all, or nearly all, his possessions. The Moors, as a race, are not avaricious, and hence soon grow apathetic and in different to money they dare not spend in public display. Thus, in the interior and in the outskirts of the town, if the harvest yields more abundantly than usual the Moor reaps only what he absolutely needs aud leaves the rest to decay. The Ctun Chewing Habit. The growth of the habit of chewing gum among adults is something aston ishing. A dealer in gum the other day said that adults, especially men, were the principal customers. Many men have taken it up to break oil the habit of chewing tobacco, which, even without this aid, has been rapidly dying out, es pecially among the younger generations. The habit is tolerated among the older men, but there is a stigma attached to it that makes young men tight shy of it. In one of the St. Louis courts, at a great murder trial recently, there were six counsel engaged, every one of w’hom chewed gum constantly, although the Judge stuck heroically to his quid with the fluid expectoration of a frontiersman. Each of the counsel said that they had taken up the habit instead of the use of the quid, and they found far more de light in it than they did in the most del icately prepared tobacco. Expert gum chewers like the real spruce gum the best, but as the forests of Maine and the Adirondacks can suo ply barely more than the local demand, all sorts of artificial gums are manufac tured.—New York Sun. The Government is trying lobster cil ture on the Pacific coast. The firsf; At lantic installment has been anchored it Santa Cruz.