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PHYSCON.
On our knees before tho monarch
Pleading with a grim despair,
Tears in streams her cheeks o’er flowing,
Falling on her infant’s hair,
Falling in great drops of anguish
At the cruel monster’s feet.
Frayed the good Queen, Cleopatra,
Frayed her infant's life to keep,
Through the monarch’s grand old palace,
Flowed a music low and sweet,
Gentle music, soothing music,
Like the tread of angels’ feet
Becking every room and hallway. >
Rising softly to the dome, 1
Filling every ear that heard it
With the sweetest sound of home, wi
lt was merry, rippling laughter
From the harmless baby prince,
But it came as if by magic,
And it made the tyrant wince.
But for one brief njoment only
Did the subtle spell hold sway,
Then the angry, brutal monster
Brushed the mother’s hand away.
And the infant’s merry laughter,
And the mother’s tearful plea,
Did not move the heartless monarch
To revoke his stern decree:
But the flashing steed descended
On the guileless infant’s head.
And the merry laugh was ended;
Eypt’s baby prince was dead.
Leroy M. Davis, in Current.
“SIG,” $
One Saturday afternoon my brother
ttnd I drove oier to Crossfield station to
meet our father, but f ound that there
iad been a change of time on the rail
road, and the train would not arrive for
nearly an hour. After loitering about
for a few moments, Harry proposed that
we walk down the track a bit, to pass
away the time.
We had gone but a short distance,
when we came to a place where the rails
crossed the highway, and there we saw
an old man, evidently 7 a cripple, sitting
in a J wheel-chair. lie seemed to have
purposely planted himself in the middle
of the track, and he now sat unconcern
edly readiug his newspaper, apparently
unconscious of our approach.
“I declare,” exclaimed Harry, if that
isn’t stupid to sit right between the
rails! Suppose tho train should come
along ?”
Then as we drew still nearer, ho ad
dressed the stranger:
‘•Don’t you think, sir, that it is rather
dangerous to sit there ou the track in
that way?”
The old man looked up from his
paper, a little surprised at first, and then
apparently much amused.
“No, young man,” he answered, at
length; “I don’t think it ‘rather danger
ous.’ I’ve been a flagman on this road
a great many years, aud I never got run
over yet.”
“Oh!” said Harry, altering his tone
considerably at discovering that the old
man was an employe of the road, and
uoticing for the first time that the
stranger had a litttle red flag rolled up
beside him.
“And be-ides,” continued the flagman,
*Tve got into the habit of sitting here
■when no train is due. People feel per
fectly safe to drive over the street when
they see me between the rails.”
“I should think they would,” said
Harry. And then, quite willing to
change the subject, he asked if there
was anything worth seeing farther down
the track.
“Yes,” was the reply. “There’s a |
new bridge a quarter of a mile beyond
that’s worth seeing, particularly as it
was there we came near haviug a dread
ful accident two years ago, when one of
the piers was carried away.”
We thanked him, and were moving on,
when he added : “Perhaps you’d like to
hear the story before you go down. It
•won’t take long to tell it, and it’s well '
Worth telling, toot”
We were not so old yet that we were
not always ready for a story, and we
gladly sat down on the grass beside the
track, and listened to the following in
teresting narrative, which 1 give as
nearly as possible in the flagman’s own
words:
“If you should go down on the track,”
he began, “you would come to a stone
bridge ( a new one, because, two years
ago this April, on a dark, rainy night,
the river rose and carried away the old |
one, which was partiy wooden. There
is a train—an express—that goes through
here every night in the year, except Sun
day nights, at '.t:35. It does not stop at
the station, but comes straight on down
here, and over the bridge, and away for
Hoston. Two years ago it was a part of
my business to go up and down the
track every night, to see if the track
was in condition for that train to <ro
through. My boy has to do it* for me
now.
“On this particular night I took my |
lantern—l always took a red one, so as
to have it in case I should need to signal
tho train—and, calling my dog, started
off down the track about half an hour
before th<J train was due. It was very
dark, but it’s about as easy to walk on
the track at one time as another, and I
went on at a pretty rapid gait. All of a
sudden I felt the ground giving way be
neath me, and I knew I was going
down.
“I dropped my lantern, and tried to
save myself, but there was nothing to
hold of, and in an instant I felt my
self going faster and faster. And then
I seemed to lose breath, and strike with
great violence against something solid,
sfter which I must have become in
sensible.
“It was hours after that I awoke, to
find myself lying in my own bed athome.
It seems that the first pier of the bridge
had been carried away, and I had walked
off the embankment on this side. It was
by one of God’s wonderful mercies that
in some way I had being caught among
the fallen timbers below in such a way
as to save me from drowning, though, as
it was, it cost me dear. My spine was
so injured by the fall that I ha e never
walked a step since.
“One of the first things I asked, when
I was able to talk of the matter, wa«
shout the train. Joe Varnish, the
engineer of the express locomotive, who
was off duty while the bridge was down,
was by me at the time, and told me the
story.
“ ‘How comes it that you are here,
Joe, instead of at the bottom cf the river,
jou and the whole train?’ 1 asked.
He looke dat me with a queer look a
momeftt, and then he stooped over, and
took up from the floor a red lantern. I
knew it the moment I saw it, as the one
I had carried that night, and I remem
bered dropping it as 1 began to fall.
“ ‘lt’s that that saved us[' said he.
“I was puzzled both at his manner
and at what he said,but I was more puz
zled -and startled, too—when ho weut
ou to explain:
“ ‘We were coming down the road a
little late, full drive, at forty-five miles
an hours,’said he, ‘arid ha 1 just passed
the station, and I had whistled for the
crossing, when I caught sight ahead of
us, and not a great way off either, of a
danger-signal, the red light. It was right
in the middle of the track,and evidently
approaching, moving up and down
quickly, as though the man who car
ried it was running with all his might.
“ ‘Of course, I reversed and whistled
down the brakes in an instant; and it
wasn’t half a minute, maybe, before we
came to a standstill, with the light now
almost upon us. And almost before wo
were fully stopped, I jumped down and
ran ahead to meet it, and learn what
was the matter.
“ ‘lt was some rods ahead yec, and 1
could still see it swinging from sido to
side, as though the person bringing it
had now slackened his pace to a walk.
“‘A second later it seemed station
ary, and seemed to be waiting for nss to
come up. As I came close upon it. you
may imagine my astonishment to find it
set down in the middle of the track, and
not a soul to be seen anywhere around.
“ ‘I spoke, and then called aloud and
then shouted, but got uo rospon-u. And
beforo this, I had not heard any sound
or footfall. And when, a moment later,
the conductor and some of the train men
came up with lights, wo searched out,
and could not find any traces of the per
son who seemed to have left it there.
“‘Then we went on down the road;
and there we found the bridge gone.
As we approached, your dog commenced
howling, and we found him on the
of the embankment, and inferred that
you had fallen down the embankment.
We searched at once, and found you al
most dead, though I am very glad to
say not quite that.”
“That was the way .Toe told me the
story. And when he had finished, I
lay there thinkiug it over for some time.
At last I said:
“ ‘Joe, how could it have got there—
the lantern?’
“Joe shook his head.
“‘I can’t tell,’ said he. ‘All I know
about it is, that it was there, aud it
saved the train. But Em sure it wasn’t
done by any human hand !’
“I thought it over some moments
longer. I did not belie ein ghosts, or
spirits, or anything of the soit. Some
body or something living must have
taken the lantern from the spot where I
dropped it as I fell down the embank
ment, and carried it up the track to the
place where Joe Varnish first found it.
And all at once I was sure I had solved
the enigma.
“ ‘.Joe,’ said I. ‘I have it!’
“ ‘How is that?’ he asked.
“ ‘ There were three of us that went
down, and found that bridge gone,’
said I.
| *“ Three?” repeated he, more mystified
than ever.
“‘Yes,’said I. “Myself, the lantern
and the dog. Now 1 i ould not have
taken the lantern up the track. And it
couldn’t have taken itself u|Mrdhere.
Therefore, it must have been tfe third
one of us—don’t you see?’
“Joe stood a moment puzzling over it.
Then his face broke into a broad smile,
and he nodded his head : _
“‘Yes,’he said, at length ®Yes, I
see. ’ ”
The old flagman ended his story, and
looked* up at Harry and me as we stood
there, not quite comprehending even now
1 just how it all happened.
“What, don’t you see, either?” asked
he, and he lftughed heartily to himself,
for a moment. Then ho put his fingers
to his lips, and gave a shrill whistle.
The next instant a large bla k dog
came bounding down the road, and came
to the old flagman's side. His master
laid his hand ailectionateiy on the black,
curly head, and looked up at Harry and
me once again.
“I ll make you acquainted with Sig,”
said he. “Signal is his full name. I’ve
called him by it ever since that night.
It was Sig that carried the red light up
the track.” Youth's Companion.
How Gourds Climb.
The way the gourds climb is by
means of spiral, curled tendiils, which
are in reality small abortive stipules or
leaf-appendages, specialized for the work
of clinging to the external objects, be it
bough or stem of some other plant, over
which they rapidly spread themselves.
The tendrils push themselves out on
every side, revolving as they go, till they
reach some slender twig or leaf-stalk to
which they can attach themselves. Tt is
curious and interesting to watch them
as they grow, and to see how closely
their movements simulate intelligent
action. The little curled whorls go
feeling about on every side for a suitable
foothold, groping blindly, as it were, in
search of a support, and revolving slowly
in wide-sweeping carves, until at last
they happen to lay hold with their
growing end, of a proper object. Once
found, they seem to seize it eagerly with
their little fingers (for in the gourd the
tendrils are branched, not simple), and
to wrap it round at once many times
over, in their tight embrace. It is won
derful how far they will go out of their
way in their groping quest of a proper
foothold, and how, when at length they
stumble upon it, they will look for all
the world as if they had known before
hand exactly when and where to scareh
for it. These actions’come far c loser to
intelligence than most people imagine;
they are deliberately performed in re
sponsive answer to external stimuli, and
only take place when the right con
ditions combine to excite them. — Popu •
lar Science Monthly.
Window Gardening in Bremen.
A feature that adds greatly to the
beauty of Bremen, Germany, is the win
dow gardening. There is no home so
humble that it may not have its bright
pots and running vine and clean white
curtains. The handsomer houses are
simply bowers of beauty. They are all
built back from the street and surrounded
by gardens. Owing to the severity of
the climate the pia/zas are inclosed in
glass until April or May. Afterward
they are thrown open and every nook and
corner of window and step is covered
with bloom and color.
SMUGGLING JN ENGLAND
INGENIOUS SCHEMES FOR EVAD
INO CUSTOMS LAWS
Antiquity of the Practice—Fomah
Con trabnmlsist s —Modes of Con
cealing Tobacco and Spirits.
Since the days of Ethelrcd, when cus
tom- duties were first levied, every con
ceivable device has been practiced i:
order to avoid payment of tho-e duties,
and undoubtedly so long as dut.es are
imposed attempts will be made to de
fraud the revenue. Toward the close of
last century smuggling was very r fe,and
many a valuable cargo of contraband
goods was successfully “run” and dis
posed of, rcaliz.ing a handsome profit for
the contrabandist. At that time, how
ever, a Jar larger number o! articles were
taxed than at the present day (in fact, a
hundred years ago no fewer than 420
articles were liable to duty), and this, of
course, greatly increased the temptation
to smuggle. Nowadays smuggling is
almost exc.usively confined to small
quantities concealed on board oursteam
sliips, but even in effect,ng these c«n
ceulment9 the smuggler exercises great
cunning, aud does his utmost to outwit
the customs’ “rummager.”
About a century ago it was no uncom
mon thing to find a vessel fitted With
false bows or stern, a hollow keel, or
with the spare ma-ts, spars and oars
which she carried made of tin, but
painted to resemble wood, the cavities
b ing utilized for the concealment of
dutiable articles. Logs-of timber were
also hollowed out and employed for a
similar purpose. .Many a cask of spirits
has been towed under the bottom of a
vessel, a fear existing that a revenue
cruiser might board the smuggler and
discover the casks were they carried in
the hold. When it was necessary to get
them ashore they were weighted and kept
under water, a mark being.set as to their
whereabouts so that they could be taken
away at a favorab e opportunity. An
other ingenious artifice, practiced on the
east coast, was to cover casks of spirits
with a kind of cement, and attach some
seaweed thereto, which gave them the
appearance of rocks, and then cast them
ou the bonders ashore,from whence they
were ultimately removed. Chips’ car
penters have been known to smuggle
spirits and tobacco iu what passed .or
puts of pitch, aud a presumably studi
ous individual, who frequently left his
vessel with a book under his arm, car
ried in it a tiu ca-e containing sp ritsin
order to avoid payment of duty.
Tobacco appears to generally have
beeu the favorite object of thesmuggier,
and he still devotes his clo-e attention ;
to its importation. It has beeu fre
quently made up iu ships’ fenders or into
cordage of all shapes and sizes, and
brought ashore as such, while the wheels
of some of the blocks iu the running •
gear have been found to be made of
cavendish tobacco instead of iron. It
ka3 been introduced into cades of pitch
and casks of various kinds of seeds,
i alse bottoms have been added to dog
kennels, hencoops, drawers, chests, etc., |
in order to make these innocent looking
articles the receptac es of contraband
goods Tin cases, containing tobacco
aud cigars, have often been discovered
in the water tanks and in casks of spirits
and oil carried by vessels. Wooden
fenders bang ng over a ship s side ha e
been hollowed out and the cavity filled
with tobacco. Bladders containing spirits
have beeu secreted about the body, and
tobacco and cigars ha e been brought
ashore iu like manner.
female sm ig«>-lers had petticoats spe
cially prcparecjjfjor the introduction of
tobicco, cigar* and spirits, the former
being concea ! ed in small pockets adapted
to the purpose. When duties were levied
on silks and laces, large quantities of
these goods were imported without the
cognizance of the customs authorities.
These were the favorite articles of the
female contrabandists; and by them
many a package of costly silk and lace
has been brought into the country.
Vessels from France have been found
attempting to import lace made up in
boxes in the shape of apples and so
painted as to pa«s for fruit. Silks and
lace were also frequently found in loaves
of bread, and tobacco,on many occasions,
has found its way into the same place of
concealment, in fact, a large quantity so
concealed was recently seized at Hull.
When foreign watches were subjected to
duty many a gentleman’s great coat has
had for once a “silver lining,” the
smuggler attempting, by its assistance,
to elude the vigilance of the customs
officials. Snuff has been made into
cakes and imported as oilcake, a con
siderable quantity being landed before
the lraud was discovered.
On the abolition of the duties on coals
many of the colliers on the coast were
engaged in the illicit trade. The modus
operandi of these vessels was to obtain a
part cargo at one of the coal port-, and
subsequently, at a point previously
agreed upon, load a quantity of tobacco
or spirits from a smuggler. Some of
these ves-els succeeded in making very
profitable voyages in this manner.
An ingeti.ous mode of concealment
was disclosed in 1381 and a large seizure
of contraband goods was the result.
From “information received” the cus
toms authorities sent a detective to Rot
terdam, and he there discovered that
boilers, evidently made for the purpose
and quite unfit for anything else, were
being made the means of importing large
quantities o& tobacco into this country.
Some time after arriving in England the
boilers and smugglers were seized, and
the tobacco found on this occasion
weighed five tons.
In many cases, too, accomplices have
come forward and furni-hed information
of anticipated “runs,” but their infor
mation generally proved inaccurate, the
object being to get the officers out the
way while the “rui ” was being etTected.
The customs and coastguard officers have
had many a wild goose chase owing to
these good natured accomplices. In
1771 a tax of so much “per head” was
charged on the introduction of certain
animals into Paris, but one ingenious
individual sought exemption from this
impost by presenting the animals minus
the head, at the same time informing
the bewildered customs officials that as
the charge was only on the head it was
| not leviable in his case.
The East and South coasts formed the
happy hunting ground of the smuggler
in bygone days, their proximity to the
Continent making them a favorable field
J for his operations. When the spirit of
j smuggling was so rife, the customs and
I coastguard officers had frequent encoun-
ters with those engaged, and desperate
ights were the result. The assistance,
f Parliament has been often sought in
irder to put a stop to smuggling. It
\as formerly a common thing for a
■‘muggier to be sentenced to several years’
service in the navy as a punishment for
lis offenses. The law even now is some
what severe, but the penalties inflicted
io not appear to be suificiently heavy to
mt an end to the illicit practices.—
Nautical Magazine.
SELECT SIFTINGS.
New York received 717,399,340 eggs
last year.
A Nottingham bass singer is said to go
down to B fiat.
A French physician reports an attack
of gout in a boy of fifteen.
A mocking bird in Albany, N. Y.,
whistles “Boulanger’s March.”
The longest street in Paris is the Rue
de Wngeiard, 4400 metres loug.
Bald-headed Indians are becoming
numurous since the adoption of hats aud
caps by the race.
In Maryland no man can become Gov
ernor until he has beeu a resident of the
State for ten years.
Birds’ nests of the edible sort bring
their weight in silver for the tables of
rich Chinese mandarins.
The railroad bridges of th's country
if placed continuous.y would reach from
New York to Liverpool.
The latest English word in Paris is
“struggforlifer,” meaning one who has
to struggle for a living.
A boy who was playing on the beach
near Liverpool, England, was engulfed
andsmotheied iu a hole of his own dig
ging-
The most northern electric light in the
wbrld is at Hernosand, r-wedeu, on the
Gulf of Bothn a, about the >.d degree of
latitude. Light is needed there at 3.30
e. m.
Excavations made in Tzint/.untzan, in
Yacatas, Mexico, in search of treasure,
are said to have revealed a magnificent
| palace which is an archeological
wonder.
In England it has become quite com
mon to eat pepper ou strawberries.
Some thiuk that it improves tlie r flavor
aud others believe it renders them more
healthful.
Candidate Harrison has been presented
with ap eceof the curtain under which
Christopher Columbus walked when he
called on 1 erdinand and Isabella, after
.discovering America.
- As a test of his memory a gentleman
of Athens, Ga.. read through au article a
column and a half in length in a news
paper he had not previously seen, and
then repeated it without au error.
Photography on a small scale and with
amateur equipments is now a favorite
pastime with Englishmen of lei-ure.
i-.ven the Peers have taken up the craze
and cany their cameras with them.
Colonel Fremantle, of England, kept a
regi cent of volunteers man euvring for
two hours in a drenching rain, and
iinslly the s'gns of mutiny became so
mauiiest that the inspection was brought
to a close.
Jack Williams, a Maltese sailor, has
been bieakiug all records on the Missis
sippi 'Fiver by swimming twenty-five
miles with his arms strapped by his side
and his legs bound together. It took
him eight hours to do it.
Kentucky claims to have the largest
man in the world, one Hansen Craig,
who weighs 792 pounds. He is an ab
normal expansion of avordupois. His
mother weighed but 122 pounds and his
father but lib. Strange to say for a
Kentucky man, he “never touches a
drop.” t
In China, a tendency to go straight
to the highest authority is corrected
by the bamboo. A law prescribes that
if a complaint is made to a superior
official which should have been original
ly addressed to an inferior one, the com
plainant shall receive fifty blows with
the bamboo^
A barber fn London recently made a
wager that he could shave sixty men in
sixty minutes. The bet was accepted,
the men were lathered, and the razors
stropped and opened, ready for use. At
the end of the fifty-ninth minute the
sixty men had all been shaved, and the
barber was complacen ly counting his
gold. This, it is said, breaks the record.
The Queen of Englan 1 never sendPs her
personal correspondence through the
regular mail as her subjects do. Every
trivial communication, whether of a
personal or private nature is deliveied
at its destination by a Queen’s messen
ger. She is the only European sovereign
who does this. The other potentates
are democratic enough to use the mail.
WISE WORDS.
Know thyself. •
One feast, one house, one happiness.
Praise uuderserved is satire in dis
guise.
Wit is folly, unless a wise man has
the keeping of it.
The reward of one duty is the power
to fulfill another.
Fidelity in trifles is the ladder which
leads to greatness.
Cultivate forbearance till your heart
yields a fine crop of it.
If we still love those we lose, can w r e
altogether lose those we love?
There is no courage but in innocence,
no constancy but in an honest cause.
Time is never more misspent than
while we disclaim against the want of it.
Agitation is the marshaling of the
conscience of a nation to mold its laws.
Men love to hear of their power, but
have an extreme disrelish to to be told of
their duty.
I .> Of great riches there is no real use, ex
cept it be in the distribution; the rest is
but conceit.
We are never made so ridiculous by
the qualities we have, as by those we
j affect to have.
Knowledge without discretion is like
i force without direction—never useful
but by accident.
Doing is the great thing. For, if res
olutely, people do what is right, in time
they come to like doing it.
Re’ason requires culture to expand. It
resembles the fire concealed in the Hint,
which only showes itself when struck
with the steel.
THE BRICKLAYER’S TRADE.
THE OLDEST CALLING IN THE HIS
TORY OF CIVILIZATION.
Facts Which Provo the Antiquity of
This Handicraft—Slave Brick
layers of Ancient Babylon.
While brick-laving is not the oldest
trade in the wold, it is certainly the
next to the oldest. There must have
been brick-makers before there were
brick-layers, but with this one exception
the calling is perhaps the oldest iu the
history of civilization.
Tiie tower of Babel was built with
brick like that used in America today.
The third verse of the eleventh chapter
of Genesis says:
“And each one said to his neighbor,
‘Come let us make brick and bake them
with tire,’ and they had brick instead of
stones and slime instead of mortar.”
Even the record of Genesis, however,
harkly gives an idea of the great anti
quity of this vocation. It appears that
tfie builders of Babylon used brick al
together rather than stones. There are
still to be found in various placet very
curious accounts of the Babylonian brick
laying and the manner in which the
workmen were paid. Thu walls of Baby
lon town were raised chiefly by slaves
who received no wages, but who were
led, housed, and clothed at a rate of pay
equal to about half ill value of a bushel
of wheat, which would mean some
thing over forty cents a day,
or about what the m dern brick
layer gets for one hour's work. The
slaves of Babylon were worked from sun
rise to sunset, and their overseers were
provided with lashes to keep the un
fortunates up to their task. It seems,
howe er, that brick-layers soon came lo
be recognized rather ns artists than
art sans, and into their hands was com
mitted tiie history of the country. The
bricks of the Persian Empire, cemented
like those of Genesis with slime, contain
upon their surfaces inscriptions which
modern ingenuity has unraveled, and
which tell the story of the i erian kings..
Iu the records tiie brick-layers ha e
not forgotten themselves, and accord
ingly there has been left for modern
times a clear idea of how these men
worked. They understood the scaffold
and the trowel, as the pictures o a the
buried vvafls still show. They knew how
to keep a line of bricks plumb and
horizontal. They had a square—not
like the one ued in the nineteenth
century, hut still one which a uine eeth
ventury brick-layer could use. Iml -ed,.
the cuts given in iho hooksof the arch i
olog.sts show that a Chicago brick
layer could have put up the walls of
Thebes, or that a Persian workman
would have been able to make, a good
showing in a Chicago house, using the
u;eases and materials of the trade then
and now.
In Egypt the Bi le again has much tc
say about bricklaying and br.ck
making. The bricks without straw
that the children of Israel had to make
go to show one of the first labor dis
putes in history. The Egyptian brick
was not baked with i re. It was left
in the sunlight until it was thoroughly
hardened, and was then set up in the
wall with mud, and not with mortar.
As a consequence the brick build ngs of
Egypt have perished and only the stone
monuments of the people have survived,
but history shows that the palaces of the
Pharaohs were largely of brick. These,
to >, were decorated as highly as the
artists knew how to accomplish ilia work,
and basso-ie i ivos or sun dried play < ar
ried upon their surfaces the stories ol
Egyptian progress.
The Egyptians taught brick laying,
along with the other arts of civilization,
to the Greeks, and Athens, Sparta, and
the towns of the peninsula carried the
work to a high degree of excellence.
The Greeks used three kinds of brick,
or rather three sizes, the (ledoron, tetra
don, and pentadon. which were combined
in the same building. From Greece
brick-laying traveled to Borne, and there
are brick houses now standing in the
Eternal City which are more than 1700
years old. In the time of the empire
brick-layers weie paid wages which, talc
ing into cousiderat on the difference in
vaiue between American money and Bo
man, amounted to about $1 a day. The
hours of work were from dawn to dark,
and the men were allowed about an hour
aud a half off during tile day and a rea
sonable amount of wine, v>f course these
wages were not ofte t paid to the men
themselves, but to their owners, for the
workingmen in Home were still practi
cally enslaved at that period.
From the Mediterranean countries
brick-layiug spread westward. John of
Spoieto built a brick house in Cologne as
early as the year 1.00, and he had to make
his own kiln to burn his bricks. In Paris
there are stiil brick walls standing which
were erected as early as A. D. 110 Q, and
this early work compares favorably with
that done since The old bri( k-ma'- ers
used a good deal of lime in their b*ricks
and the result has been a material which
seems to be practically imperishable.
Of course brick-laving was wrought t<Y
a higher degree of excel,ence in the
Netherlands than in any other country.
The Dutch used brick for everything,
street paving and house furniture and
bake ovens among other tilings, and the
brick pavements in so many cAmcri an
cities are relics of Iloiland, as are the
tiles about, the fireplaces.
Wages in the brick laying trade, ac
cording to the best authorities, have
been constantly increasing since the his
tory of the art began.
From'the equivalent of forty cents a
day which brick-laying cost in Babylon
to $1 a day in Rome at the beginning of
the Christian era, the wages rose to the
equivalent of £2 a day in London in
1542. Iu this country the trade has
managed to hold its own and keep on
the material advance, as the pay for
eight hours’ work is now $3.20. Chi uyo
News.
Grafting Chicken Skin on a Cancer.
Drs. J. Elliott Chambers and S. B.
Houts, of St. Louis, recently grafted
jcliickeu skin to the face of a cancer
sufferer. The wound on the cheek was
about an inch wide, nearly twice a 3
long, and one-eighth inch in depth. It
was covered entirely with the chicken’s
skin, which was taken from beneath the
fowl’s wing. The operation is said to
have beea without pain to the patient,
and there were strong hopes by the phy
sicians that most if not all the grafts will
take root in five days, notwithstanding
the man is eighty-six years old.
NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
White felt hats are the ’•age.
Red and orange do not accord '.veil.
Gray and taa-colored gloves are fash
ionable.
Costumes of poppy-rad, turkey-red, or
copper color are worn.
The polonaise will be popular in the
dresses of the coming season.
A New York girl has varied the cus
tom by being married at sunrise.
Washington has a “Bicycle C lub for
Women,” with seventy active members.
"A woman dentist in Philadelphia is
reported to have a practice of SII,OOO a
year.
A rich heliotrope of a little darker
shade than the ordinary is a favorite
color.
The tight coat-sleeve is entirely aban
doned in favor of the sleeve of puffs aud
plaits.
Wide sashes of soft silk with immense
bows at the back or side are in great
favor.
Black never produces a bad effect
when it is associated with two luminous
colors.
Mrs. Amelie Rives-Chandler is said to
be fond of reading and re-reading
Thackeray.
Miss Sarah Siegel has invented a step
for getting into the upper berth of a
sleeping car.
Airs. Cleveland now conspicuously
figures as a patron of and leader iu
church work.
Stylish collarettes are made of foulard,
and are cut -o as to display the throat
to advantage.
A new bangle is made of gold wire
in the shape of an arrow which curves
around the arm.
Bed an l blue accord passably, espe
cially if the red incline rather to a scarlet
thau a crimson.
Dryden’s wife to’ 1 him she wished she
were a bo ik that she might have more ol
his companionship.
The marriage of a West Point, Ga.,
couple was solemnized iu a boat on the
Chattahoochee River.
The “bang” is going out of fashion in
London, and high, intellectual fore
heads are again the mode.
It is becoming the custom a nong well
to do Chinamen here to send back to the
old country for the r wives.
The most fashionable women of
France are introducing small dinner
tables instead of one large one.
The buttons used are very small. A
set recently seen were made of gold with
a genuine diamond in the center.
An evening dress may be made up in
goods of the color of ashes of rows— a
light gray just t nged witft pink.
A woman suffrage club, a woman's pre-»
club, and a woman’s paper, have just
made their appearance at Cincinnati.
Feathers and ribbons trim' fall hats
and the latter have plain edges, with a
cord or satin stripe interwoven along it.
A swell wedding in London must have
something novel about it or it does not
receive the approval of the l ean monde.
Mask veils of white ifct, -with a thick
woven selvage that simulates a limn and
tucks, are new and stylish beyond every
thing.
Directoire sashes are made in twe
shades of the same colox - . The bow is
arranged so as to give the effect of a
flower.
Green is more than ever the weir in
autumn silks and ribbon, and the gray
with bronze green shades easily first
choice.
Outside pockets will be worn with fall
gowns. As they are convenient and can
be made ornamental they will be heartily
welcome.
A very new fancy is the overdress cut
from soft wool, ttiat is laid-all over in
fine flat tucks, by consequence three ply
ail through.
Healism permeates all arts—even the
milliner’s. The latest decorat on f. r
b uinets is a b inch of common red-clover
blossoms or thistle-heads.
Bows of plaited braid appear aj; the
foot of the skirt in all new gowns. They
are well received, as they loqk well and
save the dress from wear.
i a-hioti prescribes a highly colored
bow at the e d of the parasol. The
ribbon cannot be too loud in color and
the costlier it is the better.
Lady Randolph Churchill, Lady Man*
deville and Mrs. Arthur Post, writes a
London correspondent, are probably the
most popular Americans in Europe.
Mrs. Cleveland has become an expert
lawn tennis player this summer. She is
able to serve a ball with skill and energy,
and her volleying is remarkably effective.
In the London American colony this
season Miss Chamberlain, Miss Winslow,
Miss Yznaga, .Miss Garner and Mis 3
Murphy have held their own against all
comers.
Paris gowns are being made with the
old-time tlounce. The style has not
reached this side of the water yet, how
ever, and it will probably be some time
in coming.
A Scotch woman, seventy years of age,
who has lived fifty years in this country,
took out her naturalization papers last
week to qualify herseives to vote for
school committee.
A new style of epaulet, worn with a
costume of black v ienaa, is made of
silver embroidery, cut oval shape, and
arranged to look as though it were in
serted iu tl,e sleeves.
The national colors, red, white and
blue, are in great favor. In many cases
the three colors are combined in one cos
tume, although the preference is to wear
them singly in stripes.
More than fifty of the best known
ladies of Battle Creek,Mich., have formed
a dress reform club, and declared them
selves against bustles, high heels, tight
shoes, still corsets, etc.
The London School Board have come
to the conclusion that whenever school
managers are to be appointed hi any
division, at least two ladies should W
nominated in that division.
The Queen of Italy has received an ad
dress signed by 11,090 Polish v,omen,
.thanking her for having interfered «
prevent the destruction of the cell o
Stanislaus Ko'stka, which was to nu“
been removed to make way for a nc
6treet in Romo.