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300 D CHEER.
“What's the good word to-day, my friend?
What's the good word to-day?”
A flower blooins in a poor man's cot;
A poet breathes a golden thought;
These make the old world gay, my friend.
These make the old world gay.
A babe laughs as the angels may;
A tearful sinner kneels to pray;
These make good cheer, to-day, my friend,
These make good cheer to-day.
—Lucy A. Hayes, in lour Vs Companion,
DORA'S ROMANCE.
I had rea hed the mature age of 2(3
years without achieving any other dis
tinction in life than a place as proof
reader in a publishing house. That may
seem a small honor to the uninitiated,
but my work was intellectual and very
comprehensive.
How 1 secured my place I need not
relate. It was after a hard and long
fight for it, which I began at 1!) years.
Till then I had been a ward of char
ity, wearing in my baby days the blue
check apron of the Foundlings’ Horae.
I was educated at the expense of the
church, and when I first tried my small
Btreng.li ngamst the world it was as
copy holder in a great, publishing house.
I was able to earn sls per week—after
seven years. lam little of a pessimist,
and my life lias not been given over to
melancholy, but to work. I give ten
hou;s of each day to my task. That ab
so. be 1 my energy, broke my spirit and
will and left me tired and depressed. I
climb “d the flights of stairs to my work
in the morning, taking mv way through
rooms full of human beings struggling
for daily hi end against greater odds
than 1, and who even envied me.
Five years of this life will render the
hopeful woman strong minded and cyn
ical. She will need the unlovely strength
she develops in a city that harbors and
gives subs.stence to -40,000 bachelors,
.torty thousand strong men, who smoke
and cat, sleep and pursue their solitary
lives, spending yearly means enough to
keep up homes. And where every morn
ing 4:t,000 women tramp hurriedly
through our streets, a terrible army,each
with her face set t iward some store,o.flee
or workshop. These women do not seek
health nor strength nor womanliness—
they must lose those better elements.
They will not win wages eno-gh to keep
them through chance sickness nor certain
old age—not one in a thousand does
that. They will not be made better,
mentally or morally, by cease ! ess toil.
They will only clothe and feed them
sel es, that they may come on the mor
row and again, till their faces are
pinched ana bloodless and the gr ace of
youth has left them; till they are not fit
for wives and mothers, for they are old
and sad,and each of the 40,000 bachelors
wants a wife whose temper is sunny and
sweet and who does not. know the world
as well as these workingwomen do.
There was a time in my life when I
tried the nun-like life of a Young
Woman's Home, a home reared and up
held by good women for those who, like
me, were homeless, and oh! no soul could
have been more desolate than mine
within its walls. I ate and drank and
slept and went my daily round, made
more wretched at the sight of my
struggling sisters who were not so well
equipped for the battle of life as I, and
then i fled from the “home” into the
Ch.cago boarding house. I found one
on Michigan avenue, kent by Mrs. Mc-
Gillicuddy. My lieme life was at least
independent. .Mrs. McGillicuddy’s heart
was honest and kind, her little parlors
were tidy, her table bore wholesome
fare. There was only her daughter,
Josie, who owned the piano, and Jack,
the McGiilicuddy son and heir, who
troubled or and from the
son and daughter and piano I could
always retreat to my room. It was new
to me to take a holiday, but one morning
I slept til! long after the whistles had
ceased to blow. I could not have
reached my proof room even at eight, so
I wandered out lazily into the June sun,
over the city and toward the north side.
I reached the bridge at State street and
stepped upon it as it swung to give
pas-age to a panting little steamboat.
There was only one person on the bridge,
a gentleman. lie stood quite near me = as
we swung slowly out over the river. He
might have been 135 or so. He was
broad shouldered and jolly-locking and
a little sun-browned. He looked at me
earnestly, and I noticed that he had
keen, honest, hazel eyes. But, to my
amazement, he pronounced my name and
held out his hand.
“I am A\ alia- e Adams,” he explained:
ifc. were a schoolmate of my sister Ida
H&t Westfield. I met you there. I was
|Kure I conld not be mistaken.”
W “ T , ha ) ten years ago,” I stam
mered feeling my years suddenly rise
up before me.
“You are not much changed, Miss
Hunter—you are very pale and<
thin but I have always remembered
you.”
The bridge swung slowly round, re
leasing us, but my new-found friend did
not leave me. Wo walked lowly home,
talking of those we had known, of Ida
Adams, who was dead, of each other,
and Mr. Adams told me he had just
come from Oregon. “For the Convention
—perhaps I shall stay awhile after it.”
He left me with’permission to call
that erenii.g, and that began a new life
for me. lie called, and we talked a
while, and then, to my surprise, Wallace
Adams asked me to marry him.
M omen who sitin high places in society
will shudder at my boldne-s and want of
delicacy, at Mr. Adams s vulgarity, at
the disregard of a’l orthodox rules of
courtship. But I looked back upon five
lost and unhappy years, forward to a
lifetime of blind groping after money
that somehow slipped away from the
hands that so hardly won it from the
world. And there was hope and cheer
for me in looking into th< man's ha el
eyes. I had neither father, mother, nor
friends, and though I hid never known
it. home would be so dear to me. I
he-ita:ed and half promised.
But Id d notlo-e caution. I asked
for time, a little longer acquaintance, a
little longer at my po t. I was like a slave
that has grown to* love the clanking of
his chains. “If in a few weeks jno"re I
can feel that I am doing right I will be
yoiii wife.”
That was our betrothal, for the half
promise was accepted. Mr. Adams took
mv hands in his and looked at me with
• pity in li : s hazel eyes. “God grant you
may, Bo:a, and good night!”
I went back to my work, but my heart
i was not in it. I saw Mr. Adams twice
i each week and a new world opened be
fore me. I had wanted to love him at
first, but soon my life grew into a prayer
that he should really care forme. I saw
every day some evidence of his kindness,
his wise friendship, but I trembled at
I the thought that it might only be friend
ship, for life he.d so much more.
It was at this time the MeGillicuddys
began to develop a warm interest in me.
; Jack came to the six o'clock dinner one
night with some exciting information. I
was invited to take dinner at the McGilli
cuddys’ special table and there he di
vulged it.
“I was to the races, Miss Hunter,” he
says, “and that Adams man bought a
pair of California horses.”
I made no reply. .Jack had forgotten
how many people are wearing the name
of Adams. His news was nothing to
me.
“He paid $40,000 for ’em,” went on
.Tack. “Your Adams, Miss Hunter.
Don't you catch on?”
“ill' must he rich, Mi-s Dora,” chimed
in the mother. “I want you to give
Josie an introduction.”
“ Y'ou roust take me out riding,” lisped
Josie, with her blond head on one side.
I looked d >wn at my plate in amaze
ment. Cither Wallace Adams was bet
ter situated than I had known, or he had
gone wildly to speculating in race
horses. I remembered Ida Adams at
WestFicld, a ward like myself. Her
father had been a clergyman. “I am
able to take care of a wife, Dora,” he
had to'.dme, "and to have a comfortable
home.” I had thought him able to make
his way with other men; to give me a
neat home with a lew comforts in it—a
piano, books, and one or two good pic
tures.
“Didn’t you know it?” broke out my
landlady, glibiv. “Where did you get
acquainted with him?’’
I e-cap d from the McGillicuddys and
went away to my room. I had promised
anew to be his wife, or now I might oe
supposed to want his money.
“Is this true?” I asked him when he
came again, and I told him about the
California horses.
“Now, Dora,” said the manly voice,
“I must refuse to answer you. To be
rich iu the world s way would require a
good deal more money than I can com
mand. I will be very poor if my wife
doesn't love me. Are you going to re
duce me to beggary ?”
For the first t.mc in my life I put my
a ms about his neck an 1 kissed him.
Something awakened me to his true
worth. What bad he seen in me to put
so much in my hands? I had not beauty
nor good looks, even, I who was only
one of the 40,00 J who live and work in
Chicago.
1 never introduced -Tosie McGillicuddy
and Mr. Ada ns. That young woman
took to dressing after me, and gained a
sudden impetus iu music. She played
“Flowers of St. Petersburg’’ waltz till
the boarders deserted the parlor for a
walk. She switched them gently in on
“Monastery Bells”, or “Silvery Waves,”
or, worse, she sang with Jack till bed
time.
But to all these things I gave no heed.
I was for the first time in love, and the
world was not the same. I allowed Mr.
Adams to ha-ten our wedding day, and
I gave up my position. I was very
happy, and only one thing marred my
sunsh ne. Wallace would be absent a
week at St. Louis. It was a long week.
Jack McGillicuddy was my shadow
through it, which I allowed, since Jaclc
was only '2l, and not in love w.th me.
Oddly enough, I did not receive a letter
from St. Louis, and the day before
Wallace was to return Jack proposed
ramble down town.
“ You’ve been too close, Miss Hunter, ”
said he. “Let’s go aud call on one of
Josie’s friends.”
I went out into the July night with
them and we had ice cream. Then we
went to a hotel on Monroe street, where
Josie’s friend was stopping. Who does
not know the Egyptian parlor with its
hangings? I stood behind a curtain talk
ing and laughing with .Jack and .Tosie,
whea I saw coming down to one of the
ground parlors Wallace Adams with a
lady on his arm. I looked until I felt
myself growing rigid. She was dark
and very beautiful tnd they were talking
in low tones. They approached some one
near us. Jack McGillicuddy followed the
direction of my eye 3, then darted away
to learn more.
“He introduced her as Mrs. Adams,”
he announced,coming back soon. “Let’s
get home.”
I did not faint or cry out. I believed
it, and reali ed how 1 cruelly I had been
deceived. The thought of the California
horses floated into my mind.
“He rives for pleasure,” I said to my
self. “He thought me so poor and mean
that he could buy my silence when he
had duped me.”
Then, through the midnight watches
I thought wildly and midly. How
I endure my life hereafter? How
take up t}ie duties I hated so when I had
known a little time of Pappine3s? The
discipline of five years gave me strength.
Work! It would be welcome now—if
only I could forget the past, the pres
ent. Thousands live and strive where
there is no object in life. 1 thought of
death, of suicide. They were not for
me, though I wo lid have been so glad to
die I laughed aloud as I thought “the
water in the Chicago river is so dirty
and in the lake they would never tinii
me.”
I would live, but I would go away
where uo one knew me and begin life
anew. Perhaps in time I would forget
it, but now, God pity me!
I pacxed my things together with
trembling fingers and feverish haste,
though it was hours till morning. I djd
not shed a tear, even over my pretty
wedding dress and bonnet, which
mocked me now like silent witnesses of
my humiliation. I seat a little note to
Mr. Adams:
I return your ring and your presents. I
know how base you have been, and I hope
we will never meet again.
Dora Hunter.
In the morning I was away, leaving
no address. I could not face the Mc-
Gillicuddy curiosity, and I had but a
little money. My work I had given up
and must seek it again. I must have
change or I felt that I should go mad.
I went to a boarding house on the
West side. After a day or two I found
work in a dressmaker’s establishment.
I was mentally unfit for a situation as
proofreader. I succeeded after a few
days, and, ah me, how faithful I was.
I no longer dreaded work, but feared a
I cessation of it when I should have tim*
j to think and remember. I cared for noth-
I ing and trusted no living being. My
life was over and done.
It was here one day that a woman
floated into my presence to have he?
draperies fastened. It was the same I
had seen on his arm that fatal night, but
now I could look at her calmly. Was
I growing stronger? I even addressed
her. •_ *
“You are Mrs. Adams,” I said, while
I did my lowly work.
“Yes,” she .smiled. “Mrs. Wallace
Adams.”
Some old author has said that there is
a peace that comes,not of hopes realied,
but of hopes relinquished; a peace that
is not born at the tranquil fireside, but
is the peace of solitude. It was this I
hoped for now. After weeks I had
ceased to feel—l wanted to read proof
once more. I would look for my work
where no one would know me. For a
while I sought in vain, but I was not
discouraged, and in a week I found it.
The past was dead and I was alone. I
went down to the bridge again apd
again. The bridge bell rang out sharp
ly. I hurried on just in tune to swing
out over the river. Now I knew that I
had ceased to care, hut looking out over
the water I did not heed the approaching
footsteps.
“Dora, Dora,” some one cried. “Will
you speak to me:”
For at the sound of his voice I had
stn t hed out my arms to the muddy
Chicago River; 1 who was strong mind
ed and did not care.
“We’ve looked in all the printing
offices in Chicago,” said Jack McGiili
cuddy when they had brought me out of
a little faiut. “That was Adams's cou
sin’s wife, Miss Hunter.”
“Dora,” said the manly voice once
more, “has it been so hard in your life
that you couldn’t beiieve me and trust
me again?” '
I had passed almost into the darkness
of be.ief that love and truth are not on
earth; that nothing remains but treach
ery and the wrangling of human pas
sions; but in the light of my husband’s
home I find my faith restored, and love
and truth on earth. Chicago Herald.
Sioux City's Corn Palace.
The famous corn palace, at Sioux City,
lowa, was honored by a visit from
President Cleveland, aud it is stated
that Mi,oo ) persons were entertained
within it during the time that Moudamin
kept open house. In order to convey tc
our readers some idea of the magnitude
of the labor and wealth expended there
on. the following figures are given :
There was :>00,0(J3 feet of lumber con
sumed. 15,0: 0 bushels of yellow corn and
5003 bushels of variegated varieties;
503 pounds of carpet tacks; 4000 pounds
of nails; 1503 pounds of small brads;
2500 feet of rope. 503 pounds of small
wire, and 5500 yards of cloth. It took
forty-six men days to erect the palace,
and nearly :JUO men and women to place
the decorations in form. Ten teams
were employed fifteen days hauling corn
and grains. Two steam saws were en
gaged constantly eight days cutting
corn-ears into small pieces for decorative
signs and ornamental work. Besides
this labor was alt that was done by
farmers in delivering grains from their
own stacks. The total cost of the palace
was ab >ut $28,000. The building was
210 feet long, and the general contour
Moorish.
Such being the success of the corn
fe-tival week of 1887, Sioux City will
repeat the corn palace enterprise in 1888
on a larger and grander scale.— Detroit
Free Press.
How Sheridan’s Life Mas Once Saved.
According to Archer Mason,
of San Francisco, Cal., General i-heridan
once had his life saved in an odd way.
Colonel Mason’s regiment was once giv
ing the General a re eption at the Cali
fornia Theatre. Sheridan was standing
in the wings, peeping out beside the
curtain at the audience, when he sud
denly pointed to one of the musicians,
and asked Mason;
“Isn’t that man named Blvth?”
On being told that he was, he asked to
haye him brought up on the stage at
once. After a cordial greeting, which
almost wrung the musician’s hand 0.1,
Sheridan said:
“I have good reasons to remember Mr.
Blyth, for he saved my life for me once.
It was when I was a young cavalry o.li
cer, fighting the Indians. One day we
were having a haud-to-hand set-to with
the Indians, and one of the red devils
had just shot at me with his revolver. I
had my saber close to his neck when an
other Indian threw his lasso around my
neck, and in another instant 1 would
have been trampled under the feet of the
horses. But Blyth, who was close be
side me, cut the rope with his saber and
saved my life.”— Chicago Times.
The “ Jacks©u Ball.”
A local confectioner was asked the
other day by a Brooklyn Citizen man if
that hard, spherical brand of confection
known as the “Jackson ball” was still
in the market. He replied that it was,
but that it had very little sale now in
the larger cities. Wholesale confec
tioners here manufactured Jackson balls
in large quantities and shipped them in
barrels through the West and North
west. Any one whose school days ended
ten years ago or more will recall with
vivid pleasure, the Jackson ball, a
species of abnormal lemon drop marked
with striped parallels of latitude, and
convenient to be slyly inserted in the
mouth at the opening of a morning ses
sion, gradually to dissolve its sweetness
until the noon hour. The school chil
dren of to-day may boast of superior
advantages in the way of the text books,
taiTy, tolu, slate cieauers, prize packages,
straps, etc., but the pupil of a decade
ago can shake his head knowingly and
reply: “Ah, but you have not the
‘Jackson ball,’ while the reeking salivary
glands respond even to the thought of
the sweet and flinty spheres, whose
essence once tickled his palate through
the then tedious school hours.”
The Owl and the Hat.
Dr. G. W. Massamore, while gunning
on Thursday in the Green Spring \ alley,
saw a large booby owl in a tree, but did
notdisturo it, thinking the bird did not
see him. He was about to raise his gun
when the owl swooped down upon him,
drove its ugly looking talons through
his hat and Sew away, carrying the hat.
Dr. Mas-amore shot the bird, which
measured over four feet across the wings,
—Baltimore Sun.
ABOUT THE COPPERHEADS.
' 0
SOME CTTRIOTTS STORIES 09 A
POISONOUS SNAKE
A Reptile that is said to Love Chil
dren, but Will Attack a Grown
Person on Sight.
“I think one reason the copperhead
snake is partial to this part of the
country,” said a resident of the vicinity
of Lancaster, Penn., to a New York
Times correspondent, “is that pheasants
and partridges are plenty. There is
nothing this snake loves more than the
eggs of those birds, aud they destroy
nests by the hundred every spring. Old
hunters say that when a copperhead finds
a pheasant or partridge—we call quail
partridge in this county—it drives the
bird off. The bird will show fight to
protect its nest, and the snake keeps it
engaged in combat, leading it gradually
away from the nest, while other copper
heads, acting in collusion with the first
one, glide up and carry off the eggs.
When the eggs are all out of the nest the
snake that is keeping the attention of the
bird away from the nest glides off in the
bushes and joins its thieving companions
at the feast the despoiled home of the
poor bird has provided. I can’t vouch
for this as being a fact, but old Welsh
mountaineers say it is.
“Another reason why so many copper
heads abound hereabout is that there is
no limestone here. For some reason they
don’t like a limestone country, and con
sequently are rarely if ever seen in
Central and Northern Lancaster County.
I never heard of more than one being
seen where lime entered into the com
position of the soil. That snake was on
the outskirts of Lancaster City. A barn
had burned down, there, and it was never
rebuilt. The spot grew up with rank
weeds, and it became a great retreat for
common e veryday snakes. A man named
Poutz lived near. He had a big tom-cat
that became a regular snake hunter in the
weeds around the burned barn. He
used to bring in all kinds of serpents to
the house without killing them, and it
kept Poutz busy taking them away from
the cat and dispatching them. This
was some years ago. One day a man
named Weh was bitten by a snake there,
and he killed the snake, which proved
to be a copperhead. Weh, after weeks
of suffering, recovered from the effects
of the poison. A year to a day after he
was bitten symptoms of the poison ap
peared as they had when he was bitten,
and he suffered greatly for a few days.
On every anniversary of the bite he had
the same sickness for three or four years,
and on one of the recurrences of the
symptoms he died.
“it is during the time we arc cutting
our oats that the copperheads appear to
us in the greatest numbers, and it is said
that they are most poisonous during that
time. Five out of the six persons who
were bitten by copperheads in this part
of the country this season were bitten
while at work in oat fields. The snakes
seem to enjoy lying among the oats.
They also seem to find great comfort in
the thick patches of blackberry bushes,
and the prudent picker does not ignore
that fact. The next particular occasion
when it behooves the citizen to keep his
eye out for the hot-toothed reptile is
during the season of tobacco cutting in
the latter part of August. The lower
part of Lancaster County contributes
largely to the big crop of tobacco the
district raises. When the stalk is cut
and the broad leaves lie in rows aero s
the fields they seem to have a peculiar
fascination for the copperhead. The
stalks lie in the field for two or three
days, and when the farmers go in to
gather them up they raise them from the
ground with great care, for thev will be
sure to see a copperhead snugly quar
tered beneath some leaf before the end of
the row is reached, and it not inf re ■
queiitly happens that one of these im
pudent reptiles will be found under sev
eral leaves in succession. What the at
traction is to them in the down tobacco
plants is more than I know r .
“I never had a coppo*head jump at
me, although I have killed many a one,
but those who have enjoyed that experi
ence say that they do not coil before
they strike, like the rattlesnake, but
strike out straight from the shoulder.
They also say that the copperhead can
jump clear of the ground, which is also
something the rattlesnake can’t do. A
neighbor of, mine tells a story about
driving along one of the Little Britain
roads one day when lie saw' a copperhead
lying at the side of the road.* He stopped
his horse and got out to kill the snake.
The latter was in for light, and jumped
from the ground at its enemy, as a rat
will do when cornered. My neighbor
quite a bout with the reptile before he
killed it. He then went to climb back
in his wagon, when he was astonished
to see another copperhead lying on the
scat which he had vacated only two or
three minutes before. When a
copperhead is not disturbed the
copper spot on its head is dull,
but when the snake is mad the spot
grows bright. My neighbor saw the spot
on this snake deepen and the wicked
eyes of the snake glitter like diamonds.
He knew what would be the next move,
so he ducked his head down below the
level cf the seat. He wasn’t a second too
soon. The snal», he said, -shot over his
head like an arrow and landed in the
brush at the roadside. It shared the fate
of its companion. My neighbor never
could tell whether he had been riding
with the snake as a passenger,or whether
it climlied in the wagon while he was
fighting its ma'e and lay for him there
.to revenge its slain companion. Any
how, he said if he hadn’t ducked just as
he did he would have felt its fangs ia
his face, and probably never been able
to tell the story.
“The Welsh mountaineers say that
copperheads will not hurt children, but
that they will permit a child to play with
and fondle them with impunity, and
rather seem to like it. There are many
stories told of how horrified mothers
have come upon their children sitting
on the ground and pl aying with copper
heads the same as they would with a pet
cat or do". These stories invariably are
to the effect that the snakes exhib ted
the most amiable disposition toward the
children, b it as soon as the mother ap
peared on the s; ene their fur? was
aroused and they prepared to giv ; fight
to tte intruder. The Welsh mountain
eers and many others m' re reliable in
sist that the copperhead emits an odor
resembling that of a freshly-cut cucum
ber, and that this has a somnolent, if not
really an an esthetic, effect on persons
brought into close contact with it. A
gentleman I know well, and one whoso
veracity I never had occaeion to call into
question, declares that one hot August
day while he was sitting in the woods
he gradually became sensible of a strange,
drowsy feeling stealing over him, a feel
ing which increased, and he had no ay
parent inclination to resist. He finally
made a great effort and rose to his feet.
As he did so he saw a copperhead snake
lying only a foot or two away from him.
He then recogifi/ed the cucumber odor
and believed that he had been under its
influence, and that if he had not resisted
it as he did he would have become un
conscious. He killed the snake, of
course.”
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
At a “Cyclist Corso” in Vienna there
were bicycles and tricycles of two
hundred different systems.
Constant moving of the jaws affects
the nerves thig; lead from the spine to
the optic nerves aud strain the latter
until they give out.
Official trials of a new form of log
have been made on some of the French
torpedo boats. The log is of bronze, of
cylindro-eonical form, and weighs about
fifty-five pounds.
Of the 70,000,000 feet of lumber in
cluded in the Connecticut River Lumber
Company’s last drive of logs, which have
recently passed over Bellows Fali3,
7,000,000 feet stopped at Bellows Falls
to become paper.
It is stated upon medical authority
that readers should refrain from damp
ing their fingers in turning over the
leaves of library books, as this is a sure
way to attract any stray bacilli that may
be lurking around.
Some remarkable changes hive re
cently been noted by M. Perrotin on the
planet Mars. .In a letter to the Academie
des Sciences, he reports the tract of
land on both sides of the equator, which
has been named Lybia K seems to have
been submerged by the sea.
A primary battery of light weight has
been devised by M. Renard for working
balloons. Its positive electrode is a
plate of platinized silver, and its nega
tive electrode a very thin plate of non
amalgamated zinc, the exciting fluid
being a mixture of hydrochloric and
chromic acids.
According to the calculations of M.
Adolphe d’Assier, bused ou the assump
tion that the coincidence of the earth’s
perihelion passage with the summer
solstice every 21,003 years marks the
regular recurrence of a northern glacial
period, the last glacial period culmi
nating in 9250 B. C.
There are now in operation, according
to Mr. W. H. Preece, ttventy-two elect:ie
tramways in the United States, ten on
the continent of Europe, and eight in
Great Britain. Mr. Preece predicts that
the time is not far distant when elec
tricity will have come into general’use
in place of horses for the cars of city
streets.
The uses of saccharine, which is a
huudred times sweeter than sugar, are
thus set down by the American Druggist:
“Not being a carbo-hydrate like sugar,
it does not affect the digestive process,
and passes out through the urine with
out change. By means of it the food of
diabetic patients may be sweetened
without unfavorable effects.”
A curious affection is paradoxical
deafness. Dr. Boucheron, in a note to
the Paris academy of Sciences, lately
stated that the patient is deaf for speech
in the silence of a retired room, yet
hears the same in the midst of noise, as
in a moving carriage or railway train, or
the street. The disorder, which is
grave, progrelpive and sometimes heredi
tary, is caused by compression of the
labyrinth of the ear.
Persons who are unable to resist the
pleasure o£ reading in railway cars, and
who, in consequence, endanger their
eyesight by dependence upon the meager
lamplight furnished by the railroad
companies, can now obtain portable
electric lights, arranged to hang upon a
button of one’s coat, and with a para
bolic reflector to concentrate the light.
The storage battery for this lamp weighs
only a pound and a half.
The bridges over the Tay and the
Forth, in Scotland, have attracted much
attention as engineering works, the first
named viaduct being notable as the
largest bridge in the world: it is only
one link in the line of northern travel.
The second or Forth bridge, from North
to South Queenstown, and which is
scarcely less important, will have the
distinction of being made of steel
throughout its entire length of more
than five thousand feet.
Artificial silk is the latest discovery,
and judging from the details of it that
are at hand, it seems likely that the silk
worm's occupation w 11 soon be gone,
and that he may retire to his cocoon and
lament his lost importance in silence.
The new material is made, we are told,
from a kind of collodion, to which has
been added perchloride of iron and tan
nic acid. The process of manufacture
is somewhat complicated, but the result
seems to be all that can be desired in
the way of providing a substance practi
cally equal to good silk.
Powdered Children.
Fashionable mothers make a practice
of painting and pow'deriug the.r little
girls’ faces, just as they do their own.
They begin upon the little cheeks as
soon as the small owners begin to walk,
i oloring them according to their own
ideas of what is pretty. Is it not too
absurd? In fact, it seems wicked to ap
ply anything so injurious to the soft,
cool, smooth cheeks of a child, which
feel like rose petals to the touch. What
insanely silly mothers there are!
I know of at least one case in which
English children have been powdered
and cold-creamed from about the age of
eleven, but not painted. They were
never allowed to go out in an east wind,
or to sit over the fire scorching their
faces, and every night they were sub
je ted to a process in whic h various pre
parations for “clearing” the skin played
a prominent part. These children are
now lovely girls, and there is much dis
cussion in the circles they adorn as to
whether the soft bloom that adorns their
faces is naturally or artificially produced.
But e’ en supposing that the result of so
much elaborate care was the very love
liest coloring ever seen, think how bad
an effect it must all have on the. little
girl's mind to see so much effort aevoted
to so small au end. Dndon Truth*
NEWS AND NOTES FOU WOMEN.
Gray is a favorite color.
Green shades predominate.
Quills are still used in millinery.
Queen Natalie’s beauty is fading. - r
The Queen of England is a tenant.
Belva Lockwood never wore a corset.
Cashmere and metallic effects are
noticeable.
Most trimmings upon hats are from
the back forward.
Ripe cherry and ochre are combined in
autumn millinery.
Mrs. Alice Shaw, the whistler, was
born in Elmira, N. Y.
Black hats are favored for wear with
costumes of any cblor.
Ladji Colin Campbell is now art critic
for a London newspaper.
Long pelisses made of bi<r-flowered
rich brocades are stylish.
Mme. CarnoQ wife of the French
President, parts her hair on one side.
The autumn woolens are mostly plain
goods, in new shades and new weaves.
Nearly all the new stuffs show solid
colors, with stripes of different weaves.
Teel or apricot is a very favorite shade
in corded silk evening toilets this sea
son.
The Supreme Court of Washington
Territory decrees that women caunot
vote. t
Miss Julia Wolfe, an English woman,
has composed’an opera entitled “Ca
rina.”
A regulnr matrimonial agency has
been established between America and
Russia.
Miss Ella Transom his challenged
| Mrs. Shaw to a whistling match lor r fo oo
a side.
'The people of Japan are greatly inter
-1 ested iu the educat.ou and elevation of
women.
The leading gunmakers of England
have ail hud commissions to manufacture
guus for ladies.
Green and violet, especially when
light, form a combination preferable to
green and blue.
The new Duchess of Marlborough’s
photographs are now on sale in the Lon
don shop windows.
Ladies’ cloths appear again in the light
weights introduced last year, and in all
the new dull colors.
The Queen Eo wager end Empress of
Spain has just celebrated her thirtieth
birthday anniversary.
The Queen of Italy reads and writes
and sings and plays all by herself for
three hours every day.
The most fashionable women of France
are introducing small dinner tables in
stead of one large one.
Tne newest shades are heron, a light
shade, and oxide, which is the gray of
the dullest oxidizei silver.
Mrs. Cleveland has added to her col
lection of pets some white mice, two
rabbits and eight or nine pigeons.
• Many plain wool fabrics show a high
finish, the glossy, silk-like surface being
produced by closely-woven twills.
The example set by Mrs. Cleveland in
renouncing the bustle is being followed
by the fashionable ladies of Paris.
Among the rich ribbons now shown
are velvet stripes on peau de soie
grounds, with an ottoman border.
Plain Henrietta cloths are now mixed
with silk in such large proportion that
dealers call them sateen Henriettas.
The new gros grain silks have medium
sized rep 3, and soft ottoman silks have
smaller reps than those of last year.
Belva Lockwood says she can do house
work as well as any woman, but prefers
to make S:>UOO a year practising law.
The newest hats are a mass of bows
made of satin-edged moire ribbon, of a
width varying from four to eight inches.
At the ball of the Oxfordshire Light
Inlantry, Isle of Wight, recently, one
lady wort a bodice and scarlet tulle
skirt.
Yokes and cuffs of gold passementerie
appear among the new trimmings and
are to be worn upon a great variety of
dresses.
Three native ladies have passed tha
Calcutta University Entrance Examina
tion, first division, and one iu the third
division.
Many of the new silks are striped in
weaving, in a manner similar to the new
woolens, and show several tones of a
single color.
Some very effective ribbons show larga
satin spots on an ottoman stripe, the re*
jnainder of the libbou being woven id
fine gros grain.
Tinsel borders are noted on some ol
the new dull colored woolens. Borders
and stripes of steel and silver are
especially handsome.
Those who cannot reconcile themselves
to the flat folding skirts are wearing a
skirt of heavy muslin, flounced up the
back and stiiny starched.
Lady Folkestone's orchestra of girls is
described as about the most lively di
gression from the conventional highway
that London has known for many a year.
Among the fantastical wedding pres
ents given to an English bride recently
were six kittens, a Spanish dog measur
ing eight inctics iu length, and a
mummy’s hand.
The Empress of Japan, who is rapidly
becoming one of the best informed
women of her time, has certain days of
the week upon which Japanese is a for
bidden language.
English women hatfc adopted the uni
versal blouse with the frill outside the
skirt, although the fashion does not meet
with the approval of the best dressers on
this side of the water.
Elaborately carved shell combs are no
longer worn, their place being taken by
shell pins with comb tops, which are
large an i intricately cut in leaf, flower,!
and geometrical designs
Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Green lived in'
adjoining lots in Atlanta, Ga.,
nine days before they discovered they!
were sisters. And yet people say women
tell all they know the first time they
meet.
The most popular preacher in Georgia
just now is a young woman named Has
kins, from Tennessee, who is conducting
revival meetings in various parts of the
state. She is twenty-five years old, of
modest and unassuming manners, and is
an excellent pulpit orator.