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THE WINDS.
©f the sons and daughters of Ocean,
Nursed in their mother’s lap,
The wind called East. I’m sorry to say,
Is a peevish, tyrannical chap!
The West wind is calmer and kinder,
And, in her feminine war,
Che often rebukes the lowering clouds
And carries t he raindrops away.
In his wild, stentorian fash’on,
The wind of the North is free,
Wasting his life hr riot and noise,
The prodigal son of the
In a purely n: id nly manner,
The wind o; the South is mild;
And the Ocean's ri opiral daughter
Is doubtless the ’ est-belov«l child.
-Wit iam 11. Ha i jne, in Independer.t.
ULOiii JJ A 1 ill.ixijij.
“The Singapore Trading Comany,
limited,” was and is an organization
owning half a iloen brigs and schooners
"which voyage among the islands of the
Indian Ocean, and traffic for pepper,
spices, cinnamon, beeswax, figs, rare
■woods, medicinal roots and herbs, etc.
On ono occasion—this was twenty years
ago—this company received an order
from Sydney. Australia, for a great
quantity of sharks’ brains. It seemed
that some eminent quack doctor in the
colony had made the discovery that
sharks’ brains was the great panacea the
medical world had been looking for to
cure all diseases. They were dried and
then pulverized and mixed with a certain
root, and, as silly as it may look to
you, the people went wild over the new
cure. I presume that the quack had
a center on the root part ot the cure,
but he could not corner the other por
tion. Sharks are plentiful all about
Australia, but they could not be caught
fast enough to supply the demand. The
price during the b ght of the excitement
was $4 an ounce "lor the dried brains,
and $7 an ounce for rke mixture. The
craze lasted about 7 months, by which
time the swindler had made his pile and
was ready to skip. Then everybody
ridiculed everybody else, and the price
of sharks’ brains d.opped to 50 cents
per pound, at which figure the Chinese
used them for a banquet dish.
When the order was received at Singa
pore 1 was mate of a small schooner
called the T ittle Duke, and it was plan
ned that I should be set ashore on some
of the islands to the north of Australia
to fill it. 1 had voyaged from Singapore
to Torrcsi Strait several times, and after
a little talk 1 selected South Aroo Island
as the most convenient ltlace for carry
ing out the purpose. There are seven
of these islands in a group oil' the New j
Guinea coast. While fhe water from
the .-Traits of Malacca to those of Torres |
are really the Indian Ocean, they are |
laid down on maps and chaits as differ
ent seas .java, Elores, Banda, and Ara
fura We had once been cast away on
the coast of South Aroo, and had found
the waters almost alive with sharks. We
knew it to be uninhabited, and about
twenty miles long by ten broad.
Our outfit was very simple. I was to
have a couple of men with me, and we
took a tent, a lot of shark lines, a couple
of lances, and bedding and provisions, j
For firearms we had revolvers, and dou- '
ble-barreled shotguns, and after a long j
and tedious voyage, during which we !
called at several islands, we finally cast j
anchor off South Aroo, and were safely
lande l on a sandy beach. The schooner
was in haste to get away, and two hours
after landing us she was out of sight, j
We were to be left on the island lrom i
fourteen to twenty days. Near where we j
lauded was what sailors* call a rip, that!
is, a narrow channel between the main’
land and a sand bar. This channel was
about sixty feet wide, fifteen or twenty
deep, and open at both ends. The sand
bar was not over four feet above high
tide, half a mile long, and not so much
as a spear of grass grew upon it. We
didn’t have to look twice to see that this
rip was our sharking ground. A dozen
dorsal iins could be seen cutting tlie wa
ter, and a piece of salt pork flung out
resulted in a fight, in which a score of
the monsters participated. We ere ted
our tent in the edge of the fore t, set up
our windlass above high water, and next
morning after landing were all ready to
begin work. Our method of proceding
was \ ery simple. Our windlass was a
roller, provided with a handle on either
end and resting in crotchets. One end
of the shark lice was made fast to this
and the hook at the other was bated and
flung out. When a shark was fast we
brought him in by turning the windlass.
"While the two men turned I stood at the
edge of the water with a lance and
jabbed him as he got near enough.
'TU, u; .... , .
1 hero may be spots where the slim tv
is more numerous than off the New-
Guinea coast, but I doubt it. There
•was no waiting about the business of
catching them. No sooner Cvas the
bated hook thrown in than a shark
seized it and was fast. They were not
ground sharks, nor shovel-noses, but the
genuine man-eater, ranging from nine to
hlteeu teet in length, and terribly strong
and fierce.. An ordinary man would be
snapped in two by one of these fishes as
easily as a boy bites into a cracker. Wo
had to se ure the brains and spread them
in the sun to dry, and this made it slow
woik. Our catch the first day was
seventeen. We increased this lo twenty
on the second day, and for four da vs
maintained that figure. On the after
noon of the fourth day a sad calamity
occurred. The spring at which we got
our water wa> about four hundred leet
inland, and we had cut a path to it.
We had seen a few snakes, but thev
seemed desirous of avoiding us as much
ss possible, and none of us were a arnw l
about them. On this afternoon, as one
of my helpers went after water, he was
struck by a snake lying in the tangle,
and although he was back within live,
minutes, I could tell by his looks that
he lad received a deadly bite. In ten
minutes he was rolling on the ground in
agony, and in fifteen liis body began to
swell. While ha had not seen the ser
pent, we had no doubt of its species. It
is known iu the East as the collar snake,
and is found on all the islands in the
Indian Ocean. It attains a length of
two l'eet. and has a white ring or collar
about its neck. There is no more
poisonous snake. In forty m nutes from
the time the man received the bite he
was dead, and his body was a terrible
sight to look at.
When we had buried our companion
in the sands we loaded our guns with
fine shot and went snake hunting. We
killed a round dozen of the collar snakes
between the tent and the spring, and
felt assured that the firing would rid the
neighborhood of any which had es
caped us. They had probably been
drawn that way by the scent of the blood
and meat. The tragedy had upset us
both, and neither was inclined to sleep
that night. It was well that we were in
wakeful mood. Ever since the Indian
Sea was navigated by European vessels
there has been more or less piracy. At
this time almost every island had its
boss wrecker, who was no better than a
pirate. While not daring to attack a
ship, if she was caught in distress it
went hard with her. It was a quiet,star
light night, and I was sitting outside
the tent while my comrade was lying
down inside, when I caught a sound
from the water which alarmed me As I
rose up and advanced I caught sight of a
native craft stealing into the rip from
the lower side. She was from the Pindo
Islands, to the north of us, and was a
spice boat She had a single mast and a
lateen sail, and during a ca m was pulled
by oars. I ran back to my companion,
and we crept forward on hands and
knees to discover the object of the visit.
Had the men been honest they would
have been talking and singing. They
would not have come into the rip had
they not known of our presence and the
fact of their coming so quietly boded ill
lor us. The craft was grounded about
ICO feet above us, and twelve or fifteen
natives leaped out on the beach.
When we had seen this much we re
turned to our tent, secured the three
guns and course ammunition, and took
up our stations between the tent and the
water. In five minutes we had burrowed
cur rifie pits and charged the guns with
buckshot. It was not for us to open the
light. We cou;d just make out the
group of figures around the boats and
they would soon let us know whether
they were friends or enemies. We had
just got fairly settled when we saw the
crowd stealing over the sands in the
direction of the tent. All had spears
and clubs, aud their cautious movements
proved them bent on mischief. When
they came up quite close to the tent they
raised a loud yell and dashed forward,
hurling their spears and swinging their
clubs, and it was two or three minutes
before they discovered that the tent was
unoccupied. Then, as they huddled
together, we opened fire. They were
not more than sixty feet away, and the
buckshot had to tell. There were
screams, and shouts, and a stampede.
All broke for the boat—all who were oa
their leet after our fire. Two or three
men had been left in charge of the craft,
and as soon as they heard the firing and
yelling a panic seized them, and they
pushed the boat off, spraug into her,
and made off down the rip. Nine
natives were thus left in the lurch. They
raised a great cry, calling and command
ing, but those in the boat did not even
reply.
The situation was this: We had the
fellows penned up ou a neck of sand
without cover, aud we had firearms and
they had none. I have no doubt we had
been spied upon before they came to
make the attack, and very likely they
believed there were three of us. They
were afraid to attack as, and as for sur
render it was not to be thought of. In
the five years I sailed among the islands
I never knew a quarrel between white
men and natives to terminate in a draw.
One party or the other ran away or were
wiped out. These wreckers hath meant
to butcher us. Had I offered thewterms,
they would have refused. Had they
captured us alive, they would have
lauced us off-hand, and been astonished
at any protest. Lying in our rifle
pits, we noth realized that it ques
tion of the survival of the strongest, and
that we would have no relief until the
last man was wiped out. We heard
them chattering and cursing for an hour
or so, the leader evidently seeking to
work their courage up to the attacking
point, and then alt was quiet.
Daylight came at last, aud what was
our astonishment to discover that the
nine had crossed the channel to the sand
bar, leaving most of their weapons on
the main shore. We also soon discov
ered why they had braved the sharks to
reach that spot. The boat had run
down the rip, circled around outside the
surf, which was very light there, and at
tempted to land on the nead of the bar.
The fellows had swam over expecting to
be taken off, but the craft had struck a
rock and filled and sunk in fifteen feet
of water. There must have been three
men with her, for the number on the
bar was now twelve, ff'he only explana
tion of why the sharks did not seize any
of the nine was that they had followed
the boat out aud around. Well, that
was the situation, and no two men ever
had a neater drop on a gang of cutthroats.
They had their knives alone, while we
| had shotguns, and it would have been
j the easiest sort of work to bowl them
over in succession by off-hand shots. By
our volley when attacked we had killed
three and wounded a fourth so that he
could not leave the spot. That made
the strength of the attacking party six
teen.
I could talk all the lingoes of the
islands, and 1 asked the wounded man
who they were and why they had at
tackeu us. lie said the boat was from
tire Pindos. and the name of her Cap
tain was Abyan. They had attacked us
for the sole object of plunder. The fel
low hadseveial buckshot in his left groin
and others in his leg, and I told him he
was fatally wounded.
“It was so written,” he calmly replied.
“Be so kind as to finish me.”
“Kill you!”
“Certainly. I would do as well by
you
“But I cannot do it.”
“Then I will. I waited for morning
in hopes my friends would kill you, but
as they have not, and as all must die, I
will go first.”
He had his naked knife in his hand,
1 and before I could move to prevent he
drew it across his throat, and two min
utes later was dead. We now had the
living to look out for. As 1 told you, it
was only about sixty feet across the rip,
and we could look right into their eyes.
A more bloodthirsty dozen could not
have been scraped together in the East.
Had they been humbled by the situa-
I tion I should have at least hoped to see
; them get away, but they were not. On
1 the contrary, they were brazen and de-
I fiant. As soon an they saw us moving
they uttcie 1 shouts ol’ defiance and
brundished their knives, and because
we did not begin shooting they taunted
us with cowardice.
Just what steps to take I did not
know. 1 stood guard while my com
panion prepared breakfast, but there
was little fear of any of them crossing
the channel. The sharks had come in
until they actually crowded each other,
and out beyond the surf we could see
their dorsal fins by the score. The na
tives saw the situation in all its dangers,
but they continued defiant. I called tc
ask them why they had attacked us, as
we had done them no harm and were not
trespassing on their domain, and tho
leader shouted back:
“Vou are a dog! You are not fit to
live! Yes, yon are a dog and a cowardh
I have wet my hands in the blood of half
a hundred white-faced dogs, and I am
only sorry that I haven’t your heart to
throw to these fishes!”
“Well, what are you going to do?” I
asked as I choked back my anger.
“What is it to you, dog? Come! You
are a coward. Now that it is daylight
you tremble before us aud dare not
shoot! Ilq! I believe you wiii run
away!”
My companion was for killing them off
at once, but I was more merciful. While
I knew they thirsted for my blood, and
would kill me if they got the chance, it
seemed awful to shoot them down in
their helpless situation. After breakfast
we sat down opposite them with our
guns in our hands, when those who had
knives began to flourish them, and their
taunts were renewed. The leader finally
worked himself up to such a pitch of
anger that he threw his knife across at
me. It came whirling and whistling
through the air and entered the sand
beside me. I replied with a snap shot
which stretched him dead. His fall
only enraged the others, and I had
scarcely finished reloading when my
companion said:
“Take care! They are going to try
and swim the channel!”
They scattered along the bar its full
length, like skirmishers going to the
front, and at a given signal all sprang
into the water. Had there been no
sharks we could have answered foi
every black head crossing the channel.
By spreading out they hoped to distract
the attention of the monsters, and
reasoned that a portion of them would
get over to attack us. But there were
too many sharks. For about five
minutes the sight was terrible. It seemed
as if there were three or four sharks for
every victim, and they fought over the
feast like so many tigers. Not a mac
lived to make twenty strokes toward us.
In ten minutes after I fired my shot we
were rid of the whole gang and ready to
resume our labors, nor were we annoyed
again before the schooner took us off.—
New York Sun.
The German Soldier’s Equipment.
A new outfit is being rapidly intro
duced throughout the whole German
army. One, indeed, of the alterations,
as it does not involve any new equip
ment, has been already taken up by all
the regiments—that is, the strapping of
the overcoat round the knapsack instead
of over the shoulders and across the
body. This has the great advantage of
allowing the man to breathe more freely
and to open his coat if he wishes. The
knapsaett itself has been changed and is
of a longer shape than before. It con
sists of two parts, the knapsack proper
and the pocket, the former contaiuihg
the soldier’s linen, the latter the famous
“pease-sausage” and bacon. The belt
is, in the new outfit, all important, and
serves to make the whole equipment fast.
From it, on the left, hangs the bayonet,
which has been so shortened that it is
now merely a light dagger not a foot
long; while in front two pouches ape at
tached, each containing thirty cartridges
(the non officers have
smaller pouchre holding only fifteen
each). Behind is a third pouch, which
contains forty cartridges, made up in
two pasteboard cases. These are a re
serve, aud were formerly kep; in the
knap ack. By this change the soldier
carries twenty cartridges more than for
merly. On the right hangs the bread
wallet, which is larger than the old pat
tern. It has no longer a belt of its own,
but hangs directly from the sword belt,
thus relieving the chest. The water
fia'k is hooked ou the bread-wallet. The
pannikin used to be fastened in the mid
dle of the knapsack, but is now laid flat
on the top with the forage-cap, which
was formerly under the flap of the knap
sack, below it. The combined result is
that the soldier’s chest is almost quite
‘ free, and that the air can circulate be
: tween the knapsack and his back. He
j can also by merely undoing his belt take
off the whole of his accoutrements. r fhe
j trenching tool is not carried on the sol-
I dier's back, but hangs at his left side
with the bayonet.— St. James's Gazette.
One New Yorker’9 Physical Training.
I was at the country house of a New
York lawyer the other night, says T. C.
Crawford, in the New York World. II
all New York business men follow his
course, the English cannot reproach us
with being negligent in the matter of
physical training. This friend, who has
as many busy and hard-worked hours
during the day as any one in New York,
when he reaches home drops all care
and goes in for riding, walking and
I athletics. In the morning he is up at
| (i, into a cold plunge, and -then he is
off for an hour’s run or ride on horse
; back. Then when he returns he has his
rub-down, liis solid breakfast, and is
away before 9 to the city. In the
| evening he puts on flannels and runs for
j a half-hour before turning in. After the
! run he hits the yielding and defenseless
bag until 10:30 and then to bed. The
result is that he is brown and hardy, al
; though engaged daily in a nervous strain
! ttiat would soon pull down a man of
average frame.
Oiffgln of “Boom.”
A writer *n Notes and Queries traces
the history of “boom” in it 3 present half
slang sense of exceptional prosperity, and
can carry it no further back than 187'.*,
wherefore the Woo (father rises to remark
that for at least a century the word nas
been current in the middle South, as ex
pressing a superlative condition. At
first we make no doubt that the appli
cation was a trille onomatopeic, a stream
was “booming” when its flood tide
roared through the land, then crops,
when warm rain and hot sunshine made
them grow ashy magic, were metaphori
cally “booming,” too, so it is no wonder
that when coal and iron and wondrous
water powers builded cities in a night,
as it were, and made the was!o places
precious, that their habitat was spoken
of as having a boom
UNIQUE INDIAN JEWELRY.
ARTISTIC SILVER ORNAMENTS OT
THE PUEBLOS AND NAVAJOES-
Remarkable Results Produced by
Primitive Implements —Earrings
Bracelets and Rings.
In the quaint Territory of New Mex
ico there still flourish two aboriginal
j races, wholesale wearers of jewelry,
j whose silversmiths turn outwork uniquq
j and characteristic in design, and of re
j markable neatness when we consider
| their rude appliances. These are the
Pueblos aud the Navajoes.
The Pueblos are commonly classed as
Indians, but Indians they are not. Pure
j blooded descendants of the ancient Az
tecs or Toltecs—there be ethnologists
who pretend to tell which, but their
grounds are ludicrously shadowy—(the
: Bueb'os) dwell in neat, substantial
j adobe houses, til! the soil, build irriga
i tiug works, weave their blankets and
tend their flocks as they did centuries
before the first European foot trod the
new continent. They are the oldest civi
lized race in the western hemisphere,
and the most interesting. Of the count
less Pueblo villages whose ruins mark
nearly every township of New Mexico,
only nineteen are now inhabited. Of
the flat), 000 Pueblos whom the Spanish
couquistadores tound, only 9000 remain,
but the little remuant is at present hold
ing its own very fairly. This is the sim
ple race whose ancestors made old
j .Mexico and filled it with its wonderful
monuments.
ff'he Navajoes, on the other hand, are
straight Indians—nomads, warriors and
hunters—who never till the soil nor in
habit a house, and whose rude hogans
are tenanted no longer than suits their
roving disposition. Their only indus
tries are stock raising, weaving the most
beautiful and the most durable blankets
known to the world, and thumping out
a semi-barbaric, but always graceful,
! jewelry. The tribe numbers eighteen
thousand souls, supposed to occupy a
reservation lying half in Mexico and half
in Arizona, but generally well scattered
over the whole circumambient county,
ff'he tribe has about SIOO,OOO worth of
silver jewelry and ornaments.
Silver is the only metal used by either
Pueblo or Navajo for purposes of orna
mentation. For gold they have no use
whatever, aud it is only those approxi
mate to the railroad and therefore con
versant with white man’s ways who will
even receive Uncle Sam’s yellow dinero.
Silver, however, is in universal demand
with them, and it is astonishing what
store they have of it. Their supply is
now drawn almost exclusively from the
cartwheel dollars of the Yankee and
Mexican daddies.
The silversmith among either Pueblos
or Navajoes is a person of mighty in
fluence. Upon his inventive and me
chanical skill each aborigine depends for
the wherewithal to cut an imposing
figure at the feast-day dance or the bet
staggering horse race. His tools are
simple, not to say crude. A hammer or
two, a three-cornered file, a rude iron
punch or two and a primitive arrange
ment for soldering comprises his outfit.
If he is a Pueblo, one of the little rooms
in his house, equipped with a bench,
serves him for a workshop; if a Navajo,
his smithy is under the alleged shelter of
his hogan—an open-faced hovel of cedar
branches and earth -and a smooth stone
is his workbench.
ffhe simplest form of silver ornament
is the button, a decoration of which
both races are immensely fond. Akin to
the buttons are the striking bell disks
which glisten upon every well-to-do
Pueblo aud Navajo on festal occasions.
These are always circular, slightly
arched, average four inches in diameter,
are handsomely made, and average $8 in
weight. From four to a dozen of these
are worn, strung upon a narrow thong,
as a belt. Some ultra dandies have a
shoulder belt of them besides.
In horse trappings the well-to-do
Nava o is particularly gorgeous. Be
sides a large weight of sundry silver
ornaments on his saddle his “Sunday ’
bridle is one mass of silver and but an
infinitessimal fraction of the leather sub
stratum is visible. It is nothing uncom
mon to see $lO to S6O weight in silver
on one bridle. The straps are covered
with silver sheaths, aud more or less
heavy pendants dangle upon the foretop
and from the bits.
The Pueblos occasionally thus besilver
their bridles, but are not as daft on the
fashion as the Navaioes.
i The most popular form of jewelry with
both races is the bracelet. In early days
it had its useful as well as its orna
mental adaptation. To protect the
wrists from the vicious sting of the bow
string the men very commonly wore a
broad wristlet of leather, tied at one
side with a buckskin thong. The sim
plest bracelets—commonest with the
Navajoes —are simply rouud circlets,
generally tapering a little to the ends,
and marked with little file-cut lines. A
silver dollar is usually entirely used up
in hammering one of them out.
Finger rings are a little less numerous
than the articles aforesaid, but are still
common enough, and remarkable skill
is often displayed in their workmanship.
Plain round rings of the American mat
trimonial pattern are almost unknown
here, the fashion being in chased bands
and sets. The Navajoes set native gar
nets or turquoise in rude box settings
and the Acoma smith sometimes makes a
curious stagger at a crown setting.
One of the most unique native rings is
of the nature of a cameo ring, the
“cameo” being cut from an American
dollar with Liberty's head protuberant
thereon.
A silver ornament peculiar to the Pue
blos is the dresspin worn by the women.’
Their dresses are something like blank
ets, worn over one shoulder aud under
the other, reaching just below the knees
; and fastened down the right side with
j huge pins. These are something brass,
[ but generally of silver, made by solder-
I ing two or three 25 or 50-cent pieces
i upon a pin. Sometimes the coins are
left intact, sometimes polished and
chased. I have seen a really elegant one
made of a polished and concaved dollar,
I covered with relief work and set with
! imitation opals from a cheap American
; piece of trumpery. —San Francisco
C , ro:i tele.
The Bank of England has just finished
l series of experiments with electric
light and likes it so well that it has de
cided to adopt it permanently instead of
' gas.
SELECT SIFTINGS.
London contains 120 hospitals.
The temple of Diana was four hun
dred feet high.
The Koran says all flies shall peris p
save one, the bee fly.
The palaces of Rome each accom
modated about 850,000 people.
It is regarded as a death warning in
Germany to hear a cricket’s cry.
A real, live princess keeps a millinery
store ip Fifth avenue, New York.
Mr. Robert Bonner paid Mr. William
11. Vanderbilt $40,000 for Maud S.
The Tapuya Indians in South Amer
ica say the devil assnmes the form of
a fly.
In China the highest recommendation
a man can have is the fact of his having
a wife.
Cremation is still illegal in France, so
Frenchmen have to go to Italy for the
purpose.
In Mexico young ladies give a few
drops of their blood as a charm to the
young men.
Rain is, in some parts of our own
country, expected to follow unusually
loud chirping of crickets.
Some interesting prehistoric relics
have just been found buried under 800
feet of lava in a table-mountain tunnel,
near Sonora, Cal.
Babylon was sixty miles within the
walls, which were twenty-five feet thick
and three hundred feet high, with one
hundred brazen gates.
A woman living near the banks of
the Tiber once sold her possessions in
Rome, and it was learned that she
possessed four hundred slaves.
The Bank of England monopoly was
established by the prohibition, by act of
Parliament in of auy company ex
ceeding six persons acting as bankers.
Mrs. G. Booth, of Washington County,
died recently at Knoxville, Tenn., in
the log house she was born in, ninety
eight years ago. She had never been
away from home over five miles.
In 314 Constantine declared that
liberty was a right which could not be
taken away, affirming that sixty years of
captivity could not take from the free
born the right of demanding liberty.
When Queen Victoria went this year
from Windsor to Osbprne she took a
number of her favorite cats with her,and
now every English lady takes her cats
with her from town to country or
country to town.
Mr. Bloodworth, of Griffin, Ga., has
grown this yea*- twelve ears of corn upon
one stalk and fourteen squashes upon a
single arm of vine, so it is entirely cred
ible that from a garden one-sixteenth of
an acre he has sold $35 worth after sup
plying his family.
One of the English regiments is ex
perimenting with a machine called a
centrecycle, which has four small wheels
a foot in diameter and one large one in
the center. It is said that theiuveution
makes climbing a hill as easy for a cycler
as rolling off a log.
An eagle, six feet from tip to tip, and
with talons nearly two inches long, was
killed in Georgia the other day, but it
took two loads of shot and a rifle ball to
do it, and then the bird took such a
death grip on its perch that the tree had
to be cut down to secure it.
Sumner Howard, formerly Speaker to
the Michigan House of Representatives
and now a lawyer with a fine practice
in an Arizona town, accepted a few
shares of stock in an undeveloped mine
last fall as a retainer in a murder case.
A few days ago he was offered $85,(100
for the stock, but declined to part with
it.
A modern French custom at baptisms
is that of presenting all the guests with
sugar almonds in a bonbonniere, which
has the appearance cf a roll of parch
ment. On this roll are inscribed the
names of the child, of the parents, god
parents, the date of the birth and christ
ening, and the name of the church where
the ceremoney was performed.
The weather vane in the shape of a
large grasshopper, whi ffi adorns Faneuil
Hall in Boston, is said to have been
placed there by the owner of the hall,
who was also a wholesale grocer, as a
sign of his occupation. The grasshopper
was the sign ot the Wholesale Grocers’
Association of Boston. Mr. Faneuil was
a prominent member of this association.
Railroad conductors get a great deal
of medical information and the under
standing of many helpful little schemes
in the course of a long year’s run. Many
of the conductors, who, among the many
other ills and ailings of their passangers,
have found that of a particle of dirt or
cinder in the eye to be of the most fre
quent and painful, carry with them a
supply of horse hair. Their experience
makes them experts in dounling the hair
and drawing it over the eye while the
lid is closed.
Mollie Stark.
The speech popularly attributed to
General John Stark on going into the
battle of Bennington, August M, 1777,
was: “Boys, we hold that field to-night,
or Mollie’s Stark’s a widow.” His wife,
the daughter-of Caleb Rage, of Starks
town, now Dumbarton, N. 11., was
named Elizabeth, and though there i 3
much discussion about the matter, it is
probable, that the legend is correctly
given by Rev. J. P. Rodman in his cen
tennial poem of the “Battle of Ben
nington:”
The morning came —there stood the foe;
Starlc eyed them as they stood;
Few words he spoke—’tvvas not a time
For moralizing mood.
‘‘See there the enemy, my boys!
Now, strong in valor's might,
Beat them, or Betty Stark will sleep
In widowhood to-night.”
Washington Star.
V - .
A Hi flerence.
“When I was young,” said good Miss Jean,
“Girls weren’t ashamed to learn to cook.
They didn’t spend their time between
The parior and the fashion-book,
Nor did they t ike three hours to dress!”
(She ruis-d her hands in consternation.)
“And dream of nothing more nor less
Than picnics, parties and flirtation,
W nen I was young!”
“When you were young! I dare say, when,
Ah! when indeed.'” mused naughty Alice,
“I'm glad 1 didn't live just then,”
She said aloud, with playful malice.
“Not flirt! I’m sure the cause is clear—
They never knew my Cousin Harry!
Another reason, aunty dear—
You see the maidens didn’t marry
When you were young!”
—Martha T. Tyler in Judge,
Nr.WS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
The white petticoat is] a thing of the
past.
The most fashionable women wear no
bustles.
The plain hem at the bottom is again
in vogue.
Jacket fronts are a feature in the new
tea gowns.
Few feathers are seen on the dressiest
fall bonnets.
Fur will be much used in trimming
winter gowns.
Many young women are now seeking a
business education.
Borders are a prominent feature of the
best stuffs this season.
Mrs. Sheridan is still young, being but
thirty-five aud beautiful. .
Queen Victoria has had wicker baskets
made for her cats to travel in.
Strings of bonnets come from the very
back, not the ears, this season.
The Czarina is so passionately fond of
dancing that she is called “la Santerelle.”
The Duchess of Rutland has just com
pleted an excellent guide to Homburg.
Cloth-finished flannels are the pre
ferred wear of women of taste but limited
means.
Mrs. Ella Transom has challenged
Mrs. Shaw to a whistling match for SSOO
a side.
Nearly all the new fall stuffs display
solid colors with stripes of different
weaves.
Fanny Fern never wrote a word for
publication until she passed her fortieth
birthday.
Plain woolens with deep borders of
cashmere are among the importations of
fall goods.
Miss Edgeworth wrote her stories in a
common sitting room, surrounded by
her family.
Twenty-three Montana mail routes are
to be run for four years by a woman,
Mrs. Ira McLane.
Mary A. Livermore began her minis
terial life in Chicago as pastor of the
1 niversalist Church.
- Dr. Harriet Jones lias charge of the
woman’s department of the Insane Asy
lum at Weston, W. Va.
There ate no plain, tight-fitting tailor
gowns among the fall importations of
Paris and London dresses.
Round hats are very large and elabor
ately trimmed, but the brims are not so
wide nor so eccentric as formerly.
Mrs. E. R. Holbrook is superindent of
department of woman’s work in the
Minneapolis Industrial Exposition.
Many of the newest woolens show a
decided double twill with a deep rice
lined Persian border along one edge.
Miss Sarah A. Brown, of Lawrence,
Kan.,is candidate for State Superintend
ent of Public Schools on the Prohibition
ticket.
Many fine twilled woolens have ribbon
stripes two or three inches wide in
blacks, crossbars or shaded effects woven
throughout.
ff’he Association for the Advancement
of Women, better known as the Woman’s
Congress, will hold its annual .meeting
November 14, i 5 and IG.
In China girls are not obliged to go to
school at all. Their position in the em
pire is so insignificant that no provision
is made for their education.
Airs. E. L. Knowles, of Montana, who
is studying law, has been appointed
notary pnblic—the only woman in the
territory holding that office.
The Empress of Japan is rapidly be
coming the best-informed woman of her
time. She is a hard student of German,
Russian, French and Italian.
Camel’s hair cheviots, soft yet fine,
come in cloth shades bordered with a
deeper tone, and are among the most de
sirable of all the season’s offering.
Jet-black'ibirds are worn with straw
or felt hats. The black and suede
straws are faced with black velvet, a
plaiting of lace lyiug next the face.
Elbow ruffles of sheer muslin, simply
hemmed, and standing frills, with long
fichu ends, or else coming down the
front of the bodice, aro quaintly pretty.
In England women are again taking to
wearing gaiters. ff’he-e are made to
measure and are of almost any kind of
cloth, ff’he favorite, however, is the or
dinary drab.
The fashionable hat should look as
though it had been put on wrong side
foremost. All iiat trimmipgs at e placed
far at the back, and the front is quite
bare of any ornament.
Tlie wife of Senator Sherman is one of
the leading horticulturists of this coun
try. She not only knows all of the at
tractions of the garden but understands
how to make them thrive.
Mrs. Harvey, of Shanklin, Isle of
Wight, has founded an institution there
which is doubly philanthropic. It is a
home for old ladies and a training-school
for servants at the same time.
Chantilly lace with leaf edges or Greek
squares in open pattern ‘is the favorite
now for trimming, and is set in two
knife-pleated rows, turning opposite
wavs, about the hecks of many new
gowns.
There is a great variety in sashes, both
as to color and stuff, but the favorites
are the wide half belts which come down
from under the arms, the soft, loosely
knotted Turkish sash, and the fine di
aphanous sash of the tint and texture of
the rainbow.
The famous “Nelly Bly,” of the New
York World, is a pretty auburn-haired
girl with pretty, brown eyes and sweet
face. Her name is Miss Cochrane and it
goes with without saying that it will be
famous if the young lady continues her
daring exploits in journalism.
The will of Mrs. Anne Seguin, the
mother-in-law of the charming opera
singer, Zelda seguin, gives the latter the
annua! interest of $20,000 on condition
that she does not again marry. I* lo
figure is so small as to be of little ac
count to a girl disposed to marry.
Horn says that sets of decorated china,
such as used to sell eight or tea years
ago for SBO, are now put on the market
for S2O. This is mainly owing to the
decline in the price paid the painters °1
it. A class of girls has been educated
as decorators, and do the work as we.,
and far cheaper than of old.
Edwin Booth, theaotor, haunts studios
and iAnok.es a pipe.