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THE BEST OF GAME BIRDS.
hunting the forests denizen
THE WILD TURKEY.
Very Wary and Swift of Foot—Way
lavi»s Them, Shootinj; by Moon'
light anil Trapping the Bird.
Of all the game that runs or flies, says
the St. louis G!o'e-Democrat, the wild tur
key of America is the noblest and most
beautiful when taken at its best. In one
sense the ostrich of the Arabian desert or
the emu of the Australian plains might
be deemed an exception. They, however,
do not fly, and though their si/.e, fleet
cess aad plumage invest them with a
sort of grandeur, and their feathers are
valuable as ornaments, they are neither
so beautiful nor so useful and excellent
for food as the wild turkey. Indeed, the
flesh of the latter is hardly surpassed by
anything in succulence, richness of i avor
snd nutriment, and it is \astly superior
to that of any barnyard turkey that ever
was fed aad roasted or boiled.
The wild turkey is a bird of the forest
rather than of the prairies or plains. It
makes its haunts in the timber land,
large pieces of woods and groves, and
betakes itself to thick brush and the
neighborhood of impassible swamps to
breed. It comes out, however, at uiglit,
or at the earliest dawn, and feeds in the
corn and wheat iields in the fall, and
many broods are sometimes seen in a
flock a huudred strong, led by old gob
blers. In the beech and maple woods it
feeds upon beech nuts with great relish,
and, indeed, its principal food in winter
is the berr.es of the bushes and the
“mast” of various trees.
The wild turkey,, though so gregari
ous, is a shy, a wary and fast-running
bird, hardly ever taking to the wing if it
can avoid so doing. When closely pur
sued by a dog or impeded by deep snow,
it is compelled to flight. The running
qualities of the wild turkey can never be
fully realized until an old twenty-pound
gobbler suddenly Imagines that he has
argent business within the next county
within an hour, and it looks to the
hunter who conies upon one as if the
next State was the destination of the
fleet-footed bird, and he had only a few
minutes to get there. it is beautiful to
see au old gobbler on a level stretch of
road light out for the seclusion the
forest grants. Theye is a momentary
patter of feet, a cloud of dust, a streak
of turkey, then silence: and you stand
and wonder, in a vague sort of way,
whether you really saw a turkey or not.
and are not fully,convinced until you
look for and discover the star like foot
prints in the road.
There are many ways of hunting the
wild turkey successfully, and every sea
son has its own. The best way to get
turkeys in the early fall is to follow' .the
example of the native. Down in South
ern. Missouri, where turkeys are plentiful,
the native seldom fails, when he goes
out, to bring in at least one or two tur
keys. He doesn’t do a great deal of
walking, but enters the woods early in
the morning, conceals himself near a
clearing along a road and waits. The
wild turkey is very partial to wagon
toads that run through timber that is
thickly grown with underbrush. If the
turkey sees a man coming—and they
generally do see the man before or as
soon as he sees them—they quickly dart
off into the underbrush and in that case
it is useless to follow them. They are too
fleet and have £ way of concealing them
selves under the low bushes even when
traveling.
Some turkey hunters are successful in
getting the wary game by strolling
noiselessly as possible along the edge of
cornfields when the t urkeys come to feed
about seven o’clock iii the morning. The
hunter looks carefully up betweeu each
row of corn until he locates the birds.
If they are within shooting distance, one
barrel is discharged while they are un
consciously picking their breakfast from
the corn ears or other seeds that ripen
and fall to the ground along the rows,
and the other is reserved for the flight.
Shooting turkeys from a horse’s back
is sometimes indulged in; but it is sel
dom that a horse can be trained to stand
when a heavily loaded shotgun is tired
aver his head. I tried the experiment
twice in turkey shooting, and on both
occasions I had to walk home after be
ing dumped among the bushes.
The wild turkey does not seem to have
much fear of anything but a man. It is
a common thing to see a drove of tur
keys trot along the railroad in front of
a locomotive for a short distance and
leisurely walk oil at the side to let the
train pass. The engineers on the t ape
Girardeau and, Lakeville road all carry
guns in the cab of their locomotive, aud
often kill turkeys while making their
runs; and they never fail to stop the
train to pick up their game either.
Following turkeys l>y their tracks in
the snow is hard work. In the great
\yoods of the forest counties the favorite
method is to find the liock, scatter it all
around by means of a dogt and then
from ambush imitate the call of the tur
keys until they come near enough to
be shot with a rifle. The best way to
hunt them, when their tracks can be
readily followed in the snow—that is, if
you aie a good pedestrian and a stayer
—is to follow them until they tire.
Turkeys in the show, with a man after
them, soon begin to tire a little it the
snow be damp and no crust on top of it.
After some time the hunter will see
where one of the turkeys has diverged
from the route of the flock. Following
the track of the sihgle turkey it will be
found that after having gone a little way,
commouly not more than 200 yards, and
often less, it has squatted under thick
brush or in the top of a fallen tree. As
he draws neat it will start to run or fly,
and -it must then be shot. In this kind
of sport No. 1 shot is quite big enough.
A turkey intern on flying has got to run
sight or ten feet in order to get headway
before rising from the ground, and there
is time enough for the hunter to shoot
them in the head before they take wing.
After having killed the single turkey ’.he
hunter must take up the track of the
bock and go until he sees that another
has straggled off tuckered out, and so on
just as long as you can stand the tramp
ing in tljie wet snow.
Some of the settlers m Cape Girardeau
county trap turkeys in the winter season.
This is done by digging a trench, say
six feet long, two feet de p and a foot
wide. A little house is built of fence
rails, after the style of a quail trap, but,
of course, correspondingly large. One
end of the treuch ruus under the trap
about a foot. All around and over the
iop straw is scattered, ana corn and
I wheat are spread along the trench into
| the trap, where it is thickly strewn. The
j turkey picks up the gram clear to the eucl
of this trench, which is under the rail
| house. The bird then steps up and
I tackles the corn and wheat that are
I thickly stiewn over the ground in the
interior of the trap. Sometimes a whole
j flock will follow an old gobbler through
the trench, and not until they think of
going do they realize that they are
trapped. Strange as it may appear, the
turkeys never think of going down aigl
out through the trench.
SCIE NTi FI C AND IN I) USTR I A L
The use of oil on water to prevent or
remove fogs is suggested.
A physician says that breathing
througli the nose is the only way to sleep.
Celluloid lias recently been experi
mented with as a substitute for copper
in sheating vessels.
To prevent the condensation of vapor
in lenses of instruments for examining
the throat coat them thinly with
glycerine. _ , ,
The pollen of tire German plajno tree
produces influenza, exactly like what in
this country is cai.ed ‘nose cold ’ and
“hay fever.”
It requires just double the power to
propel a steamship twenty miles an
hour that it does to drive the same vessel
sixty miles an hour.
It is stated that two-thirds of the wood
used in paper-making is waste, though
experiments iridic.ite that this can be
profitably converted into fertilizer?.
A new utilization of a waste product
is the manufacture of paper from the
cedar ships of pencil maker s. The paper
is said to keep rno.hs from carpets, wool
and furs.
A curious monstrosity lias been ac
quired by the Paris Museum of Natural
History. It is an apparently healthy
sow, having one head, one thorax and
two forelegs, with two trunks, two tails,
and four hind legs.
Means for the accurate comparison of
electrical standards'and apparatus are to
be supplied at .iohn Hopkins’s Uni
versity, no provision for such measure
ments having been made elsewhere in
the United States.
Borax, as has recently been discovered,
is the sovereign remedy for hoarseness
of any kind. Hi-solve a piece the size of
a pea slowly in the mouth and swallow
the saliva. The effect is magical: it is
within the reach of every one, and for its
simpliciiy is worthy of trial.
Each soldier of the Netherlands is to
be supplied, in case of war, with a cart
ridge three inches long by, two wide,
containing anti-optic dressings. These
will consist of a bandage about three
yards long and two pieces of gause, all
rendered antiseptic by a sublimate
solution.
C. A, Paillard, of Geneva, Switzer
land, after fourteen years of experiment,
has determined that the alloy of pal
ladium is non-magnetizable as used in
watches, and is a satisfactory substitute
for the metals commonly used. Only
the hair-spring and compensation balance
are made of this metal, and the cost of
the watch is not increased.
A Swiss inventor has perfected a
method of making artificial boards and
is advocating their use in building.
They are made of a mixture of plaster of
paris and reeds pressed into shape by
hydraulic presses. The material has the
advantage of incombustibilita and light
ness, and will resist the waging action
of atmospheric changes.
The discovery of a new gas has been
reported by two English chemists, Pro
fessor Thorpe and Mr. .T. AY. Bodger.
It is a sulphofluoride of pho%horus, best
prepared by heating pentasulphide of
phosphorus with lead fluoride in a leaden
tube, and has been named thiopho
sophoryl flouride. It inflames spota
neously on contact with air.
It will not be long before the shoe
maker can add to his stock of raw ma
terials a waterproof leather. The pro
cess, which has recently been perfected,
is not only of service on the uncut
leather, but can be used in rendering
worthless leather valuable by plumping,
stiffening and waterproofing it for in
soles, counters, box toes, etc. Every
part of a boot or shoe can be “water
proofed” either before or after it is
finished.
Cute Thief, But Cuter Detective.
A lady and a gentleman were travel
ing together on an English railway,
say 3 the New Y ork Graphic. They were
perfect strangers to each other. Sud
denly the gentleman said: “Aladam, I
will trouble you to look out of the win
dow for a few minutes; I am going to
make some changes in my wearing ap
parel.” “Certainly, sir,” she replied,
with politeness, rising and turning her
back upon him. In a short time he said:
“Now, madam, my change is completed,
and you may resume your seat.” AVhen
the lady turned she beheld her male
companion transformed into a dashing
lady with a heavy veil oyer her face.
“Now, sir, or inadarn, whichever you
like,” said the lady, “I must trouble you
to look out of the window, for I also
have some changes to make in my ap
parel.” “Certainly, madam,” and the
gentleman in lady’s attiro- immediately
complied. “Now, sir, you may resume
your seat.” To his great surprise, on
resuming his seat, the gentleman in fe
male attire found his lady companion
transformed into a man. He then
laughed and said: “It appears that we
are both anxious to avoid recognition.
AVhat have you done? I have robbed a
bank.” “And I,” said the whilom lady,
as he dexterously fettered his compan
ion’s wrists with a pair of handcuffs,
“am Detective Jones of Scotland Yard,
and in female apparel have shadowed
you. Now.” drawing a revolver, “keep
still.” And he did,
A Bog Killing Feast.
unique feast of the winter will De
aa ’ old-fashioned hog-killing” at Pied
mont Park, Atlanta, Ga. A number of
ladies will undertake it for the benefit
of the Girls’ Industrial Home. A cold
day will be selected, aud twenty Logs
killed, scalded and quartered. The
regular work of hog-killing time on the
plantation will be gone through with,
and sausages stuffed and dropped, fatty
bread, cracklings, backbone, spareribs,
jowl anil pigs’ feet will be served with
good milk aud butter, torn bread and
pickles. There will be a charge of
twenty-five cents admission and fifty
cents for dinner, breakfast aud supper.
THE FARMS OF JAPAN,
BO ECULIARITIE3 OF ORIENT
AL CULTIVATION.
Raisinj; Rice, Barley, Rape Seed,
Buckwheat, Peas anil Flowers —
Systematic Weed Culture.
In a farming country like Japan,
Where in the best districts the roads are
as smooth as.a floor, jinrikisha travel af
fords the joliiest of opportunities for
observation. The jinrikisha, a Chinese
invention, is an overgrown doll chaise,
of a size to carry one or two men, and
di.awn by a team of one, two or three
Japs. They whisk you over the road at
a steady pace of six miles an hour on the
level—sometimes exceeding that rate —
and will average nearly live miles on
mixed grades. I have one lecord of
nine and three-fifths miles made in one
hour and twenty-three minutes by a
single man on a level.
My first drive was into a rice region.
The fields were cut up into all sizes, and
arranged upon ever varying levels. Some
were but a few feet square, while a quar
ter of an acre was a large field. The
*best land yields fifty bushels an acre,
more or less, and the poorest about
thirty. It is rare to find two adjai eat
fields on the same level. Sloping land
is of course more convenient for irriga
tion, but on this flat area through which
we were traveling the little rice fields
were laboriously divided up at different
heights, so that, the water might be
made to flow easily from one to the
other. The water is raised to the higher
patches mostly by treadmill pumps. We
were on the ground in season to witness
the earlier stages of rice cultivation. In
some fields the bare stubs of the last crop
were dismally peering out of the mud.
In others laborers were tearing up the
stubs with heavy pronged forks, stand
ing nearly to the hips in water and
slime. Bullocks drawing long-toothed
harrows were engaged in the sqme oper
ation. Wooden ploughs were also at
work, mere stirring-up implements of
wood with one handle. They had a
rounded nose, fortified with an iron
chisel, point beveled downward. Then
there was a rude p'orndi with broad iron
share for turning a shallow furrow, and
heavy oblong hoes for working the soil
over and over. Grading scoops com
pleted the grand utensils, but for shap
ing the causeways, or narrow dykes be
tween the fields, the coolies used the
usual hand weapons. The crop is sown
in May and reaped in October or Novem
ber, being grubbed or puddled three
times during the season. This means
that the whole population wade into the
slime, pul! out the weeds, and stir up
the mud about the roots of the plants.
The first thing that struck us in the
barley and wheat region was the peculiar
furrows. They were very shallow at
first, varying somewhat in depth, and
considerably in width and architecture,
so to speak. They were in the rough at
the outset, so far as anything in Japan
is entitled to that character, though
they would be smooth and elegant fur
rows anywhere else. Then they began
to be sloped up slanting, smoothed off
as evenly as the sides of a house.
Others were squared with mathematical
> precision. On the ridges the barley is
sown in thick-set rows, apparently by
hand. On the narrower ridges but- a
single row appeared; on the broader
ones were two rows, and more rarely
three. Outside these grain rows the
ridges were utilized for other crops,
mostly rows of buckwheat, but we saw
also sweet potatoes, turnip?, beans, and
the like. In one place we observed a
man waterinor this extra crop, which ap
peared odd, as the ground seemed moist
enough. accomplish this primitive
irrigation K carried two buckets slung
over his shoulders on a pole, and used a
wooden hand-dipper with a slit in the
side at the bottom, which let out a thin
disk of water. Throughout the fields
of this vast region were numerous wells,
with the old-tashioned well sweep. Not
only the ridges but the furrows them
selves are sometimes utilised for crops.
The only thing we saw growing there,
however, was what our courier informed
us was bird seed.
Aside from the barley was wheat also,
used mostly for the manufacture of ver
micelli —for we did not discover any use
of bread by the Japs, except in rare
cases where- the custom had been bor
rowed from Europeans. There were im
mense fields also of what our guide
called oil plant, which we took to be
rape seed." This crop was harvested, as
also was the barley in warm localities, it
being the latter part of May. There
were also large patches of beans and
peas, and one of the thin grass like reed
whose pith furnishes Japanese lamps
with wicking. We were, however, more
occupied with the style and character of
the farming than with crop statistics.
And this style was really gardening on a
grand scale. The nice little^arrows, to
which I have referred, all had the ap-
Searance of being carefully patted by
and, so smooth and even were their
surfaces.
Then, in addition to the nice regu
larity of the sown crops, there was
another peculiar gardening feature. No
fences or hedges appeared in the fields,
for good land is too valuable, being
worth five to nine hundred dollars the
acre, and even more in some- cases.
Boundaries are marked by stakes or
stones, with the owner's name or symbol
attached. This is not difficult to regu
late, as many of the patches are very
i small. But in place of fences there
were crop boundaries in many places on
the rim of the fields. For example, a
thickly sown row of wheat would extend
all around a barley field. The rows of
grain usually ran with the ends toward
i the road, and the bordering row of
another crop had a preity effect. In some
cases, however, the grain rows would
, run one way for a certain distance and
j then would come another patch sown at
1 right angles. This was also quite novel
and picturesque.. Sometimes the orna
mental border would be of the same
crop, as barley around barley, but this
was not usually the case.
The weeding of these fields is perfect,
»ud cur cultivators might take a lesson
from the Japs. Numbers of women were
crouched between the tiles of barley
weeding by hand. With the furrow
system the cultivator is out of place; and,
moreover, hand work is the rule in this
• crowded country,and in a day’s drive of
thirty-two miles we only saw two horses.
Where animals were employed they were
bullocks or wretched little cows. All were
9hod with sandals of rice straw. The
weeding women were atleuded by bays,
who carefully lugged the spoil out of tha
fields in baskets or mats. Near the scat
tered farm houses the weeds were spread
to cure. They are utilized as food for
people and cattle, and for bedding for
the beasts, but mostly ‘for manure.
Along the roadsides men were cutting
grass and weeds with short, curved
bladed knives. In one little grove men
and boys were weeding by hand, sparing
only the pretty and harmless flowering
plants and shrubs. The roadsides were
permitted also to retain come of the
flowering weeds, buttercups, dandelions,
chickweed, and the like, no mercy was
shown to any growth of pestilent pro
pensities. There was some yellow dock
here and there, but we were surprised at
being informed that the Japs had not
discovered the beauty of its leaves for
greens, although they do eat the dan
deliyn to some extent. In fact, one
might say that weed farming was a gen
uine part of the Japanese agricultural
system, since the entire cron was utilized
in some fashion, either for forage, food,
bedding, beauty, mulching, or manure.
Not a savage plant was ah owed to lead
a useless life, or to devote its energies to
the undoing of the farmer’s work.—
American Agriculturist,
> SELECT SIFTINGS.
Chicago is called the Garden City.
The first balloon ascent was made in
170 c.
Detroit is often called the City of the
Straits.
Uouen is often called the Manchester
of France.
A Hoboken lady has c ompleted a crazy
quilt with 24,781 pieces in it.
Martin Kellogg, of Norwalk, Ohio, is
one hundred and two years old.
In Egyptian mythology Isis was sajd
to have taught meu to till the soil.
F. Strecker, of Beading, Penn., has
collected over 80U boxes of butterflies.
A Welsh tradition says bees came from
Paradise, leaving the garden when man
fell.
The potato-beetle is said to have more
thamtwenty species of parasites that prey
upon it.
The ancients generally maintained that
there was a close connection between
bees and the soul. ,
Borne might have been called the City
of Lions on account of many lions kept
there by Ca-sar (400).
In an engagement near Turin, in 1693,
September 24, th bayonet was put to
actual and extended use.
The first German newspaper was Das
Frankfurter Journal , published at the
beginning of the seventeenth century at
Frankfurt-on-the-Main.
In Warren County, N. Y.,'a bounty of
fifty cents is paid to every one who pre
sents to the proper officer the head and
rattles of a rattlesnake.
An army of ants of the red species
marched into Silverdale Township, Kan.,
recently. The insects covered a space
forty yards long and three feet wide.
The grasshopper is a sufficiently un
welcome visitant of himself in this coun
try, but in Germany his presence is
further said to announce strange guests.
Tha best violin strings are not, as
might be supposed, produced from any
part of the anatomy of a cat, but are
made from the intestines of a young
lamb.
A woman in' Philadelphia made pur
chases of fifty-eight different clerks aud
proved tifty-three of them prevaricators.
The goods they warranted all wool had
cotton mixed m.
It is said that upon the backs of the
seven year loccust there sometimes ap
pear marks like a letter of the alphabet.
When this looks like a W it is thought
that war is imminent.
One reason why shelled nuts can be
sold so near the price of unshelied* ones
is that the shells when ground have a
slight aromatic taste, and are valuable
to adulterate ground spices.
A Frenchman wants to introduce anew
method of executing criminals in .New
York. He has invented a chair in which
the condemned sits, and his spinal
column is instantly broken.
A cottonwood tree in front of John
Flad’s residence in Marshall county,
Kan., planted in 187(1, measures six feet
and one inch in circumference at top of
ground and has a spread of forty fefet.
Uncle Elias Gibson, of Kilbourne, 111.,
who is nearing his ninetieth year, lias
the distinction of having killed ninety
two wolves since the war, a record that
no other Illinois man can even approach.
They tell at Hamilton, Ga., of a won
derful jump of a horse in the MOs. It
was across twelve feet of a bridge that
was down. The rider waited a mo
ment, sank the spurs, and the horse
cleared the opening.
Tom Brooks, a colored boy seventeen
years of age, was found dead standing
on his feet the other day at Jackson, in
West Tennessee. .He was a tenant on
the farm of Dr. W. ,A. Wood, who
vouches for the truth of the story.
The twenty-four men who composed
the recent petit jury for the term cf the
Buchanan County Court, in Missouri,
weighed 56J8 pounds, an average of 235
pounds. The lightest man on the jury
tipped the beam at 200 pounds, while the
heaviest weighed 205.
The water glass is constructed of four
boards, about fifteen inches long, nailed
together in the form of a frustrum of a
hollow pyramid. The small end is
closed with a piece of ordinary window
glass. This, placed a few inches below
the surface of water, enables the observer
to see ob ects for a considerable distance
under water. It is much used by pearl
divers.
Wonderful Shooting.
According to the Pittsburg Dispatch,
Dr. W. F. Carver performed the most
remarKable • teat .in shooting at Ex
position Park, in that city, ever wit
nessed. Dr. Carver had made a bet of
SIOO with Foiepaugh, Jr., that
lie would break six glass balls thrown
into the air simultaneously before they
fell to the ground. The shooting was
done with a Spencer repeating rifle in
the presence of a few invited guests.
Dr. ( arver had not the slightest trouble
in performing the feat, repeating it four
times in succession. The Doctor was
not satisfied with this, but threw up
seven bills at once, all of which he
perforated before they fell to the
ground. *
PHENOMENA OF THE EYE.
REMARKABLE ATTRIBUTES OF
THE VISUAL ORGAN
The Bail Opaque Eye—How Turks
Enlarge the Eye—Valuable Hints
for Strengthening Weak Eyes.
In an interesting article on the eye,
Shirley Dare says in the Mail and K.r~
press: I wish to be understood now as
speaking, not as writer or admirer of
sex, but from the point of scientific ob
servation, when I say that the revelations
of physical, mental and affeetional con
ditions made by the eye are as*remarka
ble as any phenomena of nature.
Take, for instance, a young sensitive
person of Consumptive habit, in ordinary
health and in love. Watch the eyes of
such a one, and you will see as p/ettv a
specimen of phosphoric light as that
which plays about certain flowers in full
bloom. The state of nervous excitement
uses up the phosphorus of the body
pretty fast, and it will flash behind the
eyelids like the fire on summer waves.
Botanists and other people have seen the
mimic flashes a white lily three days
blown will send from its petal on a warm
electric summer night. I have seen as
literal a flash leap bet ween the eyelids of
a lad of twenty-five, dead in love as he
could be with an absent woman. He
was nervous, a trifle poetic and over
strung, his eyes dilated, changeful after
glittering like a cat’s. In short, a human
battery, overcharged with nervous elec
tricity. In one case beside that of the
Italian actor, I ossi, I have noticed the
same flash which appeared to leap from
the eye, not play like sheet lightning
with it. But then Bossi was as highly
electric as human are, in normal
condition. Love and genius both are
literally a combustion of nervous force,
and the eye is the peep hole of the fire
in the brain.
Somebody ought to write a novel
about people with opaque eyes, those
black or dark blue eyes which are trans
parent as so many Swiss pebbles. They
are eyes of intensely passionate natures,
strong for good or -evil, but with tenden
cies the wrong- way, the eyes of born
devils in human shape. When such dull
dark eyesishow the red light that comes
of caution, insanity in its first stages is
at work on the brain, and such a man or
woman needs care life long, or some
crisis of trouble may lead to an outbreak
of madness. It is the eye of one likely
in frenzy to commit manslaughter.
| The most beautiful eyes in the worjd
are the cle£r gray, with large pupils, and
iris which changes and daikens with
1 feeling as from the shadow of a cloud.
The steadiness, brilliance and suscepti
bility of such eyes are index to the rarest
intelligence, quick and accurate, and the
high romantic sentiments which in such
characters become passions. Truth;
liberality, loyalty, are the vital breath of
such spirits, but alas! those eyes are not
of the long-lived. Dust is over them al
most before we can say we have known
| them for qur own. The bluish white of
the eye betokens consumption before its
hectic IffAghtncss alarms with unearthly
i the loss of color in the pu
pil, turning brown instead of black, is
caused by heart disease.
I The Turks regularly cut open the
outer corner of the eyelids, if the eyes
of a girl are not large enough for their
ideas of beauty, and inferior eyes can be
gradually enlarged by gently drawing
! the lids apart, day after day, and bath
ing them in cool, soft water. The
stronger the eye the larger it will
seem, for the first instinct of weak eyes
is to contract and spare themselves from
light. Americans ruin their eyes with
too much newspaper reading. The
enoimous tax of going over twenty col
umns of close print daily, besides office
work, is more than human orgtns can
bear. One uses his eyes more in this
way in a month than our forefather’s
did in a year’s study over black letter
folios. Beading long lines on a wide
page is trying to the sight, as there is a
change of focus necessary in following
; the lines which is positively hurtful. So
[’ says B. Joy Jeffries, of the Massachusetts
: Eye and Ear Infirmary, who gave the
warning that the eyes of school children
were steadily injured by defective books,
| desks and lights.
To have beautiful, sightly eyes, we
| must have strong, sound ones, and avoid
all causes of harm. Never read, write
or work,with the light from in
front of the eyes. Artisans in jure their
sight past recovery by working at a
bench directly in front of a window,
when they should be placed with the
baekto.it. The light in front falls into
i the eye, which contracts to lessen what
j it cannot bear, with the invariable re
j suit of weakened sight. Lamps, gas lets
and student lamps are often placed so
near the head as to heat the eyes iniuri
: ously. The simplest shade stops this by
making a current of air between itself
and the lamp. Heated rooms weaken
| the eyes; so do smill bonnets which do
not shad 3 the face; so does a glare of
light, or light that is too dim. In short
j the eyes need a great deal more care
than they get. 11l health of any
sort weakens them. Going with cold
feet causes more harm to the eyes than
anyone ever suspects, and many eases of
weak eyes are relieved at once by hot
foot baths and thick stockings. The
sight is often strengthened by applica
tions just above the eyebrows and on
the temple rather than the eyeball itself.
I like very much Dr. lirinton’s pre
scription for weak eyes where there is
no special disease. Steep a handful of
fresh red peppers or ginger roots in half
a pint of alcohol, and wet the temple
and brow above the eye witli this twice
daily, letting it dry. Very strengthen
ing is a lotion of a toaspoonful of table
salt dissolved in a tumoler of distilled
j water. A little of this is put in any
concave glass that will fit the eyeball,
: and the eye is opened in the water for a
•minute or two, three times a day. Drs.
Brinton and Naphcys say a tablespoonful
of rock-salt in a quart of water, dip
ping the face in and opening the eyes
in the water, which is a vigorous and
more convenient form of the same appli
cation. Probably the best eye-restorer
in nature is eight or nine hours of sleep
a night in a cool, dark room, the light
kept down by dark green shades at the
windows, two sets of them if needs be.
This is better thai* shading the eyes.
Plenty of sleep restores the liquid soft
ness of the eyes. Notice how large,
! dewy and lovely are a child’s eyes on
-waking from long slumber.
I It is no use a-king me for the secrets
of making the eyes bright. I know
them, but they are dangerous, and as
moderation in the use of any cosmetic is
unknown to women who adopt such
things they had better remain secret
Ihe only harmless things for the pur’.
pose are the juice of the herb euphrasv
or eyebright dropped in the eye, or •>
spoonlul of roast coffee chewed for the
juice alone. This brightens the eyes for
an evening, and is useful to keep watch
ers wide awake nights. But it must not
be used often or it affects the heart
Walking a mile briskly against the wind
is good exercise to darken and brighten
the eyes.
NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
Gold-wire jewelry is in high favor.
Dress skirts arc a trifle longer than last
season.
Dr. Talmadge says women should be
permitted to whistle.
Black is nsed to trim bonnets, cloaks
and dresses of any color.
Plaid stuffs are in high favor for the
popular Irish peasant cloaks.
. Florence Nightingale is a confirmed
invalid. iShe is sixty-nine.
Cincinnati has a woman’s press club,
a woman’s paper, and a woman’s suffrage
club. e
Francis Hodgson Burnett, the novel
ist, was born in Manchester England iu
184!).
Queen Christina of Spain has a mania
for being photographed with her chil
dren.
A prominent feature of the new bro
cades is the application of black on
color. ”
The rage for gold trimmings has ex
tended to morning caps and ne<dme
jackets.
A lady was recently clio-en to fill the
chair of Greek in a college at Fargo.
Dakota.
American women have been granted
patents at the rate of two a week so far
this year.
The redingote style is well adapted to
display the richness of the new brocades
and velvets.
Among the new grays are powder
gray and thunder cloud, dark, aud sea
-gull, orange gray, light.
Airs. Davis, widow of the late Justice
David Davis, has returned to h&r old
home in North Carolina.
“Labouchere says that “the American
girl has almost entirely cut out the
English girl in noble favor.”
Elderly ladies now choose plain or
striped cashmeres in black or dark col
ors for their everyday costumes.
In Cuba a woman never loses her
maiden name. After marriage she adds
her husband’s name to her own.
The newest English walking hat has a
straight, still brim, and lower, broader
crowns than those of last season. .
Airs. Mary E. Tyler, the original Mary
who had a litlle lamb, is now eighty
two aud lives at Somerville, Alass.
New camel’s hairs show shaded stripes
of dull red, green aud brown, or have
indistinct figures in Persian coloring.
Dressy corsages for very young ladles
are now laced or buttoned at the back,
the fronts being elaborately trimmed.
Gloves of white undressed kid are the
correct thing for brides, and they lit
smoother over the arm than those of last
year.
The new turban hats are much modi
fied in height, aud are shown iu various
styles, with crowns square, round or
conical.
Airs. Charles Alexander, daughter of
the late Air. Charles Crocker, is proba
bly the richest woman of her age jp
America.
Steel blue is a popular shade for cloth
costumes. This hue is much grayer,
however, than that known by the samp
title a year ago.
It is said that Airs. Hopkins-Searle has
bought fully $2.10,000 worth of paint-,
ings in Paris for her mansion at Great
BarriDgton, Alass.
Airs. Bridget Uooly is probably the
oldest woman in America. She was
born in Ireland in 1772, and has lived in
Wisconsin since 1577.
A very chic little toque for winter
wear is covered with green cloth, shirred
to the frame and embroidered in silk,
with a gailand of daisies.
New styles and patterns in furniture
are very beautiful and exhibit some very
quaint conceits likely to please women
who boast that they are artistic.
Queen Victoria said recently: “Every
movement which tends to raise the
position of women and extend the sphere
of their influence has my warm approval.’”
The fan which the Bonapartist ladies
gave to Princess Letitia as a wedding
gift cost $5500. Of this Detaille, who
painted it, received S4OOO, and the jew
eller SISOO.
A woman has been elected superinten
dent of Schools at. St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Her name is Miss Belle P. i-mqll, and
she is a graduate of the New Hampshire
Normal School, of Amherst.
The Women’s College, which has been
built in North Baltimore at a cost of
$120,000, will open next September with
one hundred students. There are two
buildings lor physical training.
A very stylish coat for a miss of four
teen or lift 1 en years is m the Directoire
styie, of heavy-faced cloth, with a deep,
round cape, and with wide, loose culls
of velvet, turning up almost to the el
bow*.
For the comfort of travelers, London
has devised bags for soiled lifien, either
of canvas with frame top and lock, or
else of red sail cloth closed by brass
eyelets, through w hich a bar of flexible
brass is run, and then" locked to form »
handle. «
The new tinted metal and solid silver
and gold thread and cord embroidery
bands that come for the ornamentation
of cloth, silk, velvet, and novelty woo.
gowns, will convert them into the
cheeriest toilets that we have had for
many seasons.
Large buttons that are works of art.
‘and, of course, very high priced, are
one of the features of th 6 new fall go"' 119 -
They are put on more for ornament than
use on the open front of the jacket bod
ices that are sewed on to the back an
side breadths of the skirts.
A lady who recently visited Mrs. Lll»
AVheeler Wilcox says that the poetess is
accustomed to plan her bills of faP#
week in advance, subject to such change t
as unforseen circumstances may cause.
Bho does all her marketing, and talce
great pride in her household duties.