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BEFORE THE FROST.
A little heaven below of bloom,
This garden spot of ours.
Its sweet-peas’ winged host; its pure,
White-robed alyssuin flowers;
Its shining host of marigolds,
Each one with gleaming crown;
Its purple cloud of heliotrope.
Sweet incense shedding down:
Bine, golden, crimson, not one hue
Of rainbow glory lost,
’Twas never half so fair before,
And now, to-night, the Frost!
How loath the winter was to go!
How laggard was the spring!
How slow the seed from out the ground
The first green leaf to bring!
How long the folded buds delayed
To show the hidden flowers!
We’ve watched it with what patient care,
This garden plot of ours!
And now, when al! this wealth of bloom
Repays the pains it cost —
(’Tis Life’s old story told again)—
To-night will come the Frost!
—-Marian Douglas, in Bazar.
DEE AND DEF
BY ALICE BROWN,
We were christened Beatrice and Dor
othy, but with what great aunt calls the
“horrible assertiveness of American chil
dren,” we hastened to rename ourselves
as soon as we could speak. Bee says
one of us ought tell the story of the
naughtiest time in our lives, or, as she
puts it, being fond of long words, “its
most ciitical period.” She adds that
my pen is as ready as her tongue, and
that where the one fails, the other shall
dictate. So let us begin.
One day, when we were about fourteen
—Be# and I aie twins—we had a partic
ularly hilarious time at school.
As our dear mother had died when wo
were babies, and papa was too much
occupied in poring over bugs and butter
flies to know what we were about, we
did dozens of things which other more
fortunate girls would never have dared
attempt.
Just at this time, we were quite wild
with a desire to be thought, young ladies;
go Bee, who is clever with
had pieced down our dresses, under the
overskirts, until they swept the floor.
We had “done” our hair high, and tied
on some old earrings, and when we ap
peared at school the girls, awed and
admiring, declared we looked “lovely—
and twenty-five at least.”
The teachers smiled in a way that
made me a trille uncomfortable, and at
recess 1 heard Miss Gaston say to Miss
Pray: “boor things! they certainly do
show the effect of their training- or
rather of the lack of it. hhall you speak
to them about this?”
“No. You have heard the rumors
about their father’s”—her voice fell, and
I lost the following word. “Emily is a
sweet little woman, and a very firm
one. 1 think they can safelv be left to
her.”
“Who is Emily?” I asked Bee, as we
walked home together, and I repeated
the conversation to her.
“Probably a governess, or a new
housekeeper,” returned Bee, who, like
Warren Hastings, had a “mind calm
amid difficulties.”
“Whoever it is, I shan’t mind her. O
Bee, there’s great-aunt’s carriage at the
door! How she will s:old about our
our dresses! Take off your earrings,and
put them in your pocket.”
We walked boldly into the parlor,
though our long dre-ses did twist most
provokingly about our ankles, uud to
my dismay, Bee relapsed into giggling
when 1 stepped on mine and plunged
forward, almost into the arms of great
aunt herself. There she sat, eye-glasses
In hand, in all her terrible dignity, and
there also sat a strange lady, petite .
flushed with youth and loveliness, and
charmingly diessed.
“Girls." said papa, coming forward
and hesitating, as if he wished the cere
mony were over, “this lady is your new
mamma 1 hope you will love her for
my sake.”
The stranger rose a id put out a hand
to ea h of us, while, by a common im
pulse,—it was always said at School that
the twins breathed in concert, —we
stiffened up so thsft she should not kiss
us, I think we all felt a little awkward,
hut great-aunt created a diversion.
“in the name of all that’s proper,
girls,” said she, putting her glass on her
nose, “what have you been doing to
your clothes? Henry, is it possible you
send those children to school tricked
out in that fashion?”
Papa iu turn held up lii3 glasses before
his dear, near-sighted eyes, and peered
forward to examine us.
“Why, aunt, what’s tire matter with
their clothes?” he asked. “They seem
to be clean—and whole.”
No one could help g ggling at such
delicious innocence of our deftnquerciea,
and as Bee and I yielded just for a
moment to !>■ fo i rive I cauglrt an
answering flash upon the face of our step
mother.
For an instant I came near liking her,
but the impulse was promptly quenched.
Had we nut always vowed we would not
tolerate such an interloper?
“Well, Henry,” said great aunt, “you
are about as tit to bring up children a
that sofa. I’m glad you have someone
to help you now. Children, be obedient;
Emily, be firm with them, ’ and she
took her majestic leave, while we two
clas) ed hands in a silent compact that
we would not obey, and that, the person
who aspired to be firm with us should
repent her ambition.
tt would be a long task to tell all we
did to make that sweet lady's life a bur
defi. To be sure, we weie not as heart
less as we seemed, for we could not
estimate then the greatness of the cross
we lmd put upon her.
We made a point of calling her “Step
mother.” except when papa was by. if
she offered to kiss u<, we gave a little
peck at her check, like vicious canaries.
If she took pains in selecting our rib
bon-, we locked coolly on those particu
lar colors; if she spent time and thought
on our dresses, we wore ihem w ithout
rewarding her with a word of apprecia
tion.
We lia V simply entered on a course of
what lice called ‘ anti-step mother,” and,
as great-aunt always said, we belonged
to an obstinate race. Our chief griev
ance lay in the fact that everybody per
sisted in consider ing us children, while
we thought ourselves young ladies. We
wanted to wear our mother’s jewels; we
loDged for party dresses with trains, and
all the nothings that accompany young
womanhood.
One day Bee came rushing into our
chamber with a newspaper. Her eyes
were bright and her cheeks scarlet.
“O Dee,’’she began, “,ust listen! I
found this among the ‘personals’:
“ ‘ A young man of high culture desires a
correspondence with a young lady of the
most elevated ideas, purely with a view to
intellectual development. Address E. R.,
Plainfield.’ ”
“Who is lie?” I asked, stupidly.
“Who is he? lie’s a Great Unknown 1
He's a poor fellow who is just, as bored
and unhappy as we are. We must an
swer it.”
I wish I could say I tried to dissuade
her, but the truth is that I seized upon
the idea as an excellent one. I had
heard of the vulgarity of “personals,”
but this was so elegantly worded! Bee
caught that thought, as it was passing
through iny mind.
“You see he's a real gentleman,” she
said wisely. “Nothing in it about ‘fun’
or ‘flirtation.’ All he wants is to be in
tellectual.”
“And we’ll answer it together, and
make up a name of our initials. B. D.
Bella 1 unn 1 But how shall we get
the letters
“Why, we can tell Kitty Fisher.”
(She was the postmaster’s daughter.)
“You know she often distributes the
mail.
So we concocted an answer, a very
short and dignified one. In reply came
a long epistle full of quotations fiom
Emerson, and confidences irom “E. 11.”
He was misunderstood by every one. he
said, and no one could guess his joy at
finding Miss Dunn willing to smooth his
dark pathway by pouring upon it a flood
of intellectual light. ,1 couldn’t help
thinking Miss Gaston would havf called
that a mixed metaphor. |
He could see from her note that she
was a person of the highest cultivation.
Would she kindly tell him, in her next,
if she enjoyed Milton, and what she
thought of Wordsworth, and who was
her iavorite novelist?
“He mast be lovely!” said Bee. “I
shouldn’t wonder if he turned out to be
a college professor. But, Dee, d<es he
get his captials right, and isn’t his
punctuation queer:”
“That makes no difference,” said I,
with dignity. “They say geniuses never
can spell, and certainly capitals and
punctuation marks are quite unim
portant — except to Miss Gaston. He
probably has a soul above such things.”
Time went on, and with it the corre
spondence. As spring approached we
began to think “F. R.” must be feeling
the effects of overwork—he had told us
that he was a brain-worker—for his let
ters grew more careless and less intel
lectual. He wanted to see Miss Dunn.
Wouldn’t she send him her photograph,
or just a bit of her hair? At this Bee
looked grave; harum-scarum as she was.
she still had a keen sense of personal
dignity.
. “I don’t believe I want to write any
more,” she said. “Perhaps he isn’t as
nice as we thought. Let’s drop it.”
As usual, I agreed, and we did drop
it; but we had yet to learn that a ball
once set rolling does not stop at the
word of the sender. We dropped the
correspondence, but “E. 11.” had no
thought of doing so.
First came a pleading note, begging
to know if “B. D.” were ill ; then an
other, almost harsh, asking if she meant
to throw him over. _ Presently arrived
one which made us look at each other
with frightened eyes, and wi-4?we never
had departed from the beaten ways of
decorum.
“I am coming to Colville to see you,”
it ran. “Of course, I know well enough
Bella Dunn isn’t your real Cnie, but l
shall find you out. If you want to make
things smooth, just write and tell me
where to meet you.”
Bee says when we read that we ought
to have fainted, for we certainly were
miserable enough. Desperate as we were,
there was still nothing for us to do but
wait, and so we went about the house
from day to day looking wretched, and
feeling—oh, I cannot tell how we felt!
Nobody but those who have li ed in
momentary fear of disgrace can even
imagine.
At length, when we had grown so
frightened that we trembled at the sound
o an unfamiliar step, mamma came into
our room one day, and seated herself,
looking very sweet and determined.
“Girls," she said, “won’t you tell me
all about it? What is the matter?”
“There isn’t—l began, and then I
couldn’t go on., YVe had been bad
enough, but neither Bee nor I had really
lied yet.
“j ear girls, you arc very unhappy,”
said she. “I’m sure an older person could
help you. Won’t you trust me?”
Then, with one accord, the twins be
gan to cry, and, also with one accord,
they plunged forward, buried their faces
in her lap, and kept on sobbing. I be
lieve there never were such tears.
Mamma has said since that her muslin
pverskirt was soaked with them, and
that the dress, as long as it lasted,
showed the effects of the shower.
When we could speak, she
! questioning us gently, at the same time
stroking the naughty heads in which the
mischief had been hatched. By degrees
she got the whole story from us, and
though sho did not utter one reproachful
word, we knew well enough what she
must think of us and what we had done.
No wonder we could not meet her eyes!
While we crouched there before her, a
knock came at the door, and in rushed
Kitty Fisher, our accomplice.
“,) girls. I’m so frightened!” she cried,
too much overcome to notice mamma.
“He’s here!” YVe sat up and stared at
her. YY’e even looked over her shoulder,
half expecting to hear him coming up
the stairs.
“Tell me al! about it, Kitty,” said
mamma, with decision. “I know the
w’hole story.”
“Yes, tell her 1” groaned Bee. “She
knows it all.”
“I was in the office,” began Kitty, her
eyes almst starting from her head, “and
a young man came up to the window,
and asked -who had called for Bella
Dunn’s letters. Papa said: ‘Nobody;
there wasn't any such name in town.’
Then the man asked a lot more questions,
and mailed another letter to her, and
said he meant to know who got it.
“As soon as papa had post marked it,
I took it and ran, and here it is. And
oh. papa ncver’U trust me again as long
as I live!” Then it was Kitty’s.turn to
burst into tears.
“YY T hat sort of a young man was he?”
asked mamma, “How did he look I”
“He looked —ho.rid!” said Kitty.
hesitating, as if the English language
I had not words enough to describe him
adequately. “He had on a bright blue
| tie—and his hair was black with oil«-
and he wasn’t quite clean!”
Meanwhile mamma was quietly open
ing the letter.
“-Meet me at the upper end of the
Common at five o’clock to-morrow,” she
read, “or I’ll know the reason why.”
Then she considered, and we cried.
Finally she said, “I needn’t tell you
what I think of your conduct; you
probably estimate it correctly, now that
you see its results. But if lam to help
you out of vour trouble, you must do
exactly as I tell you. “Kitty, 1 shall see
your father, and explain your s deof the
affair: being a cat’s-paw, you’re not quite
as bad as Ihe others. Now don't leave
this room till I cofce back.”
“Oh, the miserable uiteruoon we spent
there 1
But at six in came mamma, flushed but
smiling.
“There, girls,” she said, “he‘s going
on the 80 train, and I don’t believe
he’ll come back.”
“Oh, what did you do?” we cried.
“Well, I went first to Kitty s father,
| to tell him she had been foolish but not
j wicked, and he quite agreed with me that,
I if you three girls value your good name,
| the story must never be talked about.
The young man was still lingering in the
post-oflice, no doubt watching to hear
his letter called for, and I invited him
to get into the carriage, and drive home
with me.”
“Oh!” we cried, still in fear and hor
ror: but mamma smiled.
'“He was very embarrassed, but I suc
ceeded in persuading him to make me a
call. We had some cake and lemonade,
and after a long talk, chiefly on my side,
he agreed with me that he was never.to
trouble you again.”
“But how did yon persuade him?’*
asked Bee.
“1 1e! t it to his honor as agentleman,”
said mamma, sweetly; and looking into
her sincere and lovely face, I realized
that it must be indeed a hard heart
which cculd withstand her. “Hun
home and confess, Kitty,” she added.
“Your father is all ready to forgive
you.”
Next day came our letters, addressed,
without a word, to Bella Dunn. Evi
dently he intended to make us as com
fortable as possible by assuming that he
didn’t know our real names. When they
lyid burned to ashes in the kitchen-stove,
Bee, followed by her double, marched
resolutely to her mamma’s room, and
spoke.
“Mamma,” said she, “we’re not going
to talk much about it, because we’re too
ashamed, but if we can show you how
much we love you”—and we put our
four arms around her, and inaugurated
that moment the system which made
papa say the other day, peering at us
quizzically: %
“Dear me 1 I never saw such a doting
pair as you have grown to be. Why,
you’re as much in.love with mamma as I
atn ”
“They’ve begun to show some proper
feeling,"put in great aunt, with dignity.
“No wonder they’re grateful to her foi
changing them from hoydens into young
ladies,”— Youth's Companion.
The “Bogs of YY'ar.’’
M. Luce, a member of the French
Academic des Inscriptions, read, at the
last meeting of that body, a very curious
royal decree, dated January 28, 1475, in
which King Louis XI. gives some
orders about a number of dogs which
he wished to be provided for keeping
watch over the Abbey of Mont St.
Michel. M. Luce, premising that the
question is one of special interest juat
now, when are being made to
utilize dogs for military purposes, re
calls the fact that the early French
kings placed almost-unlimited confi
dence in the patronage of St. Michael,
and endowed the a.ibey dedicated to
him with a great many valuable lands
and privileges. He says that King Louis
XI. made two pilgrimages to the Mont
St. Michel, the first in 14G2 and the
second in 1478, and that during his
second visit he allowed himself to be
persuaded- by the commander of the
fortress that it would be very de
sirable to provide a number of watch
dogs. The King issued an edict that
a sum of twenty-four livres tournois
should be paid out of the revenues of*the
district of Avranchcs for the keep of
“these dogs, which are to be chained up
and kept under control by day, and
set loose by night about the said fort
ress, to protect and keep watch over it.”
M. Luce adds that “the keeping watch
over tho Mont St. Michel presented many
difficulties, and there can be no doubt
that if its defenders were able to pre
vent any surprise on the part of the
English for twenty-seven years, this was
in a great measure due to the sharp
look-out .kept by .these dogs.” He is
also of opinion that the breed of dogs
used for keeping watch over the Abbey
St. Michel is one which may still be
found in the neighboring district be
tween Avranchcs and St. Malo. —London
Times.
His Moustache Was His Fortune.
During the recent visit of the Vrince
of YYales to Hungary he was much struck
with the magnificent moustaches worn
by the coachmen of that country. One
man in particular roused the admiration
of his royal highness by the fierceness
and grace of his hirsute adornments.
The Prince engaged him. On reaching
Marlborough House the jehu saw that the
coachmen, footmen and, in fact, all the
servants wore faces devoid of hair. He
at once sought a barber and had his face
shaved clean. When the Prince saw
him again he was horrified. “I engaged
you for your moustache and for nothing
else,” said his highness. That evening
the Hungarian set out for his native
land.- Oraph 'e.
The Loan of Three Panthers.
Herr Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, the
leading German wild beast dealer, lately
received a letter from Rosa Bonheur, the
great animal painter, inquiring if she
could come to his menagerie and select a
couple of panthers which she was anxious
to paint from life. In reply the wild
beast dealer was gallant enough to say
that there was no need of Mme. Bonheur
exposing herself to a fatiguing journey,
but that he would instead send her, in
charge of a keeper, well packed and
secured, three fine panthers which she
could keep us long as she pleased and
return by the keeper when she had
quite done with them. Rosa Bonheur is
painting those panthers now.
I THE TOOTHSOME OYSTER.
SOME CURIOtTS LORE ABOUT ITS
CULTIVATION.
Decrease in the Yield of Natural
Beds Overcome hy Artificial Pro
duction Oysters as Food.
A reporter of the New Y r ork Press re
cently perused the last annual report of
Mr. Eugene G. Blackford of the oyster
investigation of the Empire State, and
gleaned some curious facts therefrom.
One of the subjects investigated was
the cause of the decrease in the supply
of oysters. There are two ‘reasons at
tributed therefor: first, the depiction
of the natural growth oyster beds from
overfishing, and second, the lack of a
thorough and scientific culture ol planted
beds. Some interesting data are tabu
lated as regards the first cause contrib
uted from European oyster beds. For
example, from the beds of the districts
of Rochefort, Marreuncs, and the island
of Oleron on the west coast of France
there were taken in the years 1858-54
1W,000,000 oysters and in 1854-5 15,-
000,000. By means of long continued
and exhaustive fishing they were rendered
so poor that in 18(58-4 only 400,000 oys
sters were furnished for the market. The
very celeb a ted rich oyster beds of the
Bay of Cancale, o:i the coast of Nor
mandy. produced in 1847. according to
the official reports, 71,000,000, which
gradually decreased until in 185!) only
0,009,000 were produced, and in 1860
only 1,000,000. English oyster beds re
veal the same astonishing decrease in the
supply. Prior to 1806, iOO men, work
ing 800 boats, were profitably employed
in oyster fishing in the neighborhood of
Falmouth, but since then the beds have
become so impoverished that in 1876
only about forty men, with less than
forty boats, could End employment, and
even with this greatly diminished num
ber of boats no single boat took daily
more than sixty to 100 oysters, while
previously in the same time a boat could
take from 10,000 to 12,0 0.
The French were foremost in experi
ments upon the production of oysters
artificially, and their expectations were
based upon theoritical calculations of
what could be done, knowing that a
good size spawner is capable of produc
ing 50,000,000 young. These experi
ments under the auspices of the French
Government, revolutioni ed the system
of oyster culture and brought about re
sults that increased the supply many
fold.- In the basin of the Arcaehon the
increase in ten years by means of arti
ficial production was astoundm. In
1871 the number of oysters imported
was 4,897,500, valued at 218,882 francs,
and in iB6O the number amounted to
and the value to 4,254,465
francs, an increase of 1187 per cent, in
ten years of the value of the oysters.
Ttie French method consists substan
tially in suspending tiles in the watei
during the spawning season. They
found that the young oysters ciung very
closely to these tiles; so they take the
trouble to coat each with plaster and
after the young oysters have set upon it,
take them up, separate the plaster from
them with knives and use the tiles again
the next spawning season. The plaster
holding the set is then planted and the
young oysters cultivated.
The American system, as in use in
Long Island Sound, is upon the same
principle, only we are more fortunate,
inasmuch as we do not have to resort to
so troublesome and expensive a method
of collecting the spat. Our refuse oyster
shells, deckers, cinders, etc., serve as
collectors and produce splendid results.
In fact, our favorable conditions on this
side have caused a deal of comment from
foreign authors, and our yield appears
to them to be something remarkable.
Very little is popularly known with
reference to the value of oysters as food.
Speaking roughly, a quart of oysters
contains on the average about the same
quantity of actual nutritive substance as
a quart of milk or a pound of very lean
beef, or a pound and a half of fresh cod
fish, or two thirds of a pound of bread.
But while the weight of actual nutri
ment in the different quantities of food
materials named is very nearly the same,!
the quality is widely different. That of
very lean meat or codfish consists mostly
of what are called in chemical language
protein compounds, or flesh formers, the
substances which make blood, muscle,
tendon, bone, brain and other nitrogen
ous tissues. That of the bread contains
but little of those and consists chiefly of
starch, with a little fat and other com
pounds which serve the body as fuel and
supply it with heat and muscular
power. The nutritive substance of
oysters contains considerable of both the
“flesh forming” and more especially the
heat and force giving ingredients.
Oysters come nearer to milk than almost
any other common food material as re
gards both the amounts and the relative
proportions of nutrients and the food
values of equal weights o' milk and
oysters; that is to say, their values for
supplying the body with material to
build up its parts, repair its wastes and
furnish it with heat and energy would be
pretty nearly the same. j
It is a common practice of oyster
dealers instead of selling the ojsters in
the condition in which they are taken
from the beds in salt water, to first
place them for a time, forty-eight hours,
more or less, in fresh or brackish water,
in order, as the oystermen say. to “fat
ten” them, the operation being called
“floating” or “laying out.” By tliis
process the body of the oyster acquires
such a plumpness and rotundity and its
bulk and weight are so increased as to
materially increase its selling value. The
most experienced oyster dealers say that
the time for allowing the salt oysters
taken from the sea coast to lie out
varies, but s seldom over two or three
days. At the end of this time the maxi
mum plumpness is attained, and beyond
this the oyster becomes lean agarn, be
sides having lost in flavor.
The Kicker and the Croaker.
The New Orleans Picayune attempts to
| draw a fine line between the kicker and
croaker as follows: The kicker is a de
| veloper; the croaker is an incubus. Th(
| kicker incites to improvement; ths
| croaker to indignation and resentment.
I The kicker only is heard when he is
given ?! accommodations at $8 rates;
| the croaker would be just at noisy if hi
was getting $8 accommodations and
paying nothing. The kicker is a lively,
jovial, progressive fellow; the croaker it
a dismal nuisance, who lags superfluous
I on the stage.
SELECT SIFTINGS.
I
A contract made with a lunatic U
roid.
The entire Hebrew Bible was printed
in 1488.
A steal rail with average wear lasts
about eighteen years.
The average school life of the woman
teacher in the West is about two years.
No article less than 1000 years old is
admitted to Japanese bric-a-brac shows.
Lord Bacon graduated at Cambridge
when sixteen, and was called to the bar
at, twenty-one.
Blankets are said to have been woven
by Thomas Blanket, of Bristol, England,
as early a 3 1840.
Gladstone wa3 in Parliament at
twenty-two, and at. twenty-four was
Lord of the Treasury.
A horned snake eighteen inches long,
with a horn one and a quarter inches,
was killed at Roekwood, Tenu.
Devizes Castle,one of the most unique
in England, representing an outlay of
nearly ssoo,ooo,has been sold for SBOO9.
At a country exhibition a small house
made entirely of boxes of honey has the
appropriate inscription of “Horn ', sweet
home.”
A general inundation by the failure of
the dikes in Holland occasioned a loss of
life, it is said,amounting to 400,000 per
sons in 1580.
A hawk carried off a bundle contain
ing thirty-two pounds of leathers from
the yard of a parson at Cartersville, Ga.,
the other day.
The nobility of England date their
creation from 1066, when William Fitz-
Osborne is said to have been made Eari
of Hereford by William I.
> it has been discovered and authorita
tively announced that the first man to
turn the handle of an organ was a na
tive of the province of Tende.
The water that goes to the ocean will
float back in clouds and fall in drops;
but the substance carried from the man
ure heap by the water will not come back.
A dweller in the county has observed
that a good file is now a part of the outfit
of the professional tram|i. He finds it
useful when there is a barbed wire fence
between him and something desirable.
A curiosity of patchwork recently re
ceived in Richmond Ya , from Norfolk,
is a mantel lambrequin made of sixty
six badges collected at the Gettysburg
reunion last July.
The Rev. John Carroll, of St. Mary’s
Church, Chicago, is ninety-one years
old, and is believed to be the oldest
priest in the country. He is of Irish
parentage and wa3 ordained in 1820.
It is a natural impossibility that two
varieties of potatoes planted together
can mix in the hill. Each kind will
always remain true to its own character,
unie-s changed by what is known as
sporting.
The quickest passage ever made from
land to land across the Atlantic was
made by the Allan steamer Parisian.
From Tory Island, off Moville, to Belle
Isle took four days seventeen hours and
ten minutes.
A Texas man was fired at and the
bullet was turned aside by a pack of
cards in his breast pocket. As it was a
new pack, with the ace outward, it can
be said that the ball came within an ace
of killing him.
In digging a well near Cherokee, Ga.,
the digger dropped on something about
thirty feet below the surface that is
white as chalk, free from grit and about
the consistency of dough. It is thought
to be a chewing gum vein.
Sunflowers are used in Wyoming Ter
ritory for fuel. The stalks when dry are
hard and make a hot fire, and the seed
heads with the seed in are said to burn
better than coal. An acre of sunflowers
is said to furnish fuel for one stove for a
winter.
A curious bird that looks like an owl,
but has the face of a monkey, was caught
near Richmond, Va., a few days ago.
Scientists have examined it, but no one |
appears to know to what species it be
longs. It will probably be sent to the
Smithsonian Institute at Washington.
Prairie-chickeus, like other natives of
the wilds, are opposed to civilization,
and are being pushed ba k toward the
frontier with the advance of the immi
grant. During the last ten years they
have been moving west so that they are
ao longer seen in Illinois, lowa and
Minnesota, and now flock in Western
Nebraska or Dakota.
Whistles Supplant the Engine Bells.
The South Carolina Railway Company
is gradually dispensing with bell and
cord on its passenger engines and
coaches, which custom has heretofore
been so long in existence. Instead of
the bell in the cab of the engine,
connected with the p issenger coaches,
serving as a means lor signaling the
engineer by the conductor, a whistle
is placed in the cab directly in front of
the engineer’s seat, and this is operated
on the same system that the air brakes
are controlled. Thu whistle is con
nected with the air reservoir, and when
the conductor desires to signal the en
gineer he simply presses a button, which
is connected by the air-pipes with the
whistle, and the signal is instantly
given. The button and the whistle are
very sensitive, so to speak, and the
slightest touch of the button will dis
charge the air into the whistle, instantly
giving the desired signal.
Major P. J. Cochran, the superintend
ent of the South Carolina Kailway shops,
kindly exhibited to a reporter for the
News the system now being used by the
“Old Reliable,” and also stated that four
engines on this railway had been sup
plied witli the new system, fast as
possible all the passenger engines of the
South Carolina Railway will be supplied
with the system, and it is likely that the
various railroad companies in the State
will follow suit and adopt this plan of
signals. The system is made by the
We-tinghouse Air Brake Company of
Pittsburg, Penn. Major Cochran is al
ways on the outlook for some new con
trivance for the rolling stock of the
South Carolina Railway, and he is to be
congratulated on the introduction of this
new and useful system on h s road.—
Charleston (S. C.) News.
A lady ot Wrightsville, Ga., put up a
lot of preserves and seasoned them w ith
what she supposed to be ginger. What
was her horror to find afterward that in
stead of ginger she had used sni’ f.
HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS.
Home Manufacture of ..Toilet Soap.
Lather together all the pieces of white
soap that you may have, castile, ivorv
and any other that are known to be good
Cut them into small pieces and dissolve
in boiling water in the proportion of a
teacup of water to half a cup 0 f
scraps. As soon as the scraps have
melted, and while the water is still hot
stir in ground oatmeal to make a stiff
batter. Grease some old cups and pou
enough of this mixture in each for a
small cake, and set it aside to harden
and dry. . You have now a very nice
soap that is excellent for daily use in the
nursery ; or the mixture may be made
just a little thinner and kept in a tin cun
to be brought out as soft, white soap at
tiie children’s baths. For the jovs and
girls’ tri-daily hand-scrubbing, stir the
batter very stiff with oatmeal bran or
wheat middlings, and mold into flat
cakes. These have a roughness that i«
necessary to remove ink stains, pitch
and the many defiling substances with
which every healthy boy and girl seem-’
to come in contact.
For fancy hand soap, melt alltogetliei
the pieces of any colored toilet soaps
provided, of course, that they are good]
and do not contain injurious materials:
stir in a few drops of perfumery and a
very little Indian meal. Pour this into
shallow dishes Gaaoy shaped it you wish),
and when partly cold stamp on a pattern
and mold the corners of the cake round,
or cut into shapes with a cake-cutter. ’
Ihe scraps of yellow soap may be put
into the soap-shaker—a wne receptacle
for holding soap that is to be shaken in
the dishwater, but for those who have
no such implement, this is the waj ot
disposing of them: Dissolve the pieces
as before, using hot water, and when the
mixture has partly cooled stir in a quan
tity ias much as it will take nicely) of
scouring sand*>r bath brick scraped fine;
pour into a wooden box and stir often
until cold. This is excellent for scour
ing tins and cleaning unpainted shelves
and floors, but will, of course, remove
the paint from woodwork. Ye low soap
may, like the white, be simple dissolved
and left to stiffen a little to be used as
soft soap.
Hints About Quilta.
In these days of art decoration and
superior needlework, patchwork is
looked upon with horror by a great many
peefyle, but not so by all, for at all vil
lage industrial exhibition, fancy bazaars
and charity sales this branch of handi
work is always- well displayed in many
forms and varieties. It is a source of
deep pleasure to many a sick person or
crippled child, and though the J adv
Bountiful may try to raise the standard
she cannot eradicate the much-ad mi red,
highly-prized patchwork. Since crazy
patchwork came to us, in all its wild
vagaries, from America, many have been
the imitations of it, and some have been
most ingenious. At a recent village show
of work, a child's eot quilt was sent in
for exhibition, composed of crazy patch
work on one side, with every single
ornamented with some device in
colored silks, while the other side was of
scraps of velvet of every imaginable
color, arranged in the diamond star
design. It was a wonderful specimen ,
of industry and perses erauce—Jhe
work of a young milliner in her spare
time. Another bed cover-lid, recently
seen in the room of a young girl,
was in crazy patchwork, but th t colors
were restricted to gold, white and cream.
All were worked with gold filoselle and
joined together with a leather stitching
of the same. The peculiarity consisted
in the pieces being all worked by herself
and her friends in half a yard square sec
tions. Several friends worked one sec
tion,inscribing their names on one scrap,
their favorite flower or some device on
others, adhering all the time to the gold
filoselle. Every section was neatly
joined, and when the quilt was complete
a band of gold-colored plush, about a
quarter of a yard wide, bordered it all
round. The lining was of gold-colored
sateen. 'I he e lect was extremely good
and the study of it most amusing. This
may be a hint to some patchwork. A ery
many years ago it was ihe custom for a
set of friends to work, in fine cioss
stiteh, squares of canvas, which were
afterward joined to form the border of a
cloak or velvet tablecloth, owned by one
of the number; and a bride used some
times to get her friends to do this as a ■
memento of the years of past friendship. I
Many old ladies have, doubtless, some I
relic of their youth in this style, so that ■
tLe idea is not a novel one, it is but—as ■
so many things are now—a revival-' ■
London Queen. I
Household Hints.'
* To remove white spots from furniture,
rub with spirits of camphor.
Clean oil cloths with milk and water:
a soap and brush will ruin them.
Tumblers that have had milk in them
should never be put into hot water.
Nice housekeepers dust with a damp-,
ened dust cloth, aud rinse it out after
each dusting.
Don’t allow your stairs or hallways to
be blocked up or used for “storage,” oi
rubbish, hay,'straw, etc., to accumulate
or remain op your premises.
Sunlight is one of the best disinfec
tants. ' '£he microbes that cause disease,
do not flourish in strong sunshine, u
also has the advantage of being cheap.
Mix a little carbonate of soda with the
water in which flowers are immersed,
and it will preserve them for a fort
night. Common saltpetre is also a very
good preservative.
Don’t allow- any oily waste or rage to
be thrown on the floor, but only to s
metal can with cover, aud have them
taken out of the building every night;
they are self-igniting.
When putting away the silver tea ot
colj'ee pot which is not used every (lay
lay a little stick across the top under the
cover. This will allow the fresh air to
get in, and prevent mustiness.
Don’t allow stoves or heaters on youi
premises which are not securely set oi
stone, cemented brick, or metal, and M
sure that all woodwork near the stoy«j
or pipes is carefully protected wit%
metal.
Professor A. J. Cook, of Michigan, is
reported as using only large, fine mar
to do farm work. He finds that h 1",
(rradc Pcrcherons are fine walkers, an ,
To break them it is only necessary
hitch them in at three years of age am- ■
go to working them. The fall colts ■
valuable and tun i>e raised at a protit. ■