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TRLNTCIT, GEORGIA.
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Of 184 persons in France claiming to
be over 100 years old, a committee threw
out 181 after investigation, and the
other three were considered doubtful.
An English medical journal has an
article in the last number favoring the
use of whales as food. It says that
they were once used and parts highly
esteemed in England. The tongue,
nerves and tail are particularly recom
mended.
From January to July, 1888, twenty
three letter carriers, five clerks, three
postmasters and three mail agents went
wrong and were arrested. In no caso
was the sum of money over $lOO, and in
some it was only $5. It is strange how
cheap some men hold themselves.
In thirteen years, or since 187 G, we
have exported from this country over
1,000,000,000 bushels of wheat aud 9
000,000 barrels of flour, the aggregate
value of the two being $1,797,207,867;
while for the preceding fifty-five years
we exported 515,177,05 S bushels wheat
and 118,935,000 barrels of flour, the
aggregate value being $1,412,000,000.
The “born” gentleman will have to
keep a sharp lookout that his title is not
taken away from him. Robert Louis
Stevenson, the writer, declares that the
most perfect gentlemen he ever saw was
a servant. In a recent article in the
North American lierieui General Sherman
corroborates Mr. Stevenson’s statement.
The “born” gentleman must assert him
self.
Mr. James Payn has mentioned the
work of self-denial by the soldiers of the
Salvation Army to secure funds for
mission work. A good deal has been
raised, but no self-denial will evoke a
quicker recognition, says the New York
Independent , than that by which one
ioldier saved one and sixpence for the
fund by going without gas when he had
a tooth extracted. He was in earnest.
At the great London Mission Con
ference it was said that all countries are
now practically open to missionaries,
with more or less of liberty to introduce
Christianity, except Thibet. This coun
try, with 10,000,000 of people, is
barred against entance; but the
British and Foreign Bible Society has
translated the Scriptures into Thibetan
language, and now has a warehouse filled
with Bibles printed in that tongue.
Just before the revolution in Hawaii,
last year, Akia, a Chinese merchant gave
King Kalakaua $71,000 as a bribe to se
cure a valuable license to import and
sell opium of the Sandwich Islands.
Kalakaua, after receiving the money,
Which was paid in coin, gave the opium
monopoly to another merchant. Akia
exposed this duplicity, and aided in
overturning the old Minister. lie has
aince died, and his Chinese executors
brought suit against the trustees of the
King’s estate to recover th s money.
The Supreme Court of the Sandwich
Islands gave judgment for the full
amount of the claim with interest.
According to the Atlanta Constitution ,
the pronunciation match promises to be
one of the diversions of the winter. It
is even more exciting than the spelling
match and rather more destructive to the
lines of combatants. A match held in a
city of learning was taken part in by
professors, students, teachers and
journalists, none of whom were able
to pronounce more than three words
correctly. The majority went down
with decided rapidity. It seemed that
the simplest words were the most diffi
cult to pronounce, and such words as
“gaseous,” “obsolete,” “luxury,” “lux
urious” and “allopathy” found ready
victims.
A writer in the British Medical Journa
leeks to explain the causes of longevity.
He points out that it ‘.‘is very desirable
to have what quietness is possible during
brain-work, and the necessity for proper
ventilation as a means of maintaining
mental energy is well known. It might
lessen brain-wear in many offices if elec
tric lighting was substituted for gas il
lumination. Good digestion is essential
to continued work with good lasting
power. Late rising and a hurried break
fast, * still more hurried luncheon and
rush back to work, followed, at the con
elusion of the day, by a heavy meal wheD
the man is wearied, often tend to ex
haustion, as much as the unavoidable
pressure of the business. A more ra
tional refreshment after heavy brain-work
is to partake of light refreshment and
then rest half aD hour before dinner;
thus the power of digestion and social
enjoyment are restored to the man. Prob
ably the chief means of preparing a man
to withstand the wear of business life is
by a caTefnl training, both physical and
mental, before he euters upon the strug
gle and wear of business. One means
of increasing the chances of longev ty is
by training the ch Id wisely. .Many a
premature breakdown of health is due to
that want of preliminary exercise, which
would not be neglected by the athlete
without disaster.”
TURKESTAN.
A VIEW OF A MTTLE-KNOWN
SECTION OF CENTRAL ASIA
Traits of the People Who Inhabit
This Vasr, Region—Patrimo
nial ‘‘Pickers’* —A Chief's
Queer Relaxation.
The famous Russian artist and traveler,
Va illi Verestcliagin, has been telling a
New York Herald representative some
thing about Turkestan in Central Asia,
a vast region concerning which little is
known. Said the artist:
“When you pass the Ural Mountains,
the frontier between Europe aud Asia,
you enter upon the steppes, which in the
spring are beautifully green, covered
with grass and flowers, and which in
autumn are made quite barren by the
sun. Further on begins the real desert,
moving sands, kept more or less together
by the ovily thing which grows in such
places, a running bush or tree called
saclvaul, which serves for burning (cook
ing and heating purposes) as well as to
keep the sands in their places.
“The steppes during the spring' are
covered with the tsnts of the Kirguis, a
very large collection of tribes occupying
the whole of Central Asia. The Kirguis
are a mixture of the Mongol and Turks
and number a few millions. They are a
very good hearted people and are .Mo
hammedans, but not very fanatic. The
position of the women is not so bad as
the position of the women of the settled
population (meaning the tribes residing
permanently in the cities) of Central
Asia.
“Naturally, however/ their p /sition is
not to be compared to that of European
women. The Kirgui - woman is always
bought from her parents by her future
husband. As a rule the payments are
made in cattle, as money is scarce among
these people.
“ A charming and good natured girl
can be purchased for, say one hundred
horses, ten or twenty camels and a few
hundred sheep, in addition to a large
tent, some cloth and some money, if tlie
man has any. Once the price of the girl
is settled upon and one-half or one third
ot the amount is paid the future husband
can come to the tent of the girl’s father,
and is even allowed to remain there with
her in the absence of the girl’s parents,
but only for a short time.
“When the whole amount is paid the
husband can take his wife to his own
tent. There in that country, ns in Eu
rope. it is not wise to let the future hus
band take his wife without getting from
him all that he ha 3 promised to give for
her.
“I remember a charming young wo
man who was bought by her husband for
150 horses. As the husband was very
old and she was the third wife, and
moreover as she bore ‘him no children,
she was beaten nearly every day and
finally came to me for consolation. I
have a sketch of her in one of my al
bums, and you will see that 6he is a most
beautiful woman. L nforjunately, I
could not change her position, and I fear
that if her husband is not dead she is
•till beaten every day.
“Quite uaturally, the Kirguis remain
on their camping grounds so long as
there is grass for their cattle ; then they
strike their tents, and as the summer
becomes hotter they go higher and higher
up the mountains, so that in Kily, for
instance, they pitch their tents imme
diately under the snow line. Afterward
they begin to descend, and the winter
time, the most miserable period of their
yearly existence, they pass on tIH plains.
It was while I was among the Kirguis,
by the way, that I tasted the best
koumiss.
“Some of the Kirguis arc very rich in
cattle. You can find proprietors of many
thousands of horses, out, strange to say,
they do not like to sell them, it is con
sidered a disgrace for a rich man to do
so. What does he do with his horses?
you may ask. Well, he sits down in the
shade of his lent and orders his servants
to catch and bring h in that black horse
with the white right forefoot.’
“When the chieftain has examined tho
black horse and noted his points aud
paces he may say:—
“ ‘Now let me see that chestnut with
the yellow mane.’
“And so on until he is tired each day
of his life. As the chfef examines the
animals ho is surrounded by his friends,
relatives and servants who criticise the
action of the horses. One claims that
the dam of such and such a horse was
far superior to her progeny. Another
claims that this or that animal’s legs aie
just as fine as its great-grandiather’s
(probably a famous horse), and so the
conversation drags along. This is a
chief’s daily relaxation.
“A peculiar characteristic of the
nomads is tout their children occupy
much more independent positions than
do the children of the tribes established
iu the cities, ior instance, a oy seven
or eight years of age is always on horse
back, aud continually helping his pa
rents in one way or another. You tan
see on 3 of the results of this in their
mutual relations. I have u ten heard
one of these mushrooms of eight or mne
years say from the back of his horse, ad
dressing his father:
“•‘Well! old lazy bones. What was
that you said? 1 think you have for
gotten how to mount a horse. Try to
ieain again beloie you attempt to teach
tne.’
“And I did rot hear any harsh rebuke,
only grumbling came from the lather.
‘•The Turkestan deserts are not par
ticularly attractive. There are no tents,
no water —no life of any des ription.
When I went to Turkestan for the first
time I found pheasants of the most beau
tiful kiuu on all sides. They never dis
turbed themselves at the onproach ol my
horse and contented themselves with
running from beneath his feet. In the
evening time I frequently met with wild
boars. i\ow as a rule, in the-e c ountries
where you find pheasants and wild boars
you also find tigers, which are in some
places, particularly a ongthe rivers, to be
iound in very great numbers—in much
greater numbers than they can be found
in India. But shoot ng tigers is very
difficult and dangerous work in Ontr.il
Asia, as there are no trees or elephant
from which you can get a shot at them
You must kill the tiger almost instantly
or he will kill you.
‘•When a tiger has been destroying
much cattle in a neighborhood the na
tives sometimes, but very seldom decide
to kill him. I was informed that near
one of the forts the Kirguis.to the num
ber of about twenty persons, once pur- ;
sued a tiger for many days and finally
succeeded in catching him asleep. One
ef the Kirguis sprang on the neck of the
animal and caught it firmly by the ears,
while the others killed it with swords and
other weapons of all sorts. Quite natur
ally, the tiger spoiled a number of men
during the fight, but the most interest
ing fact seems to have been, as my in
formant (who was one of the actors) told
me, that the Kirguis naively regretted
that the tiger’s skin was ruined during
the fray by the number of wounds in
flicted, and, consequently, the hunters
were unable to sell it.”
The Rattle of the Bees,
A gentleman writing to the London
News from Carlton, Worksop, Notts;
sends the following interesting account
of a fight between bees: “Those of your
readers who are bee-keepers will nat- j
urally understand and appreciate the j
many incidents of surpassing interest ;
appertaining to bees and bee-keep ng.
But doubtless there are many thousands !
of your ordinary readers who would bo
keenly interesred in watching the pro- ;
gress of a real bee-battle—an attack by
some, or all, the bees of one hive on the |
occupants of another hive, with tho
wicked intention of pilfering the honey j
which the industry of the hive attacked
has gathered. Hueh an attack actually !
took place yesterday in my garden, and
lor the space of quite an hour I had an
opportunity of observing the savageness
auu determination with which these in- ,
tensely interesting creatures fight. The
first intimation I had of the disturbance
was a very loud buzzing and humming
in the neighborhood of my smallest and
weakest hive. On going near the hive
I at once saw what was the real state of
affairs. A detachment of bees from a
neighbor’s hive were storming my own
with very great determination. Some
were fighting in the s.ir, and others were
endeavoring to effect an entrance into the
hive itself, but, so far as I could judge,
were beigg gal’antly repulsed. Mean
while, I had thought of a plan to render
the position of the defenders more
se ure. At the entrance to the hive I
placed a piece of perforated zinc with
holes sufficiently to admit of only one
bee at a time to pass through. This
doubtless relieved them, and those that
had effected an entrance would have the
warmest possible time of it. But rein
forcements were continually arriving for
the attacking army, and the position of
my bees outside the hive was becoming
more and more desperate. Eventually
they were all killed or driven away, but
very many were dead or dying on the
ground. Many of the enemy of course
were among the number, aud the re
mainder took to their wings and dis
appeared. On going to the hive this
morning I counted twenty-four <lead
bees carried out by the survivors. These
were either ray own bees who had died
of their wounds, or, whicli is very prob
able, they were those of the enemy who
had gained an entrance. Some time
must elapse before they will settle down
to work again, for they are greatly ex
cited, and do not leave the immediate
vicinity ot the hive. Doubtless these
splendid creatures are apprehensive of
another attack on their storehouse, aud
act accordingly.”
The Fate of Humanity.
There are 3064 languages in the world,
and its inhabitants profess more than
1000 religions.
The number of men is about equal to
the number of women. The average
liie is about* thirty-three years. One
quarter die previous to the age of seven
teen. To every 1000 persous only one
reaches 100 of life. To every 100
only six reachwhe age of sixty-five, and
not more than one in 500 lives to eighty
years of age.
There aie on the earth 1,000,000,000
inhabitants; of these 33,033,033 die
every year; 91,824 everyday, 3730 every
hour, and 60 every minute, or 1 every
second.
The married are longer lived than the
single and, above all, tbose who observe
a sober aud industrious conduct. Tall
men live longer than short ones. Women
have more chances of life in their favor
previous to fifty years of age than men
have, but fewer afterward.
The number of marriages is in the pro
portion of 75 to every 10u0 individuals.
Marriages are mo e frequent after equi
noxes—that is, during the months of
June and December.
Those born in the spring are generally
of a more robust constitution than others.
Births are more frequent by night than
by day, also deaths.
The number of men capable of bear
ing arms is calculated at oue-fourth of
the population. —New York Journal.
“Mistakes,” aud ‘‘Errors.”
It has been generally supposed by
those who believed they knew that the
word “error” aud “mi-take* meant the
same thing. A reporter chanced to
overhear a discussion of the subject in a
street car, in which a civil engineer
made the matter as clear as mud. He
claimed theie was a difference between
an error and a mistake, and he illustrates
it in this way: “If a surveyor’s instru
ment is at fault and he records what it
registers, as it is registered by the in
strument, that is au error; hut if he re
cords it differently from what the in
strument registers, that is a mistake.”
This means if the instrument maxes a
mistake that is an error, but if the man
makes an error that is a mistake. Here
is food for reflection for dictionary
makers. The subject is susceptible of
many illustrations: For instance, if
your watch is stopped and you wish to
set it at 12 o'clock and set it five minutes
after 12, it is an error, but if you set it
live minutes after 1, that is a mistake.
In the light of this discove y there are
st 11 people who declare there is nothing
new under the sun — hagmatc {Mich.
Courier i
A Vigorous Old Man.
Joseph Field is an extensive and
wealthy old farmer in Middletown town
ship, a. J., and is 97 years of age. He
did not marry until he was 70 years old.
t'e is a widower and has three children,
the youngest an accomplished young lady
of 1 . His barn was destroyed by tire
several months ago, and now he is re
placing it with a very large structure.
It is built by day's work, and Mr. Field,
besides attending to every deta 1 as the
building progresses, work* hard every
day. — AVw Hun.
A watch chain is no nacre a sign of a
watch than a pair of cuffs is of n
shirt. — Jew tier*' Weekly.
Fighting Fire in North Texas.
Who first invented this novel method
of extinguishing a grass tire on the plains
fame has not heralded. Old Texans de
clare that when Indians killed buffalo in
quantity and feasted their fires some
times spread, and a freshly skinned buf
falo hide was used by the squaws to
smother the flames. Cow-boys (the Texan
ones) claim tlie patent for ibis novei
method of extinguishing flies. The
buffalo bunch or mesquit grass in certain
seasons rather smolders than'blazes, but
when the dry spell is continuous the
herbage becomes as inflammable as
timber. To lose the naturally cured
grass is to weaken the cattle, and lank
stock, docs not winter well. The fire
starts, and the cow-boy, ever on the alert,
sees it. A cigarette has been dropped or
a spark from a fire has done the business.
It is not a section of country abounding
with water, hose or steam lire engines.
The apparatus for extinguishing the fire
is peculiar and near at hand. Crack! goes
a cow-boy’s revolver, and knowing exactly
how to shoot, a steer falls, with scarce a
struggle, and is dead. Instauf ly a half
dozen cow-boys gather around the dead
animal, and they proceeded to flay the
steer in the most expeditious manner. It
is not a skin for the tan-yard, to be nice
ly taken off, but there is left adhering
to the hide fully four inches of the meat.
It is a very heavy hide. Now tw r o cow
boys tie their “ropes” to the pendulous
shanks of the hide, take a twist of the
ropes around the horns of their saddles,
spring on their ponies, and plunging
spurs into their mounts, off they starQnt
a mad galop, dragging the hide over
the fire and putting it out. Other cow
boys trail along and extinguish what lit
tle fire is left.
It is severe work for the wiry little
horses that scour the plain. Just as
soon as the horses show of tire, the
riders jump off and mount fresh animals.
At breakneck speed many miles of fire
are followed. The plucky little beasts
are not spared, and what they may want
in bottom is made up iu gameness. A
“civilized” American Eastern horse
could not do such work, for never could
he be made to face the burning prairie.
— Harper's Weekly.
The He sians in the Revolution.
The hiring of these troops was bitterly
condemned by Lord John Cavendish in
th 6 House of Commons, and by Lords
Camden and Shcilburne and the Duke
of Richmond in the House of Lords;
and Chatham’s indignant invectives at a
somewhat later date are familiar to every
one. It is proper, however, that in such
an affair as this we should take care to
affix our blame in the right place. The
King might well argue that in carrying
on a war for what the majority of Par
liament regarded as a righteous object,
it was no worse for hi nr to hire men
than to buy cannon and ships. The
German troops, on their part, might
justly complain of Lord Camden for
stigmatizing them as “mercenaries,” in
asmuch as they did not come to Amer
ica for pay, but because there was no
help for it. It was indeed with a heavy
heart, that these honest men took up
their arms to go beyond sea and fight
for a cause in which they felt no sort of
interest, and great was the mourning
over their departure. The persons who
really deserved to bear the odium of this
transaction were the mercenary princes
who thus shamelessly sold their subjects
into slavery. It was a striking instance
of the demoralization which had been
wrought among the petty courts of Ger
many in the last days of the old Empire,
and among the German people it excited
profound indignation. The popular
feeling was well expressed by Schiller,
in his “Cabale und Liebe.” Frederick
the great, in a letter to Voltaire, de
clared himself beyond measure disgusted,
and by way of publicly expressing his
contempt for the transaction he gave
orders to his custom house officers that
upon all such of these soldiers as should
pass through Prussian territory a toil
should be levied, as upon ‘.‘cattle ex
ported for foreign shambles.” —Atlantic
Monthly.
—bh——— i ■
A. Wife's Thoughtfulness.
Here is a pleasant recipe, which can
be commended to wives whose husbands
cross the sea without them, says a cor
respondent of the Pittsburgh Lispatch.
On the first night out, just a 3 my vis-a
vis at table was sitting down to dinner
in the beautiful saloon of the G’ity of
New York, a steward stepped up to him
and handed him a letter, saying; “With
the Captain’s compliments, sir.”
Every night this pe formaoce was re
peated. Sometimes the Captain himself
presented the letter. It was mysterious
and interesting. The gentleman who re
ceived the letter seemed to be greatly
astonished when it came to him on the
first occasion, but afteiward he merely
showed signs of enjoyment in reading
its contents. lie was a very delightful
man and a great favorite at our table,
but though everybody was dying to
know where the letters came from, no
body had enough impudence to ask
him.
But on the day before we reached
New York I happened to be standing oil
the companion way with this gentleman,
when the l aptain presented the letter,
and the former said, a- he tore open the
envelope: “ ueer idea of my wife, isn't
it. bhe sent the Captain several letters
addressed to me, and asked him to de
livetone tome every evening before din
ner. Bhe thought I wo Id be glad to
hear from her every day, and 1 tell you
it has been oue of the pleasantest events
of the voyage, this mail delivery in mid
ocean !”
Mechanical Wood Carving.
“Pretty nearly everything that can be
done in the fine arts can be imitated or
reproduced by mechanism nowadays,”
said a well known >ew York piciuie
f:ame maker the other day to a Mail mi /
K pr. erei orter, “and somcof the tricks
that aie employed in doing it, are won
deifully ingenious. !or instance, it
doesn’t look as if wood carvings could
be imitated very well by machinery, but
they ca i, and I don’t refer to the ordin
ary molding nr stamped work.
“It is stamping, of course, but an
elaborate kind. Vv r e take basswood,
which enn be compiessed enormously,
but which will assume its original size
afterwards if it is steamed: We stamp
tuis wood with dies and then plane off
the whole surface evenly, down to the
point of the deepest impression. Then
we steam the wood and all that has been
compressed swel s out again, and some
really beautiful effect* Are obtained in
this way.”
The Japanese Navy.
John and ( orneiius Collins were
stationed for fifteen years at the Govern
ment ship-building yards at Yokosuka,
in the Japanese marine service, as in
structors. John Collins was seen at the
Occidental Hotel by a Ban Francisco
G ronicle reporter, and gave some inter
esting information relative to the Japa
nese marine service.
“.My brother and I,” said he “v.cre
officers in the British Navy in 18??, w hen
tho Japanese Government, feeling the
need of a grad navy, applied to the
British Admiralty for instructors The
request was granted, and twenty-three
naval officers, including us, were sent to
Japan under a three years’ contract. At
the expiration of six years the instructors,
with the exception of ourselves aud one
other, returned to England. We re
ceived good pay and found comfortable
berths under Marine Minister General
Count Saigo, who is at the head of the
service. Before wc left, Emperor Mut
suhito conferred upon us the rare honor
of the decoration of the Rising Suu, au
order which is to the Japanese what the
Legion of Honor is to a Frenchman or
the Order of the Bath to an Englishman.”
Air. Collins said that the Japanese
Navy was well equipped, there being
twenty-nine vesse’s in the service, all but
nine of which are first class men-of-war
in every respect. Each vessel is provided
with the latest improved Krupp guns,
capable of penetrating even the most
formidable ironclad. When not in foreign
waters these vessels are stationed at Yo
kosuka, where the training school is
located. The army and navy are manned
by conscription, the term of service be
ing seven years. The course of training
is a copy of the British method, and a
the discipline is quite strict the average
Japanese man-of-war may be depended
on iu au emergency.
Blow in the Slot.
A quiet man with a very florid face
was in a crowd of hotel loungers up
towu the other night aud the discussion
turned upon “beating” the weighing
machines which respectfully request that
a nickel be put into the slot. One fel
low could beat it with a wire pushed in
until it touched the spring which puts
the weighing machinery at work and lets
the needle loose. Another made it work
by inserting a knife blade, and another
put in a tinfoil nickel nicely ad ustedas
to size and shape. The quiet young man
said soberly: “Why put iu anything?
Blow into the slot,” aud limping upon
the platform he fastened his mouth over
the siot, and, puffing out his cheeks,
threw a small cyclone into the works.
Sure enough, the old th ng worked
and the needle registered his weight as
150.
“Well, I declare,” said the man.
“I’ll be blowed,” said another, with a
view of proprieties.
“Try it,” said the young man; “it’s
easy.”
So they all tried it: puffed and blew
and distended their cheeks until every
one of them were tired; but it didn’t
work.
“Blow harder.”
They all blew until exhausted, and
still the needle never budged.
“ r i hat’s funny,” and the young man
stepped up, blew in the hole, aud it
again worked nicely.
“Why can’t we do it.”
“Oh, you forgot to put a nickel in yout
mouth first!”
The crowd fell down in tho effort to
reach the soda water stand first.— St.
Haul Pwnecr Pi ess.
A Pumpkin’s Wealth of Seeds.
There were 630 seeds in that pump
kin, at which everybody attending the
Chicago Exposition took a guess. Mr.
H. Me all, the exhibitor, opened the
big yellow rind at the Exposition. The
guessing at the number of seeds had
been exc ting, and when the count was
announced there was a perfect blockade
all around the exhibit. Mr. McCall
split the pumpkin, which had shrunken
nearly a third in size since it was first
subjected to speculation, and took out
the seeds. They were distributed in a
number of tin plates and carefully
counted and recounted. Then they
were checked over and 636 was an
nounced as the number contained iu the
pumpkin.
About 22,000 people, representing
nearly every country and province in
the civilized world, had entered their
names and guesses, but of all of them
only one guess was correct. Mrs.
Charles Bixby was the lucky guesser,and
the only one who lus ever in the three
years past guessed the number of seeds
exactly at trie tournament. A number
of people guessed 635 and 637, but Mrs.
Bixby alone guessed 636. She will con
sequently get the prize sewing machine
promised to the person guessing nearest
the number of seeds. The guesses were
wide enough to cover anything from a
seedless pumpkin to a freight car 10n,,) of
seeds. One man guessed 0 and another
.3,000,000. Cnicajo Miil.
Gold-Grabbing Machines.
Duff Brown, just in from Osceola,
Kev., tells of the wonderful doings down
there of a gold washer newly invented
by i os Angeles talent, says the Salt Lake
hentUc 'lrtbune. The machine works
by the dry process—the dryer the gra ei
the better it works. It does not weigh
over l it) pounds, costs and can put
through thirty tons of dirt every ien
hours. One man cau turn the wheel
easily, and for a country where it is dif
ficult and expensive to secure an abund
ance of water this is said to be the very
thing. The one at Osceola is panning
out in a way that is astonishing tne
miners. 'lhe machine separates and
collects the free gold irrespective of fine
ness or shape, from gravel, sand, loam
and other debris. It is operated by hand
or other power, and is said not to cheek
in the heat. r J he dirt, after being put
into it, ; asses through a hopper over a
set of rides, the bottom of which is
formed by a fine meshed brass wire
screen. The turning of a crank operates
a double pair of bellows beneath, which
forces a constant and strong blast of air
through the me-hes, blowing the dust
out, the heay goods falling to the bot
tom. It can be divided without diffi
culty to facilitate packing on burros.
The French never did well at transla
ting Shakespeare. l-.ven Voltaire did
not “catch on"’ to the meaning of tne
great dramatist. Shakespeare’s expres
sion : “I will carve myself a fortune with
my sword,” Voltaire rendered, “With
my sword I will make my fortune carv
ing meat.”
GARDENING.
ANCIENT AND MODERN FARMS
OF TOPIARY WORK
Odd Conceits of Floral Ornamenta
tion Anion" tlie Romans—Floral
Representations of Birds,
Beasts and Buildings.
Most of the famous conceits of garden
ers are very ancient; aud there can be no
doubt whatever that the western nations
learned topiary work from the Homans—
not directly, perhaps, but from the Latin
literature. That the Romans were very
fond of tilling their gardens with birds,
beasts and buildings iu yew, box and
juniper, and regarded the fashioning ol
these things as an art, is indicated by the
special name, topianus, which they gave
to the gardener who made such work
his especial business. Pliny speaks with
evident pleasure of the forms of animals
into which his box hedges had been
trimmed. “There is a parterre before
the house in which different figures are
dressed with box. Beyond is a grass
plot, a little raised; and beyond it the
box repre ents differents animals looking
at- each other.” The Romans were a vain
people, and their vanity sometimes took
the form of having the letters which
composed their name cut iu box along
side the alleys in their gardens. Accord
ing to Madame de Stael, the 1 oman
gardeners of her day still practised this
curious art; but there is very little
topiary work left now at Rome or e se
where. To cut a hedge of box or yew
into the semblance of a castle, a beast, a
giant, or a bird’s nest, and to keep it
tr,mated so that it never looked ragged
and always remained the same size, re
quired constant care, some amount of
taste, and the greatest nicety of hand and
eye. When these conditions were ful
filled, topiary work would last as long as
there was life in the evergreens; no short
span of time, for there are still some few
gardens in England containing examples
of this curious elaboration wh ch must
have been planted early in the seven
teenth century.
When topiary adornments became
fashionable in this country is very un
certain. It has frequently been stated
that William I I. brought them into
vogue; but we have seen that they were
familiar to Bacon, who wrote his essay
“Of Gardens” in 1625; aud there is little
doubt that they were to be found in gar
dens as early as the re gn of Henry \ ill.
From the time of Elizabeth until well
into the eighteenth century no gentle
man’s garden was complete without a
few figures cut in yew, box or holly.
Whence we obtained the fashion is by no
means clear; but it is Dot unlikely that
the diligent study of the classics which
obtained during the later Tudor sov
erigns may have suggested it. The
Elizabethans loved what they T
“conceits,” and the liking for topiary
work is assuredly a conceit if ever there
was one. Moreover, this kind of thing
—sombre and sometimes not undignified
—harmonized exceedingly well with the
stately Elizabethan country homes,
and the builders of those houses
knew it. Before the middle of the
eighteenth century the taste began to
wane , after a reign of nearly two hun
dred years. The topiary artist, not con
tent with clipping his hedges into the
semblance of ordinary and familiar
things, by degrees gave such a loose rein
to his imagination that his creations
were a laughing stock, and gardens,
from beng over elaborated, became mere
ragged wildernesses in which “sim
plicity” in its most forms
was supreme. Pope gives an example of
the lengths to which topiary work was
carried. “I know an eminent cook,” he
writes in one of his letters, “who beau
tified his country seat with a coronation
dinner in greens, where you see the
champion flourishing on horseback at one
end of the table, and the Quecen in per
petual youth at the other.” Borne one
else had Bt. George and the dragon cut
out in box. “Bt. George’s arm is not
quite long enough to strike the dragon,
but will be grown by neat April.”
Casaubon relates that in hin youth he
saw in'a garden near Paris a re, resenta
tion of the siege of Troy, with the at
tendant armies and their gmerals, all
fashioned in topiary work. A garden in
the neighborhood of Chartres, a Kerman
traveler records, was almost equally
elaborate, tiere was the Seven Wise
Men of Greece and the Labors of Her
cules, illustrated with Latin inscriptions,
all cut out of living verdure. In the
same garden were the Three Graces sur
rounded by the motto Gratia gratiam
parit, and the heathen deities banqueting
at a well-spread table. The Kerman
traveler was in raptures, aud tells how
impressed he was with the_ “ingenuity
and industry of man, to which nothing
forms an insuperable obstacle.”
\ ery few examples of this curious
taste now remain in English gaidens.
There are some at Haddon hall and at
Stonyhurst, and at the famous house of
1 evens hall, near Kendal, there is still
an exceedingly tine collection. Here are
trees cut like gigantic chessmen, aud all
manner of conceits in yew, holly, ai d
evergreens. Two of the principal figures
are a king with his crown on his head
and a queen “with her arms akim io.’
These works date back probably to the
early part of the seventeenth century.
It is greatly to be hoped that the new
specimens of the ingenuity of our an
cestors in this direction which stiii re
main here and there in country-house
gardens will not be destroyed. Some
e iterprisitig gardener may yet revive the
fashion, and a few models to copy from
would be invaluable. — St. James Gazette.
The World a Biggest Telescope.
Negotiations are going on between
the President of the Iniversity, o
Southern California aud Alva Clarse, ot
South Cambr dge. Mass., for the con
struction of a 42-inch lens, for the nig
gest telescope in the world, to oe erected
on one of the lofty mountains oi Los
Angeles. .
Clarke says he can make such a lens m
five years for *IOO,OOO. It will be eignt
inches larger than the Lick telescop ,
and will bring the moon within sixty
miles of the earth. ,
The university hopes to secure tne
operation of Harvard in
work. The university has a » *
landed endowment, and there M
local pride here to have the jarg _
telescope in the world.— New lark />«"•
The circulation of leading Paris paper*
has been prohibited in A/sace-Lorrai