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£latic c tm!n =\cir| TRLNTCIT, GEORGIA. d '*” ' “ 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