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Dais Unity Ties.
TRENTON, GEORGIA.
Six State Legislatures are considering
bills that propose “restrictions” upon
the railroads.
American wna’ers captured only 108
of the big Osh last year, which was a
falling off of fifty percent.
Professor Graham Bell says that the
congenital deaf mutes of the country are
increasing at a greater rate than the gen
eral population.
The New York Jlerald and other lead
ing papers of the nation strongly favor
the project of a National Zoological Gar
den at Washington.
The Rev. Edward Everett Hale want!
the Government to penson all school
teachers who have faithfully served foi
fifty consecutive years.
The forty million hogs raised in thii
country are valued at $200,000,000. The
Mississippi Valley claims to have raised
three-fifths of the number.
John Bull’s navy is growing apace.
Six new monsters will shortly fly the
white ensign. Each of these vessels has
cost the British close upon $1,500,000.
There is a Mormon settlement in Min
nesota which is said to be steadily grow
ing. They have six missionaries at work
among the Scandinavian settlers of the
State.
The punishment for a person who
puiled the nose of a King 200 years ago
was to be boiled to death in oil, but in
these days the police court judge would
probably make it thirty days.
Cremation is slowly gaining in favoi
as a means of disposing of the dead, and
its use seems eminoutly proper, thinks
the New York Telegram , in the case ol
those dying of contagious diseases.
It is a popular sying that rich men’i
sons don’t amount to much. Of six
thousand rich men in New York who
have sons there are not twenty who are
not hard at work building themselves up.
American apples are sent to England,
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Aus
tralia, Asia, Africa, South America and
Mexico, and if the Eskimos want a few
barrels, boasts the Detroit Free Press, all
they have to do is to speak up.
The Helena (Montana) Live S'ock Jour
na' announces that one of the largest
sheep companies in the Territory has de
clared a dividend of twenty-nine pei
cent, for last year’s business. They say
this year they expect to increase it.
The courts of California have decided
that a Chinaman’s queue must not be cut
off when he is sent to prison; but they
are cut off just the same. No warden
will allow that a heathen pig tail is more
sacred than American unplaited hair.
It is a mistake, the Atlanta Constitu
tion informs us, to suppose the tern:
black man is offensivo in India. Tht
natives of that country pity the Eng
lish for having white faces, and formerly
painted their criminals white as a pun
ishment.
The Carthusian monks, by order of
the Pope, have refused a London offer of
• $15,000,000 for a monopoly of the man
ufacture and sale of the charttreuse
liquor. The monks for many years have
jealously g arded the secret of the man
ufacture of this noted liquor.
Say a the Chicago Times: “The elec
tion of William Saunders to the London
council by nearly the largest majority
obtained by any candidate is noteworthy.
He advocates the doctrine that all the
city and imperial expenses should be met
by a tax on land values only.”
A crying baby at New York saved the
lives of a houseful of people. The
bouse was on tire, and baby's eyes
smarted so from the smoke that she
raised yells which aroused the sleeping
family. This interesting incident puts
the squalling baby in a better light.
In a late case on trial in Chicago the
Judge said: “If I found a private de
tective following me I should do my best
to fix him so that he could never follow
any one else. There should be a law to
punish any one employing these ghouls,
who would swear a soul away for $20.”
The terrors of war constantly be
come more terrible, observes the
Washington Star. Extralite is the latest.
It is a new explosive that is as safe as
sugar to make, as sand to carry, and
does not explode from fire in the open
air, but only by percussion in a cart
ridge.
Bolivia and Paraguay are likely to
come to blows about a scientific fron
tier. Bolivia is land locked, and, as a
necessity of existence, demands a water
outlet on the Paraguay River. Paraguay
is in possession and resists such a de
mand. But for Brazil there would have
been war alreadj.
BYGONES!
Ye doubts and fears that once we knew,
Ye bitter words, of anger born;
Ye thoughts unkind and deeds untrue,
Ye foelines of mistrust and scorn;
Against your memory wo rebel,
We have outlived your foolish day;
No longer in our hearts you dwell—
Bygones! Bygones! pass away!
But oh, yo joyous smiles and tears,
Endearments fond and pleasures past,
Ye holies of life’s first budding years,
Ye loves that seemed too bright to last,
Ye charities and swords of peace,
Affection’s sunshine after rain;
Oh, never let your blessings cease-
Bygones! Bygones! come again!
—Charles Mackay.
LIBBY’S AMBITIONS.
BY HELEN FOKHEST GRAVES.
“Why, Libby, i 3 that you? Stop a
minute; I’m going your way, and I’ll
walk home with you.”
“I’m inahurry, Job!” stammered the
tall young girl whom Job Lindley had
addressed.
“But I won’t detain you a second!”
catching up the change and the parcel
from the counter of the little general
shop which served for grocery, dry
goods emporium, fiour-mill and postof
nce for the dwellers in Succothville.
“I’m ready now.”
Libby .Morse was a slender, bright
eyed girl of eighteen. Job Lindley was
the village druggist, a quick, keen-faced
young fellow, with a healthy giow on
his cheeks.
They walked briskly along over the
hard-frozen winter roads, in the gray
twilight.
“Were you getting anything at the
store?” -ob asked. “Have you any
bundles for me to carry?”
Libby laughed bitterly.
“I was asking for letters,” said she.
“There were none forme. I didn’t much
expect there would be. Luck don’t
come to me l”
“Luck;” Job looked at her in a per
plexed way. “I hope, Libby—l do
hope you haven’t been persuaded into
buying tickets in the Bree etown Lot
tery !”
“Nonsense ” retorted Libby.
“Your uncle gives you all the spend
ing money you want, don’t he?”
“lie gives me all I ask for,” Libby
answered—adding, within herself:
‘And little enougli that is!”
“You’re not discontented at living
with him?”
“Not especially.”
“Because, Libby, if you don’t like it
where you are ”
“Oh, Job, there comes Alice Mark
ham 1” hastily interrupted the girl. “I’ve
got a message for Alice. You’ll excuse
me, won’t you? Good-by!”
Job Lindley stood puzzled, in the
middle of the road, watching Libby’s
figure vanish against the yellow bar that
still marked the spot where the sun
had gone down, half an hour ago.
“It’s queer,” said he. “I’m hanged if
I understand it! Every time I get any
where near that subject she slips away
from me, exactly as if she understood
what 1 was going to say. It’s like try-(
ing to catch the waters of a running'
brook in cne s hand. To me there’s no
girl in all Succothville like Libby Morse,
and yet I can’t for the life of me tell
whether she cares for me of not 1”
In the meanwhile Libbie had joined
Alice Markham, the young district school
teacher, whose week it was in “boarding
around” to go to Mr. Morse’s.
“Oh, Alice,” said she, breathless with
the haste she had made, “I’ve had such
an escape 1”
“Child, what on earth do you mean?”
said Miss Markham, who, though she
was scarcely a month older than Libby
in actual time, had the dignity of at
least thirty summers.
Perhaps it was as much owing to the
responsibilities of her position as to
natural temperament, but .“till it was
there —the sober, charming sedateness of
a young queen.
“I think, Alice,” said Libby, in a
mysterious whisper, “that Job Lindley
wants to ask me to marry him. I’ve just
been walking w.th him.”
“Well—and if he does?”
“It's such nonsense,” said Libby,
Blightly accelerating her swift, elastic
pace.
“I don’t see that at all,” said composed
Alice. “Every girl is the better for a
good, sensible husband.”
“Fiddlesticks ” cried Libby. “As if
a girl with an ambition like me wanted
to be tied down to life in the back par
lor behind a druggist’s counter!”
“An ambitiqp.f” repeated Miss Mark
ham.
“Ah, I haven’t told you!” cried exult
ant Libby, dancing up and down until
her feet sounded like tiny castanets
against the frozen ground. “But I have
an ambition —two or three of them!
Shall I tell you what they are, Alice?”
“If you can leave off flitting along
like a will-o’-the-wisp, certanly,” said
Alice, twining one arm around i.ibby’s
slender young waist.
“Well, you see,” explained Libby, low
ering her voice to a confidential mystery,
although there were only the trost
brightened stars and the yellow rim of
light above the western woods to over
hear her communication, “Uncle
Thomas hasn’t been very successful with
his farm, of late, and as he has nine
children of his own, he naturally feels
as if I were a burden to him. And he
hints that I ought to be doing something
for myself. Now what can a girl do for
herself in Succothville but go out to
service, or enter the factory, or take in
plain sewing?”
“Not much else, I must confess,” said
Mias Markham.
“Well,” pursued Libby, “Idon’tfancy
any of these three roads to a livelihood.
So I’ve picked out three other paths for
myself. I’ve been studying up the
papers, Alice, and I’ve written a love
story, in competition for the hundred
dollar prize offered by the Titus.ield
Literary Clarion."
“Child, child!” cried Alice. “What
do you know about love?”
“As much as other girls, I fancy,”
said giddy Alice. “I’ve read about
Ophel a and Desdemona, and Lu -iade
Lammermoor, and all those classic hero
ines, and of course one depends a good
deal on one’s imagination. It wasn't a
bad story, I know. Well, that’s one
road. Aad I read, the statement of the
Woman’s Barter Establishment, in New
York—how they’ll pay you for good
cake or preserves, or anything of that
sort, less a trifling commission—so I sent
a box of plum jam to them, a box that
ought to net me ten dollars at least.”
“That’s Number Two,” smiled Alice.
“Excuse me for saying that I have more
faith in Number Two than in Number
One.”
“We shall see,” nodded Libby. “And
the third—”
“Yes,” encouraged Alice, “the
third—”
“I answered an advertisement for a
wife,” whispered Libby, hanging down
her pretty head. “Yes, Alice, I did.
You needn’t start back in that tragical
manner. Other girls do it. Why
shouldn’t I? Such a beautifully-worded
advertisement! A widower, all alone in
the world, sighing for sympathy and
love—a widower of means, Alice!”
“Libby, you have done wrong,” said
Alice, with a gravity that impressed her
youDg companion more than she would
have been willing to confess.
“Well, I’ve done it, and there’s an
end of the matter 1” said J.ibby, with a
rebellious shake of the head. “So
no use in lecturing me. Uncle Tom
shall find out that Em not entirely with
out resources! A hundred dollars for
the story ,besides all the fame it will
bring me, Alice), ten dollars from the
plum jam—and there, you see, is enough
to buy quite a neat little trousseau for
marrying the widower. People don’t
launch out with silk dresses and dozens
of underclothes as muen as they did;
and—”
“Libby,” urged Miss Markham, “are
you really in earnest:”
Libbie broke out into a little hysteri
cal laugh.
“Alice,” said she, “I’ve thought of
nothing else and dreamed of nothing
else for a week. And it’s strange—so
strange that I never have received an
answer to any of the three communica- ;
tions!”
Just then little Tommy, the youngest
hope of the house of Morse, came trot- j
ting across the sere meadow.
“Oh, look here, Lib!” said he. “The
storekeeper he’s found a lot o’ letters as
got hid away under the meal bags, where
they was sortin’ the mail on Thursday.
They calculate as Pete, the puppy, done
it—he’s chuck full of mischief and
tricks; and the storekeeper he give me a
lemon ball if I'd take these to you. I
was lickin’ the inside of the molasses
keg, with Johnny Piper and Sam Stokes,
under the counter—”
Libby grasped the letters, and even
by that imperfect light, Alice could see
the snow and crimson chasing each other
across her face.
They were already inside the little
gate, and Libby caught at her com-'
panion’s arm with nervous haste.
“Let us go up stairs to your room,
Alice,” she whispered. “There is al
ways such a swarm of children in the
keeping-room, and one never can have a
moment to oneself. Besides, there is
only that lamp in the house, and 1 can’t
read by candle-l’ght.”
Side by side, in the school-teacher’s
apartment, by the light of the flicker
ing, strong-scented kerosene lamp, Libby
and Alice opened the letters.
The first, whose envelope bore the
stamp of the Titusfield Literary
Ctarlom, was enough. The editor
regretted Morse's manuscript
fcad proved unsuited to his columns, but
■Uould retiim it to her address on the re
%gt.p»°lllicicnt postage stamps to de
cost of transportation by mail,
I*P, passioSßbly, tearing the letter
in and flinging its fragments on the
gvMid.
The second was an elegantly-written
note, on scented and monogranamed
paper, from the Secretary of the
Woman’s Barter Establishment, stating
that Miss Morse’s kind favor per the
Rackawaxcn Bailroad Express, had
been sampled, and had unfortunately
proved to be below the standard which
the establishment tiad ?et up. The box
awaited her orders, and Mrs. Geraldus
Geoffreys remained “hers truly,” etc.,
etc.
“It’s all nonsense!” cried breathless
Libby. “Standard of excellence, in
deed! It’s all favoritism. There’s a
ring—l know there isl The whole thing
ought to be exposed through the news
papers.”
The third letter was brief enough. It
was from a well known lawyer in New
York, stating to Miss Elizabeth Morse
that her communication, together with
numerous others, had been found aurong
the effects of a notorious swindler, who
had fled from justice about a week
previously. It was returned to her,
with a well-meant warning to avoid
such traps in the future. Most of his
dupes, it was stated, had inclo-ed money,
rings and photographs to him. but she
was fortunately among the exceptions.
Poor Libby! she burst into angry
tears, with her head on Alice’s shoulder.
“Oh, Alice,” she cried, “what a fool I
have been!”
And Miss Markham was endeavoring
to console her, when Tommy came clat
tering up sta : rs to shout at the keyhole
that “supper was ready, and murm had
been frying flapjacks, and there was
some real maple molasses on the table,
better than that on the inside of the keg
at BilliDgses’ store!”
Alice went down, the knew that it
would give mortal offense to Mrs. Morse’s
housewifely pride to negle t this s ira
mons; but Libby flung a hood over her
head, and rushed out into the cold night
air.
“I couldn’t speak to any one just
now,” she pleaded. “You’ll keep my
secret, Alice—won’t you?”
Just there at the gate stood Job hind
ley, a bla k shadow against the star
light.
“Libby!”
It was all that he said, but the one
word was so full of devotion, allegiance,
tender appreciation, that Libby stopped
involuntarily.
It was a healing balm to her hurt spirit
and wounded pride.
“I was coming to ask you to go to
Swope's Corners with me to-night,” said
he. “There’s to be a concert there, and
—But is anyth ng the matter, Libby?”
he asked, checking himself in mid-ex
planation.
“Yes, Job, I should like to go,” said
Libby. “It’s very good of you to ask
me.”
“But you’re in some sort of trouble,
Libby!” exclaimed Job. “Y T ou’vc been
crying? Has your uncle been cross to
you? Because, Libby, you needn’t stay
under his roof unless you choose. If
you'll come to me and be my wife,
Libby, there’s nothing you need ask for
ia vain. It may sound abrupt to you,
this love story of mine, but it’s been
trembling on my lips .every time I’ve
seen you for three months."
It was a strange, short wooing; but
when they came into the noisy, cheerful
house-room, Libby had promised to be
honest Job’s wife.
The failure of her fantastic ambitions
had luckily driven her into the sure
haveu of a good man’s love.
“I have got my own love story now.”
she said to Alice Markham. “Better
chan all the Desdemonas and Ophelias
that the editor of the Titusfield J.it
entry Clarim ever dreamed about. And
Job is worth forty sentimental widowers.
And as for the plum jam—we’ll let that
gol Mrs. Geraldus Geoffreys is welcome
to it for her afternoon teas!”
“And you are really happy at last?”
wistfully asked Miss Markham.
“Yes, dear Alice, I really am happy
at last,” said Libby.
And her radiant face bore witness to
her words. —Saturday Night.
The Australian Bush Cry in Loudon.
“Coo-e-e,” the opening word of the
lastest joint novel of Justin McCarthy
and Mrs. Campbell Eraed, was one of
the signal cries of the Australian blacks,
and it was speedily adopted by the in
vading whites. The final “e” is a very
high note, a sort of prolonged screech,
that resounds for miles through the
bush,and thus enables separated persons
to ascertain their relative positions.
There is a popular story in the colo
nies that two well-known and wealthy
Australian squatters on a visit to the
mother country lost themselves iu a Lon
don fog, and were only reunited after a
series of shrill and vigorous “coo-e's.”
Once, too, an audience in a London thea
tre was almost startled out of its wits by
this unearthly cry. It was uttered by a
festive Australian in the upper circle,
who recognized an old colonial acquain
tance in the pit, and wanted to attract
his attention. He succeeded in attract
ing the attention of the whole house.
On one other notable occasion was this
peculiar cry heard in London. A dar
ing bushranger named Henry Garrett,
who spent no less than fifty Christmas
days in jail, made his appearance one
morning in front of a bank in Ballarat
and coolly posted a notice on the door to
the effect that the piace would be closed
for an hour. Entering, he terrori ed
the officials with his revolver, and got
clear away with $30,000.
Some time afterward tiie authorities
received information that Garrett had
been seen in London. A colonial de
tective was immediately despatched to
London to capture Garrett, if possible,
and bring him back. One day he
thought he espied his man in the Strand,
but not being quite sure he hit upon a
bright expedient. He uttered a pierc
ing “Coo-e-e.” The ordinary frequent
ers of the btrand stood in fixed astonish
ment, but Garrett, acting on the spur of
the moment, and re ognizingthe familial
sound, hastened to the person who ut
tered it, and was promptly arrested. He
was brought bark to Australia and sen
tenced to ten years’ imprisonment. To
ward the close of his life Garrett wrote
and published his autobiography, under
the title of “Recollections of Convict
Life in Norfolk Island and Victoria.”—
Pall Malt Gazette ,
Some Mexican Traits.
The largest and handsomest park it
Mexico is the Alameda, says Richard
Weightman, in the New York Graphic.
More than half a mile long and nearly
half a mile wide, it embraces a much
greater area than is usually devoted to
public purposes in the heart of o
populous city. There are numerous
broad walks and fountains, though it is
perhaps more densely wooded than any
of our parks are. The eucalyptus grows
here to enormous height, and hundreds
of specimens of tropical vegetation are
scattered out with lavish profusion.
This is the great mid-day resort on Sun
day.
Perhaps there is no moie character
istic phase of Mexican life than the
universal interest taken in lottery gamb
ling and the solemn recognition
accorded it by the Government. There
are no laws more careful and precise and
elaborate than those relating to this sub
ject. They provide for every detail in
the transaction,from the time the tickets
are put on sale down to the drawing and
paying of the prizes. Before a ticket
can be sold a sum of money sufficient to
pay all the prizes included in the s heme
of that drawing must be deposited in a
bank or in the National Treasury, sub
ject to the control of a Governmenl
officer. These prizes must amount to
sixty-two per cent, of the whole fund to
be derived from the sale of tickets, sup
posing them all sold. Then only eighty
thousand tickets can be issued. And,
finally, the drawings are conducted by
Government officials, under circum
stances of absolute public.ty.”
Au Ancient Bill of Funeral Ext
At the 250th anniversary of the Con
necticut Constitution the other evening,
at Hartford, one of tliespeakers read the
items of the funeral expenses of an old
colonial citizen who died by drowning.
Here they are:
June 8, 1078- —An account of what was ex
pended on Mr. David Porter for his taking
up and burial:
By a pint of lyqr. to those that
dived for him £00.01.00
By a qrt of lyqr. to those that
brought him borne 00.02.0 C
By 2 qrts. of wine and gall, of sdyr.
to ye jury of inquest 00.05.04
By 8 galls, and 8 qrts. wine for the
funeral, cost 01.15.00
By a barrell of sydr. for do., cost. 00. i6.OC
By a coffin, cost 00.12.0 C
By a winding sheeta, cost 0!'. 18.0 C
By to pay for the grave, etc 00.05.0 C
Krupp’s Great Gun Works.
An interesting work has just appeared
m Germany about Herr Allred Krupp
and his foundry at Eissen. It 3hows
how slow and difficult were the begin
nings of this establishment, which goes
back as far as 1811, and which merely
vegetated till 1851. In 1883 only nine
workmen were employed in the factory;
in 184*, seventy-two.
To-day Herr Ktupp has under his em
ploy 20,060 workmen, 13,720 of whom
are employed in the foundry at Eissen.
Counting the families of these work
men, 73,700 persons live from the work
of the establishment, and of this num
ber 24,1.3 occupy the dwellings belong
ing to the foundry, borne 2735 tons cfl
coal are burned daily, and the eleven
high furnaces produce 000 tons of can
iron daily.— Commercial Advertiser .
i
WIRE TROUBLE HUNTERS.
FINDING AND FIXING BREAKS IN
TELEGRAPH LINE 3.
Three Classes of Difficulties —The
Lineman’s Dangerous Occupa.
tion—What a Pole Climber Saw.
To a person not thoroughly versed in
matters pertaining to telegraphing the
line room on the seventhfloor of the West
ern Union Building on Broadway would
prove particularly interesting. It is
situated immediately beneath the switch
board, and has over five thousand wires
entering the different windows. This is
the linemen’s headquarters, and the
starting point of the “trouble hunters.”
“I am often asked what a ‘trouble
hunter’ is, and I will tell you,” said one
of the oldest hands to a Star reporter.
“We are notified by one of the operators
at the switchboard that circuit thirty
six, say, is dead, and the ‘trouble-hunter’
starts from this point and follows the
wire carefully to the spot where the
break is. There his responsibility ceases
and the repair gang take hold and reme
dy what defect they find. There are
three classes of difficulties we encounter.
They are designated as ‘open,’ ‘ground’
and ‘escape.’ An ‘open’ is a complete
break m the wire, which is easily
enough repaired when found.
“When a wire ‘grounds' it’s a different
thing. The earth, of course, is a re
pository for all elo trical fluids, and if
an exposed wire touches at any place it
naturally interferes with the circuit. A
green pole, when wet, is also an ex
cellent conductor, and lrequently*causes
us no end of trouble. A telegraph polo
should be thoroughly seasoned before
being put into use, but frequently a
green one is put up, and then after a
heavy shower the wrapper around the
wire may become worn, and, the line
coming in contact with the wood,
the electrical current instead of being
carried along on the circuit, runs into
the earth; and until the defect is
remedied the line is practically useless.
A green pole from a window, touching
an exposed wire, would not interfere
witithe working unle-.s the pole in some
way ran into the earth.
“An ‘escape’ is on the same principle
as a ‘ground.’ It generally occurs where
the insulation on a wire becomes worn
and part of the electrical fluid escapes
and part runs on the circuit.”
“What are the principal qualifications
to become a lineman?”
“A cool head. Anyone c uld perform
the mechanical part of the work af er a
little experience, but to do it at an eleva
tion of a couple of hundred feet on a
slim pole, when a fall means certain
death, is another thing. When a strong
wind is blowing it makes the task par
ticularly hard and dangerous. The spurs
we wear, attached to our boots, some
times give way; and then again the
wood is often rotten, and one misstep
means a fall. There’s a knack in climb
ing up a poll properly, but it’s not half
as bad as coming down. The sensation,
I can tell you, is very peculiar to a new
hand.”
According to the statement of half a
dozen linemen spoken to, some very
strange sights have been witnessed by
them while perched on a crossbar of a
pole. One of them in relating his ex
perience said he was working for a tele
phone company in Brooklyn and had
been sent to repair a wire on Clark street.
It was necessary for him to climb nearly
every pole in the street, and while ascend
ing one near the corner of Hicks street
he was enabled to look diagonally into
the windows of a house. The sight he
saw riveted his attention for a few mo
ments. There was an elderly gentle
man on the bed surrounded by members
of his family, and wa3 evidently dying.
The man gazed at the picture a moment
in surprise, and then proceeded with his
work and descended to the ground. The
house faced on Hicks street, and before
the door a small crowd had gathered,
and were discussing some news.
“Whose house is that?” he asked an
old gentleman who had come down the
steps. The gentleman looked at him in
surprise a moment.
“That is Henry Ward Beecher’s
house,” he replied, “and he has just
died.”
The Cabinet in Session.
The President presides, seated at the
head of along table, facing north; on
his right are seated the Secretary ol
State, the Secretary of War and Post
master-General; on his left are the Sec
retary of the Treasury, the Secretary of
the Navy and the Attorney-General;
and opposite to him, at the foot of the
table, is the chair of the Secretary of the
Interior. The private secretary occu
pies a seat at a small desk facing the
southern window and near the Presi
dent. This arrangement is not in accord
ance with the order of precedence ob
served by Congre-s in establishing the
Presidential succession. If the Attorney-
General and Secretary of the Navy
should change seats, bringing the former
fourth and the latter sixth—the rank
alternating across the table—the order
would be strictly correct.
The sessions of the Cabinet are in
lormal affairs. No persons except those
named are permitted to enter the room
during the councils.and no official record
of the proceedings is kept. The busi
ness done or discussed covers all leading
subjects belonging to the various
branches on which the President may de
sire information or advice—department
reports concerning special matters ol
importance, appointments to office, and
questions of general administrative
policy.— St. Nicholas.
Old Ocean Painted Red.
Those who go down to the sea in ships
frequently run up against strange and
uncanny experiences. Any one who
doubts this should read the log of the
bark Professor Mehu, which had been
ou a voyage from New Y’ork to Callao.
Her log was received by the Hydro
graphic office from Callao. Captain
•lensen has the following interesting
entry under date of January 17, 1888:
“We passed through a patch of water
of a dark-red color, of several miles in
extent. Hauled some on board in a
bucket and louud it to contain millions
of small red animals, about the size of a
flea, with a white spot in front, which
looked transparent. They had two long
feelers in front, and a long tail split in
the end and numerous feet like a lob
ster. The entire body had a slight re
semblance to that animal in miniature.”
■— Nsw York Times, :
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
Rails in use rust less quickly than rails
it rest.
Idaho is developing into the great lead
district of the country.
Electric push bells will replace the
old-time bell strap in train cars.
Rod furnaces are being successfully
heated with water gas in England.
A novel feature in a “sleeper” is an
incandescent burner in every section.
Boston electricians are opposed to the
use of electricity for executing criminals.
Sea water in calm weather begins to
freeze at some point beneath the sur
face.
Thirty-five flashes of lightning would
keep an incandescent, lamp burning an
hour.
Welding telegraph wires by elec
tricity bids fair to replace all other
methods.
The movement of glaciers in summer
is found to be four times that made in
the winter.
Scientific experiments are in progess
which seek to use tobacco smoke as a
disinfectant.
Electric lights are said to scare away
the wild geese that do so much mischief
for California farmers.
One ton of coal is capable of yielding
an amount of force equivalent to that of
six and two-thirds men.
The vegetable matter in the sea to the.
westward ot the Azores nas been found
to contain a large amount of fish and
other life sustaining substances.
It is said that a fatigued eye recovers
last the perception of the color by which
the fatigue has been induced, and first
recovers the sensitiveness of the com
plementary color.
As the results of recent experience in
Prussia with electric search lights on
shore, the Government authorities ex
press themselves as sufficiently sat sfied
to have them used for war purposes.
A mill for making boxes for fruit and
vegetables from shavings of sweet gum,
sycamore and other unmerchantable
woods has just been established on the
Congaree River, near Fort Motte, South
Carolina.
A Minneapolis printer, who is some
thing of an electrician, has devised a
process of matrix making bv electricity,
which is thought will do away with the
use of movable type and reduce the cost
of printing one-half.
Examinations in English schools go
toward proving that color blindness is
often declared to be present when really
no organic defect but only poor training
in the naming and distinction of colors
is found to be the trouble.
The microscopist of the Repayment
of Agriculture, Professor Thomas Tay
lor, has discovered that pepper is adul
terated often as much as fifty per cent,
with the seed or stone of the olive, which
are obtained in large quantities from the
olive oil factories.
It has lately been discovered by Dr.
Herold, of the Board of Health of New
ark, N. J., that many cases of lead poi
soning result from the use of bottled
soda-water, the stoppers of which
usually contain lead, which is dissolved
by the soda-water.
Gold pens arc slit by means of the
smallest circular saw in use. It is a disc
about the size of a live-cent piece, and
has the thickness of ordinary paper. Its
velocity tends to keep it rigid enough
for use. Four hundred revolutions a
minute is the ordinary rate of these di
minutive saws.
The raising fff 30 bushels of wheat to
the acre will remove from the land 31
pounds of nitrogen, 24 pounds of phos
phoric acid and 37 pouuds of potash.
This could be replaced by 00 pounds of
sulphate of ammonia, 171 pounds of
super-phosphate of line and iti pounds
of chloride of potash.
The following facts about the tongue
may interest some people. A white
tongue is said to denote febrile d'sturl
ance; a brown, moist tongue, indiges
tion; a brown, dry tongue, depression,
blood poisoning, typhoid fever; a red,
moist tongue, inflammatory fever; a red,
glazed tongue, general fever; loss of
digestion; a tremulous, moist and flappy
tongue, feebleness, nervousness.
Beautiful Lake Nicaragua.
Lake Nicaragua (whose name was
Cocibalca) is one of the most beautiful
as well as remarkable sheets of fresh
water in the known world. One hun
dred miles long, by from thirty to fifty
miles wide, its elevation above the
Pacific—from which it is separated only
by a low range of hills, which at one
point dwindle down to a height of
*8 feet above the lake itself—is about
100 feet. Its banks aie beautifully
wooded with some of the noblest trees
of the far-famed Nicaraguan forests,
and under them to Nicaragua city, winds
the Camino Rial, or King’s highway,
built by conquering Spaniards, in some
places running so dose to the shore that
passing travelers are sprinkled with
Bpray. For this inland sea has tides,
like those of the near-by ocean, and
especially when north winds sweep its
Burface, long, rolling billows of surf
break upon the shore with solemn
majesty. Wherever one stands on its
banks no land is visible from the farther
side and the prominent feature of the
landscape is that great volcano, Omot
peyre, a smooth, unbroken cone 0000
feet high, reminding one of Mount Etna,
since, like the pride of Sicily, it rises
from the water’s edge. The islands of
the lake are many, lying mostly in
groups, the loveliest of them being
Isola and Madeira, each crowned with
cloud-piercing mountains. Philadelphia
lieeord,
A House’s Great Record as a Sire.
The influence of one good sire is
icarcely estimable, but in the Live-Stock
Journal Almanack: for 188!) Mr. W.
Burdett-Couts, M. P., calculates that
the celebrated hackney stallion Trifht’s
Fireaway represents in his stock a money
value of £230,000. He is now rising
thirty years old and has been at the
itud for over twenty-five years. He-bas
iveraged over 100 foals a year, the last
prices cf which are given at £IOO each.
So great is his influence that his stock
tan be recognized at sight, and an in
itance is given of foals got by him out
5f a cart-mare which as five-year-old*
were sold by London dealers at 800 to
400 guineas the pair.