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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.