Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

THE BIG Kill Pl’ FACTORY. LIFE IN the cheat iron and U STEEL WORKS at ESSEN. Nearly 12,000 Men Employed-How the Employes of This Gigantic Workshop Are Governed S'he stecl-casting works of Krupp at Vs« e r Germany, says a Philadelphia l\cm correspondent, cover an area of about 1000 acres Und in which -I,~H men are employed in the production of steel and also m the manufacture of ntless different articles, such as axles, wheels, etc., for locomotives and rail road carriages; rails, switches and sleep ers for railways, tramways aud mining railways: springs—spiral aud leaf—for locomotives and carriages; parts of all kinds of machinery used for any purpose; bridge material and rolis; material for large pumps as used in mines; all reejui site steel and' iron material for-the build ing of ships of all sizes, for war and commercial purposes; cannons of every caliber —the production of them having exceeded 20,000—and last, gun cart ridges, artillery wagons and shots. The gross production of iron and steel averages 230,000 tons per annum. For accommodations of traffic and shipping in the establishment are used 28 locomotives with 883 freight car- riages. About do miles of narrow and broad gauge railroad line is laid through, the establishment. One chemical labora tory, one photographic and one litho graphic studio, one printing office and a book-binding establishment are ak work for the sole use; of the firm. Telegraph and telephone < ommunioation goes all over the factory and an engine company with 08 firemen and 08 fire alarms is also there for the benefit of the establish ment. The entire establishment is surrounded by a high wall or a fence. There are only certain gates where the workmen are allowed to enter. Th sis done lor the purpose* of having them under thorough control. The relationship be tween the firm and the workman cannot be l etter illustrated than to compare it with a large family. Krupp and his officials assume the right to shape and regulate the entire doings and existence of their workmen, not only in the factory, but also at home, and this is Low it is done. At (» a. m. the men have to be at work. Every one is pro vided with a check, on which is his num ber. When he enters the gate where lie works he puts this number into a large box. Does he happen to be one or two minutes late, he has an hour deducted from his work. Is lie an hour late, he loses a quarter of a day, and so forth. Punctuality has to be observed and ex cuses are not accepted, except in un usual cases. The working hours are, on the average, thirteen a day, with a reduction lor dinner from 12 o’clock until I:3d o’clock. The men get paid by the day, or else they are engaged in piece work, but in either case the wages are about the same. A man who works by the piece cannot make as much as he wants to. You see, it seems to be the principle of the firm that no employe shall make any more wages than he wants in order to maintain himself and his family, if he has one. Therefore, the man does not get paid ac cording tp his ability, but more so accord ing to what he wants. It is hard to de termine «the wages of the employes on this account, in order to compare them with American Wages. Living is re markably cheap in Germany, and the diet is totally different from what it is in America. But I should judge, from dif ferent inquiries which I made ot a num ber of w'orkmen engaged at different places in Krupp’s establishment, that 70 cents a day is about the average pay of an employe at Krupp’s. At 7 imm. a great bell is tolled in the works, which can be heard for miles around, and then the workman goes home, and if you will follow me you will! see how the members of this large family are kept depending 0:1 their father, rlie mighty Krupp. A number of stores, are situated all around in the neighborhood, where the workman Can send his wife or his children to buy goods on a card. Beady money is not required of him. The clerk looks 'at the card, and puts the amount of the bill the purchaser’s name in a large bo*c, and the next pay-day the amount is taken o f the man’s wages, that settles it. • In these stores anything may be had for money—clothing, shoes, dry goods, millinery goods, housfe furniture, grocer ies, meat, etc. Now'then, the workman has come home, which is again in a house belong ing to Krupp, in the immediate vicinity of the works, where lias been erected a pretty little village. The street are wide and lined w r ith beautiful beeches on each side. The houses are each sur rounded by a large garden and eaoh is f6ur stories high. In every bouse dwell five families, each home being completely secluded’from all others. .The accom modations are perfect, all modem im provements of comfort are to be enjoyed, and, the people could not wish for any thing better. The rent is always de ducted from the husband’s wages on every pay-day, and the worry of an ap proaching rent-day never troubles him very much. A small strip of a garden, where a few vegetable’s may be raised, belongs to each home too, and the people do mot pay any extra for this. Every Wednesday and Saturday there is mar ket held in the colony where the house wives can go to get their provisions for the home. Such is the home of Krupp’s workmen, which, though it is enjoyed by him, belongs to the master and is pro vided for by him according to his idea and as he thinks proper. After supper the men light their long pipes and they go lorth to the saloon, to sit behind their beer and talk politics, play cards or amuse themselves other wise. Krupp knows this, and he has also provided for beer. There are eight large beer halls and a dancing and con cert hall, bowling alley, billiards, etc., where the men get the largest and best' glass of btier for the least money. .' Beside that, however, the colony has also several schools, where everything is taught except religion, but nevertheless Krupp does not object to religion, as he has also built a fine church at the place, and the clergyman is paid out of his private purse. However, the dominant power of this great machine of discipline does not end yet. W hen the workman is sick—aye, even when he is dead —the corporation of Krupp still ho ds out its iufiuences over him or his family. Every workman is compelled, as soon as he enters into tlieemploy of Krupp, to pay to a sick fund a small percentage of his wages. Out of this fund the physician will be paid when the laborer is sick, the chem ist gets the payment for the medicine, and the family of the sick father gets a small sum to pay the running expenses ot the house. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. A Pcrlin scientist says salt is con ducive to longevity. In Peru there is a station on the Andes 14,G0G feet above the sea. Brass solder may be made by using twelve parts of brass, six parts of zinc, and one part of tin. Antipyrine in doses of one to tljreje grains is recommended by Sonnottbsrgei' as a remedy for whooping cm*gh • A g.as stove has been invented in rival the bookcase folding bed. It is con cealed in a handsome colonial clock case. Lithium is the lightest metal known and-is worth $l(j0 per ounce. Gallium is the costliest metal known and is worth $3250 per ounce. It is asserted that, under certain con ditions, the bark of the quilla tree of Chili possesses cleansing properties supe rior to those of the best soap. Wonders are being continually ac complished by electricity. A t rench electrician thinks he will soon be able to produce a thunder storm at wilt A .’befi'yspondent *of "'the Liverpool il.rc' Tj says that he heard some cornet playing from a 'phonograph which- had been repeated more than a thousand times, and ail the notes were as clear and distinct as ever. A new carpenter rule has been in vented by a Boston mechanic. It is of novel construction, and aside from its uses as a rule makes a very handy bevel or square, in which legs may be adjust ably clamped in any desired position. The tax collectors’ receipts of the ancient Egyptians were inscribed on pieces of broken crockery. Some of them, from the British museum collec tion, have been translated, and show the tax in Egypt under the* early Casars. A new chain wrench for plumbers is especially adapted for use in connection with pipes, and is so constructed that the pipe may be turned from right to left, or vice versa, without removing the wrench, while >t permits of tightening the chain less than the length of a link. The French in Cayenne are T«aid to hold in great efread the Lueilia horn inivorax, or man-eating fly. This in sect lays its egg 3 in the mouth or nos trils of sleeping, and especially of drunken, individuals, and the liatched out have usually produce a horrible death. The Colt arms factory at Hartford, Conn., will soon begin the manufacture of the 5010 navy revolvers for the United States Government. The new piece is a five-shooter of thirty-eight calibre. Besides being self cocking, all the cartridges may be instantly removed by a pressure of the thumb. Blacksmiths, who sometimes get hold of fractious horses, will appreciate the device cf a Sidney (Ohioi man. The invention is a horseshoeing rack, and consists of a pen, readily adjustable to the size of any animal, and in which a horse can be securely fastened, the rack being made so that ijt can be readily taken down and moved out of the way. Frtnch chemists now obtain from the essence of birch bark, by rectification, an essential oil which possesses among other proprieties that of being fatal to insect life, and an electrically insulating tarry substance; and these two products are so treated and combined with other substances as to produce an anti-oxidiz ing compound and an insulating material capable of the same applications as ebonite. By means of recent improvements made in the manufacture of , rifles as many as 120 barrels can now be rolled in an hour by one machine. They are straightened cold and bored with corre sponding speed, and even the rifling is done automatically, so that one man tending six machines can turn ou,t sixty or seventy barrels per day. With the old rifling machine twenty barrels was about the limit of a day’s work, but the improved machines attend to everything after being once started, and, when the rifling is completed, ring a bell to call the attention of the workman. Star Fish and Oysters. The Providence Journal, states that an exhaustive study is being made of the star fish and its habits, and there is no better place for observation than Nara gansett Bay. It is a singular fact that the star fish is but little known south of Barnegat, and Chesapeake and other southern oystermen suffer but little from it. Oyster growers here never knew how much they lost by the ravages of the star fish until the season after the 1886 freshe't. Fresh water kills the fish, and they were about all destroyed and the beds cleared of them at that time. The succeeding season the yield was enor mous. One giower states that the de struction of the fish that season made a difference oi S2OOO to him alone. They have made their appearance again, how ever, and th s same dealer estimates his loss this season at SIOOO. It is doubtful if any means wi 11 be discovered tor their abolition other than destroying them when caught instead of throwing them back overboard, as is customary among many. An Inquiry as to Our Flag. Which is the correct form: “Stars and stripes” or “ttripes and stars?” Logically, “stripes and stars” is the corieet form; the act of Congress of April 4, 1818, by which our present flag is autnorized, dec’ares ting of the l n ted States be thirflßLbomoutal stripes, alternate red amWfTiite, that the Union be twenty stars, white on a blue field; and that, on the admission of a new State into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag.” From this it. is evident that the stripes are the more important, and that therefore they should precede. But custom has ordained that the stars shall precede the stripes; and as neither name is official for the flag it doesn’t make a bit of difference. —N u> York Sun. The Prince of Wales lias purebred his eightieth uniform. STRANGE SHIPS. A NOVEL EXHIBITION IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. Queer Boats From All Parts of the World—Secrets of Naviga tion Known By Rude Savages. There is a department in the National Museum that would delight any rightly constituted boy, or man, cither—lor a man never outgrows his boyhood interest in boats and ships and the mysteries of navigation. This department tells the story of the ship. It is not a written or printed sloiy, butone told by the collec tion ,of ra.ts, canoes, catamarans and ships that fill a large exhibition hall. An old idea was that the first boat was a log. There are, however, treeless lands, where the people have no logs to begin with. They start, perhaps, by mauing boats of skins. In some parts of the world, where there are neither logs nor skins available,savago men construct boats or rafts by binding together nr sheaves. * From the log the next step is to the dug-out, wh ch savages fashioned by hollowing out a log with lire or rude tools. When savages began to make bark canoes they took quite a step to ward the modern ship, as a bark canoe, with its frame-work and outer covering, illustrates in a rudimentary way import ant principles involved in the shipbuild er's B,rt. Savages, too, obsetved that the wind could be used to propel their boats. It is supposed that the first sail was a bush. F rom the bush the savage went to a piece of skin or bark, or a matting rudely triced up on a pole. It is curious to note that the forms of sails used on yachts and ships of the most highly civ ilized people have been developed nat urally from the primitive forms used by savage people. The primitive is either a square or a lateen or triangular sail. The lateen sail is so named because it is the form used on the Mediterranean by people of the 1 atiu races. When men lenrfted more of the shipbuilding art, and boat* grew bigger, the lateen sail was enlarged, booms were projected fore and aft, and the sail extended so as to reach beyond the bows in front and beyond the stern in the rear. Near the centre of the hall a kyalc from the Greenland coast, made of skins by the Esquimaux, hangs from the' ceil ing. It is decked over as tight as a drum, and the ends are sharpened and curved up. In the centre is a hole in the deck just large enough to admit a man’s body. The Esquimaux, when in his kyak, sits squarely on the bottom; his legs stretched out before him, all of his body below the waist being under deck. He has a garment or coat of -kin, the lower edges of which are fastened to the rim of the hole or cockpit, thus making it water-tight. In this cockel-shell of a boat the Esquimaux, with rjaddle and spear in hand, hazards his life on .rough Arctic seas in pursuit of seal or walrus, “ahumau nautilus upon the tide.” There are kyaks, too, from Alaska, aud from other Arctic regions. Bidarkas, or skin boats from the Aleutian Islands, are decked over like Esquimaux kyaks, and are ornamented w th colored fringes at the seams, just as ludians love to orna ment their clothing. . Some of the bidarkas are '“three holed,” or have places for three men to sit in them, and to the little models shown in the Museum miniature spears are lashed just as the Indians lash their spears to their boats when they start out to hunt seal. The rudest form of the bark canoe shown in the collection is from British Guiana. It was made merely by taking a single sheet of bark of suitable size, curling up the sides and then stiffening the edges by means of slender ..splints bound to them jvith thongs. The ends of the canoe are left open and the savage navigator has to use much skill pre vent water from washing in at stem or stern. An I-d : an canoe, made by the Passamaqttcddy Indians of Maine, is shown as a model of th : s type. It is made of birch bark, over light wooden frame, with one thwart amid hips. The bark is sewed together at the ends and to the gunwales with dyed wooden fiber. •; sit has a round bottom - the ends being alike, sharp and curved upward. A balsa or swimming ral't from the East Indies is made simply of long bun dles of rushes bonnd together. A cat amaran from Madras,. India, is made of logs, bound together with ropes and fashioned so that they tend to a point and bend upward slightly in front. This is used as a surf boat. When a heavy swell threatens the craft the -native mariner deserts it altogeter, jumping into the wave and then clambering upon it when he comes to the surface ag'.iu. On this craft, too, he sometimes sets up a tiny mast and hoists a bit of cotton as a sail. >■' A simple dugout,perhaps the simplest, is a “donga” from Jessore, India. It is made from tlie stem of the tar palm.. The natural form of the tree, with its' bulbous end, is preserved, and the boat looks like a b'g spoon. The native sits iu the bow of the spoon or boat, and his weight keeps the other end out of the water. A dugout made by Chinese fishermen is a log completely hollowed out from end to end. Instead of gouging the logssoasto leave the ends solid, the simple Chinaman cuts out the ends then stops them up again with pieces of wood made to tit the apertures. A dugout from Patna, India, made from the trunk of a Seinul tree, looks much like a shallow wooden trough with square ends. The Indians of the noAwest coast of America developed th& art of making boats from single logs to the highest degree. The huge cedar trees that grow on the coast, the wood being soft enough to be worked with their rude toois, af forded them a natural oportunity that they did not neglect. The great canoe that is suspended from the ceilling on one side of the hall and makes all other canoes look like pigmies, is a specimen of tbe work of the Haidah Indians and was brought to the museum from the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Colum bia. It was hewn out of a single log of yellow cedar. The length is fifty nine feet and the bean eight feet. The ends are sharp and alike, the stem being car ried up and finished in an angular sort of ornament suggested the outline ef a head of some aquatic animal. The body of the canoe is painted a dingy white, and at each end is a series of figures painted in white, blue and green, rud« circles and rhomboids enclosing repre sentations of eyes. These figures an symbols-, of totems of the chief wlit owned the canoe, representing the tradi tions of his family, like the heraldic coat-ofarms of some royal or-noble-family of I(irrope. In this canoe a chief would set out with fifty or more men, on a war like expedition. None but men of con sequence, who could command the laboi of many hands could own such a canoe. To'Cut down the immense tree, hollow out the log, and fashion the canoe witl the rude stone hatchets and chisels with which these Indians worked, required the labor of many men for months and years. A dugout canoe in which Hoopah Indians sailed on Trinity River, Califor nia, is made likb an old fashioned woollen cradle, almost as broad as it ii long. It has a gunwale that curls in- I board, and round and squure ends that rise* to a point. There are several boats placed together showing how people in different parts ol the world hit upon the same form. These are boats of the corracle pattern, round as a bowl that the old nursery rhyme - says three wise men of Gotham went to sea in. There is a Boyne cor r.acte in which Irish fishermen take oul their snap, -nets aud fish for salmon od ■thef Boyne. It is almost perfectly round. ' The frame is made of willow like a hug< basket, and over it hides are stretched. Another corracle similar in construe tioa is from the liiver Dee and anothei is Irora India. The -latter is a child’! treacle, plaited like a basket of stin and has no outer covering. Neai tt stands a bull boat, used by Indians of Dakota. It is a round boat, about four feet in diameter, the same being made of pliant wood and the coverings ol kin 3. Wa thington S'.ar. Creature Conilo.rts for Cattle. Saturday afternoon there passed through this city Benjamin F\ Holmes, general manager of the American Live Stock Express Company, in charge o( the first train of rapid trahsit stock cars ever run west of Chicago.' This company has devised a new car for the transporta tion of live stock, such as will prevent the brushing and suffering of animals while being shipped. This car will provide for the feeding and watering ol stock while in transit, and it can be so div.ded that each animal will have a separate compartment or stall. These compartments or stalls are formed by a very simple, yet practicable device, which consist of a series of slats made o( hickory and strapped with steel or iron, and operating trausversely in grooves o? channels lormed in the side parts of thq cars and being attached at each end with endless. belt chains which engage with sprocket wheels situated close to the roof of the car and mounted upon countershafts situated in the sills, to which power is applied by means of a crank co move the partitions from a horizontal position in the cars, up longi tudinally close under the roof, or in either direction, to form the stalls or make an open car. The cars carry the same number of head of stocks as ordinary cirs, and when loaded by means of the above device, the stock can be separated very readily. The hay or grain is carried to the top or attic of the car, and the manner of placing it in the manger is as convenient as it wou’d be in a stable, 1 and can be fed at while the tr.ou is in motion. Wner is furnished b f means of supply pipes, extending/ili the outside around the c;ie. to wLiJn troughs are attached by ',Q*yt_,<f/•- tapped into the main sunpi^%>^qfnd by rotating the mairfjfryie | is received in a tank’W the {be car, every ttrough Will instantly fflßup to i the water level in the main pipe, W-nish ing eight gallons to each animal. The troughs," line the mangers,' are built into the side walls in such a manner that the interior of the cars are smooth. r i he ventilation of these cars is by means of fan wheels, situated in the top and side of the feed bins. The train was composed of seventeen stock ears and a way car. The wav car is a model of elegance and comfort, being supplied with sleeping, cooking and dining rooms to accommodate three men, who are furnished by the company, the number required to take care of the stock while in transit. The cars are supplied with elliptic springs, Westing house air brakes, automatic couplers and the Sisum canting lever trucks, the same equipments how used on the best sleep ing cars; These trains will he run on the Union Pacific and Milwaukee from Soda Springs, Idaho, to Chicago or any point in the East, and will run at- the rate of twenty-five mile 3 an hour.— (Jmaha Bee. Breadmaking in Norway. Broadmaking, writes a correspondeni. was another industry which we had a good opportunity of seeing while we changed horses at one of the stations. Contrary to onr expectations, we found white bread everywhere, but the com mon bread is a heavy bread, the chief ingredient of which is rye. It is always sour; the good housewife intends it to be so. They have also “fiat bread,” made of potatoes and rye. It was this . kiud of bread that the two women, whom we happened in upon, were mak ing. They were in a little underground room, unlighted, except from the door. The walls were of stone and the floor of earth. They were seated one upon either side of a long low table, upon whiclj were huge mounds of dough. The one nearest the door cut off a piece of this and molded it, and rolled it out to a cer tain degree of thinness, then the other took it, and with the greatest, care, rolled it still more. At her right hand was the fireplace, and upon the coals was a red piece of iron forming a huge grid dle more than half a yard across. Tho bread matched this nearly in size when it was ready to. be baked, and it was spread out and turned upon the griddle with great dexterity, and as soon as it was baked it was added to a great heap on the floor. Tbe woman said she should continue to bake bread for thirty days. She had a large family of men, who con sumed a great deal; thSy had to bake very o'ften in consequence. Iu many places they do not bake bread oftener than twice a year; then it is a circum stance like haying or harvesting. We heard an Englishman say of this bread of theeountry: “One might eat an acre of it and then not be satisfied.” ' The telephone was allowed to be used on Sunday for the first time in London > few weeks agfc. BIRD ARCHITECTS; t ____________ DWELLING HOUSES BUILT BY FEATHERED ARTISTS. Assembly Rooms Constructed by Public Spirited Birds—The Crow Family Are Famous House Dec orators—The Gardener Bird. In looking for the arti9ts among the birds, says John R. Coryell, in the Scien tific American , one would hardly think of going to the crows to find them, and yet it is among.the crows that the feath ered artists are most common. The most famous artists of the crow family are the bower birds of Australia. And among the bower birds the spotted col lar bird is the most artistic. It builds but an ordinary nest for laying of its eggs and the rearing of its family in, but to compensate for the la; k of taste dis played there, it exerts itself like the ideal Socialist to apply its talent for the gen sral good. Oidinarilv in the bird world the fe male is the architect, but with the bower bird, this is not the case. The male birds it certain seasons of the year come to gether with as much system as the beavers when building their dams, and anite for the erection of what have been tptly called assembly rooms. In shape these structures are bower like; hence the name given the bird.. In purpose they are literally for the assembling of the two sexes at pairing time, when Bvery male bird in his best plumage at tends and disports hiipsclf in the way which to him seems best calculated, to win him the object of his affections. The male birds having-given their time and talents to the building think per haps that they have the best right to the privileges of the place. However that may - tie, they certainly do most of the promenading and dancing. They actually do dance, seeming, moreover to enjoy the exercise. They are not so selfish, however, as to exclude tho fe males from the delights of this pastime, but permit them to dance as much as they choose, only observing the decorous rule of dancing singly instead of in pairs of opposite sexes. A remarkable degiee of ingenuity and skill are dis played in the building of the bower. A | liooring of about two feet by three feet l is first woven of twigs. Other twigs of ! a curved shape are disposed along the ' length of the platform in such a way 1 that the tops meet in au arch over it. j These are held firmly in place by being ! inserted in the ground and by having ' stones laid’ all along their bases. If these twigs forming the side of the bower are found to have pro ecting twigs on them they are removed and others put in j their places, for nothing is permitted in the bower that is at all likely to in ure the plumage of the festive birds, t-ther twigs are woven laterally into these twigs to give the structure greater strength, and the inside of it is lined with tail, soft grass so disposed that the tufted heads meet near the roof The j grass is kept in place by a row of stones arranged along the inner base of the bower. The structure being completed, the birds go out upon a search for ob jects with which to ornament not only the bower itself, but the approaches to it as well, for the entrances to the structure ore marked by well defined pathways lined by small white pebbles iu the manner ol some of our country walks. The ornamental ob ects sought are required to be either pure white m color or brilliant or glittering. Bleached bone 3, bright seeds, gvj shells, feathers, agate and the like Substances a.e most commonly employed. Iu front of each entrance a little mound covered with or namental objects is placed. In Africa there is a bird, which, like the bower bird, combines the qualities of architect and decorative artist, with the difference that this bird divides the talent? between the sexes, the female being the architect and the male the decorator. The house, for such it really is, is a notable affair and covering an area of fifty square feet in some instances. One observer lias described this extra-' ordinary structure in these words: “The doorway to this dwelling is placed on the lower part of the slope, in order that rain may not cause an inundation of the habitation. A level platform of wood is then built at the higher end of the structure and a carpet of some soft vege table material is laid on it. A partition wall with a doorway is then raised to cut this portion off from the main room, for this is the mother’s chamber and the nursery. Another portion of the dwelling is then partitioned off for use as a store room, and it is the male bird’s duty to stock it with provisions against a bad season. The remaining space in the house is retained by the male bird as a sprt of guard house and resting place com bined.” No sort ot\*lecoration is allowed by the mother to encumber the interior of the house, but apparently she does not care what the father does with the outside, provided he first procures food before giving himself up to his artistic instincts. The things which he collects show his catholic taste in art. Anything glittering or odd in shape will please iiim, and, if the*truth be told, hi 3 house in the end comes to look like a refuse heap o:• a modified city dumping ground. The passion of the hammerhead for ob jets de vertu is such, and so well under stood among the natives, that when one of them loses any specially glittering or gaudy article, he at once sets out for the nearest hammerhead house and there searches for It. In a certain sense the gardener bird of New Guinea is more remarkable than either of the foregoing birds. It is on the public assembly room that it ex ercises all its s.trange powers. When the time for building has come, a level spot, upon whitlh a stout upright shrub is growing, is selected, and all ground the shrub, as around a tent pole, the edifice is erected. The apex of the tent is about twenty inches from the ground and the base is nearly a yard in diameter. The sides are formed of stems tightly interwoven until a waterproof material is made. An arched doorway is made in the most convenient side and a gallery is constructed all around the interior of the building. An embankment of moss holds the central pillar firmly in its place. But it is on the grounds that the artistic feeling of the bird shows itself, and these are thus described: “The grounds cover about the same space as the house, and are made green and lawn- Lke by being covered with patches of moss brought th ther for that purpose. Over the lawn are planed in artistic man* ner bright flowers, fruit and fungi. Inn sects, too, which are attractive by reason of brilliant coloring, are ami disposed about the gaounds. Nor, is this all—the inner gallery is also decor ated with these bright objects. And when the ornamental fruits, flowers and insects begin to fade they are removed and replaced. Moreover, with evident design, the material of which the house is built is a species o-f orchid which re tains its freshness for a very long time. ’ The Prince of Wales Spanked. The following, taken from a paper printed in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1344, is now going the rounds of the press: Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, accom panied by the Prince Consort and the royal children, visited Scotland for the first time, and tarried a long time on her wav at Balmoral. On the trip the yacht, in which the people traveled by water, called at Aberdeen, and, of course, the loyal inhabitans of that city turned out in largo numbers to do - honor to their beloved sovereign. A guard of honor, consisting of the merchants of the place, was . formed, and, in all the glory of black broadcloth and white kids, paraded on the edge of the dock to which the vessel moored at just sufficient distance to prevent people from stepping on board. Seats were erected on the back, tier above tjer, like those of a circus, to accommodate the thousands that assembled to gaze on the spectacle of an anointed Queen. Her Majesty good naturedly remained on deck to gratify as much as possible the curiosity oi the bonny Scots, and promenaded about in full view of the immense crowd. The Prince of IVales, a child of about five or six years, was with her Among other things placed on the deck for the accommodation of the Queen was a costly and very splendid, sofa, ornamented with tassels; and the Prince, like other boys of that age, being of a destructive turn, began to pull at one in a manner that threatened to detach it. llis mother observed the act, and ordered him to desist. He did so. but as soon as her back was turned seized the tassel again to give another jerk. The Queen appeared to have expected something of the kind, for she was at that moment watching him from the corner of her eye. In an instant she j turned, aud sei ing tho luckless heir ap ! parent of England by the “scruff of the neck,” elevated one of her feet upon the sofa, hoisted tho youngster over her knee, adjusted him in the position mutually familiar to parents and chil dren generally, when such ceremonies are to be performed, aud gave him a sound spanking. _ , It may be proper to mention, en passant, for tbe information of youths who sometimes find themselves similarly circumstanced, that the illustrious sufferer kicked and bellowed under the a i ietive dispensation quite as lustily as boys of lowlier birth are wont to do. The amazement with which the specta tors witnessed the example of royal domestic discipline may be imagined,' but scarcely described in fitting terms. A dead silence prevailed for a moment, but was suddenly broken by a tremen dous roar of laughter, which could not be suppre-sed by any thought of dec orum, respect for the Queen, or sym pathy for the victim of her displeasure. The explosion recalled the royal mother to a sense of her position, and, having turned toward the crowd for a moment, her face suffused with crimson, she hastily descended into the cabin, and was seen no mors by the expectant 1 populace. * -• .. .... * i A Bird Without a Nest. The term night-hawk is commonly ap , plied to several species, all of which j have certain peculiarities. From it» ! curious cry one is called chuck-w'H’s widow, tliia call being uttered so loudly by the bird that it has been beard for nearly a mile. About the middle of March they come back from their winter pilgrimage; and unlike most of the i birds, they have no housekeeping to keep them busy, as they build no nests. While the robbins, humming birds, thrushes and others are busily 1 scouring the country for material with | which to build their nurseries, the chuck will’s-widow is fast asleep in some out of-the-way corner, only coming out in the afternoon and evening to gather its 1 supply of food. When the time comes for laying, our seemingly lazy bird selects some secluded spot and deposits her eggs anywhere on the ground, and the very first glimpse, if we are for tunate in finding them at all, explains why she builds no nest. The eggs are almost the exact color of the surround ings, and so mottled and tinted that only by the merest accident are they dis covered, and when the two little chuck will’s-widows come out they are even more difficult to find than the eggs. Being very sleepy little fellows they rarely move, and, though standing with in a few inches of them, the observer might suppose them to be two old brown leaves or a bunch of moss, so deceiving is their mimicry. Finest State Apartments in Europe. President Carnot, of France, and Mme. Carnot live at Fontainebleau this season in the suite of rooms fitted up by the Empress Eugenie for her son against his coming of age. They have the use of all the private and state apartments of the palace, all of which have been care fully kept in order for the past eighteen years, although the palace lias been prac tically deserted. The state rooms are said to be the finest in Europe. Fon tainebleau was created for the tallest King of h s time, it is said, Francis 1., and his height was the unit of measure ment which the architect took in pitch ing the ceilings and the cross beams of the floor. The cabinet makers did the same, and the sofas and carved chairs, which were just right for Francis, are useless for the present generation. Neither of the Napoleons could sit in them witheut using a couple of steps to mount upon. Times-Democrat. Twos Raised to Tens. Quite a number of silver certificates are in circulation in this city which have been raised from $2 to $lO. The two large figures on the back have been ob literated and the figure “2” on the face cut out and a figure “10” inserted, be ing held in place by court plaster. Where the word “two” is spelled out the last two letters are obliterated, leaving only the “t.” It is well calculated to deceive unless the bill is particularly noticed.— Burlington Free Press.