Newspaper Page Text
Bale Coil! Ties.
TRENTON, GEORGIA.
The famous botanical gardens at Edin
burgh, Scotland, have just been opened
to the public on Sundays.
Some 200 miles of road are to be built
this year in Pennsylvania to devclope
coal, iron and timber lands.
It is predicted that Manitoba will be
come one of the great mutton and wool
raising centers of the earth.
Postmaster-General Wanamaker thinks
it wiser to improve the postal service than
to establish one-cent postage.
The Argentine Republic is growing
alarmed over the great influx of Italians
of the poorest class and the Government
has issued orders limiting the arrivals to
200 per month.
James Gordon Bennett, of the New
York, London and Paris Herald, wants
the United States to send a strong corps
of American mechanics to the Paris Ex
position to see and learn things.
An American sea captain thinks he has
found a gauge of the nearness of an ice
berg by the use of a foghorn, and the con
sequent echo. If so, remarks the New
York Voice, it will prove a very valuable
discovery.
Prospective emigrants are reading
with much interest a paragraph which
has been going the rounds of the press,
to the effect that every man w T ho settles
in Colombia, Central America, gets six
dollars a month, 250 acres of land,a cow,
tw r o pigs and a plow.
The action of the Connecticut House in
inviting a New York woman to partici
pate in the House debate on woman suf
frage is, declares the New York Graphic,
without a precedent in the eccentricities
of Legislators. The Connecticut men were
exceptionally gallant.
t- The greatest surprise of the day is the
statement that the Eiffel tower at the
Paris Exposition is not in fact, the Eiffel
tower, but the Monguier tow T er. It is al
leged that it was a young engineer of that
name in Eiffel’s employment who first con
ceived the idea and worked it out.
According to ßradstreet's, the abandon
ment of silk culture in California is for
shadowed by the action of the Governor
of that State in vetoing an appropriation
of SIO,OOO made by the Legislature tc
carry on experiments. The reason given
is that California cannot compete with
China or Japan in that industry.
The Washington Memorial Arch, thal
is now very sure of being erected there,
will not be one of the first-class works ol
art in the world, observes the New York
Sun, but it will be the finest thing of tin
kind on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The popular subscriptions to the fund ir
its behalf are still coming in finely.
’. The seals of Behring Sea are in great
need of protection. Their earlier haunts
among the Georgian Islands, off the coast
of New South Wales, the South Shetland
Islands, and the other places in the South
Seas, are almost deserted, and having
taken refuge in Behring Sea, they are
threatened there too with extermination.
’ The musicians have every reason, thinks
the Brooklyn Citizen , to rise in their
might and slay the inventor of the phono
graph. Large ones are been constructed
that will correctly register the playing of
first-class orchestras, and the stage man
ager has but to turn one crank on the
stage instead of ten in the orchestra to
get superior music.
: Benjamin L. Hurst, of the Pennsyl
vania Railroad has just celebrated the close
of his fifty years’ active service as a loco
motive engineer, and he is not ready, by
a long way, to retire. He is called Uncle
Ben by all who know him, and he is still
at work running a first-class passenger
train. His eye is as clear as ever, and he
stands as erect as a cadet.
< During the last twenty-five years Queen
Victoria has captured 447 agricultural
prizes with stock from her Windsor
farms. She takes great interest in cattle
shows, and- is a good judge of Shorthorns
and Jerseys. At Windsor, on Aber
geldie farm and at Osborne she has herds
of cattle worthy a royal owner. The park
at Osborne is now stocked with a pict
uresque herd of West Highland cattle.
A rather strange way Of raising the
wind in Spain is a tax of twelve per cent,
on money left to be expended in masses
for the repose of the soul of the deceased.
This may be to discourage such bequests,
for a shrewd observer of Spanish affairs
says: “Moremoney has been expended
in mas. es tlian would have covered Spain
with railroads, even on a British scale of
gaagnificcuec and extravagant#. ” . "
PLANT A THEE.
He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
Rootlets up through fibres blindly grope;
Leaves unfold into horizons free.
So man’s life must climb
From the clods of time
Unto heavens sublime.
Canst thou prophesy, thon little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?
He who plants a tree
Plants a joy;
Plants a comfort that will never cloy,
Every day a fresh reality.
Boautiful and strong,
To whose shelter throng
Creatures blithe with song.
If thou couldst but know, thou happy tree,
Of the bliss that shall inhabit thee.
He who plants a tree
He plants a peace.
Under its green curtain jargons cease,
Leaf and zephyr murmur soothingly;
Shadows soft with sleep
Down tired eyelids creep,
Balm of slumber deep.
Never hast thou dreamed thou blessed tree,
Of the benediction thou shalt be.
He who plants a tree
He plants youth;
Vigor won for centuries, in sooth;
Life of time, that hints eternity!
Boughs their strength uprear,
New shoots every year
On old growths appear.
Thou shalt teach the ages, sturdy tree,
Youth of soul is immortality.
He who plants a tree
He plants love;
Tents of coolness spreading out above
Wayfarers, he may not live to see
Gifts that grow are best;
Hands that bless are blest;
Plant; Life does the rest!
Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree,
And his work its own reward shall be.
—Lucy Larcom, in the Philadelphia Ledger.
THE LAST RESORT.
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.
It was a sunshiny aiternoon in late
May. The breezes that wooed apple
buds into blossom, far off in country
wildernesses, served but to send clouds
of dust along the city streets. But over
head the sky was blue and bright, all
dappled with white clouds, and Miss
Gill, Mrs. Aramis’s forewoman, looked up
with a sigh, and thought of the old farm
in Ulster County, where she used to live
many, many years ago, when she was a
girl.
Mrs. Aaron Aramis was a fashionable
dressmaker in Montagu street. Miss Gill
was second in command, and there were
six young girls who sewed in a big back
room, and a couple of “fitters” to super
intend.
The spring fashions w r ere advantage
ously displayed upon various wire forms
and waxen dummies around the show
room. Mrs. Aramis was in a curtained
recess by a window, checking off a large
order from the South. Miss Gill stood
behind the counter, and a pale, pretty
young women, dressed in mourning that
had lost its first freshness. w 7 as talking
earnestly to her.
“So you have no vacancies at all?” said
she.
Miss Gill shook her head.
“None,” she replied. But I think if
you were to apply at Severell’s, next
door—”
The pretty girl colored vividly.
“The place would not suit me,” said
she. “The floor-walker—”
And then she stopped suddenly.
“Yes, I understand,” said Miss Gill.
“He is rather disagreeable. I wonder,”
she added, within herself, “if this is the
girl I’ve heard of, that old Pitch, the
floor-walker, was determined to marry,
whether she would or not. She is very
pretty. And I’m sorry for her, poor
thing!”
“I don’t know what to do,” wistfully
added the girl. “I am very poor, so
very poor, and there are so few ways for
a woman to earn her living. If one could
drown oneself, and be done with it. But
starvation is such a slow death.”
At that moment the creak of heavy
footsteps sounded on the stairs, and in
trudged a stout, elderly woman, with a
black felt bonnet, and short gray curls,
blown into sad confusion by the riotous
spring winds.
“Is this Mrs. Aramis’s place?” de
manded she.
Miss Gill bowed courteously.
“I've heard a dflfl about it,” said the
elderly woman. “Mrs. Judge Jexon, out
our way, bought a maroon silk drees
here once. It was dretful tasty. And
I was calculating to buy a black silk
dress myself. We hain’t no good dress
makers at Eventown, so I sort o’ thought
I d buy it ready made. Got any nice
ones?”
Miss Gill came out from behind the
counter. It was true that the old
woman’s bonnet was cheap in material,
and ancient, in make, and her general
attire entirely deficient in effect; but
these eccentric people were often the best
customers.
Miss Gill drew forward a handsome
costume, above which was a wax face
simpered with perpetual smiles.
“How do you like this?” she said.
Old Mrs. Blinn started.
“I ’most thought it was alive, at first,”
she said. “That’s an awful pretty dress,”
peering through her spectacles at the
loops and puffs and lace cascades that
decorated the rich material. “What’s
the price?”
“We could sell this,” said Miss Gill,
making a mental calculation, “for one
hundred and twenty-five dollars. It is
worth more, but—”
Again Mrs. Blinn started.
‘‘A —hundred and twenty-five—
dollars!” she echoed, “Why, that’s more
than Blinn's best team o’ horses cost. I
couldn’t think o’ giving that for a
dress.”
Miss Gill pushed the wax-headed figure
back, not without some scorn in her
movement, and took a big pasteboard
box from a drawer.
“Here is a bargain,” said she.
Mrs Blinn pricked up her ears at the
word.
“A surah silk, richly trimmed with
jets, which we can afford to sell at
seventy-five dollars.”
Mrs. Blinn’s countenance fell.
“’Tain’t no use talkin’,” said she.
“I can’t affort no such price as that.”
Miss Gill closed the drawer with a
bang.
“May I ask—” began she.
“I’d set my price at twenty-five
dollars,” said the customer. “I don’t
want none o’ your fancy fixin’s. Some
thing good and plain would suit me!”
“We don’t deal in any such quality of
goods as that,” said Miss Gill, elevating
her nose and compressing her lips.
“I might give thirty, if I was put to
it.”
“Quite out of the question,” said Miss
Gill. “Our price for making up the
material alone is thirty dollars.”
Mrs. Blinn sighed, took up her um
brella and alligator bag, and slowly with
drew. Miss Gill uttered a sniff of dis
dain.
“The idea!” said she.
“I don’t know what people expect,”
observed Mrs. Aramis, from her recess.
Out on the pavement, however, as Mrs.
Blinn was unhitching the horse and
gathering up the time-worn reins, a pale,
pretty young woman accosted her with
timid eagerness.
“I beg your pardon,” said she, “but
I believe you did not suit yourself at Mrs.
Aramis’s?”
“No,” said Mrs. Blinn, “I didn’t.”
“Perhaps,” hazarded Miss Frederick,
“I might be fortunate enough to—”
“Be you a dressmaker?” said Mrs.
Blinn, turning the full focus of the spec
tacles directly on the girl’s face.
“I make gowns—yes.”
Mrs. Blinn paused, with her foot on
the muddy wagon step.
“And,” added Miss Frederick, “I can
undertake to make you a nice, plain
black-silk dress for twenty-eight dollars.”
“I’m willin’ to pay that much,” said
Miss Blinn. “When can you measure
me ?”
“To-morrow,” said Miss Frederick.
“At No. —, Sixth Avenue, at ten o’clock.
I will see about the material at once.”
“I’ll come, said Mrs. Blinn. “It’s a
sort o’ bother racketin’ in and out of the
city, but there’s to be a wedding in the
family, and I want the dress to wear
week after next.”
“It shall be ready,” said Miss Fred
erick.
She watched the creaking vehicle jolt
down the street, and then went straight
to the neat little room of a friend of hers,
who had just opened an unpretentious
milliner’s shop at No. Sixth Avenue.
“Jenny,” said she, “I want to borrow
your room for an hour to-morrow. I’ve
got a customer, and I can’t take her to
the dark hall bed-room where I hiber
nate. And I want to paint a little sign,
and tack it up above yours—for this oc
casion only—
“‘Miss Frederick, Dressmaker.’”
“You shall, and welcome,” said kind
Jenny Plympton.
Mrs. Blinn came, and was duly fitted.
Miss Frcderickshowed her a sample, of
the silk, Blinn looked at this
way and that, raveled out, and rubbed
between her thumb and finger in a know
ing manner.
“It’s good silk,” said she.
“Yes,” said “it is good
silk.Ja W
“■ten can you have it ready?”
“Bf Saturday night."
“I’d sort o’ like to try it on afore I pay
for it,” hazarded the old lady.
‘‘l will bring it out myself and try it
on you,” said Miss Frederick.
Mrs. Blinn brightened up at once.
“Will you?” said she. “I’ll send the
farm-boy in for you, then, with the
wagon, and p’raps you’ll stay over Sun
day with me? You look sort o’ pale.
Mebbe it w T ould do you good to breathe
the country air.”
“I should like it of all things!” said
Miss Frederick, eagerly.
She arrived on Saturday night, with
the dress carefully pinned up in brown
paper.
She tried it on, and Mrs. Blinn, Naomi
Blinn and Susanna Blinn all pronounced
it “a perfect fit.”
“Such a rich silk!” said the old lady.
“A deal better quality than Mrs. Judge
Jexon’s!”
“Such pretty jet dangles all over it!”
said Miss Susanna.
“Such a stylish cut!” cried Naomi.
“Mu looks dreadful ladylike in it! I
wonder if Miss Frederick would make
me one?”
“A black silk?” cried Susanna, in
credulously.
“No, to-be-sure!” said Naomi. “An
alpaca, or a chaili, or something—Eh—
what’s the matter? Is she sick?”
For, even as Miss Frederick was ad
justing the sash drapery of the new gown,
she sank fainting to the floor.
“I think it must have been because I
was so w T eak,” she murmured, -when at
last breath came and sense returned to
her. “I have eaten nothing but bread
and w’ater for a week.”
Mrs. Blinn who, good soul, thought a
deal of her breakfast, her dinner and her
supper, uttered a cry of dismay.
“I am a dreadful hypocrite!” said Miss
Frederick, smiling faintly. “I may as
well tell you the whole truth. I’m not a
dressmaker at all—only a shopgirl—only I
used always to help with poor mamma’s
dresses and my own when—when we had
money. Mamma is dead now. This,”
glancing at the silk gown, “was her best
black silk, that I never could make up my
mind to pawn. She only wore it half a
dozen times, and I sponged and turned it
all carefully. It's not new, but—but—
Oh, I am such a wicked fraud!” and she
burst into tears.
“Don’t fret, dear!” said kindly Mrs.
Blinn, folding her in her capacious arms.
“The dress is beautiful. Didn’t I say
what a fine quality it was? and a good
deal nicer than the money would have'
bought for me anywhere else—”
“And the fit,” interposed Naomi—“it’s
just like the fashion plates.”
“And,” added Susanna, who had a
little money of her own, which a maiden
aunt had left her, “I want you to make
a new dress for me, if you will. And
Squire Eden’s daughter wants her olive
[ cashmere made over, and—and— Oh,
we’ll get lots of work for you to do, Miss
Frederick, if only you will stay here.”
“Here—in Evantown?”.
“Why not?” said brave Naomi. “She
can have the little room in the wing, ma,
can’t she? There’s a nice south window,
and plenty' of room for a , sewing
machine.”
‘ ‘And she can easily sew enough for us
to pay her board,” suggested Susanna,
who had something of the business ele
ment about her.
Miss Frederick brightened up.
“You will forgive me the deception?”
said she.
“Deception! There ain’t no decep
tion about it,” said Mrs. Blinn, com
placently surveying herself in the new
robe. “I wanted a good black silk,
didn’t I? And I’ve got it, haven’t l—
and without payin’ none o’ them out
rageous city prices, neither. Yes, mj
dear, you shall stay here with us. As
Naomi gays, there’s room to spare, and
But if you ain’t a regular dress
maker,” she abruptly broke off, “how did
you ever come by that nice furnished
place on Sixth Avenue, with the sign and
all?”
Miss Frederick colored vividly.
“That was fraud and cheating, too,’
she confessed. ‘‘l painted the sign my
self, on a bit of board, with water colon
that were a relic of old days, and I bor
rowed the use of the room from a friend,
on purpose to delude you. Ah, you
never, nover can forgive me!”
“My dear,” said the good „farmer’s
wife, “you are forgiven } already. And
now the girls will be so pleased,’ for my
eldest son is to be married ;next week,
and they were ldnd i o’;) puzzied about
their dresses and things, and now youarO
here, if will be all right.’!
Within a week .the fraudulent slgi.
shone above a neat littlef doorway itj
Evanstovvn, and “Miss Frederick, of
New York,” rose into eminence, with
out ever having learned her trade 1
“Mrs. Aramis and Miss'' Gill would
hardly believe it,” she said exultantly*
to heiself.
“But I hope,” said Mrs. Judge Jexon,
one of the new arrival’s warmest adi
herents, “she won’t give up the businesr
after she is married to Charley Blinn.
Nobody fits me like her.”
“Married to Charley Blinn!” echoed
another gossip. “There ain’t no talk of
that, is there?”
Mrs. Jexton shrugged her shoulders.
“No talk as I know of,” she said.
“But I think it is likely to happen. One
•wedding makes another, and now that
John Henry is married, it’s Charley’s
turn next. And she’s a very pretty
girl.”
“O-o-oh!” said the gossip. —Saturday
Night . ,
A Lively Bear Hunt in Three States.
One of the most exciting bear hunts oi
the year took place in the vicinity ol
Charleston, W. Va., recently. Early in
the morning a big black bear, weighing
about 300 pounds, was chased out of th<
mountains above Hedgeville, in Berkeley
County, by some squirrel hunters. II
crossed the Potomac to Williamsport,
Maryland, where it created a great deal
of excitement, and in an hour after its
arrival on Maryland soil twenty-five men
and twice that number or dogs were in
pursuit. Bruin escaped the hunters and
hounds, skirted around Hagerstown, and
was seen that night near Greencastle,
Penn., having traveled about twenty
miles during the day. Most of the origi
nal pursuers dropped off, but others took
up the ohase from time to time, so thal
there was always about the same numbei
of excited men at the animal’s heels. Hi;
trail was lost over the Pennsylvania line,
but the animal doubled back, and was
again found near the North Mountain.
There he was surrounded, and being
brought to bay in a field near Quincy,
was shot to death by a volley from the
hunters. The animal showed fight before
being shot, and was an ugly customer to
handle.
) Beds in Japan, f
A Japanese bed is the matting that
covers the floor. At bed time several
blankets or quilts are produced. One is
rolled out on the matting-covered flooi
and forms the mattress. The pillow, iu
stated above, is either a small block oi
wood or a wooden structure, like a minia
ture saw horse, intended to fit at the
nape of the neck. Some more luxurious
ones are rolls or little round cushions
made of some soft material. When the
Japanese or his visitor stretches himself
out on his blanket and lays his head on
this executioner’s block for a pillow he
draws over him one, two, or half a dozen
blankets, according to his fancy and the
temperature of the air about him. In
cold weather, Japanese houses are any
thing but comfortable, as no arrange
ments are made for heating them. The
Jap, however, proposes to be comforta
ble in his bed, and he provides himself
with a bed warmer. This is a grated box
or case, with a receptacle inside, in which
charcoal is burned. He puts this char
coal stove under his blanket, near his teet,
and wraps his limbs about it. The Jap
anese will sleep this way all night.
A Japanese Writing Desk.
The Jap’s writing desk, like the lady’s
toilet set, seems to be made for very little
people. The Jap does not sit in a chair
to write, but kneels before his cabinet
and squats on the floor. The cabinet
contains a number of dainty little drawers,
in which are kept paper, ink, brushes
and pencils. On the top of the cabinet
is a tray for the ink. One little vessel
contains water in which the stick of
India ink used in writing is moistened.
The stick thus moistened is rubbed upon
a pad from which it is taken up on a
finely pointed brush with which the
writing is done. Some of the paper
comes in rolls, and as the Japanese writes
his characters in vertical rows, he unrolls
his paper and keeps unrolling until he
has written all he wants to write, and,
then, if it is a letter, he tears the paper
written upon from the roll, folds.it up and
sends it away. Some paper used by
Japanese women is made in fancy styles
w ith figures or flowers painted or printed
on it in colors. —Wathingian Star. „
A GREAT NAVAL BATTLE
THE FIGHT BETWEEN THE CHESA
PEAKE AND SHANNON.
Story of a Fierce Engagement in
1813, Told by a British Veteran
Who Participated.
In a letter to the New York Sun from
London, Blakely Hall writes that he has
listened to what seemed like a voice from
another age. It was, in fact, says Mr.
Hall, that of a man who seventy-six years
ago figured prominently in one of the
most famous naval engagements which
ever took place between the sailors of the
United States and Great Britain. This
is Admiral Sir Provo Wallis, who was
Second Lieutenant, and after the fight,
officer in charge of the British frigate
Shannon when she captured the American
frigate Chesapeake, in the duel off Boston
harbor, on June 1, 1813. Wallis is the
man who took the ship and sailed away
with it after the American Captain, Law
rence, had ,dying, uttered his deathless
phrase; “Don’t give up the ship.” Ad
miral Wallis still lives, at the age of
ninety-eight, and, although bedridden, is
in full possession of all his faculties. Hs
is senior Admiral of the fleet, which is
not surprising when one recalls the num
ber of his years.
Here is his account of the battle. It is
principally in the words he spoke to me
to-day, but has been checked by refer
ence to the account which he furnished in
1866 to the author of a life of Admiral
Broke, to which book Admiral Wallis re
ferred me as his favorite authority on the
subject:
“No sensible Englishman,” he said,
“can look with satisfaction on the war of
ISI2, I consider that it was principally
due to the stupidity and brutality of the
home authorities in England. The Ameri
cans were undoubted the injured party.
Much ill-feeling was caused for some
years before the war by the English seiz
ing all American ships and searching them
for property belonging to Frenchmen or
subjects of other hostile nations. Then,
after Napoleon had issued his decree of
Berlin and Milan forbidding commerce
between England and practically the
svhole of Europe, the English Govern
ment issued their orders in council for
bidding neutrals to trade with the bel
ligerent States of Europe. War then bc
jame certain.
“It was declared on June 18, 1812.
Ihe American merchant service suffered
terribly. On one occasion a convoy ol
fifteen ships was burned off New York.
k great number suffered a similar fate. In
the conflicts between the British and
(American men-of-war the latter, nomin
illy of the same class as the former, were
greatly superior in weight and guns. We
were therefore beaten time after time.
“For some days previous to June 1,
1813, tho weather in Boston Bay had
been very thick and foggy, so that we
bad to guess our position. The morning
ff the Ist, however, was ushered in by a
brilliant sunrise, and the land near
Boston was sighted. But we were not
without fear lest the Chesapeake had
jfleeted her escape during the thick
weather, as Commodore Rogers in the
President, 44, with the Congress, 38,had
under similar circumstances contrived to
10.
“Having, however, stood in to re
connoitre, we were gratified by a
fight of her in Nantasket Roads.
We challenged her to come out
ind fight a duel, guaranteeing that no
other ship of our nationality should inter
fere, and requiring a similar guarantee
on their part. The challenge was im
mediately accepted, and the Chesapeake
ran up a white flag on which we dis
cerned the words: “Free trade and sail
ors’ rights.” We hove to, and continued
so till she was within gunshot. The
breeze was slight and the sea smooth as a
mill pond.
“At ten minutes to 6, being then with
in gunshot, she gallantry rounded to and
ranged up closely on our starboard
quarter, and the battle began.
“The cannonading lasted for only
eleven minutes, when the Chesapeake, who
had got before our beam, was taken
aback, and, making a sternboard,dropped
into us just abaft our fore channels.
“Broke, our Captain, ran forward,call
ing out: ‘Follow mo who can!’ and
jumped on board the Chesapeake, followed
by all who were within hearing.
“The engagement did not last mora
than fifteen minutes altogether. Roughly
speaking, about seventy Americans were
killed and a hundred wounded, and thirty
English killed and sixty wounded.
“Captain Broke, whoml dearly loved,
was terribly wounded, and Lieutenant
Watt, second in command, killed. The
charge of the ships devolved on me, the
second Lieutenant.
“On the Chesapeake Captain Lawrence
and the first Lieutenant, Ludlow, were
mortally wounded, and the fourth
Lieutenant, Ballard, killed.
‘ ‘The short resistance of the Chesapeake
was undoubtedly due to the great mortal
ity among their officers. ‘When we
boarded there was no officer to rally the
Americans, and therefore no organized
resistance.
“Captain Broke received several
wounds while on the Chesapeake, one of
them cutting away part of his skull and
laying bare the brain. It devolved upon
me to secure the prisoners on the Chesa
peake. This was an easy matter, for
they had some hundred of handcuffs on
board ready for us. We ornamented
them with their own manacles.
“On the 6th I reached Halifax with our
orize. Lawrence, the American Captain,
iied of his wounds on the fourth, and
shortly after our arrival at Halifax
Lieutenant Ludlow lied. They had done
their duty to their country to the utmost
ind were buried at Halifax with full
military honors. Lawrence was one of
the bravest men I ever met. Their
bodies were shortly afterward removed
to New York and deposited in Trinity
Church.” _____
The gross earnings of ninety-five rail
roads in 1888 were $622,000,000, or
three and a half per cent, over 1887,while
the net earnings of these roads were 9ix
und a per cw»t. less. - .
BOTH.
Grandmother knit for the baby
A jacket of blue.
“No color for boys,” so she wrote it,
“But this one will do.”
And she sent a gold pin with a blank for the
name,
“To wait till “he” came.
Next day came from lovely Aunt Mollie i
Now what do you think?
All scented, embroidered and dainty,
A jacket of pink!
“To dress a girl-baby in blue is a shame P’
She wrote: “What’s her name?”
“Dear Grandma,” wrote mamma one morn
ing,
“Your jacket in blue
Is just the right thing for our baby,
His eyes are so blue.”
(And her note to Aunt Mollie was strange,
you may think!
“Our dear little girl is so pretty in pink!” j
t fear that you’ll say her two letters
At variance seemed,
Dr that I am telling you something
I could but have dreamed;
But the fact is, her stories were nothing but
true;
For the twins wore both jackets—tho pink
and the blue!
—Agnes L. Mitchell , in Babyhood.
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
A love-letter—W.
An early settler—A man who pays his
bills promptly.
They say a sheep-dog’s favorite vege
table is a collie flower.
A dog will bark up a tree. So will
a horse, if hitched to one too long.
Siftings.
If “brevity is the soul of wit,” drawfs
should be the funniest of men.— Pittsburg
Chronicle.
“Yes, Julius, the health lift is a good
thing, but don’t look for it in the vicinity
of a mule's heels.”— Burlington Free Press.
It is said that every man has his double.
It generally occurs in youth, during the
green-apple season.— Providence Journals
Many people travel for health; but you
cannot travel in England without losing
seventy-five or a hundred pounds.—
Bazar.
McCorkle—“Smythe says he owes you
a grudge.” McCrackle—“Never mind;
Smythe never pays anything.”— llaiper’s
Bazar.
The young King of Spain’s nurse*
probably have little trouble in keeping
him clean since he is himself the Castile’s
hope.— Hotel Mail.
The mean is not the extreme, but if
there is anything meaner than a hornet’s
extreme it has not come this way.—Bing
hamton Republican.
Stella—“Oh, Bella, how glad I am! I
haven’t seen you for ages!” Bella—
“ Hush! You will give us both away.”—
Burlington Free Press.
“How came Governor Buck to marry a
woman inferior to him in social position?”
“Oh, you forgot she began life as a gov
erness.”—Boston Gazette.
Cora— ‘ ‘What induced you to tell Mr.
Merritt I went to the party last night
with George?” Little Johnnie—“A
quarter.”-— Harper's Bazar.
First Broker—“ Jay Gould's stocks are
feverish this morning. ” Second Broker
—‘ ‘Feverish! Is it possible that he for
got to water them?”— Texas Siftings.
An Ohio church deacon exclaimed:
“Consarn it all to Texas!” and the verdict
of the church investigation was: “Not
guilty, but in bad taste.”— Detroit Frea
Press.
Husband—“A word to the wise is suf
ficient, my dear.” Wife—“l know it,
darling. That’s why I have to be con
tinually and everlastingly talking to you.”
Washington Critic.
Mistress—“ Now, Jane, clear away the
breakfast dishes and then look after the
children. I’m going around the corner
to have a dress fitted.” Faithful Ser
vant—“ Yes, mum. Will ye take the
aight key, or shall I set up for ye?”—
Time.
A miller fell fast asleep in his mill, and
bent forward until his chair was caught
in some machinery, and almost a handful
af hair was pulled out. Of course he was
awakened. His first bewildered exclama
tion was: “Hang it! wife, what’s the
matter now?”— Tid Bits.
Omaha Chief—“ And when the shoot
ing began you ran away from the melee?”
Proud Policeman—“ Yes.” O. C.—“ Did
pou not know you would be called a cow
ird all you life?” P. P.—“l made a
hasty calculation to that effect, but I
thought I would rather be a coward all
my life than a corpse for fifteen minutes.”
Omaha World.
Some strolling actors were once play-i
ing “Macbeth” in a country town. Their
properties were not kept in very system
atic order, for, when the hero of Shakes
peare’s drama exclaimed: “Is this a dag
ger which I see before me?” a shrill voice
responded from the “flies:” “No, sir;
'it’s the putty-knife; the dagger’s lostl”
—Household Words.
Curing the Falsetto Voice of Men.
A St. Louis gentleman tells the follow
ing story: “I consulted, the other day,
a well-known St. Louis specialist in throat
and lung diseases, a man who is famous
in the country for his original investiga
tion. Chatting with him after my busi
ness was disposed of, he casually
tioned a discovery he had made a year be
fore, by which he was able to cure tho
falsetto voice of men. ‘‘l thought it wa3
incurable,” said I. “Oh, no,” he said.;
‘ ‘The cure is a mere matter of training a
certain idle th. oat muscle to do its proper
work. You know Mr. Blank and Mr.;
Dash and young B. I showed them in
ten minutes how to cure the falsetto voice,;
ind after a week’s exercise they all came
back to me talking in full, manly bari
tone and bass voices.” “But it is not
generally known that you have dis
covered this,” I said. “Why don’t ypu
write something about it?” “Well,”
said he, “I can’t afford to antagonize the
profession, as I should do if I advertised
that I could do something other phy
sicians could not do.” -