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nr EX IO AN WA BBE It WOMEN. I he Mexican women, like their most remote ancestresses, persist in washing on a stone—“ losa de lavadera ” —on their knees at the side of a stream, or, it at home, still in the same jxisitions on the identical stone slab, with cold water and very little soap—often with only a saponaceous herb called “zacate,” and they rinse in a wee bit of a “ batea,” which ife little else than a small “ dug out ”or rude tub. Owing to this slow pro cess every family of four or live per sons must have two or three laundresses, and even then it is difficult to get clothes returned under two or three weeks. In fact, the women of the lower class seem to have no idea of the lapse of time, for they stop a dozen times a day to smoke and gossip, yet they are, after all, good, harmless souls. Mexican families who have been in the United States and American colonists also have bought tubs, washboards, and even had wash ing-machines brought here, but to no purpose. These Aztec women detest “modern helps” quite as heartily as they do the long-handled “Yankee broom.” As to punctuality—why these laundresses have no idea what it means. For example, an American (they impose more on us than on their own people) may give a washerwoman his linen. 1 hree or four weeks may elapse and it is not returned. He fancies it has been stolen. Not at all. The victim will, on investigation, find that the laundress, having been invited to a christening, a danoe or a bull fight, has pawned his clothing to get money to buy finery for the festive occasion. If Mr. A?b linen suffers this fate he need not be alarmed; patience alone is necessary. The woman will then pledge Mr. B.’s clothing and redeem Mr. A.’s from the pawn shop until she has earned enough to come out square with nil her customers. I heard of a case where a laundress loaned the clothes of an American to a family in which there was a case of small-pox that the mother might pawn them to get medicine for a sick child.— Mexican letter. A SALT-WATER BATH AT HOME. In order to supply the continent from seashore to center, from the metropolis to the frontier, with sea water, it is not necessary to barrel and bottle it, nor to build a pipe line. The more excellent way Is to reduce their bulk by evapora tion, and, when old ocean is dry and clean, pack it away in boxes weighing from one pound to fifty pounds. Then send it by express or freight to its des tination. All the saline properties of the sea are intact, and by adding the proper quantity of water io marine salt, a bath Is obtained which contains, be sides salt (chloride of sodium), the sulphate and chloride of magnesia, the sulphate of lime and soda and traces of the chloride of potassium and io dine. But while we summon modern skill and enterprise to our service, wo must remember the beneficial effect of sea bathing is not a modern or an individual discovery. The salutary effect of a plunge into the surf is universally recog nized, and its practice instinctive where and when the atmospheric conditions admit of it. Many persons find its in fluence over the physical and nervous system so healthful that they consider it essential to spend a few weeks or a few days at the sea shore, even at great ex pense or great inconvenience, for they thus hope to lay up a store of health and strength which will last for months. The record of the seaside resorts of our coasts for the past few years shows the great and growing popularity of sea bathing. Modern chemistry analysing the properties of sea water declared it a tonic and remedial, a corrective of dis ease and a conservator of health.— Food wnd Health. WILBERFORCE’S TACT. A. new church was about to be opened by the Bishop, and a number of the neighboring clergy were invited to be present at the ceremony. Arrangements had been made for the clergy to walk into the church in procession in sur plices, the Bishop last. The procession was formed, all was ready, when the rector came to the Bishop, saying : “ All will be spoiled ; two clergy are come in black gowns; they declare they will wear them in the procession. They are come for the purpose of openly showing their evangelical principles.” The Bishop replied : “All will be well; they will go in surplices.” The rector assured the Bishop that this was impossible, and that any re monstrance he might make would only cause a disturbance. The Bishop, after again reassuring the rector, said to the clergy, who were formed two and two : “ Gentlemen, are you ready? ” and, re ceiving a reply in the affirmative, he stepped along the rank, and accosted the first black-gowned clergyman with, “ Good morning, Mr. ; will you have the kindness to read the first lesson for us this morning ? " Then, passing to the second, he made the request that he would read the second lessen. The two fled to find surplices, and the pro cession went into church with the two clergy clad as the others. A TELEGRATH STORY. Mr. W. 3. Johnson, the author ot “Telegraph Tales,” is responsible for the following story : “In the winter of 1870-71, one of the operators in ths Western Union office at Boston had an epileptic fit His medical attendant spoke to him, chafed him, and made every effort to arouse him, but in vain. Subsequently one of his fellow-operators drew a chair up to the bed and took the patient's hand in his. As ho did so ha noticed a feeble pressure by the fingers, which pressure presently resolved itself into dots and dashes, faintly communi cating to the tactile sense the words, * W-h-a-t d-00-t-o-r s-a-y a-b-o-n-tm-o?' Asked whether he could hear what was said to him, the patient signified assent by a slight motion ■with the tips of his fingers, and the result was that his fel low-operator got from the patient enough dots and dashes to describe his feelings to the physician, who was thus enabled to apply the necessary remedies. It is certain that no other method of com municating was possible under the cir cumstances, since the sufferer from epi lepsy, although ho could hear, could neither speak nor move any of his mus cles except those situated in the digital extremities, and these only with the faintest touches requisite tn eleotrie ♦viumnuicfctton f HOW RUSSIAN EXILES LIVE. On his arrival the prisoner is driven straight to the police ward, where he is inspected by a police officer who is ab solute lord and master of the district. This representative of the Government requires of him to answer the following questions His name? How old? Mar ried or single ? Where from ? Address of parents, or relations, or friends ? Answers to all, which are entered in the books. A solemn written promise is then exacted of him that he will not give lessons of any kind, or try +o teach any one ; that every letter he writes w ill go through the Ispravnik’s hands, and that he will follow no occupation except ehoemaking, carpentering or field-labor. He is then told that he is free, but at the same time is solemnly warned that, should he attempt to pass the limits of the town, he will be shot down like a dog rather than be allowed to escape ; and, should he be taken alive, shall be sent off to Eastern Siberia without fur ther formality than that of the Isprav uilr’s personal order. The poor fellow takes up his little bundle, and, fully realizing that he has now bidden farewell to the culture and material comfort of his past life, he walks out into the cheerless street. A group of exiles, all pale and emaciated, are there to greet him, take him to some of their miserable lodgings, and fever ishly demand news from home. The new’ comer gazes on them as one in a dream ; some are melancholy mad, oth ers nervously irritable, and the remain der have evidently tried to find solace in drink. They live in communities of twos and threes, have food, a scanty provision of clothes, money and books in common, nnd consider it their sacred duty to help each other in every emer gency, without distinction of sex, rank or age. The noble by birth get 16 shil lings a month from the Government for their maintenance, and commoners only 10. Winter lasts eight months, a period during which the surrounding country presents th® appearance of a noiseless, lifeless, frozen marsh—no roads, no communication with the outer world, no means of escape. In course of time al most every individual exile is attacked by nervous convulsions, followed by pro longed apathy and prostration. They begin to quarrel, and even to hate each other. Some of them contrive to forge false passports, and, by a miracle, as it were, make their escape; but the great majority of these victims of the Third Section either go mad, commit suicide or die of delirium tremens. the trojan war. It was at the marriage festivities oi Peleus and Shetis, parents of Achilles, that Eris, the goddess of Discord, was not invited; to avenge herself, she threw into the assembly a golden apple in scribed, “To the Fairest.” Juno, Mi nerva and Venus each claimed the apple. After som» discussion on the subject, Jupiter referred the decision to Paris, son of Priam, King of Troy. Paris de cided in favor of Venus, who in return for this honor promised him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife. Alter this Paris began to travel, and among other places he visited the court of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Here Venus inspired within Paris a passion for Helen, who was Menelaus’ wife; this passion was reciprocated, and the result was that while her husband was absent in Crete, and her brothers, the Dioscuri, were engaged in some petty quarrel, she fled with her lover to Troy. When Men elaus returned home he was wroth, and demanded the surrender of his wife. This was refused by Paris, who already had considerable trouble in getting Helen. The Spartans roused all Greece tb war; this was not a difficult thing to do, as Helen had many suitors. For the first nine years of war very little occurred save a hand-to-hand con flict between Achilles and Paris’ young est brother, in which the brother was slain. It was after this that Achilles (the bravest of the Greeks) was slain. There now arose a contest between Ajax and Odysseus as to who should have Achilles’ arms. They finally decided that Odysseus should ; this had such an effect upon Ajax that he became insane and put an end to his own life. The Greeks had now long besieged the city of Troy, and the war was becoming tiresome to both Trojan and Greek ; but Odysseus had hit on a stratagem by which to put a check ©n the war. Knowing how fond the Trojans were of show, he had an enormous horse built, and in the body of it were placed 100 Grecian soldiers ; this they dragged be fore the gates of Troy and there left it; the fleet, too, sailed out of the harbor. “Now, indeed,” thought the Trojan, the siege is at an end.” And, exulting in this, they brought the horse into the city as if he, too, might enjoy their tri umph. In the stillness of the night the fleet returned. The soldiers came down from the horse and unbarred the city gates. The Greeks rushed in and then followed confusion. The men were put to death and the women and children held as slaves. Meanwhile, Paris had died and Helen was married to his brother. He was slain with the rest of the Trojans, and Menelaus then took his devoted wife home to Sparta, where they arrived after a tempestuous voyage. It is to be hoped that, after all this trouble, Menelaus and Helen led the happiest lives in the world. Early Sweet Corn.—An intelligent farmer says: “I prefer the Minnesota to any sweet sort I have yet tried, because the stalks grow about five feet high. It Is an abundant producer and the ears are larger and have larger kernels ou them than any other of the earlieai kinds. Ido not like the dwarf sorts, the stalks cf which scarcely grow above three feet high. The ears of such are so small as to be scarcely worth cooking, and if they come a few days earlier than Minnesota, Concord and others, this does not compensate me for the diminu tive size. In the opinion of the Weekly Herald, the early Minnesota is the best and greatest early corn. Perhaps it is no better in quality than th© Narragan sett, but in our neighborhood it makes a surer crop. It is a light, delicious com, and, of course, to market garden ers who know all about it there is no use of talking. It is the best early corn to plant, United States Railroads. It is now fifty-six years since the first railroad constructed in America was pro jected. The time was 1825, the engineer Gridley Bryant, and the successful pro jectors were that gentleman and Colonel T. 11. Perkins, whose name is associated with this and other enterprises which have since grown to mammoth propor tions. The pioneer road was designed to transport granite from the Quincy, Mass., quarries to the nearest tide-water; it was, therefore, short, being only about four miles long, including branches, and the first cost was $50,000. The second American road was laid out in the month of January two years after, and opened the following May. It was from Mauch Chunk, Pa., to the Lehigh River, and with the branches, etc., was thirteen miles in length. Both these roads had a five-foot gauge. In the same year that the second road named was laid out the Maryland Legislature granted a charter, modeled on the old turnpike charters, to the first railroad company authorized to carry on the general business of trans portation ; the capital stock was $500,- 000, and the company had permission to increase this. The venerable Peter Cooper built the first engine used, and it was run on the beginnings of the present great Baltimore and Ohio. This engine weig bed about, a ton, and drew an open car, with the directors of the road and some few friends, eighteen miles, from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills, in an hour ; this was the first locomotive for railroad purposes ever built in America, and the first one used for carrying passengers on this continent. The era of individual enter prise in railroad construction was most active, and it was not until some time after that the great land grants were made by Congress. Then lines which were single met and consolidated, and formed continuous routes between important points, finally taking in public carriages of various kinds, such as steam boats—river, lake, and ocean—canal eraft, etc,, and these multiplied them selves into what are to be seen at the present time. The war years greatly re tarded the rapid growth of railroads, the years 1861-2-3 aud 4 being comparatively barren of great enterprises, only about 8,200 miles of new road being laid during the slavery strife period. The era of the greatest activity was from 1865 to 1880, during which time five-eighths of the entire number of miles of road now in operation were constructed. Os the 93,659 miles reported in 1880 as in opera tion in North America, the United States contained 86,497 miles. The year 1871 alone gave an increase of 7,379 in the mileage, and 1872 a further increase of 6,070 miles. The following table shows the number of miles in operation at in tervals of five years from 1830 1879 : Miles in Miles in Year. operation. Year operation 1830 23 1860 30,635 1835 ... 1,098 1865 35,085 1840 2,818 1870 52,914 1845 4,633 1875 74,096 1850 9,021 1879 86,497 1855 18,3741 The Central and Union Pacific Railway wa s completed May 10, 1869. Mrs. and Miss. In former days single women, when they had reached a certain age—thirty years, we believe—shared with their married sisters the distinction of being called Mrs. Thus we read of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter and Mrs. Hannah More, neither of whom had a husband. Latterly, Mrs. and Miss have lost all relation to age, and are used to express respectively the married and spinster states. This does not please some of the advocates of women’s rights. Mrs. Elizabeth A. Kingsbury, of Portageville, N. Y., writing in the Woman’s Journal, urges a return to the old custom. She argues that as Master William or Charles grows to the distinction of Mr., so increasing years and dignity should en title their female relatives to a corres ponding change. “It is annoying to be introduced,” she says, “to Mrs. Brown, a silly, superficial creature, yet in her teens, and the next moment to be pre sented to Miss Williams, who at a glance we perceive to be an intellectual, noble, broad souled woman of thirty-five or forty, worth more than a dozen like Mrs. Brown.” She denounces the existing usage as degrading, and in reply to the question of male objectors, “How shall we know that a woman is married?” says: “Inquire, if you wish to ascertain, as we have to do respecting you.” This is very well as far as it goes, but there remains the fact that most women, es pecially unmarried ones, are sensitive regarding advancing years. We fear that many of the latter, if compelled when thirty to take the appellation of Mrs., would never confess to having reached that age. Mrs. Kingsbury does not see things in this light, and solemnly warns all girls to keep out of matrimony until they are twenty-five at least. If ardent lovers wish to hasten their nuptials, they must be silenced with “I am twenty-one, but I do not intend to marry till I am twenty-five. The laws of my being would be disobeyed by so doing, and I shall not marry even then unless reason and judgment unite with affection in approving my choice.” We fear that Mrs. Kingsbury will not find many supporters, and that her young sisters will decline the “strength and independence” which she promises them in the adoption of Mrs. as an ad vertisement that they are no longer chickens. — Cincinnati Gazette. Orange Culture in Florida Orange trees are set out in rows ua ia!ly from twenty-five to thirty feet Apart each way, and when budded com mence bearing in four years, seedlings in from seven to ten years. They require light cultivation two or three times a year, either with the hoe, harrow or small turning plow, drawn by one horse or mule. To fertilize it is customary to raise several crops of corn peas each year aud plow under the vines, which have an influence similar to our clover. The rich hamock lauds need no fertilizing to grow the orangs or lemon, but many persons raise vegetables between the trees until they commence bearing. In this case it becomes necessary to use commercial fertilizers. In this way, by close attention, intelligence and industry, which every business requires, there may be realized from each acre in vegetables from SIOO to S4OO per year. When the orange tree is of full bearing age and well cared for, each year’s crop is worth about SI,OOO per acre, about equal to fifty acres of wheat. I have heard of some groves exceeding this; for instance, the Spurs Grove near Lake Monroe, of four and one-half acres, yielded a few years since, as I am informed, seven thousand five hundred dollars, and Col. Hart’s tine grove of about seven acres, near Palatka, yields an annual income of from ten to twelve thousand—a nice in come. Uncleaned lauds are worth from $5 to S3O nn acre, according to quality and proximity to towns and transporta tion, and those that are desirable are being rapidly taken up, as there is an immense iuftox of population and capital, especially of our northern friends, who usually have the faculty of “putting their money where it will do the most good.” Budded trees cost from $25 to SIOO per 100. To clear the ground costs from $lO to S2O per acre, and fencing from $5 to $lO per acre. An orange grove of full beating age, and in a fancy location, and having a good water protection, which some think important, sells for $2,000 or $3,000 per acre, aud even at this price yields a good interest on the money invested. I have endeavored to give the import ant facts truthfully. Want of experience and limited observation may have led me into inaccuracies. I have no hesitation in joying I believe that an intelligent, industrious aud patient man may, in ten or twelve years, in Florida, make with almost a certainty, a fortune of from $50,000 to $100,000.' This appear in credible, but I think it is true and know it has been done.— Florida, Letter in Kansas Citu Timet. MODERN BRAVERY The Fortitude Reajuirvcl to Endurr lANaff Firmer. [From “The Sword in Blackwood’s Magazine.' A writer in Blackwood? 8 Magazine believes that the invention of long-range righting has brought into the world a type of fortitude which has been hitherto totally unknown (excepting in occasional isolated cases) which is just as much a product of our century as railways or electric telegraphs, and which is as dis tinguishable from the animal courage re quired from sword work as is prophecy from fortune-telling. Instead of dashing at the enemy in fierce excitement, in stead of the hot emotion of savage strug gle, instead of furious muscular exasper ation; instead of the intensest develop ment of combative facilities, our soldiers have now to exhibit their intrepidity by remaining placid, motionless, undisturbed amidst a hail of death and wounds. They have to stay quiet under distant fire to let themselves be knocked to pieces, without the chance or even the possibility of doing anything whateverto defend themselves in an eager, efficient, satisfactqry form; the one solution open to them is to treat the other people in the same fashion, and to pelt impersonal mis sels at them from afar. Not a man on either side has the pleasure of identify ing the particular opponent who slaugh ters him. There is scarcely any of that individuality of carnage which is so con tenting in hand-to-hand fighting. And worse than all, there is none of the out put of effort, of the bitter strain, which necessarily accompanies the exhibition of brute hardihood. The bravery of to-day is a nervous contemplative process; there is no action, no movement, no tug about it. It principally consists in waiting obediently until you are hit by a chance shot. Troops do not like it. They are always wanting to get out of it, to rush ahead, to strike, to do some thing violent and comforting on their own behalf. They feel that it is abso lutely unnatural to stand still to be killed, that it is totally anomalons to rest unag gressive under a tempest of ambient peril, that it is contrary to all the ten dencies of humanity to make no vigorous attempt to ward off destruction; and yet that is precis'-ly what Jhey have learned to do. They may use shelter, if they can find it (it is no longer cowardly to hide), but they may not use action. In one of Raffet's caricatures, a regiment is halted in the middle of a river, with the water up to the men’s necks. The Colonel says to them; “My children, I forbid you to smoke, but I permit you to sit down;” and that is very much the situa tion in which European soldiers are placed in battle now; it is permitted to be killed, but it is forbidden to fight. In Asia, it is true, there is still a chance of getting to close quarters and of using the right arm, as a good many of our people who have been in Afghan istan can testify. But iu modern fighting on the Continent, the rule is that the foe is so far off that no hitting can reach him. The consequence is that our new shape of courage is based on the suppres sion of direct effort ; it has become a pas sive process, iu which we endure, in stead of acting. The old sword-daring was impetuous, emotional and intuitive, the new gun-courage is deliberate, logical and subjective; the one was material and substantial, the other is abstract and theoretical. They are as different from each other as credulity and faith, as astrology and astronomy, as dreams and thought. How Voltaire Cured the Decay of His Stomach. In the “Memoirs of Count Segur” there is the following anecdote: “My mother, the Countess de Segur, being asked by Voltaire respecting her health, told him that the most painful feeling she had arose from the decay in her stomach and the difficulty of finding any kind of aliment that it could bear. Vol " taire, byway of consolation, assured her that he was once for nearly a year in the same state, and believed to be in curable, but that nevertheless a very simple remedy had restored him. It consisted in taking no other nourishment than yolks of eggs beated up with the flour of potatoes and water. ” Though this circumstance concerned so extraor dinary a person as Voltaire, it is aston ishing how little it is known and how rarely the remedy has been practiced. Its efficacy, however, in cases of debility, can not be questioned, and the follow ing is the mode of preparing this valu able article of food as recommended by Sir John Sinclair: Beat up an egg in a bowl and then add six tablespoonfuls of cold water, mixing the whoJo well to gether; then add two tablespoonfuls of farina of potatoes; let it be mixed thor oughly with the liquid in the bowl. Then pour in as much boiling water as will convert the whole into a jelly, and mix it well. It may be taken alone or with the addition of a little milk in case of stomachic debility or consumptive disorders. The dish is light and easily digested, extremely wholesome and nourishing. Bread or biscuit may be taken with it as the stomach gets stronger. Chest Development. It is stated that during the last twen ty-five years not a single singer has died of consumption in St. Petersburg, al though this disease has outstripped all others, and now hold the first place among the causes of death in the Russian capital. From this and other facts Dr. Vasilieff draws an inference in favor of the exercise of singing as a preventive measure against consumption. There would seem to be room for question as to the relation of cause and effect. It may either happen that singers are not consumptive because they can use their chest aud throat freely, or that consump tive persons are not singers because the weakness which precedes disease inca pacitates the chest and throat for exer tion. Both of these hypotheses are true up to a certain point, but neither holds good in all cases. A very li.ttle observa tion will suffice to show thaf a good sing ing voice may co-exist with a weak or diseased chest, whereas the perfectly healthy may be unable to sing. It was, some forty years ago, a common prac tice to give consumptive patients a speci ally arranged tube to breathe through, with the view of exercising the chest. We venture to hope the experiment wifi not be repeated. Chest development can only be accomplished in a manner consistent with health during the grow ing stage of childhood, and then the most natural and convenient methods of exercise are the best. Later on in life great mischief may be done by unduly straining the muscles of the thorax and those of the throat, beside the peril of injuring the smaller tubes aud air vesi j cles of the lungs by violent exertion, fol which the organs of respiration aud | voice are not adapted because they have I not been early trained. Ladies’ Pet Dogs. Ladies who are fond of dogs as pets, | and have long desired to spend their j husband's “cigar money”—-for it’s get ting to be quite the thing now to give the wife instead of an allowance, the same amount of money that he spends each month for cigars—barring the ones he treats his friends to —aud she is usu ally satisfied with the amount—for a pel dog will be interested in knowing the value placed upon them by dealers and at which they are sold in the market: Black-aud-tan terriers, $lO to sls; Scotch terriers, sls to $35; Skye terriers, S2O to SSO; Italian hounds, $25 to S6O; Spitz dogs, sls to $35; poodles, sls to S3O; i English, Irish, or native pointers, $25 to $100; English, Irish, or native field cock ers or water spaniels, $25 to SSO; King Charles spaniels, $35 to 75; Siberian blood-hounds, $35 to $100; English mas tiffs, S4O to $100; Newfoundland dogs, $25 to $35; bull dogs, $35 to $75; terriers, S2O to S4O; fox hounds, $25 to 50; har riers and beagles, $25 to 50; shepherd dogs, Scotch, English, and native, $25 to $75. — New York Sun. A STORY WITH A MORAL. What the Carrying « Bf»nqnet to the Wron< House FfTecie I. [Johnny Bouquet, in New York Tribune. | It was not long ago that a gentleman said to me—he was in wine—“ Johnny, I will take your best bouquet—that big one on a tray, fit to be the bridal bed of Eve—if you will carry.it to this ad dress.” “All right, boss,” was my response, as I took his $lO bill, and observed a rather devilish light in his eye, while he wrote a name on a card. It was a beam of the light that shone in the eye of Cain as the discriminating flame of heaven shot past his offering aud blazed on Abel’s altar. However, I was not particular about what was going on in his mind, and he slipped the card in the .bouquet, and I started off to deliver it. Stopping close by to change my note and eat a bit of lunch, a good many peo ple gathered near the great prize bou quet and began to talk about and smell it, and so, whether some jealous rival stole that card, or whether I had dropped it on the street, the card was missing when I took up the great salver of flowers again. I hastened back to the place where I had met the gentleman. He had gone away in a carriage. I told my trouble to the hotel clerk, the genial Gillis, and he sfiid, “Pshaw! take it to his wife. He is no sporting man.” Now, that gentleman I knew, by an accident of passing his house, and I had often admired the inflexible, the solitary, the lofty and self-reliant quality in him. He was kind to his inferiors, manly to his equals, haughty to his superiors. About once or twice a year he showed liquor in his eyes, as if Cain had bred on Abel’s stock, and a little liquor brought out the consanguinity. I said to my self: “These flowers will wither for which I have been paid. I believe he meant to send them to his wife, and I will take them there. ” I rang the door-bell of his house and asked for the lady. Shown into the par lor I saw my buyer’s picture over the mantel. The house was not expensively furnished, but looked like the abode of perseverance in some moderately com pensating profession and slow but gain ing conquest on half fortune. A lady entered the parlor and beheld the flowers. She turned to me and said: “Who are these for?” “For you, Madam.” “Forme?” Her face flushed. “Who has dared to send flowers to me ?” I saw I was in for it somewhere, and that there was no safety save in con sistent lying. “Your husband sent them, Mrs. .” I heard his name, and felt that this was his wife. “My husband ?” Her voice faltered. “How came he to send me flowers? Have you not made some mistake ?” “No, madam. Hu has never bought flowers from me before. He is not a customer of gallantry. There is no mistake about it. ” She seemed all fluttered like a wridow told that her dead husband has returned to life. Looking now at the flowers, again at his portrait, her eyes dilated and her temples flushed. She walked to me like a woman of authority, and under some high mental excitement. Looking into my eyes, she said: “What did my husband say?” “He said, madam, ‘I have not made a present to my dear wife for years. Busi ness and care have arisen between us. Take her these flowers, that their blos soms may dispel the winter from our hearts and make us young again.’ ” She turned to the bouquet and rained tears upon it. .An orange bud she took, all blinded so, and hid it in her bosom. She sank upon her knees, and laid her head among the flowers to let the cool ness refresh her parched, neglected heart, and sobbed the joy of love and confidence again. I stole away like a citizen of the world. As I went up the street and stopped at the same hotel, the husband was there. “Johnny,” said he, “did you deliver the bouquet ?” ‘ ‘Yes, I took it to your wife. ” “To mv wife ?” “Yes, Boss, you are too good a man to wander as you wished to. The ice is broken. Your wife is full of gratitude. Saved by a mistake, embrace the blessed opening made for both of you; plant those rich blossoms on the grave of your estrangement, and in the words of the great good Book, ‘cling to the wife of thy youth. ’ ” He staggered a moment, looked as if he ought to knock me down, and rushed from the place. Next day I met her upon his arm. “Johnny,” said he, “bring her as big a bouquet every week, and save one scarlet rose for me. ” IVealthy Horse-Faneiers. Among our leading horse-fancies are August Belmont, William Astor, Pierre Lorillard and his brother George, also Bonner, of the Ledger. Belmont is fond of fine animals, but has never spent much in their culture. He has raised some good stock and contented himself with the distinction of being the first capitalist of this city that gave attention to this specialty. He is, indeed, the only man in this country of Hebrew birth who has shown such taste in horse flesh. William Astor was for a time much interested in racing matters, but his failing health has weaned him from the turf, and he has given preference to yachting. He has, however, a number of fast animals, which are under good keep ing while he is on the cruise. Bonner’s connection with equine matters is due to necessity for outdoor exercise. During the early time of the struggle which preceded his brilliant success he suffered from intense application, and his phys ician advised him to buy a horse and try an hour's drive daily. He bought the best animal within the reach of his parse, and soon found a rising ambition, which grew with indulgence, until he astonished the world by paying SIO,OOO for the fastest team of that day. This (which took place in 1359) was, however, only the beginning, and Bonner has now half a million invested in horseflesh, and has paid $30,000 for one animal. He has a very extensive stable on Fifty-ninth street, the land alone being worth $40,- 090 : but this is only for home accomo dation. The farm, near Irvington, con tains the most important part of his stud, which has for some years num bered one hundred, and often more.— A r eto For A: Letter. Misgivings. “I had my misgivings, boss, ’ the waiter said to the landlord, who was questoning him about his conduct toward the tall gentleman in blue clothes who sat at the door. “I had my suspicions ’then he sat down dat he was carrying moah whisky dan was good for ’ini, but he was puffectly quiet, and behaved himself well enough, an’ I didn’t pay no attention to it entwell he picked up a baked potato and hole it car'fully over the aig glass wid his left hand, and be gun to hit de end of de potato wid his spoon. He hit it right hard three or four times, an’ deu he whack it once or twice on de aige of de plate, and lookin’ solemn as a owl all de time, he call me up to him and say as p’lite and dignified as a president, ‘Waita,’ he say, ‘I wish you would jest fix this biled egg for me, if you please; I'se lorse a good deal of sleep las’ night, and I’m a little narvous dis mornun,’ he says. An’ I know I hadn’t done ought for to laugh, boss, but I hope to die es I could help it.” Recent investigations have shown the incorrectness of the pretty stories of insect-eating plants which have so often been given. Insects are often caught by the sticky exudations of certain plants, or otherwise, but no evidence can be found to show that the plants digest or eat the insects and thrive by an abundance of such food, aa has been so often asserted, OUR NEWSPAPERS. Our English critics, "while admitting the enterprise of our journals, and that they present the news of the day in a thorough and attractive shape, are dis posed to find fault with the editorial comments that are made upon men and measures. They say that the enter taining way in which news and gossip are discussed have drawn people away from solid intellectual reading. It is unfortunately true that the system of free general instruction iu this country has not produced a race of book-readers. Among the well-to-do middle chats, which includes the young and enterpris ing merchants in our large cities, not one in ten reads a book—with the ex ception, possibly, of a novel —from one year’s end to another. They depend solely upon newspapers for instruction of all kinds. And yet this is the class upon whose energy, honesty and enlight enment the future welfare of our coun try rests. The antidote for this evil should be found in the newspapers them selves. If they have such a hold upoi the minds of the people, so that they m longer care for other mediums of knowl edge, they will be in time, if they art not now, in a condition to supply their readers with the solid mental food need ed to maintain intellectual health. Those who have paid much attention to this subject must be aware that some advance in this direction has been made already. Able and thoughtful articles appear in all our leading journals from week to week. More than this, evident pains is taken to present to the reader the latest results of scientific research. No doubt there is a great deal of the superficial in these presentations, but this is a trouble that time can cure. If the newspaper is supplanting ths book, it is trying to make good its loss. PRAM KEB 8 IN STEAM NAVIGATION- It; took just about twenty years’ time to carry the first experiments in ocean steam navigation to the practical success which was emphasized when the first Cunarder left the Mersey. As early as 1819, the Savannah, a vessel of 300 tons burden, had struggled across the Atlan tic in twenty-six days. The thing could be done, that was clear, so far as the overcoming of physical difficulties was concerned. But eo long as a steamer, with her terrible consumption of fuel snd her small capacity for cargo, took as long a time on the voyage as a well appointed packet ship, commerce would have nothing to say to the matter. Brains were at work, however, both on the Clyde and on the Avon, and the Clyde grudged the Avon none of the praise that resulted from the voyage of the Great Western from Bristol to New York in the unprecedented short time o! thirteen days and a half. This was in 1838, when the experimental period oi ocean steam navigation was drawing to a elose. The day of the ship with pad dles—and the Great Western, much as she surpassed her predecessors, was es sentially this—was at an end. It was on the Clyde, and for the Cunard mail ser vice, thar the idea of the ocean steamer was worked out. Stout, bluff-bowed vessels they were, built with the solidity of frigates, and at a cost which nothing but an extravagant subsidy could justify. Well, however, they did their work, burning coal at a rate frightful, in these more economical days, to contemplate ; jogging out to sea deep laden in placid indifference as to weather; jogging punctually into port with funnels white to the top with salt water ; keeping up alone for full ten years the thread of steam communication between the Old World and the New. Then began the inevitable competition which led to the establishment of various transatlantic steam companies.— London News. CHINESE BABIES. The Chinese have many very strange superstitions, but none more so than that concerning the demoniacal posses sion of their babies. If an infant from the time of its birth has frequent spells of crying, and is of a very peevish dis position, the parents conclude at once that Sam Ku Lok Po, as the hobgoblin ia called, ha* taken up its abode in the child, while the baby’s true soul is wan dering somewhere in space. Thsy there upon take dried banana skin, burn it to ashes, and mix it with water, so as to make a sort of inky compound. The mother now dips her forefinger into the ink and paints a cross on the baby’s forehead, with ths words, “ I paint this cross to drive thaa [the demon] away.” Another metlrod of exorcism is to blacken tha infant’s face. Banana skin does not necessarily form an ingredient this time; any ink will do. The par ents wait until the babe ia in a sound .1 umber, when they take the ink and Idacken its fa«e, with their fingers —a brush would not be efficacious. In a short time the demon which has taken possession of the child returns, prepara tory to its awakening—for the soul wan ders from the body during sleep, and is tree—and seeing the blackened face, ex claims, “ Lawk-a-mercy 1 this can’t be I,” or words to that effect, and decamps precipitately. The true soul, which has been waiting for an opportunity, ap proaches the dormant body. Now is the time for the parents to wash off the ink with all speed ; the soul recognizes its true casement, and the babe awakes in a natural state. Woe betide it should not the ink have been washed off at the right moment, for then the true soul wall, like the demon, fail to recognize the body, and sorrowfully leave it, and the little one dies in Bicap. On account of the supposed possibility of such aa occurrence, the parents seldom use this latter method, which is called “ the face blackening,” but prefer to make the cross on the They met ou the stairs. “Hello!” “Hello!” “Say, old boy, you are growing mighty careless.” “ How?” “Why, just now I found the door of your room wide open. ” “That's all right. I haven’t been gone a minute. ” “Well, I knew you’d do the same by me, and so I shut it.” “Thanks. The first time i find your door open, the spring-lock set to catch and the keys on your desk I’ll return the favor. Please send me up a burglar and a crowbar as you go down.” ly THE course of a dozen or so years an editor learns to be a right good former -on paper. It is said that the word “Get!” is one of the most expressive in the Englith language. It is, when it is emphasized by a boot toe. SOMETHING IN A NAME. A Hungarian gentleman, C. G s, occupying a prominent official position in an association of his countrymen in San Francisco, relates an amusing story of a singular contretemps attending his debut in this city. His first name is Cornelius, which in Hungarian is spelled Cornel. Like any business ma? and stranger, he found frequent necessity after his arrival in the city to act as hia own master of ceremonies, and intro duce himself, which he did after the foreign custom, stating his name in full, without any prefix of Mr. or Herr. He was astounded at the free-and-easy man ner which characterized Americans, “ Cornel G s,” he would say, on en countering a stranger, perhaps the father of a family. “Ah, Cornel G s,” w’ould be the genial response, “happy to make your acquaintance; Cornel, ladies, Cornel G s,” and the bold California girls would take up the refrain and address him as familiarly by his Christian name as if he had been their brother. Sometimes inquiries were made which perplexed him. “ Did you participate in the late war between France and Germany, Cornel?” “No, sir.” “Ah! In what companies have you served?” “In none, sir. I have never been a soldier.” The confused expression of his interlocutor and gig gles from mischievous young ladies only served to mystify him more and mora .At last he grew offended—indignant. One of his new acquaintances—an el derly gentleman of considerable dig nity—met him on the street and hailed him loudly: “How are you to-day, Cornel?” “ How are yon to-day, John nie ?” returned the irate Hungarian gen tleman. The old gentleman looked murderous at this affront. “How dare you call mo Johnnie, sir ?” “ How dare you call me Cornel ?” Explanations ensued, and when it transpired that the name had been naturally mistaken for the soubriquet of “Colonel” both parties had a hearty laugh and shook hands over the mistake, but the foreigner now resolutely writes and pronounces his name with an initial only before it.— San Francisco Chronicle. TANITX OF EUROPEAN STATESMEN Lord Beaconsfield’s fame was greater abroad than at home. This was only natural. That wife was best, said the Greek, of whom neither good nor evil is spoken beyond her home. And the sama is true of an English statesman. To wish to play a great part on the world’s stage was the besotting weakness of Lord Beaconsfield, and it is the beset ting weakness of most Continental rul ers. No nation is more wealthy and powerful than the United Btatvs, and this is mainly because their leading men do not aspire to make their uomea house hold words in Paris, Vienna and St. Pe tersburg, but are satisfied with looking after the interests of their own country, without meddling in matters that iu ne way coucern their own country. That the pot-hc; politicians on the Continent contemptuously sneer at Mr. Gladstone is good ground for our confidence in blm.— London Truth. CHICAGO. Chicago covers an area of nearly thii ty-aix square miles, or 23,040 acres. There are 789 acres in public parks; 886 acres in the river, its branches, the slips end the Illinois and Michigan canal. The streets of the city measure 651 miles, are known by 907 names, and cover 5,200 sores. About 158 miles of ths streets are paved (principally with wood en blocks). There are 756 miles of side walks, 837 miles of publie sewers and 459| miles of water pipes (mains). There are about twenty-nine miles of river frontage (counting both sides), and twelve miles of slips and basins, making forty-one miles of water frontage in the inner harbor. There are thirty-two bridges in the city, that cost an average of about $25,000 each, and eighteen via ducts, ranging in ocst from $60,000 to $230,000 each. LOST TIBS. If yon would make the best use ol your time, look after the minutes. Keep a strict account of every hour oi your time for a single week, setting down the exact manner in which every hour is spent, and see whether, when yon come to review the record, you do not find it full of admonition and in struction. Ia this simple way one can readily wnderstand the secret of his want of time. He will discover that he has given hours to idle talk, to indolence and to inconsiderable trifles, which have yielded him neither profit nor pleasure. What is the remedy ? Arrange your work in the order of its comparative importance. Attend first to the things which are essential to Lie done, aud let the uncssentials take their chance after ward. The difference in the amount of work accomplished will be astonishing. A DOG STORY. A gentleman owning a kitchen garden remarked that a basket which held a quantity of fresh carrots got quickly emptied. He asked the gardener, who said that he could not understand it, but would watch for the thief. A quar ter of an hour had not elapsed when the dog was seen to go to the basket, take out a carrot, and carry it to the stable. Dogs do not eat raw carrots, so further inquiry was necessary. The ol>- servers now found that the dog had business with a horse, his night compan ion ; with wagging tail he offered the latter the fruit of his larceny, and the horse naturally made no difficulty about accepting it. The scone was repeated until the carrots were all gone. The dog had long made a favorite of tills horse. There were two horses in the stable, but the other received no notice, much less carrots !— Advance. Bo long as the American people prize sugar sweet-cakes, and the New Yo’.'k hotels consume 1,800,000 chickens and poultry and 5,300,000 eggs every week, the poultry business in this country will remain a good one. Give your fowls warm, clean houses, and dry, grassy runs, if you would have them clear of roup and canker. And feed them regu larly with good, nourishing food, if you would have them free from disease, lay more eggs and be more profitable every day. Fendeuson was at the theater tiie other night. “It was a burlesque, a take-off, wasn’t it?” asked Smith. “Yes,” said Fenderson, “that’s what it was, f guess. They had taken off about everything, they dared to,” — Boston TranwripC Died that He Might Lire. / In a dreadful cold winter, many years - igo, an army was flying from Moscow, a city in Russia. With this army there * a G-rninn Prince and some German ■ Ifli-rs. One by one the marching sol ;iers> fell down by the way, and perished i cold end hunger. At length, at the nl of one day, when only a mere haud- itii of them were alive, the Prince and a fi- w common soldiers, and these were in i.riy all spent, came upto the remains •f a hovel, once’ built to shelter cattle, :ow ruined by storms, which had blown . Ito pieces. But, in the wild, snow id waste, they did not despise it; ■is Prince was glad of the little shel ■, l from the sleet and wind of the com ig night which this tumble-down shed v l afford. And there, hungry, cold :ul weary, he and his men lay down to p. The jnen were rough, stern-look : flows, yet the sight of one so deli .»:• iy brought up, used to comforts > .•eh they never had known, spent ■.■ art and body, come to such want, glad sleep in such a wretched place, ■ae’e-il tht m. The sight of him asleep, ■> h<J, no covering, probably sleeping s hist ■ ieep, was more than they could •■■■>; Tl ey took their own cloaks off :.'i laid them all on him gently, one by -a . lest they should awake him. He ■ mid be warm with these. Then they brew themselves down to sleep. Che night passed. The Prince awoke. ■ Where am I? ” was his first thought. Im I at home in bed? lam so warm !” >i.l he turned over, and raised himself jp to look about. He was not at home. Ul around was snow, aud all was silent nv ■ the wind which whistled through i'ie planks and the broken shed. Where .. re his licit ? He stood up nnd looked, vheu lo! there they lay, huddled to ther to keep warm; yet not awake. ,Ie spoke, but they answered not He dvanccd to touch them they were lead! Without their cloaks, too ! Where \ ore their cloaks ? Another glance to . r.i where he had lain, and all was ■lain. The Prince burst into tears. 1i • men were dead to save him alive, ow, was not the deed, these rough sol bet s’ deed, a noble deed ? Their hearts •'ere gracious hearts; they graciously ock upon themselves the death another iioiild have died.— Sunday May azine, Very Gullible. Thirty years ago Mr. Wm. Hall, of New York, lent a “friend” named White §30,000 worth of bonds and checks as a security in a speculation, with the-under stauding that they were on no account to be converted into cash. The friend immediately converted them into cash and disappeared. Not long ago he went to Hall’s house, and iu spite of Hall’s anger placated him by representing that with the $30,000 which he had appro priated to his own use he had gone to California, had made a large fortune and had traveled across the continent for the express purpose of refunding the money., Mr. Hall was charmed and entertained 'White royally at his house. White pretended to be. sincerely sorry for the roguery of his younger days, and entertained his host with graphic descriptions of California, and amazing yarns about the way iu' which he had made his princely fortune on the Pa cific slope. Hall believed every word he said, aud agreed to lend him’s6,ooo, on White’s turning over securities in “a sealed envelope.” He had already paid him $1,200, when Mrs. Hall, rising st 5 in the morning, carried the envelope to the Chief of Police. On opening it, the papers were found almost worthless, aud White was arrested. How a man cap able of being gulled after this fashion was also capable of accumulating $30,- 000, or 30,000 cents, is a mystpry that would puzzle even a phrenologist/ REMARKABLE THEATRICAL CRITI CISM. Hamlet must have been a remarkable man not to have gone mad in the midst of such characters as his aimless moth er, the insipid and discordant Opheli;\ and the noisily empty Laertes, as they were presented on this stage. We con fess to our secret satisfaction at the poi soning of the Queen, who in rouging her cheeks got a double dose on the end of her nose, and we experienced a mali cious joy in the unskillful stabbing of Laertes, who deserved death, if for no other reason than for his unaccentated lamentations over the demise of a horse fiddle sister, whose departure should have been to him a source of joy. The grave-digger did well, not only in the professional work, but in effectually burying the ill-dressed Ophelia. We never attended a funeral with more pleasure. — Exchange. ALLIGATOR LEATHER. It is now twenty-one years since that an old Canadian revealed to the head of a ’»rge shoe-manufacturing firm in Bos ton the secret of a process for the tan ning of alligator hides. The industry immediately became a profitable one, and Bince then many thousand alligator hides are annually used by our home manufacturers or sent abroad, princi pally to London and Hamburg. At first the skins came from Louisiana, and New Orleans was the center of the traf fic. The wholesale manner in which the alligators were slaughtered, how ever, speedily rendered them scarce in that State. Florida is now the great source from which our supplies are ob tained, and the trade centers in Jackson ville. The. alligators are killed in great numbers, both by passengers on board the steamboats plying on the rivers of Florida and by hunters who follow this pursuit as a means of livelihood. After being killed they are flayed, and only those parts which are useful for leather, such as the belly and flanks, are pre served. They are then packed in a cask containing a strong brine and sent North to be made into leather. Hither to alligator leather has been used chiefly for men’s boots and shoes ; now, how ever, it is coming into fashion for ladies’ wear. It is also made into slippers, pocket-books, cigar-cases and various other kinds of fancy articles. The traf fic in this leather, which has hitherto been of importance only in this coun try, is now making rapid strides in Eu rope, and at a not far distant day will probably reach no inconsiderable pro portions.—Frenah paper. Some Definitions. One of Thackeray’s daughters has just published a little book about her friend, Miss Evans, in which she prints some delightful definitions made by that lady. Some of these are as follow: “A privileged person—One who is so much a savage when thwarted that civil ized persons avoid thwarting him.” ‘"A liberal-minded man—One who dis dains to prefer right to wrong.” “Radicals—Men who maintain the supposed right of each of us to help ruin us al'.” ••Liberals—Men who Hatter Radi cals. ” “Conservatives—Men who give wav to Radicals.” “A domestic Woman--A woman like’a domestic.” “Humor—Thinking in fun while we feel in earnest." “A musical woman—One who has strength enough to make much noise, and obtuseness enough not to mind it,” Pugilists are remnants of the ancn.>-« tr be <>f mound builders. They build tmutuds ow each other’s eyes.