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BIRD RAVAGES.
Startling Dlucoverioa of the
Agricultural Dapartment.
Tremendous Damige Annually Inflctel
by Rr,e B.rd* anl English Sparrow*.
The J)' pertinent of Agriculture, any* a
Washington letter to th" New York
Tribune, M engaged in publi«hing un in
tereating work in regard to the action of
bird* upon agriculture. S >n>e of the
fn< t* contains I in thia rep art arc almost
atartling in their chariuter. It appears
that the rice bird* entail an enormous
)o«a oq the rice grower* in the South.
Captain Ilaygard, of South Carolina,
one of the largest ric* grower., in describ
ing the ravages of these birds says:
“They come in the latter part of April,
when they arc known as bobolinks.
Their plumage is white nn I black and
they sing merrily when nt rest. Their
flight is always at night. In the evening
there arc none. In the morning their
appearance!* heralded by the popping of
whips and the firing of musketry by the
bird-minders in their efforts to keep the
birds from pulling up the young rice.
Tins warfare is kept up incessantly until
the 2flth of May, when they suddenly
disappear at night. Their next appear
ance is in a dark yellow plum age as the
rice bird. There is no song at this time,
but instead a chirp which means ruin to
any rice found in milk. My plantation
record will show that for ten years, ex
cept when prevented by stormy south or
oouth west winds, the rice birds have
cone punctually on the night of the 21st
of August, apparently coming from sea
ward. All night their chirp can be
heard, and millions of the birds make
their appearance and settle in the rice
field*. Our I oil* to say we have never
»cen this fight during the daytime.
From August 21 to Septendrer 25 our every
effort is to save the crop. Men, lx>ys and
women arc posted with guns and am
munition every little ways, but all efforts
are only partly successful. The loss by
bird destroying the rice on my plantation
amounts to not loss than SI,HOO annually,
and the expense of ammunition and bird
sninders amount* to $3,430 more. I have
known one-half tho crop to be destroyed
by the birds."
The ravages of the English sparrow,
according to fact* gathered by the It
purtmont, amount to millions of dollars.
They wore first brought to this country
In IHSB, but it was not until IH7O that
they ha<l become permanently establish
ed in a number ol Eastern cities. Their
fertility is astonishing, the average rate
of increase being sixteen young to each
pair of adult birds per annum. Thu bird
has already made it* homo in thirty-one
States and three Territories. It has
spread out at the rate of 130,000 square
miles a you. The report* show that it
devours the germ from the fruit buds of
trees, bushes and vines, and destroy*
great quantities of vegetables and flower
ing plants. In England a Government
njairt estimate* the loss from the depre
dation* of the sparrow at 1770,000 |>er
annum, and this loss 1* on the increase.
The Department of Agriculture is now nt
work trying to solvo the problem of how
to get rid of these birds.
Kase Leaves Good to Eat.
ou can now buy at a swell confec
tioner’s a pound of conserved rose loaves
for $7. or n |x>uiid of conserved violets
for They look and taste like some
thing heavenly, and if a box should be
scut you bn sure and don’t say anything
about fools and their money. 1 had a
melancholy experience with these rare
conserves before 1 knew what they wore.
1 received a Imx of the confectionery, and
on the top was a layer ot pink rose leaves,
tnivle, as I imagined in my gross ignor
ance, of glued ]wper. I thought they
made a very pretty top dressing, as it
w. re, but I swept them into the waste
basket along with the string with which
the box was tiod.
On meeting my friend next day I
thanked him for the box, and ho asked
me how I liked the conserved rose leave*.
A terrible suspicion crossed my mind.
I struggled for self-possession and said
they were beautiful, but 1 hadn’t yet
tasted them. 1 got away from him as
soon as I could, ran home and flew up
stain to the waMc basket, 1 found two
tiny jwtals the hon-. uai 1 had thrown
the rest into the ash heap. I tis’.ie.l out
these two and ate them with prefound
relish. 1 have not had any conserved
flower* sent sue since. Fortune seldom
takes but one rebuff. CL. . • .Y<.rs.
“Some Preside*!."
Tha frequent revolution* in the govern
ments of South American rvpub’tcs seem
to make presidents there as common as
military officers are in this country.
Moreover. familiarity breeds there the
same feeling that it does elsewhere. A
traveller in the Argentine Republic tells
a story at hi. own expense:
On one occasion 1 accompanied the
colonel of the regiment stationed on the
frontier iu one of h s jieriodical visits to
the Indians. Boeing me in European
dress in the midst of so many military
men. and treated by the colonel with
great politeness, they said among them
•elvea,
"Who can th a be!"
And the more knowing one* replied,—
••Oh, awne IYetide>it. n '
A Sugar I’lanlatlon in t üba.
Dr. E. M. Hull describes, in n letter tn
the Inter- <.c -in, a sugar plantation, the
Toledo, near the neacr ast town of Muri
nnao, a bathing place much resorted to
in the summer by the Havancae. The
sugar factory, ho says, i* about three
miles fr >m the rail mail station. A ride
through an undulating country —a lime
stone formation—the roi l rough, and in
many places cut through the rock. The
stone walls reminded one of New Eng
land, but the royal pa'm and cocoanut
trees did not. The former is very ab
surd-looking, with varying shapes. Im
agine a palmetto, for it is of the same
species, but instead of being uniform in
size, it is sometime* larger in the middle,
swelling out twice as large below or
above. In other instances the largest
portion is near the ground. Others look
like a gigantic carrot, with the point in
the ground. Then the gray trunk at
about six feet from the top su Idenly be
comes smaller and of a smooth, bright
green, as round and polished as possible
to conceive. Just at the juncture of the
green and gray there projects at right
angles a brush of red and greer
flowers.
At the mill we witnessed the whole
process of making sugar, from the grind
ing of the cane to the coarse brown gran
ulated sugar, which was packed hard in
bags to be shipped to New York to be
ri fined. This sell* for two or three cents
per pound. No money is made in sugar
making now, and some years it is even
made at a lo**. At dinner I tried the
wine most in use in Spain, the Vai de
Penas. It is rough, strong wine, and
tastes—well, my daughter was informed
in Spain that it is put up
in hog skins instead of bar
rels, and thus brought to the market.
After this explanation, no ono need
doubt how it fades. Yet the Spaniards
consider this peculiar taste to be a great
recommendation. Just as the Greeks
perfer the wine put up in cedar casks, or
the Scotch the smoky taste of their own
whisky.
Ornerel Sickle* am! Hl* Medal*.
General Dan E. Sickles is spoken of as
next mayor of New York, writes Olive
Logan. I saw this well-known war vet
eran the other day. He drives in a pretty
little coupe with the escutcheon of the
United States on its panels and is fre
quently accompanied by a handsome
woman, the Spanish lady ho married at
Madrid when ho was American minister
there. The general has had an exciting
history, if ever any man had. Yet, how
well he looks! His hair is still dark and
he holds his head proudly thrown back
like a fiery boy of twenty. It is not
generally known that Sickles owns the
right to the Baronet’s title of “Sir,” or
nt least its Spanish equivalent. Tho
Spanish government bestowed on him
the order of Isabella la Catholica of the
grade of Chevalier. General Sickles
wears several medals in miniature on his
breast, connected by a small gold chain,
in the European manner, and, I think,
has the rosette of officer of tho French
Legion of Honor in his button-hole. By
the way, what a number of American
men now wear ribbons of ono foreign
d■ eoration or another stuck in the left
hand upper button-hole of the coat. A
change has come o'er tho spirit of the
dream of the American citizen.
A Court Room in Chiun.
Tho trials are held in a largo granite
paved room containing but a few articles
of furniture. Near the centre of the room
is tho desk of the examining Mandarin.
The desk is about ten feet long, and on
it are an ink pad and paper and the writ
ten accusation against the prisoner. Be
hind tho desk sits the examining Manda
rin in his handsomely decarated otlieial
robes. His rank is shown by the color
of tho rolxi and buttons on his hat. At
each end of the desk stand two lictors
and interpreters. These ollieials act as
interpreters betw< en th" Aland arin and tho
pria mor, ami are distinguished by a long
red tassel affixed to their hats. At tho
right hand side of the hall is another
Small desk, where the Clerk of theCou.t
sits and takes the confession of the crim
inals being tried. Those desks and a
few racks and other instrincnts used in
torture were the only articles of furni
ture in the -oom. Xri Francisco Exam
iner.
A Striking Resemblance.
W hen Duinley isn't behind on his
board bill he is apt to bo outspoKcn to
an off’ naive degree.
“Do you know why,Mr*. Hendricks,”
he said to his landlady recently, us ho
laid a soft boiled egg which he had just
opened as far out of his reach as possi
ble, “do you know why you ;nd this
egg arc somewhat alike in one respect!”
“Why!’’ she asked with frigid interro
gation.
“Bocause you have both seen better
days."--.¥<•*> F..rl Su*.
An Ex-Indian Fighter.
An Indian chief who is visiting Wash
ington at government expense was intro
duced to a Senator recently who had a
very bald head.
The chief looked at him for some mo
ments with great interest. Finally he
said;
“Ugh 1 Where you fight Injun some
lime!—Arie Tori 6’uh.
LOBSTER LORE.
An Entertaining Chapter
Upon this Crustacean.
Where Lohtfert Come From anl How
they are Prepared for Consumption.
Tii" Chicago Tribune Miyt, The season
for lobster-, unlike that of oysters, lasts
practically all the year around, but for
the first three months of it--or a little
thereafter —the quality i* somewhat off
color. The most fertile fields of supply
are the Massachusetts, Maine, New
found and Labrador coasts, with the
odds largely in favor of the first two.
though the largest »pecime:.s are nearly
always from Labrador. This city at pres
ent consumes from 1230 to 1700 lobsters
a week, which is neither above nor be
low the records of former times,
the demand having apparently stood
about still for some years. The supplies
reach the city daily by express in two
conditions—alive and “boiled.” A lob
ster, when properly handled, will live
for a week out of the water, with no
stronger nutriment than that which it
derives from convulsive clawing* at the
nir nnd the limbs of its traveling com
panions. The live ones are packed in
barrels—l2s to the barrel—care being
taken to insure each one the most com
fortable position po sible across the body
of its next-door neighbor, and ventila
tion being secured by mean* of large
holes bored in the head and sides of the
barrel. The “boiled” lobsters are close
ly packed between layers of seaweed and
ice, and reach their destination ready
for the table, with the exception,
of course, of tho necessary cleaning.
The “boiled” lobster being the kind
most generally called for, is the most im
portant feature of the trade. AU the
boiling for the Chicago market is done
in Boston, and persons of delicate emo
tional construction may possibly be
shocked to learn that to be tit for human
food a lobster must be bored alive. It
is a phenomenon no less remarkable than
indisputable that one that dies a natural
death, i. e. of suffocation duo to removal
from its natural element sea-water, is not
a fit article for diet, and experts say that
nine out of ten cases of indigestion re
sulting from a lobster supper are due to
the fish having been allowed to die of its
own accord instead of at the merciless
hands of its captors. As soon as possible
after being caught the lobsters are thrown
by the Boston merchants into a huge
tank of boiling water, seasoned with a
peck ot salt to each barrel of the fluid.
Sea-water, contrary to tho opinion of
many, is not used, being unfit for cook
ing purposes of any description. The
boiling process lasts about twenty min
utes, and the lobsters, after being given
a prober ti ne to cool, are ready.for ship
ment. The sooner a lobster is boiled
after being taken from the ocean the lon
ger it will keep after boiling.
Tho same rule that applies to boiled
lobsters with regard to the necessity of
sudden death applies to broiled lobsters,
which come next in popularity as an
article of diet. The proprietor of one of
the large Caicago fish restaurants a day
or so ago initiated the writer into the
mysteries of the process employed by
himself ami his competitors. At the
word of command a stalwart cook, in
white apron and paper cap, seized agreat
wriggling fellow from a refrigerator near
by, and slammed it violently down upon
the spotless marble execution block.
Seizing a large, keen-bladed knife, he
held his prey securely down with his left
hand, and with two strokes of the
weapon wielded in his right laid the
quivering creature squarely in two from
head to tail. The two halves that a
moment later lay side by side on the slab
were certainly dead enough, not so much
as a shudder animating the layers of
jelly-like flesh, nnd one could scarcely
conceive a more expeditious mode of
death. A call from a customer sent one
of tho halves onto the griddle at that
moment, so that the possibility of secur
ing real “live broiled lobster” in Chicago
may be regarded as established.
Care of Umbrellas.
Umbrellas will last far longer if when
wet they are placed handle downward to
dry. The moisture falls from the edges
of tho frame and the fabric dries uni
formly. If stood handle upward, which
is commonly the case, the top of the
umbrel.a holds the moisture, owing to
the lining underneath the ring, and
therefore takes n long time to dry, thus
injuring the silk or other fabric with
which it is covered. This is the prime
cause of the top of the umbrella wearing
out sooner than tho other part. Um
brella cases, too, are reasonable for the
rapid wear of silk. The constant fric
tion causes the tiny holes that appear so
provokingly early. When not in use,
leave the umbrella loose; when wet, never
leave it open to dry, as the tense condi
tion thus produced makes the silk stiff,
and then it will soon crack.
A Banner of the Past.
In England between 1815 and 1820 a
banner with the following inscription
was carried at workingmen's demonstra
tions:
"Eight hours ot work.
Eight hours of play,
Eight hours of sleep,
Eight shil.ings a day."
A King’* Private Circa*.
Among the follies of Bavaria’s late
king not generally known was the fac
tion of a circus on the first floor of the
royal palace at Munich. The ceiling was
made to imitate the skies at night time,
with the moon and stars, lit up from be
hind by electric light*. On the walls
were a serie* of colored frescoc*, repre
senting various country scenes, including
an Italian capann-, a French auberge and
a Swiss chalet. The monarch nnd his
guests, twenty in number, first went to
the theatre; they then returned to the
palace and supped. About 2 in the
morning the king ordered his favorite
charger, and mounting, invited his
friends to follow him. Their horses
were brought up, and a* soon a* they
were all in the saddle, his majesty rode
off into the circus. The royal party gal
loped round the ring several times; the
king stopped, descended, and tapped at
the door of the capanna. Suddenly the
door op med as if by magic, and a crowd
of persons emerged from it. They were
dressed in the different country costumes
of Italy, and bore baskets of fruit, cake
and wine, of which the guests partook.
During the repast an invisible choir sang
Italian airs, accompanied by a brass
band. His majesty again mounted his
charger, and followed by his friends, rode
round the circus once more. He now
knocked at the door of the auberge, and
French peasant* came out with more
wine and eatables, which the poor guests,
already surfeited, were bound to con
sume rather than offend their eccentric
host. The musicians here executed fa
vorite French tong*. The same perform
ance was gone through at the chalet, and
then the king, at 4.30 in the morning,
abruptly withdrew, leaving his compan
ion* more dead than alive.— Pall Mall
Budget.
Patriotism and Rum.
A gentleman who has been looking up
the early history of Albany assures me
that patriotism and rum were about the
same those days as at the present time.
At the time of Washington’s prospective
vist to Albany, he wo* to be entertained
at a hotel standing on the corner of
Beaver and Green streets. Great prepar
ations were made for the occasion, and a
gentleman was delegated to deliver the
welcome address. How long he labored
in writing out his remarks, history docs
not state. It intimates, however, that
the orator “enthused” to a considerable
extent, and when the distinguished guest
arrived was in a condition that unfitted
him to perform his delegated office. In
modern parlance he wa* “knocked out,”
and his essay, burning with eloquence
and patriotism, was read by a substitute,
and Washington never knew the differ
ence. “Those were great days,” contin
ued our historic friend. “Why, the price
of a beer at the present time would buy
enough rum to keep a man drunk for a
week.”— Albany Argue.
Poetry Applied to Cookery.
Young Ilousewite.—“l wish to get a
pair of chickens.”
Dealer.—“Yes’m. Here are some very
nice ones.”
Y. H.—“ Have you any game chick
ens?”
D.—“ Well, ma’am, they don’t often
kill game chickens. They keep ’em for
show. ”
Y. II.—“I should prefer game chick
en*.”
D.—“For what reason, ma’am?”
Y. ll.—“ Because game chickens are
brave.”
I). —“Well, what o’ that?”
Y. ll.—“ The poet says, ‘the bravest
are the tenderest.”’— Boston Courier.
Origin of Agriculture.
M. Koth, before the British Anthro
pological Society, gave it as his opinion
that agriculture grew out of the laziness
of woman in primitive times, when it was
her duty to collect vegetable food.
“They would cut off the useless parts of
yams and similar tubers, and would grad
ually discover that the rejected parts
left on the ground produced new crops.
In like manner the sowing of seed might
have been learned by the accidental
scattering of seed* when the women were
bringing home food of the nature of
grain.”
The Day of Small Things.
Observing Little Girl —Mamma, who
is that young man on the other side of
the car?
Mamma—l don’t know, dear, why?
Observing Little Girl—He looks so
queer—he has three eyebrows.
Mamma—H >w do you make that out?
Observing Little Girl—He has one
over each eye and one over his mouth.
The young man had important business
to transact in the first barber shop to be
seen, and the passengers all wondered
why he got on just to lide one block. —
Chicago Rambler.
Dress for Little Girls.
Dr. J. H. Ripley says in Babyland: To
get the full benefit of the summer vaca
tion, little girls should not be dressed
eveiy day as though on a Sunday-school
picnic or in training as embryo belles,
but their wardrobe should be simple and
comfortable, permitting the freest action
of lungs and limbs. It is not enough
that when they return they be “as brown
as berries,” but digestion should be im
proved, endurance increased and muscle*
hardened.
•\ MAIL CAR.
Distributing Postoffice Mat
ter in a Flying Train.
How Unc.e Sim's Hired Men in the
Railway Service Assort the Mui.
A Chicago Herald reporter has been
making a trip with the six postal clerk.-
who distribute the mail from a train
which leaves the Western metropolis
daily. We quote from the reporter’s ac
count:
What do tho clerks find to do ? A
plenty. Every morning they take out
about twenty-five tons of mail, and on
Saturday thirty or thirty-five tons. This
mail is composed of letters, postal cards,
single newspapers and newspapers
in bunches. The most of it must be
“worked,” that is, assorted and dis
tributed according to address. In one end
of the car are two big cases, each con
taining hundreds of pigeon holes. Each
pigeon-hole represents cither apost office
or a railway mail car, which is a moving
post office. Head Clerk Kemper, for in
stance, picks up a bunch of letter*. In
that bunch there may be missives for
fifty post offices in a dozen states or ter
ritories. He must know just where eveiy
letter goes in his case, and to know that
simply means that he must be familiar
with the entire postal route system in the
states, for which he is expected to make
distribution. In Illinois, for instance,
there are 1700 post offices. The clerk
must not only know in what county every
one is situated, but on what line of rail
road or stage, and how it is served. He
must, in fact, be able to draw a map of
Illinois and place thereon all the rail
roads, stage route* and post offices. So,
as Clerk Kemper takes up bunch after
bunch, addressed to thousands of offices
in a half dozen states, his mind as well
a* his fingers must be nimble. A printer’s
case, with its three alphabets and few
dozen charac' ers, is virtually an A B C
book compared to the post office gaze
teer which the clerk is compelled to
carry in his brain and make demands
upon a hundred times a minute. He
keep* on assorting and throwing, with
the postal system of a great deal of the
Northwest in his mind, and with the
train still hurrying on to its destination.
In the other end of the car four men
are standing before long rows of news
paper sacks hanging with their mouths
open. There are a hundred of these
sacks, and above them, where the births
are closed during the day in a Pullman
car, are fifty boxes. Into these sacks
and boxes the four men fire newspapers
as if they were shooting at rats and
their daily bread depending upon the
number they could kill.
Two clerks thus work on letters and
four on newspapers. Just before a town
or junction point is reached each man
gathers together all of the mail he has
for the town or for the connecting lines,
the whole is bunched into a bag and the
bag locked and thrown off. The news
papers arc sacked loose, but the letters
and postal cards are tied into packages
and addressed by means of a slip, and on
this slip each clerk must stamp his
name and the date. The postmaster or
railway mail clerk into whose hands this
package comes for another distribution
must mark upon the slip the number of
errors which he may find. If, for in
stance, there are letters in a package ad
dressed to the “Buda & Yates City R.
P. 0.,” which should have
been sent by mail by
some other railway postoffice, every such
letter is an error, and after scoring them
all up the postmaster or clerk mails the
slip to Captain White, superintendent.
In one run from Chicago to Burlington a
clerk will handle from two hundred to
two hundred and fifty packages of let
ters or cards, or more than ten thousand
pieces in all. These may represent four
or five thousand postoffices, and to do
the work at all the clerk must lose no
time in consulting his books orin scratch
ing his head. Yet it is not often that
the overworked public servant will make
more than fifty errors a week. At head
quarters tab is kep , and the poor clerk
who makes a good many errors one week
wants to look sharp that he doesn’t re
peat the offense soon or off may come his
head.
Easy Way to Esc.pa Stiff >cation.
A correspondent of the New York
Times notes a most important means of
escape from suffocation by smoke, a
strange fatality by which many lives are
lost annually. He points out that if a
handkerchief be placed beneath the
pillow on retiring to rest, as to be with
in easy reach of the hand, it can, in case
of an alarm of fire, be readily dipped in
water and tied over the mouth and nos
trils. As an amateur fireman, he has
gone through the densest smoke protect
ed in that manner, and he alleges that
such a respirator will enable its wearer to
breathe freely in an otherwise irresnir
able atmosphere.
In n Hurry.
“What have you got!" hurriedly in
quires a traveller at a railway station,
A bill of fare is shown him.
“Ah!” as he run* his eyes down the
printed slip, “some hasty pudding,
please; I’m in a deuce of a hurry."— Tid
Bitt,
CHILDREN’S COMJU.
What tha Flokm Say.
The red rose say*, ‘ Be sweet,”
And the lily bid*, "Be pure.”
The hanly, brave chrysanthemum,
“Be patient and endure.”
The violet whispers, “Give,
Nor grudge nor count the cost,”
The woodbine, "Keep on blossoming
In spite of chill and frost.”
And so each gracious flower
Has each a several word,
Which, read together, maketh up
The message of the Lord.
A Wise Conclusion.
One summer evening after Harry and hi*
little sister Helen had been put to bed »
severe thunder storm came up.
Their cribs stood side by side, and
their mother, in the next room, heard
them as they sat up in bed and talked i a
low voices, about the thunder and light,
ning.
They told each other their fears
They were afraid the lightning would
strike them.
They wondered if they would be
killed right off and whether the house
would oe burned up. They trembled
afresh at each peal.
But tired nature could not hold out as
long as the storm.
Harry became very sleepy, and at last
with renewed cheerfulness in his voice
he said, as he laid his head on the pil
low: “Well, I’m going to trust in God.”
Little Helen sat a minute longer think
ing it over, and then laid her own little
head down, saying, “Well, I dess I will
too 1”
And they both went to sleep without
more words. Youth's Companion.
The Doll Surgeon*.
Once there was a little girl and she
had a large family 'of dolls, and loved
them dearly, every one. She was five
years old, and her name was Rose Jenny.
Rose Jenny had a deal of sickness in her
family. There were measles and mump*
and scarlctina and coughs among her
dolls all the time, besides accidents—oh
horrid accidents!—broken legs and arms,
and at one time there were two cases of
broken necks, so that the heads came
quite off: they were a good-natured lot
of dolls, and the heads would lie there
on the floor and smile just as sweetly as
ever.
Her brother George gave the dolls
medicine every day. That was George's
play business to doctor dolls. But the
bones would not grow together, and
their sawdust kept ebbing, ebbing away.
But one day Rose Jenny burst into the
house with a great scream of joy. She
gathered her dolls in her apron and fled.
“Sarer Ann and Mau die have opened a
hospital to cure dolls!” she shouted back
to her mother.
So they had. “Sarer Ann” and
Maudie could sew and cut and glue and
mend, and they made Rose Jenny’s dolls
as good as new. They charged “real
money” for it, and they had a little sign
in the window, “Sarah Ann and Maudie,
D JI Surgeons,” and all the little girls on
that street had their dolls cured at their
“hospital.” I wish there was a “Doll
Surgeon on our street, don’t you,
dearie?
The Little Bantam.
Alicia T. H., aged eleven, sends the
following true story from Greenville, S.
C., to Harper's Young People: “Is it
not a little beauty, Ruth?” said a little
girl of about eleven, showing to a friend
a very small baby chicken.
“Yes, indeed it is. But why do you
keep it in the house?”
“Well, I will tell you Bantie’s history,
for so we named him. Grandma set a
hen on six bantam eggs, all of which
were hatched. The same day another
hen came off with twelve golden chicka
biddies. The bantams were not many
days old when Duke, the yard dog,
made a mouthful of their mother, so they
were left orphans. We put them under
the other hen, thinking she would regard
them as her own family; but she soon
discovered the strangers, and pecked
them so furiously that we only saved this
one, which we brought into the house,
where it is very lively. We keep it in a
pasteboard box at night, and put it
regularly to bed at sundown (chicken
sleepy-time), giving it its supper just be
fore shutting it up for the night. I feed
it on grits mixed with gravel, which it
likes very much. It has been so domes
ticated that it does not wake up until
our breakfast-time, while when we first
brought it in it began chirping with the
peep of day. I take it often to scratch
in the flower garden, but it is miserable
until it gets back into the house. I
think it a much nicer pet than a bird,
which has to be caged. We all play
with Bantie, even my grandfather, and it
loves to be stroked as much as my kitten
Peg, but of course it can’t purr its satis
faction. The elders predict a tragic end
for Banti", such as being crushed under
a rocker, stamped by large feet, or de
voured by a cat; but for the present it
seem* to be at the height of chicken
felicity. ”
Velocity Defined.
Mamma : And now, Eddie, can you
tell me what velocity is ?
Eddie : That’s what Papa let go
the hot plate with to-day, isn’t it, Mam
in i?— Life.