The Detroit News speaks of a .Kalama¬
zoo parrot which has five times fright¬
ened burglars off. Its last achievement
was a few evenings ago. The burglar
had already unfastened the doorand was
about to enter, when the bird sternly in¬
quired : “Hello there! AVhat’s the
matter?” The visitor made so much
noise in his hurry to get away that he
awakened the household.
Two men in Brooklyn had a smoky
set-two some nights ago, on a wager as
to which could consume the most tobacco
in a given time. They were armed with
clay pipes and a pound of powerful
tobacco. Nine pipefuls knocked one of
the smokers out and the other won by
feebly pulling on a tenth. Neither took
any interest in the collation that followed
at the loser's expense.
A recent remark of the Czar of Russia
shows that he is not ignorant of the
Chinese question, not merely as it relates
to his own dominions, but to the world
at large. The Russians were in the track
of the Afongol invasions under two great
chieftains, who desolated Furore, and it
took hundreds of years for the Slav race
to recover the territory then taken from
them. He has carefully read this portion
of his country’s history. His remark
was to the effect that the greatest danger
to the western world existed in the
Chinese empire. It only needed another
Tamerlane to set in motion another in¬
vasion comprising, perhaps, 20,000,000
of the hardier races of northern China
to overwhelm Europe, not by their mili¬
tary strength or skill, but by mere force
of numbers. If 20,000,000 were not
enough to do the work, then 20,000,000
might follow, drawn fiom a population
that is to all intents and purposes num
berless.
j-v No Cure for Leprosy.
Some thirty years ago a well-known could
English physician disease, said that and he he
cure this loathsome went
out to Jerusalem, where it is so prevalent,
to put his theory into practice. For six
months he came into close contact with
the lepers, taking no precutions while
trying to cure them. He caught the dis¬
ease suicide, and was reported to have committed
preferring inches. Since immediate death to
conceded dying by physicians then it has been
incurable. by all that leprosy
is
Iu Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramlch and other
cities in Palestine the traveler has to pass
lepers will daily, begging in tbe streets, and
they often pluck people by the
sleeve or coat-tail with their stubby
fingers to obtain a “sahtont” (fifth part
of a cent).
Leprosy is not as catching now as it
used to be. A person is only liable to
catch it if he touches or conies into close
contact with a leper. It could easily bo
exterminated if the Turkish Government
would prevent lepers from intermarry¬
ing. healthy The children look robust and
until they are about twelve years
old, then the disease first appears. The
lingers, the disease, toes and nose are first eaten up by
then the arms and legs, until
there is nothing but the hulk of a body.
Finally it commences to eat round the
internal organs, and the person is de¬
livered from his living death. Last win¬
ter a fellah (peasant) near Ilamleh caught
the disease and shot himself. There are
occasionally similar cases .—New York
World.
A Descendant of Washington.
Carpenter Speaking of Washington, writes F.'G,
from the National Capital, we
have, I understand,one of his descendants
in this Congress in the person of Joseph
E. tative Washington, who succeeds Represen¬
Caldwell, of Nashville. AVa'shing
ton is a young man not over thirty, small,
stout and light-haired. He does not
show much evidence ol' the AVashington
features in his countenance, but he is, I
understand, worth a million dollars, and
.. the most of his property comes by in¬
heritance. It is a cui'iqus thing that a
descendant of Washington should repre¬
sent the district of Andrew Jackson.
A physician of Quincy, Ill., has se¬
cured a piece of Anarchist Liugg’s jaw
bone and placed it on exhibition for the
benefit of the curious.
WOMAN'S WORLD.
PLEAS AMT LITERATURE FOR
FEMININE READERS.
Tlieir Luck.
A maid went out one summer morn,
She searched the fields all over;
When to her home she did return.
She brought a four-leaf clover.
Her sister who remained at home,
To babe conceived a notion,
And made some biscuits light as foam
That floats upon the ocean.
She’s wedded been who made the bread
For half a year and over,
But not a suitor has the maid
Who found the four-leaf clover.
—Boston Courier.
Country Girls' Shapely Hands.
How do you find New York ladies’
at “Comparatively the glove small,” said the girl
between counter. and “They aver
age o:} fit, but of course
there are exceptions. Why, just before
you came I spent nearly three-quarters of
an hour tugging and pulling at a No. 0
glove trying to get it on a hand that
needed a I he woman was a society
leauei, and her diamonds would make
me happy enough to leave here and get
blushed. “She may have worn a six five
years ago, but she has no use for sixes
now. What she wanted was 71s.”
“And what was the other class?”
“Oh, yes. They are the country girls.
You smile, because you think of large,
coarse, red hands, smelling of butter ancl
milk. The girls do have a refreshing
look, and smell of the country, and I’d
rather wait on one hundred of them,
saturated as they are with nature’s per
fumes, than on one society woman washed
in lily of the valley. Honest, I would,
Couutry girls hands are small and white
as any society girl’s who never did a
stroke of work in her life. I cannot ex
plain it, and I am not going to try, only
it is a. fact. There’s a funny thing about
them, too. Their hands are always
shapely and easily fitted with gloves. As
a usual thing they want plain, bright
colors, such as tan, yellow, blue or
green; the brighter the better for them,
The society girl wants something re
cherclie like ‘mignonette,’ ‘putty,’
‘ashes of roses,’‘wood tints,’ ‘ moon
beam’ and all neutral tints. They must
have a glove to match every one of their
dresses.— New York Star.
Hartford’s Jenny Wrens.
but Everybody the who has read Dickens needs
mention of the name of Jenny
Wren to bring up the picture oi that
truthful little lady, who stabbed with her
needle at the slow schoolmaster as he
talked to Lizzie Hexam, who beamed On
derful Sloppy, hair and sat in the bower of her won¬
at the foot of the bed of the
gallant ward things Eugene as ho lay dead to ail out¬
near the old mill. But
Jenny AVren was not devoted to senti¬
ment tion which entirely, and perhaps the descrip¬
will last longest is of her as
she stands peering through the rain from
under the hood of a policeman’s cloak
and making the fine ladies passing in or
out of the ballroom “cut, fit, and try on,
and take plenty of lime aboiff it, too,”
for her dolls.
knew Probably that very few people in Hartford
there has been room found in
a city so small as this ffor two genuine
Jenny Wrens, who all day long make
the well-dressed ladies “cut, fit, and try
on and take plenty of time about it, too,”
for the dolls that are to be dressed in the
prevailing sty le. It may detract from the
sentimental view of the case to say that
these two dressmakers for babies’ babies
are not deformed, but energetic Ameri¬
can girls of the usual type. But their
work is precisely of the Jenny AVren sort.
All day long they are fashioning
the daThtiest of dainty garments for
dolls. Dolls of all nationalities and of
all varieties of color are dressed with the
most minute attention to detail, and
though one could merely hazard a guess
when the Jenny AVrens begin whether
the doll is to come out a Princess or a
servant anybody girl, that could perhaps is as much
as venture after the
casual examination of an unclothed baby
of unknown parentage. Perhaps the
last statement will bear shading. For
there are degrees even in-undressed dolls,
and a doll with a wax head and perfect
complexion has undoubted initial advan¬
tage over one with a china head.
But a doll’s head is not half so im¬
portant as what is on its body, and it is
wonderful to see how completely the big
and little dolls are made to copy the full
grown and elaborately dressed ladies
who pass down Main street, conscious of
masculine and feminine admiration, but
never dreaming fit, and that they are being made
to “cut, try on, and take plenty
of time about it, too.”
The Jenny Wrens are very busy at
holiday time, and the Christmas trees in
the houses of rich people all over the
city are hung with their dainty work on
the morning of Christmas Day. Dolls
that can be dressed and undressed ad
lib., and whose every article of cloth¬
ing, to the very tiniest, is as elaborately
worked as the trousseau of a bride, may
well till the child heart with joy.
And where do the Jenny Wrens live?
That is known to the many for whom the
dolls are dressed. It is in a great Alain
street block, where there is every oppor¬
tunity for cutting, fitting, and makiug
try on, and take plenty of time about it]
too .—New York Sun.
Fashion Notes.
L lain silks, black silks especially, are
. h'gh lavor.
111
Velvet tartan plaids, “true to clan,”
are fashionable in Paris,
A prize broche cloth, having a pattern
all over it, so that it requires no trim
rning, is much used for paletots,
From London comes word that satin
is still the thing for wedding wear,
though for other gowns it is pa-se.
F T’ cresc ,^ ts . c^hmere patterns,
, are worked m
bcads 011 *¥ tocs of house sl, Pl’ crs -
Fashionable shoes have rounded toes
and “common sense” heels. French
heels are now unanimously voted “com
mon. ’
The tailor-made suit is beginning to
be worn 111 pan S although it allows none
of the effects in which French dress
makers delight.
Street wraps are made of cloth, while
plush and velvet are reserved for ear
'riage, reception and opera wear; at least,
so say the authorities, in opposition to
our eyes.
The very newest and most elegant
thing embroidered for evening toilets is silk mull,
in wool, silk and chenille,
with just enough beads to give the effect
of frostwork.
Felt, velvet and plush are the approved
materials for winter bonnets, with the
odds in favor of velvet, laid so smoothly,
fitted so accurately as to be the despair
of amateur milliners,
Very many of the newest tailor suits
show two colors of the same cloth—the
darker, strange to say, forming the ac¬
cessories—collar, cuffs and so on—and
the brighter the body of the gown.
How Snowslieds are Built.
Snowsbeds to cover the railway track
have been built at points on the Central
Pacific road, where it crosses the Sierra.
As the trains bound east leave Emigrant
Gap shed they for thirty-five run through miles. one continuous
The purpose
of the sheds is to prevent the track being
buried under falling and drifting snow.
They secure this end, but are themselves
the occasion of great inconvenience, such
as the noise, the loss of view, and the
confining is nothing- of the peculiar smoke to the train.
There in the con
struction of these sheds, which have to
support only tlio burden of the snow.
But. on the line of the Canadian Pacific,
where the road crosses the Rocky
Mountains, sheds of a different construc¬
tion are needed. Before the road was
completed, showed observations in the moun¬
tains that avalanches must be
covered provided the against. A single avalanche
track for a distance of 1,800
feet and to the depth of fifty feet. The
result of these observations was that the
company built four and one-half miles
of snowslieds at an enormous expense.
The sheds are constructed as follows:
On the high side of the mountain slope
a crib filled with stones is constructed.
Along the the opposite eutjre length of the shed, and
on side of the track a tim¬
ber trestle is erected; strong timber
beams are laid from the top of the crib
work to the top of . the trestle, four feet
apart, and at an angle representing the
slope of the mountain as nearly as possi¬
ble. These are covered over with fous
inch planking, and the beams are braced
on cither side from the trestle and from
the crib. The covering is placed at
such a height as to give twenty-one feet
headway from the under side of the
beam to the centre of the track. The
longest of these sheds is 3,700 feet.
.Sawdust is now sent to market from
the mills where it has formerly lain
waste, by being packed in bales in a ma¬
chine like a cotton press that reduces its
bulk much over onc-half.
A PROVOKING BABY,
1 sang him all the songs I knew—
O lulla-lulla-lulllaby!
I hummed the hymn-book through and
through.
Kow bright his wakeful eyes—how bluel
His restless head upon my breast,
His dimpled hands together prest—
O hush—0 hushaby!
I rummaged memory’s dusty shelf—
O lulla-lulla-lullaby!—
Dor stories strange of fay and elf,
And spun long tales about himself;
He laughed and cooed iu soft delight,
And round us sank the summer night—
O hush— O hushaby 1
Through Mother Goose's ancient rhymes—
O lulla-lulla-lullaby!—
I plodded slow a dozen times;
His laugh rang sweet as silver Chimes
To me the sound was out of tune.
Between the shutters looked the moon—
O hush—0 hushaby.
My memory failed; my fancy died—
O lulla-lulla-lullaby!
The sinner sweet I could not chide.
“ Oh, sleep, my baby—sleep!" I cried,
And in my eyes the sand was strown
That should have fallen in his own—
Ohush—O hushaby!
I felt his wandering finger-tips
O lulla-lulla-lullaby!—
The song still trembling on my 1
His face was lost in soft eclipse;
And in my dreams I heard him weep,
And murmured still, though fast asleep, '
Ohush—0 hushaby!”
—J-V egcLtei Johnson, in Young People.
HTH AND POINT.
Pride goes before a fall—so does sum¬
mer.
The bent pin generally carries its
point.
Smith—“Hello, Jones! Cau you lend
me a five?” Jones—“Thank heaven,no!
I’m in luck to-day .”—Burlington Free
Press.
De Lesseps says that “the Panama
Canal will be opened on February 3,
l89Ci” At both ends, Count ?—Moron
Telegraph.
With grief A 3 filled life’s cup,
Misfortunes on us frown,
When coal is going up
And snow is coming down.
—Boston Courier.
Edison says only one-fourth of a ton of
eoal is used. The rest goes up the
chimney. Edison is wrong. The rest is
left at the coal yard .—Omaha Bee.
De Smith—“Miss Travis, I should like
to present you to my friend, Mr. Rosey
boy.” Miss Travis—“Perhaps you
would; but I’m not quite ready to be
given away Roman’s yet. ”—Burlington Free Press.
“It is a sphere to elevate
man,” izes it when says a she philosopher. drag And her she husband real¬
has to
up three flights of stairs to his bed-room
by the hair of his head.— BostoiirCourier.
“A rooster that strums on the piano is
exciting is the thing people be of said Salem, in III.”
There one to favor of
such a piano player. The rooster goes
to bed at sundown .—Norristown Herald.
Young Mother (displaying the baby)—
“Do you think he looks like his father,
Mr. Oldboy”? family Mr.Oldboy—“AVeU. ye'es,
there is a resemblance: but it
isn’t striking enough to worry about.”—
Life.
A woman's hand—how beautifully
molded! how faultless in symmetry!
how soft and yielding, and oh! how much
of gentle memory its pressure conveys!
Yet we don’t like it in our hair. — S hoe
and Leather Reporter.
“ what “ Bobby,” did whispered young Clara Peatlierly,
your sister say when
the servant presented my card last even¬
ing ?” Bobby the considered for a moment
in order to get exact words. Finally,
he got the matter straight. “ She said,
‘ Oh, well, show it in.’”— New York Sun.
Lightly And they fall the feathery flakes.
give a man the shakes.
As he thinks of the winter weather he'll ba
called on to endure,
And remembers down the block,
The fine overcoat in hook,
"Which his uncle, as collateral, is bound to
hold secure. — Boston Budget.
Young man (holding out a pocket
book)—“You just dropped this, sir.”
Owner (scanning contents)—“Oh, yes;
much obliged.” Young man—‘‘ Much in
it, sir?” Owner—“About $30.” Young
man—“Well., isn’t ‘much obliged’ a
good deal know to pay for only $80 ? First
house.’” thing you -Ken York you’ll be in tbe poor
Sun.
