a
1
ESTABLISHED IN 1878.
HILLSBORO, N. C. 'SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1891.
NEW SEMES-VOL. X. NO. 35.
4T
II III II i u
r or, the largest hospital in th
;e!, .containing uccommodat ions for
':r. t- l.Vi'i patients, has been
' 1 tit. "o;.-.tr;:;ti:iojlo, Turkey.
Tt i
a fart worthy of note tint rtl-
though .-4 v.r,;.i in may )i e'eetcd school
comnJvsiorier in Missouri, she cannot
t ola for one. '
In Fran re the Government still levies
i fix on ffoorp and windows. To the
peasint in hi small hut this tax amounts
to a liulf rnor; than sixty cent a year,
lu!. in the towns it ri.H-s to j.'lO an-
ual
lor f r :i fairuiv.
The Italian press is stiHindignant at
flic report of the New Orlcau grand
jury. The 'ot'o lliwi:io sayj that it
will If iiopo-s-iblc hereafter for any civil
i I it: try to make a treaty with the
Vniitvl States based upon reciprocal pro-k-r-t
tiM of the liven' of citizens of either
country.
'):: ;. tn."k farnr- of tLf United
St a -s in :'., ly'tln: labor of 210,705
n. :).';. I v !j;c. and M,S?i children,
li'ie 1 by T-"."'!; hor-js and mules, work
ing 'S. '.'7' 1 , '!;!". TO worth of implements
upon r.:;i.l Ji) am of land, vdu"d at
;ojr,oVJ.t.r,'.), there was roduccd
truck valiM'd at -S 7 , ." I?, 1 .".".
! n3 rn 1 in -1 rv
ft rii'-'l a n-w I
'I i i-t.ie.' i.i K'l-ia havt
v cuiicci ning Christian
1 1 ; a j
w.iifli In
!)..-. -n ,.i'o:nittf'd to the
approval. Accord-
hupc; ia! cahiict. f
311:4; to the law i'r:'o:h burying a Chris
tian without the emdonnry ceremonies
in ci-es where the service.-; of tho church
could have been had arc liable to impris
onment for not less than three weeks
and not more than, three months.
.( poverty of the peasants around
aw, Poland, is re:tt that whole
! of them have made it a practice to
c 'il from the freight trains which
dhe citv hv night. Some of tlie
Hi!'''
jump oh the trains in motion and
! M'.
.w the coal on tho road, which their
j
Ijutor.s gather in sacks and wheel
: i.vs. The railroad companies have
liafd permission to place guards on
1 trail'.
The ijufstion ha arisen in New York
as to the ri'litof in employer to "dock",
a a employee's wacjes or to discharge him
for ah-.-nce in serving on a jury, and one
j i'l ;e Lrivcs it as his opinion that he
houM coa-ider such- action an obstruc
tion of the law and visit upon the of
f n'ter the fullest penalty. This, opin
io:!, states the Washington Star, seems
to UM"
l ive ti
It'. i.e;;r
the Meas of all persons who
er iiitercstsof the community
I; -is Mi l, laments. Muntifs Weekly,
tint the snake charming industry is on
!K" dev'hne. It. no longer alTurds an
::n-:u:i to fdrls who feel within them
t':e v-r-imptin j,s of a lofty ambition to
T'-ira two hiuuirc l dollars a week and
ti: ir traveling expanses by dexterously
t i:;;.: with lethargic pythons, comatose
'' 'as, and cute, little spotted garter
:.tkes. The public is wearying of an
iiet'O'i whicli, it hit' discovered, does
r-iuire a supcriiuman amount of
1 r.vt : y. It wants to see something really
Ti a ka'tiie, entirely new, and absolutely
'''-i -dented .such as, for instance, a
f ,
v.is' tamer.
ages are concluded in "ai origi
!:i.r anion g the Russian convicts
island of Saghalien, as the St.
n-g papers report. When a party
e convicts arrive the men are
half holiday ami taken to a park,
v meet the newcomers. A gen
e. vtion of brides then takes
b n hour or so the guards call
i'he :n(.u must then come up to
"'.Vic or
n co:nmand and point out the
y have selected. If the women
1 V1" h.m is arc tied then and
t , n npp?n to choose
ire s;
e WO- 01
"'a -s; awards her to the
duet U t!:, l,e:;t.
c w ho
t oe tu'i'm.ri ij
i sonv of
uvoai ins just fur
vo:nca employees
:a u uniform that is
is a li'.ef !irrs.ni( nn
lac fcrtuaate ones are
operators of the govern
ed every op-r.r receive.?
::.v
hll 1
winter emu!
The- sum-
vaN: is male of so:n, Uj-ht woolen
. -T:p-...l in white and blue, while the
Ji-'ket of line trie,.: cloth of
:i !: u .. Tne waists have a coUar,
e: rovers and cutis, bound in red,
!e-y are. very natty and attractive.
::1':' 'ia! telephone service of Berlin
': :' ') ia tlu hinds of woaiea of
:i t l-"h'.'-i' to thirty years of age, and
' ' ' h,: a very p'.e tdng picture in
r uniform.
(r
THE PLOWMAN.
v7hm the tired plowman his plow-stock
leaves
In the growing com, as the sun goes down,
And the fky is ns rich as a gleaner's sheaves
In lowers of crimson and purple and
brown. "
I will wait in the rare and wondrous eves
And watch, as the loom of the sunset weaves
Its fabric of gold over country and town.
And I think of the springs that have come
and cone
Since we saw the shuttle across the blue
That wrought in colors of du3k and dawn,
Vv hen t he musk of the sleeping roses flew
On th breath of the .south wind over the
lawn,
And the evening shadows were longer
drawn.
An 1 the .-un was low, and the stars Were
few.
And ycuth was fairin thi lives we led,
Its memories linger in this latter spring,
Aii'l live ;n the tjo.ver?, the hooks we read.
The kias he gave me in the grapevine
In. words and works, to be tilled and fed
On the wasted honey and wasted bread.
And Ming in thu fcongs she used to sing.
Though the lily and rose have lost their leaves
Inthf ash s of summers of long ago,
They come, through the rare and wondrous
eves.
In the crop of love we used to sow,
A rich as the garlands the sunset weaves
VVh.n th tired plowman his labor leaves
In the fragrant corn, and the sun is low.
M. A. ( i,1lirs itk Atlnnta Constitution.
MY 31 A( JAZINE FUND.
r.v r-. c. kick.
Four months before I was graduated
from Wcligsley College, some years ago,
I was troubled with the perplexing
problem of how to get a very nice gradu
ating dress at a very low cost; for my
lather, a village merchant in Maine,
could ill alfcrd to spend more money
than was absolutely necessary for my
regular expenses.
"I do wish I could-think of some way
to earn the money for my dress," I said
one day to my inseparable friend, Madge
IJcnnett.
'Why don't you write stories for the
papers?'' h? asked, impulsively.
"What papeiv'i" enid I with surprise.
"Why, any papers all papers maga
zines, quarterlies, literary syndicates
anything or anybody," she answered,
springing to her idea in her usual enthu
siastic way.
"lint I've no talent for writing I
protested.
"Yes, dear, you must have," she
urged, effusively. "You don't know
how often I've stood enraptured to hear
vou go on telling some yarn that I knew"
(kissing me fervently) "hadn't a word
of truth in it. Oh, I know you could be
a great novelist. Think of beingpointed
out by-strangers on the street as the cele
brated Milhcent Warner, of Warners
Falls: What rapture:"
"J hit what Could I write a story
about?" said I, ignoring her little reflec
tion on my veracity at times.
"Write a love story. Everybody likes
them,"' she answered.
"Jlut I've never had a love affair, and
I never can have,"' I added, mournfully,
"for- there isn't a man in my town that
I'd look at for a lover, and you know
I've got to stay at home wdiile the other
girls take their turn away at school. I
know it's predestinated that I shall be
an old maid, but I don't like the out
look." said 1, telling a literal truth for
once at least.
"'Tisn't of the least consequence,"
Madge said, encouragingly. "People
never, need to know about the subjects
they write about. Why, all the books
about themanagemeut of children are
written by old maids; and do you sup
pose that the people who write about
Lord This and Lady That ever saw a real
lord, even with an opera-glass?"
' "1 don't know," said I with simplic
ity. "Why, of course not," she rattled on;
"half the stories cf travel and adventure
are made up by men who have never
been outside of Coney Island. Indeed,
the less you really know about a subject
the better off you are, you see, because
you're not hampered by facts and your
imagination can have full scope."
"I'm afraid I couldn't succeed that
war."'
I said, musingly.
In iced vou could," she still asserted.
"Last ve:ir my cousin, Joe Schuyler,
who always lias lived in New York and
w;'.s ,it graduated at Columbia not
even a country college, like Harvard
took charge of the agricultural depart
ment of a city paper while the regular
editor went to F.urope for three months,
and he got along finely, lie juit hunted
over the rr.ral exchanges and re-wrote
their ai tides, using a little different
woialine- -that was all." x
"Didn't he makt
any blunders?" 1
-
asked.
"No. not in the mr.tr," she
said ;
"but he did get into n bit of a scrape,
for a farmer wrote him asking for some
explicit directions for .using a new
remedy for pip in chickens, and as Joe
is fulfof fun, he wrote the farmer a
private letter sending him a prescription
about like this:
Stumpus wocdus. regular size.
Hatchrtus, one application.
M.ak.i well ln-fore uing.
. '1 h is an absolute and instantaneous cure.
So the farmer drove oil live miles to
the m :ucst town, to the drug store,
wi.eie the clerk assured him he'd been
trilled with and that it was all a joke.
That enraged the farmer and he took it j
in to the county paper, which' happened j
to be published in that town, and the
editor made the most of popr Joe's joke
end all the county stopped their sub
scriptions in consequence. But Joe
didn't care.''
"Didn't the city bead-editor care?'-r I
asked.
"Dear me: I don't know. Joe didn't
tell me what belaid- But. Miliicect, do
try. I know you could write a sweet
love story, or a yachting adventure." -
"Why, I never was on a yacht in my
life." I remonstrated.
"liyt 1 assure you, dear, it isn't of an
consequence if you never were." Now, if
you'll never divulge my secret, I'll tell vou
h t I am writing a story mvself, and am
uoing just what I've adVised you to do,
for my story is named "A Nisrht with
Gamblers," and I've located it on the
Mississippi I'uver steamer. It's a thrill
ing tale, and I've got to a place where
one man is just going to stab another."
"Do read it to me!" Ibecrged; but
Madge would not unlers I would airree
to write one with her; and so this was
the way my first attempt to write for the
press came about. ,
I took her advice. I not only wrote a
ove story, but I placed the lovers on a
yacht and set them afloat in Georgian
Hay probably because I knew less of
that sheet of water than of most others.
: "That's all right," said Madge cheer
fully. "Send it to some inland news
paper. The editor himself won't know
any more about it than you do. If lie
sends you fifty dollars which I think
would be a fair price for your story,
you won't care whether the yacht sails
bow oh or stern first, and if you do hap
pen to get it wrong, folks will think the
boat has irot some new kind of a rig on
her,"
So I get a fresh block of paper, wrote,
my title, "Love in Georgian Hay," and
began my story. . By night I had twe
pages written, and couldn't seem to think
of anything to say next. Madge, too,
still had her gambler "standing with up
lifted hand ready to plunge his dagger,"
but some wav she couldn't seem to end;
the situation as 'she wished. 1
Day after day we wrestled with these
imaginary men. The girl of my tak
way all reauy ami willing 1 had nf
trouble Yvith her; but I wanted my hero
to suffer some severe heart experiences,
and I found it no easy task to pull h'ur.
into and out of his various difficulties. A
wrote and wiote, and then would tear
up mv writing and try again.
Madge, too, had her trials.. Some
days she shot her gambler and then she
would revive him and stab him, and once
fihe poisoned him, but his style of dcqfr.
never seemed to satisfy her. "It must
not seem melodramatic," she said; "it
must be a tale indicating great reserved
power
Each day we asked each other with our
first waking breath :
"Will he propose to-day?" and "Will
he be dead by night?"
Finally a day came when we each re
solved to end the suspense before night,
and in the recreation hour we took our
writing luocks and wandered oil to u
uuiet place under the Wellesiey trees,
agreeing to make some sort ot an ending
before we went back ; but the gambler
was still alive, and the willing maid was
still trying to lure on the reluctant lover,
when the sound of distant thunder came
to our cars and a dark cloud rising in the
west warned us to return to a shelter.
' It crave us both a new idea, however,
and we each resolved to work a thunder
storm into our tales.
The result was better than our hopes.
The gambler was made to rush on deck
just , as a flash of lightning struck th'e
smoke stack of his steamer, and he was
knocked senseless and then robbed by
his fiendish companions and cast over
board, where "he sunk to rise no more."
Maelge laid her tale aside with a sigh.
, "It will save sending, for an under
taker, anyhow," she said, "if I drown
him instead of stabbing him; oa the
whole, I think it's the better way."
. As for my couple, they are idly drift
ing on an ebbing tide (I didn't know
then that there was no tiele in Georgian
Bay), when dark clouds began to roll
up and the muttering thunder began to
reverberate among the darkly wooded
hills. They hastily rowed to the shore,
tied their yacht to a tree, and began
climbing a rugged precipice, while the
maid clung in terror to the soul-tossed
lover. It was too suggestive. He begged
to defend her through all life's pathway,
And in well -feigned surprise she mur
mured her assent just as the first drops
of the bursting storm fell and they
reached a shelter. "It was a happy omen
of future day?," were my closing words.
"My maiden is ready to don her soli
taire diamond ring," I declared tri
umphantly to MaJge, and we kissed each
other ecstatically.
"I knew vou could do it, Milly," sh)
saut.
i. "Now, shall you sign your nime
to it?"
"No, indeed," T replied; "I've de
cided to use a man's name," for I think
it would be more in accordance with my
style of composition. I shall be-known
as George Warrer."
Madge said the did not shink from
the public gaze. She would use her own
name.
We copied our stories carefully and
sent them each to one of the two beit-
t known magazines, ana men ixgnn w
watch the daily mail for an answer.
While we continually averted to each
other that we hadn't the hast idea- they
would be accepted, wc each were, in out
own minds, as continually planning 'ai
to how we would spend the fifty dollars
that we dulv exnected to rerdvp.
Having heard from neither storv at the
end of a fortnight, we concluded that
the stories had been accepted and were
waiting to bepubrxstied before being paid
for, and settled back quite composedly in
that conviction. Each day I planned a
new way to'spend my money.
"Since we've leen so successful in
these articles, let us write some more'
said Madge; and we did.
This time she took a love stor?. and
had a "West Pointy cadet elope with a
outnern heiress, and then both of them
went to the President to ask pardon, and I
ne reinstated the cadet in the military )
aeauemy, at tne same time allowing him
to board at the hotel with his bride, to
'he envy of the whole corps.
I told a true story about a French-
Canadian boy from Three' Rivers who I
tame to our own town to earn money for
1113 widowed mother, and was crushed in
a jam of logs, and how kind the rough
men were to him, and how they sent him
home to die because he longed eo to see
his Another onc e more.
We wrote these stories rapidly and sent
tnem to tne two next best magazines of
our choice. Madge said we might just
as well become known -at once to the
woijld of readers as to limit our scope to
the circle reached by any one periodical.
In our imaginations we now had each
earned fifty dollars more, and a& the pro
ceeds seemed to accumulate so well we
decided to write all that we could find
time for.
It made a serious inroad in my pocket
money to obtain the needed stamps to
send the articles away and also to pro
vide for their being returned, and Madge
suggested that wre save this last expense, J
"I . "
as it was evidently uncalled tor. lhen
graduation time came, and we had to
leave each other and the place we loved
so much. te.
We debated whether to write to all
the Y'anous editors about our articles,
and notify them of our change of ad
dress, imt finally etecided to leave word
with the postmaster at Wellesiey and
await results. I had been sorely tempted to
run in debt for some graduating extrava
gances, being sure I could pay for them
out of my "magazine fund," as -I now
called my expected fifty dollar payments,
but had bravely resisted the temptation,
as it was contrary to all my home train
ings by thinking how happy I would be
later to repay my father for some ot his
generous outlay on my pleasure.
When I got back to Maine I took our
village pestmaster into my confidence
enough to persuade him to retain any
letters addressed to George Warner, foi
delivery to myself alone.
One after another, inthe course of
the next six months, those various re
jected manuscripts found their way back
no Warner's Falls, and time after time
my "magazine fund" diminished corre
spondingly. Daily I was more and more
thankful that I had not left any debts to
be met from that prospective income.
A formal printed blank, stating with
courtesy that my article was not avail
able, accompanied each one but the one
of the Cauadian boy, to which the editor
added in a foot-note the words, "If
written with, more care this would prob
ably be accepted somewhere. Try your
local taper." .
Madie wrote me thatLU of her pro
ductions had been used n due time to
light her grate fires, but she was con
vinced that editors were time-servers and
could not recognize genius unless a big
name were signed to an article.
I now felt very humble, but re-wrote
th stony suggested and sent it to our
county paper with many misgivings. The
editor wrote me a kind note saying that
he could not afford to pay for contnbu.
lions, but he would be glad to publish
any goadshort articles sent him on those
terms, and I soon had the inexpressible
pleasure of seeing my story in print, and
of sending a copy ofOhe paper to
Madge, who unselfishly satisfied my long
ing with her ready and effusive, though
truly genuine, sympathy and praise.
Then I sent my first story. "Love in
Georgian Bay," and another entitled,
"The Bride of Castle Chalheur," but the
editor returned them both with a note
saying that they were not adapted to his
paper, and suggesting that I send him
several brief letters about college-girl life
at Wellesiey; and he added; "Write
simply about things you know about."
I re-read nil my silly, stilted stories,
and, recognizing their utter trashicis,
put "them into the kitchen fire. 1 could
not help letting a tear fall as I thought
of the "magazine fund" with which I
could never surprise my father's emptied
purse. Some time afterward, however,
I .wrote Madge a long and true tale.
The unexpected man had come to pass,
even in our town that I had scorned,
and the subject of my true tale wa
"Love i Warner's Falls. " Frank
Ia
Tea Three Thonsand Yearg Old.
Seeds of all kind lose their Titaiity at
the latest in a few years, some in a year.
The stories commonly current d? peas
and wheat taken from ancient tombs
growing and bearing fruit, are frauds,
or the seee's are. It is tfyeil known to
travelers tIu visit ancierft ruins, especi
ally those in Egypt, where theie seeds
come from ; that fresh seeds are purchased
by the natives and sold to the strangers
as old ones taken from the tombs. 3Vt
Yrl Tinu.
The daily paper is not happy, though
its "Wants" are few.
ropalfttion of Germany.
The figures of the census taken In
Germany last December have been pub- ExcellenJ wool has been made from
lished, and arc regarded with satisfaction j the fibre of the fir tree by means of elet?
by the Germans, for thejpsi ow that Ger- ; tricitv.
many grows more rapidly than any other 1 In 'Enrore 8teel-tired wheels for nil
European state, except Russia. The j road cars are used more generally tUa
population last December was 49,420.. ! in the United Btaies.
009, a? against 46.885,704 in 1SS3, . . , , " ' -
t - . . o re not ; u The maximum power of an electro-
showing a gam of 2,56o,0'Jb in the five . . . . .
" .1. 1 - - i magnet is proportional to the least
years and the largest caia in any live 1 , . ...
.t 1 v x . t sectional area of the entire macaetic cir-
vears since the establishment fff the cm- :
uire.. m isi tne doou auon was
085,792. In the next five years it in- !
crtsed 1.65S.56S. From 1875 to 1SS0
tte gain was 2,506,701, Omt from 18S0 i c
to 18S5 it decreased to 1,621,643-a j r'
period during which immigration this I
country was very heavy. As to tho I
character of the increase, the same rule j
holds good as in this country. The bulk ;
of it wa5 in the cities. Ten per cent of
it was in Berlin and more than one-half
of it" in the ten largest cities of the em
pire. As compared with European coun
tries, Germany in the lastllen years has
grown about 4,200,000, Avjstria less than
3,000,000, the British Islands is esti
mated about 3,000,000, Italy about 2,
750,000, and France less than 1,000,000
probably much less. The huge em
pire of Russia shows a gain during the
same period of nearly 15,000,000, which
can be accounted for in part by the com
paratively small outflow of immigrants.
Thus with the exception of the latter
country, Germany 'head the list. Re
corder. Alligators as a Commodity.
Beside the hide of the alligator, of
which 50,000 or 60,000 are "annually
utilized iu the United States, there are
other commercial products obtained. The
teeth, which are round, white and coni
cal, and as long as two joints of an
average linger, are mounted with gold or
silver, and used for jewelry, trinkets,
and for teething babies to play with.
They are also carved into a variety ol
forms, such as whistles,,, buttons and cane
handles. This industry Jis caried on prin
cipally in Florida. Among Chinese drug
gists there ;is a great demaud for alliga
tors' teeth, which are said to be powi
dered and administered as a remedy. As
much as a dollar apiece is paid by them
for fine teeth. All the teeth of the alli
gator are of the class of conical tusks,
with no cutting or grinding apparatus,
and hence the animal is forced to feed
..chiefly on carrion, which is ready pre
pared for his digestion. Other, com
mercial products of the alligator are the
oil and musk pods. The tail of an alli
gator of twelve feet in fength, on bod
ing, furnishes from fifty to seventy pints
of excellent oil, which, in Brazil, is used
for lighting and in medicine. The oil
has been recommended for the cure of
quite a variety of diseases. It has a high
reputation among the swampers as a
remedy for rheumatism, being given both
inwardly and outwardly.
Composite Nations.
"The Land of the Salmagundi Na
tion," as Edmond About used to call the
United States of North America, is a
term which might be applied more prop
erly to several countries of the Eastern
Hemisphere, declares a writer in Betford.
In the valley of the Indus alone BritisI
ethnologists enumerate twenty-two dif
ferent races, with as many different idi
oms, and the number ofthe distinc1
languages spoken in all Hindostau rathei
exceeds half a hundred. Russia talk
about astonishing the Chicago Exposi
tion with some 120 "type-pictures," rep
resenting the different races united undei
the sway of the knout; and China cat
boast of at least sixty different tribes
smost of them clustered about the westc-rc
and southern borders. In another sense,
the "salmagundi" metaphor is, however,
pretty well chosen, for the component
parts of our universal nation form neithei
an'amalgam nor a patchwork, like th
segregated tribes of British India, when
a Rohilla warrior, for instance, woulc
shoot a stranger for calling him a fellow
citizen of a -Hindoo peasant.
Sonrce of Solomon's Gold.
Recent political events on the south
east coast of Africa give renewed inter
est to the theory that the famous king
dom of Ophir, from which came fnuch
of, the vast wealth of Solomon, wa lo
cated in this vicinity. Not only is the
name Sofala, which is tbe head of a bay
opposite Madagascar, a possible corrup
tion of Ophir, but travelers have'foun I
an astonishing quantity of gold in the
hands of th natives, while several ex
plorers have met with most remarkable
ruins in the interior. These remains are
unlike any others found in thedMrk Con
tinent, being great intlosures rusdo
rom granite blocks regularly laid and
tjometirr.es cemented. These works mut
have been built by foreign invaders,
probably representatives of one of tho
reat commercial powers of the ancient
world Babylonians, Hebrews, I'hcni
cians or Egyptians and add strong con
firmation to the belief that here was the
kingdom of .Ophir. Treio. (A. J.)
Arritrican.
A Horse With EizM Feet.
There is a horse on James McCloud'i
farm ia South Dakota which has" eight
feet; otherwise it is perfectly formed in
every respect. Not until the fetcock
joint is reached in the descent from th
shoulder to the foot is there any differ
ence between this horse and any other.
At the jstern joint, however, th
branch begiuvan d two prfenly forme -hoofs
are G-un-iYm each of the tour legs
--if. Iasu Jty'd 'ic.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL
cults.
with an electro-magnet mechanical
action J are produced at a distance under
oniroi uy inc agency or electric cur
rents. '
The magneto-mothe force equals the
product of the number of spirata and the
number of amperes of current multiplied
by 1257.
A comparatively small dynamo inaj
be arrange 1 to light a greater number
of lamps by the use of an accumulator
than can be obtained from tho machine
direct.
Professor Elihu Thompson wears a
unique watch chain, the links of which
are welded by electricity. Ia part o(
the chain links of gold and platinum
alternate Cither links are made of sec
tions of these metals.
Asphalt paint in rapidly coming into "
favor for ironwork. Its wils aro not
volatile, as is the case of the various
coal-tar products, and it is this per
manent character of the material that is
the secret of its value.
The works of watches are now plated
j with palladium, which is a whiter,
lighter and more fusible metal than
platinum. About one-seventeenth of
1 grain of palladium will, by electrical
Jepositdon, coat the works of an ordinary
watch. ;
V
In a vestibule car recently invented, J
Instead of the folding-doors and the
jual iron gates that are so likely to im
prison passengers incase of an accident,
there are doors that slide into the car,
and which leave the platform unob
structed. The thickness of ordinary golcLleaf is
ibout one two-hundred thousandths or
in inch. Accordingly, one ounce of
40UI can be beaten out until it covers
100 square feet. It can be beaten out
still thinner, but the process is not com
mercially practicable.
Neither the submerged chain system
nor the endless rope system of canal
boat haulage has proved satisfactory fil
(iermany, so that experiments are now
being made in the use of heavy towing
rars drawn by locomotives similar to
those used in mines.
A most singular relic was exhibited at
a meeting at Calcutta of tho Asiatic So
ciety of Bengal, consisting of a piece of
cable, the rubber'coveriug of Vhich had
been pierced by a blade of grass. Tho
piercing was so complete, and the con- .
tact with the copper core so perfect,
that the efficiency of the cable was de
stroyed. A great event in the annals of Indian
telegraphy was the completion recently
of the new copper wire between Calcutta
und Bombay, along the line of the'Ben-gal-Nagpore
railway. The total length
of the circuit is nearly 1300 miles, and
the Indian Department can now boast
that it works the longest aerial circuit in
the world.
Vegetation in the Alps recedes from
year to year. Alpine roses were at one
time found at an altitude of 7G00 feet;-
now they are seldom found higher than
U500 fe::t, an J are stunned at that. Var
ious species of small fruit which used to
be gathered at 7500 feet above the level
now are rarely found beyond two-thirds
that height.
Russian scientists are about going to
Northern Africa to makes a study of the
method employed by the natives in re
sisting the inroads of quicksands. This
inquiry is the result of ineffectual efforts
on the part of Russian engineers toi
counteract the client of quicksands In
ttan.s-Cayian seoti ms, where thousand
of acres of the best arable soil arc an
nually used up.
Oil Tonds In the Gnlf.
Between the mouth of the Mississippi
River and Galveston, Texas, ten or fif
teen miles south of Sabine Pass, Is a spot
in the Gulf of Mexico which is common
ly called "the Oil Ponds" by the cap
tains of the small crafts which ply in
that vicinity. There i no land within
fifteen miles, but even in the wildest
weather the water at this gjot is com
paratively calm, owing to the thick cov
ering ot oil w hich apparently riies from
the bed of the gulf, which is litre about
fifteen to eighteen feet beneath the sur
face. This etra'ige refuge is well known
to sailors "who run o'j the small vessels
trading between Calcaiicn. Orange, Sa
bine, Beaumont and Gaivtiton. Wbea
through stress of weather they fail to
make harbor elsewhere, they run for
"the Oil Ponds," let go the anchor and
ride the gale in safety this curious spot
furnishing a goi illustration of the ef
fects of "ojl upon a troubled s'a." Chi
cago Times
Peat Coal.
A plan for converting peat into a more
jOLveuient form of fuel has been doubt
fully received in r Sweden, but has been
tested with results that seem to be very
satis fact'ry. Several new manufactories
are to be started sou:; iri different part
of the country, a id "pit toil" Is hkcly
to prove un importai product, and to
have a stimulating effect upon other ia-
duitrici. Trtnton (.V. J.) AmtrUtr..