North Carolina Newspapers

Qbe CImtljom tucoro. TjTaTLondon, RATES OF ADVERTISE 6, Editor and Proprietor, One iqusrp, oa isiertioa $1.00 One square, two inter tto&i " 1.59" One square, one month ... 2-St For Larger Advertise ments Liberal - Con- .,.. tracts will be made TEBM$ OF SUBSCRIPTION, $1.50 Per Year, strictly c'n Advance VOL. XXVII, PlTTSBORQ. CttATHAM COUNTY. N. C THURS13AY. JANUARY 19, 1905. NO. 23. Ctenvricht 189S. hv KB CHAPTER XXXT. Continued. "So I thought," said uude Sam; imt" breaking off suddenly aad pur suing another line of thought "mar riage is the most discussed yet least understood of human institutions, l'bougb women so greatly outnumber laen, good wives are as scarce as good fcusbnnds. Of course nothing can coun terbalance the want "of good personal qualities ia cither husband or wife, but there can be no matrimonial paragon who is unfurnished with dollars. I re laeusber in my salad days, soon after I settled in this country, Van Rensse laer and I once amused ourselves by making some investigations as to the condition of the marriage market.". "What do you mean, Sam?" asked Eimt Gertrude, looking up from her AVCl'k. "About twenty years ago," continued my uncle, "there lived in Rivington street, New York, a matrimonial agent who used to advertise in the daily papers that ho was prepared to supply wives of every desirable quality to -ectleinen of unblemished honor and respectable mean?, while of course Li": usefulness to ladies weary of sin gle blesseuusss was equally great To this nrofessor s OiUce van Rensselaer i and I cue day betook ourselves, and wicii planked down a fee of o, which the agent, with a grateful smile,. made l;y?i9 to. appropriate." -What iuduced you to be so foolish?" .sisked my aunt. - "Sport, my dear Gertie, sport; noth ing more, I assure yen," said uncle Sam. "Well, what, sport could you find in giving your money to a. cheat?" "Very much: my $5 were .well in vested. Admission to the agent's ofiice r.loae was worth the fe?. Hal ha! I .'member, the place to this day," and Utelc 8am reclined his head on the hid, oii his chair and chuckled. ' tVLnt was the place like?"'. I- in quired. "It was a fairly1 wcll-furnishcd office," said uncle Sam. "The avails were covered with shelves, on which stood letter cases and japanned tin bo:;e Iu a corner of the ofiice, on an elcvR:ed platform, , a bald-headed old fraud of about sixty, the proprietor of the place, sat at a desk plentifully spread with ledgers. Packets of letter;-, hald together by rubber bands, i?l lilies of photographs, lay about in confusion, while close to the door stood a large table strewn with writing ma terials and printed forms whereon cli ents might conciseiy state their quali 'icatiens and requirements." 'Did the agent show you any of the photographs ?" asked Constance. ' Dozens of thein. One lady iu par lioular I remember he recommended s.s a very suitable wife for me, his rec ommendation being based chiefly on. the fact that she was an English woioau, who. having passed the first Hush of her youth (a statement which nobody who glanced at her photograph would for a moment question), was free of the frivolities which usually accompany girlhood, and having. been or some years a member of the Lon don music-hail profession, she was an H'-'coiaplishcd vocalist, who could di vert ray leisure with charming songs nn amusing character, many of them unknown to the best musicians. These qualities, the agent argued, more than tompansated for the lady's lack of property." ''Was that all the old man told you about her?" I inquired. "I think it was," replied uncle Sam. ''But I wrote to her the nest-day un der the assumed name of Holdenhurst, and a day or so afterwards received her reply, dated from the Bowery, couched in orthography which I had not previously met with. One of her statements that her dear pa had been killed some years before by a fall from a scaffold in the Old Bailey impressed &ia as" a very pleasant way of describ es an unpleasant fact." At this point I interrupted uncle Sam ith my immoderate laughter, much to the surprise of aunt Gertrude and Constance, who, being imperfectly ac quainted with London, perceived noth ing to laugh at. "How about Mr. Van Rensselaer?" asked Constance, when my paroxysm f laughter had subsided sufficiently for ber voice to be beard. "Did the ufct:t recommend any of bis clients as a suitable wife for that ugly old Dutch man;" "Gently, Connie, please. Martin Van Kensselaer was a capital fellow, as sQd a judge of a railroad as was the Great Commodore himself; and his ad ykv was always sound in matters where he was noj. personally inter ested. Poor old farfin is now hftvond Hie vt'il against which I have been Winding beating" os, I know," persisted Constance but you have not answered my ques tion. Did the agent recommend a wife ''w your frioud as he did for you? If so; .1 would like to hear about her," "t li afraid I can't oblige you lu 'hat. Con; hut of course the agent made a rfeonnatndatioij. It was his business do so to everybody who consulted "Mr. Var. Rensselaer didn't win his gr Novel. WALTER BL'OOMFIELD. BESS. fidsSStS-'iSoHS. wire by any such means as that, I am sure," said aunt Gertrude. "So am I," added uncle Sam. "Do you think, Sam any marriage was ever brought about by such horrid methods?" my aunt inquired. "Without doubt, abundance of theih," replied uncle Sam, unhesitatingly. "Nothing that was ever said is more true than that humankind are mostly fools. And it 58 well that such is the case. Were it otherwise, then prob ably, though no one woull starve, no body would be able to live well. It is in the follies of his fellow-creatures that a-sharp man finds his chances of aggrandizement. The matrimonial agent of Rivington street transgressed no law that I know of, or that I would nact were I invested with the attri butes of Solon. He merely preyed upon ools a perfectly legitimate process, sanctioned by the doctrine of the sur vival of the fittest. Pass me the cigar case, Gertie, dear." "Were you and your friends fools when you visited that office in Riv iugton street?' inquired Connie, with a mischievous smile. "Unquestionably we were," admitted Uncle Sam, with charming frankness, "and on many other occasions besides." "Nothing can ever induce ine to be lieve that it is right to use superior natural gifts or knowledge to entrap the inexperienced and unwary," said my aunt. "Power is its own justification. That Which a man can do he may do." 'That is not right," asserted aunt S Gertrude boldly i "Nothing is right, nor likely to be," agreed uncle Sam. . ., CHAPTER XXXII. - j EUBEKA. ! What is time? The past has gone and cannot ue recalled; the present is here, but imperfectly under cur con trol; the future no man knows. Is there another subject which mankind regards in ways so numerous and di verse as time, the most generic and indefinite of terms? Only for the mis erable wretch condemned to die on an appointed day do the fleeting hours ex pire with maddening rapidity; to the sufferer from any other form of torture they" drag their course with most ex asperating slowness. It is the privilege of tho perfectly happy (if indeed there be any such) and the perfectly foolish (of whom everyone must surely know abundant examples) to disregard time. The week which elapsed between our return to New York and my marriage to Constance seemed to me of super ualurally long duration. Love i3 im patient, and dressmakers and milliners monopolizing. Though living in the tame house as my affianced wife, I now saw very little of her; she was nearly always engaged ia being meas ured, of fitted, or experimented upon in t ome way by a contingent of French modistes, who came every day to the house and disorganized all its cus tomary arrangements. Of the numer ous dresses being prepared for my wife, though I had heard a good deal about them, I.-was not for the present per mitted to see one; but I would have endured that privation without mur muring if the companionship of my dear Constance had been spared to me. However, all things come to those who wait unless death comes first and captures the waiters, in which case the latter escape from their wants. Man's comfort is not more dependent upon events than upon their convenient se quence, a course often difficult to se cure. At last the wedding morning came and Iv was almost happy. Ah, that word almost! Has the man yet lived of whom it can -be trutbf ully said that ho was quite happy? Long and varied experience makes me doubt it. With health, youth and strength; $100,000 to my credit at Drexel's; and a beautiful girl, magnificently dowered, for my wife; for what more could I wish, you ask. Why, for my father's presence this day, and his approval of the life long contract I was about to make. SomehoiV ; I could not keep from think ing of my father on this my wedding morning; and as I waited with uncle Sam and a small party of his friends in the Presbyterian Church on Fiffh avenue, vrhere the ceremony was to take placed the old church at Holden hurst, its urjlikeaess to the- sacred building wherein I was, my father's lonely life now that I had left him, :md the probable effect of the recent tragedy upon him and my grandfather Wolsey, largely engaged my mind, despite all efforts I could make to disregard thfem; until the organ, peal ing forth . the. soul-stirring strains of Mendelssohn's .Wedding March, an nounced the arrival of the bridal party, and my dear Constance, almost com pletely hidden ia white gossamcr-like habiliments and attended by six maids, passed slowly tip the church. Of ths events between that moment and the conclusion of the ceremony, when we all left the church, ! for a long time retained only a confused and general recollection; but finally ;-he particulars of the ceremony took criov i in iiiv mind, and now I can Nearly recall the talL commanding fra'andW clear, impressive voles ef the grand Old Ulsterman, the officiat ing minister of the church; ami juy un easy glances at uncle Sam (whom I had never seen in such a place before), and my fear lest he should create a diversion by some eccentric conducts Not until after the wedding party was assembled at breakfast did, uncle Sam give rein to his usual pleasantry and then to no very great extent. I remember he inquired, across tli6 table, what my wife and I thought of the reverend gentleman's boots. ."Think of the reverend gentleman's boots!" I echoed in surprise. "Really I didn't observe them. Did you, Con nie, dear?" "Not very particularly , stammered my wife, ineffectually endeavoring to suppress a laugh. . "Why, how can you say that?" asked uncle" Sam. "The reverend doctoi wears the largest boots in New York, as many rash wagerers know to their cost; and I observed you both intently contemplating their dimensions wh'Le he was exhorting you to be mindful of your . new duties. I assure you I am very, giad if I am mistaken, for there could be no better proof of your attention to his precepts." There was a suppressed titter at thTs: out aunt" Gertrude came to tEe rescue and protested against remarks of a personal nature generally, and particu larly in the case of a gentleman highly esteemed by all who had the privilege 9f his acquaintance. Uncle Sam agreed, and declared that he had not only com plimented the minister by asserting, in other words, that he had a larger understanding than any other man in .ew York. Several of my uncle's friends ten lered their congratulations in the time honored platitudes which have served n innumerable similar occasions, after .vhich uncle Sam rose, and glass in hand, invited all present to drink to the health, prosperity and lorg life of the bride and bridegroom. "For the happy pair opposite, who with all the courage )f inexperience and ill defiance of sages md satirists have given those hostages '.o Fortune which so 'many of us would ike to redeem, I entertain a very spe cial and real affection," said uncle jam. "The bride is the only sister of my dear wife, and a daughter of my Iriend and benefactor. I have known her all her life, and I say of her, that ao truer or more amiable lady can be '.cuud between Maine and California. She was my ward; and tay duty to her lias also been my pleasure from the lay I became her guardian until you iaw me surrender her to her husband and with her all that I held in trust Tor her, with something over and lbove. The bridegroom is the only son f one, Who, in my youthful days in England before I entertained a thought jf setting foot oa thi3 continent, had promised to become my wife a prom tee she was forced to break and of my raly brother, whom I do not expect to tee again. It Is for these reasons ;hieHy that I am prejudiced in favor of (he bridegroom for he is no genius, tnd I don't suppose his unaided efforts would ever have burdened, him With much property; he- Is a trifle senti taental, and lacks resolution and fixity f purpose. Nevertheless he has proved himself a faithful friend and a pupil of it least average aptitude. It is with much pleasure and confidence that I ask you to join me in wishing health, .wosperity and long life to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Tinman." The toast was drunk with enthus iasm, everybody standing. In my brief reply I uureservedly admitted the accuracy of my uncle's estimate of my powers, and congratulated "my self on having woa not only his good will but a wife the equal of his own hi fortune and every personal grace, notwithstanding the natural defects to which he had called attention; a retort which, obvious as it was, seemed to put the company into great good humor. v ' By this the hour was reached when it was necessary that my wife should prepare for our departure to Saratoga, r.nd the party left the tables to inspect 'the wedding gifts, which were exhib ited in a large room devoted exclu sively to that purpose a valuable col lection; of jewels and fancy .articles, at which I could not look without the painful thought that nothing from Holdenhurst was among them. . It wanted hot more than half an hour of the time fixed for our depart ure when uncle Sam, with an air of mystery, beckoned me to follow him. I did so, wondering what his' purpose could be. He led the way to his study, where aunt Gertrude and my wife awaited us, the latter now in a plain, tightly-fitting traveling dress, ready to depart. ; My uncle closed the door in a cautious way as soon as we had en tered the room, which circumstance. as' well as the seriou? looks of aunt Gertrude and my wife, Ailed me with alarm. V I was' about to inquire the meaning of all this when uncle Sam spoke, my wife meanwhile observing me closely to note the effect of his words upon jne. "A letter from England arrived for you this morning," he said, "and by'gocd fortune it fell into my hands. I have kept it from you until now, for your benefit; for you would not have liked your marriage to have been again postponed. I don't know how it may prove, but I greatly fear, that it contains bad news. However that may be, take courage for your wife's sake as well as your own. Remember my recent experience, and never let it be said that the old man was braver than the . young one." And having spoken thus my uncle handed me a black-bordered letter bearing an Eng lish stamp and the postmark of Bury St. Edmuud's. Tu. be continued. - When holiness is all nonsense to b 1 mi? mm ilP!.J5?wJ increasing; Interest; MiOH T no period in. the history O O question of road improve X ment been so widely and enthusiastically discussed as at the "present time. In the crystal-, ization of public sentiment for the bet terment of our highways, the office of Public Road Inquiries,- at Washingtony has ptoveu a most jmportant factor. This work is beihgaccompiished by collating aiid disseminating informa tion, publishing and distributing lit erature on the subject, testing road building materials,. and in co-operating with other allied forces of construc tion of object lesson roads in various sections of the country. The interest manifested in this question is by no means confined to those withlu the rural .districts,- who are supposed to be the greater beneficiaries, but all classes of our citizens are directly or indirect ly interested in this great movement, and therefore should be free to ex press their opinions and lend their as sistance wherever opportunities pre sent themselves. In this ago of enlightenment and progress all agree that it is necessary to adopt other and move modern meth ods of improving our highways than the primitive method Of "warning out the hands" male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years in proximity to the road to be im provedr This has proven entirely too effective, especially with the rapidly increasing population of the country and the constantly increasing volume of traffic on the road. Were every per son liable to duty to work with pick and shovel a few days annually, as re quired by law; but little more could be accomplished than to fill the worst chuck holes, and by so doing ease their conscience and relieve the overseers of the embarrassment f being in dicted in the county court: No system of working roads is a just one if la bor is compelled to bear the entire burden of the cost and at the same time property enjoy equal benefits by its enhancement in value As previously stated, money it the necessary requisite for the improve ment of our common highways, but the perplexing problem -with our people is "how to get it." Day by day 'the public is becoming more enthusiastic upon the question a they study it in its various phases, and are of the opiu ion that, as the roads are a benefit to all, the burden of cost of their con struction and maintenance should be born by all. There are various ways by which this may be done, but like the accomplishment of all great move ments, the co-operation of all allied forces is essential. Within the past few years rnaaiy States have enacted laws and appropriated money for the improvement of the common roads of the country, and many counties have issued bonds for the same purpose, with equally good results. Funds for this purpose have also been raised by direct taxation and by individual sub scription, but the limited amount col lected is generally too small to scarce ly make a beginning on the great nun? ber of roads to be improved. Maculum Koadt, In the construction of a road in any kind of soil it is essential to properly locate, grade and drain before surfac ing and, filing, if the best results are to be obtained. Good materials are equally essential, but often, however, it pays better to use an inferior mate rial found in tha locality, if a more desirable quality cannot be secured from a distance The system of con structing macadam roads upon mod ern and scientific principles is consul ered superior to others, although more expensive. The macadam road built of crushed chert, trap rock or good limestone, will endure the ordinary volume' of traffic almost an indefinite period of time with but little additional cost rf repairs, especially if only wide tires are used, as. wide tires are road makers and narrow tires are road breakers. Any material that will re sist wear, and has sufficient cement ing qualities to render the roadbed impervious to . water, is desirable. Either gravel, mixture of clay and sand, or mineral oil, when properly ap plied, make a less expensive and at the same time a most excellent road, when local conditions are favorable. The use of first-class machinery is also indispensable to successful road build ing. The county authorities could make no better investment than to pur chase a complete plant of the very best road building machinery. Popularity of National Aid. No internal improvements would more materially.TDenefit the country at large than good roads. . No section of the country is more enthusiastic for good roads than the South, and as her people seldom receive assistance iu any way from the National Treasury that method that might be adopted for gen eral internal improvements. ,lt is grat ifying to knowvthat this cause meets the approval of the Southern delega tions in Congress, particularly the en tiro delegation from North Carolina. One of the best speeches made on the good roads question during the last session of Congress was by Represen tative Gudger, of the Tenth (or moun- i-tain) District of the Old North State. It is becoming quite evident to the niinds of our solons that in order to secure re-election it behooves them to get in line for better roads. This gi gantic movement for better roads is by the people, and the wishes of tho people sac-aid, and must, be srfAutsL HOUSEHOLD r V S V MATTERS -5 Good Doiiehunlf . Measure four cups of sifted flour and Sift again with four level teaspoons of baking powderj one level teaspoon of spice. Add, ' three-quarters cupj. of sugar, one beaten egg, a teaspoon of melted butter and one cup of milk. Roll out, cut in shape and fry. in deep, hot fat. :'. 'Ebb Santi-wiclies. cook eggs in boiliug water for forty minutes, which will make them mealy. Press through a vegetable ricer and season highly with salt and a little'red pepper. Add about one teaspopn of. olive oil, or soft butter, td each egg and spread; between thin slices of but tered bread. s - - Ham. and Macaroni. . Break quarter pound of macaroni in three pints of boiling salted, water. Cook until soft (about twenty minutes). Drain in a cdjauder. To this add one cup white sauce, one cup minced, ham, one saltspoon paprika. Put in baking dish and cover with one-half cup grat ed bread or roiled cracker crumbs blended in one tablespoon melted but ter. Bake until a nice brown. - Chocolate Kread raiding-. Soak two cupfuls of stale bread in one quart of milk", scalded, for half an hour; melt two squares of a chocolate over hot water; add half a cup of sugar and enough milk to make it pour eas ily ; add it to the bread with pne-f burtii cup of sugar, pinch of salt, one tea spoon of vanilla, and two eggs slightly beaten; turn. into a buttered pudding dish, and bake one hour in a moderate ev.n; serVc with hard sauce. Caraway Cookie?. Cream one-third cup of butter, add one cup of sugar and beat well. Beat one egg, add to the first mixture and also two-thirds cup "of milk. Sift flour cups of flour and five level teaspoons of baking powder together and use as needed to make the dough soft enough to handle. Add two teaspoons of car away seeds. Make little balls, lay on a buttered pan and press into little cakes. Bake in a moderate ovcu. " Kidney igiofr. uake a large beef kidney cut nil the fat out, cut it up ia slices, then' let it lie in cold water with a teaspoonful of salt added, fifteen minutes, wipe dry, aud then put ia the pot with threp half-pinfs of cold water; let it boiftwo hours Half ''en hour before it is done add oiie largo onion sliced, oue teaspoonful of powdered sage, a very little grated nutmeg and pepper, and salt to season well.; Serve hot with mashed potatoes. "v rare, core and quarter ripe pears and weigh them. To six pounds of pear put two cups of water and cook slowly until softened to a pulp. Add four and one-half pounds of sugar and cook un til a thick marmalade is formed." Stir often and cook moderately lest tbS pear aud , sugar scorch, as there is very little liquid in the mixture to prevent burning. If gas is used fov cooking, turn the burner very low and put some thing between the kettle and the burner. A currycomb makes an excellent fish scaler.. . -' " w" - A piece of camphor put into water will keep flowers for a long time. Mud spots on silk can generally be removed by rubbing with a piece of linen dipped in benzine or alcohol.' If, when making jellies, the insides of the molds are well brushed with white of egg, tho jellies will turn quite easily. Finely-brokeo egg-shells shaken vig orously with a little warm water in clouded water bottles, or vases will remove the deposit. To obtain onion juice, pare and quar ter a large, fresh onion. Put each quarter into a wooden lemon-squeezer and press out the juice. , Milk applied to ink spots will gen-, erally remove them. Melted tallow is said to hava the same effect After treatment cover with salt. Thin slices of brown or. gluten bread lightly buttered and then spread with cream cheese make delicious sand wiches to serve with lettuce and to mato salad. When coffee has been split'on a table cloth, the stain can be removed by soaking the ' art in clear cold water, to which a little borax has been added, for twelve' hours. A good polish for stoves is, made of one teaspoonful of powdered alum mixed with the stove polish. The brilliance that this polish wJU give to a stove will last for a long time. - A bolt of cheese cloth' should be as essential a feature of the young house keeper's menage as the bolt of home spun lino" was of grandmother's. Noth ing makes better dusters; it serves as glass and china toweling and is an ideal fabric for the dish cloth. , To keep moths out of furs and flan nels, sprinkle epirits of turpentine over sheets of paper. Place a sheet between each garment. The turpentine will evaporate . when exposed to tho air. The odor J may be more agreeable to some; than that of the camphorated tar balls. Humor , - We AU Uo. . . ' - A feasy old gentleman wren Once tried to make love to a hen. (She started to scold And turned iiim down cold We all get our bumps now and then. Milwaukee Sentinel. The Bold Thinz. 'Jdanmsh! . I should say she "What has she been doing novJ"7 'Getting off street cars facing the front." Cleveland Leader. v . Only Playiuff. ' ' Jimmic, Jimmie, don't you know it's awful to ray those swear words?" "1 was dus' playiu' I was papa hunt in' for his collar button." Detroit Free Pres. ? Canned Goods ' ' Church "Do you speak any foreign languages?" Gotham "No, sip; the only foreign tongue I ever Bad any use for came iu a tin box."; Yonkers Statesman. ' Familiar Example. - "Now, little boys," "said, the Sunday school superintendent, H want you to tell me what faith if". "Goin' out on the pi early in ihe mornin' to ketch a mess o' fish for breakfast." Chicago Tribune,, Marked Advances. 'Has Oidboy made any advances to ward a reconciliation with his gay ypung wife.?" ' "Yes I think he has made an ad vance of several thousand dollars." N ,w Orleans Times- Democrat. Before She Knew Him. Wife "Do you recoil ect that .hen Ave had a tiff I said you once wer just as mean as you could be?" Husband "Yes, darling." Wife "Ob, James, how little did know you then." Baltimore Sun, He Knew Jfot. "What is the luckiest day to be born on?" '-.' "Couldn't say. I only tried o"" New York Tress. , .la a Pet. "That sparrow was in a blind rage aminute ago," said the first robin. "I guess that explains why ho went off in a pet just now," replied the other. "How do yod mean 'in u pet?' " "That Angora cat just caught him."-:. Philadelphia Ledger. v Ouiclcly Concealed. ''My boy' said the benevolent par son, "I hope you do not hide your light uiider a bushel?" "Light?" echoed the"lad, who was learning to smoke iu the baru. "Why, when I hear dad coming, I hide the whole cigar under a bushel." Chicago News. Accurately Informed. "The mosquito must be a mighty In telligent animal," said the, man who says foolish things. ';What makes you think so?" "If he couldn't read and write, how could he manage to pick out all the summer resorts so accurately?" WaJ. ingtou Star. Ills Choice. - "What would "you rather have-an auto or its equivalent iu money?" "An auto." . "Why?" "Because your money goes fast and then you haven't got it, but an auto goes fast and you still have it." Cleve land Plain Dealer, No Wonder. "What's the matter with C-arrage'i voice? It sounds like a fog horn." "Why. Garrage was out in the coun try Avith his auto yesterday, and some one stole his squawker. So all the way in he honkhonked with his voice, and that's what's the matter wth-it."' Cleveland Plain Dealer. '.'"' Water. Hicks "He hasn't been in Wall S-treet long, but he seems to be quite at home there." Wicks "Yes, he takes to stock-jobbing like a duck." Hicks "You ineau 'like a duck-to water.' " - Wicks "Yes: but Avhy be so tauto logical ?" Catholic Standard-Times. As He Expected It. "I. suppose you don't take much in terest in ancestry and that sort of tiling," said Count Fucash. .' "Oh, yes I do," answered the eminent mathematician. "I have the highest' respect for a first-class ancestor.. He is )ften the active nuineraMbat Is relied n to give potentiality to a long subsc luent line of ciphers." Washington Star. ". , - - Several uranium minerals '. hava shown radium directly proportional iu quantity to the amount of uranium, which tends to confirm the suggestion I that radium is formed by the breaking dowa of the uranium atom. The average height of man is fouua by A. Dastre to have continued - the same for thousands of years, as shown In primitive man, prehistoric man, and kistoric . man. The great size of an cient man is imaginary V Oae of the most siugu'iar of the many curious fossils yielded by the famous opal fields at White" ClifTs, N. S. .WV. la,,, an opalized shark. .It is .three and R half feet long and eighteen inches in greatest circumference and is encircled from tip to tip with thin veins of pur ple opal. ' - . Some plants gw to Sleep overy night. The mimosa, or , sensitive plant, in daylight opens its fragile leaves which" are hard at work eating, absorbing the carbonic acid of the air into plant food At nigbC the mimosa sleeps and di gests what it has eaten, and the leaves fold up double against each other, tau stem droops and the leaf is limn aud apparently dead. Experimenting on the influence of metal containers on the ferinentatiotf of liquids, Leopold Nafhan has shown that German silver, copper, zinc, brnss and bronze have a decidedly strong, in- hibitory effect, while tin and lead . bavo moderate action. Polished iron, sil ver, . gold, polished tin, aluminum.' nickel, as well as celluloid, glass and hard rubber, have little -or no effect. The smoothness of the surface of met als seems to have decided Influenc?. w 'X striking instance of the change which the-cultivation of natural science is capable of causing in the face of tho earth is afforded by a remark of Mr." Andrew Murray concerning the results achieved by horticulture in England. Tbey have, he saidv affected the ap pearance of all England. "Nowhere can a day's ride now be taken where the landscape it not beautified by some of the introductions of the Royal Hor ticultural gasiety." . 4 - i "' i, Perfumei. "The manufacture of perfume by natural processes. or from the natural flower," said Mr.'James H. Calisber, of New York, at the Rennert, "Is an tiquated and practically out of com mission, now wonderful is nature is . indicated when I tell you tbst all our perfumes are made from f je synthetic odors of coal tar, and that tne retain- . ing body is ambergris, or civel tue first a foul, waxy concretion cast off from the stomach of the sperm wliaic, the second an equally offensive matter from the civet cat. These retaining bodies, by tho way, have a high value,, especially the ambergris a piece of which, worth $20,000, was found a few days ago by. a fisherman off Cape Cod. Toilet waters, formerly seemed by dis tillation, are now secured by percola tion, and, in fact, the whole business of perfume making has been revolu tionized. The genuine oil of rosea from Bulgaria is about the only article now distilled from the fresh flowers. The artificial oils are the iouine, for. violet; heliotrope, for heliotrope; lilac ine, for lilac! and so on, ia every ease being a perfect substitute for tbe nat ural odor. - "But what is the need of the substi tute? Is It a question of economy?' "Not at all. The artificial perfumes are no cheaper, but the chemical pro cesses saves time. When the pomades were used it was nec-jssary to freeze and wash them early in the winter for the entire year's supply. Now we havo our oils ready to band and in forty eight hours wo can turn them out in the finished perfuues. It is purely a question of. time aud convenience." The fancy basket is going out of style, according to Mr. Calisber.. "Instead," he said, "the square, round, octagonal and vari-formed box, in Oriental colors and designs, is the popular thing for your perfume. bot-" ties. Here is one, for instance, fa mous Byzantine plaque; here id a lot of boxes "decorated in Japan and m ported direct; here are some Grecian and Egyptian models. The entire ten dency is. toward the Oriental effects, and we are making no effort to main tain the old styles." Baltimore News. Inkling! It Is generally the woman with n fine carriage who is most willing to walk. . ' "While there's life there's hope" i not exactly tbe motto for an under taker. . The 'girl of the period seldom comes, to a full stop until she finds tbe youug man' of the ipterrogation point. .. There is nothing some disdainful wo meu hold up to ridicule oftener tbau their lognettes. . TJbe confidence mau's road to uecws often peems to be paved with gold bricks; Arthur L. Tubbs, id Every body's Magazine. Latest From Ko ill. The imperial telephone Jingled mer rily. "Who is there?" demanded the Czar. wondering if it Avcre' possible for ary one to shoot over the wire. " 'Tis I," cried Kuropatklu. "What is the pews?" ' "I had to run all night." ; "Bah! 'tis nothing. I had to walk all night." "You?"' , . "Yes, I had to walk the baby vf aa doVn the hallway." And just theu a tlay Yolce eallei Topiaky!" Baltimore Herald. i i, i 1 1 I ' 1 "i J .) 't; It All- i