ft
1
H
SALISBURY. K C. THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1888.
NO. 23.
VOL. I.
The Last Kiss.
' I put the half -written poem,
While the pen idly trailed in my hand,
"Writes on, "Had I words to complete it,
"Who'd read it, or who'd understand T
Bat the little iare feet on the stairway,
And the faint, f mothered laugh in the ball,
And the eerie-low lisp on the silence,
Cry up to me ov.r it alL
' So I gathered it up where was broken
The tear-faded thread cf my theme,
Telling how, a one night I sat writing,
A fairy broke in on my dream
A little inquisitive fairy
My own little girl, with the gold
Of the sun in her hair, and the dewy
Blue eyes of the fairies of old.
Twas the dear little girl that I scolded-
.1 said, "when she knew I was busy,
To come romping in for a kiss?
Come rowdy ing up fixm her mother
And clanr ring there at my knee
For 'one 'ittto kis for my dolly
And one 'ittlo uzzer for me? '
God pity the tc art that repelled her
And the cold hand that turned her a way3
And take from the lips that denied her
This answerless prayer of to-day !
Take, Lord, from ray memory forever
That pitiful sob of despair,
And the patter and trip of the bare little feet
, And the one piercing cry on the stair!
I pat by the half -written poem,
While the pen idly trailed in my hand,
Writes on, "Had I words to complete it,
WhoM real it or who'd -understand?"
But the little bare feet -on the stairway,
And the faint smothered laugh in the hall,
And the eerie-low lisp on the' silence,
Cry up to me over it all.
James Whiteomb Eiley.
THE ROGUES OF INDIA.
Many wonderful things have been
written atout tho jugglers of India, but
things still more wonderful could be
written about the thieves. I have lived
in Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, and Ran
goon, and have been knowing to some
operations of 'these gentry which seemed
incredible.
Every foreigner is considered fair
game by the natives. While there are
plenty who will not rob him by force,
there is none who will not swindle him
if it can be -done. On three different
occasions, in different hotels, I sent out
by waiters to make purchases or get
money changed. In each iustance they
ran away, although in no case was the
sum over a dollar, and in every case the
native left lucrative employment in order
to belt me,. It couldn't have been the
idea of.gain so much as the idea of get
ting ahead of a foreigner. "While (here
is no positive security from thieves in
India, there is j)artial security in hiring
a chowkadar. "This fellow i3 a thief
from away back. He is known to be,
and he is employed on this account. If
ycu pay him so that he can afford to be
honest, ho will keep other thieves away.
It is a point of honor with the fraternity
not to steal from any one employing a
chowkadar., . His services are a species
of blackmail, but you must either pay
him or be at the mercy of the slickest,
slyest set of rascals on earth.
At Bombay I had a bungalow with
an English artillery Captain on leave of
absence. As he had with him two ser
vants whom he felt ho- could trust, we
determined not to employ a chowkadar.
Several called to offer their services, and
all seemed greatly surprised and annoyed
when scut off. One of the fellows was
an old man with a foxy look and he
protested to the Captaia. '
"I am a great thief, but too sharp for
the officers, who have never yet laid
hands on me. I know . all the thieves,
and if I am with you no one will dare
steal from you."
"And if we do not employ you?"'
'You will surely be robbed."
''Well,! we shall try to get along
without you, and if thieve? come, some
one may get killed."
The old man went away with a look
of cunning on his face, and we had no
doubt that he would be among the first
to seek to lay hands on our goods.
There were but three rooms to our
bungalow a parlor, kitchen, and bed
room. The Captain and myself occupied
the parlor as a sitting room, dining
room and bedroom, while the cook and
; his fellow servant occupied the other
two. We kept but little money by us
and had but few goods. The Captain
was experimenting a little with a new
explosive, and I was making a report-to
. the home Government on the various
, vegetable poisons of that peninsular.
We therefore had plenty of leisure to
plan for our protection and watch all
suspects. r.I v
Oa the second day after tho sly old
man was sent away, a lame native
woman, leading a boy about 4 years of
age, sent ia word by tho servant thnt
she wanted to see the Captaia on im
portant business. The pair were ad
mitted, and she began making inquiries
about her husband, who she sai l was a
member of the, Captain's command. She
gave the name of a native known to tho
officer, and asked so many questions
that she took up fifteen minutes' lime.
I was not much interested ia her story,
but was in the actios s of the child. Xo
6O0ner did she let go of his hand than
he began running about to inspect
things. We saw afterward how hard
she tried to draw all our attention to
herself. The Captain paid no heed to
the child; but presently, a I
tfchcd, I saw the littla sharer grab
something from a stand.
Ha then returned to hi3 mother and
took her haad. After a moment I re
membered that my field glasses rested
on the stand; and as I rose up to look
for them they were not to be seen, I
went over to the child, and notwith
standing the fact that he shrank way
and began to cry, as if scared at rae, I
picked him up and gavo hiin a shake.
The glasses fell to the floor from the
folds of a cloth about his waist, and
with them three spoon3 which he had
stolen in the kitchen. He ran away as I
put him down, and the woman .hurried
after him. It was a put-up job to
pilfer from us, and, while the child' did
not look more than four years of age,
we afterward learned that he was over
ten.
In India everybody sleeps during the
middle of the day. That is, everybody
should. About a week after the
occurrence related above, the Captaia
climsd into a hammock under the ve
randa about 11 o'clock one' forenoon for'
a nap. I should have climbed into
another, but I had some letters to get
off that day, and I removed coat and
vest and sat down to a table in a corner
of our room. The. window before me
was up, but a Ligfa.t bamboo shade was
down to keep the sua out. The captain
had had plenty of time to go to sleep
when I happened to look out through
the slats of the blind. While I saw
nothing, I felt that something was
wrong, and I softly rose up and went
to tho door opening out oa the veranda.
This door was, of course, wide open.
3Iy feet were in slippers, and I made
not tho least noise as I reached the
door. The verauda was about 20 feet
long, and tha Captain's hammock wa3
slung at the centre. I peered cautiously
out, and I saw tho figure of
the sly old man right under the ham
mock. His back was towards me, but
I determined to see . what he would do,
and then capture him if I could. As I
looked ho slowly rose up on the
Captain's left, cocked his ears to listen,
and then his deft black fingers began a
search of the sleeping man's pockets.
I braced myself, took a full breath, and
was on him at a bound. I seized him
firmly by the body, but he sank down,
wriggled two or three times, and next
minute he was gone, upsetting mo by
grasping my feet, a id heaving away as
he went. It did not seem that he had
been at work over ten seconds when I
grabbed him, and yet in that time he
had extracted the Captain's watch and
wallet, and several other articles. All
were left behind, but the thief had dis
appeared like a shadow.
Perhaps the best way would have
been to give in and employ a chowkadar
but wc were both determine 1 not to be
bulldozed into it. All portable articles
not in hourly use were put into a strong
wooden chest and kept under lock and
key and both of us wrera on the watch
for any new movemnt. A couple of
weeks had passed and we were begin
ning to feel safe, when tho fellows at
tempted, a very bold game. A juggler .
came to tho veranda ami began to per
form and we both went out. While the
room was left alone, the thieves thero
were three of them came through tho
garden alongside the house and cut a
hole through the side exactly back of
the chest. The captaii happened to
look ia just a3 the box was being
moved and with a couple of bounds he
crossed the room and seized one of the
handles. I could not realize the situa
tion until the thieves had pulled
tho chest half way out, and by the time
I had got around tho bungalow they had
disappeared. Flow they could have lo
cated the chest so exactly was a mystery
to u, as it had been moved several
feet only the night before. They cut
neither to the right nor the left, but
exactly back of it, and the space was
on'y an inch wider thanth.3 chest.
The next move created a sensation in
Bombay. Opposite our bungalow,
which was on a side street, was one be
longing to a native a known thief.
The fraternity had somehow got the
idea that we had a great pile of money
hidden in our bungalow, and that the
Captain was making gold nugget3 by
tho wholesale. He was, as I said, ex
perimenting with a new explosive, and
this probably started the ilea. Tho ex
plosive was cither dynamite or some
thing very near it. One - day, after the
Captain hadbeen fussing arouad in the
front yard for half an hour, and while
he was reading cn tho veranda, there
was a terrible explosion. It seemed as
if our house was lifted a foot hi-di. and
everything inside wis thrown into con
fudon as it ' settled back. It was an
explosion which was felt for half a mile
around, and when we got out doors we
found a hole in our front yard into
which . a couple of bullocks could
have been dumped. That wasn't
all, -however. .A big ditch
had been opened straight across
the street to tho other bunga
low, and the bruised and battered
bodies of three natives were thrown out
within thirty feet of the big hole. It
took us some little tinib to figure out
what had occurred. The sly old man
and his pals had dug a tunnel from the
native bungalow to within three feet of
ours. It was intended to pass under
tho house and break ground inside, J
there being no floors in our place. The J
xplosion, which took place ia an -iron
kettle, was almost over the tunnel, and
the force was mainly downward. The
concussion followed alon;r the ditch and
blew the roof of! the native bungalow.
The thieves wero either creeping for
ward or backward in the tunnel, and
death came to them so quickly that they
never knew what hurt them.
Next morning a native priest, accom
panied by a scribe, called upon us to se
cure our account of the affair. The
Captain had explained matters to the
authorities, and there had been no in
quest. The priest said that the sly old
man had been one of his most devoted
followers, and as he was a person of consulting I rang again, and this time
considerable importance in Nagpoor, the housekeeper came and sent for the
where he had many relatives, An account Captain. Long enough before he came
of his death was to bo published in the the affair was ended. When the men
native language. The visit was made found they could not liberate the pris.
us at an early hour in the morning, oner they designed to cut his leg off
while everything was lying around loose, above the trap. He refused to agree, as
and tho two men had scarcely left the it would doubtless have been the death
house when we missed the field glasses of him. They had nothing with which
a pocket compass, a pair of shoes, and to break the chain or lock, arfd, doubt
two or three other articles. A native less fearing that the prisoner - would
detective assured us that the priest and peach oa the gang, the four plunged
scribe were two notorioui thieves, who their knives into him and ran away. By
had come in that disguise to get even the time the Captain got home the man
with us.
I was bitten, by a poisonous snake at
Bengalore, and for several weeks was
unable to leave my bed. While out of
danger after the first two or three days,
enough of the poison circulated through
my system to keep mo weak and feverish
for a long time. While lying on my bed
on my right side I could look
out on an extensive back ,yard. There
was a path running down to a summer
house, and beyond tho summer house
was a thicket and a ravine. Midway
between the bungalow and the summer
house, and off to the left of tli3 path,
were the stable?. One forenoon as I lay
looking out on' this yard, I saw an al
most naked native come out of the
thicket, glide up the path and turn into
the stable3. I knew from. his actions
that he was a thief, but the hand bell
had been accidentally removed beyond
my reach, and I could not call loud
enough in my weak state to give an
alarm. There were three servants at the
stables, but it turned out that they were
gambling and deeply interested. The
thief entered the buildings and stole
two suits of clothing and some horse
goods, and went back down tho path
with the bundle on his back.
The Captain was raving angry over
the los3, as he had been bothered a great
deal with thieves, and after dinner we
had a consultation. He went to a friend
and borrowed a steel trap which had
once been sent for and captured a tiger.
It was larger than tho bear traps seen in
this country, requiring the services of two
men and a lever to set it. The stable
men were sent away on errands, and,
assisted by a corporal from the barracks,
the Captain set the trap in the centre of
tne pain, between the summer hcuse
anu. me staDie3. An excavation was
made to sink it out of sighfy and then
"1 , il. . . t T 1 t .a
dirt and leaves were scattered over tho
spot. The Captain's family was away,
and the stable men never went beyond,
their quarters. If anybody fell into the
trap it would be some native who had
no business in the grounds. The loss
of the stable goods had not been re-
ported to the police, and the thief was
not alarmed. He might not make
another visit to the place, but it was
hopca he would. There was a stout
chain attached to the trap, and this
led to a small tree and was made fast
with a padlock.
It was nearly a week before anything
unusual occurred. A bell had been
fixed in the housekeeper's room, with a
cord running to the head of my bed,
and it was arranged that when I gave a
certain signal sho was to run to the
kitchen and send a native after the
Captain, providing he was not at home.
That signal would mean game in the
trap. If any one came at night, all the
people would bp at home, and could do
as directed by the Captain. I could
not leave my room, and must certainly
be a good sentinel if .awake. If asleep,
any noise out of routine would arouse
me. The Captaia did not come
home, after leaving in the morning,
until 1 o'clock. Wc had be
gun to despair of luck in
trapping a thief, when, one morning
about 10 o'clock, just after I had opened
my eyes from a nap lasting half an hour,
I saw the head of a native as he peered
from behind the summer hou?e. It was
a thief spying out the land. I got
hold of the bell cord, but waited to see
what the fellow would do. In two or
three minutes he stepped out in full
sight, and I was quite sure he was the
same who came before. He came boldly
up the path, as if bent on an errand,
and walked directly over the trap. I
was so astonished that I forgot to ring
until he had turned into the stables.
The housekeeper had gone to the
kitchen and was wrangling with the
cook, and so my signal was unheard.
The fellow wa3 out of my sight seven or
eight minutes, and when he reappeared
he had a sack of horse feed oa his
shoulders. He hid caught the stable
men napping again. I rang and rang,
but no one came. He went down the
path tA4B ovr and seeming to glide,
but as he reached the trap the dirt and j
leaves flew in a shower, the fellow
seemed to spring into the air, and next
instant I saw that he was fast in th
jaws. Ho pitched forward, and I could
see hi3 right ankle -was held in the vise.
He quickly scrambled up, however,
looked sharply around him, and thee
uttered a low whistle. Inside of thirty
seconds four natives came from the
thicket to assist him. The
trap puzzied them. If they had
ever seen one before, they did not
know how to manage the springs. The j
prisoner must have been in terrible :
agony, for the teeth went to the bone on
each side of hi3 leg; but he never
brought a groan. While the five were
was dead. New York Sun.
The Use of Water at Meals.
Opinions differ as to the effect of the
free ingestion of water at meal times,
but the view most generally received is
probably that it dilutes the gastric
juice ana so retards digestion. Apart
from the fact that a moderate delay in
the proce33 is by no means a disadvan
tage, as Sir William Roberts has shown
in his explanation of the popularity of
tea and coffee, it is more than doubtful
whether any such effect is in reality
produced. When ingested during
meals, water may do good by washing
out the digested food and by exposing
the undigested part more thoroughly to
tho action of the digestive ferments.
Pepsin is a catalyptic body, and a given
quantity will work almost indefinitely
provided the peptones are removed as
they are formed. Good effects
of water. drunk freely before
meals, has, however, another
beneficial result it washes away the
mucu3 which i3 secreted by the mucus
membrane during the intervals of repose,
and favors peristalsis of the whole ali
mentary tract. The membrane thus
cleansed is in a much better condition
to receive food and convert it into solu
ble compounds. Tho accumulation of
mucus is specially well marked in the
morning, when the gastric walls are
covered with a thick, tenacious layer.
Food entering the stomach at this time
will become covered with thi3 tenacious
coating, which for a tim3 protects it
from the action of the gastric ferments.
and so retards digestion. The tubular
contracted stomach, with its puckered
mucus lining and viscid contents, a nor
mal condition m the mornin before
breakfast, is not suitable to receive
food. Exercise brfore partaking of a
meal stimulates the circulation of the
blood and facilitates tho flow of blood
through tho vessels. A. glass of water
the stomach, wakes up peristalsis, and
" mutuj, jKirnauy aistenas
prepares the alimentary canal for the
morning meal. Observation has shown
that non-irritaling liquiJs pas3 directly
through the" "tubular'' ntmnnrh nri
even if food be present they only mix
with it to a slight extent. According
to Dr. Leuf, who has made this subject
a special study, cold water should be
given to persons who hava sufficient vi
tality to react and hot water toothers. In
chronic gastric catarrh it i3 extremely
beneficial to drink warm or hot water
before meals, and, salt is said in most
cases to add to tho good effect pro
duced. British Medical Journal,
A Watch Without Hands.
The watch without hands which has
recently been brought before the public
is simply a watch with ordinary wheel
work in which the intermediate teeth
are wanting and which gear every min
ute and hour only. The contrivance,
though admitted to possess some incon
veniencie?, is on the other hand claimed
to present seme genuine preferences
over tin . ordinary make. Thus, th3
construction not only allows the reading
to be accurate, but also permits of esti
mating the lime that separates each
passing miuuto.. There is not only an
optical signal given, but also an acous
tic one, since at every change of figure
the ear pcrc eives a slight sound, and
consequent!? it becomes useless for one
to examine his watch in order to mens-
ure a given interval of time a feature ! order to learn the ways of the Zuii, sit
of special value to engineers, physi- j down among the women who were turn
cians, officers, travelers and observers, ing pottery and imitated.thc-ir work. He
The experimenter kn
;er knows exactly when a
anl ends. New York"
minute begins
Sun.
Fashion. Put Up the Prices
Turquoise is the rage thu season, and
jewelers who had seen stocks of these
gems run down to prices almost ncminsl
blessed fashion when it set it3 seal of
approval on these pretty bits of blue.
A year or two ago little turquoises could
be bought as low as $1. To-day the
same stones are worth from $12 to $15.
So says a well-known Boston jeweler.
PEKIN.
A Vivid Pen Picture of the Great
Chinese City.
Its Dirty Streets, Queer Shor.
and Emperor's Palace.
When Sir Henry Parkes returned to
Pekin he said he had come back to
"dust, dirt and disdain;'' and most
travelers will find this sentence, sweep
ing though it may be, rather lacking in
D's than otherwise. However much
Pekin may be described, its condition
would still remain inconceivable to
those who have not seen it; all the filth
thrown into the roadway a mixture of
mud and abominations, in the ruts in
which the springles3 cart-wheels are
forever sticking 1 You get along Curio
street supposed by some people to bo
the most beautiful in China by walking
along, the little bit3 of crumbling
ground in front of each .shop, and then
swinging yourself, around the wooden
pillar that supports tho roof, so as to
avoid getting soiled by the quagmire
below. The shop f ront3 are of wondrous
carved wood; highly, gilded signs hang
out into the street; wonderful beams
with curved ends project across the
roadway, and strings from which dangle
red feathers. But I must say that the
last thing I am struck with is the
magnificence of the scene. The shops
are pleasant enough. One goes into a
back parlor, set out like a miniature
museum; through that a courtyard; then
an inner sanctum not overcrowded with
pretty things, and with plenty of chairs.
But the prices of the curios are ex
orbitant; so that one can only bo glad
that Pekin shopkeepers bow and smile
as politely on n on-buyers as on custom
ers. Indeed, it i3 customary for .them
to send their wares on inspection to the
different houses day after day. "Num
ber one-thing ! six dollars," say they.
Reply unwarily with ''Half a, dollar,"
and it i3 yours ; whereupon you feel sure
at once tho thing is no real curio at al
and worth nothing. This bargaining is
a great amusement each day after break
fast. Pekin furs are lovely, and there
are lovely white feather-like Thibetan
sheepskins, red-backed Mongolian squir
rels, and, most fascinating of all, cinna
mon or cream-colored fox skins, so soft
that they could almost bo passed
through the traditional ring.
The great sights of Pekin are behind
closed gates at present. Sometimes
some are open; others never. Wc go to
the clock tower; a wattle fence is hur
riedly erected across the opening as we
approach. We go to the examination
hall sometimes open, but shut today.
Of course you can go again, if you liked
the smells last time. It is adjoining
the observatory; where the carved
bronze supports of the instruments
weird dragons chained to mountains lest
they should escape, redundant foliage,
etc. deserve to be 6ho of the wonders
of the world. I am glad to have seen
them; I should like to see them again.
But, oh dear I the smells! and the man
with .loathsome sores and the hideous
voice, -who wants to try gentlemon's
cigars for them and to touch ladies'
dresses, who fights with strangers for a
larger tip when he ; has more than
enough already. That man ia of a piece
withPekin.
The outside of the emperor's palace
all that any European has ever seen of
it since the days of Marco Polo is ideal,
a fairy palace. High walls shut in the
forbidden city; a moat surrounds
them; and then there are the glistening
yellow tiles, the roofs built by- tho old
Mongols in imitatiori of their teats.
Then there is the green hill with its
trees, and palace roofs climbing up it
The entrances are of deep blue, bright
green, golden dragoncd, with hero and
there a touch of vermilion. The ky is
blue above, the sun shines, and there is
the roadway sits a child stark naked, its
face so dirty that it is impossible to see
what it is like, its head misshapen
with disease. No wonder the present
emperor never cares to come outiiie,
and is supposed never to have done so.
The world inside must be far more de
lightful, if it matches with those glitter
ing fairy roofs. St. James Budget.
Superstitions Indians.
Lieutenant Gushing says that tho Zuni
Indians invest everything ujed in their
daily life with a spirit of its-own. A jar
has its life and death and the twanging
sound it gives forth upon breaking, es
pecially when in th'j oven, is the cry of
' the departing souL The lieutenant in
j began to whistle, ' when they threw up
their hands in dismay and cried to him
to cease. Any noise would excite the
jar's spirit and cause it to break when in
the oven. They always paint a band
about the rim of a ' vessel, outside if it
is a water jar and icside if it is intended
for cooking. Bnt this band ii never
complete, as this would not allow the
spirit to escape when tha jar dies. All
the jars found in ancient Los Mucrtos
are banded, somctises in three or foui
colors, tut the ring i3 never unbroken.
Boston Journal.
SCIENTIFIC SCE.IPS;
Sir John Lubbock's oldest queen anl
has reached - the age of fourteen, and
still lays fertile eggs.
The London firemen are to be clothed
in asbestos garments, which will nol
burn. The experiment has been tried!
already in Paris and works welk ;
One of the features of the new elec
tric light plant in the city of Utica, N.
Y., is the big belt connecting engine
and dynamos. The leather in it re
quired tho skin3 of 64G adult cows.
Dr. F. Hansen, of the Bergen Mu
seum, proposes crossing Greenland's in
terior next summer on the snow-runners
which gave such remarkable progress
durinsr Nordenskiold's last trip. Baron
Nordensk jold is himself confident of the
success of this ' attempt to travers
Greenland's ice. -
Anew tanning agent, called pyro
fuscine, has been; extracted from coal
dust by means of caustic soda. The
tanning process is somewhat compli
cated, but it is claimed to be fifty pel
cent, cheaper than the bark process, and
twenty to thirty per cent, cheaper than
the alum process.
A trial of a velocipede on rails has
been made at Pantin with mo3t satis
factory results, a speed of twenty-five
miles an hour having been, reached.
This machine, made for the French en
gineer corps, rests on four wheels of t
diameter of thirty inches. It only
weighs fourteen stone.
It is impossible to put electric wires
under ground in New Orleans, because
the water level is but three feet below
the surface. So strong towers, 150 feet
high, are ercoted, and on these tele
graph and telephone wires are carried
above the public streets. These towers
are also used to sustain stand pipes
which have nozzles at different eleva
tions where hose can bo attached in
case of fire.
The revelations oi the .microscope
promise to add largely to our knowledge
of tho inhabitants of Egypt of three or
four thousand years ago, by informing
us as to the kinds of food in use at that
time. The material which forms on the
teeth, known commonly as tartar, is
composed partly of the portions of the
food consumod, and this deposit was re
ix oved from the teeth of mummies and
microscopically examined, revealing in
many instances what the food of the
person hiid been.
Some remarkable earthquako phenom
ena have been discovered in an isolated
section betweon Summerville and
Charleston, S. O, which bears evidence
of being one of the foci of the great
sheck of August, 1886. The ground for
miles was literally overturned by the
shock. There are many deep pit3 on
the marciu of which have been throw
ing up pure white sand such as is seen
only on the seashore. 'On this sand has
sprung up a dens growth of sea plants.
It is evident' that the seeds from which
these plants sprung were ejected from
great depths where they have doubt
less been buried many centuries without
losing their germinating powers.
The largest passenger engine ever
constructed has been built in the
Schenectady (N. Y.) Locomotive
Works for the Michigan Central Rail
road and is calculated for express and
passenger purposes. It is a ten-wheel
engine, haviag three
pairs of coupled
driving
wheels and a four-wheeled
truck. Tho drivers are 68 inches in
diameter. The cylinders are 19 inches
in diameter, with 24-inch stroke. The
boiler, which is of Otis steel, i3 58
inches in diameter and has 147 two-inch
semi-steel flues. The fire box is 8 feet
longby 42 7-8 incb.es wide, and, like
many recently built, is placed above the
frames, which gives increased width.
The tack is carried on two four-wheel
channel iron trucks. Tho capacity of
the tank is 3S00 gallons, and the tender
has a capacity of eight tons of coal.
Get Beady for the Wedding.
"Mamma," said a beautiful K street
maiden in tender tones one moraine at
breakfast, "Hanry is coming around
to-morrow night,' '
"Well, what of that? ' said mamma,
with ill-concealed disappointment,
"lie's been coming every Sunday night
for two years."
"Very true, mamma; but neither of
them was leap year," snd a cold, hard,
determined look spread over her lovely
features an inch and a half thick.
Washington Critic.
Whcro It Came From.
"Where is the island of Cala situ
ated j" asked an Au tin school teacher of
a small, rather forlorn looking boy.
"I dunno, sir."
"Don't you kuow where sugar comes
from?"
Yes, sir, we borrows it from tVe
next door neighbor.1
Sittings.
An Expert Linguist
A Linguist Pj, hero's a piece in the
paper about parasites. What is para
sites, pa?
"Parasites, my boy? Why, parasites
are tho people who iive Paris. Think
yon ought to kno that, and you in the
Third Reader 1" Woman's Magazine.
Make Me a Son?.
Out of the silence make me a song,
Beautiful, sad and soft and low;
Let the loveliest music sound along
And wing each note with wail of wot,
Dim and drear;
As hope's last tear
Out of the silence make me a hymn -"Whose
souryls are shadows soft and dim.
Out of the stillness in your heart
A th ousand songs "are sleeping there
Make me but one, thou child of art,
Tho song of a hope in a last despair,
Dark and low,
Acbantofwoe;
Out of the stillness, tone by tone,
Soft as a snowflake, wild as a moan.
Out of the dark recesses flash me a song,
Brightly dark and darkly bright;
Let it sweep as a love-star sweeps along
The mystical shadows of the night,
Sing it sweet,
.Where nothing is drear, or dark, or dim,
And earth songs melt into heaven's hymn.
Father Ryan.
UUM0US.
Needs signal ability Man at railway
crossing. "
Impressions of America Footprints
in the snow.
Wisely improving tho present Sell
ing a duplicate gift.
It takes a great deal of pluck to get
the feathers off a live goose.
1888 is but little over a fraction ol
time, anyhow one and three eights.
"Give mo aMudo egg, please," said
the boarder. "A dude egg? What tt
that?" "A fresh one."
The frequent changes ia the Cabinet
of Europe lead one to believe that tha
Ministers are Methodists. ,
A physician 6ays: "If a child does
not thrive on fresh milk,- boil it." This
is too severe. Why not whip it?
It has been averred that a lady with &
diamond ring will scratch her no30 ia a
given period four times as often as other
women. .
He (at a very late hour, with deep
tenderness) now can I leave thee? She
Really, Mr. Stayer, I can't tell you. I
wish to heaven I could.
A young lady recently presented hex
lover with an elaborately constructed
penwiper, and was astonished the fol
lowing Sunday to see him come into
church wearing it a3 a cravat.
Two young writers were talking ol
their hopes, their ambitions. 4 'If I have
not made a reputation by tho time I'n
thirty I shall blow my brains out," as
serted one. "My dear boy," replied the
other, "you are as good as dead."
The most novel complaint of impure
milkreported is that of a London boy,
boarded out under the poor-law regu
lation, who reported that the milk given
him out of town, instead of being taken,
out of clean tins, had been squeezed out
of a nasty cow, and he Jsecd 'em a-do-ing
it."
A teacher noticing that upon an ex
amination paper tha Isthmu3 of Panama
was every time spelled Panamaugb,,,
was curiouj to know the name of the. au
thor of such extraordinary spelling, and
turning to the head of the previous
page, found the child's name to be Katie
Hummcbaugh.
Skill of Ancient Builders.
A personal inspection of the pyramidi
of Egypt, made by a quarry-owner who
spent some time recently on the Nile,
has led him to the conclusion that the
old Egyptians were better builders than
those of the present, day. Ho states
that there ae blocks of stone ia the
pyramids which fcweigh three or four
time3 as much as the obelisk on the em
bankment. He saw a stone who30 esti
mated weight was 880 ton. But then
tho builders of tho pyramids counted
human labor lightly. They had great
masses of subjects upon whom to draw,
and most of their work was done by
sheer manual labor end force. Thero
are stones in the pyramids thirty feet in
length which fit so closely together that
a penknife may be run over the surface
without discovering the break between
them. They are not lai 1 with mortar,
cither. There is no machinery so per
fect that it will make two surfaces thirty
feet in length which will meet together
ia unison as these stones in the pyramids
meet. It i3 supposed- that they were
rubbed backward and forward upon
each other until the eur faces were as
timilited. --London Iron.
An African IHockfnjr Bird.
A Kaffir vanished and groans wero
heard. He was searched for without
result, but on the following niht
groans wer ttill heard. The search
continued and the man was found mur
derel. His tmurderer.was arrested and
executed, but thgipaqs still continued,
to the dismay of their, auditors. At lost
they were traced to a mocking bird.
That bird alono of living things had
eeen the deed of blood, and now from
day to day reproduced the piteous
moaning cf its victim.-Saiurda- Re
view. ! Speaking from Experience.
"Dees your mother wear felt slin-
pern asiieu an oia iaay oi a little boy
where she wa3 visiting.
?'Ye3, ma'am! she do. I've felt 'cm
; answered the small boy, sinificac tlV.
I Detroit Free Press.