It is said that $2,000,000 has been I
raado out of a single- brand of chewing
gum. .-It is not all used, by the way,
by children and foolish women, re
marks the Chicago Herald.' 'Dentists
often recommend chewing gum for the
teeth, and physicians prescribe it
sometimes as an aid to digestion, be
cause . it excites the activity of the
salivary glands. Large drug houses
keep gum in answer to this demand.
W. U."Mullerr of OmnhaTsays the
eight hour day "would bring about in-
' creased consumption, a vaster display
of productive activity, a higher intel-
lectual and moral development of the
toiler and a' wider demand for the
more artistio products of our factorieo
and workshops. It would stimulate
inyentive genns, develop better and
'grander civilization and bring about
an almost fabulous increase of national
property and wealth. The creneral
struggle for a reduction of the hours
of labor is a struggle for a. better
. civilization, a strugglo for -work for
filling hands who should be em
ployed. " : '
Observes tho Boston Courier : It ia
the common boast that we are' fast ad
vancing in knowledge in . all depart
ments toward perfection.' Tf that is
true in statesmanship, why do our
best speakers in that line quota Mr.
Webster as the best authority ? What
lawyer have we living to-day more
learned in jurisprudence than was Sir
Edward Coke, Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas of England almost 300
years ago? What philosopher wiser
.than. Plato, or Spinoza? What poet
: greater than Shakespeare ? What
writer surpassing Goethe? What
skeptic excelling Montaige? What
mystic more spiritual than Beham or
Swedenborg? What Israelite more
learned than Rillel or what Christian
, preacher more eloquent than Paul?
To come 'to our present century and
country, where have we on any bench
in our broad lan'd the eqnal of Shaw
as a Chief- Justice or of Choate as an
.
advocate?-'
The' mining craze seems to have
'struck some portions of Georgia and
Alabama pretty hard. A score or
Wore of new gold mines have been
opened in thoue Sate3 within the last
.three or four months, notes tb.9 St.
- Louis Republic, and a good many old
ones are being worked as they were
, never before. George Huntington
Clark predicts in the Manufacturers'
Record that in the immediate future
the gold fields of Georgia are going to
surprise the old doubters as much as
the development of Southern iron did.
The.richost gold mines of that State
are as yet untouched, ho says.
Georgia's gold belt' covers a strip of
country from twenty to forty miles
wide, and extending across the State
from northeast to southwest, embrao-
I7l(f n-. ... r...'1a Tf -run.-
into Alabama and spreads out over
some 3509 square miles more in thai
: State. , Georgia's, mines have so fax
produced over $16,000,000 worth oi
gold and silver, or more thsn those ol
j l rt il. 'i . i j
any oiner . raouiueru dwiq except
JsoxXh. Carolina.
Harold Frederic, who is a close ob
server in English politics, is ol opin
ion that the resignation o Mr. Glad
stone is due not to the fact that his
eyesight is failing or to tho fact that
he is growing feeble, but to the fasi
that he has bean losing influence with
bis own administration. The theory
is that his cabinet was out of sympathy
with him in many things and went its
own way regardless cf his wishes.
Rosebery was becoming more of a
power than the Grand Old man; and
so thclatter dropped a hint of retire
ment after the manner of Bismarck,
and, like Bismarck, was . surprissd to
find that there was no clamor against
his going. In other words, Gladstone
ie represented as being fcdged off the
stage, by his young men. The dagger
in his retirement does not lie so much
in the loss of his personality, powerful
as that is, as in the loss of that pecu
liar thing called leadership. Rosebery
or any one else can be made the official
head of the niinietiy and the leader of
the liberal party but no one can in
herit the general qonfidence. of the
party and its sympathizers throughout
the world in-Gladstone. This is a
great source of jower which ha cannot
transmit. Thfncw -leader will have
party discipline to support him, but
he will have to reate party esntiment
and popular Bctitnent. ... .
1 WONDER WHY!
I wonder why hearts change so carelessly,
Forgetful of the Ilros they have set
Aglow in other hearts,
Forgetful of the trembling Hps once wet
With dews of kisses.
I wonder why it comos forgctfulness'
To steal away the loyalty, and truth
That onee were glorified,
Leaving, alone, n formless shadow ruth
For those forgotten.
I wonder why we oannot , earnestly,
Command our loves as we, command our
Jives,
And prove it sweetly true,
That love remains to him who truly strives
To grow in constancy.
J wonder why we never know ourselves
Can never look Into ourselves and see
The hidden springs that wait
A maglo touch to burst forth mightily.
And 'whelm our startled souls.
I wonder why once earnest vows enshrined
Within the inner temples of our love,
Orow faint with lapsing time,
Like echoes from some whisp'ring voice
above
Tho far off floating clouds
I wonder why !
New Orleans Times-Democrat.
A FAIR PRISONER
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.
ND was this where
the' old witch
lived?'" said Grace
Olmer, eagerly.
Up on the shelv
ing sides of Mount
Buckle thero was
a cleared space
among the pines
tgn and maples, where
a onrinfv nnnn en
"- 3w-ri3 out from the rock
and a ruinous one-storied cabin stood
perched like the eyrie cf an eagle, f AH
around the grass was purple with wild
violets and the birds were whistling in
the woods.
Snddenlv Grace drew back and
clutched instinctively at Haloyone
Marden's arm as something lean and
stealthy glided out from the half
closed door and darted into the thick
ets beyond.
"What was that?" she casned. "A
cat?"
"No," Halcyone laughed, with a
scornful shrug of the shoulders. "Any
one could tell that you were from tho
city, Gracie Olmer. Whoever saw a
nat nf that r.nlor that share? It's a
fox. And there are panthers in these
woods, and one winter a bear came out
into the clearine, and Hurst Dockrill
Bhothim."
"Does no one live here now?"
Haloyone shook her head.
"It's too wild and desolate. Who
would live three miles up Buckle
Mountain? Aunt Betsy used to gather
herbs and sell them. She lived on nuts
and berries, and obo day they found
her sitting dead by her fire. Oh, yes,
I know the place is in good repair
these old-fashioned log cabins will
last forever if nobody fjulla them
down!"
She pushed open the door.
"Let's go it-side," said she, "and sit
down to rest."
The floor had rotted away, and tall
weeds and bushes were rioting in the
fireplace; an old wooden bench stood
against the crumbling wall.
"Now, Grace," said Halcyons, giv
ing her fair hair a little toss as they
seated themselves, "do you know why
I have brought you here?"
"To look at the old witch's hut, I
suppose, and to get some violets. Oh,
it is 60 beautiful hero if only the
bear doesn't put in an appearance i"
"The bear was shot long ago. And
we could have got violets down in the
meadow, almost anywhere. No, Grace.
I wanted to ask you ifif you really
cared for Aleck Dale?"
Grace Olmer's face became scarlet,
her lashes drooped.
"Halcyone," said she, "you have no
right to ask me such a question as
that!"
Halcyone Marden sprang to her feet
and stood indignantly before her
friend.'
"Eut I have a right!" said she.
"Look here Grace ! Before you camo
to Buckleton, Aleck was my lover. He
went everywhere with mehe was
going to ask me to be his wife. "
"Did he ever say so in words?"
"N-no. But a man's heart speaks
out iu other things than words!" ex
citedly uttered Halcyone. . "I was as
sure of it as I am that tho sun is shin
ing now. And then yon came ami
everything ia so diflVreni !" . , (
Grace lifted her Uno, dark-friugV.d
eyes,' and even in this moment of fran
tic jealousy, her rival could not but
confess to herself how beautiful they
were, and looked Halcyone full in the
face.
"Am I to blame because things are
lifferent?" said she.
"Captain Dalzell likes you, Grace," I
coaxed Halcyone, putting her hand
caressingly on the other, girl's shoul
der. "Ho is rich he owns the hand
somest house in Buckleton."
Grace sprang up, Bhaking' ott Hal
cyone's touch.
"And you would have me marry a
man whom I could never love, simply
because he is rich?" said she.
"Other girls do it. And you are
very poofyou can hardly support
t hat old bed-ridden father of yours in
tho home in New York. You see, 1
know ail about your affaire, Grace
Olmer!"
"I am not what you are pleased to
.all 'other girls.' As for my father,
Uiere is no disgrace iu his being in a
uomp, as long as I pay his way."
"Jrace, listen." Halcyone' voice
grew flexible and coaxing. "You and
I both had offers to-day to go to the
new shirt factory in Whitesdown. I
must remain here, because my father
and mother want mc to remain near
them. But you' will go. won't you?"
"I have no intention of going," said
Grace, calmly.
"But -at least promise me, Gracie
dear Gracie that you will not dance
with Aleck Dalo at the party to
night!" pleaded Halcyone.
"Halcyone, you are a very strange
girl," said Grace Olmer. "If you
really care for this man who has not
as yet expressed a preference of any
kind the lists are as open to you as
to me. No, I will pledge myself to
nothing?"
. Halcyone Marden was a tall gir!,
with au abundauce of yellow hair, a
rose-bright complexion, and hazel
eyes, shot through and through by to
paz gleams.
Although of New England birth, she
possessed many of the characteristics
of a tropical clime. Her grandfather
had been a Portuguese ship captain,
exiled from his native land through
some political disturbance.
She mado a quick step forward.
"And you dare take him away from
me!" she exclaimed, tho topaz eyes
glittering strangely.
"Ho must take his own choice !"
"But, Grace, you arc as calm as
moonlight and a cold as snow. To
you there are plenty of others bo
sides this man, while to me he is all
the world. You will give him up?"
"Ho must choose for himself " was
the low reply.
Halcyone flashed one wrathful
glance at her vival, and rushed out of
the cabin, letting tho nail-studded
door bang behind her, and the next
moment Grace could hear her flying
footsteps crash down the tall briers
end thick-growing hazle bushes on
the path below.
She sprang to her feet.
"Halcyone! Halcyone!" she cried,
waving her handkerchief through the
narrow, slit-like window, which was
nearly on a level with her eyes.
"Where are you going? Wait for
me, Halcyone."
For one second the other girl
paused. She saw that the door had
settled heavily down into the logs of
the threshold, and that Grace Olmer
was a captive in the old witch's cabin.
A sudden exultation throbbed
through her heart a half-formed
piece of strategy.
"Why not?" she asiked herself.
"Does it not serve her right, tho cold,
passionless, flinty-hearted thing? Let
her stay there until she comes to her
senses I . One night on Mount Buckle
won't hurt her, and the coast will be
free for me !'
It was not for tome time that Grace
Olmer realized that she was a prisoner
in this wild spot that her individual
strength would not suffice to stir the
heavy door that had settled so solidly
down into the mouldering logs of the
threshold, and that the one window
was far too small to afford any egress.
In the west the sun was setting in a
crimson blaze over Buckle Lake; a
low wind rustled the ross briers out
wide; and a faint sweetness rosu up
from the crushed violets in her lap. .
'She drew a quick, shuddering
breath; then sho tried to laugh.
"I must be patient," she thought.
"Seme one will surely come, along, it
I only wait long enough. There must
be some woodcutter; on the mountain
or perhaps a boy, digging sassafras
roots!"
. But she waited and waited, and the
deep red sunset faded into purple and
uhen into gray, and still no one came.
She thought of old Betsy Bloom,
"the witch," sitting stark and dead;
she remembered the stealthy rush of
the red fox ; and still she kept assur
ing herself that this was only a joke.
Halcyone would surely return, or some
one else would come to her aid.
And then she remembered the rustic
dance on the sawmill floor that was
planned for that evening, and won
dered, with a rush of blinding tears to
her eyea, if Alexander Dalo would
miss her.
Halcyone Marden looked unusually
beautiful that evening, in a white
crown of some soft, crinkly material
with a bunch of blue iris at her belt
and a carcanet of blue beads around
her white throat.
The band two fiddles and a horn,
played by three energetic colored men
was wrestling with "Climbing Up
De Golden Stairs," and about twenty
couples were romping up and down the
floor in the famous "Highland Schot
tische" when she came in.
"Where is Miss Olmer?" asked the
master of ceremonies, a stalwart young
lumberman.
Halcyone made him a low courtesy.
"Am I Miss Olmer's keeper?" said
she, satirically.
"No. But she boards at the same
place, doesn't she?"
"For all that, I'm not answerable
for her movements!" Halcyone re
torted.
"WiH you dance with me, nal
cyone?" called out Ross Duncan
And with a quick glance around the
room to satisfy herself that Mr. Dale
was not there, Halcyone accepted the
challenge.
"I may as well amuse myself until
he comes," she thought.
Her tawny eyes sparkled, her cheeks
glowed a rich carmine, and her pulses
bounded joyously to the time of the
music. Opportunity was all that she
had needed, and surely she should
triumph now !
"And of course," shs added, within
herself, "Grace Olmer will know that
it was all a mistake. How was I to
know that the door swung shut?"
Slowly tho evening passed by.
Danes after dance succeeded each
other ; the music clashed loudly ; peo
pie came and went, and Halcyone
reigned the undoubted queen of the
rustic merry-makeri?, yet still the
"man of men' did not uawn upon ner
horizon.
And to the universal query, "What
has become of Aleck Dale?" nooody
was ready with a rejoinder.
Out in Buckleton the people did not
keep late hours, and it was not very
much-past miunigh'; when Halcyone
Marden's escort left her at tho pic
turesque little garden gate, and,
sauntering up the box-bordered path,
she saw in the level May moonlight
two figures on the porclu
"Who is that?" she called out
"Why, it is never Grace Olmer?"
"Yet Grace Olmer!" responded a
well-known voice, and Alexander Dale
stepped out into tho full pearly light
"Grace Olmer and your humble
servant as well. I happened to be
coming down Bucklo Mountain late
this afternoon with some squirrels I
had shot, and to my surpriso I en
countered a captive princess m an en
chanted tower Grace Olmer iu the
old witch's hut and I had the happi
ness of releasing her and being her
escort home."
"Halcyone," said Grace, looking, the
golden-haired girl full in the face,
"did you know thai when you swung
that heavy door shut that it fastened
me in?"
"Oh, Gracie !"
The color came and went on Hal
cyone's cheek; but the tawny eyes
revealed their secret and Grace knew
all, though her companion spoke no
word.
"But," sookeDale, joyfully, "how
ever it may have happened, it gave me
the opportunity for which I had long
hoped. Congratulate me, Halcyone
Miss Olmer has promised to be roy
wife."
Halcyone's smile was cold and mean
inglesaas the moonlight around her,
and her heart was colder still as sha
held out her hand to her successful
rival and mechanically uttered tho
words:
"I congratulate you!"
For in all life's contests, where one
wins another must fail. Saturday
Night, '
FUN.
To destroy peace one has only to
disturb it. Dallas Aews.
Of course a bright girl ought to
bave a Bpark of humor.- Lowell
ouricr.
Another never quite forgives her
aon for marrying until he becomes the
father of a baby that is named for her.
Atchison Globe.
Laundry machinery really seems to
iiave reached the stage of perfection.
It can destroy a collar in a single wash.
Boston Transcript.
Borus (struggling author) "Naggue,
I always thought you were a warm
friend of mine!" Naggus (literary
editor) "Borus, I am. That's why I
roasted your book. "Inter-Ocean
Winks "I notice that your barber
always talks to you in French. I did
not know that you understood that
lunrmasc." Jinks "Well, I don't, but
you needn't tell him so." Mew lorn
Weekly.
Tommy--"Maw, may I have Jimmy
Bricis over to our house to play oat
urday?" Mrs. Figg "No, you make
too much noise. You'd better go
down to his house and play. "Indian
apolis Journal.
Overheard at the table of a Spruce
street-boarding : Old Boarder-"This
boup has many sins to answer for.
New Boarder "Yes ; but I should say
they are principally sins of omission.
Philadelphia Record
He "Which did you like best of
my verses?" She-"Why, the one on
the first mce." He-"bet me see
Which one was that?" She "Don't
you remember? The one in quotation
marks." Brooklyn Life
"Barker is eoing to teach me book
vminr " Raid Yonnsr Jarley. "Well,
""J. o -
he'siust the man to do it," said Daw
son. "I lent him a copy of Watson s
poems a year ago, and he's kept it ever
since." Boston Home Journal.
Miss Sentiment "Were you ever
disappointed in love?" Eligible Wid
OWer "Two and a half times. Miss
Sentiment "Two and a half times?"
Eligible Widower "Yea, twice mar
ried and once rejected. iit-Bits
"It is all verv well for the minister
topreaoh from the text 'Remember
Lot's wife,' " said an overworked, dis
couraged matron, "but I wish he would
now give us au encouraging sermon
upon the wife's lot." Lowell Courier.
Mr. Fussy "Madam, you know
that I always insist on having my egga
boiled soft, and these are as hard aa
stones I" Mrs. Landlady (timorously)
-"Well. I wbk you'd speak to the
,v- nliftiit it. I don t dare to.
Harper's Bazar.
They were passing a fruit store on
Jefferson avenue. "Oh, my, sac ex
claimed, "look at those strawberries.
Aren't they a lovely red?" "Of course
'l.pv are." he replied; "that's the way
they blush at the price asked for
them." Detroit Free Jfress.
For Cheap Housekeeping
A Chicago man thinks that tha sys
Rtem of co-operative housekeeping,
which ha3 been tried and failed in
several cities of the country, can be
made to work in that city, and will
Bolve the problem, which many young
arfl Rtruffsrlinc with. "How to
sunoort a family, on $50 a month."
He proposed a large apartment house,
wherein 200 families may be accommo
dated with more or less room, as they
need and are willing to pay for, and
a restaurant, where all are boarded in
common. The guests would have a
barber, a laundry, a house physician,
and would be able .to get all their sup
plies; dry goods, etc., at wholesale
rates; and on the whole could liva
vcrv reasonably, indeed. The plan
would work to admiration, provided
all the inmates of the house were
angels, or were thoroughly civilized,
which is much the same thing. But
with human nature, as it is, no one
house is big enough to contain two
families, espechllj if there are any
children. ThisK tlw rock whereon
this ship has al split. New Or.
loans Picavuus. x
CURIOUS FACTS.
The United States have' 10G0 bf'
ings banks. ' , '
Egyptian children are never washed1
until they are ofte. year old. t
Geooranhv as a science was intro-
duced into Europe by tty Moors in
1240." . V .
The irreatest bell in the world, that'
of Moscow, Russia, has never been
used as a bell.
Prisoners when arrested in Morocco
are required to pay the officer for his
trouble in taking them to jail. ;,
James Sladen is in jail at Puyallup,:
Wash., charged with stealing a hot
stove. Evidence against him is that
his hand are singed.
An enumeration of the population ,
of 'Aggershnns, Norway, in 1703,
showed that 130 couples had been over
eighty yeajrs married.
Most people marry between the ages
of thirteen and twenty. Aristotle ad-.
vised men to marry at thirty-seTea,
and women at eighteen.
f!Tin.nn is rro-
nounce "Jong," with tha long sound i
on the "o." This may account for the
nickname "John" as applied to China
men. A familv namsd Walker, living iu'
Mitchell County, North Carolina, con
sists of seven brothers and five sisters,
all of whom are over six feet in height.!
Ono of the brothers is said to be seveu1
feet nine inches tall.
Ouaint old customs still survive ia
many parts of Eujrhind. In Ely Place,.
Holborn, a watchman cries the hours
nightly with the same formula in use
jfor centuries past :. "Past 1 o clock,
land a cold, w?t morning."
The greatest sum evsr paid for tale-1
graph tolls in one week tyy,ft news
paper was incurred by the .London
Times durinjr the revolution in the Ar-
igentine Republic,' and tha sum paid
was $30,000, or at the rate o. ,31.
per word.
A child has been bora' in Morocco
with three perfect eyes, tho. third be-.
ing situated on tho side of the heaa,
near the temple. The parents ara poor
peasants and will probably accept any
offer made by a scientific society to
sell their offdpr ing. ' -
Dr. Augustas Berggren, of. Newton .
County, Georgia, sold a mule ( the
ocner aay ami receiver, pjxjicnu u
paper money issued by a wild-cat
bank at Brauswick during the war.
The doctor was in such a hurry to close
the trade that he did not look at tie
figures on the bills. j
y. xi. iucuiiwee, oi
Tcnn., describes a coin found in au
Indian mound in that country as bear
ing on one side an urn burning incense
and on the other a fig or oliva branch,
with the words in Hebrew: "Shekel'
of Israel." The coin is of brass and is
in a fair scata of prsservation.
It is generally supposed that when a
man's heart pulsations go down to forty
a minute death will follow unless restor
atives are administered. Yet the pul
sations of Thomas Lyons, of Boston
Haibor, Mich., have sunk as low as
eighteen a minute, although to all ap
pearances he is well and strong. -
Hera are fifteen varieties of tha
word mother, all bearing a distinct
resemblance : Anglo-Saxon, modor ;
Persian, madr ; Sanscrit, matr ; Greek,
iaf ai Tf a.lia.n niu.(1rii TVfinfli. inMl!
Swedish, moder; Danish, the same;
Dutchy moeder ; German, mutter;
Russian, mater; Celtic, mathair; He
brew, em; Arabia, am. , . v.
1 , 1
Starting a Pineapple Plantation. ;
Thfl first operation in starting a pine-
apple plantation is to cut off the ham
mock growth and clear the area, thongu
. . i . j . I.fk
ft a ctnmni at r.nn mrniv rrniaq srn pi .
standing. The ' 'slips, " which are sim
ply growths from the old plants, ara
usually put in with a pointed : stick ft
the rate of twelve thousand to too
acre. The first croo matures in about
eighteen months, and when three crops
are secured, in as many years, ti )
field are abandoned for this culture,
the surface .again cleared, and plant id
in tomatoes. Sweet potatoes aha
grow to perfection, and, as I way as
sured by a gentleman of experience,
aro frequently quarried from tVt?8a
fields of coral rock w ith a crowbar.
I was much interested in, tho pine
apple industry, as the leaves of V-.n
pineapple contain ft beantifnl sr-; t
white fibre, which I hi: to vn d m t
. . .... n .1
uii:.Lt LeutiiiZ i. ci .y