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A WOMAN'S INFLUENCE. CHAPTER XVI?Continued. "I suppose that is a rebuke to me," Margaret made answer to'the Doctor. "You see, I am always ready to improve everything and everybody but myself." "Whioh needs improving sadly," interposed Brian, entering at this moment. "I have a scolding for you, Margaret. I thought " "I know," answered Margaret, rather contritely. "I am really very sorry. D$ct6r \Vilson has excused me, and I have promised to do better for the future. So no more, please." . "No more. That is always your cry when you need a lecture. I see you and "Wilson are friends already. I thought you would be. Effects of kindred tastes, where did you walk this afternoon? To the end of creation?" "Oh, no. Only within the bounds of New York. I was not gone so very long, really; but I decided to go so late that " "Another inopportune decision. I won der when you are half way to heaven II you won't turn back and try the other plaoe, just to differ from the rest of the world. "Wilson, behold the very incar-1 nation of self-will. Leaving out this little failing, she deserves Bertie's eulogies, and I am wonderfully proud of her." "Very consoling. I thank you, sir. For reward I'll give you your dinner. I dare say you are ready for it." "Decidedly, Margaret. I had a wretched lunch and my appetite is now In prime condition. I wish Wilson would make a like admission just to keep me in countenance. I don't expect much from you. Shall we progress?" "I have been telling Mrs. Leigh how. much I admire your charming home," remarked "Wilson when they were comfortably seated about the table. "I have always had a prejudice against apartments, but this one has thoroughly converted me." "I like them," said Brian, following Wilson'6 glance around the room. "" Tkio AlUOIl mure mau u uvuoc. J. 11.a one was my choice, though Margaret gave me the cue. I must let her have the credit for all these fixings, however. This room was much more empty when we first moved in; now it seems real homelike. It is astonishing what a woman's hands can do." "Astonishing," repeated Wilson, musingly. "Don't make me bewail my lonely estate more deeply, I beg of you. Think how these delightful rooms compare with my dull quarters. No wonder you don't care to show yourself there. You are such a stranger that I was wondering to-day what you do with yourself." "What?" repeated Margaret in hei own mind, while she gave Brian a rathei searching glance. He pretended not to see it, however. "Oh, I'm around generally," he answered rather unsatisfactorily. "I don't find any difficult^ in occupying my time. I'll run in upon you some night. Though wunc iz> u^ic "You will be taking her about a great deal, of course. Under those circumstances don't consider me. i hope you like sight-seeing, Mrs. Leigh. Otherwise you must find it extremely tiresome. Or perhaps you are one of those fortunate individuals whose endurance Is always equal to the emergency." "Endurance," repeated Margaret, starting from her train of thought. "Do you know, Doctor, I think endurance is nothing more than determination or will. It is with me, at least. If I make up my mind to bear a thing I always bear it, and if I don't, I don't. You seem amused, Brian, but I'm sure you can say the same thing if you would. When I was a child I used to pinch my arm to see how long I could stand the pain without crying, but a reproving tap from my old nurse sent me into spasms of weeping. That was all will, you see." "All will," repeated Brian. "I thank you for telling us, Margaret. I can imagine how you tried that poor old nurse. . What are you intending to illus* trate?" "Simply that our "wills have everything to do with our feelings. Dr. Wilson , wants to know if I find sight-seeing tiresome. I am afraid I do. But I like It, and so I quite forget that the hard pavements tire my feet most dreadfully, and that when I ride I'm jostled almost to death. Really, Doctor, you may say what you please about your wonderful ,city, but I think its streets are an everlasting disgrace to any civilized town." "I have nothing to say In their defense," admitted the Doctor, with a laugh. "They are bad. Does your idea of endurance extend to social duties also?" "Yes, certainly. Why should they be called duties, I wonder? I have a special distaste for that word. It carries with it the sense of obligation, and obligation is always disagreeable." "Always?" questioned Wilson, rather quizzically. "I dare say you are right, though. Duty can be most unpleasant. We are queerly constituted at best." "I think we are rather natural," added Margaret. "It isn't to be expected that we -women should like to do what wtf feel we ought. Just put must before a request and it grows disagreeable immediately for me. I might go to a ball and dance all night with a raging headache, but I wouldn't think of going to church ia the same oonditioru I'd be much too ilL I'm giving you a dreadToi example, am I not? Well, I can only advise you to do neither as I say nor as I do." "I always thought you religious, Margaret. " "You have never thought anything of the kind," returned Margaret, meeting Brian's mischievous eyes. "Why should you think so? Simply because I'm a woman. \v hat a reason, j ueiieve tne world does think religion was made fox women rather than men, though it is the men who really need it. Poor women ! They are obliged to walk stiff and Btraight in a certain heaten track. They mustn't do this, they mustn't do that, and they mustn't do the other, until they are so encompassed by a wall of musts or*/I mnatn'fij tKnf T ,1 1 IWJV4 amuoiu x V? UUUCi 11117 11 itVU uny individuality left."' "Thank heaven you haven't lost your individuality yet, Margaret. Wilson, you were regretting your lonely estate awhile a^o; after listening t>> such remark* from the mouth of one woman, beware of all others and rejoice at your escape." "Come, Doctor," said Margaret, bofore Wilson could r?p!y, "we will go to th^ parlor, and I promise to be very quiet and sedate l'or the rest of the evening. No doubt, you will find Brian's conversation much more instructive and entertain jog." "WTien TVilson had taken his departure an hour or so later. Margaret turned to Brian with the remark: "I am so glad you brought him, Brian. I like him so much." "Then I don't believe I'll bring him again. I'm jealous of him. But, seriously, Margaret, he is quite a fine fellow. I wish I were half as fine. You should have heard the nice things he said about you. He is very anxious tli^t you should see more of New York, and he mentioned several places that I had forgotten abcut. He says you would like to see them, and so you shall. I've left you very much alone lately, but I intend to be more attentive hereafter." He knew that Margaret was pleased, from the happy light that stole into her eyes. r believe tnat I shall be glad of the day I met Doctor'Wilson, "thought Margaret, as- she crept into bed an hour later. CHAPTER XVII. A LIFTING OF TUE CI-OCDS. To Brian, the knowledge that Mar garet had not lost all teeiing ior nim, and that her faitb in him was strong* notwithstanding his many falls, brought new strength and courage. With the power of strong determination he seemed to be gaining a victory over that old habit. Not an entire one, of course. Margaret could not expect so much. Sometimes a friend could lure him away, but this was seldom, and never since their talk in her room had he lost the entire command of himself. Under these circumstances Margaret felt her heart considerably lightened. She could look forward more hopefully to the future, and her letters took on something of her own cheerful spirit. Brian could not fail to see the change, and it was equally apparent to Wilson, in his few brief visits. He only dropped in upon rare occasion? how, seldom stayed long, and always claimed that he was too busy even to find time to see his friends. "I suppose we must accept your excuses, Doctor," Margaret replied one evening to his usual plea. "Can't you teach your patients some idea of the fitness of things? Why should they all get sick together? I think a few mighf wait until the others are well." , "So they might, Mrs. Leigh, if they could see the matter from your point of view. Unfortunately, however, illness; like time and tide, waits for no manj We have had a very trying winter, an<J pneumonia is very prevalent. That has added considerably to my labors. I confess I am thoroughly tired out when night comes, and only too glad to creep into bed." "And sleep in the comfortable sense that your rest i^ well earned." "Yes," he laughed, "though that is no proof against its being broken. The only time my profession brings a regrel is when I hear my night bell jinglinfl and I am called from a delightful M "Just as I've always said," observed Brian, with a side glance at Margaret. "A doctor's life is ail work and no play.". "And you like the play best; don't you?" she rejoined, quickly. "Still, play or not, Brian, it is a very noble profession, and when I was a child I always declared I should be a doctor's wife." There was a decided question in the eyes she fixed upon him. "Poor Margaret," he replied, joinind in Wilson's laugh. "What a miserable concern you managed to get Only the beginning of one." "Don't ba so generous with your sympathy, please. A beginning is better than nothing. An acorn is only the beginning of an oak, but we don't desplsd the acorn because it is not an oakyet" Wilson, as well as Brian, caught the delicate emphasis on the. yet, and he answered with a half smile: "Brian will become an honored member of the profession before his days are ended. I predict that, Mrs. Leigh." "Ah, I have quite decided it," re-' turned Margaret promptly. "Brian knows that as well as I do. I couldn't have all my childish calcula-! tions upset I used to think Uncle Stephen the very personification of all things good and noble, and I wondered then if his son were anything like him. V-.. T VrUn ?? iuu acc x uuu uuu "And now, Margaret, that you have met him?" Brian came behind her chair with this question. She glanced back at him and smiled. "I never form an opinion of a booh after reading only its first page. I must go deeper to see if it will realize or disappoint my expectations. Besides, 1 don't air my views in public. Speaking of views," she continued more lightly, "I have some I want to show you, Doctor. You must promise to think them very beautiful, or I shall be disappointed. Brian, will yon get flieia, please?" At this request Brian got out a small folio of wood cuts and pen pictures of various scenes about Elmwood and th< surrounding country. They were all excellent, and Wils. n's appreciation was was warm enough to satisfy even Margaret's enthusiasm. "Do you wonder that I am proud ol Elmwood?" she asked, after an animated description of several of its finest points. "Do you wonder that I should love it so dearly? My wonder is that Brian doesn't care for it as I do, for he was born there. I think he has the least bit of fondness for a Bohemian existence. I am sorry for him, because I do think it a most unsatisfactory sort ofi life. I agree with George Eliot that we all should have one home spot that! shall stand clearly out in memory, ana to which our minds and hearts may al-i way6 return, no matter how far we may1 have wandered from it." Margaret broke off with a sigh "This," ahe added, taking up another picture iD some haste, "Is a side view of The CeJars, Colonel Barton's home. Brian and 1 were speaking of Bertie when you camd in. Ho has finished his book and tha publishers predict a great success for it." "Yes, I read it in the manuscript some time ago. I thought it excellent. Bertie 16 fulTof p!uck anfl deserves success. By the way, I met him to-day. He was in cheerful spirits. He tells me he has a charming wife. You know her, of course, Mrs. Leigh," "Almost like a sister, I may say. I hear from her quite frequently. She writes very delightful letters. " She i3 constantly expressing the fear that I shall become so infatuated with New York and its pleasures that I shall forget what she calls their rural delights. I try to convince her that there is no danger of that." "No. J fear you are too firm in youi opinions ever to be converted, no matter how earnestly we may try." As he spoke, Wilson left the table anil drew a chair close beside her, and Brian busied himself in gathering up th? scattered pictures. "I acknowledge that I Ijke your city the least bit better than I did," admitted Margaret, "but further than that I can not go. I lorgot to tell you that I saw your little cripple to-day. J should think she was very ill." "Her life is a matter of but a few w.-eks at most," was his answer. "J thank you i'or your interest in her." "Please don't thank me. I'm wonderfully self-satisiied, and I may begin to think 1'v.e done something meritorious. Brian, do corno from behind my chair. You make me think of Satan. Get in front ot mo. please," f "Thanko for your compliment You: j candor is really lefreshicg. I want to hear about the new unfortunate. I guessed from your face at dinner that you had been on some errand of mercy." "I am 6orry my face can not keep a secret better. Don't persuade Dr. Wilson that I am an indefatigable St. Elizabeth, ever bent on charitable missions, when I ata merely a young woman who wants?who doesn't quite know what she wants." "Doefn't she? I think she |ucceeds very well in getting it. If you will play St Elizabeth, I suppose no words of mine will have any effect I can only mildly hope that you will not quite kill* yourself. But seriously, I do not like to think of you going arouna in aaj sorts of neighborhoods and meeting all kinds of characters. Of course, wherever "Wilson recommends, is all right. Don't go entirely on your own judgment, though. I shudder at the thought." |TO BE CONTINUED.J SABBATH SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOR JULY 26. Lesson Text ,4 God's Promises to David,'* 2 Samuel vlL, 4-16? Golden Text: Psalm lxxi., 1?Commentary. 4. "That night the word of the Lord cam? unto Nathan." David had a son called Nathan, in whose line was Mary, the mother of our Lord (II Sam. v., 14; Luke iiL, 31), but this Is another Nathap, who was a prophet in the time of David apd . is first mpntinnart in rprc? 9. nf thiq n.hftnfpr nnrl nf. terward over twenty times in this book and in I Kings. The greatest thin? about him was that he was a messenger for God. In verse 3, however, ho seems to have given a message from himself which was not in accord with the mind of God. To be always under the control of the SDfrit of God, and speak only the words of God. and do only the things of God, is a life that was seen only in our Lord Jesus Christ. 5. "Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord." Arain in verse 8 the Lord says, "'My servant David." and in verses 1921, 25-29, David sneaks of himself ten times as "Thy servant." In Isa. xlii., 1, God says of His Son, "Behold My servant!" To be a whole hearted bond-servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is the highest position in the line of work for God that He can enjoy. As to fellowship and real commuuion. we are His friends, but as to service may we be true servants. 6. "1 nave not dwelt in any house since the time that I brouclit up the children of Israel out of Egypt." As David dwelt in his house of cedar and had rest from all his ene nnes be oontrastea his surroundings witn those of the ark of God dwelling in a tent and had it in His heart to Duild a house for the ark. Nathan's word, "Do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee," was very enoouraging. but the Lord is now talking differently to David. The wisdom of the best of men is not always the wisdom of God, and many a work that looks srood is not a part of God's plan, or if it is the time has not come foi it. 7. "Spake I word with any of the tribes, saying. Why build ye not me an house of cedar?" It"is not for the servant to suggest to his Lord what should or should not be done. The servant is to be "willing and obedient" and "ready to do whatsoever our Lord the King shall appoint" (Isa. i., 19; II Sam. xv.. 15). If we thus hold ourselves ready t? yalk in Hi3 ways, that is all Ho asks of us. ~ -* 8. "I took thee from following the sheep to be ruler over my people, over Israel." It is well to remember whom we were and what tor TTArn tchpn find pjillftrl na. It in well to continue little in our own sight and never think auything of ourselves. When called to special service for Qod, wo must bear in mind who oalls us ("I took thee.") and that He has in view for us .some special work. In this case it was to be "ruler over Israel." 9. "And I was with thee and have cut off all thine enemies and have made thee a great nacSfe." See how Qod did everything, and every Instrumentality was simply that tfhich Qod saw fit to use. Whatever was done He was the dooer of it (Qen. xxxix., 22). I rejoice to believe that God has a prepared life for each of His children, and a prepared service for every moment of that life (Eph. ii., 10), and if wo are only willing and cheerfully subject to Him He will work it all out to a glorious consummation. 10. "Moreover, I will appaint a plaoe for my people Israel and will plant them " etc. The fact that when they are thus planted they will move no more nor be afflicted any more is in perfect accord with many similar statements, such as Jer. xxxi., 38-40; xxxii., 41; Amos ix.. 15. and still awaits fulfillment. All events which to us may seem and may no jar m me iuture art) iu mm, wu? aeea the end from the beginning, a present reality and are as sure of fulfillment, however unlikely it may seam, as if actually accomplished. 11. "Also the Lord telleth thee that?that He will make thee an house." Tho word "house" may signify a dwelling, whether tent, temple or palace: also a place containing anything, or one's family or posterity. The following verses show that here it means posterity and kingdom. 12. "1 will set up thyseed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom." The Apostle Peter, filled with the Spirit, said on the day of Pentecost that God, had sworn with an oath to David that of the fruit of his loins He would rais? up Christ to sit on His throne (A.cts ii., 30), and the next verse in Peter's sermon says He would be raised from tha?? dead. To Abraham were promised the land and the prosperity as the stars aad as the sand, and now to David are promised the kingdom, the throne and the king. 13. "He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever." The church which is being now builded together for a habitation of God, through the Spirit, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (see chap* m r\ t 4u~ ler ill., oj, jwus vurisi xximseu uuiuy iuu chiei cornerstone (Epb., ii., 20-22), is never called a kingdom, but is on elect company out of all Nations to rule with Him in His kingdom. The kingdom will have Israel, all righteous, for its center and Jerusalem, the throne of the Lord, for its capital (Isa. Is., 21; Jer. iii., 17). 14. "If He commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men," etc. Bishop Horsley gives this reading: "Wben guilt is laid upon Him." And Dr. Clarke says, "In suffering for iniquity." Of Solomon it might be said, "If he commit iniquity," but not of Christ, and we have already proved from Peter's sermon that the seed referred to is Christ and not Solomon. 15. "But My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul." Whatever reference there may be here to Solomon it can only be as typical of Christ in the matter of the kingdom. David evidently understood it of some one in the far future. See the last clause of verse 19 and note these various readings. "This is the m;mner of the man who is God the Lord" (Luther). "And this is the law of the man," tne Adam (Kennieott). "Anil this is the arrangement about the man" (Horslev). Stier's comment is: "Thou speakest of an eternal kingdom in which no man can oe king. He must be God and man because He Is to bo My Son, and yet He is to be King for ever and over, which belongs to God alone." 16. "Thythrono shall be established forever." Gabriel said to Mary that her Son should sit on the throne of His /atDer David fT.nko i.. ?2. 321. nntt this agrees with Isa. is.. C, 7. See in verses 23, 24, of our lesson chapter the story of "the jverlasting Nation." Head Jer. xxxi., 35-37, and bo simple enough to believu that God means what He iays. The only soi'ition of the eastern <;uestion is the restoration of Israel and the return of their Messiah. Bee Isa. lxii., 0, 7.?Lesson Helper. Fratricide Runs in the Family. The Hignights and Bentleys, of Leslio County, Kentucky have been a bad set. Last October M. It Bentley, a mem our af the Legislature, was killed in a duel with pistn's. but ho "got" his man, "Bige" Hisnitrht, before he fell. Elishu Hignight was present, *nd has been on trial at Havden for complicity in the killing of Bentley. After two weeks' trial he has been cleared. Bentley. goveral years ago, killed his brother, aad "Bige" Hignight was also a fratricide. Moses Hignight was shot from ambush last week and killed, while Elihu, who was with him, escape! uninjured. BELOW DECKS. HOW AMMUNITION IS HANDLED ON A MAN-OF-WAR. Just What Will Happen Under Her Water Jjine When She Goes Into Battle?Is Directed From Midair. OF all the ships of the new navy the Texas, which anchored at the Brooklyn Navy Yard last week, iB in some respects the most interesting. A great steel fort spans her deckw. At each end of the citadel is a tnrret, and in each tnrret a twelve-inch breechloading rifle, a magnificent monster of destruction, an engine of war that would be terrible if we only knew just what it would accomplish in an emergency aimed against men and cities and ships inrrrv T?T"D1 A13U U X XV/ X14U stead of steel plates and wooden backing. The Texas isn't as heavy a Bhip is the New York, for example, but her redoubt makes her a battle ship, and the New York remains with ail her perfection only an armored cruiser *fter alL If the Texas is only second jlass among battle ships, by reason of her tonnage, she iB, nevertheless, th e pride of her officers and crew, and would undoubtedly give a good account of herself in battle. There is a certain fearful curiosity to know just what will take place down in the submarine wells, cells, magazines, engine room and stoke boles of this steelcastle of the deep, what vast Inin fc TTT111 eucigico lUtti/ lia,0 la.ia suddenly be released when once the order to prepare for action has been signaled through the ship. In old times the commander of a frigate stood on the bridge with his glass nnder his arm and gave his orders in full view of his meD, who cheered and "went at Nowadays, in the chilled steel oell tailed the conning tower, far removed above the smothered din of the decks, with no ears to hear and no eyes to see him, he puts his ears to the speak* ing tube, and fifty, sixty, seventy feet | below him, here in the iron box oalled the shell room, there in the seething pit called the fire room; here in the i dungeon of the engineers, there in the I torpedo rooms, far away in the very bowels of the ships, where the high | explosives and mines are stowed, flies the mysteriotiB messages,rousing every man and every engine to utmost efforts. I In the long steel gallery, -suspended between the sweat boxes, called the fire rooms, of the Texas, is the central station. Here a midshipman may connect the conning tower, or the tiller room, or the redoubts, with any other part of the ship. There is no such thing as shouting an order. The fnrnaoes going, the engines clanking, the tramp of hundreds of feet waking sullen echoes from resounding metal, the chain trolleys bearing their perilous burdens of shell and powder and gun cotton, traveling harshly alone; the mysterious awakening of the complicated automata hidden away in every nook, the sliding of the loading trays from the ammunition hoist to the breeches of the great guns, whose muzzles, forty feet away, are even now threatening to shatter the air with the hoarse earthquaking, sea maddening roar of a discharge that will do murder twelve miles away? amid all this diabolical saturnalia what chance would an old fashioned speak ing trumpet nave? The central station, in which these speaking tubes are concentrated, must be carefully guarded. A steel pipe, twelve inches thick, carries them under the protective deck. Once there they are safe. The side armor, which distinguishes the battle ship, is, in the Texas, twelve inches thick, covering two-thirds of her length amidships. The walls of the conning tower are only nine inches thick, but its diameter is so small, comparatively, as to make walls of that thickness practically impenetrable. With the shell and round shot, grape and rifle balls impinging, bursting, battering on these circular wallB, the fighting boss of the ship, perched there to overlook | the enemy and direct the progress of K' | # ^ - TWELVE* IXCn SHELL BEING SWUNG INTO HOISTING WELL. (Showing trolley for conveying shell -join magazine.) the action, feels secure in his ability to reach and rally the toilers under him, for he knows that every tube that leads from him to them is guarded by 1 _-K -A - .1 11_ tweive-inca sieex wuiia. The order to clear for action having been given, the eight fire rooms, down next to the %keel, with only a few inches of steel shutting out the cool, rushing waters, into which many a fireman would already like to plunge, are crowded with half naked men, forcing to still greater fervor the fires beneath the four double-ender boilers of the Texas. There are, perhaps, fifty of these men, and thanks to their exertions, the temperature of these fire rooms is already 130 degrees. There are eight men in each of the two engine rooms nearby?sixteen fierce looking heroes, each working in a pair of trouserscut off below the knees, as if his life depended on it. Many other lives do. There are two machinists and four or five oilers in attendance on each of these engines. "Without her engines the Texas would foil a n^oTr +/ ? fKa firof nrmrTrinred cruiser that came along, swift to circle i about the helpless leviathan, ready now and then to pour in broadside i after broadside, any one of which might disable the 12-inch guns and pierce the magazines. The engine is the master maohine, and everybody m the Texas realizes this. There are ninety men in the engineer's force, and all but twenty of them are on duty at the fires, engines and boilers. sTtorpedo gun. Bnt what of those twenty ? What a iatemi ana all important labor is theirs! Some of them, by the glow from the glass cased electrio light boxes, let down to them from above, are raising slowly out from the magazine bind the deadly treasures of high explosive, shell and cartridge. Here, the mines are making ready, there the torpedoes are preparing, and yonder in the shell room the vast missiles to be hurled from the throats of the 12inch guns are being hoisted through the wells to the loading trays far above. Were the dynamos to stop and J these light boxes to become suddenly , dark, what a horror of black muck , would envelop these toilers and para- , lize every energy of .their frames. It was such a casuality as that which ~j A v.~ caustiu wie uuuibiuu xu tuc uuruur ux Havana some weeks ago by which a Spanish cruiser went down, with her cr?w and captain, "" Let'sTpok* at t?e steam steering engine. There are six wheels by which the Texas can be directed in her course. There is one in the chart house on the flying bridge, just over the conning tower, for steam steering. There's another in the conning tower, for use in action; a third on the after gun deck; a fourth in the steering room, away down in the after hold. There's a big hand wheel in the steering room for use if the steering engine breaks; a wheel on the steering engine itself, in the tiller room. Once disarranged or broken, the steam steering engine is disconnected and the hand wheels, any one of them, brought into imme- 1 diate use. n : 11I AMMUNITION HOIST?FOR SIX-INCH GUN. 1 Bat take a look into the compressor room, where the air is compressed by 1 6team for the torpedoes. Like all ] these vital elements, this room is down i below the protective deck. The tor- ] pedo charge is confined at a pressure i of 1350 pounds to th6 square inch, and ' when desired a pressuie of 2000 i pounds can be [obtained. The first 1 will send a torpedo four hundred ; yards at a speed of thirty-two knots { an boar. Eight hundred yards range i may be reached, but without accuracy i of aim. Through the submarine tor- i pedo room proper into which the i three prisons open, the submarine 1 mine room is reached. Here also the j trap doors over the gun cotton and j torpedo head compartments, each i reached by a shaft, are to be seen, i Just forward i6 the fore hold, where < the wet stores, lumber, spare gear and ! beef are stored. < Down in the shell room, twenty < feet below the sea level, eight men 1 would work in time of action. It is I six feet wide, 6.6 feet high, and some ? twenty feet long, a steel tunnel, shut in by the wooden partition of the i varions ammnnition compartments; here at least wood may not be dis placed by steel,owing to the danger of concussion. A preat square shaft runs ! far up between 6teel walls to the redoubts, from which the twelve-inch guns are fired. Down this shaft comes a cor, on which a 6hell, with its firing charge of 425 pounds of powder, must be loaded. The steel itself would be no mean burden, with its bursting charge of twenty-five pounds of explosive, for it is thirty-four inches long, 11.96 inches in diameter, and weighs 350 pounds. A giancc at the thermometer, -with the lire-rooms on each side of us going full tilt, shows 122 degreep, but the ei?ht men at work here don't seem to mind it. -They can hear a deafening din around, above, and below them, yet they can tee nothing but the hoist and the loading tray and the chain trolley along which they prupel, by hand, the cradle that carries the shell from the magazine to the open door of the hoist. There is nothing for them to do but work; if the ship were sinking they wouldn't know it?without that warning whisper through the tube. The ammunition hoist room proper or handling room, on the after plat.* / / Kfc* . / ... ,x . form deck, ia immediately over th? matinee, for which it ia a coyer. It is cut off from the berth deck above by the battle platea, weighing about 1000 pounds each, and handled !by steam gear, l'he water line is ten feet above. Every hatchway on thia protective deck, which covers the ship's vitals as a cuirass covered a warrior of old, is supplied with these 6teel plates, water tight, which isolate every room and compartment below from the gun deck and crew space above. It ia the machinery, not the men, that must be first considered. From abreast the fipper end of the vertical armor, which does not cover the ends of the Bhip, this protective deck begins to drop down over the precious storehouse of mechanism amidships. Where it was only two inches thick, horizontally, it is now three inches thick, inclining at an angle of seven to ten degrees. All the work of the battle ship is down in her midst. The forward end of the ship is used for stowing only. But this concentration Amidships is curiously contrasted with the still more crucial rule in a battle ship that she can conquer only by division. Divided by innumerable water tight walls apd bulkheads fhe stands; united in one whole she would fall.- New York Herald. Lived Like a Pauper, Died Kiel). Miss Elizabeth B. Cook, of Bridgeport, a little hamlet in Fayette County, Penn., always lived as though she were a pauper. Kecently she died without medical attention or friends present, and the exact circumstances of the death are not known. She was found lying upon the floor some time ftff.AT hpr rlflftt.h Dr. H. .T. Enclifih was made administrator, and he got a firm of attorneys to look aroand and see what her few effects amounted to. The inventory of the estate shows that she was the owner of over $22,000 of bank stock. She also had over 828,000 in cash on deposit, and was the holder of ten shares of stock in the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston Railroad Company. Nearly $2500 in gold coin and 8100 in silver coin and bank "notes were found sealed up tight in an&ld fruit can in her home after her death. The property will go to nephews, neices, and grandnephews and grandnieces.?Philadelphia Times. A Frog a Foot and a Half Tall. j The king of frogs was catight re-| cently at Kahway, N. J. He weighed ten and three-quarters pounds. His; right leg weighed 2? pounds, and his| left leg*2} pounds. He was eighteen; inches long and twelve inches wide. COMPARATIVE SIZE OP THE BIG FROG AXEj A SILVEB DOLLAB. The width of his month was eight in*! shes, the length of his leg 13} inches.! The biggest frogs on earth are fonndj in this conntry. Nowhere else are Frncra un larrrA o. fpfttnrfi of SWftmn and ve>" ? g. marsh life. A year ago twelve enor> mous American frogs were sent alive toEnrope, where they excited mnch wonder, bnt none of them was as large as the Rahway frog here described. A Belie of Washington. There is a movement on the part of juite a large nnmber of the residents of Princeton, N. J., to rescue from oblivion the ancient structure in which George Washington resided inring the summer and fall of 1783,"' when Congress was in session at Princeton. It was in the old Berriem maneion at Rocky Hill that Washington lived and from which he wrote! bis farewell address to the army. Ani organization has been formed by the leading people of Princeton and other towns in the State known as thej Washington Headquarters' Associa-l tion. At a recent meeting a Board of/ P?nnlAAo tttoo fnAm fl>C> XiUDVV/eo W 4*0 UWVIWU VMW , I aent Revolutionary families of thej 3tate. Measures were taken looking i to the purchase of the old mansion 1 md two acres of land adjoining, and it is proposed to restore the building ind make of it a museum of Washington relics. At present the building is in a dilapidated condition and is subject to further destruction by the blasting that is continually going on in the quarries of the Rock Hill Stone Quarry Company, located adjacent. It was resolved to offer the company 51500 for the building and two acres Df ground, and to refuse to accept the building on any other conditions than that it remain on its present historic lite.?Atlanta Constitution. A Heavy Injunction. Mr. Lenrner (going very fast and Tinnhlp tn stnn r?r tnrn^ ? "Fnr lifflrpn'p sake, parson, take that rock out of the way, quick!"?New York Truth. The area of the coai fields of the United States is almost 200,000 squaremiles. . CURIOUS CANINES. An Odd Breed of Three-Legged Dogs Owned by a Cincinnati Maq. An odd breed of dogs is to be found in the kennels of C. W. Linn, at Cincinnati, Ohio. There are six of them. Five have only two legs each. The ? sixth has a growth about six inches thbee-leoqed dogs. long from the left shoulder, which waa evidently designed for a leg, but which ends abruptly where the foot should begin. The father and mother of the family are about five years of age and were born of perfeot parents. Their deformity has not been accounted for any more than have those deformities that go to make up the many monstrosities of the animal kingdom. There have been bred seventeen puppies, four of which have had three legs, but the third was in no case perfect, though one had a foot of five toes, shaped very much like an ele phant's. Only one of tbese nos lived. Of the last delivery of four the two with three legs died soon after birth. The two-legged dogs have a peculiar excrecence where the forelegs should start from the body, but there is only a bit of cartilage to be felt under the skin. This led to a report several years ago that the dogs had been skillfully mutilated. But thAe is abundant testimony that they were born so, while some of the pnppies that died were dissected in the presence of a committee of eminent surgeons and physicians. The two survivors of the last litter are also evidence in themselves that they were born with their present deformity. i The dogs are intelligent and have been trained to many little tricks. They move ereot on their hind legs, but when desiring to move a few inches thev push their bodies along wjtn tneir nind legs witn uttie jumps. The breed of the dogs is a cross between a shephard and a water spaniel.: Mr. Linn is a bachelor, a brakeman on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Day- . ton Kailroad. He has independent means and has bred the dogs as a scientific and philosophical pastime. { He treats his pets with fatherly consideration, and in some' particulars they are like spoiled children. Mr. Linn exhibits the dogs only to those whom he believes take a scientific interest in them. -New York World. 'At ? " I Af' To Amuse Their Victims. English dentists might do worse than adopt the action of their colleagues in Vienna. These practitioners have formed a society whose members are to be instructed in the art of pleasing conversation with which to beguile their viotims during operations. Anecdotes and jokes will make a running accompaniment to toothstopping, one suggesting another in the most natural manner. Extractions without gas will be the occasion for bad puns, for the pain cansed by the paronomasia will obliterate that caused by the forceps. This scheme should commend itself particularly to Scotch patients, who will thus have the joke and the surgical operation at the same time.?London World. " Sawing a Church Asunder. In order to enlarge St. Agnes's Boman Catholic Church, which stands on Masonic avenue, between Page and, Oak streets, it has been literally bi THE CHUBCH THAT WAS SAWN ASTTNDEB. 3ected. The western portion has been ' moved twenty-five feet further west and the intervening space is now being pieced out. The insertion will double the seating capacity of the church.?San Francisco Examiner. He Knew the Princess. b A London paper says that sometime fl| ago the Princess Maud went shopping H strictly incog. While she was walk- H ing along tne street, she was accosted H by a little street arab who was the H happy possessor of a pair of large pa- H thetic brown eyes and a tangled crop H of curly brown hair. He was busily H engaged in the absorbing task of earn- H ing his living (and, perhaps, someone H else's as well) by retailing "fresh H spring dowers, penny and tuppence a H bunch." The Princess stopped by aim, and while choosing some flowers she was a little startled by the lad say- |H ing in an excited and familiar whisper: "It's all right, miss, I knows yer; but B I'll keep it dark and won't split on yer." Tke Princess smilingly shook H he/ head in denial. "Yes, I do knows yer (more emphatically); "yer SB Priucess Mawd; I twigged yer di* recvly." A Town Under One lloof. There exists in Wieden (borough of HI Vienna) an immense house called BS1 "Freihaus." This colossal building has thirteen courtyards, thirty-one staircases anil 2112 ^habitants. It has its own postman, and the letters BB if they would reach their destination, must bear the Christian name, snrname and also nickname of the addressee, the number of his room, stair- HH case and courtyard. The city of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has been presented with the sum of 850,000 by the children of the late^^^H John P. Adriance for the purpose of^^H __