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TIE LAFAYETTE GAZETTE. VOLUME I. LAFAYETTE, LA., SATURDAY, AUGUST 26, 1893. NUMBER 25. A STORY OF THE SEJA. Im Told by Orany Nell to a Bum mer-Day Visitor. The steamer time-table said: "Pas lengers can land and have one hour to .aspect this typical New England fish- ing village, with its queer, rambling streets, its - ancient houses, its old wharfs, once the scene of activity, now silent and deserted,," etc. I stood at the end of the landing place and looked down the long street with the walk on one side and the bar bor on the other, then turned to watch the crold rush past to take the town by stordz, staring in at the windows of the houses, overrunning the quiet little grave-yard, intruding everywhere; in fact, doing everything that rude, van dal excursionists do the world over. "Desecrators!" I thought, "how shell I avoid you? IHere I take what I sup pose to be an out-of-the-way trip to an out-of-the-way place to get a littlerest. and, if 'possible, new ideas, but instead of a quiet boat and leisurely sail, you, the great uncouth, overflowing with animal spirits and lunch baskets, are before me, yea, your crumbs are upon me, and the marks of your chlildren's clammy hands and the sound of their anguished sobs are even yet mine." After which elegant apostrophe I desperately struck into a straggling side street, and in a few short moments, to my astonishment, -they were left far behind. I stopped and looked about. i Behind me the town lay, a narrow fringe of gray, colorless houses bordering the inner harbor. Here and there a thin' penciled column of smoke rose straight up as from a fire in aesert, the air was so still and ho4. Before nme a stretch of blindiug yellow sand, sparkling with glints o amethyst and pearl from the dis integrated sea shells which formcd part of the drift that lay heaped up in odd, monstrous, angular dunes, tufted with occasional bunches of vivid greenl wire grass; a veritable sea serpent's lair; a domain of desolation. Beyond, a sea so calm, so translucent that the horizon line is lost, melted away into the sky. A mondtonous (droning filled the enar, reminding one of the cicadas of Prov nence. From some shipyard came the dull-measured stroke of a caulker's hammer, sounding like the tapping of a woodpecker; again the "peep! peep!" of a sand bird; these are the only cvi dences of life. The spell of sleep is over everything, and I stand looking unconsciously right ahead till the sud den noise of the excursion boat blow ing off steam arouses me, and I see a low cottage, the last on the lane, sur rounded by a meager yard fenced with driftwood held together by pieces of rigging. Biefore the door is a pretentious poreth or arbor constructed of the gray, blenach ing ribs of a whale. An enterprising morning-glory vine is endeavoring to envelop and clothe its ghastliness, but it protrudes and stands out from the flabby, sun-killed wreaths like a whited sepulcher. A cobble-stone walk edged with pink conch shells completes the dreary ensemble. I am about to turn back to the town, for it is not very pleasant paddling about in the shifting sands under the broiling sun, when I see a little crouched-up figure sitting oft a block of wood in the shadow of an old dory, and so much the color of the surroundings as to be al most unnoticed. It is a w-oman, gray and bent with years, lool:ing fixedly at me with queer, canny eyes, her lips moving as she counts the stitches of the knitting in her hands. I push open the gate on its rope hiMgen and enter, asking politely for a drink of water. Never stopping she nods toward the well. I help myself and then sit down near her, remarking: "This is a beautiful day." "Sun draw water in the mornin' Sailors take warnin'," she answers, never taking her eyes off me. It was so unexpected I started, but rallying said: "Well, a nice fresh breeze wouldn't hurt us." In sad, monotonous tone, she re plied: " When winds blow freshero.s the main And mist scuds up from the loa, There's apt to be some: rain And a choppy sou'east sea." "Well, welt," I laughed, pleasantly, though I didn't feel a mite that way; "you're quite a rhymster, mother; got verses for all kinds of weather." The laugh seemed to please the old sybil for an instant, then the small eyes grew sad again and she said, nodding toward the village: "Stayin' below?" "No, I just came down and going right back." "Then nobody sent you here?" lean= ing forward. "No; just strayed this way to avoid the crowd. Why do you ask?" "They fend people here to bother mec They say I'nm crazy, crazy Neli you know; ever hear tell of her?" "No; but tell me, mother, how do you live in this wilderness?" "All the day I knit stockin's an' mits an' lots of nippers for the fishermen to wear when they're fishin'. They're not all bad. They give me food and things for them, sometimes a little tea; but it's a poor life, lad, a poor an' sorrow ful life for old crazy Nell, with only her thoughts and the sea's moans for com pany; an' death passes me, that only longs to go, and takes the young an' strong, that wants to live; but the day is nigh at hand now; soon I will see my Malcolm, my bonny boy, my husband gone, lId, gone, gone, and only married one day; think of it, me all alone, alone for forty weary winters and forty wearier summers, waitin' to die an' go to him. Do you think he has forgiven me?" "Suppose you'tell me your story," - said, gently, rather touched by her plaintiveness. "My story? aye; and what joy would ye find in the vagaries and mumblin's of an old crazy woman like me, I cann telL "He built this house for me, hie bride Oh, Wbt i wu a happ.y girl thea; yes, an' one of the tidiest and prettiest of the village, and often T was told of it, and he was the smartest and bravest of all the fisher lads that went out to the Banks; everyone loved him, myself most of all, tho' I was a bit pert and liked my own way; well, well, the day of rest is nigh to me now. Hearken, then, sir, an' I'll tell ye a tale of the sad, sad sea; a tale of its cruelty to one I loved; a tale that's brimful with pain, an' woes, an' griefs; ah, God, that he should go! wild an' awful the tempest raged when he dared an' perished!" After a few moments of weeping and muttering to herself she began her dis jointed narrative anew: "Softly the gray mists hung far o'er the smiling bay, an' the sun sparkled on the'little ripples that were so weak they hardly broke on the shore that fair Septemer morn we two were mar ried. But as night came on, great dark towerin' storm clouds, leaden-hued, scurried across the heavens, an' the fierce, red lightnings glowered an' flashed on a roarin' sea. From the dark south, up came the gale, drivin' before it straight, unbroken rows of mountain ous billows, crowned on top same as with white yeast; then, like a fiend turned loose with shriekin' yells and bellowin's, down swooped the storm and whipped big clots of foam from off the waves, an' hurled the heavy swell far up the groaning shore. Truly the earth seemed frightened with the mad ness of the seas. "But in the house here we were hay in' a merry time. We had a lot of women and children from town, and a couple of the young men who were just in from a trip and stopped over to see us married. Old Cap'n Thomas and the minister had each just said a grace, and we were about to fall to and eat, when suddenly some one heard a faint signal gun. in a minute feast and cv cr."thing was forgotten; off rushed the whole compan.y, men, women and children, Malcolm and me with them, to the beach. What did we see in the darlkening evening light? A vessel way out se.wnard, pounding on the bar! Not a stick nor spar did she have standing; shorn of everything by the force of the shock when she struck, anti the big waves dashin' and lashin' clean over her. "Not a minute do we waste, but c'll hands help drag the life-boat downi ro the edge of the surf, and then quirki cull for volunteers, brave fellows who count themselves nothing if thoy can only save some one else's life. My Mal com felt no fear; he was the fir.,t tc spring for ward, and, though I clung to him and beseeched and sobbed, would not heed me. 1le gave one last embrace to me, his new-made wife, and turned to the boat. "Vainly I begged him to remain with me that first day of our wedded life; but no, he counted his duty before all else. Oh, that I had died then! My heart was filled with a dark terror; 'twas torn and rent apart with angvish that he would go; my head was sw.m min' and reelin', and crazed with the cruel smart of his first refusal I mocked and cursed him there. Aye, cursed him for what was only right, for the boat was 'bt poorly manned, there were se few . men as the beach, and of thert somre were old and almost crippled; but in my selfish ravings I felt no pity for the poor. ship in distress, screaming again and again that I wished it would break up before they got started, and that if they went I hoped nbver to see any of them again! "Slowly my Malcolm left his place at the bow of the boat; if I live 'till I'm a hundred, which, God pity me. I hope I won't, never can I forget the look I saw on his face in the wan light. "'Nell, darling, kiss me good-by. Won't? Ah, well, God bless you!' and he was gone. "Down on the sand I fell in a dead faint. What then? Ah, yes. I lay there but a moment; the wet sand on my face brought me to. I s'ared about me; none were left but a little knot of women and children huddled together, crying and peering through the gloom at the struggling boat, and a couple of old men still standing waist deep in the water where they had helped shove off. "Now the surf is passed; they are tossed on the great waves; down, down they go far from sight in the mad sea; then up they come again; up, up, 'gainst wind and tide, now toppling on the point of some monster billow, only to go plunging down to meet the next, and pulling up with might and fain to reach the wreck that labored and strained on the bar and threatened to go to pieces every second. "Now they work round under her stern and are hidden from us by the hulk, but soon we see them again care fully approaching from the lee side; but even there it seems too' rough to try to board her. Then we know from the motions that they have cast a line, which must be caught, as now we see a dark shape suspended over the boat for an instant; the next, a vast, moun tainous wall of foam overwhelms them, the gale bursts out afresh and when we can get our breaths and look again thly are gone! Nothing is left but a raging line of breakers black with wreckage! Ship and boat are no znorp!" Calmly she wiped her streaming eyes and concluded: "At daybreak eight bodies had washed ashore; four our own men and four strangers; the rest of the ship's company, nobody knows how many, and the fifth of the boat's crew-my own Malcolm, were never recovered!" - The heat, which pulsated around us like a draught from a hot furnace, and the dramatic intensityof the old dame's reeital had so worked upon me that I was in a sort of addled comatose condi tion. The few sounds of life from the village were unnoticed; even the warn ing whistle had blown some minutes before entirely unheeded; so I had to take the Cape train back to town, but somehow I didn't feel like complaining. -H. lIamilton, in Bioston Budget. -Bolbic--"Don't they feel awfully funny when you walk?" Mfr. Guzzle "1What do you mean, little man?" Robble-"Why, somebody said you had snakes in yotw boots real oftcn."-In ter Ocsia i FOREIGN GOSSIP. --In Chin a traveler wishing for a passport is compeled to have the palm of his hand brushed over with fine oil paint; he then presses his hand on thin damp paper, which retains an impres sion of the lines. This is used to pre vent transference of the passport, as the lines of no two hands are alike. -A man named Schneider deserted his wife in Thessingen, Bavaria, came to America, and here committed biga my. Learning, some years later, that his first wife and died, he returned to his old home, and is in jail there. The report of his wife's death was merely a ruse to get him in the clutches of the law. -It is believed by the engineers and officials of the enterprise that the Man chester ship canal will be opened for traffic along its entire length, from Liverpool to Manchester, by next Feb ruary or March. If the practical com pletion is retarded beyond that date it will likely be by legal rather than en gineering difficulties.-N. Y. Sun. -A hot-rcater fountain is now in operation in Paris. The water that feeds the fountain passes through a coil of copper tubing three hundred feet long. By dropping a son in a slot, jets of gas are turned on and ignited. By this means the water is heated. For each sou one is entitled to eight liters. It is expected that this foun tain will be a great assistance to the poor, and, if successful, others will be built. -Denial is made in St. Petersburg to the unfavorable reports recently pub lished in Great Blritain and elsewhere regarding the prospects of the coming harvest in Russia, and to the statement that the government would, in conse quence, prohibit the export of rye. The present condition of the crops, al though unsatisfactory in the govern ments of Podolia. Kieff, and Cherson, is excellent in practically all other dis tricts. -Japanese gardens are the most fairylike of places. You see in them tiny trees and flowering plants, ponds, bridges.summer-houses. lanterns-here dwarf pines six or eight inches high, but one hundred and twenty-five years old: there others one foot high, out five hundred years old. In the garden of Yeijugin--within the temple grounds -there are many peony plants, mostly old. but one is one hundred years old, and is eight feet high-quite a tree. -There is in Spain a river called Tinto. which has very extraordinary qualities. fts waters, which are as yel low as the topaz, harden the sand and petrify it in a most surprising manner. If a stone falls into the river and rests upon another they both become per fectly ulnited and conglutinated in a year. It withers all the plants on its banles as well as the roots of trees, which it dyes of the same hue as its water. No fish live in its stream. -There is no doubt that South Africa is regarded at present as the most prom ising field for development in the pro duction of the precious metals. The continued extension of mining opera tions in the Transvaal, and the more recent rediscovery of the ancient gold fields of Mlashonaland and the Mata bele country. seem to be drawing miners and mining-engineers from other countries in considerable numbers, and the movement is likely to continue for some time to come.-Engineering and Mining Journal. -A story comes from Irkutsk, the capital of eastern Siberia, of a dog seven months old that has suddenly de veloped the faculty for making sounds so like a human voice that a person in the next room could not tell the differ ence. The dog seems to have no com prehension of the meaning of the words he utters, but lie'readily repeats anything that is said to him in a shrill, boyish-sounding voice. Some days he seems to lose the faculty or to be disin clined to exercise it, but on others de lights to say anything he is told. -Gen. Dodds says in his report on the Dahomey campaign that the Lebel rifle gave entire satisfaction. The car tridges were in no way affected by the voyage out or by the climate of Daho mey. Smokeless powder and the old kind were used in the way of experi ment in several engagements. The smokeless powder proved by far the more satisfactory. The old powder drew the fire of the enemy instead of mnasking the detachment using it, and the troops using the smokeless powder suffered much less than the others. RAMADAN AND BAIRAM. The Mahometan Month of Day Fastiang and Night Feasting. Ramadan is the Mahometan Lent. At this time the sultan always goes from the Gildiz palace in Pera across the great bridge of boats into his Turkish capital, Stamboul, to kiss the mantle of Mahomet. Ramadan is in the ninth lunar month of the Mahometan year, and during it the people are required both by the law and the prophet to spend their days in fasting and prayer. From sunrise to sunset not a morsel of foodl and not a drop of liquid must pass their lips; and the more conscientious of the people consider it a sin to swal low their saliva during this time. They must not smoke or take snuff, or use any means to stay their appetite, and even the use of perfumery is forbidden. The Mahometan who is a perpetual smoker misses his tobacco more than his food during the fasting, and even the poorest of the day laborers', who, faint from working twelve hours on an empty stomach, having their dinner ready for them, watch the sun going with a cigarette in their hands, and will consume this before they begin to eat. The olive is considered to be five times more blessed than the water to break the fast with, and the dinner which follows the fast of Ramadan is always the best that the purse of the faster can procure. Ramadan is to all Mahometan coun tries a month of day fasting and night feasting. The people make up for their abstinence during the day by a grand carouse at night. and StOruboul during this period holds a nightly carnival. All the restaurants and eals are lighted and the streets filled with revelewswho are making up for their privations during the day. The wealthy sit up all night, receiving and returning calls and giving dinner par ties, and after the evening services at the Mosque, the people go to the espla nade of the Suli-Manich, the fashiona ble drive, where there is a dense crowd of promenaders. The bazars are illu minated and the lemonade peddler and the sweetmeat men are out in all their glory. The season which the great fast of Ramadan, and which might corre spond to Easter is called Bairam. This is a time of feasting and rejoicing that the months of fasting are over.--Cos mopolitan. WILL AND HEREDITY. Strengtheningal and Relanforcing the Good Qualities ot Children. In the ordinary case, the qualities transmitted from parents to children must necessarily make a whole inferior to the mental and moral equipment of the better one of the parents, unless there is a remarkable after-develop ment of them. This is true, because the inheritance from the inferior par ent lowers that from the superior. Con sequently, it is evident that men would retrograde, instead of advancing, in civilization unless forces stronger than heredity were in operation. Such forces are environment and will. In an indi vidual case either one may be as strong or stronger than hereditary, but, with the average of those who improve upon the mental or moral condition of their parenits, the ease it that only the eotin bined influence of environment and will is more active than heredity. Heredity is the first of the three factors to operate. It is, so to say, itn full blast before the child is responsi ble. Except in extraordinary intances, most of the hereditary qualities of children may be anticipated, certainly discovered, by observing parents who wish to do the best possible in the long run for their children rather than to gain immediate pride. Parents should realize that children merit neither praise nor blame for hereditary quali ties, inasmuch as both good and bad qualities come without effort on the part of the children. They should particularly realize that only effort, in its various forms of obedience, indus try, regularity, cheerfulness, etc., is the true test of a child's merit. A parent, next to maintain ing a child's health, should culti vate his will to cheerful obedi ence and industry. These are the qualities which it is first possible for a child to acquire; and acquired qualities are those which bring the most train ing and are the most praiseworthy. That parent loves well, but not wise ly, and is doing wrong, who gives un earned rewards to the idle and selfish boy or the fretting girl. If the boy fails to prove half-spoiled on becoming a man, it is in spite of his early train ing. The chances are that he will be willful, besides idle and selfish. Bpt an early environment of industry, obedience, thought and faithful re ligious training can train the will in such a way as to modify natural bad qualities and reinforce natural good qualities and lead to the acquiring of new good ones.-N. Y. Ledger. THE FOX-TERRIER. It Is One of the Most Useful as Well as Mlost Popular of Dogs. Of all small dogs the fox-terrier is the most engaging, and for many years has been the most fashionable compan ion for young men. He was originally kept as an addition to every pack of fox-hounds, and was used to worry the fox out of a hole when in the chase Reynard had gone to ground. Of re cent years, however, the fox-hound has developed so much speed that the little terrier can not keep up in the chase. For awhile a huntsman used to carry a fox-terrier on horseback to be used in case the fox went to ground, but nowa days, in hunting countries, fox-ter riers are so numerous that one can al ways be had for the huntsman's use in any neighborhood. The fox-terrier is the most gentlemanlike of all dogs, and his cleanly habits make him "wel come wherever he is known. lie is also as courageous as possible. The writer once saw at the Central Park menagerie a small fox-terrier chained in an elephat's cage. The two were evidently good friends ordinarily, but something was wrong the day the writer saw them. The terrier was ly ing in his corner evidently in the sulks. The elephant, with comical twinkle of his eyes, woul4 pick up straws with his" trunk and drop them on the dog. The terrier for awhile shook these off, and merely growled. Then, his patience worn out, he jumped r out and dash ed at the elephant with savage anger. lie went as far as his chain would let him. The huge elephant backed as far as he could into a corner, and seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. But there was a twinkle in his eyes, and there seemed to be a smile on his face. The fox-terrier tug ged at his chain, and acted as though he would eat that elephant up if he could get at hims. It was a most com ical sight. There is no better dog to destroy vermin, and he courses rabbits with much zdst. A good fox-terrier puppy costs from five to one hundred dollars. Mr. August Belmont several years ago paid in England five hundred guineas for his dog Lucifer.-Harper's Y'oung People. Goslsip That Is Proftable. In China there is a profession for ladies, strange, because openly and handsomely remunerated in the cur rent coin of the realm. It is carried on by elderly ladies, who go from house to house of rich people announcing their coming by beating a drum and offering their services to amuse the lady of the house. This offer accepted, they sit down and tell the latest scan dal and the newest stories and on dits and are rewarded at the rate of one half crown an.iour, besides a hand some present should sonumu portion of their gossip have proved particularly accepta ble.-Chicngo IHerald. -Gold alwavys has a market.-Ran'Wi Horu, PITH AND POINT. ---Staylate (yawns)-"Excuse me." Ethel Knox-"Certainly. Goodnight." -Vogue. -lie--"Which way was Tommy Too dies bound when you saw him?" She "In full calf, judging by his conversa tion."-Belford's Magazine. -"'o wonder De Boot likes classical music. IHe is properly constituted." "How so?" "He can disguise his feel ings perfectly. "-Detroit Tribune. -"Do you suppose there is any dan ger of his illness running into quick consumption?" "Pooh, no; he's a mes senger boy, don't you know."-Inter Ocean. -You can always tell the man who has a free seat at the theater by the calmly-critical way in which he ab stains regularly from all applause. Somerville Journal. -Hess-"That old Mr.,Booger drinks like a fish." Snarleigh-"Nonsense, a fish doesn't place the end of a whisky flask to its mouth every ten minutes." -Raymond's M~onthly. -"I might have married half a doz en better men than you.," said Mrs. Jackson Parke in the course of a little conjugal tiff, "*and what's more,I mean to do so."-Indianapolis Journal. -A western paper says warm weather accelerates- the growth of whiskers. That may be a reason why cyclones come to play with them when the sum mer is on.-New Orleans Picayune. -The Butcher(haughtily)-"Madame, my reputation rests upon my meat." Doubting Customer-"W'ell, if it's as tough as that last steak you sent me, I feel sorry for you."-Buffalo Courier. -Ills (Golden Text.-Dr. Thirdly "You love to go to Sunday-school, don't you. Dick?" D)ick Hicks-"Yes. indeed." Dr. Thirdly-"What do you expect to eanrn to-day?' Dick llicks-"Thedate of the picnic."--Punch. -Willie--"Conme here. you little cub." Fond Father--"William, don't let me hear you speak to your baby brother like that. lie's no cub." "Oh, yes, he :r' I heard ma tell grandma that you were nothing but an old bear !" -Woman, 1Woman !-She-"Why don't you tell me that noise isn't a burglar. (George? A woman always needs to be reassured." George-"Of course it isn't a burglar, dearest. That is only the rain dropping on the eaves. Thercl don't you hear it again?" She-"What do you want to keep talking about it for?"--Judge. -A Truth-Teller.- Owner -"Wlhen did your father say he expected to have this job done?" Truthful James (son of contractor)-"Well, I heard him tell mother that if he got a certain job he's looking after he'd have yours finished by to-night. but if not, he guessed he'd make this job last out another week." --Yankee Blade. -Doing Her Best.-Husband (who has had "jumping neuralgia" for two days)-"ULgh ! I don't see why-oh, oh, oh -we were not born without teeth ! Ugh !" Wife (soothingly--"If you had only stopped to consider it, you would not have made such a remark, dearie. For. yon know, we really were born without teeth."--Truth. -"WVhat shall we do with our living skeletons?" is a question that is engag ing the attention of the Louisville au thorities. A showman brought a fe male skeleton from Georgia, but as she was not a profitable attraction, and now he insists that it is the city's busi ness to fat her up to a normal and com fortable condition. The city hasn't been able to decide as to its liability under the law. BLOWED ON THE OFFICE BOY. Flow the Latter Got Square on the IBlonde Typewriter. The office boy and the blonde typc writer had quarreled. It was over a trivial rhatter, to be sure, but neverthe less they were on the outs. Both seemed spitefully revengeful. and when one day the office-boy played off sick and went to the base-ball game the typewriter made known to the em ployer the youth's sporting proclivities. This, as might be expected, caused trouble, and the wrath of the office boy aga inst the young lady with nimble fingers increased more and more. Days passed and the lad planned and dreamed of schemes to "get back" at his fair tormentor, who stood so well in the graces of the employer. Now on every typewriter there is a small gong which rings when the end of the line is reached. The office boy knew this, and as he watched the prettily-tappered fingers throw back the carriage at each tap of the bell he smiled with fiendish glee. It was late in the afternoon. the young lady was industriously tapping the keys to finish the firm's correspond ence. She had reached the last letter, and remarked to the ofice boy that her best young man was going to take her to the theater that evening. Hence her hurry. This only made the office boy smile all the more, for he knew that hi time had come. His eyes seemed to say: "Revenge is sweet." The young lady slipped the sheet of paper into the ma chine, and began at lightning speed to write from her notes. The youth watched the carriage slid ing to and fro. He took from his pock et a rusty nail, and, as the typewriter wrote on unconsciously, he tapped the bell lightly with the nail. The young lady, never thinking, pushed the paper up another line and went on. Again the boy tapped the bell, and again the young lady turned the machine. This was kept up until the maiden had writ ten all there was to write. A small figure had sneaked easily out of the door. The blonde withdrew the sheet from the machine. She looked at it, and looked again and saw before her a letter written something after the fashion of the latter day step-lad der poetry. Not a single line was prop erly written. The girl grew thought ful. She seemed to remember that the bell had wrung a trifle oftener than usunal. She looked about the room and then she remembered that the office boy had once upon a time gone to a base ball game and had remarked sub sequently that he wQyald get even, Baltimore Ilrtld. FARM AND GARDEN. THE VICIA AMERICANA. Eome Interesting Information About the Wild Pea Vine. American vetch, or wild pea vine, grows commonly on the prairies of Minnesota, South Dakota and west ward. It is a very pretty little plant from one to three feet in height, sup porting its slender form by clinging to the surrounding verdure with its delicate clasping leaf-tendrils. The flowers are beautiful, of a brilliant blue or purplish color, and, were the plant less common, it would be an ac quisition in any flower garden. Few flowers can be arranged in such a man ner as to make a handsomer bouquet than these wild pea vines and blossoms. Where the land has been broken and lies idle a year these little plants spring up in great profusion and nearly through the months of May and June create . lovely natural flower garden, spreading a rich mantle of blue over the brown earth. When cultivated the WILD PEtA VIN\. period of bloom can he greatly length ened by picking the flowe rs as soon as they begin to fade. The pods, though smaller, resemble those of the culti vated pea. and the seeds have much the same flavor. Vicia Americana is one of the native food plants of the large. brilliant western species of blister beetle, known to science as Can tltaris Nut talli. Whole patches of wild pens are denuded by these insects. Fn fortunately they have also acquired a taste for cultivated beans, and as soon as wild peas begin to get hard the beetles turn their whole attention to the gardens and bean patches, where, on account of their large size and ihn mense numbers, they make sad havoc. This is only another instance of a change in the food habits of an insect by which it discards the plants which afforded subsistence to its ancestors, to become an enemy to the tender and more nutritious cultivated species. There are at least fifteen species of -Vicia native to the United States, be sides the two species naturalized from Europe. These latter are the trouble some weeds found in grain fields and known by the common name of vetch or tares. -Prairie Farmer. TEXAS TO THE FRONT. The Excellent Road Law Pa.sed by the Lane Star Logialature. The agitation begun some time ago for the construction of country roads that will be passable at all seasons of the year is not to be allowed to die out without having produced any practical results. It is now hearing fruit in sonice sections of the country where the need of good roads has been most severely felt. The legislature of Texas, which has recently adjourned. passed an act for the beginning of the work of road construction in the state which, if it should prove effectual in its working, will doubtless be given wider scope at subsequent sessions of the lawmaking 'assembly until its provisions are wide enough to embrace every portion of the state and furnish good roads in all di rections. As yet the law applies only to coun ties that contain cities and towns of considerable importance, probably be cause the imposition of a tax sufficient to meet the expense of the construction would be more than the sparse popula Lion in other counties could stand. By the act passed the counties are author ized to issue bonds for road construc tion. The amount of these bonds is to be governed by the assessed valuation of the property in the county issuing the paper. No larger amount may be issued than a tax of fifteen mills on the assessed valuation. The bonds may not be redeemable in less than ten or run more than forty years, and they may not be sold at less than their par value. Care is taken in the law to provide safeguards for the proper expenditure of the money. MIoney thus raised may not be expended for any other purpose than the construction of roads and bridges. These must be built under the supervision of a competent engi neer and after a proper survey has been made for them. They are to be built in a substantial and permanent wsay so that they will be passable at all sea sons of the year and in such a way that they will be easily kept in proper re pair. Should the act be administered in the spirit in which it has been passed, it is probable that Texas will soon be ahead of most of the other western states in regard to good coun tryroads.-Chicago Evening Post. A Proitable Investment. Good roads pay. If our country cous ins could be made to believe that de cent roads increase thl value of their property they might take a brace and make the suburban roads passable. Lowell (Mass.) Times. IF you have no separator do not fail to provide for the rapid and thorough cooling of milk by means of some deep setting system. Hea vy losses are pprt to cone it this is not nttncded to, HIGHWAY ENGINEERS. How They Should Be Edueated Wae Trained for Their Work. The history of the art of road-making is singularly replete with important lessons. It is doubtful if the recorded experience of any other branch of en gineering is more instructive. There fore the highway engineer needs to know much of the history of his pro fession in other times and countries than his own. Last, but not least, the student of this subject needs ample piractice in the construction work of the road engineer. He must see an extended series of prac tical constructions, observe the work in progress, and note the results attained by the various methods; above all he must become familiar with the manual and mechanical processes which have been found to give the best results with the least expenditure. He should, if possible, before graduation, have a tour of duty in the actual work of his proposed occupation. There is reason to hope that the edu cation of engineers in the manner here proposed will bring about a gain which will go much further than it at first sight appears likely to do. Up to the present time our country people have had but little in the way of profit from the services of skilled men in engineer ing work. Although such experts are needed in a great variety of ways in every rural community, there has not been as yet enough employment to tempt them to those fields. If the plan is adopted of having township or coun ty engineers for the care of the highways we may look forward to a wider dissemination of this class of persons, and to their aid in many branches of work, where they will prove most helpful. They will be good land surveyors: they can give valuable advice in questions of water supply and drainage; they may be trusted to better the methods of construction used in our buildings. As soon as it becomes the custom to rely upon this class of experts the field of their usefulness will rapidly widen, and our economic condi tions will protit much from their aid. They will bring the resources of a great field of natural science home to our peo ple. There can be no doubt that through this addition of specialists to our country folk we are shortly to make a distinct advance in our societies outside of the great towns. To young men who are seeking a safe and honorable occupation the field of employment which is opened by the de veloping profession of the highway en gineer is likely to prove very tempting. It offers an opportunity for a large and interesting kind of activity. Consid ered with the other duties which will naturally fall to such experts, it will not only give a man a living, but will make hiim a person of importance in the community wherein hdwelis.-Prof. N. S. Shaler, in Leslie's Weekly. OPEN SHED FOR COWS. One That IM Conabined with a Corn ad Grain Chanmber. In cold climates many farmers take the precaution to surround their barn vards on three sides with buildings, which adds wonderfully to the comfort of animals that spend at least a portion of.cach day out of doors, whether it be winter with its necessary stable feed ing or summer with its soiling. But to secure the comfort of cows that are turned into the yard in summer an open shed is highly desirable. :t is also an -- II important addition to a yard where cows are turned at night in summer, .w hether kept in the stable or the pas ture during the day, for sudden storms and showers frequently arise in the night and thoroughly drench the stock that has no shelter it can seek. For sheep, cows, weanling calves and ether stock such an open shed has pro nounced advantages both in summer and winter. The one shown in the il lustration is combined with a corn and Sgrain chamber, which is entered from the midway landing of the stairs lead ing from the first to the second floor of the stable to which the smaller build ing is attached. The grain is thus constantly at hand when needed for the use of the animals, and is easily and conveniently housed after being threshed from the straw or husked from the sfalk.-Country Gentleman. FACTS FOR DAIRYMEN. STRICT cleanliness is one of the requi sites for successful dairying. 'ritE amount of fat which a cowV gives is the test of her value in the dairy. THE neatness of the package has much to do with the selling price of butter. TEST the cows in the dairy herd. Some of them are not paying for their keep and should be disposed of. TI.E dairy cow will not give some thing for nothing. You must feed her well to get good returns in milk and butter. lr is said that the milk sugar con tained in a hundred pounds of average milk would bring more money on the market than the butter it contains As yet there has been no cheap method dis coveredof extracting it. THE commercial creamery is the out growth of a demand for a better and more uniform grade of butter. Many of the private dairies produce first-class. butter and h:ve not suffered from the establishment of creameries.-Orange Judd Farmer. Arkansas Wants Road. It is a question of roads or no roadsl with us. \Vlhether we shall go as we have been doing for fifty years, or awaken with new-born energy and de termination and build the roads. Mean while let us always bear in mind that. it takes money to make roadas--titi nko (Ark.) Onanonq