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.. .- .,VO L . L. 2. VOL. X, LAKE PROVIDENCE, EAST CARROLL PARISH, LA., SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1897. NO. 2. WOMAN5 INrLUENCE (CHAPTER XII-Continnee. T.e next morning Margaret received a note from the rectory ask:ng her to come to Mrs. Ivens, who was very sick. Waiting only f, r a hasty breakfast, and obeying Brian's instructions to wtp herself warnly, she departed on her errand of inm rcy. Through the peaceful quiet of the Sabbath morning she made her way over the well kept road, until she reached the rectory, an unpretentious little house, sitting ba k in an equally unpretentious garden. A narrow, beaten pathway led to the mod st entrance, and on either side of it were tiny lorders of dead flowers, around whose lifeless stems the brown leaves ('lung convu.sively. Margaret's ring was answered by a tired-looking maid servant, who led the way into the poorly furnished little parlor. While, she questioned the girl as to her mistress' condition Margaret's eyes tiaveled wistfully atout the room, whose cheery homeliness not even the 'disillusionizing influence of poverty, 'could entirely dispel. Yet there was something vague:y pathetic in the worn chairs, the faded, alt ost threadbare, carpet; the few inexpensive ornaments, 'and the numero:us makeshifts; little pretensions to comfort and luxury, which deft fingers had fashioned into pretty deceptive devices, all presenting the long and patient later, thoughtful love, and tender self-denial, so often wrought into the possessions of the poor. Up stairs in the front room sh foundI the brave little woman who had seem ed, s.) well only a few days before, ;stretchedl on a bed of weakness, the busy [rain no longer worrying over the 'wants of a grow;n- family, the tireless feet resting at last. Near the bed sat Mr. Ivens, the rector of the most un 'popular church in S-. liHe was a man of many talents and attainments, tut unfortuaately for himself he htake'l the self-confldence necessary to meet and overcome the difficulties of life. Margaret knew and understood a na ture so similar to her fatlier's. She discovered the wealth of learning and nobility of soul hidden under an over mastermng diffidence, and she admired the qualities which others could not s. e. Now as she saw him, bowed by th shadow of a coming great sorrow, hold ing the nerveless hand that had smooth ed 6o many difficulties for him, yet ,whose cheerful aid could never more be his, she felt her heart filled with a com !passion no words c tuld express. He was so engrossed with his grief that he scarcely noticed her as she quietly gilded to his ptace beside the bed, but Mrs. Ivens had heard the al meet no:seless footsteps and opened 'her eyes wearily. "Ah, it is you, Margaret," she said with a momentary flush of pleasure on 'her pale face. Margaret hodded cheerily, and laid her hand, with a soothing tenderness, on the hot, throbbing head. "Does it ache much?" she asked. "No, Margajet, only a little. Will you tell Mary~ get the children ready for school? I should be up to do it my self, but I am very tired." '1 don't believe you ever admitted as much before," was Margaret'3 rather unsteady answer, "The children won't go to school to-day. It is Sun 'day." "Sunday, and I lying here! James, I why didn't you tell me? We had so much to do to-day." Her eyes sought her husband's, but he was looking rather wistfully at Mar garet. Margaret read the unspoken language of that glance, and she found It very diffclult to answer cheerfully. "We are going to let you be lazy to day, Ellen, so that formidable amount 'of work must wait for another Sunday. II intend to assert my authority, and, to begin, I'll sit here while Mr. Ivene eats 'some breakfast. Mary told me.to send him down." The gentleman took this hint, and, as obedient as a ch:ld, left the room. He knew that Ellen was safe and happy In 'Margaret's hands, and already he felt better for her cheerful, helpful pres ence. I Half-way down the stairs he was met by a preternaturally grave child of 8 years, whose wistful eyes gazed sadly into his. Evidently she had been wait- 1 ing for him, for without a word sle stole quietly to his side and allowed her hand to glide with reassuring sympathy into his. In this silent way they reached the dining-room, where Mary had breakfast ( on the table, and three tots aged, re spectively, six, four, and two seated in their high-chairs, waiting for papa. SLittle wonder that Margaret's mind should be filled with pa'nful thoughts of these tables, as she sat by itheir mother's beds:de, or that her eyes became so misty when Ellen expressed such gratitude for her attentions. "If you only knew how glad it makes me t do even a little for you," she said, with a struggle to speak calmly. "You see, it is so seldom I can be useful that I am particularly proud now. If I had c been poor, I believe I should have taken up nursing as a profession." "Yes, but you need not do it now, Margaret. You don't know what it is tobepoor. It is h'ard forhim and the E children." The voice was full of pain. I "'I have knows," Margaret answered. E 'I have known the pain and cruelty of it. The saales of life are so unevn. I t have ne more right to comdert ad luz- I lry than you hate, ind yet~ But I! did not come here to talk on suclld4a- t ful iib eets; Iwant to see you br;ght and cheerful." "* "It is hard to be bright and cheerful, s Msrgaret. Lylag here with nothing to do, o many thoughts come to me. rm airad I hate given up so often when I s should ve helped e ad encouraged ramesa Now it I' so near Christmas h, lpless. You must help me to get we!l, Margaret. Help me to get strong. Why do you turn your eyes away? Is it becau-eý- Ah! Is it because you think I shall never be wellagain? Some times I have thought so too, and I have Ibrayed that it may not be so, fo: James' sake and my babies." The weak voice broke, and Margaret, incapable of a word, could only press the hot hand between her own cool ones whi:e her eyes burned with the tears she found so hard to withhold. She was very glad when the rector came in a few moments later and she could leave the room to overcome her emotion and write the following note to Brian: "d DEAR BRIAN-Po not expect me home to dinner. Mrs. Ivens is very ill. Will you ~ome here this afternoon? I am anxious to see you." Finding a boy, Margaret directed him to leave the note at Elmwood. (HAPTER XIII. BRIANs CIIRITiAS cGIT. S When Brian came to the rectory that 0 afternoon Margaret asked him to go up s1and see Mrs. Ivens. "I wish your candid opinion," she said. "I think she is very ill, for Ellen e is not the one to give up until forced to do so." From his brief visit Brian came down with a serious face. Margaret was statnding in the lower hall, and one glance made her heart sink heavily. "The case is holeless," he said, in answer to the question she was trying to frame. "I am so orry for you." "Rather be sorry for them," she re joined, trying to shut out the sympa i thetic face, which made it more difficult for her to be calm. "Who will tell him? I Do you suppose he can ever be recon cile I to her loss?" "I don't know," interposed Brian, for want of a better answer. "I suppose we niMst all be reconciled to whatever COnlies to us." "Ah! don't. It is cruel to talk of being reconciled. I'd never be recon c('led. Never!" With these abrupt words, she started to move away, but her tears blinded her, anti sile would have falhkn had not 1 rian, u ck to detect her weakness, caught her in his arms. "This will not do, Margaret," he sa d, withi some authority. "I think you had tbetter go home with me. You will make yourself ill." "\What nonsense, Brian! Ill from watching a few hours with a sck friend? I wouldn't be lit to live if that were the cas'.. hle s is not physical weakn ess." "Aren't there others to -lo for Mrs. Ivens?" he asked, wi.h some warmth. "1Why should it all fall on your shoul den s?" "All fall on my shoulders? Oh, Brian, Shw you do exasperate me! Of course there are others. Plenty of them. Everylo ly loves her, Lut for some rea s n she likes to have me with her. And with her I intend to stay." "Then stay you may," he answered, meeting her defiant eye. "I sba'n't carry you away by Lodily force, thougth I don't think you should have your own way in every case. I have and request to make. Perhaps you will condesceld to respect it. Don't kill yourself." 1 "I am not one of the killing kind," re joined Margaret,goingup-stairs. "Good by for the present. You may call to morrow, if you will." Brian did call to-morrow, and this second visit only confirmed the opinion expr-ssed in his first. ,Mrs. Iroens was dying-from no special'disease, but from a gradual giving away of the vital forces. A life of care and anxlety, Vex ations and privations, and wearying struggles to make both ends meet, had told at last on the delicate constitution. Many who fall by the wayside are not less brave than those who reach the t martyr's stake, and, if the truestrheroes are those who bear life's burdens un complainingly, Mrs. Ivens night justly wear the crown of terolsm. Margaret was faithful to her trust. h Others came and went, Lut she remained I y the s:ck bed. Brian exhausted his e treaties in vain, and even Christmas Eve could not tempt her to leave her c friend. d "You tell me her hours are numbered. tl Let me stay until the end. It cannot be E very long now." And Brian said no more. Mrs. Ivens' hours were, indeed, num bered. The flame of life burnt fainter and fainter, and when the night of B Christmas Eve passed into the dawn of Christmas Day, the angels of life and death crossed in their pathway, and the tired soul found the land of perpetual rest-the joys of an eternal morning. The inoidents of those closing moments wero indelibly photographed on Mar garet's mind. ti She had to be brave and strong for ti the sake of those so sadly bertaved. Mary had sobbed and the rector had t bo Ted his head in anguishe d grief, but she lad shed no tear. 'he had brought the colemn, awe-struck children to their i mother's side; she had seen the kiss or ol infinite tenderness pressed upon each E sad little face; her heart had echoed Sc Elsie's cry of anguish when for the last di time that little head was pillowed on a dlying mother's breast; yet her eyes had h been hard and dry, though the painful tightening at her throat had made her di fromise to be a fr:end to these mother ss little ones, so hard to speak. And even now the tears would not come, though she had thought and thought until her mind was weary. The sunshine lay all about her, the k bright, glad sunshine of Christmas; on the floor, where the carpet looked so faded and worn; on the very spot that c Ellen's fingers had mended so often aand so patiently in their old busy days; on the S old chintz sofa, where she was lying hi now-so carelessly, so thoughtlessly- - . while the heart whose tender, unselfish in love had.made this house a home, in all yc that gives that word its highest, holiest t meaning, was forever stilled in its last s bleep, and the tired, patient hanks lay foldeda a the calm nest to be broken never *ain. r A seopd in the hall! She started up t t-o iste. The long period ot watching tk ;ad.Jdade her nervous and sensitive, and t house had been so still. Even te beP voices were awed to silence. ' Thheavy footsteps jarred sharply oan. ol her ears. They were not Mary's and til neotthereetor'n. They were Brian's. He enterd the little room where she , was trying ,reet, and wIllh his sympa" - ibthy eeected on hsle fae, oame to her =~ ~~~m. he sa~y;I ,L:~r id es.tkvrk S r rrrr C you home now. It is Christmas, you know, and I-" "Christmas!" she echoed, In a far away voice. "Are you sure, Brian? Christmas always brings happiness, I thought, and there is no happiness here. I am ready to go home, though. I be lieve I have been waiting for you. I am t so t'red, so very tired. I don't feel that I can ever be rested again." it Brian looked his concern. Such weak u ness was unusual in Margaret. "I am afraid you have done wrong," e he said, with some reproach. "You a' should have taken my advice, Margaret; but I suppose it is too lat: to scold now. t, You need rest. That is evident." s Margaret scarcely heard him. She s rose rather unsteadily and started to s leave the room, but with sudden remem brance she turned back with the words: r "I shall take the children to Elmwojd. e Christmas here would be a mockery for r them." o A shade of annoyance passed over his face. "It would be useless to oppose a you, even if I desired to do so," he re turned. "Take them, of course, but do I let Mrs. Davis care for them. I won't have you worrying yourself into an ill a ness. I believe in a certain amount of sympathy, but too much is too much." "I only want to go to bol and sleep forever," was Margaret's answer. 'I am so tired from being sorry." "Then the sooner you go home the better. I have the carriage, and if you are ready--" t "In a second, lFrian. I will not keep you waiting long." ) Th's time of waiting was spent by Margaret in the darkened room, where the rector sat by all that remained to him of a beloved wife. She approached the still form and pressed a long kiss on the pale brow. She felt the rector's burning eyes upon her and she hoard the hoarse words with which he turnedl to her: "How am I to li-o my life alone?" She longed for the power to comfort him, yet all the sympathy she could ex press seemed to hold the mockery of easy consolation. "There are the children," she said in a low voice. "Four loving little hearts to make your life less lonely. And there is (;d. He sends the cioss, and He sends the streneth to bear it. We see so dimly. What seems so hard to us is often a kindness from our Father's hands. We must linger here in suffer ing and tribulat!on, but for her th ' crown has come before the cr:ss had grown too heavy. Father, teach our hearts to say ' Thy will be done.' " Leaving the echo of her prayer be hind her, Margaret joined Brian, with the four grave-faced ohildren. upon whose childish minds the intangible shadow and silence had made such a sol emn impression. She found it hard to meet the pathetic inquiry of those baby eye3, and she was quite relieved when she could give her new charges into the kindly care of the surprised Mrs. Davis. After this, she I went'to bed and slept for the remainder of the day, and when dinner time ar- _ rived her inclinations were so decidedly against rising that she could scarcely force herself to dress and io'n Brian. "He'lt find me rather doleful at best," she remarked to the heavy eyes and * pale, tired face which looked at her from C the mirror. 'I suppose I must try to be I cheer-ul." t But her short talk with Elsie, just be- c fore dinner, did not tend to brighten her f spirts. The child had spoken so earnestly of the Fpeat care her mother's death had left upon her, and expressed such a pa thetic wish to grow bigger so that she t could help papa more, that Margaret e found it hard to answer calmly with b those earnest eyes upon her. "You may be little, ElsIe, yet you can t, help papa even now. These little feet can be tireless in his service, this dear C face may always wear a smllifor him, and this tethler little heart may love ft and comfort him in every trouble." tl "Litt'e people, and big people, too, p can only do their best. " b "Poor little tot," commented Brian, when Margaret repeated this conversa- 1 tion kgter dinner. "Let us not think of them any more to-night, Margaret. Let g us try to' be happy. I am so sorry our Christmas has been cloudels 1. I got you, t this little remembrance, and E really h have not had a chance to give it to' you." I "Onj a remembrance?" she asked, tl taking the exquisite little .jeweled pin tl from his hand. "This is fit for a prin- re cess. How it flashes in the light. It dazzles me. I-I don't know how to a thank you, and I have nothing for you, Brian. a ['o · coxTINUEDI i. The. oseta Stone. The "Rosetta Stone," a famous Pi Egyptian curiosity now in the British 1 Museum, was discovered in the year n 1799 by M. Boussard, a French ex- m plorer, near Rosetta, a seaport of I Lower Egypt. It is of black basalt, t about forty inches long by thirty wide, with three engraved inscrip- a tions upon Its surface. The rst of t these is in Greek, the second is a conglomeration of hieroglyphics and in the third is enchorial writing, a sys tem used by the Egyptiains in record- r ing every-day matters. After years ' of laborious research the savants of a Europe ascertained that the three in- th scriptions were three versions of a degree in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes an by tlje priests of Egypt, because he o had remitted their taxes. This won- st derful relic dates back to about the so year 200 B. C.-Philadelphia Press. pl A Mixed Brood. an A resident of Friendship, Ga.. ha owns a turkey hen that not only da keeps his family well supplied with co young turkeys, but sometimes sur- gli prises the family by the presentation ax ,of a mixed brood. On the last occa-' on sion, after setting on twelve eggs for her usual- term of incubation, she mm was found the other morning hover- tic ing over ten young turkeys and one the young opossum, it having required be two turkey eggs to produce one 'pos- ol sum. The young 'possum in question do wps about the size of a half-grown tez rat, and was nestling' under the on turkey ai contentedly as any one of lox the legitimate brood. fu e Clns Coppr. bi To get the tin, solder and dirt off old.copper bottoms, so as to make f them clean, cleanse first In a boiling solution of three part caustic soda, one part niter and ive parts water, and i hen in dilute saaphurlc acid; or dip mnitdentarily In warm nitric aId, -pectdt ravlty.1 2, and wash 1" In.Uat bll~fyC Ia ri.a~ W.s o I you "COFFEE PEA." far ian A RICH PLANT UNDER CULTIVA ere. TION IN COJORADO.. be am It Flourishes in Arid Wastes,. Fat tens Cattle, Makes a Delicious ak- Drink and May Have a Great Future. You ret; HAT Colorado may eventually ow. become the source of a coffee supply for the country is not She as wild a proposition as it Ito may seem at first blush, says a Denver - letter in the Chicago Times-Herald. ds: Through a series of experiments at for the State Agricultural Collegp a wild pea has been so tamed that it gives a his very good substitute for the Brazil oso bean. re- It is known as the Idaho coffee pea, n't owing to its having been found in'that ill- State growing in rank profusion. Col of orado is the first State to make a specialty of the introduction of the ep pea for fodder for animals and food I for man. It is equally palatable for both and possesses such remarkable he qualities that it would not be sur ou prising if it obtained a regular stand ep ing in the economy of life. For the past two or three years the by pea has been growing in favor among re the farmers of the Cache la Poudre to Valley, in which the college is located, and the present season will witness nd the production of large quantities of ' it for stock food, for which purpose it is probably not excelled by any crop grown in this latitui e. The plant is anative of Idaho, where rt it grows wild, its fruit being used x- mainly as a substitute for coffee, an of infusion of the leaves having been used for generations by the Shoshones be. fore they ever had any knowledge of re the imported article. Settlers who e invaded the West in the '6)'s gave the ee plant the name of the "coffee pes," is for want of a Letter expression. rs Scientifically it is the cicer areitihum, r- and is said to grow wild in some parts h of Europe. The first known of it in Colorado was in the spring of 1893, when e- CharlesE. Pennock of Bellevue, Lari th mer County, received a few of the rn seeds from Wood River, Idaho. These le were planted, and Mr. Pennock was so 1- pleased with the results that he con tinued experimenting with the plant, as giving year by year a little larger area er to its cultivation until he had acoamu he lated seed enough to supply several of ec his neighbors with what they needed er for experimental purposes and also to r- meet the calls for it from other see ly tions of the country. ly This was in the spring of 1836. As a result of this distribution of seed, ,d several acres were planted in the valley rn of the Cache la Poudre last year to the eo Idaho coffee pea. Success attended these experiments and the value of the - crop has been clearly established. One ir farmer, John G. Lindemier, raised 250 o bughels last year and sold nearly the td entire crop at good prices. k. Those who have fed it to stock say e that its fattening properties have no at equal It has been found to take one .h half less of it than corn to fatten an animal. As food for milch cows the n tests have proved satisfactory, the t cows giving one-third more milk than , when fed on bran, and butter made fe rom the milk in winter is as yellow as that made in June. The ration is pre , pared by soaking the peas until they become soft, by cooking them, or grinding and feeding the meal. The latter method is preferable because it gt gives the best results. Stock prefer it r in that way to any grain, and do bet ter. The average ration for a working y horse is three quarts a day. It puts horses into excellent condition, gives I, them sleek, glossy coats and keeps n them in good health. About the same ration per day is sufficient for milch cows or fattening stock. Hogs require from one to three pints of the meal to a feed, according to the size of the animal. The plant is easily uonltivated and is a prolific. A single stalk produices from S1000 to 1400 pods. In 1895 Mr. Pen Snook thrashed sixty-eight bushels, Smachine measure, Irom the qop of SIdaho coffee peas grown on less than three-quarters of an acre of ground, and considers 1000 bushels to the acre an ordinary yield under proper cul f ture, the soil and climate conditions a beingfavorable. Itthrives bestplanted . in drills three feet apart. The plants should stand fifteen inches apart in the row, one seed in a place requiring Snbout fifteen pounds of .seed to the Sacre. It should be planted as soon an the ground becomes warm in spring, Sabout corn planting time, and hoed and cultivated in the same manner as corn. When the plants get a good start they completely cover the ground, I so that weeds have no chance to inter- a fere with them. It is a low spreading e plant, sometimes measuring four feet h across, with short, stout stems, each n having many branches with thick, a Sdark green compound pinnote leaves, t Scovered on the underside with hairy a Sglands. The pods are formed at the p Saxil of every leaf, and contain from a one to three peas. b The Idaho ooffee pea grows and c Smatures without water, a characteris- tI tic that farmers with dry knolls on n Stheir farms will appreciate. It will b Sbe seen from this statement that the h coffee pea is an arid region plant. It c does better on unirrigated land; bet- J ter in a dry eli'mate than in a moist one. This b'eing true, there need no longer be any dry waste places on the farm. They can be made to produce o big orops of superior food for man and tl Asthe pods are formed at the axil t of the. leaves, the first formed soon re ripen, so that there are ripe andreen tl pods an& alsojbloonms at the same time II all througl, the seeson, and the plants tt are in bloomat harvest time. The fe I pods never eracki ad none of the fntuit ri 'I I wted by aellin oet sadt thberop Jo ss bhe hlugvlnireqe 'm rtr as autumn frosts do not stop the growtl of the plant or injure the peas. As a substitute for coffee it is riol A- and nutritious, having a richer an( better flavor than ordihary coffee. I can be used freely by invalids ani children, with known benefioial ef' feets. It is nourishing, but has none of the stimulating qualities of the coffee of commerce. Many old coffee drinkers prefer it to Java or Rio, and cannot tell the difference. It ii ly parched and ground like other coffee, ee one-third less being use1, settled with ot an egg,'and, with cream and sugar, it makes a delicious drink. er When the valuable properties of this d. wonderful plant become known, and at the farmers learn how to produce, Id harvest and thrash it to the be3t advan a tage, it bids fair to prove of greater Ail benefit in the arid region, as there is probably no other grain that possesses a, so many valuable feeding qualities as at the Idaho coffee pea. Mr. Sands, of i1. Nebfaska, who experimented with the a plant last yejr, writes enthusiastically : ie "It will build "cities and railroads ,d when it becomes known." )r le Infancy and Childhood. Every physician eneounters deplora ble cases of children three and four years old whose diet consists almost e exclusively of meat, simply because their perverted appetites demand that 'e article. In sUon extreme instances 1, the most severe measures are justi 9 fiable in order to resume the latural and healthful method of feeding, to e save the child's health, if not its very y life. We should permit it to become genuinely hungry by withholding all e meat, or even all food, until it will consent to recommence taking milk. d We may aid the child to overcome any temporary repugnance to milk by making it as palatable as possible. It may be aerated in a milk shake, 0 beaten in a cream-whipper, flavored by oyster juice and renamed "oyster soup," seasoned with any harmless essence. Variety is desirable, and even nec essary, in the diet of all children; but in seeking variety we should never 0 lose sight of the main principle-that ° milk should be the chief and frequent article of diet, and meat, if not wholly e excluded, admitted only as an occa e sional and non-essential part in the 0 diet, of any child under six years of age. Many children reach that age in superb health and with fine physiall a development without having known the taste of meat. The little one will 1 naturally tire of milk if he is always given plain milk, milk, milk, without any change. But milk, with oatmeal, milk with hominy, milk with cracked wheat, with cracked corn, with rice, with baked apples, seem in infantile judgment quite different dishes. There are also the various cream soups, made up without butter or seasoning, beyond the natural pinch of salt. This we may vary with a number of articles not taken with milk, but served in a different course. -Harper's Bazar. Making Commercial Diamonds. Chemists have recently and in ptb lic made actual diarigads, comparable in every respect, save one, that of size, with nature's most valued product. But the crystals so manufactured have, while true diamonds, been so micro scopic in proportions as to be of no commercial value. Now, however, United States Consul Germain at Zu rich reports to the State Department that a Mr. E. Moyatt claims to have discovered a process by which dia monds of larger dimensions may bi produced. In principle his process is similar to the one already used-that is,to crystallize carbon out of iron and steel by means of high pressure and high temperature. Yet there is an improvement in the teqbnical oper ation. Pulverised coal, iron chips and liquid carbonio acid asp enclosed in a strong steel tube, hermeticallyasealed and subject to an electric current be tween two terminals in the ends of the tube. Theiron liquefes, is saturated by part of the palverized coal, and at the same time the hiquid carbonic acid evaporates, thereby creating enormous pressure on the liquid iron and coal This process considerably increases the dissolution of the coal in the liquid iron. While the mixture is cooling the carbon crystallizee partly in the form of real diamonds and partly in the form of similar stones. Them crystals are released from the ingot by dissolving the iron in diluted muriatil acid. The mixture by this method re mains under high pressure during the operation of the electric current. New Orleans Picayune, Mechanism of the Human Body The human body is an epitome in nature of all mechanics, all hydraulics, all architecture, all machinery o . every kind. There are more than thr' hundred and ten mechanical moy ments known to mechanics to-day, and all of these are but modifications of those found in the human body. Here are found all the bars, levers, joints, pulleys, pumps, pipes, wheels a:V? axles, ball and socket movements, 1 beams, girders, trusses, buffers, arches, columns, cables and supports known to science. At every point man's beet I mechanical work can be shown to be but adaptations of proceEsses of the human body, a revelation of firat pn-. ciples usneed in nature.--Ladies' Home 1 Journal. Awakened by Telephone. The Johnstown (Penn.) telephone ( ofBcee has adopted the call system like j that in vogue at leading hotels. The ] subscriber who wishes to wake at a certain hour calls up '"eentra'l," who registers it. When the time. arrives the operator rings np the subscriber. If he turns over and fondly imagines that it's an alarm clock, he is nioely fooled, for the telephone bell will keep [ ringing until he stops it. .ana th "oeant~ar' viU kow that he is awake rth IOPULAR SCIENCE ob As comets near the sun their velocity ad always increases. It Glowworms are much more brilliant nd when a storm is coming than at other ef- seasons, no To aid in filing saw teeth straight a he new fileholder has a frame with two ee parallel guider, between which the file ad is fastened to make it ran true. o Under forced draught the new Brit ish first-olass battleship Jupiterinade an average of 18.4 knott in her four hr, hour trial, nearly a knot more than is the contract speed. id Microscopical investigation is said to a, prove that the pores of wood invite the 1. passage of moisture in the direction ,r of the timber's growth, but repel it in is the opposite direction. ,s Newton calculated the velocity of is the comet of 1860 to-be 880,000 miles Af an hour. Brydenne rated the speed te of the comet he saw in 1770 at two r: and a half millions of miles an hour. L3 A thermometer was left near a stove in a sleeping room at Dusseldorf re cently and the fumes from the mer cary poisoned two children so that their lives were saved with difficulty. Sr So says the British Medical Journal. Gt Gold or bismuth is extracted from ie various mineral mixtures by melted ºt lead in the process of two Swedish ae metallurgists, Olm and Loftrand, and I i. this method is claimed to be so effeo 61 tive that even very poor ores are made I o to yield a profit. y Percival Lowell in an interesting e paper on "Venus in the Light of Re II cent Discoveries," phow how his ob 1I servations at Flagstaff, Arizona, have led to the conclusion that the planet e Venus always presents the'same side y to the sun, and is, therefore, lifeless. t Some iron tonics of the pharma coposia are useless,others are harmful. It has been suggested- that the iron r should be obtained in an assimilable is form from Vegetables, and the idea a has now been extended by a French i chemist, M. Gabriel Vianud, who pro- a t poses to feed the vegetables with iron r to prepare them specially for vegetables i t having any required proportion of t iros, I Y The red clover, when introduced in to Australia, grew most luxuriantly, C and flowered, but produced no seed. C The reason for this was the absence of bumble bees-the bumble bee being the one that does the fertilizing, al-. I most exclusively, in the red clover. Bees were introduced, and the clover s seeded in profusion consequently. a Exactly the same was the case with the u apple. The Way to Sleep. Where practicable the bed should be placed on a line north and south, d with the head toward the north. This arrangement places the sleeper in e harmony with the electrical currents caused by the rotation of the earth on its axis. Often a person in sickness t and sometimes in health can obtain much needed rest in no other way. ' Bedrooms should, where possible, have a southern exposure, that is, hive the f windows on the sJuth or the sunniest I side of the house. The head to the north will keep the lungs aul respira. i tory organs away from any possible b draughts, and the room will also ob- i. tain that indispensible requisite to t health-plenty of sunlight through the v day. In many oses it will be impos- o sible to obtain these conditions in houses where there is very little sun light that can onlei the bedrooms,and where windows and doorways make it impossible to place the head of the P bed toward the north, but where there tl is a choice of rooms those that offer P these conditions for comfort and e health should be chosen for the bed, A rooirw in common use. S] Better sleep can be obtained with a n low than with a high pillow.' To lessen ri the work of the arteries that propel Ii the blood to every portion of thei organism should be the aim of every n one, so that the posture that most si nearly places the body in a horizontsl ta position is the most to be desired. a Bolstering up the head is always to be te condemned, whether in sicknes. pr in t health, unless bodily isjuries render II the perfeotly recumbent. position im-. ri possible. el It is not well to lie always on the back; by this practice the spine and w the neves that there congregate are kept too hot, and a feverish sleep is It apt to be the result. The right side U is the best to recline on, for then the 1l heart and the larger arteries are re. ra 'lieved from andue pressure. Occasion- gi ally one rests well lyinxg on the b stomseh. As a general rule eight hours is ample for a person in health; e more produces a dull, heavy feeling w on arising; Ide, aunsatisfied craving ti for more. And there is also no room w ,for doubt that the two hours im- sI mnediately preceding the midnight ec .hour are the most favorable for enjoy. w ing the "beaapty sleep" of the night. o A Remarkable tGag. A remarkable story was told in a Cleveand (Ohio) court by Nellie Gil bert, The wife a prominent physician of that city.. She esays that heF fa. ther-in-law, who does not like her and has tried to have his son divorce her, filled her month with wet plaster of paris and allowed the stuff to harden, sothat she could not tSk. A hu r had to be used to break thaphlastiar in ' her mouth beore it could be remorved. She now sees her father-in.law for $20,00 foe this assalt, sad for 80,- T 000 for endeavornl to limenate her hbsband's arfteetionm-Detreit Free & feume burglar, tweaty..se ters of ige, recently ssat to i#tK 1e n doe, was proved to have worke, her ry-thruong h openigu e so ewe quarter teues saq taizi' o a- s *v*oqsnessieeaskar on ae Road Making in England. The average width of country roads y In Englasd is fifteen to thirty feet, ir respective of foot walk. MacAdam, nt the great pioneer in road-making, er who lived in Scotland and England in the early part of the century, said: a "Roads near great towns'onght not to ro be less than thirqy to forty feet wide le but at a distance from such towns it would be a waste of land to make them so wide. A road should be as flat as le possible, with regard to Allowing the r. water to run off at all, because a car n riage ought to stand upright in travel uing, as much as possible. I have gen ~ rally made roads three inches higher in .the centre than at the sides when is they are eighteen feet wide. If the n road be well made, the water will ran off very easily in such a slope." A report prepared by the chief en )f gineering inspector of the board gov N erning British highways contains the d following: In adjusting the size of 'O drains to roads, one important consid r. eration should always be borne in re mind, and that is, that the velocity of the water should not be so great as to r" wear away the sides and bottom of the it drain. The drain should be too large rather than too small, and too wide and shallow than too deep and nar a row. In the use of broken stones for d the formation of roads, MacAdam at h taohed the greatest, importance to the I size. He said that size of stone used on a road must be in due proportion e to the space occupied by a wheel of ordinary dimensions on a smooth, level surface. This point of contact will be found to be longitudinally about an inch, and every pleae of stone put into a road which exceeded t an inch in each of its dimensions is mischievous. Since his time there have been modifications of this idea. -American Agrseulturist. Advantages of Electrieity. r While electricity is certain to effect a very material saving in manufautur i ing, it has other uses quite af import ant. Where there is one factory, there Smay be hundreds of dwellings, and when the electric current can be intro duced into these dwellings, its a4van tages will be thanifold. As to Boon omy, the Niagara Falls power haspro duoed the most startling results. It costs but $36 a year per horse power for electricity used twenty-four hours in the day. This is much less than the cost of steam used ten hours a day. There are hopes that even these fig ures will be very materially reduced, and that new appliances will show new uses for electroicity, and that we will not only have our hdases lighteq and heated by this means, 1at it 1111 be able to perform many- segioes auto matically. One of the latest adapts. tions of electricity is its usee in laun dries. The irons are heated by elcp tricity, and by proper regulation, a current is used which is absolutely uniform. All of the heat is utilised, and every stroke of the iron tells, as there is no waiting, qr' wondering, or questioning if the iron is hot enough. Another great advantage is that it does not heat the room, as the radiation from the iron is not perceptible. b heated irons vitiate the atmosphere, and the operators become weary and lack vitality. Where natural gas has heretofore been employed for heating irons, it is now used to generate bleo trioity, and the ohange is of great ad vantage, both flnancially and in point of health.-N2w York Ledger. The lWasts of Ldue. When at its zenith, the.oman Em- . pire laid all the barbaric countries of, the world under contribution to sup ply the tables of its nobles and wealthy. . citizens with the fine la xura oQ. life. Asia and Africa poured iI the rich spices and fruits of the tr l -Ger many and the great north eies raised the grains and wildlt es; Italy and the fertile land at the Franks cultrvated the rineyards to make or express the wines; ery strip of seacoast from the Mediter tanean to the Baltic contributed its quota of fish; and the forests of Brit tany yielded the wild game of the wood--birds, beasts and fowls-for the banquets of the proad, dissolute rulers of the vast Empire. With the choice prodaucts of a great world' so easily obtained, there were wanton waste, foolish extravaganeeand strange disregard of the valne of expensive luxuries, and the historian dwelling upon these times delights in reespitu lating the various articles of diet ar ranged in tempting manner upon the groaning tables at the great feasts and banquets. But, exceptmg Nero's dish of pea cock tongues and Cleopatra's cup of wine with the dissolved pearls in it, the menu of our modern banquets would compare favorably with those spread in the times when glattony, li centiousness and greed fqr luxury were insidiousnaly sapping the strength of Bome. FoIsealon by Ivy. The poisoning by the poison rivy Is well known. In reseat years a belief has arisen that a nambir of plants have the rame poisoning propensity as the poisof ivy,tbough not in as marked a degree. The strawberryhbeas been charged with such bad manoners, as also has the pretty Hibalaysa prim rose of our gardens. Handlin of the roots of the hyaeinth, and of the om men coalla, qr Easter lily, has been said to bring about the same trouble. The matter ihas recentoly been taken up by botanical :eheists in the Old World, and been foead to have no relatioemhip to thWuble that arses from our pO te.These plants at times have tae powe of forming raphkideLof oaEeate of tIe, and it Is these .n~tdielike ste~ e that pro dae the itan s .--ew Jmrk Independen " -e crieasneption of ueato Indta Oly brsseahs the modes amoMu# o eatou..pi0 4 .auatr