Newspaper Page Text
SCIENTIFIC WORLID. SIGNS OF THE TIMES WRITTEN BY INVENTORS. A Son of Japan Comes to the Front WVithI a Device for Walknlg on Water - An Invention for horse Owners-Notes of the World s Progress An Improved Neck Yoke. The simple harness attachment shown in the illustration is mainly designed for securing the breast straps to the neck yoke, although capable of other uses. It has been patented by Mr. Lewis W. Rothrock, of Morrisdale Mines, I'a. As shown more in detail lOTHRtOCK'S NECK YOKE AT'ITA(ILEN'r. in the small view the attachment con sists of a ring having parallel arms, supporting a roller movement held in position by a bolt, there being on' the bolt a loose sleeve slightly longer than the roller, preventing th2 binding of the arms against the roller. The de vice is light and strong and saves the breast straps from wear. 'American Railways. According to Poor's "Manual," the total number of mile of railroad in the United States at the close of 1891 was 170,601, of which 4,471 miles were con structed during the year. The total share capital and indebted ness of all kinds of all the roads mak ing returns equaled at the close of the year $10,389,834,228, an increase in the year of $267,198,328 over the total of 1890 ($10,122,635,9000), the rate of in crease for the year being 2.6 per cent. The cost per mile of all roads making return, as measured by the amount of their stocks and bonded indebtedness, equaled $59,820, against $59,577 for 1890. i. t~DL LIth gross ear.tIng U01 yi,1.0, 024,459 equaled 9.1 per cent of the total investment, aggregating $10,389,834, 228; and net earnings, $356,209,880, equaled 3.1 per cent. The total amount of interest payments in 1891. was equal to 4.25 per cent of the aggregate bonded indebtedness of all companies, as against 4.27 per cent in 1890 and 4.40 per cent in 1889; and the total amount of dividend payments was equal to 1.85 per cent on all paid up capital stock in 1891, 1.80 per cent in 1890 and 1.81 per cen tin 1889. During the period for which a large proportion of the companies reported in 1891, the business interests of the country were in a depressed condition. But the abundant crops of last year, and those now to a large extent assured for this year, would seem to predicate therefor an unusually brilliant show ing. A Horse with a Tube la Its Neck. For half an hour one afternoon re cently a crowd surrounded a truck which had halted in front of the ex change place door of the Mills build ing. Attached to the truck was a horse, and there was a peculiarity in the animal's appearance which had caused the crowd to gather. The horse was doing its breathing, not through its nostrils, but through a tube inserted in its neck. The con trivance looked very much like an old fashioned candlestick with the base and an inch or two of the shank show ing. In the tube was a sort of filter, to catch impurities in the air which passed through it, and the arrangement appeared to work very satisfactorily. The driver explained that tracheo tomy had been resorted to to save the life of the horse, which had suffered from asthma. The tube had been in use for several months, and the horse appeared to be as well as ever. It was certainly able to do its full share of work. Every two or three days the tube was taken out and cleaned, but the horse had it in its neck the rest of the time.-N. Y. Times. The Arrow Poison in ilhe New Hebrides. M. l)antec has examined and experi mented with the arrow poison used by the natives of the New Hebrides. lie finds that it contains neither vegetable poison nor serpent virus, but consists of earth impregnated with vegetable matter taken from marshy places and containing Pasteur's vibrion septique, or bacillus of malignant medema and also the bacillus of tetanus. If the arrows have been kept a long time, or have been much exposed to the sun, the vibrion septique may have been destroyed; the danger then is from tetanus. When the arrows have been freshly prepared and the vibrion septique is still active, a wound from them causes death in a guinea pig from septiemmia in from twelve to fifteen hours: tetanus, which takes longer than that period of time to develop, does not under these circumstances show itself. It is interesting to Re mark that the horse is unknown in these islands, consequently the theory of the equine origin of tetanus would seem to be negatived by these re searches. -Lancet. The Drawing Frame. I)rawing or doubling is the opera tion through which the cotton has to pass after it has been cardc`. The ends, bands, or silvers, as they come from the card, are exceedingly tender and loose, the fibers of cotton not be ing yet arranged in the parallel form requisite for good spinning. Qefore any twist is given to the bands, the fibers should be in a proper positiol for the manufacture of smooth yarn. The doubling and draw ing out of the bands, which ac complishes this perfectly, is dZine on the drawing frame. Some drawing frames are constructed with three pairs of rollers, and some with four pairs; the latter having the advantage of doing more work in the same time. 'The rollers in a drasi-g frame are I. -- .," rollers, the middle roller having but little influence on the result so far as the stretching is concerned. Where there are three or four rollers, the drawing is performed twice; each pair of rollers draws a certain amount. Improvement of Aluminum. An account of a process invented by Reinhardt Mannessmann for increas ing the resistance of aluminum to at mospherical, chemical or mechanical influences is given in the Mboniteur Scientifique. The inventor says that the addition of a little tungsten to pure aluminum or its alloys communi cates a remarkable resistance to the action of cold or hot water, salt water, and other reagents. When the proportion of tungsten is sutlicientthe alloys formed offer among other physical properties resistance to traction and tension. The proportion of tungsten can be varied within extremely wide limits, accord ing to the composition and nature of the alloy, and according to the usage for which it is destined. The tungsten can be added, alloyed with other metals; still the most advantageous way consists in adding the tungsten before the aluminum is melted. Detection of Frozen Meat. The process adopted by the author for distinguishing between fresh meat and that which has been preserved in the frozen state consists in expressing a little blood or meat juice from the sample, and examining it under the microscope. The whole operation must be performed quickly, in order to prevent any drying up of the liquid under examination. When the juice of fresh flesh is thus examined, it is seen to contain numerous red corpuscles, which are normal in color, and float in a clear serum. In the case of blood from frozen flesh the corpuscles have dis solved in the serum under the influ ence of the low temperature, and not a single normal red corpuscle can be seen. The haemoglobin escapes into the serum, and appears as irregular yellow-brown crystals. These may be frequently seen by the naked eye, but, in every case, can be readily detected under the microscope.-Maljean, in J. Pharm. Chim., Chem. Zeit. For Duck Hunting. Superintendent Ed Murphy of the Cincinnati gymnasium and several sportsmen are much interested in a novel apparatus, which is calculated to make wild duck hunting an easy task. The new invention, which is credited to a Japanese gentleman, promises to be a great boon to sports men. It consists of three floats joined together at the top, where there is a convenient seat on which the sports man sits. To his boots are attached shovel-like ears, by means of which he propels himself in any direction. It is said the Jap who invented the novel hunting apparatus worked at it twenty years. The foot-gear is a com position of iron, paper, gum elastic and A JAP'S INVENTION. wood, eliptical in shape, with gutta percha tubes and a life belt attached. Just how locomotion is achieved is not known, but it is said that the "wearer" can make five miles an hour and carry twenty-five pounds of luggage. The Jap's idea is certainly a popular one, and a few Cincinnati sportsmen are very anxious to see one of the new ma chines. Scientific Drops. Five volumnes of air contain one volume of oxygen. The celebrated high electric light mast at Minneapolis, which is 257 feet high, has proved ineffective for light ing purposes, and is now no longer used. One of the latest inventions in con nection with the application of elec tricity to street car service is a self lubricating gear for trolleys, which needs no attention after being once put in operation: Professor Dewar, whose recent lecture and demonstra tions on the liquefaction of oxygeni attracted attention all over the world, says that while oxygen when liquefied is strongly magnetic it is a poor con ductor of electricity. In other words, oxygen presents the curious paradox of a non-conducting magnet. Carbonic acid gas, which is ejected in large quantities from the earth, is being utalized in several localities. At Burgbrohl, near Coblentz, a carbonic acid spring opened during boring opera tions, and which is eight inches wide and some thirty or forty feet high, is being used in the impregnation of mineral waters. Sentences Passed by the Judge. Love hath but two requirements the first, to love; the second, to be loved. Better a mundane steed well in har ness than Pegasus among the clouds. When fame writes to posterity she most frequently uses sympathetic ink. Without the evidence of drawn blood it is easy to ignore the possibility of pain. In his development for the brute man is gradually demonstrating his coin plete independence of animal power and products. When in doubt or uncertainty about one's own plans or affairs one may gain considerable enlightenment by applying to one's neighbor. A temptation encountered by chance and yielded to by accident from that moment becomes a monster in the path, ever to be encountered at that point and fought and overcome or yielded to A Free Suiject. Baggs (to recent settler)-What ,o litical party do you belong to, my friend? O'Toole-%long to, is it? Phat's the objec' of belongiu' to ayth ir wan? Ye can't sell when they owns you. ODD RITEs IN RUSSIA. CEREMONY OF DRIVING OUT DEATH IN THAT LAND. A Figure Painted as Death Taken to the lliver and Ducked-A Free Fight It Takes All Day to Drive Out Death. -"Death Week," the ,.Smartna Ned elya" of the Slavonic peoples, marks the end of winter in rural Russia. It is kept during the last seven d.ays of Marth, and is a survival pure and simple of early paganism. In the last week of March. thcefore, before the ice begins to bre:ak, the peasants in rural Russia start the -•death week" celebration by i;:p-par; ing a sacrifice to the ".Vodyan:1t." so that he shall not be kept R'aiting when he awakes from his wa:nter's ilecp. They meet together in the village where the celebratic.a is to take place. and subsc. ibe a tumn of money for the purchase of a young horse. T'he animal mustt not be a gift but bought with money; it ru'ist not be bargained for. and no onu, person must contrib ite more than anoher to the amount requirei. 'lh h.orse is takeh to.:t stable specially ieserved for the gift ;,o he ,'Vodynro.i" and fed for three days on bresad and oil cake. On the fourth dayi at mid sght the horse is taken from the stall -nd con duteLed to the nearest river cr stream, the villagers following in , body. 'IThe mane is decorated with ted rib bons the head smeared with hones. the legs aL'e tied together, and at couple of mill-stones secure;t to the neck. Then a hole is mad6 in the ice and the borse thrown iL:o the watel: a living sacritice "a the "Vodyanoi." Fisherfoik in tha Arch angel district pour 1 quantity of fat into the water instead of throwing in a horse; and the millers of tte Uk raine cast the horse's head into the river, and not the living animal. On the following day the ceremony known as the *'Lyalya"'' takes p4,ice. 'The "Lyalya" is not the goddess of spring. but a personificatio:n of the season. The ceremony of the day is known as the *'l·ialynik." and only young. unmarried girls take part in it. They all meet in a field outside the village, and select one, who is to be the . lyalya." She is attired in a white robe, with a crown of greon stuff on her head and a statff decorat ed with green leaves. in her hands. Barefooted. the girls then perambul. ate the village, headed b.: the "Lya lya," stopping at certain dwellings settled upon beforehand. At the first of the houses where a hault is made a cake pireuar-ed over night is ha nded to the parlty. At the next they receive a basket coctaining as many eggs as there a.r ghri; in tmhe procession and one over. At the third house they get a me.sure of mixed grain. Preceded still by the "Lyalya" they leave the village, stop. ping. however: at the last house. where the egg is taken from the bask etful and thrown clear over the roof. the party now makes the round of the fields belonging to the villaag, each one dipping her hand into tile grain measure and strewing a few of the seeds over the ground. 'this is sup. posed to ensure fertility in the corn I inn, vyear. When all the fields have been traversed, the precession retu' ns to the spot whence a start was made; the eake and ergs are divided. and each girl retut'ns to her home. Th.s eg.g :nd ca':e must not be eaten. bht are preserved as charms against F l: sorts of misfortune. The young;it men who have taken part in the procrssion :an, if they are curious that way. nIscerttfin on the night of the l .yV l: a" whetal. they are likely to marry within the cou,'se of the ne t lwrelve months, and if so. in which minlh. They first procure an onion. and take off twelve layers and put them in a row betwec, t'e pieces of the '"Lyalya" cake and the egg. Each layer of onion relprosents a monnth, and if one of them be quite dr., by the morning it is a sign of mIarriage, and the ordor in which the piece stands shows the mouth in which the marriage will tar'C place. All is now rend., for the coven ony of driving out Death from wih;ch the week derives its dasignation. Early in the mio:ning the i'tidcnts of the vil!':ge--me,.n. wOmen and c·h ldrn - nimeet in lihe al'e: p' "e. Somei bring packages o: lrai.; and old clothes. others bundles of straw. Inns' sticks and cross pieces. )ut of !tecse three or four c )pe.L hina:Is accts;tomn ed it tie work maninufacluie a . niummy lingure resemblling an old worn n. Th'e face is Painted a'id ma le as hideous as possible 'his i~s the 11g.re of PC :th--Death according to -ironic mythology, b',ing a woman. SlThe dum my is porcihed aloft upon a long pole witch is given to a sturdy Ieasant who is dressed out in what is left of the rags and Iatter, i Ced in lthe c)nisl ruction of the figulre. The nen then arm themselves with whips and whistles the women an I childrer bring pots nod phns and Iron kettLio any utensils. ini fact. the.y can hang upon and imai:el a clatter with--and the processicia -tarts. the Ipe.sa; it cair rying the image of death in front. Otf le starts at a smart run. thlie villagers after him. craicking heir whips blot inug their whistles. banging on tihe pots antid ans. (n the arlty g). shuting and hooting driving )Ceat h in front, to tile nearest rive' or $1reat Il. Here a halt is made, a circle is formed by the riverside and the dummy Is thrown headlong into the water. The p:.ty then return in orderly pl)'ores-ion, calling out as they march along: 'We have driven out Death a nd bring in the New Year." In many parts of Russia the villagers earnter:t themselves with giving the figure of Death a good ducking and then throw - ing it upon the nearest piece of va:: cant ground. In such cases, too. if the villagers h;appen to have a griev nice against any neighl oring namlet they carry the fignre to the boundaries of the latter and leave it upon theil neighbors' lan,. This is certain to ,cad to a series of free fight] between lthe two cvllages. It is anl insuilt to thliow the figure of death on other people's land. and is considered to bring misfortune with it; bhe ides. The dummy is carried back by those who find it within their boundaries while the village ftilk who 'ot it thfere gather to oppose its re turn. The fighting . I such eases is protoneiie. anod is not iufeieauently at Lu d>d iwrth ifatu! resaPli 'Lihe more ? t?"m'WW;irmismemnman a sws a se --~, Speaceable villagers are ontent to I leave the dummy in the water where it is thrown. On returning to the village sundry T additions are made to the instruments with which the people are provided. The bells are taken from the necks of T cows, as well as the horos used for calling cattle together. One or two procure drums to beat. Then men, women and children begin to run around the village as fast as possible. The object of this is to drive out the e:il spirits death is supposed to have n left behind. The quicker the people (' go and the more noise they make, the O more e'ectually is the place cleared ii of the imps supposed to follow in the ! train of death, and the greater will be h the blessings of the coming season. n PUTNAM'S PLOW. k IRelic or the Fsamus 1~'olutllot1i.t Jul 1 Iscovere C This time it was the impliement of C peace, not of wat: that attracte.l the attention and interest of A. 1:. Brooks, J of Hartford. Conn., the well-knowr, s relic huntei; the incident suggesting t, t bit of scriptural prophecy that sword., c should be beaten into plowshares ano v spears into pruning hooks. It is in u! curious contrast. this old plow thai the tireless relic hunter has found i with the arsenal of anti uno arms, bat g tie axes (figuratively speaking) and magazine guns which Mr. brooks had b collected. t ThE-re appears to be no doubt abou the pedigree of this old-limn mellowor I of the soil of Windham county. There a is evidence enough to convince a a modern jury that Putman unhitched , his steed from this very plow the moroent the news reached him that lesington had been attacked by the British soldiery, and left in the mid- : dle of the field to win a ma'or-gen-' eral's straps. The old hero ran from 1 the plow, as Daniel Wesbter is said to I have '-hung" up his scythe. L.ong ago W. ('. Jacobs & Co., of Daniel- a souville, hardware dealers in that t prosperous borough. obtained posses- I sion of the plow and used it for a c sign. It has been "iunder the weath- I er" a good deal since then. and is the worse for wear in consequence of the service that it had been *put" to. I Mht: Brooks learned of the existence t of the abandoned old ".field-day" im plement of the hero of Pomfret. and determined on its rescue. The an cient anto-Revolutionary plow. which , he now has on oexhibition. was recent- 1 ly sent to Providence. with the inten. tion, probably, of vindi:'ating the idea that in Connecticut originated not only u ooden nutmegs but also wooden plows. The frame and mold honed atre of wood, with scraps of iron. 'heose were put in to strength en the 'iori, not be.ing orig;nally a pa.t of it. The joint and cutters are 1 o wrought iron. 'T1he old handls i and beams are of pr:mnitive cuti The right handle has been broken midway from the mold; one of tire cross round.3 is also gone. Still enough of t},is workremnains, however. to show what the original outline were. Jaccbs & Co. had become pos scssed of the notion that the p' ow ought to be sent to the world's fTdr. and were making arrangements to that end when the appearance of Mr. Brooks on the scene changed their plans. Iti Brooks had a long inter view with them the result of which 1 was he bought the relic and had it : shipped to Hlaf'tlori 'J A married couple recently appeared at the Southwestern police cou t in London. The lady had signed thl iollbwing document befoco marriage. drawn up, she said, at a solicitor's oJ.t e: " Afte. our murriage during our lifetime. I will never take deed of sel.ration, nor neve:r put you ain kind of blarnma or never leave you, ani I solemnly promise to look after you, and gi' you nice dinnera, an I everythiun you reo uire. with my love and true faith. \We will always live in one place, and live together' and en oy our-nlves. If I broke this promise aftrt married. I shall not get anything or money from hm'' (;.cr husband). And yet after eiirht months of ..married" the lady wants asepara. tion and an .llowance .A V l'ag" ot' ( 1 IP< op ^. In Bellavista near Portici, Italy, a small co.cny includles more than twenty peoate who are over .;U) years old, headed by a famer aged ~15 w ho still works in the fields. Th'ey are all iative., and have liv'ed. with hardly any meat, in their diet and drinking only rainw ater fromi a cistern. E''erj-t)aay Life. Mrs. 1)'Avtioo, at fl-ot window Ollicer: P'olicomn; - Yes iua am; what's wrong" ma'am? Mrs. IrY Av,ioo -Nothing's wrong. but I wivh you'd step into the kitchen and tell the cook not to butrn that meat as she (I'd dlasi night. I'm afraid to.-New York Weekly. .atlat S*hortelned thle 'Fri-;i. * Why. hello, old man! I tiugiht you irtencicet t make your European trip last m year? ' ".I did, but my wife found a new fashion is gowns in Paris and hurried home to he the Lirst to wear it." CHIPS AND SHAVINGS. Valdo.",a.Ga., claims to have a white dleer. lir,lsl ,ro, Pa, b )asts of a four legged deckling A \\'asihington. ). C(., man has been poisona.t from a crab's bite. They', call a blicy.de '.the devil's chariot' in Turkey, and the sultan forbid:s its use. A duairf residing at Shigaken,Japan, is thirl -six years-old and but seven teen it.ches high. \Vith;n the last thirty years there have boon on the British coasts 66.:377 wrecks, with the fearful loss of 22, 312 lives. The origin of maize, or Indian corn, is unl.nown, but it. was first cultivated by wh:te men on the James river. Vir ginia, in 1608. A E-:ucopean lady in Japan has col lected 70':) teapots of different patterns and kind:s, and yet scores of typical shapes are not included in her assort nment. The colorel people of Georgia have formed a society called the Upper Ten. The members agree that after a cer tain date they will do no. more work for the white people. It is noted thatChicago has viaduets, iuditoriums, boulevards and natator ilums, while poor old Boston is obliged t- straggle along. with bridges, halls, r..-ds and swimming schools. IN A LIGHTNING FLASH. I THE BOLT REVEALED THE TERRIBLE DANGER,. The Ship Was Bearing Down Upon Them Before the Hurricane and But for the Lightning Would Have Sent All Souls to Davy Janes. In the month of Jufe, 1884, busi ness called me to Martinique. The Corsica a staunch, full-rigged brig. owned by Bartol. of Baltimore. was the only vessel which offered me means of transit at the time, and in her I took passage. She was not meant for passenger traie, and had no accommodation therefor; but I had known her commander: Captain Paine, in other years and he wel comed me cordially and made me comfortable. Toward the night 3f the Fourth of July we had got into the region of storms, and shortly after 7 o'clock on the evcning of that day the wind came out from the northeast, and very soon great drops of rain came pattering upon the deck. -'There's thunder in thl-," said Paine who had donned his storm gear. it was now as dark as dark could be. The blackness was so utter that there was relief in closing one's eyes. Not a trace of our tall spars could I detect, and the men who stood only a few feet oeg were hidden as by an opaque barrier: And the rain now came down in torroents. The brig was heading upon her course, very near south, with the wind upon the larboard quarter. By and by a blinding flash. a vivid gleam, shot out from the ebon vault and a broad blaze swept through the heavens. It must have been very near another half hour before the gloom was again broken by the lightning. I had gone forward. and was leaning over the bows, watching the phos phorescent sparkle of the broken water, w::en a sharply-uttered * H-st!" from the lookout aroused me. and as I raised my head I dis tinctly heard a strange sound in the distance-'a sound as of rushing waters. Captain Paine was in a mo.nent by mny side. I did not know how long he had been there. We stood by the weather night-head. *'Is this you, captain?' I aske.l. .*Yes," he answered. He spoke in a whisper and his attention was else where. SDo you hear that strange sound?" said I. He listened ai instant longer and I heard him gasp. 'Sound!" he cried: "it's a ship!- something!--coming down upon us!" The lookout was on the point of crying out, but the captain stopped him. "We must get the men to the.r stations without alarmint them, if we can." he said. and then he leaped aft, shouting, as he went: "-All hands-all hands for tac:inug To the braces. every man." C('aptain I'ai.io was again by my side, and we peered off into the dark ness. The dull roar was plainly heard. but we could see nothing; we could not even see the head of our own bowsprit. The old sailor groaned in n ann v "It I could Only See, Jle muttereth At that moment, while yet the words quir6red upon his lips the lightning blazed forth in the heavens and the sea was illumined far and hear. MHleaven save us." bdrst from Paine's lips, and I echOdd the pt'tyer. Unon our Beather bow, and but a few cables' length distatith loomed up the spectral oullines of the bull htnd spars and the bellying canvas of a heavy ship. She was heading dirtecft ly across the line of our course and we were dashing toward ea'h other at a fearful rate. During the brief moment of light the captain had been as one paralyzed, but when the dark ness had vgain shut in he started into life. ..Beady abo:It!" he thundered. And from that instant his orders were given so p:omptly and so plainly that the men, who had come to real iL LlU: t their lives were in the bal. ance, made no blunder nor mistake. -"Is she coming into stays?' ground out the captain, with his hand: lenchbed and his tooth sot like the jaws of :a vise. As he spoke we heard the foretop. sail flap, and in a moment more the staysail had taken the wind on the other sile. The order for swinging the main-yards h:ad just been given when theli heavens and the sea were again illlumieated by the lightning's blaze, an t c'ry of horror went uI from our dleck. The ship was now upon our star. board bow, hurling the spray frou he:r sides upon our cathead. and I rerily believe that a man upon our foreyard arm might have leaped upon her dec r. bat she was not upon hei course-no, no, thank heaven! She had snuffed the danger and. with her helm hard down, was hauling awas from us. It was dark again-pitchy dark and while we watched and waited. with hearts hushed to a painful still. ness. our vessel was caught as by a miguty grasp. There was a momen tary heavine and straining a los grating. groaning sound. then follower a snap and a crack and-nothing more. Were we free? The answer was at hand. Another blaze of electric light re vealed to us the ship on our quarter. flying swiftly away to leeward. I' also revealed to us that our starboarc gallant backstay had been carrie, away. One of the ship's lower yard arms must have caught it O.n the following morning the stern had passed and the sun had soot chased away the lingering clouds an( I venture to assert that no man eves entered more willingly and gratefull, upon the work of repairing damage at sea than did those who were set It splice our broker. backstay. ;7Toisture Increasing in Idaho. A study of the meteorological dat; of Jdaho leads to the conclusion tha the humidity of the atmosphere is in creasing year by year. Never sine the settlement of Idaho has there beei such an immense crop all over th stato as during the past season The product of grass atnd grain ha been wonderful. Scientific estimate attribute this result to a change ii climate produced by the multiplica tion of irrigating canals. which moisten a great extent of country and create a humid atmosphere. It has been observed that frequent rains now fall during the months of July and August. Nature is closing up the gap between the wet and dry seasons and equalizing the rainfall. Many believe that the time is not far distant when the arid lands will become arable. THE ORCHESTRA STOPPED. Only the WVickedly Worldly People Were Disappointed. The po{,ic-looking man with long hair and the woman with pale blue eyes were especia.ly interested in the last passages of the play. They sighed deeply and exchanged soul:ul glances every time the heroine and her best fellow had any trouble. Worldly people in the immediate vicinity were convinced that the man with long hair and the woman with pale blue eyes were recently married. The curtain duscended upon a thrilling scene wherein several pairs of devoted hearts rudely held apart by dire and distressing necessity. were reunited. -.R-r-r-rum. tr-tat-tat." The leader of the orchestra had waved his baton and the drum re sponded with vigor The man with the long hair and the woman with the pale blue e',cs were conversing earn ostly. With ineffable tenderness they ga ed into each other's faces. Worldly people in the vicinity felt sure the man and the woman were speaking in violent terms o endear ment **oot-ti-toot-too-rook" The trombone had suddenly discov er'ed clear sailing ahead and was snorting boisterously. S.Tant-a-ra-rum." The cornet had started late, but was making a notable spurt. The !ong-haired man leaned closer to the blue-eyed woman. Worldly people in the vicinity were fully assured that he was talking very loud. and hoped in their hearts the orchestra would stop without warning. 'Root-" S'Tant-" The leader had thrown both arms frantically into the air. The drum, the trombone and the cornet knew what it meant. Clamor was instantly succeeded by silence. The worldly people held their breaths. ""I tell you, cockroaches can't-" The man with long hair paused. lowered his voice, and proceeded with his conversation. The Detroit Tribune says that only the worldly people were disappointed. LOST LANDS. 'Fll:, 'lll)ln? 1iLtll O1 a&ugir ala 01 OF L I' prdition Island. The whole crust of the globe is prub:tbly in motion, changing its relative level as it gradually adjusts itself to the contractions of the in terior, on which it rests. In the north the circumpolar regions are rising. If we had records to guide us we should probably find that Grant Land, Grinneil Land and Franz Josers L.and are several inches higher than they were when they were first dis covered. And simultaneously the coast of Greenland, in.the neighbor hood of Disco. is sinking, so that stakes iwhich were driven into the beach to moor boats to are now under wathery It is easy to understand 9 that, without any volcanic agency. the surfa'ce of the earth, resting as it does on a foundation which must be incandescent, must rise, and fall as the a'tion of fire expands and con ta'act.s it's subterranean support. This proce.s has gone on through out all time. In the Arabian Sea, not far from the mouth of the Indus. the voyagers in the Bombay steam ships can see, when the water is clear, the peaks and the minarets of a drowned city at the bottom of the ocean. The steamship passes over them as they lie in their waterygrave. At some far distant period that city lived and flourished, probably on the ocean border, and may have been a place of trade and prosperity. The hungry waves gradually rose and roas, capturing a street here and a square there, until the people were driven out and the city was ingulfed; It was an illustration on a great scale of the action of the agency which ter 1 minated the terrestrial life of Expedi. l tion Island. THE CORONA OF THE SUN. It, Origin may Be Due to Some Elec tric Mfanifestation. One of the greatest mysteries of science is the magnificent display of coronal streamers and soft banners of light that is seen around the totally eclipsed sun. Several recent investlpga P `ions tend to show that this wonderful phenomenon is.of electric or magnetic origin. M. I. Pupin, of Columbia college has just furnished most sug gestive facts bearing on the question through a series of experiments on electric discharges in imperfect vacua, Photographs of such discharges, me ade by Mr. Fupin, bear an astonish r ing resemblance to the solar corona. Y says Youth's Companion. Inasmuch as the space immediately around the sun must always necessarily contain large quantities of vapors and meteor ic dust, it does not seem difficult to conceive that a condition of things exists there which is suited to elec tric manifestations on an immense d scale. Yet, after all. when we think of r the tremendous energy of the sun. which is able to make daylight upon the earth, to warm with its life-sup. porting rays planets that circle around t it at a distance of tens and hundreds d of millions of miles and to awaken d the magnetism of our globe until the air is aflame with auroral lights, we can hardly wonder that it should cause the nearer regions of space n around its own sphere to glow with i strange radiance. A Q ilck Shot. Stranger-1Hairtrigger Hank was a 0 quick shot, wasn't he? Native-Quick shot? Say. stranger. I've seen that fellow fire off his gun. a spring a new cartridge into place and at bring down the first bullet be'ore it got out of range. Tile Bicycle. a The bicycle was perfected in 1870 . according to a well-known authority. s and thoup a many improvements have , been na'ded since then, they ha:.o u been mare for beauty than any.thin? . else. eR .it. Ls.OvIQ LTTER.. She New Wales D. UEt-oSIvthe Close tag Up et th*o 1dwVn-Town Pool Rooms. ST. Oai, 8ot .--The birth of a S0 in the minds of the Board'd6t bl mrovements that the termn-i s.l roads b vrich are building the new! Union depot intended to gobble up a part of a street has led to a very fulls explanation of the plans of the com pany. It was known that the build ing was to oocupy the greater part of a block, and that it was to be the largest affair of the sort in the country, but the full scope of the plans was not understoocd. It develops now, the structure being half-finished, that its cost will be close to a million dollars, with ornamentation as elabor ate as an art museum. Four or five hundred trains a day will pass in and out of the depot when it is finished. The first cars will discharge their pas sengers in it before the lights blaze in the streets of the city next fall. There is a far greater demand in St. Louis for expert electricians than can be filled, and good men of this sort are almost naming their own salaries. Gas for lighting, steam for engines, and horses and cables for street cars are be ing abandoned generally, and electric plants are being put in everywhere. There are two interesting signs of this situation. One is the establishment of a night school for mechanical engi neers, where they are taught to apply their knowledge to electric machinery, and the other is the organization of an electrical society, composed of elec trical inventors and scientists. This opened its first meeting the othernight with a banquet at which there were 108 plates. The passage of the law by the Mis souri Legislature, forbidding betting in the State on races in other States, has had a curious result here. St.Louis has always had one first-class race track, the one at the fair grounds, which is under the control of the Jockey club. Under the old condio tions, too, there was one other out in Forest Park, where amateur trials oil speed were had. The new law han brought into existence three more tracks, one in the southern pa city, where the racing by ele T. light was done at night last summer; an other in East St. Louis, just across the river; and the third across" the river, too, near Madison. The company at the back of this last enterprise hd'e built a passenger depot at the foot of Olive street, and run trains over the river every afternoon, while the racing is going on, at intervals of half-an-hour. The great races of the city out at the fair ground's track take place in the spring and fall, and as. soon as they stop these other tracks. begin their winter racing. On the twoc tracks across the river, of course, the Missouri law doesn't apply, and the book-makers swarm there to get bets on the Eastern races. The tracks are patronized principally by the St. Louis people, and so the law accomplishes nothing but the breaking up of the pool-rooms in the business alleys down town. This, by the way, was the primary object of the legislators whd had it passed. ITEM5 AND IDEAS. A Riverside, Cal., man hassucceeded! in extracting from ten pounds of or ange peel oil in the proportion of fifty pounds to one ton of peel. # Ireland has only eight theaters- three for Dublin, one in Belfast, one. at Cork, one in Limerick, one at Water ford and one for Londonderry. There are reputed to be 119,000,000, of the big old copper pennies lying un used somewhere in this country. Few ,of the old pennies get back to the mint. On the farm of George. Harter, near Yuba City, Cal., there is a mule that came across the plains in 1864, and is still able to do considerable work and is fat and healthy. Last year there were 1,839 widowers married In New York city, while of widows there were only 1,574 so that about 20 per cent mo- i widowers than widows were married. A woman has lately been admitted for the first time to the London so ciety of compositors. The society re fuses to admit women who are not paid at the same rate as men. On Martin G. Funk's farm in Manor, Pa., is a pear tree 102 years old. There are pear trees growing about Monroe, Mich., which were planted by the first French missionaries nearly 200 years ago. The following advertisement recent ly appeared in the Wiltshier, England, Times: Notice-Baptizing by Rev. A. E. Johnson, Stournore Water, next Sunday at 10:30 a. m. Photographers invited. The boQo, the largest flower known to botanists, is found only on the is land of Mindanao, the most southern of the Philippine group. Its scientific name is somewhat longer than its na tive name, the botanist recognizing it as raflesia schadanbergia. It was first discovered in January, 1889 by an exploring expedition headed by Dr. Alexander Schandenberry. Single flowers of the bo-o weigh from eigh teen to twenty pounds. GRAINS OF GOLD. Sham pleasures are the ones that cost the most. The man who has wealth has a master. Success anywhere requires s;i.u eness of purpose. There is nothing more frightful than a bustling ignorance. No man is any st-onger than the weak spot in his character. One of the easiest things to believe is a pleasing lie about ourselves. j - The best thing to do when we can not see in any other direction is to look straight up. If you have never been in adversity you have never found who your real friends are. The man who is quarrelling with his lot in life is helping to make him self miserable. The man who puts heart into every thing he does is watched by angels when he works. No man can ever break any of the other commandments while he is keep ing the first one. Getting men to be selfish is one of , the prmncipal ways the devil has of getting them to become his. The difference between a wise man and a fool is that a ooel's mistake nov i UstM MUk or3 Wa