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THE DEMOCRAT. II. II. ADAMS, fubllsher. CAPE GIRARDEAU. MISSOUK A MUTUAL SUKPPJSE. "Do you know the man who has just eft nie?" asked Prof. W of his wife, who entered his study. "No, sir." "It wus his excellency, the former minister, Baron P ." "Indeed! But how am I to know all excellencies!" she exclaimed, shrug pintr her shoulders. "Almost evcry dwelling in our street is occupied by an ex-minister. Hut tell me, though, what chair was his excellency seated Uwn?" "Seated on? Why. right here, on the one next to which you are now stand in tr. Why do you ask?" "Well. well. just. as I feared, and he lias sure enough seen all, the thread bare sofa, th" worn chairs Why will you persist in receiving your callers in this room. Is there no parlor?" The rood woman seemed put out. "Always the same story, whenever I have a caller," grumbled the professor. "Pray, what is wrong with the furni ture?" "Wrong? Everything is wroncr I tell you," she retorted, hotly. Look at the sofa, at the chairs " The professor, put on his glasses nnd inspected the seats and frames of the pieces indicated. "I think," he liegan in an earnest, de liberate way. as thouirh dissatisfied with something, "I really think the furriture dms show signs of wear. "It is old and unlit for use," his wife ieeided, "and a disgrace to the room, and that is the wry reason why yon should receive all callers in the parlor." "Impossible." he responded gruffly. M would rather buy new furniture." 'T.uy furniture ? '1 he words seemed to make the little woman sieechless. Approaching her tall lord, she extended her hand to hini, look in; up expectantly. "All right," she said, "hand me the money. I eoidd not buy a set like this for less than Slfc. You remember it was part of my dowry. In t hose days, some "Jil years afro, it cost a trifle les because everything was cheacr. The covering of the sofa is heavy gros grain silk, and the frame walnut. Where, do vnu suppose, could I fret such goods now for $l(Hi?" "Nowhere, my dear, I am ready to take an oath! And for that reason I think it is perfectly superfluous to keep your hand exteiuh-d so long." smil ingly retorted the professor. And he meant it. Had his wife remained in the same attitude for days and extended her hands forever, he would never have given her anything liesides the house hold money, because he was still more economical than herself, which means n good deal, considering; that she had rone to the length of learning,' how to make men's wearing; apparel, to not be obliged to have trifles like trousers and so forth made by tailors. As a matter of fact a singrle glance at the professor suffice! to show how suc cessfully she had practiced economy in his grarnients. "Did you know," he asked after a lit tle, "what the minister wanted?" "How should 1 ?" "He notified me to be prepared for a great distinction." "What? perhaps an order or a title?" "Not improbable!" "And we are apt to receive callers ami ?:ngrratu kit ions!" "Possibly!" "Whom you would receive in this room?" "Certainly!" "Not in the parlor?" "No!" "Indeed! Well. then, now I insist on having; a new set of furniture-." tin' c: vited little woman exclaimed in her most positive tone, which the profess. ir knew but. too well, and which brooked no gainsaying. He begran to fear an assault upon his pocket book, for now his better hnif dis covered additional need every liiomen. She was liable to insist upon new wall .aHT. new curtains and new paiutii.gr. Almost every piece in the room hail been part of her dowry and done serv ice for 20 years, and had consequently beet- loin ago tit for the attic. Hut he was for once mistaken. Noth ing like flat happened. His wife ut tered not a word. Only her eyes sud denly shot a lightning flash at the sofa, whereupon she suddenly left the room. An hour later, after the professor had left the house, she once more stood be fore the sofa. Deftly she riped open :i piece of the covering;, and as soon as she was able to take a look at the wrong; side, she assumed a challenging posi tion, saying; to herself: "Triumph! I knew it! My husband shall soon see what a practical and economical wife he possesses. "Jaeonde, Euphrosine," calling; her grown daughters, "listen to me. both of you! You are aware that your father's birthday is at hand. You have already procured presents, and I am gett-ng the newspajier case he coveted, but I rhould iearly love to show him another atten tion. He hinted to-day that his study needs a new set of furniture. Hut a good serviceable set costs at least $10'), and money is scarce. While pondering how to manage, I had an idea. Come closer. There! Look at the wrong; side of thU gros grain covering;. Does not the stuff look almost as pood as new? Does not its green color flitter like gold and its brown like bronze? S'ow, then, listen to my plan. I am going to have the covering; of the sofn am! the chairs turned, the horse hair cleaned and picked, and the frame rerolished and varnished. Say nothing; to father. I am now going to the upholsterer to find out what he will chance," And this the practical little woman at once did. The professor returned heme in ill humor. His wife's desire to have a new set, and especially her positive tone, gave him no rest. His mind's eye lr1 held the new set as a birthday present, followed by a bit; bill, which he would have to pay with good grace. He glanced angrily at the sofa, the root of the present evil, and suddenly beheld the loosened corner of the covering which his wife had omitted to tack on ugrain. The professor looked hard at both sides of the stuff. "The lower side," he soliloquized, "is almost like new. Mv w ife has reient- eilly told me that all goods can be turned, even my official swallow-tail. Why not this covering also? Thewrorr side of the silk looks good, the color is fresh ha!" he exclaimed, suddenly rising from his chair, "a genial idea! My dear little wife shall learn that I u1m understand how to lie practical, les, that's if. I am going to have the covering turned and the horse hair picked and cleaned, and then the set will look like new. What is more. I w ill have it done at once and lose no time. All will be ready for my birthday. It will be a surprise for my w ife as a re turn for the Itcautiful newspaper ea'e which she is making for me. as I have long ago noticed. The dear, good soui! She would anyway give me no rest until a new set were purchased, and now she w ill have no cause to exile us to the parlor when I reeeive company, liut now for a word with my wife " Pleased as he had been for a long time the professor apjieared in the bou doir of his wife. "Gertrude, dear, I merely came to tell you that we should forbear of buying new furniture. I am short of money and could not even spare five dollars. If you really think that the set in my st udy is so very much worn I will hence forth p'o ive my callers in the parlor." "All right, husband," she replied, looking greatly relieved. "I should have undertaken not liing without your permission in this matler." The professor failed to notice the smile playing around his wife's lips. He had expected opjiosition, and, he hold, all was plain sailing. On the following Wednesday was the professor's birthday. Two days pre vious, as soon as he had left his house for the college, the upholsterer and hi? assistants made their appearance. The professor's wife and her daughters awaited them ready to help. The smart little woman had shrewdly made her arrangements for her husband to take his meals on this and the following; day at the house of relatives. There fi re. they could do the work undis turbed, and they did. When the evening came all was fin ished, and the woman looked with pride and satisfaction upon the result of her genial idea. The furniture looked like new anil the cost was really not worth while talking alxiut. only ten dollars, which the gratified woman promptly paid. It was late in the evening when the professor returned. "To-morrow." his wife said to him. "we will give your study a thorough cleaning. D. you object to my remov ing some of the things into your lied room?" That was exactly what the sly pro fessor hud speculated Um:i and ardent ly desired. "Yes," he said. "Certainly. Remove whatever you like. Why not begin with the sofa and chairs, which, as I now perceive, you have already tied together to facilitate their removal." "Had we not better wait until t' morrow after you leave the house, dear? Hut if you desire it, we w ill do it now." said the unsuspecting woman. Shi- called the servant, and a few more minutes found the whole set in the professor's lied room. ?lrs. W knew better than to suscct her husband oi curiosity to examine the bundled up f limit ore. At six o'clock the following morning an upholsterer and his assistants ap peared in the professor's bedroom. "Very well," said the latter, who had lieen expecting them. "1 am glad that you are punctual. lias any one seen you com,- in?" "No, sir." "All right. There is the furniture. You know what I want you to do. Hut remember, everything has to be finished to-day. and the pieces re turned her- this evening. On this con dition only 1 agree to pay you the $15 ou ask. Now carry them away and be careful to make no noise. My wife must know nothing about it. It is true, her liedroom is in the opjiosite wing, but her ears are as sharp as a dog's." An hour later the upholsterer again appeared liefore the professor. "Sir." said he. "what am I to do with that furniture? The set is in the best possible condition and looks as good as new. Why turn the covering, which I think is i.Itogether unnecessary?" "What are you saying? The cover ing fresh and new, and dirty only underneath? You plainly don't know what yoa are talking about. I think I ought tn know better. You just do as I told you." "Hut. professor " "Do as I ordered! Turn the cover ing, clean the horsehair, and so forth." "Well. 1 don't care if you insist," "And do not forget, to-night before ten o'clock!" the professpr called after him. Sure enough, at the appointed hour the upholsterer came with the furni ture, which he had turned according to his employer's wishes. Now it looked exactly as it had two days previous; the worn and dirty side of the cover ing was uppermost. "Well, Master Know-all, ha you oleyed my instructions?" "Yes. sir, exactly as you ordered. If I would not fear making a noise I would undo the lot and let you take a look at them." "Never mind, it Is all right. Here are your $15. I am fully satisfied. "How surprised my wife will be to morrow when she unties and replace the furniture," the professor solilo quized, pleased like a child over thn expected result of his practical idea. Never before had he looked so le nign. knowing and self-satisfied, as on the morning of the day that was to bring the denouement, when lit ap teared at the breakfast table. With Warning countenance he received the presents and congratulations, and when asked by his wife why he had yesterday locked the door of his bed room nnd taken the key with him, he looked astonished, and replied like the thorough pharisee that he was: "Did I really do that? Well, 1 do declare! I have never lieen so absent minded before. Then I suppose those old pieces of furniture are still in my bedroom. I never noticed them thi3 morning!'" "That is nothing," responded his wife. "I will at once order them moved back to your study." "Do so, my clear," exclaimed the pro fessor, an odd, sarcastic kind of a smile ll it ting across his face, "and should you perchance meet with a surprise, take it cool, like the brave little woman you are." It is no wonder that a remark like this filled the heart of the good lady with joyful anticipation. She almost flew on the wings of expectation to the study, but soon she returned. At the thresh hold she remained immovable. Her face was pale as death, her eyes dilated, her expression betokened surprise, and in decision almost fear. "I feel so queer," she finally admitted, as if talking to herself, "have I lost my senses? or do my eyes deceive me? Jaeonde, Euphrosine, come with mi-!" The professor laughed heartily. He could scarcely await their return. When they at last appeared, his daughters, with an almost idiotic expression on their faces, his w ife's thought fill and restless looks fixed upon him. he thought he would burst from laughing. Suddenly his wife, forgetful of good manners and their children's presence, ran up to liini, exclaiming: "Are you crazy? Why do you carry on like a fool? What has happened in this house? Only day before yesterday I ordered the coverings of the set in your study turned, and the furniture polished and varnished, for which I spent ten dollars, and now what imp has been playing tricks on me? I Fee the same dirty, old and worn silk on top as before! How is such a thing pos sible? It is enough to lose one's senses, and you persist ill roaring at my pcr dicament?" Hut the professor had now stopped laughing. And as for the expression "f his face, it differed not an iota from those of his two daughters. "Wife," he said, mildly. "I do not comprehend at all. What are you talk ing about, having the covering of that set turned? Know then, that not you, but I had this done yesterday. I in tended it as a surprise for you." "What? You did. yesterday?" "Yes. my dear, yesterday! And all was fini.-dicd by evening. Now you will understand why 1 took the key of my bedroom door w ith me. Hut come, eon fess! was I not practical?" And again the professor began to indulge in laugh ter. Hut his wife did not feel like join ing in his hilarity. "Husband," she sobbed, with trem bling voice, "supposing 1 were to tell you that day before yesterday, I and the two gills, together with a couple of upholsterers, have had that furniture repaired right here on this spot?" "And supnsing I were to tell you," he interrupted her angrily, "that I have had the furniture repaired yesterday, do yo:i In ar? yesterday!" "Yesterday ? really, do you mean yes terday? Heavens! what have you done?" The poor woman dropped faintly into a cha.T. "I n fortunate limn, what have yon done?" "Done? Why, I had the covering turned, the " "Yes. you had the good side of tho covering turned inside, after I had it turned the other way the day la-fore, you fool!" "W-h a t!" The professor seemed to understand, at last, for he shot out of the room and made for his study. When he rca) 1 .en red after a considerable delay, he de clared that it was all true enough and the furniture looked as bad as ever. ".iust think of it. dearest." he re marked, half jokingly, half in anger, 'and the upholsterer had even warned me that the goods looked like new, and reeded no repairing!" Hut the joke fell flat. His wife was not so easily quieted. "And pray, how much did you pay to that conf , I mean to that upholsterer of yours?" "How much? Why. $15!" "Fifteen dollars!" the now thorough ly roused woman rc)eated. "Fifteen dollars!" She tore her handkerchief in shreds. "I tell you what it is," she added in her most positive tone nnd manner. "Now, I absolutely insist on a new set of furniture, and what is still more, one for $150, because for less than that I cannot duplicate a set similar to ours." The poor, vanquished professor felt cheap. He said nothing. Hut when pome days later he found a new set in his study, and also a bill for $150, he swore to have no more surprises; but he paid the bill. From the German, in N. Y. Sun. Philosophy is a bully that talks very loud when the danger is at a dis tance, but the moment she is hard pressed by the enemy she is not to be found at her post, but leaves the brunt of the battle to be borne by her humbler but steadier comrade, relicion. whom on most occasions she nffects to despise Colton. A dream of the moon signifies a sudden and entirely unexpected pleat ure. A CALIFORNIA BEE VILLAGE. When tha Honey Is Found That Rival the Nectar of the Gods. The month of May is the carnival of bee life in California, and at no other time of the year is the half work, half I play of "bee-ranching" so wholly fasci j nating and delightful. After spring showers are over, a delicious warmth and fragrance steam up from the cir cling foothills, where every notch and byway is choked with flowering wild wood. The long blooming slopes stretch sunnily to fruitful valleys, and the whole riotous floral zone is voiced by honey-hunting bees. Their lilli putian cities are seen just without the open arms of canyons, the white hives arranged with the precision of dwell ings along the streets. Sometimes these mimic thoroughfares a.e shaded by scattering oaks and sumac, or the green umbrellas of elderberry bushes, now fringed with freighted, creamy clusters. Where there are no indigen ous trees it is not unusual for the thrifty apiarist to plant grape-vines and on-hard rows lietwcen the hives, which serve the double purpose oi shade and forage. A neighboring bee ranch is often four to five miles dis tant, and again this Palestine of tlte new world shows leagues on leagues of ideal pasturage, left solely to the har vesting of wild bees and various species of wasp and humming-bird, or to that interesting lover of sweets, the Mex ican honey-ant. A typical western apiary belongs to the foot-hill region of southern Califor nia. Here the atmosphere has that de- gree of heat and dryness essential to 1 an abundant saccharine How, and the high gravelly soil grows a luxuriance ! of nectar-bearing plants, the chief of which are the numerous varieties of i sage. During the blossoming of these 1 t.romatic spikes the amount of honey ' stored by strong colonies is almost in credible. A summer's product will ; often average 75 to 2U0 jkhiihIs a hive, 1 and instances arc not uncommon where a single Italian swarm has produced 1,(00 pounds of extracted honey in one year. This sage honey has rare virtues, and is said to le more delect able than the famed nectar of Hymet tus or Chamouni, and whiter and finer flavored than the celebrated honey : combs of Atacama. To set one's teeth ; through an exquisitely frail comb brimming with the delicate nectar ol the white sage Audibertia is a gust ' Btory relish not to be otherwise equaled. More especially is this true If one has all the concomitants a warm clean stone under a singing syca more, mountain air spiced with count less odors, the monotone of bees at their voluptuous toil, a landscape bil , lowing up to gigantic summits, and a stream hard by to keep the shout up in the heart. Ninetta Eumes, in liar ; pcr's Magazine. ENGLAND'S PREMIER. lord Salisbury Ik Well t'p in Science as Well an Statecraft. Personally Lord Salisbury is a deeply lead and cultured man. He sends a good deal of time in his laboratory, is very fond of chemistry, possesses much practical knowledge of electricity, and has delivered more than one able ad dress In-fore such bodies as the Hritish Assoieation for the Advancement of Science. He is not physically as strong as he looks, and the immense volume of work he accomplishes, coupled with very little exercise, makes him in real ity a somewhat delicate man. In ap icnrnncc he is impressive without be ing handsome, and his ordinary de meanor is one of apparent indifference tnd aristocratic hauteur. Like him self in character, his oratory is imperi ous, forcible and effective. At his fa mous seat in Hertfordshire Hat field house Queen Victoria has lieen more than once entertained by Lord Salis bury, as in a past century his ancestry iitertaincd ,:;cen Kliznlicth. am! there he thoroughly enjoys, whether in or out of power, the generous country life and open hospitality of the historical smd tvpieal "line old English gentle man." Taken altogether, the present Eng lish premier is an extraordinary and in teresting figure in the litics of this period. His patriotism is strong and sincere, but it rests upon the forms of ihe constitution and upon loyalty to the crown rather than upon the mod ern principle of loyalty to the imme diate and changeable will of a popular democracy. And Lord Salisbury in this case undoubtedly emiMidiesihenat tiral hereditary and inherent conserva tism of the English people. J. Castell Hopkins, in Chautanquan. Homicide in texlro. The Mexican Herald, a newspapei printed in the- City of Mexico, calls at tention to the statistics for 1-94, which show that during that year there were 4:i- homicides in the city, and 7.TT5 per sons were wounded. This makes 125 homicides for each 100.000 of the popu lation, and S.5S wounds for the same mimlKT. Now, in other countries the homicides jier 100,0110 of imputation stand as follows: Italy has 12.f7. Spain 12.10, Austria 3.11. Helgium 2.52, Eng land 1.K0. This is the percentage ier year for each KtO.liOO inhabitants, while the City of M-xico has 125 per 100,0'K). A murder is committed in that city every 24 hours, and in every 25 hours 21 icrsons an" wounded. St. Louis 'j loin-Democrat. j Decay of the Itunitian Nobility. ! Son e startling statistics of the decay j of tht' Kussian nobility are given in a j list of niortgagred estates, furnished by the Hi-.tish consul ;.t St. Petersburg. At present more than 100,000 estates, or 41 pel- cent, of the entire area ow ned by nobler, are burdened by mortgages, and the amount of money advanced on them has reached $0.;2.5i;0.o00. of which $5SG,OU0,O)0 remains unpaid. The No bility Land bank, created by the. gov ernment to make loans to stranded landlords, has advanced nearly its en tire capita; of 250.000,0u0. and received but little in it turn. C-iicaffo Inter HE WAS THERE. Alkali Ike Telle of What Happened at th Wedding He Attended. "Did you attend the wedding out at aid man Juckett's place last night, Ike?" asked Judge Stringer, the well known Oklahoma jurist. "Yep!" answered Alkali Ike. "Had a lively time, I presume?" "Eh yah! Some ways it was mid it I in lively an other ways it was slower than snails. Thar was no shootin. an the licker was mizzable. Hut. take it all around, up one side and down the other, it was what you might call a pleasant affair from start to finish. The preacher didn't show- up at the ap p'inted hour, but we didn't miss him for quite a spell, owin' to the fact that the bride's mother, who 'K-ared to be an advanced woman, sorter objected to Kickapoo Pete, who was supposed to be the groom, and got after him with n soap paddle or suthin" of the kind an chafed him all over the lot. "She needn't have put herself to the trouble, for the bride got to think in the matter over, an' concluded that she'd j-st as soon marry Three-Fingered Bab cock, who had sorter been spinning around her some little time before, an s-he didn't know but she'd a little sooner. Naeheral enough, this kinder riled Kickapoo, an him an' Three-Fingered got to jowcrin over it, an I reckon they would have fought it out if .Tim V.hipsaw, from the liattlesnake place ranch, hadn't pacified 'era an' got "em to play in' cards to settle the question. "This promised to satisfy all parties concerned, but the bride found out that Three-Fingered had put up $2.f0 on his side against her hand in marringe, which Kickapoo had staked, which made her so blamed mad that she swore if they didn't value her pure affection at more'n S2.G0 she'd be hanged if she'd marry either of 'em! This sorter com plicated matters again, but Jim Whip saw soothed an comforted her an when the preacher showed up, by gosh. Miss I 'aisy. an Jim stepped forward, hand in hand, to be married. "Meanwhile Kickapoo had put up ?2.i0 againt Three-Fingered's stakes, an they were play in along as contented as a couple of kittens. They slipied their hands into a book and give it to Appetite Hill to hold while the preacher was gettin off the solemn words that made the two hearts one. An' then, after they had congratulated the bride. t!iar came the call to supXT, an so tney , concluded to make it a show down. Aecordin, Appetite Hill opened the liook an' burcussed if lioth hands didn't consis. of four aces and a king. 1 hereupon they divided the stakes and shook hands. An' then everybody ad journed to the supper table, feelin'that it was indeed good to be thar." N. Y Herald. THE HOUSEKEEPER'S PEST. Above All Thine She Mont Detent l)ul. When a weary housekeeper was asked what her idea of Heaven was she replied: "A place where there is no dust and no dirty dishes." To the housewife who has a servant to wash her dishes the second clause of the reply may not carry weight, bur she must have a very efficient staff of domestics at her command who doea not appreciate the pest of dust. Tho putting in of coal in the cellar covers all the furniture upstairs with a black dust; the furnace is shaken down, and all polished surfaces are gray; while in summer a fine, light, impalpable powder from the streets sifts in hourly through every chink and crevice. While it is well and proper for the housekeeier to fight the nuisance, and once a day have her house thoroughly dusted, she may become a slave to her enemy. She is no worse off than her neighbors, and she would do well to console herself w ith this thought, and not make herself and everjliody else miserable because of a dim mirror or a whitened chair-rung. I have im pressed painfully upon my mind tho pieture of a young married friend, fragile in appearance, and. in truth, w hose life was worn to a thread by hrr arch-foe dust. She was the mistress of a large house, entirely furnished as to floors, mantels and wainscoting in polished antique oak. She kept two servants, but. the parlormaid had time to dust the house only once per diem. The remainder of the time the so-called mistress undertook to keep things clean. My most vivid recollection of her is as she appeared two-thirds of the time, worn and weary, with a dust cloth in her hand. She used to say. half laughing, half sorrow fully, that a fit legend for her tombstone would be: "Dust thou art, to dust returneth." As dear Mrs. Whitney says: "Some thing must be crowded out." Let us housekeepers accept this truth as in evitable, and when we die let it be of a struggle with something grcatei .han dust. Harers Hazar. Evidently. "The palmists tell us about the line of life, the line of fate and all the other lines," observed Mrs. Morcomb.who was interested in the science, "but the palm ist who wrote this liook " "Have you been buying a book on palmistry?" asked Mcrcomb. "Why. yes." "Had your hand looked at, too, I sup pose?" "I have." "What did it cost?" "Only five dollars." "Only five dollars! H'm! What did the palmist say about your line of econ omy?" "He didn't say anything. There isn't any such line, is there?" "If there is," snorted Morcomb, "the palmist never sees it in the hand of anybody who visits him!" Cbicag Tribune. Any Kind Good Enongh. Mwnie (fretfully) I just desp'sn these great, gawy, long-legged fellows. Dor 'l you Alice? Alice (firmly) No, Minnie, X cannot truthfully say that. I have the smallest objection to Hymen. Texas Silting HUMOROUS. "Do yon notice any change in Dum ley Tasked the tall man. "No, 1 don't, snapped the other man, sourly. Ha was Dumley's tailor. Rockland Trib une. He "I wonder you're not afraid of (joing to Nice after those terrible earth quakes." She "0, surely those things are always confined to the poorer quar ters of the town." Punch. Mrs. Ayebee "Men are such funny things. When Ayebee asked me to b his he was the most disconsolate man Imaginable." Mrs. Cedee "I can well believe that." Boston Transcript. "I want an additional clause put on the anti-smoke ordinance," said Gas well. "Go on," replied Dukane. "I want every cigarette smoker to be com pelled to consume his own smoke. Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph. She ""ou don't care for my kisses any more." He "The idea! Before we were married I used to expect a dozen or so in payment for a box of candy, and now I deem only one of them sufficient payment for a new dress. Indianapolis Journal. "Are you going to call on our new neighbor. Mrs. L.?" "I think not. Tho fact is. I met her yesterday, and she evidv ntly does not belong to the best so ciety." "How- do you know?" "Be cause she has such pleasant manners. N. Y. Tribune. Informers stand a slim chance in Georgia. Here is a unique paragraph from a rural newspaper: "Any person driving over this bridge faster than a walk shall, if a white man, be fined five dollar, and if a negro receive 25 lashes half the penalty to be bestowed on th informer." Atlanta Constitution. WEDDINGS IN ROME. The Ceremonies Differ Much from Thos In This Country. There is a fixed idea in the Korona nind that the only two months of tho year suitable for weddings are May and Octoljer, the former because it is not yet too hot to make the honeymoon tour unpleasant and the latter because it is not yet too cold to get up and ba married at eight o'clock in the morn ing, for among the upper class eight o'clock is the fixed and orthodox hour. Marriage in Italy is essentially and primarily a religious ceremony, ac companied by mass and holy commun ion, the latter involving fasting until the ceremony is over. Fashionable weddings are usually celebrated in the private chapel of a cardinal, bishop or monsignore, at whose house the breakfast is usually given, instead of at the bride's home. There are also various other differ ences, which make a curious impres sion on the mind of an English girl marrying a Roman. Bridesmaids are unknown; instead there are four wit nesses in attendance two for tbta bridegroom and two for the bride; they must be men of the Catholic faith, who are able to swear that the con tracting parties are free to marry. During the marriage ceremony the wit nesses must stand close to the bride and bridegroom, in order to hear their vows and to feel satisfied that they are made of their own free will, com pulsion being one of the two reasons for which the church can annul a mar riage. After this the witnesses retire to the background and low mass is laid, music never being so much aa thought of. There is a special mass in which at one point a silver tablet, called a "pax," is kissed by the priest, with the words: "Peace be with you," nnd then carried to the married couple, to be kissed by them in turn. After the mass there is a pause and a silence in the chapel for about a quarter of an hour, while the priest and all who have communicated make their thanksgiv- The breakfast, according to English ideas, is a most curious morning meal, consisting of coffee, ices, cakes and sweets in great variety. When it is over boxes or bags of "confetti" axe distributed by the bride to all the gen tlemen present and by t he bridegroom to all the ladies. They are also sent .vith the "letter de faire part" to all intimate friends not able to attend the .vedding. nnd vary from the simplest .hite satin bonbon bag to the boxes :nade of solid silver. When the newly married pair have said "good-by" they drive to St. Peter's lo pay the traditional visit to the tomb it the prince of the apostles. Almost any morning in May or October one may see a bride, in her wedding dress, kneeling with her husliand under the great dome of St. Peter's. The wed tling party has in the meantime broken up, to reassemble, however, later at the station to complete the farewells. The presents are often displayed the evening before at a reception given at the house of the bride. All the presents are given to her; even friends of the bridegroom who do not know her send him some thing for the bride. An audience of the ope is usually obtained a day or two previously, in order to ask his blessing on the two lives now to be spent together. Chicago Chronicle. The Ohlo'a I Jed. A prominent geologist who has beeu poking into the formation of the bed of the Ohio rfrer 4? miles below Pitts burgh says the old river bed is 300 fee above the present water level and he finds there stones of Canadian granite, whose nearest home now is on tha Canadian side of Lake Ontario. In the glacial gravel he came across a rough arrowhead, which he attributes to Ihe glacial period, perhaps 300,000 years ago. Chicago News. lie Wanted to Be Prepared. Johnny Father, don't you think I had better drop all my studies at school excepting arithmetic? Father Certainly not. my boy. Wba would you do that for? "Why, I heard mother say that yo would be a horrible example for ma some day, and I thought I'd better posted uo!" Detroit Free Preaa,