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A, B, C AND OTHERS. * LOOK INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR ALPHABET. Vnr Letter* Are Mainly the Same a* thoH Used by the Homan»—Karlier Derived from Greek and Phenician— *nort Study of luteresting subject. töur letters are mainly the same as those used by the Romans, and their «lphabet was one of several derived ïrom the Greek, which was formed Tram the Phenician. And back of that its 4L good deal of guesswork. Very like Çjy the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hler satlc characters formed the base of the Phenician letter-making. A is the first letter in all the alphabets that came from the Phenician, and In that lan guage It signified "ox"; the Greek "al pha." means the same thing, though its Egyptian hieroglyphic equivalent was qg bird somewhat like the vulture in out line. "B" was also the second letter in the tPhenician, as in the Greek. The nam» Df the character was "beth," meaning i»ouse. It has less variety of use than :gny other, being more frequently si ilent, as in "dumb," or "debt." In the original lndio-European or Aryan lan guages "b" was rarely found. "C" in the Phenician and Greek had the value of a hard "g," as in "go," and >vas similar i'i the enunciation of "k" ^as "g" is now. For a long time the Latins made "c" do service for both ■**k" and "g." No word containing "c" pronounced as "s" is of Anglo-Saxon ■origin, except a few misspelled words, «s "cinder," which was originally "sin •der." 'In the English "D" has the same place '—fourth letter and third consonant—as In the Roman, Greek and Phenician, -tend is singularly uninteresting as a tetudy. "E" is an unchanging and aristocrat ic conservative. Its form was always pretty nearly tlie same as at present. ■tts name in Phenician was "he," which most scholars say signified a window. Ta its two quantities, as it "met" and Ta "they," it constitutes about 5 per «cent of English utterance. "F" in the Phenician meant peg or tiook, and its value was that of the En glish "w." This "w" sound gradually 'went out of use in Greek, and the sign with it. In the adaptation of the al phabet to Latin use the sign was resur rected. and first received the value we (give it. "G" is a sign of Italic origin, having been fabricated by the Homans by add Ing a tail or drop to the "c"—a transi tion very easily detected. It never oc curs at the beginning of words of Au ^glo-Saxou origin. In medieval Roman 4t stood for 400, and with a line over *t for 400,000. "H" came from the Phenician, and bas had a curious history, in which the «cockney inability to manage it may be traced. "H" meant 200 in medieval -Roman. "I" may be traced to the Egyptian. The Phenicians represented it rather as te consonant, but it was converted to vowel value by the Greeks, and the Ho mans gave it both consonant and vowel duty. "J" is but another form of the same tetter. They were used Indifferently until about 1030. As a numeral 4t had the same value as "i," but was used only at conclusion, as "vilj," for eight. "K" is Phenician, and still earlier Egyptian. It was little used in classi cal Latin, and is of rare occurrence in languages derived from the Latin. As a numeral it represented 250. "L" was a lion in the Egyptian hiero glyphic, a figure 0 in the Phenician, and •about its present form in the Greek and ■the Latin. It is the most sonorous and ■continuons— the most purely consonant —in sound of all our letters. As there are "three R's" in land colloquialism, so there are three "Ls" in nautical phrase—"lead, latitude and lookout." ft is a conservative, changing littie. ■"M" is an "ancient and honorable." Tts hieroglyphic equivalent, away back in Egypt, was almost a fleur de lis in the oval outline of a bird's head—a tleur de lis minus the' central branch. As a Roman numeral if denotes 1,000. For merly the brand of "M" was impressed on the person of one convicted of uuln -slaughter. In flagrant cases the brand was applied to the forehead. In print mg it is the square, the quadrate, the unit of computation in any body of type. i. * "X" is as old,' and the value of Its character lias been the same through the whole history of its use. The sign has no variety of sounds, and there is no possible substitute. As a numeral its value is 00 , which becomes 90,000 when a line is drawn above the letter. "O" in tlie Phenician alphabet repre tuente'rt a peculiarly and— to us—unpro nounceable guttural, but tlie Greeks made a vowel of it, though they chang ed its form to a square instead of an # **yal- It stood for 11 in tlie Homan nu merals of medieval times. "P" was evolved from the hiero ■ glyphic age. and in all alplialiets it has stood for the one unvarying sound. It has no varieties save that it is silent aa.t the beginning of a few Greek words, ut* psalm and pneumatic. It is 400 in Tixsdieval numerals, and an abbrevla , lion for many things. , "<tj" 8s an ancient also. As a sign it va» abandoned in Greek. The Latin Reserved it, though its value was the -«same as that of "k." In English, as in Xafln.'ft' iS always followed by "u." It meant 5Ô0 in medieval Homan nurner jals. . ... "R" looked like a capital "A" In the ft?benician. In some languages it ls used •s a vowel. In Anglo-Saxon times "R," If the Initial letter, was given such force aa to need an "h" in expressing a$d was rolled to a double, so that of it the form survives In such spelling as hemorrhage, catarrh; but now, "In many localities, even among the most cultivated speakers, no *R' Is ever real ly pronouuced at all. It was 80 as a aid. numeral. Sir William Curtis, an emi nent but illiterate lord mayor of Lon don, said, in 1825, when asked for » toast: "I will give you the three R's— *■ Biting, Reading and Rithmetic"; and he was serious too. "S" has lived from the beginning. It looked like "w" in Phenician. It an swers many demands and has many at values; was 7 in the numerals, and is a common abbreviation. "T" was the twenty-second and last letter in the Phenician alphabet. Its value has ever been the same. It was 1Ü0 as a numeral, and was formerly a branded in the hand of a convicted thief. "U" was added by the Greeks, and was written as V or as Y. In the print ers' case its place ls supplementary, like that of "J," and not in order. "V" ls older, and long represented the same value. It was 5 as a numeral, and so remains. I "W" ls both consonant and vowel, "X" comes to us from the Latin, and was a superfluous sign there, as it was in the Greek and is with us. It denotes no sound which ls not fully provided for otherwise. "Y" is an evolution from "U," has both vowel and eonso nant values, and meant 150 in inedle val Roman numerals. "Z" dates from the hieroglyphic age. It ls the rarest of our consonants. Except in initials, its every value could be supplied—or ls supplied—by "s."—Chicago Times-Her WHERE MONEY IS LOST. Soiled Linen at the Lanndry Often Cont tins Large Sum*. It is astonishing how careless peo pie are about sending clothes to a laun dry without first searching them for money and jewelry," said the manager of a laundry the other day, according to the New York Mail-Express. "Yes terday a woman sent a bundle of dress es here, and in the pocket of one was $190 in bills. We never search clothing for valuables. The dresses were put in the washing machine, soap and water put in, and after the machine had been running half an hour it was opened, and the man in charge was astonished to see paper money floating around on the water. The bills had in some man ner worked out of the pocket of the dress, and, strange to say, not one of them was torn. We ran the money through the drying machine and then ironed each bill carefully. After we got through you could not have told that the money had been in a laundry washing machine for half an hour. We sent for the woman, and when she came to the laundry she had not yet missed her money Not long ago a man sent some shirts to our laundry from the bosom of one of which he forgot to remove a diamond stud worth $150. Our people did not see the diamond, and we did not find it until he called us up and made known his loss. Then I put my men to search ing, and we found the diamond in the catch basin in the sewer." A Whistling Spider. H. A. Peters, one of the owners of the the Lashaway dairy farm, on the tbe Spencer road, while on his way to Spencer, Mass., captured an immense spider of unknown species. When Mr. Peters first saw the spider, which was making a bee line over the public high way for East Brookfield, he was so amazed at the sight that he rubbed both eyes several Unies before he could realize that the monster was a reality. to Then, hastily grasping an empty glass milk jar, Peters jumped from the wag on and was about to make the stranger a prisoner when he was startled by a distinetly-audible whistle emanating from the insect. Instantly a flock of minute facsimiles of the peculiar spi der came rushing from all directions, clambering up the legs of the big spi der, and hid themselves in the fuzzy hair on its back. After securing her Mrs. Spider assumed a defensive youn; attitude. Peters thrust the mouth of the jar over the whole family of spiders and made them prisoners. Hundreds have since viewed tlie monster and its offspring and all are puzzled. The body of the large spider Is one and a half inches in length. The body'is black and is supported by eight powerful legs, each two inches long. The head is supplied with powerful-looking jaws, from which two feelers half an inch in length protrude. The beady eyes are jet black. Fitted to His Position. Sir Harry Poland, a British magis trate noted for his brilliancy, is care less in his dress. Once bis family per suaded him to go to Poole and order a fashionably cut suit. To the chagrin of the household Sir Ilarrÿ looked more outlandish in the new clothes than in his old ones. His brother-in-law went to see Poole about it. "It is not my fault, sir," the tailor assured him. "Every care was taken, but how could we fit a gentleman who would insist upon being measured sitting down?" . yours. I like to be comfortable. I spend three parts of my life sitting down, and I prefer to be measured so." —New York Tribune. j Too 8low. Almost the last reminder of the ro mantic past, the prairie stagecoach, is doomed. Automobiles are'to be built j for prairie travel, the coaches being too slow for modern travel. We have noticed that women never f^7hen1es m beca wie 0 It^ an^lnduTtry that requires faith In boys. CANDID MEN. They Speak Their Mind* In an^Bm* barras tinir Wr y ('evasions''v. "Men are dreadfully brusque some times, ' sighed Belinda. The other night my brother and I went to tlie house of a friend to a reception, it was *■ flot night aud the house was crowded and there wasn't anything to do b t to stand around and talk to the peop^p one could reach, while the people one really wanted to talk with could only be seen at a distance and over a sea of inter vening heads. In addition the cro quettes were cold, and the ice cream warm, so when we finally got away both my brother and I said, 'Thank heaven' quite reverently, and went to a hotel and had supper, "The next day all of my friends whom I met asked 'Didn't you have a lovely time at the Blanks last night?' and I invariably replied 'Delightful.' Then we went on our separate ways, When they asked my brother the same question he answered with a frankness that appalled and embarrassed me, 'No, I did not. I had the stupidest time of my life; and. say. they'd bettér get an other chef the next time they entertain, for the supper was awful.' "Here." said Belinda, "I trace a strofig point of difference between men and women. The average girl has too much pritle to let it be known that she has gone to an entertainment and has still failed to be entertained. I saw one pretty guileless looking creature sit alone one night at a dance for nine straight dances, then I had compassion on her and sent my escort and a couple W In its on of other men to ask her for the remain ing two-steps and waltzes. She danced four times in all, yet the next time she saw me she sal-d she'd had a real de lirious times at that ba'l. a delightful, never-to-be-forgotten time, and, she _ ... t , _. .. added modestly, that she had been qu e » belle. A man under the same circum stances, though they had been of his own making, asked If he had enjoyed himself, would have replied emphatlcal iy and vulgarly, 'No, I dldn t. I bad a berce time. "Why, I know of one lord of creation ^bo told some friends that his honey^ moon had been very tiresome, and o another who in bidding his host good-bj after a yachting trip remarked that he bad a pleasant time, all things consid ered « but that all water journeys were more or less of bores. Imag.ne a worn an doing anything so tact e>s. W hy I* bad been a girl instead of a man in the latter case, though she had been seasick for the ent.re two weeks though the salt water and air had ruined her prettiest gowns, taken the curl out of her hair and the rose from her complexion, she would have stag gered off the yacht declaring faintly that she'd had the time of her life, and that she'd like to go again to-morrow. in That's the feminine Idea of true polite ness." ~ ~ Harold's Papa Was "Shy. The proud y °" n f father ' after the manner of his kind, was telling stories about the doings of his first-born, M , any trl '' la , '" clden 8 had f en re . ,at : ed ' " d tl f 1 tle , c ' rcl , e of lia » eD f s had exhausted all their ingenuity in pre tending to be interested. "Tell them the story .ibout the penny,' suggested tbe young hopeful's mother. The proud father pretended not to hear, when grew red, and fin:.» y shook a violent negative with his head. "Then I will. ' exclaimed the baby's mother. "Its too cute for anything. You know Harold wtll be 2 years old next month, and we are now taking him to church with us. His father always gives him a penny to Pnt in the collection plate. Well last Sunday the plate was being pass cd. and some one dropped a coin on tlie floor. It made quite a loud noise, aud Harold turned to me and asked, in a voice loud enough to be heard all over the church: 'Mamma, whose penny are that?' W asn t it the cutest thiug ! Of course he thought that nobody ever gave more than a penny because that s all his papa ever gives him. 1 hen the proud young father blushed more deeply than ever.—Philadelphia Kee ord. A Model Woman. "Did you not say, Ellen, that Mr. B, is poor?" "Yes, he has only his profession." "Will your uncle favor his suit?" "No; and I can expect nothing from him." "Then, Ellen, you will have to resign fashionable society."' "No matter—1 shall see more of Fred." "You must give up expensive dress." . "Oh, Fred admires simplicity." "You cannot keep a carriage." "But we can have our delightful walks." "You must take a small house and furnish it plainly." "Yes; for elegant furniture would be out of place In a cottage." a . "Ÿou will have to cover your floors with thin, plain carpets." j "Then I shall hear his steps the soon er." --ters Value of tbe Giraffe Skin. A good giraffe skin is worth from $10 a common f or ty or fifty of these graceful animals j n oue day. And it is now discovered hunters were not wanting, for the j giraffe la getting more and more scarce; soon it is feared it will become extinct,'as many other animals have j done after being excessively pursued, ____ pood Word for Him. Bank»—Dumleigh is not such a dunce as they make him out He gets off a good thing once In a while. Baake^StiU ïk bright ln him to re member IL-Boiton Transcript W ANDERINGS OF FREIGHT CARS. How f he Hobo Ho : line Stock 1* Beat All Over the Conn try. The car accountant Is a typical In stance of development in the railroad business, says a writer in Alnslee's. In the early days he did not exist. The superintendent was supposed to know In a general way what was being done with tbe company's cars. The custom was for railroads to carry through freight as far as the end of their own lines in their own cars. Then it was transferred to tbe cars of a foreign line and so assisted on tbe next stage to its destination. So much time, how ever, was lost in making the transfers that the needs of shippers forced up on the railroads a departure which has now become their general custom. Rail roads permit all loaded cars to go through to theli^ destination without transfer, aud allow one andther a cer taiu sum for tbe use of the cars. This results In scattering tbe cars of the dit- j ferent roads over every section of track j in the country. It produces the ex-1 traordinary processions of mauy-col ored travelers from distant lands that ! delight the eyes of youngsters- at a j nilroad crossing. | In theory, .the cars are permitted to run through over foreign roads to their destination on the condition that on ! their arrival they shall be unloaded promptly and stnrted on the journey home. In practice, the freight agent is apt to use the cars that are most ban- ! dy, regardless of their ownership. An agent lb Minneapolis would hardly j think twice before filling up a Maine Central freight car with a consignment for Manitoba. The agent at Manitoba would not suf fer a pang of conscience when he found himself stuffing the same Maine car with a cargo of supplies for Waco, _________ „ _____buy Texas. Thus are begun the wanderings of a car to which, if it were not for the car accountant and his memoranda, there would sometimes be no end. | It ls by no means easy to bring the wanderers home. When the Maine Central's car accountant learns from his reports that his car is being unduly knocked about on foreign roads his j first news ls that it has syeut two weeks in the yards at Minneapolis. A tracer is at once forwarded to the transportation department of the rail road which Is believed to be holding : the car. By this time the car is on its way to Manitoba. A tracer follows it there, but with the similar result of finding that tlie car has been dispatch ed for the Southwest. A letter to the company operating the line out of Waco brings an answer to the cff.ct that tin* car is there, but is being hold to await tlie disposition of the con signee; or that it is crippled and 1ms been run into the shops for repairs, or that it lias been loaded again, in which case the company promises politely to unload it and send it home immediate ly. Then the car is promptly switched off on to a branch line for some local consignee and is not. heard of again except by the needy agent who cap tured it, until It .turns up in a tail-end collision in the State of West Virginia. Luckily it is not a bit injured, aud ls able to continue its wanderings, pur sued by more and more vigorously worded correspondence, until some body sends it home. I Sandy Watted Long In a busy little town in Forfarshire couple had courted seriously and con stautly for years. At length Sandy had not only proposed and been accepted, time slipped by. Sandy now felt that he could not go back unless Mary ask ed him. She never did ask him, and the two. who really loved each other, drifted apart. The bounle cottage was duly finished, but poor Mary never crossed its thresh old. They both remained unmarried, and very few people knew that a word or two from Mary was all that Sandy R-was aye waiting for. but was getting a fine new cottage built for Mary A-. One night while he was visiting at her father's house Mary, In a playful way, showed him the "ticking" that was to cover their braw feather bed. Sandy knew something about weaving, so he looked at it critically, remarking at the same time: "Weel, Mary, I really thoebt ye had far better taste than that." "What's Avrang wi' it, I wad like to ken," she replied. "It's no honnie, an' I dinna like it." *'A' rieht, then." Mary added. "Get a tick to please yoursel', an' I'll let ye ken when I want it." No more was said-on the subject, but Sandy's enjoyment for that evening was over. Mary was very stiff, so he took his leave sooner than usual. Next night he did not call, nor the next, so Good Wages for Glove Cutters. The cutters of the great glove houses at Brussels and in France earn higher wages than the cutters of the most fashionable tailors in London and New York. So difficult ls this art of cutting ! gloves that most of the principal cut are known to the trade by name and by fame, and the peculiar knives wh lch they use in the business are so I Devious, Wheeler—I took that short (?) trip you recommended. It was fully thirty miles. Sprockett—Well?* 1 W'heeler—Well, you said it was only fifteen as the crow flies. ! Sprockett—Ah! Maybe the crows were full of cörn the day yon went.— Philadelphia Press, A woman may not marry the first man who proposes to her, but she will respect his good Judgment as long aa she Uvea She—You were a long time hi the Philippines, wern't you? He—Oh, yes. Over since the first time the war ended. —Life. Trolley Car Conductor—Say, thla nick el ls no good. Mr. Endseat—Well, never mind; give It to the company.—Brook lyn Eagle, "There Is one way that King Edward can keep bis chaplains busy." "What •way?" "Praying for a long reign."— Cleveland Plain Dealer, Miss Perte —I wouldn't marry a man unless I could look up to him. Miss Oldgyrle—Oh, well, Millie, you're young yet.—Summerville Journal, Jackson—I hear your baby was kid naped. Currie—Yes. The kidnapers have offered us $5,000 If we will take him back, but we are holding out for more.—Life. Pedestrian-Will this road take me out , nto the county, mtle boy? Little Boy _ x don - t t hink it will; but If y' Wait mebby a wa ggun 'U cum along —Ohio gtate j ourna i j She _ You don>t th!nk a glrl , B wlse to marry a mao , n order to reform hlmT One tion. of of any can see. cast ical nor of It ish on of He—Well, I think she is Apt to have the luck of the average reformer.— I Brooklyn Life. City Boarder—Tell me. did you ever ( a gold brick, Uncle Josh? Uncle Geetaaw (of Hay Corners, disgustedly) j —Naw. But I hev bought lots of bricks 1 thought was gold.—Brooklyn Eagle. j | "Yes, Mrs. Bouncer wanted to send her daughter to Bryn Mawr, but she de- I elded on Vassar." "What Influenced her decision?" "She couldn't pronounce \ Bryn Mawr."—Philadelphia Bulletin, j Parson Jackson—In de mattah ob w&tahmelons, l s'pose you b'liebe stolen fruits am always sweetest? Sam j Johnson—I dunno. I ain't nebah eat j a a ny but de one kind.—Philadelphia j p re ss. McCourt—You know something about ' horse racing. What is meant by "tbe favorite? Sport—A favorite Is a horse that would surely win if people only wouldn't bet on him.—Philadelphia Record. Teacher—What ls an island? Bright Boy (who had been reading the news papers since Dewey sailed into Manila Bay)—An island Is a body of and en tlrely surrounded by the United States. —New York Times. . I Miss Slappem That Clara \\ tlder is as good as a circus. Ihluk of her be ing engaged three times this summer! Mr. Goodheart iextenuat!ngly>-Well. I she wouldn't lie an up-to-date circus without three rlngs!-Judge. Mr. Frontpew—1 am glad you belong to our church choir, my dear: It ls such an orderly organization: l never see,you whispering to one another during ser vices. Mrs. Frontpew—No, none of us are on speaking terms.—Ohio State | I Journal. ^iv Pitt—These quarrels about the tn battle of Santiago make me excessively we ary. Mr. Penn—Me, loo. Pretty soon Spain will get It into her head that slle wasn't licked at all. aud then she of will demand repossession of Cuba.— Philadelphia Press. She (petulantly)—I don't see why you should uesitate to get married on f600 a year. Papa says my gowns never cost more than that. He—But. my dar ling, we must have something to eat. "Oh, William. Always thinking of your stomach!"—Tit-Bits. The time for reflection: "Biddy," Pat began, timidly, "did ye iver think av marryin'?" "Sure, now, tb' subject has niver iuteffed me thoughts." demurely replied Biddy. "It's sorry Oi am," said Pat, turning away. "Wan minute, Pat!" called Biddy, softly, "ye've set me a thinklu'."—Bazar. Economy in* the East: "Briggs must be getting queer in his top story." "What's the proof?" "He had his bare head out of his office window at noon yesterday, and when I nsked him what be was doing, he said he couldn't afford a regular hair cut aH(l was trying a singe."—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Stranger—Didn't 1 understand you to say you'u just come from the Buffalo exhibition? How did you like it? Chance acquaintance—Pooh! Lt's a poor little paltry two penny-half penny affair. Don't begin to compare with stranger—Indeed. By the way, how are things in Chicago now .—Puck. Transparent excuses: "Now, don't «1 ___ n 4i-vm> n Lnnt in I o fart lino an* tell me àny story about misfortune, an' wan tin' to be a hard worker, 'n' all that." said the hard-faced lady; "l can see right through you." "Gee!" gald Dismal Dawson; "1 know I ain't bad nothin' to eat for three days, hut 1 d | dn *t know It had thinned me down u ke that.—Leslie's Weekly, Circu mstantial evidence: Papa took It when he went home last-night, Mabel—Why, Willie! The idea! Wil He—Well, when he was sayln' good night to yon 1 beard him say: "I'm going to steal just one.''—Philadelphia Press. „ "That was rather a—well, a tame ser mon of yours this morning, Mr. Mild man," said the rector, just returned from a holiday. "Was sponded the curate. it, sir i" re 14 wnsn 4 mlne - I've been too busy this week to write one, and I took It from a bundle in your handwrittog out of the library." Tit-Bita. QUEER AMERICAN RIVERA One Florida River that Stem Utede elded Whet to Do* Every variety of river 1-n the world seems to have a cousin In our collec tion. What other country on the face of the glojie affords such an assortment of streams for fishing and boating aud swimming aud skating—besides having any number of streams on which you can do none of these things? One can hardly imagine rivers like that; but we have them, plenty of them, as you shall see. As for fishing, the American boy may cast his files for salmon In the Arctic circle, or angle for sharks under a trop ical sun hi Florida, without leaving the domain of the American flag. But the fishing-rivers are not the most curious,, nor the most instructive as to diversity of climate, soli and that sort of thing— physical geography, the teacher calls It For Instance, If you want to get a good Idea of what tropical heat and moisture will do for a country, slip your canoe from a Florida steamer Into the Ocklawaha River. It ls as odd as Its name, and appears to be hopelessly un decided as to whether It had better con tinue hi the fish and alligator and drain age business, or devote Itself to raising live-oak and cypress trees, with Span ish moss for mattresses as a side prod uct In this fickle-minded state it does a little of all these things, so that when you are really on the river you think you are lost In the woods, and when yon actually get lost in tbe woods, you are quite confident your canoe 1s at last on the river. This confusion Is due to the low, flat country, and the luxuriance of a tropical vegetation. "«^^'tha t ';^a river overflows Its banks would hardly be correct; for that wou j d imply thpt it was not behaving ftg^f. besides, it hasn't any banks— ^ at very f ew j The fact ls, those peaceful Florida rivers seem to wander pretty much where they like over tbe pretty peninsula without giving offense; but if Jack Frost takes such a liberty presto! you should see bow the people get after him with weather bulletins aud danger signals and formidable \ j smudges. So the Ocklawaha River and j a score of its kind roam through the j woods—or maybe It is the woods that roam through them—aud the moss ' sways from the live-oaks, and the ay press trees stick their knees up through the water in the oddest way imaginable. —St. Nicholas Thpre are 3 000 words U8ed allke , n Frenoh aud Bnsllsh wlthout variatl0 Q (n gl)el || n „ , , ______ __ In 1879 one person In each 7,403,105 carrjed by Brltl8h ra n wa ys was killed, Iq 1S90 only one ln every 190 , 007 , 035 . Th e latest new building in New York, besides extending fifteen stories into the air, will have four stories under K rouu d The plow of 1800 was a "crotch drag," the plow of the Western bonanza farms !• run by steam aud turns eight fur rows at once. | The remnant of the once great Pe nobscot tribe of Indians now living on tn island near Oldtown, Md., have their own form of government. At their re rent election they chose a Prohibitionist chief named Mitchell Atteau, by a vote of 25 to 23. The cow bird deposits its eggs ln the nests of other and weaker birds for them to incubate. Only one egg is usu ally deposited ln the nest. The dls covery of a summer tanager's nest a short time ago, ln which four cow bird eggs reposed besides one of the pro prietors, was considered a most uuus ual case by ornithologists. Cleveland has a home gardening asso elation which encourages children to cultivate flowers at home. Last spring tbe association distributed to children 50 ,000 penny packages of flower seeds, accompanied with printed instructions how to prepare the soil, plant and water. About 75 per cent of the efforts of fhe children were successful, monster lathe has just been made Philadelphia. It ls 86 feet long, and its total weight ls 135 tons. It has been constructed for preparing the thirty tw0 hU ge granite pillars to be used in building a new cathedral, each pillar weighing 160 tons. It has eight cutter# ftnd the granite block Is reduced twen ty-four Inches in diameter at one pass over its length. a p e terborn, in New Hampshire, estab ll8hed the fl r8 t free public library in the United States in 1833, and as early as a g ene ral law authorizing taxation f or library purposes was passed. Seven y earB a go such taxation was,made com . • • pulsory^and sTnre then every~town has been obliged to raise funds for library 1 support. The first State library ln the country was established by New Hamp shire, grants for that purpose having been made before the Revolution. Honey In the Holy Land. In Palestine, "the land flowing with duce, obtained from crevices In rocks, hollows In trees, aud elsewhere, ls with many of the inhabitants, a means of subsistence. Mr. Roberts, ln his "Orlen tal Illustrations," remarks that In the East "the forests literally flow with honey. Large cotalxs may he seen hnng Ing on the trees os you pass alon^ full of honey." re- j The moon and a woman's heart are - constantly changing—but there'6 al a m «q in them, in ---— 1 Only one letter in a hundred means anything.