Vilas County news. [volume], May 17, 1897, Image 8

About Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927

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[, oIfAOET S obliel PICKE!
. y
Or, A Voyage to the Planet Mars,
By HUGH MACCOLL,
CHAPTER Vll—(Continued.)
While he was walking backwards and
forwards, nodding and smiling, I slowly
revolved the Shooting Star on its axis
to an angle of 90 degrees, bringing
its floor into a vertical position. The
consequence was that the little Marsian
appeared to those outside to be walking,
and indeed was walking, with his body
in a horizontal position; while, on the
other hand, those outside appeared to
him to be in a similar predicament—
walking on a vertical pier, surrounded
by vertical land and sea, whilst he him
se¢lf had maintained his original posi
tion. This upsetting of all their pre
vious experience as to the laws of Mar
gian attraction as much astonished the
grown-up Marsians outside as the con
fusion of his ideas as to the whereabouts
of up and down did my little friend in
side. He stared at them, and they stared
at him; and both gave utterance to an
exclamation which I may call Yoh,
though that. was not quite the sound.
Giving way to a spirit of mischief which
might have brought me into trouble,
as well as spoilt my appetite for my
coming breakfast, I made the Shooting
Star make two or three rapid revolu
tions upon its axis, and then suddenly
stopped it in its original and natural posi
tion. My poor litte friend was so ter
ribly alarmed at the sudden phenomenon
of the whole universe revolving round
the Shooting Star, his friends outside
appearing sometimes . above him and
sometimes below him, that he knelt
down, laid both hands upon my knees,
and looked imploringly into my face,
as if beseeching me to stop my sorceries.
His co-planetites on the pier seemed no
less alarmed on his account, and gave
utterances to various ejaculations ex
pressive not only of astonishment, but,
I was sorry to see from the faces of
some of them, of displeasure also. To
tranquilize him and them I gently
stroked and patted my little Marsian on
the head, and spoke soothingly and en
couragingly to him. ‘Though of course
he did not understand a word 1 said,
he felt the general purpose of my tone,
and saying something to me in an ex
ceedingly soft and musical voice, he
jumped upon his feet again and looked
happy and smiling as ever. This had
a favorable effect upon the crowd, and
when I laughed and smiled to them also,
and made signs to them that it was only
a joke and that I would not frighten
him again, they appeared to understand
me and to recover their good humor.
After this I was careful not to do any
thing further to alarm them or shake
their confidence in my friendly inten
tions. I made the Shooting Star trave
at a rate which enabled them to keepL
up with it walking at a brisk pace.
CHAPTER VIII.
On entering the town, I found the
central street, which led to the refresh
ment hall, crowded with spectators, as
were also the doors, windows and house
tops. A picturesque sight truly it
was; hundreds of mingled red and
green maillot-like garments contrast
ing strangely with the naked, pale blue
arms, legs and faces of their wearers,
and with the white marble or marble
like pavement, and flat-roofed houses.
The whole traffic of the town seemed ar
rested; the horseless automatic car-!
riages, which had been moving up or
down in the middle of the street, stood
still when they saw the Shooting Star
approach, and their conductors inside
put their heads out of the windows to
gaze at it. They would have moved
aside to make room fer it; but, to pre
vent putting them to any inconvenience
on my account, I made it rise higher into
the air, and passed over them. ;
I had nearly reached the great re
freshment hall, when my little Marsian
began to show signs of great excite
ment, tapping the transparent side of the
Shooting Star, and gesticulating with
much animation and energy. I looked to
see the cause, and saw four persons at
the window of a house to our right, and
just opposite to him, who were answer
ing him with equal energy and anima
tion. I immediately jumped to the con
clusion that this was his house, and
that the four persons were respectively
his father, mother, brother and sister.
They were apparently making signs to
him to come to them:; while he seemed
to be making signs that he would come
presently, as we were only going as far
as the refreshment hall close by, to
which he every now and then pointed.
Wishing to gratify both him and
them, I moved the Shooting Star slowly
sideways toward them till I brought its
entrance, which was a sliding door,
c¢lose to the window at which they were
standing. Then I drew back the slid
ing door, leaving the little Marsian free
to step right in and join his friends. He
quickly availed himself of the opportuni
ty, and the next moment he was in their
midst chattering excitedly, and doing his
best to answer questions from all four
at once. He repeatedly pointed to me as
he spoke, and was evidently telling them
how I saved his life, and all the other
wonderful things which I had done. I
was glad to see that the glances which
they cast at me were kind and friendly,
those of his sister, a beautiful yeung
girl of about 20, being particularly ten
der. 1 felt completely fascinated by this
maiden, and could not withdraw my
eyes from her. I have spoken of the
other Marsian ladies as beautiful, their
beauty being enhanced rather than di
minished by their strange blue complex
ion; but this one appeared to me to be
the loveliest by far that I had yet seen.
The father, when he had heard from
his son hew I had saved his life, made
signs to me to enter. I wondered how
I had better act. I might have tightly
fastened the Shooting Star to the wall
where it was by simply developing its
attraction in that direction which I
could have effected by a mere turn of the
regulator, and stepped in at the window
as my young Marsian friend had done;
but this might have been inconvenient
for them. The father, with wonderful
rapidity of perception, divined my
thoughts, and pointed upwards and
backwards which I understood, and cor
rectly, to mean that I was to take my
machine to the flat roof of his house. I
followed hi- direction at once, and tock
it there. 1 had not been there hali a
minute when he, too, made his appear
ance on the roof, having issued
through a transparent kind of trap-door.
He gave me a cordial, welcoming smile,
and held out his left hand to me, which
I at once grasped and pressed also with
my left. This struck me as very
strange; not that he should hold out to
me his left hand instead of his right,
but that he should hold out his hand to
me at all. I thought it strange that these
Marsians should be so like the terres
trials, not only in their forms and fea
tures, but in their very customs. Un
questionably they must have had a com
mon origin, and at no extraordinary re
mote period either. How could this pos
sibly have been? Was it possible that
other terrestria/s had anticipated me, and
dared to traverse the interplanetary
space before me? That was the only
solution of the mystery which I could
think of at the time, and it is probably
also the only possible solution which will
occur to the reader. Yet it is not the
true solution. That is far more extra
ordinary, and shall be related in due
course. But I am a bad story-teller; I
find myself again digressing.
This Marsian gentleman, I said, held
out his left hand to me, and I, anxious
to conform in all things to the Marsian
customs, grasped it and squeezed it with
my left. He warmly returned my pres
sure of his hand; then dropping it, and
making signs to me to follow him, he
turned round and disappeared again
through the trap-door. 1 followed him
at once; first, however, taking the pre
caution to attach the Shooting Star to
the roof by a strong increase in its down
ward attraction; so that it would be im
possible for any one to remove it from
its place. I also secured the door by
a concealed spring contrivance, which
would render it difficult for any one to
enter but myself. :
Through the trap-door and down a
staircase with marble-like steps 1 fol
lowed him. We passed through one
room, which, from its general aspect and
the various strange instruments which
I saw there, appeared to be a sort of
workshop. The walls and floor were
bare, and were of the same shiny
marble-like substance as were the exteri
or of all the houses, as well as the
roofs and pavements. 'There were also
two work-benches, or what I took to be
such, of the same singular substance.
From the absence of all cracks or signs
of junction in walls, pavements, floor, or
roof, I concluded that the substance of
which they were formed must originally
have been soft, and easily molded into
any shape required, and that it grew
hard afterwards by exposure to the air,
or from some other cause. However this
might be, it was a remarkably elastic
and sonorous substance, and gave forth
a sound as I trod, which was neithér
that of wood, stone, nor metal. My
sounding, jerky steps (for I had not yet
learnt to walk properly) were in strange
contrast to the noiseless tread of my
barefooted host, and made me feel awk
ward and uncomfortable.
We next passed through what was
evidently a bedroom. There was one
large, low bed of the same marble-like
substance, with blankets or some kind
of bedclothes of a green color spotted
irregularly with red. There were also
two wooden couches and two wooden
chairs, covered also with red-spotted
green cloth. Everything was beautifully
clean; but there was no attempt any
where at ornament. The bed, the
‘couches, the chairs were all of 'a severe
ly simple construction. ~
Finally we entered the room in which
his wife and children were awaiting us,
still standing. A rapid coup d’oeil, round
the room showed me that this was a
sitting-room, with four wooden couches
and twelve wooden chairs, covered as in
the bedroom with red-spotted green
cloth; while in the center of the room
was a round table, not of wood, but of
the polished marble-like substance al
ready mentioned. The four couches and
eight out of the twelve chairs were
ranged round the walls, while the re
maining four chairs were placed round
the marble-like table. Two more arti
cles completed the furniture of the room;
one was a round globe, seemingly of
frosted glass, suspended by a chain from
the ceiling; the other, a queer-looking
machine, of a form not easy to describe.
The upper and middle portion was a
transparent glass-like cylinder, about
two feet and a half long, and with a
diameter of about one foot. The rest
seemed to be of wood. It had a wheel
to the left with a handle to turn it,
while an India-rubber-like tube, with a
transparent glass-like ball attached to
its extremity, issued from the right-hand
side. and reposed in coils on the top.-
The moment we entered, the Ilady
whom I had correctly guessed to be his
wife, stepped forward, and with a
bright, welcoming smile offered me her
left hand, making some observations
which of course I could not understand.
From habit I was just going to grasp
the offered left hand with my right, but
I recollected myself at once and gave
her my left instead.
- Then the son, a handsome young fel
low of about 24, came forward and
offered me his left hand, as his father
and mother had done, and with: the same
cordial, pleasant smile. Wi}h my left
hand I grasped his hand warmly, meet
ing with an equally warm pressure in
return. :
Finally, the daughter came forward
timidly, and with a blush, which added
a fresh charm to the strange, weird
beauty of her pale blue face, offered me
her right hand. I was struck by this
departure from what her father, mother
and brother had done; so for one brief
moment I hesitated, not knowing whether
I ought to give her my right or my left
hand. Brief as the delay was, it ap
peared to trouble her; she cast down
her eyes and was about to draw back
her hand, when I quickly made up my
mind and grasped her extended right
hand with my right. The pale blue hand
rested but a moment in mine; yet in that
moment I distinctly felt it tremble. Our
hands had hardly separated, when the
rosy blush vanished from her face, leav
ing it of a paler blue than it had been
before. She lifted her eyes to mine with
a scared, inquiring look; then she quick
ly dropped them, and, turning away has
tily, left the room. This surprised and
troubled me, and my astonishment and
anxiety were by no means diminished
when I saw the mother with her face
flushed leave the rcom after her daugh
ter. The father followed a minute or
two after. His sons took a step or two,
as if about to go with him; but on his
turning round and saying something to
them, they stopped. What could it
mean? What had I done? I looked for
explanation into the faces of the two
who had remained, but I could learn
nothing from them. They had flushed
like their mother, but were now looking
pale and sorrowful. I thought:l mast
unwittingly have given some anortal of
fense, but in what way I could not
imagine. Unable to speak or under
stand a word of their language I found
my position an extremely painful one.
I could neither ask for explanation nor
give any¥
Presently the fa%her came back. To
my intense relief he did not appear at
all angry. On the contrary, he came
forward with a smile, and, pointing al
ternately to my right hand and to my
left, said sometking in Marsian which
I could not understand, but which made
the eldest.of his sons smile, while the
other laughed outright. :
I felt dreadfully bewildered, perplexed,
and worried. I did not know.what to
say or do. Though I knew he could
not understand a word I said, I told
the father in English that if I had given
any offense it was entirely owing to
my ignorance of the Marsian customs;
that I felt the kindliest feelings towards
them all, ete., ete. To give emphasis
to what I said, I every now and then
laid my hand upon my heart, which
he seemed .to understand better than
my ‘words; for every time I performed
this action. he smiled and imitated my
example with scrupulous exactness.
After a few minutes of this pantomime
he turned towards the door, and made
signs to me to come with him. I fol
lowed him down another winding stair
case, with the same clean, white, marble
like steps, into: the street. -On our ar
rival there he placed himself on my
right, and taking hold of my right hand
with his left, proceeded to “walk thus
with me towards the large refreshment
hall. I did my best to accommodate my
style of walking to his, but I found it
extremely difficult. I could not prevent
my legs from jerking out in their absurd,
spasmodic manner. By concentrating my
whole mind upon them I could manage
to restrain them for a few steps; but
as soon as I allowed my attention to be
drawn to anything interesting in the
street, out they would jerk themselves’
again in long, quick strides, forcing my
Marsian friend, who never loosed my
hand., to take a short trot to keep up
with me. Then I would all at once rec
ollect myself, and walk solemnly again.
The crowds in the street stared and
wondered, as well they might. My
strange attire, at least as strange to
their eyes as theirs was to mine; my
complexion, so. different from their pale
blue faces; and, above all, my resound
ing, irregular, jerky steps, conirasting
with their even, mnoiseless, barefooted
tread—these weresufficientof themselves
to excite an intense curiosity, even if
they had not seen or heard anything of
rSny wonderful exploits with the Shooting
tar. X
About five minutes’ walk brought us to
the refreshment hall. This was the
largest building in the whole town, of
which it occupied the center. It stood
by itself, apart from the other houses.
It was of a square shape, and occupied
the center of a square, flat elevated
court, about six feet high, up to which
four flights of steps led, one on each
side. The hall nad four entrances, one
opposite each flight of steps. - Each side
had eight windows, two on each side of
the door below. and the same number
exactly above them. Like all the other
buildings in the town, it had a flat roof
surrounded by a parapet, and with seats
all round. In ‘the center -of the roof
rose a tall, slender, cylindrical column,
from the top of which a flag was waving.
At each of the four corners of the roof
there was also a column, but much lower
—only about seven feet high—on the top
of which was a globe, similar to those
already mentioned as being above the
doors of all the houses. The four
globes suspended over the four doors of
the refreshment hall did not differ from
the rest in the town, except in being
larger. 'The hall, the raised court, the
four flights of steps, all looked as if
carved out of one huge marble block;
nowhere could I see a trace of a junc
tion, as if separate stores had been
placed upon or fitted into each other.
We mounted the flight of steps in
front of us, and walked straight to the
door to which they led. It was shut.
My friend pressed a small dark spot to
the right of the door, whereupon the door
slid noiselessly back into the wall. I
was struck:; and now I recollected that
the doors in my friend’s house had
opened in the same strange, noiseless
manner, as if of themselves, as soon as
he had touched them:; but somehow I
had not noticed that they had thus slid
back into the wall, though they must
have done so.
We both entered; and as soon as we
had done so, my friend again pressed
another dark spot inside, whereupon the
door shut, sliding back in the same
noiseless manner as before. i
But greater wonders awaited me.
Seated in a sort of armchair to the left,
with his back to a window, was an eld
erly-looking gentleman, dressed in the
usual red Marsian costume, but with the
addition of green slippers and a green
cap of very simple form. There was
nothing wonderful, of course, in ' this;
the wonder consisted in the occupation
of the old gentleman. In front of him
was a strange-looking machine, exactly
like the one which I had seen at my
friend’s house. When we entered he was
slowly turning the wheel to the left by
means of the handle attached to it,
while in his right hand, and applied to
his right ear, he held the hollow glass
like bell which communicated with the
machine by the flexible India-rubber
like tube to the right. My friend stopped
as soon as we had entered, and I, of
course, stopped with him, so that I had
time to watch the old gentleman at his
singular occupation. Presently he re
moved the bell from his ear, and ap
plying it to his mouth spoke into it in a
low but still audible voice, turning the
handle all -the while. He continued
thus speaking for about three minutes;
then he stopped-and stared at vacaney,
as if in deep thought. "My friend, like
myself, stood and ‘watched, and never
spoke. The old gentleman, after a
brown study of some minutes’ duration,
recommenced his low murmuring into the
bell, which he followed by another
thoughtful silence. Then, as if an idea
had suddenly struck him, he began again
turning the handle very rapidly, but
this time in the reverse direction, look
ing into the machine all the while. Pres
ently he stopped just for an instant,
and then began immediately to turn the
handle slowly in the.original direction,
bending down over the machine till his
face was close to the transparent cylin
der, and moving his head slowly from
left to right, and from right to left, as if
reading or examining something with
great attention. Then he heaved a deep
sigh, as of relief, threw himself back in
his chair, and began looking about him.
As soon as his eyes lighted upon us, he
stared ‘and stared; whereupon my
friend made a low bow, which the other,
with equal politeness, returned. Again
I was struck by the resemblance of the
Marsian customs to our own. My friend
still holding my hand then walked up
with me to where he was sitting, and
spoke -to him earnestly for some time,
while he listened with great attention.
Then he spoke a few words in reply,
upon which my friend, after another
low bow, led me away. A staircase led
to the upper story, and on each side of it
there was a door which gave entrance
from the ante-room in which we found
curselves into the great hall on the
ground. Through the nearest of these
doors we passed in, the door sliding into
the wall at my friend's touch as before,
and Teshutting after us .in the same
manner. :
Here there were several rows of tables
loaded with rectangular blocks of some
sort of cake of a yellowish-brown color.
There were also transparent glass-like
bottles containing a red liquid, with
goblets of the same material to pour it
into for drinking. There were Kknives
for cutting the cake, but no plates to
put it on. The tables +were of the
marble-like substance already spoken of,
and scrupulously clean. My friend sat
down at one of these tables, and mo
tioned me to do the same. Then he
took a cake and cut off two slices, one
thin, and the other thick, of which he
gave me the thick and took the thin
himself. He then took two goblets and
filled . them with the red "liquid, giving
me one and taking the other himself.
This done, he at once began to eat' and
drink, and I followed his example. The
red liquid was not wine; it tasted more
like new milk than anything else I can
think of, and I found it very nleasant
and refreshing. The cake I fcand ex
cellent; but I cannot describe its taste,
as I cannot call to mind anything to
which I can compare it. I ate three
large slices, while my friend contented
himself with.the one thin slice which he
had first cut.’ .
‘When we had finished, my friend went
and fetched one out of a great number
of baskets which were hanging on hooks
all along the wall. In this he placed twc
cakes with the remainder of the en:
which we had broken, and-two bottles o’
the red liquid with the half-full bottle
out ‘of which we had been drinking.
‘ {(To be Continued.) »
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= A Tile Well, '
A convenient and cheap watering
place for stock in pastures, away from
the barn, through which tile drains
run, may be made for a considerable
part and often the whole season’ in
tbe, following manner: Three or four
feet from the main drain dig a hole
deep enough so that two barrels may
be placed one on top of the other, the
top of the lower one coming about lev
el with the bottom of the main tile; this
position for the lower barrel will briing
the upper one usually a few inches
above the top of the ground.
Connect the main tile to lower barrel
with a few lateral tile of small size
laid on slight incline and passing
through the side of the barrel. Through
these side tile the water will run from
the main drain and keep ¢he lower bar
rel nearly full of water at all times
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THE TILE WELL.
barrel before putting in position. Bet
ter not use salt barrels for the top ones,
as stock will destroy them more or
less; kerosene barrels well burned out
are excellent. A pump may be used
in this well or the water easily dipped
with a pail by the hand or with a short
pole. This arrangement prevents any
refuse matter getting into the main
drain, and if the well is covered none
can get into it.—Farm and Fireside.
All About Bee Hives.
In the first place, it is well known
that the common or black bees do not
increase to such an extent under the
same conditions as do the Italian bees.
The honey season has also much to do
with it. During a scarcity of honey
bees will not increase so rapidly as if
the honey flow was heavy. Also, the
size of the hive has much to do with
the control of swarming. If abun
dance of room is given.black bees: for
storage, they will seldom swarm at
all, even in the best of honey seasons.
Plenty of storage room has much to do
in controlling the swarming of Italian
bees, but they are more liable to
swarm than blacks. Itis very import
ant to bave beehives just the right
size, even if they are made old box
fashion. A very large hive will never
produce good results any way you take
it.” Hives should be made sectional,
and if at any time more room is needed
add another section. The required
size, as given in our standard works,
is _about 2,000 cubic inches.—Kansas
Farmer.
Pretty Brooding Coop.
F. L. Eandon; of- Williamsport, Pa.,
is one of the enthusiastic fanciers who
believes that nothing is too good for
his chickens. The illustration shown
is that of one of his brooding coops, a
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BROODING COOP.'
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most palatial affair for an old hen and
her brood. It is handsomely made and
painted in the highest style of the art,
provided with ventilating blinds and
ground glass windows. While it is
doubtful if the chicks so reared are
any better than those whe¢ spend their
chickenhood in a dry-goods box, Mr.
Landon has, at least, the satisfaction
of knowing that his chicks are well
protected and comfortably housed' in
the prettiest brooding coop to be found.
Tomatoes Grown by the Acre.
Many farmers now find the tomato a
fairly profitable crop. They require
moderately fertile land, but not so rich
as the vines find in ordinary garden
culture. Very rich land makes too
much foliage and delays ripening of
the fruit. It is not expected, however,
that field tomatoes shall be earliest in
market. More often their best sale
comes late in the season, when there is
demand even for the unripe fruit to be
made into pickles with other vegetable
products of the garden.
Capacity of Bins and Wagons,
Every boy around the farm of suita
ble age should be taught how to figure
out the number of bushels of wheat
and oats in the bin and how much the
wagon box. will hold. A wagon box
ten feet long, three feet wide and
twenty-five inches deep will hold 27.8
bushels of ear corn or 50.2 bushels of
shelled corn. A crib ten feet wide, ten
feet high and sixteen feet long will
hold 711 bushels of ear corn. Of ear
corn one bushel is contained in two
and a quarter cubic feet. In figuring
shelled corn and grain the same space
will hold one and four-fifths times as
much grain as it will of ear corn. A
crib that will hold 800 bushels of ear
corn will hold of shell corn or other
grain 1,440 bushels.—Stockman and
Farmer,
; ~ Making the Soil Deeper.
Though the farmer may not want to
plow deep for spring crops he always
likes to have soil as deep as possible.
‘lt is an advantage to ‘topdress even
though only poor soil is used to do it
with. We have known the soil dug
from deep wells and spread over ad
joining land to greatly help the soil
after a year or two. This subsoil was
rich in mineral fertility, though of
course it had little or no vegetable
matter., After it had been exposed to
frost one or two winters it produced
good small grain crops, though manure
was needed when corn, potatoes or oth
er hoed crops were planted on it.—l E
xchange. :
Dandelion Greens,
Every housewife knows that dande
lion greens are excellent for the table,
and none the worse because they are
slightly tonic to the stomach and aid
digestion. But all do not know that
the dandelion under good cultivation
grows much larger than in its wild
state, and is therefore much more eas
ily gathered, cleaned and prepared for
the table. It is considerably grown for
-greens by market gardeners, who find
it a fairly profitable crop. Probably if
farmers planted the improved varieties
of dandelion they could find a good
market in nearby cities or villages
along with other produce.
Washing Dirty Eggs.
Unless the washing of eggs is done
about as soon as they are soiled it can
do no good. The shell of the egg is
porous, and it is the air which enters
at all times that sustains life in the
germ during the three weeks of incu
bation. A few hours of exposure to
‘air that has filtered through a shell
soiled with filth will addle the egg and
'make it worthless for incubation. It
also very quickly injures the flavor of
eggs. Therefore the best thing to do
with an egg that is soiled is to wash it
thoroughly at once, and then use it be
fore it has time to deteriorate.
Barbed Wire Reel.
“The reel is made up of two cultivator
wheels, a 3x3 inch timber for an axle,
T L 2
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HOMEMADE WIRE REEL.
handles, uprights, braces, etc., put to
gether as shown in the illustratien.
One person guides the reel by holding
the handles while another turns the
crank.—Orange Judd Farmer.
Varying Quality of Grass,
Grass, even of the same variety, va
ries greatly in quality, according to sea
son and the character of the soil. Rich
land produces the most nntritious
.grasses, though it is- net best to be
made rich with unfermented stable
manure, which gives an objectionable
flavor. On the other hand, mineral
manures of any kind make the grass
not only more nutritious, but also more
healthful. So also does underdraining
“and subsoiling, probably because each
of these enable the grasses to reach
‘mineral fertilizers in the subsoil that
before were saturated with stagnant
water and therefore unavailable. :
‘ A Poultry Table,
l An ingenious statistician has drawn
up a table to show how many eggs the
ivarious kinds of domestic fowls lay
per annum, and how many of the eggs
go to the pound: -
Geese, 4 to the pound; 30 per annum,
Polish, 9 to the pound; 150 per an
num.
Bantams, 16 to the pound; 100 per
annum.
Hamburgs, 9 to the pound; 200 per
annum, ‘ : >
Turkeys, 5 to the pound; 30 to GO per
annum. - ‘
Game fowl, 9 to the pound; 160 per
annum. _ _ : :
Leghorns, 9 to the pound; 200 per an
num.
Plymouth Rocks, 8 to the pound; 150
per annum,
Langshans, 8 to the pound; 150 per
annum.
Brahmas, 7 to the poand; 130 per an
num,
Ducks, 5 to the pound; 30 to 60 per
annum.—Farm News.
An Old Synagogue.
At the foot of Mount Mithridates, on
the south coast of Crimea, is a syna
gogue which dates back 1,300 years.
Almost destroyed during the Tartar
conquest, it was restored in 1788 by
Catherine. There are seventy fami
lies in the place, and as there is only
room for fifty worshipers in the syna
gogue it is to be enlarged.
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How to Make Soap.
In a letter to the household depart
ment a lady gives her experience with
making soap from wood ashes. She
says:
“I first make a frame of pieces of
scantling on strong forks; drive them:
down in the ground about three feet
apart, having the two in front a few
inches the lowest; then put some strong'’
‘pieces from fork to fork. Now have
some boards, and lay on, making them
close, so your lye will not waste; then
get a flour barrel, knock the bottom
o\% set it on your frame, throw in a
hahdful of shucks and a few green
chips, to keep the ashes from packing
so close that they will not drip good.
Fill a barrel with ashes; always pour
in a bucket of water occasionally, while
putting in ashes; it will drip quicker.
Don’t leave the barrel too full of ashes.
Leave room for a bucket of water. It
requires a good deal to start it to drip
ping. I put a small tub under the low
er side to catch the lye. Have your pot
ready, and empty lye until you get it
nearly filled; make a fire and boil it un
til it foams, or about half an hour, then
put in your grease and boil until it
thickens. I always put in plenty, for
it will be white as lard on top of your
soap, and when cold take it off and
put away to use in the next soap you
make, I generally make the soap in
half a day. If the lye is rendered
down it is a soft soap, but washes well
and makes clothes white. A piece
of rosin off the pine, the size of a hen's
egg, is said to be an addition to soap,
put in just before it quits boiling—l
leave mine in the pot until it cools, then.
put away in a barrel.”
Handy Clothes Holders.
It is often convenient to have clothes:
holders in a certain position for drying
cloths and garments, and exceedingly
inconvenient to have them in the same
position at other times. The cut shows
A B B
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KITCHEN CLOTHES RACK.
holders that can be turned up against
the wall when not in use. They can be
attached by a hinge, as shown, to a
kitchen mantel shelf, or a narrow shelf
can be placed in the desired position to
accommodate a set of such holders.
They can readily be made and put up
by the home carpenter—without whom,
be it said, no family is complete.—
American Agriculturist.
Potatoes and Onions,
Slice some onions in a skillet with a
little ham gravy or: butter and 4 little"
water and cook. When nearly done
take out and put in a vegetable dish a
layer of onions, then a layer of sliced
boiled potatoes, then onions, etc., with
potatoes for the top layer. Put the
dish. in the oven until warmed
through. Add a cup of vinegar to the
gravy or butter in the skillet in which
the onions were cooked; when warm
pour over the potatoes. .
Sprin~ Potpourri,
Pare, wash and slice two large pota
toes, one small turnip, one carrot, and
one-half onion. Fry the onion in one
tablespoonful of butter; put all in soup
Kettle and cook slowly in one quart of
water; rub through pugfge(_‘gigye; .add
one pint of scalded milk; thicken with
two- tablespeonfuls of butter and flour,
cooked together; strain and serve. Sea
son with a teaspoonful of salt and a
saltspoonful of pepper. .
Household Hints.
Powdered alum applied to a fever
sore will prevent it from becoming un
sightly or noticeable.
A little camphor and water should be
used as a wash for the mouth and
throat if the breath is not sweet.
Dissolve a little salt in the alcohol
that is to be used for sponging cloth
ing, particularly where there are grease
spots. T g : s e
Painting the gum with iodine is one
of the best remedies for toothache. If
your iodine is too strong from ‘age di
lute it with a little alecohol.
As far as possible iron by the thread
—that is, pull the material straight
and endeavor to move the iron in the
.same line with the thread of the cloth.
Candy should not be stirred while
‘boiling, and the flavoring should not
be added until candy is cooked. Granu
lated sugar is best for almost any kind
of candy.
A small table, round or square, can
be made into a beautiful ornament by
covering the top with velvet, plush or
satin and tacking on ribbons of various
colors, with gilt crescents or stars at
the ends. :
Dried fruit, if soaked twenty-four
hours instead of over night, is made
more palatable and .goes farther. A
little orange peel added to prunes,
peaches and dried apples adds much
to their flavor. : -
A piece of tissue paper twisted and
pushed into a bottle after it has been
washed will absorb every particle of
the moisture and leave it as clear as
crystal. This is a good way to wash
carafes. In trying this allow one end
of the paper to protrude above the
neck so it can be pulled out easily.