OLD.
& SOLOMON.
Anolent Tawete Exhumed in the
Land of Egypt.
Mlulve« That Were Paued Between the
are letters passed between the King of
Jerusalem and ,fcne Pharaoh of Egypt
four hundred years before the birth of
David, who was the father of Solomon,
some notion will be formed of their ex
King« of dermalem and Egypt Four
Centurie« Before the Birth
of David.
The Smithsonian institution has just
received information of the recent dis
covery at Tel-el-Amaria, in Upper
Egypt, of a number of tablets relating
to the history of Jerusalem and dating
back six hundred years earlier than any
records hitherto known. When it is
understood that these tablets of stone
treme interest. These letters were
■written, so Dr. Cyrus Adler told a writ
er for the Washington Star, about the
year 1500 B. C., and cast a great light
upon the relations of Egypt at that
ancient epoch. This of course was long
before Jerusalem was captured by the
Jews.
At that time Palestine was a federa
tion of independent cities, each i
Which, like Jerusalem, was governed 1
a "prefect"— tbiè word meaning literal
ly "king of a city." Nevertheless, these
% towns paid a tribute to the Pharoah.
and it was in relation to this tribut
that several of the letters found were
.■ ddressçd to the ruler of Egypt by the
of Jerusalem, Abdi-Taba. In
them he tries to explain, with due re
spect, that he occupies a more inde
pendent posi'-ion than the other pre
fects and ought to be treated according
ly. For example, in one missive he
says:
"Behold, this city of Jerusalem neith
er my father nor my mother has given
unto mo, but the call of a mighty King."
This refers to the ancient custom in
Palestine by which rulers were some
times chosen in consequence of a sup
posed divine call and without any ref
erence to hereditary latv. Having been
summoned to his throne by the Deity,
Abdi-Taba argued that he should be
treated more leniently with regard to
tribute. In another of the letters lie
says:
"Behold, neither my f:!''or no- nv
mother has appointed m.- t > th, jUno-'.
but the mighty King has m :1 • m
enter into the house of nr, i.:l • . ~"
That the "mighty K ,.-g ' spoken of
was the Deity is proved by the fact that
to Him as authority is referred :i.i oriel:'
inscribed upon another tablet, whi .h
says that: "As long aa a ship sails
upon the sea. so long will M isopotam. i
and Babylonia conquer."
The chief aim of the three other let
ters written by Abdi-Taba is to ask the
Pharaoh for military
foreign conquerors invading Palestine,
and especially the district of Jerusalem.
These warlike strangers 1 io calls people
of Habri—iu other words, they wore
Hebrews. It seems hardly probable
that the Hebrews as a nati >n should
have invaded Palestine at so early a
date, and so it is likely that these were
some advanced tribes of Israel which
settle,! down west of the Jordan and
made incursions from time to time. In
one of his letters on this subject Abdi
Taba says:
"The Habri people are conquering
the cities of the King"—i. e., the cities
tributary to the Pharaoh—"therefore
the King may turn Iiis face to llis sub
jects and send troops. If the troops ar
rive this year the countries of the
King, my Lord, may be saved, but if
no troops arrive the countries of the
King, my Lord, will exist no longer."
This tremendous "find" at Tel-el
Amaria includes two hundred tablets,
largely of Babylonian cuneiform script,
which is thus discovered for the first
time to have been in use at so early a
period in Egypt and Palestine. Many
of the other tablets are dispatches of
about the same date from prefects of
other cities of Palestine to the Pharaoh.
Some of the inscriptions arc in an un
known language which no one has so
far been able to translate. It is funny
to think that Solomon himself would
have looked upon these tablets as re
mote antiquities.
t th
*
The Greatest Travelers.
In point of actual distance covered,
the greatest traveler in the world is
said to be Chief Engineer Sewell, of
the White Star licet, who is well known.
While in charge of the engine depart
ment of the vessels of that line, notably
the Britannic, Mr. Sewell comjfieted 183
round trips between Liverpool and
New York, traveling the enormous dis
tance of 818,400 nautical or 041,000
standard miles, nearly four times the
distance between thc earth and the
This is said to be only about
moon.
two-thirds of the total distance trav
ersed by Mr. Sewell since he became a
seargoing engineer. Chief Engineer
Kitchen, who was in charge of the
Adriatic's engines for sixteen years but
who now superintends the Britannic's,
coasts a similar record. He has made
154 round trips between Liverpool and
New York, and has traveled over 954,
800 nautical miles, or 1,100,000 standard
English miles.
JK
A Divided Town.
The town of Texarkana is on the : ine
between Texas and Arkansas, with a
street-car track dividing the two. This
thought to be very funny at first,
was
but now it has to have two sets of city
officers, has lost thc county seat and
criminals escape
another by going six feet.
. . , , ,
who staked out thc town is dead, how
ever, and nothing can be done. '
from one state to
The man
1
WELL-KNOWN SAYINGS.
The Origin of Some Phrases That Hare
Become Proverbial.
It will be found on examination that
most sayings may be traced back to a
literarv'origin, says the New York Sun.
What more common, popular maxim is
there than that "Procrastination is the
thief of time?" Yet it is the first line
of that most deadly dull of books,
Young's "Night Thoughts." Crowds of
people have been befooled in imagining
that "The Lord tempers the wind to the
shorn lamb" is a biblical saying, yet it
is only a« old as Sterne's^ "Sentimental
Journey." Everybody knows about the
man who read "Hamlet" at an advanced
age, and said he would have liked it if
it had not been so full of "chestnuts."
The fact is that a g^at part of it has
become proverbial, and so common
property. We no longer have to read
the play to imbibe a lot of its philoso
phy, for it is floating in the air about us.
On the other hand, some sayings un
doubtedly have a popular origin. A
splendid example of the evolution ol
ne occurs in the old testament, in the
When the future first
istory of Saul.
,ng of Israel appeared among the
,-ophots the people were astonished,
had been of a rather frivolous dispo
Some man in the crowd ex
laimed: "IsSaul also among the proph
ets?" The expression caught on, and it
aas been a familiar saying ever since.
We have among ourselves a very good
example of the same sort in the expres
sion: "A good enough Morgan till after
I election."
\ difficulty here meets us. How is it
; yj a ^ among eastern illiterate nations
. proverbs of the most perfect form and
] aterary finish are found? The same
...on.
state of affairs occurs in Spain.
The explanation lies in the fact that
in both eases the people are able to get
at literature vicariously. In Persia and
the east generally the professional
story-teller comes to a vilkige.
evening the inhabitants sit around the
tent and he tells them tales, many of
them thousands of years old and fuU of ;
.lie condensed wisdom of ages. In
■■!pain the muleteer who wanders about
the country fills exactly the same po
fition and to the literature popularized
by him must be largely attributed the
richness of Spanish in proverbs.
Tony Weller was the. proverb-spinner
' the"Pick.. ick crowd. He got his fan
v same way that the
:fish muleteer and the Persian story
Uer ;;ot theirs. He met a great many
'copie iu his t vips on the coach and
his sayings got sliarpmcss and clearness
: f outline with every fresh repetition.
Xu doubt many of them were retailed
o,y countless appreciative hearers.
In the same way, the Jarvey in the
south.of Ireland is by nature a manu
facturer of proverbs. lie is a part of all
In the
Idle
vei
uiiy i.
that he has met, and as action and re
re equal and opposite, all that
ice lias met become a part of him.
When a proverb has gained a sure
place in one language, and strikes some
observer of a different race and civiliza
letton
tion. there is a difficulty about, transport
ing it bodily.
If it be eastern it will
reference that will not, for in
What then
i:
stance, appeal to westerns,
happens is that it is localized. It is
treated in the very way that names
are altered in a good story to give it
local color. In this way an eastern
nv- rb about a camel becomes a
,. c:uni one about a horse, and so on.
I was tempted to interfere, but hav
ing heard tales of kleptomania and
other strange things in these great ba
zaars, and knowing the man besides to
be a gentlemanly floor walker-for this
drama was taking place in one of the
most fashionable stores in the city—I
withheld my hand.
"Do I know that lady? ' said the floor
walker, with a laugh. "I should say I
do! She is a very grand lady, indeed,
My dear sir, she is one of the tricks of
the trade. That bewitching lady in
Paris made gown and imported bonnet
is a salesgirl in thc store of our enter
prising neighbor on the next block.
She gets eleven dollars a week. She
came down here disguised as a eus
tomer, bought a dozen handkerchiefs as
a blind, and proceeded to price a num
her of our goods in which our enterpns
ing neighbor suspects we are under
selling him. This is so as to give him
tip how to mark his goods. In short.
she is a spy, and as we are not per
mitted to hang spies in this warfare of
trade all we can do is to escort them to
the picket lines and let them go. Now
that this young lady has been discov
ered her occupation in this particular
line of usefulness is gone; but our neigh
bor will have another rigged up in less
Eternal vigilance is thc
TRICKS OF TRADES.
I'nusual Way of
Treating 11 I.aclylike Shopper.
"Here, you get out of this! Don't let
catch you in this store again!" A
little feminine shriek followed this
rough salutation. I turned, relates a
New York Herald personal pronoun,
and beheld a beautiful and fashionably
dressed young lady in the clutches of a
tailor made man. He had tom open a
little bundle which he hail just received
from the package desk, and forced back
her money into her hand, and with con
siderable roughness was hurrying her
to the door. The face of the young
woman was a picture. She looked like
an angry queen. Her eyes were half
aflame and half drowned in tears. Her
magnificent teeth showed through the
reddest kind of lips, and her clear com
plexion was like marble touched with
thc fine scarlet of flowers.
of
Natural Explsmati
me
than no time,
price of underselling."
"But do all the big stores keep these
ies _ as you call them?" I asked,
"Well," said the ungallant floor
with a sly wink and smile.
all i f them do but our.a lve..."
walker.
-th.
SLUM SISTERS.
Women of the Salvation Army In
the City of London.
Tb« Terrlbl« Seen«« of Dl»tre«« and
Degradation Wltneued by Them
In Their Ti.lt« Among
the Poor.
One of our representatives, says the
Pall Mall Budget, has made a personal
inspection of the distress in east Lon
don in company with a couple of salva
tion lasses. The following is the re
port:
"My friends were not clad in their
coal-scuttle bonnets and blue serge
jackets, for these would be feathers far
too line for the slum brigade. Long ex
perience in the huts and hovels of out
cast London has taught them wisdom;
the slum dweller, if he sees fine feath
ers—and even the salvation bonnet is a
fine feather to him—scents coppers, and
thinks of making up a 'stunning story,'
and the lasses, the 'sisters,' want truth
and nothing but thé truth. Therefore
they don hideous hats and other ugly
garments, and if yon go with them you
do the same.
"They turn into a back lane, down in
grimy Shadwell, and knock at a door
which looks battered and ill used. The
windows are mostly broken but neatly
mended with brown paper, for the army
money is wanted for other things than
home comforts in weather such as this,
and this house with the rickety stairs
and the clean, poor-looking back kitch
en is the slum brigade's fortress. Thence
the girls sally forth early and late, and
make their way through the crowd of
poor that stand around their door when
they have said a cheering word to each
of the hungry women and children and
taken the addresses of strangers, for
each single case where help is given is
first investigated. The crowd then dis
perse, knowing that before, nightfall
they will at all events have some soup,
some bread and cheese, and haply also
some coal. On that hope they can en
dure starvation a few hours longer, and
cheerfully they go home,
"The girls dive into the alleys briskly
and in a business-like manner. 'Sister,'
the little ones in the gutter say, and
smile, and 'sister' the hobbling crones
salute them as they pass,
"They think nothing of a three-mile
walk to a hovel in some yard whence
tidings of distress have reached them,
and when they enter some filthy door
way the women from a dozen neighbor
ing houses rush out to beseech them not
to pass them over. Wherever they en
ter it is the same; wan! and starvation
in their crudest form stare no longer in
at the doors and windows, but are in
possession and look as if they meant to
stay.
"Three old women live in this cellar
like hole. Tf I had three half-pence,'
whimpers the least infirm, who crouches
on a deal box near the tiny fire, T could
buy stock and sell some oranges. But
we hain't a farthing. It was so cold
used the stock money, and now I owe
her three weeks' rent.' And she points
to a ragged bed in the corner, whence
come unearthly groans. Thick dark
ness reigns around that bed, on which
the 'landlady,' the woman to whom the
ruins of furniture belong, has lain for
weeks. No, nobody comes to see the
three; neither of them can work, and
since yesterday they have had nothing
to eat. The third has gone out to pick
up what she can in the gutters; the
others wait and starve on, light-headed
for want of food.
"Up the back stairs a large family—
men, women and children—stand about
the empty room. Everything is pawned
and one is ill. They shiver with hunger
and cold, and the sight of a ticket for
food of the value of four pence lights
up their faces into brilliant hopeful
ness.
"To the garret the parish doctor has
refused to go. But the lasses go. A
cloud of smoke meets them as they
enter. Every pane of the small win
dow is broken and mended with dirty
rags; a heap of rags—a very small heap
—lies in the corner, and by the fire
there is a small deal box. On it sits a
creature that may have been a woman
once, but to look at whom now is to
turn away with a shudder. She is
naked, with only a rag around her; her
hair hanffs OVOI . hcr fauc< thc hands arc
uke claW8i an(l aK you pilt vour hand on
thu thin coverinR roun(1 her .shoulders
can feel har(I bones only and thc
shivcrinff crcaturc
grins and holds out
her ela „-. likl . hands. q j0ok at me _i
havc notl)in? to
wear, nothing 1 to eat;
havc you brought me something to eat?'
jj er s i s ter, who shares this 'home,' is
ou t on the only errand which drives
these creatures out of their lair—thc
search for crusts and crumbs and cab
bage leaves and orange peels.
.. sho , tQO> is liffht . headed and shrioks
and grin,, and askR f or clothes and bread,
and the one Wea only has remaincd in
her head-that she must try not die of
h r The two have been rcspccta
b!c w „ taki in wwinff but the
cold came and the furniturc wcnt piece
by piecc and now tbey havc ncither
stren(?th nor c i othcs to pn to work .
They havc become lower than beasts.
The cold has done it. "
To Hear a Fly Walk.
If you wish to hear a fly walk, you
can do it without the aid of a nnga
phone, provided you can find the fly at
this season of thc year, sa3's the New
York Sun. Having made friends with
the fly, spread a silk handkerchief over
your ear and induce the insect to crawl
across the handkerchief. As he ap
proaches your car you will distinctly
hear a harsh, rasping sound, made by
the contact of the insect's feet with thc
filaments of silk.
BEAUTY OF'FORM.
Th« Charm of Proportion« In Both Sin
•ud Woman.
Beauty of the human form is to-day
exactly what it was in ancient Greece;
it is the some through all the centuries,
however blind we are to its character
istics through ignorance. The census
of ages is a true verdict, and classic
forms become safe models,
sculpture was wrought when the body
received its highest cultivation, and
was so beautiful as to be called divine,
writes E. S. L. Adasna in Harpers
Bazar.
Greek
This sculpture should be carefully and
continuously studied, as well as pic
tures of good nude figures. They are
to be made familiar, that one may learn
why they are good, why they deserve
admiration. Most people fancy they
admire these classic models, but it
must be in imagination only, else why
should they allow themselves to exem
plify false standards of form, and posi
tively distort their own God-given
bodies?
Searching for the highest standards
of human form, we discover that manly
beauty and womanly beauty differ es
sentially. It is agreed that the type of
manly proportion includes a compara
tively large head, wide shoulders, rath
er square, a torso tapering to a con
tracted pelvis; while the whole may be
seven and one-half heads in height, or
an additional half-head added to the
length of the legs, giving a particularly
elegant figure.
On the other hand, fire proportions
for a woman are a small head, shoulders
rather sloping and narrow, the torso
full and widest at the hips; while the
front line from the sternum over the
abdomen should show first a gentle,
and then a full outward curve.
The conventional figure of the day
is at variance with this type. Every ef
fort is made to imitate masculine char
acteristics. The shoulders are thrust
up high and square, or made to appear
so, the torso is made to taper in, and
everything under heaven is done to
make the waist look small. The front
line is forced to take an inward curve
below the bust, and the side lines to
form an awkward angle, in the hollow
of which voluminous skirts are hung.
One should study sculpture with the
new knowledge of these proportions
most thoughtfully, till the rhythm of the
lines has fastened itself upon the mem
ory. Studying the pictures of the best
artists of every age, we shall find these
principles everywhere demonstrated.
The charm of womanly proportion is
in the long curve from armpit to ankle,
which is so different from the beauty of
a manly figure. The depression at the
so-called waist line—only the meeting
of two large muscles which in a beauti
ful woman should be slight—would bet
ful woman slight—would
ter be ignored in the clothing, for the
sake of the greater beauty of the whole
sweep.
It is to be understood that the long
curves are made up of shorter contours,
one gently melting into another. A
form made up of graceful sweeps alone
would be a weak, nerveless, insipid
thing.
These proportions should be so under
stood, and so thoroughly appreciated,
as to be always in mind, else a beauti
ful human form will not be recognized.
Use physical exercises to attain the per
fection of these curves. Hang pictures
showing them where they may grow
into your thoughts.
LIVED BY HER WITS.
How a Shrewd Shoplifter Utilized a Tame
Hat.
"There have been many extraordinary
stories told of the ingenuity of thieves
in the pursuit of their nefarious calling,
but a case which occurred while I was
at Chatham recently beats anything I
ever heard," remarked a newly-arrived
Englishman to a Philadelphia Inquirer
man. "A girl was brought before the
police court on the charge of robbing
milliners' shops. She was only fourteen
.years of age and of very innocent ap
pearance. What puzzled the magistrate
was that none of the witnesses ever saw
her take anything, or at least they
would not swear to it, although after
she had left a shop where she had been
making a purchase articles of value
were missed. When arrested nothing
was found upon her. The magistrate
said be could not convict the girl upon
mere suspicion, and then began to cross
examine her himself in a kind, fatherly
way which touched her heart and she
broke down and confessed that she was
guilt. y and explained her methods to the
astonishment and amusement of the
court and spectators. It seems that she
had a tame white rat which she carried
about with her in a muff. She would
enter a shop full of girls and womc T
and ask the price of some article
while looking at it contrive to dr'
rodent on the floor. Any one
agine the result. Those near '
dashed into the street, while
ployes jumped on the co'
chairs, wrapping their pe'
round their ankles and
mad,' as the prisoner ex
the laughter of the cour
assurances that the rat '
In the scrimmage she
help herself to what she
the rat, put it in her n
and walk off. The magi'
an account of her youth,
voluntarily confessed t<
would give h«r one n>
bound her over in t
pounds sterling—two
dollars of your mone
judgment when cal)
her friends soon
bonds, and Mart
find some other r
weakness of 1
dodge won't
more. "
.
. . ■ •'■ — ?=
TRICKS OF THE IMAGINATION.
—
gtrM ,. Dela.lon. Entertnlnod by Highly
i Nervou» People.
! a writer in a scientific journal (fires
the following, respecting tricks pf ex
cited imaginations: "An eminent New
York physician, who was fond of ex
perimenting, told a friend that he had
compounded some wonderful pills, a
single one of which would cause oer
tein described symptoms. His friend
volunteered to take one. The symptoms
followed exactly as foretold; but the
pill was afterward noticed in the
tangles of a very full beard, not having
been swallowed at all. The doctor's
faith in the potency of his pills was
,uch as to make him think that their
mere proximity to the mouth might
| prove to be efficacious. But we by
| Standers attributed the unquestioned
: symptoms to the influence of an excited
[ imagination over the physical condi
! lion. A report has gone the rounds to
j he effect that a certain lady residing
! ,n Bridgeport, Conn., in mortal agony
tailed her physician because she had,
j as she supposed, swallowed her false
teeth. She could feel them far down in
■ her throat, and was actually choking to
death. Eminent doctors consulted and
Ledger,
■greed to resort to tracheotomy, to
which they were about to proceed
when one of them happened to step
on some object under the edge of the
bed, which, on examination, proved to
be the missing molars. As soon as they
were exhibited to the patient her con
vulsions ceased and she recovered her
normal condition. Sifting the facts
from the sensational accompaniments,
there remains the delusion os to the
teeth, the calling for medical aid and
the finding of the teeth before the doc
tor arrived on the scene. But, even
thus modified, the case was quite re
markable. It suggests instances of
somewhat the same nature."— N. Y.
INDIA'S MINERAL WEALTH,
Many Obitacles In the Way of Enterpr]«
lng ProEjiectors.
India is still a land of undeveloped
mineral wealth. The deposits of iron
and copper ore in certain districts are
enormous, but as many of these districts
are in the possession of semi-indepen
dent princes the British government
does not care to arouse the ill feeling of
these princes by opening their lands to
prospectors. Nevertheless, says the
Chicago News, the government has
managed to bring sufficient pressure to
bear upon them to persuade them to sell
to some commercial companies.
On the line of one of the railroads that
have lately been buiit in India the en
gineers, in cutting along the side of a
mountain, came upon a mine of almost
pure copper. A company immediately
wanted to get possession of the proper
ty either by purchase or otherwise. But
the prince to whom the property be
longed was too quick for the specula
tors. He called his heathen priests to
his aid. The union of church and state
proved very serviceable to the prince
upon this occasion. The priests acci
dentally passed by the cutting where
the rich copper vein was discovered and
here had a revelation of one of the po
tent Hindu gods.
Of course, the spot at once became
holy ground and the greedy English
men's bright dreams of millions van
ished into thin air when, a few days
Later, they saw a temple put up on the
spot and two priests offering incense
before the image of the god that had
revealed himself.
PROFESSIONAL POSING.
Two Little Italian Doye Who Support a
Family In This Way.
One of the foremost women artists of
New York is emphatic in insisting that
a majority of studio models are modest,
clever women, says a writer in the Il
lustrated American. She says the ordi
nary price paid is one dollar a morning,
or thirty-three and one-half cents an
hour, posing thirty and resting fifteen
minutes. It is tremendously trying
work, necessitating considerable train
ing to make a subject available for an
artist's purposes. Prettiness of form
and feature are strong recommenda
tions to favor, but women of he
mold with characteristic and m
faces are prized above beauties,
often able to command very '
As an instance of the por
profession, she told of t
boys, brothers, who *
nine members solo'
in this wav
handsom'
era ey'
vende
cas"
•—r