Emmons County record. [volume], August 20, 1884, Image 2

About Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current

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EMMONS COUNTY RECORD.
WH.LIAMSPORT, DAKOTA,
D. B. STREETER, P0BM8HER.
THE latest return of the number of
volumes in the Britism Museum is just
over 1,300,000. There are 160 miles of
•helves, and about twenty more miles
to be filled. It is calculated that about
one ton of literature a
day
that institution.
is sent into
THERE is an inscription on a tomb
stone in the old cemetery in Newport,
B. I,, reading: "The human form re
spected for honesty and known fifty
years by the appellation of Christopher
Ellery began to .dissolve in the month
of February, 1789."
GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON CUR
TIS LEE, the eldest son of General Rob
ert E. Lee, has the reputation of being
the handsomest man in Virginia. His
bearing, as he grows older, is remarka
bly like that of his father. The young
est son oI the family is a quiet farmer
near Biohmond.
H. STUART WOBTLEY, in Nature, tells
an interesting story of a cat he found
in the MalakofF, with its foot pinned to
the ground by a bayonet. For two
mornings he took her to the nearest
regimental surgeon and had her foot
dressed. On the third morning the cat
went herself to the Doctor's tent,
scratched the canvas to be let in, and
then held up her paw to be doctored.
TALK about "keeping a log" during a
voyage, the most persistent case of it
seems to be Dock Kennedy's trip down
the Pitt River, California. In order to
ascertain whether logs could be floated
from Shasta County to the coast, Ken
nedy was sent out upon a log, encased
in waterproof clothing and supplied
with plenty of food. He traveled 350
miles upon it, making the journey in
four days. The log was twenty-four
feet long and four feet in diameter.
THERE are now 107,300 buildings in
New York City, and this number is be
ing added at the rate of 2,600 a year
The large majority of buildings erected
within the last two or three years have
been dwellings worth from $16,000 to
$35,000. So rapidly is the vacant ground
on Manhattan Island being taken up by
blocks of brick and brown-stone houses
of this class, that the prospect is fair
for the whole island to be covered with
buildings in just about the next ten
years.
A HAN in Wilcox County, Ala., has a
remarkable tree growing in his yard.
It is of the China species, is ten feet in
circumference, and its top has been
blown away by a storm, but six and
one-half f4t up the trunk of this tree
two more China trees have sprouted
taken root and grown up as high as the
old tree is and just half a foot further
up the trunk of the old original tree a
peach tree has taken root, grown up to
fair dimensions and is now filled with
fruit. At another place there is a
blackberry vine and also an elm bush,
all in a flourishing condition.
MARY Gazell, a Cleveland woman
has just been compelled to pay $20 for
shoving a rooster out »f her garden
patch too vigorously. Tlie rooster in
in search of fresh fields and pastures
with the green turned under, over
stepped the bounds of its owners limi
tations and trespassed upon the
preserves of Mrs. Gazell, who swept
down upon him with a broom, and in a
manner in which her name is somewhat
descriptive. Just then the owner of
the fowl appeared on the scene and the
woman changed her course and bore
down upon him. He went out on the
fly, but the rooster with better facilities
for doing so, remained and met his
death. He died game. That was
the reason his owner wanted $25
damages and the court gave him $20.
THE eriatic journalist who objected
to facts "because they hampered a
writer," will soon find his occupation
gone. People of the present day want
their fiction in the shape of fiction, and
they will stand a good deal of it, but
there never was a time when there was
such a universal demand for facts. In
this country the writers who command
the widest circle of readers are practi
cal, well-posted, business-like men, who
know how to handle attractively the
salient points of interest about people,
places and things. The country "is go
ing ahead with such a rush that people
.have the, keenest, liveliest? curiosity to
keep.up with it. This accounts for the
popularity of newspapers. What the
modern reader wants spread out before
him every day is a map of busy life, its
-fluctuations and vast concerns.
AT'ii recent Japanese wedding the
most1 prominent gift was a mountain
formed of rolls of white and red floss
silk. the "ends of each roll being tied
with pavti-colored twine-in hard knots,
emblematic of the indissolubility of the
marriage 'tie. The floss silk typified
gentle but enduring constancy, the
strength of the skeins contrasting with
their softness and flexibility. Bound
the base of the mountain were orna
ments of fresh rice straw, plaited into
the forms of storks and tortoises of lon
gevity, and the pine bamboo and plum
of perpetual bloom, while into the loops
of the plants were thrust pieces of the
dried bonito fish, a favorite accompani
ment- of wedding presents, its name,
"K-i-u-wo boshi," being a homonym for
the three Chinese characters signifying
victorious, manly, and brave
SOCIETY in London is somewhat
amused and very much scandalized at
the daring robbery of Dr. Bull Bun
Bussell's wedding presents^ Every
one knows that the celebrated war cor'
respondent was married some weeks
ago in Paris to a charming Italian lady.
Presents poured in on the popular
couple on the auspicous oocasion.
These wedding gifts, of the value at,
least of $5,000, were left during the
honeymoon in the safekeeping of a
friend residing in Eaton square, Lon
don. One day shortly after a porter,
wearing the badges of his respectable
trade upon cap and collar, rolled a cart
to this lady's door and explained that
he was sent by Dr. and Mrs. Bussel for
the boxes in her charge. Alas, for un
suspecting womanhood! The lady
gave up every bit of property entrusted
to her by bride and bridegroom. A
day or two elapsed without message.
Reason of the silence—they had not
reached England. The plausible por
ter was a thief.
IT may interest those desirous of en
joying a hale old age to know how Mig
net, the French historian, lately de
ceased, lived. He rose at 5, prepared
his breakfast himself, worked and pot
tered about among his notes until 11,
then dropped into dejettner at Thiers',
or had a chop or kidney at home, or
went to a restaurant. He got up from
table with an appetite. At dinner he'
studied the menu to skip superfluous
dishes, and he preferred fish, fowl, veg
etables, and fruit to meat. He believed
in the autiseptic and nerve-strengthen
ing qualities of garlic, with which, how
ever, he only seasoned his food when he
was lying by in the country.^ He also
liked to chat at dinner, and while en
train de faire sa digestion, did not
posture as a talker, but conversed with
grace and delicacy on any subject that
cropped up in a natural awy „told neat
anecdotes, reasoned strongly, but with
touch-and-go lightness was at once se
rious and cheerful, and had' suoh fine
tact that Jules Simon well said: "In all
the years I have been acquainted with
him, I never knew him to cast a pearl
before swine."
DR. RINSCH, a German chemist, has
found, as the result of a long series of
minute investigations, that the surface
of 50-pfennig pieces which have been
long in circulation in Germany are the
home and feeding ground of a minute
kind of bacteria and vegetable fungus.
An extended series of observations
showed that this is the case with the
small coins of all nations, the thin in
crustation of organio matter deposited
upon the surfaces in the course of long
circulation rendering them very suita
ble for this parasitical settlement. Dr.
Rinsch scraped off some of these in
crustations, and, with a small scalpel,
divided them into fragments, which
were subsequently dissolved in distilled
water. The employment of lenses of a
very high power showed the bacteria
and fungi distinctly. This is a matter
of no little importance, from a hygienic
point of view. It has now been conclu
sively established that bacteria form
the chief agency in the' propagation of
epidemic diseases. The revelation
that they have a chosen domicil in the
most widely circulating medium which
probably exists in the world, presents
us with a new factor in the spread of
infections diseases. There is, however,
a. remedy. Where coins have be,en in
circulation for a number of yeare, if
they ere washed in a boiling weak so
lution of caHstic potash they will be
cleansed from their organic incrusta
tion, and so freed from the unwelcome
guests which they harbored.
The Soltness of the Ocean.
The saltness of the ocean is no doubt
the result of the chemical changes which
have taken place between the elements
which constituted the orust of the earth
during former geological epochs. Tho
water in such seas as the Mediterranean
or the Gulf of Mexico contains more
salt than is to be found in the water of
the open ocean, and the equally inter
esting discovery has been made that the
water at the bottom of such seas or gulfs
is salter than that which is upon the
surface. Salt lakes are to be found al
most all over the habitable globe, and
are derived from the partial drying up
of isolated bodies of, sea water, as the
Dead Sea, or by the evaporation of the
lakes which have passed over beds of
salt or plains impregnated with it, as
the Great Salt Lake. There are sever
al salt lakes in the United StateB, one
near old Phil. Kearney, named De Smet,
for the well known Jesuit.—Inter
Ocean.
V-
COOLNESS, and absence of heat and
haste, indicate fine qualities. A gentle
man makes no noise, a lady is serene.
—Emerson.
A CONNECTICUT woman delayed send
ing for a doctor until too late. She was
96 years old.
f-e^
1 S.
MWH
ASM
VICTOR HUGO'S JOYOUS FAITH.
I he Remarkable View of Death Taken by
the Great Poet.
"I feel in myself the future life. I
am like a forest whioh has been more
than once cut down. The new shoots
are stronger and livelier than ever. I
am rising, I know, toward the Bky. The
sunshine is on my head. The earth
gives me its generous sap, but Heaven
lights me with the reflection of un
known worlds. You say the Soul is
nothing but the resultant of bodily
powers. Why, then, is my soul the
most luminous when my bodily powers
begin to fail Winter is on my head
and eternal spring is in my heart.
Then I breathe, at this hour, the fra
grance of the lilacs, the violets, and-the
roses,as at twenty years. The nearer I
ap
proach the end the plainer I hear around
me the immortal symphonies of the
worldrf whioh invite me. It is marvel
lous, yet simple. It is a fairy tale, and
it is history. For half a century I have
been writing my thoughts in prose,
verse, history, philosophy, drama, ro
mance, tradition, satire, ode, song—I
have tried all. But 1 feel that I have
not said the thousandth part of what is
in me. When I go down to the grave I
can say, like so many others: 'I have
finished my day's work 'but I cannot
say: 'I have finished my life.' My day's
work will begin again the next morning.
The tomb is not a blind alley it is a
thoroughfare. It closes in the twilight
to open with the dawn. I improve
every hour, because I love this world as
my fatherland, because the truth com
pels me, as it compelled Voltaire, that
human divinity. My work is only be
ginning. My monument is hardly
above its foundation. I would be glad
to see it mounting and mounting for
ever. The thirst for the infinite proves
infinity."
VICTOR HUGO'S CBEKD.
My soul drinks in Its future life,
Like some green forest thrice cit down,
Whose shoots defy the axmen's strife.
And skyward tpread a greener crown.
While sunshino gilds my aged head,
And bounteous lilarth supplies my food.
Tho lamps of God their soft light shed,
And distant worlds are understood.
Say not my soul is but a clod,
Resnltantant of my body's powers
She plumes her wiags to fly to God,
And will not rest outside His bower.
The "Winter's snows are on my brow,
But Summer suns more brightly glow.
And violets, lilacs, roses now,
Seem sweeter than long years ago.
As I approach my earthly end,
Much plainer can I hear afar,
Immortal symphonies which blend
To welcome me from star to star.
Though marvelous, it still is plain
A fairy tale, yet history
Losing Earth, a Heaven we gain
With death, win immortality.
For fifty years my willing pen,
In history, drama and romance,
With satires, sonnets, or with men,
Has flown, or danced its busy dance.
All themes I tried and yet I know,
Ten thousand times as much unsaid
Remains in me! It must be so,
Though ages should not find me dead.
When unto dust we turn once more,
We can say: "One day's work is done
We may notsay, "Our work is o'er
For life will scarcely have begun.
The tomb is not an endless night
It is a thoroughfare—a way
That closes in a soft wilight,
And opens in eter, al d-iy.
Our work earth is just begun
Our monuments wi later rise,
To bathe their summits in ie snn,
And shine in God's Eternal Skies 1
—Translated by H. 0. Whitehead.
A Word to Mothers.
What the mothers of to-day need is
independence and oommon sense. In
these days of fashion many a woman
wears out because she is desirous her
children shall have as many tucks,
flounces, plaits and frills as her neigh
bor's children. Or she heats her blood
until she is tired and cross over a cook
ing range that she may prepare food to
equal or excel her near neighbors. She,
maybe, belongs to that unfortunate class
whose better half judges her from the
amount of labor which she performs.
"My wife is the smartest woman in
town. She will do more work than a
man any day."
Have you not heard such remarks?
Beware, husband nature will have
her revenge, and if you want that
"smart" woman to care for you in your
old age save the strength, stop the over
working of those strained nerves, unless
you desire to have another to fill her
place.
Mothers, dress your children accord
ing to your means and ability. If your
friend's 2-vear-old Susie is "so sweet
and pretty in her embroidered white
dresses," don't try to excel, but let your
2-year-old Flossie wear her warm, dark
woolen dresses, and her health will be
cared for, and she will .become a more
sensible woman than Susie, whose
mother's aim is for her baby to be ad
mired. .We do not discard fashion when
properly used. Copy that happy me
mium which calls for no remarks.
If you cannot dress as your neighbor
without working far into the small hours
of morning, wearing out brain and body,
for your husband's sake, make your
dress with less bands and shirrings, and
save your strength. "As you commence
so you must go on," is an old saying.
Make yourself a slave to fashion for a
child, and assuredly, by the time she is
16, your bones will ache and your spirit
quake over the endless work of her
wardrobe. Cincinnati Saturday
Night
Caught in a Bear Trap.
A resident of Antoine street who has
a fine wood-pile at the back of his lot
discovered that some person was help
ing himself in the most lib'eral manner.
Instead of loading a stick with powder,
or of posting himself to watch, he set a
large bear trap where1 he thought it
would do the most good. Nothing came
of it the first night, but soon after mid
night of the second a great noise was
heard at the wood-pile, and the citizen
roused out of bed to find that he had a
victim. It was a colored man about 40
years old, and he was taking on in the
most energetio manner. Nothing was
said until the jaws of the trap were
sprung back and his leg pulled out.
Then he .sat down on a log and coolly
observed:
"I reckon you is kinder curus to know
how I cum-to be cotched in dat trap
"Well, yep,"
"Has you bin missin'any wood?"
"About half a cord."
"Well, dat wood was tootken by my
nex' doah naybur, an' it went agin'his
conscience so much dat he axed me to
brink back what, he hadn't burned. I
toted it ober heah on de sled, an' was
pilin' it back when dat b'ar-trau jumped
far me an' gin me sich a shock diit 1
specks to tremble for a hull week."
"Well, you can go, but next time you
come you may find a spring gun defend
ing the wood-pile."
"Dar won't be no nex' time sah."
"I think you'll find it cheaper to buy
your wood."
"Looks dat way, sah—looks 'zactlv
dat way, though I tink I'll hole on till
I know whether you has de only, b'pr
trap in dis ward, or whether dar am a
sort o' placque-craze an' ebery family
am stockin' up to cotch a nigger!"—
Detroit Free Pi
to cotch
'resH.
"I Love You."
Who do you suppose said it?
She was very beautiful, with her
eheek pf rose-hue and curling auburn
tresses that the wind sports
with so gallantly, but she did not say
it. No. That bright creature, by whose
side stands a lover, looking so tenderly
in those happy eyes, nor yet the dim
pled babe, with cherub face lifted to
the mature but not less innocently sweet
features, with the holy light of mother
glorifying every smile again.
Wrong again.
Then, who do you suppose said it
Not that newly-wed husband, whose
home for a few .fleeting months he has
called heaven—full of smiles and ten
derness, and oft-repeated VOWB. Al
though he whispers many times of love,
yet this "I love you" was not spoken
then and there.
A tired woman sits hushing to sleep
her nestling babe. Beauty once made
that face radiant, perhaps, but all that
beauty has gone now. The blue eyes
are dim and faded—the whole expres
sion is sorrowful—the pale brow cov
ered with lines of care. Perhaps, in'
that far-off look of hers, she sees three
little graves, green with as many sum
mers. Her home is very humble—all
day she has toiled, and the fainting
spirit almost surrenders to fatigue, the
downcast eyes trembling with tears—
she is so weary. And every nerve tin
gles when the boys come hungry from
school, some with weeping and tales of
sorrow, that mothers must hear. And
after that they are hushed with kissings
or chidings, till it is time to get supper
for seyen hungry mouths, and then the
accustomed never-ending routine of
putting away and clearing up till the
worn-out creature wonders with a sigh
if there really will ever come a rest to
her—an eternal rest.
At last she can rest her weary limbs
in the old rocking chair. The babe,
whose eyes close fitfully to a low lulla
by, lies in its father's lap. He is a plain
man, that father with an honest face
and great heart that would, if he could,
take in all the care and sorrow of the
household.
The babe sleeps. With a rude gen
tleness he lays it on its mother's bosom,
and as the ruddy firelight plays over
her careworn features, he looks upon
her with eyes suddenly grown lustrous
and beautiful. He lifts his great hand
softly, till it rests on her shoulder, as
he says, "I love you, dear Mary!"
Ah! you long-married husbands, who
exact every attention as a duty, how
much would it cost you to make your
home beautiful with all its cares? I
tell you one word of love will loosen
great burdens from they shoulders of
toiling woman you call wife. Try it. Go
home some night and look upon her
with the eyes of long ago. For one lit
tle moment think what great trials she
took unto her heart when she married
you. Then tenderly clasp her hand,
and as she looks with wonder-open eyes,
say to her in a low and steady voice, not
carelessly or sportively, but earnestly:
"I love you."
Trust me, it will be to her, and to you
both, "better than diamonds."—"An
Old Lady," in Cincinnati Times.
The Mexican National Drink.
Only three things are oheap in Mexi
co—pulque, flowers, .and money. The
latter is at a discount of 17 per cent.,
and the visitor feels that he is driving a
staving business when he exchanges
$100 of American money for $117 of the
same looking sort of currency. Flowers
of all kinds are about as cheap as any
thing in the world—everybody can
have a bouquet, and about everybody
does. Pulque is considered cheaply by
the natives, because it is sold at a cent
a tumblerful, but it seems to me it
would be dear at a cent a hogshead.
However, the people like it—the Indians,
Meztizoes, and Creoles, nearly alL No
less than 20,000 gallons are said to be
drunk in this city every day.
Byron calls attention to the great
fact that "man, being reasonable, must
get drunk." What would man in Mexi
co do without pulque? It is strange
how kind Nature provides for all the
indispensable needs of the human fami
ly The maguey plant makes
its dwell
ing-place on the Mexican uplands
that stretch from mountain to
mountain, 7,000 feet above the
sea. Each plant occupies some
thirty feet square it has a short stem
a foot or two in diameter and from this
it sends upwards fifteen feet high huge
spears of green. The plant matures at
eight or ten years and will then yield
that sweet milk which fermentB and
becomes pulque. The top of the stem
is out off and enough of the heart re
moved to leave a natural receptacle
holding three or four gallons. This is
removed twice a day and the flow of
sap continues for three to six months.
When the sap ceases to flow the plant
shoots upward a gigantic stalk from the
center, twenty or thirty feet high, bear
ing' a clustered whorl of greenish yel
low flowers, sometimes as many as 3,000
in number. This is the famed "centurv
plant.'
The maguey is almost as useful to
the Mexican as the cocoa-palm to the
South Sea Islander. In fact, I don't
know but it has a hundred uses, as that
is alleged to have. Admirable paper is
made from the pulp twine aud thread
from the fiber excellent needles froip
the thorns thatches from the leaves
ropes from tho barks and pulque, mes
cal, and tequilla from the stip.
There are thirty varieties of this
American aloe, which Prescott calls "a
miracle of nature," and the favorite
sorts are plauted in fields of thousands!
of acres and lend picturesqueness to the
landscape for leagues.—Mexico Letter.
TRIFLES make
fectiou itBelf is
Angelo.
V*at
perfection, but per
no tii&e—Michael
JTL
-c,'
GENCIKE BULL-FIGHT.,
The Spirited Battle that Ended IkitheTgno
mlnloug Dvleat of "Texas."
There had been considerable chaffing,
variegated with especially lurid illus
trations of the posaibilities of profani
ty, on the merits of the two bulls, and
for several nights the smoke hung low
over the camp fires, as if listening, too
awestricken to riser to their various sto
ries of their prowess in former strug
gles. Murcheson's men were, to ths
westward of the trail, but they came
ove**o
Zingman's round-up, two milea
\®as*» every evening to talk over
their bull, andspeculate'on the chances
if Zingman's men felt the spirit of own
ership of a.nything.they wanted to pit
against him. But Zingman's people
hesitated. They had a bull, "Texas,"
which had killed everything he had
tackled, and they thought it an unfair
advantage to turn him loose against so
manifestly an inferior animal aB Murche
son "Wild Bill," though they couldn't
call to mind any other animal they were
willing to risk money on.
Thisposition broke up the poker
game, and gave rise to- some pro
nounced polemics. If wind could have
settled the dispute it would have been
deoided in favor of both sides. Bely
ing on the anecdotes related of each,
one would suppose that a contest be
tween them could only result in the
termination of time. Murcheson's men
were a unit in the statement that on
one occasion "Wild Bill" had
rushed his adversary down, and, unable
to^ stop his headway, had gone home
with a Baptist Church on his horns.
Zingman's people conceded the possi
bility of this, but maintained and
proved conclusively by the testimony
of each other that "Texas" had on one
occasion picked up an earthquake on
his horns and held it there until it
agreed never to visit that section again
if he would let it go. On this state of
faots itwas obv.ous that nothing but a
meeting could definitely determine the
superiority, and the duel was arranged
for Sunday morning. The fight was
to come off on neutral ground, midway
between the two herds. Every cow
boy was to have his weapons behind
him, a judicious precaution, since the
cowboy pistol has a supernatural meth
od of discharging itself, without refer
ence to material causes. Each side
was to remain behind its own bull, and
neither to approach the fracas closer
than three hundred yards, the winners
to take all the money to be found on
the persons or in the possession of the
losers.
Bright and early Sunday morning,
the grass still shining in the dew, and
the sun coming up with every promise
of a glorious prairie day, the bulls were
cut out of their respective herds and
driven to the battle ground. A man
who has never seen a Texas bull
doeB-
n't know how much fight can be tied
up in one hide. Strong and wiry, not
too heavy in tho flank, short of horn,
and quick of action, he was built to
fight, and contrives to discharge his
mission without involving-, himself in
the slightest unnecessary complication.
Lashed to madness bv the whips
of the cowboys, laid* on merci
lessly to arouse their rage, the two
bulls came in sight of each other, and
their backers withdrew. By nature a
Texas bull is all the time as mad as he
can get, untill he sees another bull,
then the thermometer
of
his wrath
goes to boiling point.
As they spied each other their heads
went down and their tails up. They
approached slowly and with a sinuous
motion, pawing the ground and moan
ing. "Texas" appeared a little the
larger of the two, and he was fully as
active as his foe. A hundred paces
apart they fairly sprang from the earth,
and the bellow and the crash of meet
ing'mingled together as the ground
trembled beneath them. "Texas" had
the best of it, for "Wild Bill" recbiled
to his haunches, but the game little
bull recovered first, and in the next at
tack gored "Texas" under the head,
nearly reaching the throat. The on
slaught was so unexpected that "Tex
as," still dazed by the first shock, failed
to counter on his adversary. But the
next rush found him prepared, and he
received his enemy full on the forehead,
driving him again- to his haunches.
Before "Bill" could rally "Texas" had
raised the flesh on his nigh fore shoul
der bone.
The smell of his own blood crazed
the little bull, and his next dash was
not straight. He struck "Texas" ob
liquely, throwing up the head of the
latter, and then turning before he had
passed, he ripped up the big bull's off
fore leg, catching Jjim behind the
shoulder and tearing out the muscles,
cords and tendons. Though badly
lamed, "Texas" was not vanquished.
Once more he bore the little bull down,
but "Bill" was the least injured of the
two, and, struggling to his feet, he hur
ried a horn in the old wound. It is
doubtful if he knew what damage he
had done, for he was half blind with
his adversary's blood. "Texas" waited
the next rush where he stood, nor was
he kept in suspense. "Bill" was at him
in a moment, but the big bull, sadly
hurt, winded and tired, held his head
high, and "Bill" caught him between
the fore-legs, ripping him to the neck
before he tore away.
Then "Texas" turned, and a shout
from his backers announced hjs defeat.
With a yell of victory and derision
Murcheson's' men dashed down and
drove their bull back to the herd.
Three hours later the two herds were
in motion again, but Murcheson's peo
ple were enriched to the extent of all
the cash whereof Zingman's men had
been seized at the time the duel be
gan.
Staggering slowly and painfully
down the trail, "Tpxas" limped while
on his way back to the ranch from
Yhioh he came. He couldn't go back
to the herd for the cows will gore a
defeated btSll to death. There was no
effort to bind up his wounds tbey
didn't even offer to lead him to water
And so alone.he wandered away, beat
en, disgraced and grievously: wounded,
and in a little while he was lost to sight
in the dust tli^t, floated along ihe prai
rie.
WHEN a baby can't do anything else
to waken its little self daring ihe nicrM
it falls out of bed-
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CURIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC.
THE annual rainfall in this oountry
according to the Weather Signal, is
lowest in New Mexico (13 inches) and
California (18 inches), the highest in
Oregon (49) and Alabama (56.) The
annual rainfali in the British Islands
among the mountains ia 41 inches on
the plains 25 inches 4$ inohes 6f rain
falls on the west side of England, 27 on
the east side.
AccoBDia"to the official report of the
Analyst of the Municipal Labratory»
almost every artiole of drink and diet
in' P&ris is adulterated. Even the nat
ural mineral waters, so-called,. are
"doctored." This is interesting for
those in America who ue willing to pay
high.prices for these imported waters
and for French wines generally.—Br.
Foote's Health Monthly.
MANY very old and rare silver coma
in excellent preservation were lately
found on a rock in a burn near Portree,
Scotland. Antiquarians consider the
"finds" a very interesting one. Tha»
authorities have come into possession,
of about flftv-three of these relics
Some of the coins are of the reigns of
Elizabeth and James VI. and beara
dates ranging from 1572 to 1602.
WE now make one-fifth of the iltm
and one-fourth of the steel in the worlds
and we furnish one-half the gold and
one-half the silver of the world's sup
ply. Taking all the mining industries
of the world, the United States repre
sent 36 Great Britain, 33 and all the
other nations 31 per cent, of the total.
Anglo-Saxondom, therefore, represents
69 per cent, of the mining industry of
the earth.
SPONGES can be bleached to a very
pure white by immersing them, after
being thoroughly cleansed of sand and
dirt, in a solution of one part of per
manganate of potash in one hundred
parts of water, then washing them in
water, squeezing them dry, and after
ward steeping them for fifteen minutes
in a solution of sodium and one ounce
of oxalic acid in a gallon Of water. On
being washed'clean they will be found
to be white.
IN 1833, or little more than half a
century ago John Walker, of Stockton
on-Tees, made the first lucifer match in
England. There was a match factory
established in Vienna in the same year.
For fourteen years the person engaged
in making the old lucifers suffered from
phosphorus necrosis. Amorphous phos
phorus was submitted for the common
kind,, and a terrible disease banished
from what was soon found to a use
ful and ultimately an indispensable in
dustry.
THE vapor of tobacco juice has been
tested in France, with great success, aa
an insect destroyer in hot houses. In
stead of burning or smoking the to
bacco, it is soaked or boiled the juice
is then placed over a chsfiing dish a fire
or the_ flame of an ordinary lamp, and
deposited in the greenhouse or conser
vatory. Delicate plants which are very
sensitive to smoke are not injured by
this vapor, and it leaves no offensive at
mosphere,
while it effectually disposes
of thrips, scales, insects, and slugs.
One quart of tobacco juice vaporized in
a hbuse containing 350 eubie feet is an
ample amount
Competitive Examinations as a Test of
Brain Power.
The present is an age of competitive
examinations, yet these afford but an
imperfect test of brain-power for, after
a time, competitive examinations be
come less aud less efficient as true tests
of intelligence, and sink into a sort of
official routine. As examples, we will
take the following cases: Brown is the
son of an Indian officer, who died when
this boy was ten years old, and left his
widow badly off. Young Brown is in
tended for theBoyal Military Academy,
Woolwich but his mother's means do
not enable her to send him to a-first
class "crammers" so he has to
Twenty, years elapse 'and Smith and
Brown meet. Smith, lias "jogged on in
the us°hal routine he may 4&ave never
either said or done foolish thing.
Brown, on this other hand, is a man of
wide repntation has, written clever
books, and done many clever things
yet people who know his early history
say how strange it was that he was so
stupid when he was young,' for he was
ignominiously "spun" at Woolwiohl
^Those who thus speak iinagine that
the examination at which Smith
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be­
neath the average schoolmaster. He
works hard and thinks a great deal and
gains a fair knowledge of the subjects
he is required to learn. He goes up to
competitive examination at Wool-
the
wich, and finds each question so compli
cated that he is utterly puzzled and,
when the results of the examination are
made known, Brown is nearly last on
the list.
On the other hand, Smith is the son
of a wealthy tradesman who -wishes his
son to enter as a cadet at Woolwich.
Young Smith is sent early in life to a
successful "crammer's" to be fattened
with knowledge as turkeys are crammed
for Christmas. The crammer does not
confine his attention to teaching his pu
pils but he watches the examination
papers set at Woolwich, and he finds
that the examiners have eadi a peculiar
"fad," and set their questions in a sort
of rotation. He looks carefully over
these, and he forms a kind of estimate
of the questions which are likely to be
set at any particular examination. Be
therefore trains his pupils for these
questions, and is often so successful in
his predictions that at least half the
questions have been worked oat bv
these pupils a week before the exami
nation and this result is obtained
without any collusion between the
crammer and the examiner. On one oc
casion that we know of seven questions
out of a paper of thirteen were pre
dicted as "due and the pupils conse
quently, of this crammer were most
successful at this "competitive." 'Young
Smith is thus trained, and passes sav
fifth out of a long" list, and is considered
as far aa the test 'is concerned, to pos
sess-a brain-power far beyond that of
the unfortunate Brffwn, who was nearly
last in this same examination.
wt
merely a
who trained Smith and1
test of.. those
JBroym^rJ'wular Scisvce Monthly.^.
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