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\ ■t - nuM Ureat Gold I Sax. We recently saw at the Sank of Cali fornia, the largest gold bar ever oast in the United States. It was shipped to the bank by the North Bloomfield (hydraulic) Mining Company, of Smarts- viile, Nevada County, Cal. The value of the bar is $114,000. and weighs 511} pounds troy. Its length is 15 inches, width 6 inches, and depth 7 inches. It contains 630 cubic inches of gold, and is worth about $19 per ounce. The mould for this bar was east at the Nevada foundry of George G. Allan, Nevada City. The entire dimensions of the mould are as follows: On top, 17 inches long and 7 inches wide; on bot tom, 16 inches long and 6 inches wide. It contains 715-20 cubic inches. The thickness of the sides is } inch and bot tom 1 inch. The mould weighs 138 pounds, and was oast expressly for making this bar. 'He castings were from iron produced at Clipper Gap, in this State. The North Bloomfield mine, from which the gold came, is one of the most prominent hydraulic mines in Cali fornia. The run is not an exceptional one, though tho bar is. The line of the tnanel is cleaned up about twice a year, and this time they thought they would see what they could do in the way of casting a big bar. The bar is said to have been the result of a twenty days’ run. It was in 1873, if wc remember aright, that the Spring Valley Mining Company sent down to this city a bar weighing 141 pounds, worth $41,000. At the time they thought this the largest bar ever made, but at their request we made inquiries and found that Selig- man & Co., bankers, of this city, had received one from Helena, Montana, wortn an even $50,000; the London and San Francisco Bank had one worth $35,000, and the Mint and Bank of Cali fornia had each had one worth $40,090. The San Francisco Assaying and Refin ing Company had also had one worth $41,000. The Spring Valley people then went to work, and after thirty-five days’ run. with 1,000 inches of water, with a par tial clean np of 800 feet of head flume and 14 undercurrents, produced a bar worth $71,273.15, weighing 299 pounds. Since then, however, the Spring Val- ey Mine, Chcrok e Flat, Butte County, shipped to this city a gold bar valued at about $90,000, and that was consid ered an exceptionally large one. The North Bloomfield Company, consider ing it owned the biggest hydraulic mine iu the State, thought it would make the biggest bar, with the result noted. There is no special advantage in mak ing bars so large, except in happening to have the gold to do it with. Smaller bars are more convenient to handle, and some people even prefer tho metal iu small circular shape, such as we are accustomed to see on bankers’ trays. The big bar we refer to is on the way to tho Mint, out ou Ffth street, where it will soon bo transferred into coin. The North Bloomfield and the Milton hy draulic mines, both under tho same management, have produced this season about $1,000,000 in gold, and the ground they are in is increasing in rich ness right along. This doesn’t look much as though dydraulic mining was a dead industry. detecting Counterfeit*, It is a good rule in receiving bank notes to carefully examine the general appearance of the no*;e, the geometrical lathe work, shading of the letters, rul ing engine work, vignettes, and solid print, carefully noting whether they compare with standard work. The ink, printing and paper must be considered. The charter number appears on all bank notes issued since 1875. All National- bank notes are signed by F. E. Spinner, Treasurer, prior to 1875. All genuine notes of the United States Treasury bear check letters, A, B, C or D, and are numbered consecutively, commenc ing with 1, thus: A is 1; B is 2; C 3 and D 4; or a number, which if divided by 4, will show the number to be even. Genuine bank notes are usually piint- ed on paper of good quality, though varying much in thickness—some being quite thin. It is not impossible for counterfeiters to procure good quahty of paper, yet couuterfeits usually have a smooth greasy touch, while the genu ine note has not, but will cleave to the fingers. The paper, though important in question, is not infallible, and it will not do to rely too much on the quality. All notes in the United States are now printed on fiber paper, the fiber con sisting of silk threads which are in and form a part of the substance. The gov ernment are now also manufacturing the note paper, having two silk threads which extend the whole length of the note, one a red, the other blue, which are discernible by holding the note to the light. These the counterfeiter has endeavored to imitate, by drawing two parallel lines on the surface. This will be found in the counterfeit United States silver certificates. Water and sky, when doae with the ruling engine, cannot be successfully imitated. It is rare to see fine vignettes on counterfeit notes, yet masy very dangerous imitations have been pro duced. But, however, perfect, a coun terfeit can not be the same as the origi nal or genuine. Then there is the geometrical lathe work. All designs, such as circles, ovals, squares, etc., and upoa which tne denomination is usually placed, com posed of a net-work of fine lines cross ing each other at such angles and dis tances as to procure tbe desired effect is called the geometrical lathe work, aud is produced by the geometrical lathe, a wonderful as well as beautiful machine. The patterns produced by the lathe are of every conceivable variety of form and shape. The fine lines is the ohar- acteriatic of this description of engrav ing, and in the genuine note can be traosd throughout the design, never breaking or losing itself in another line, or having any irregularity whatever. The line is usually white, on black or green ground, or sometimes red, but may be a black, green or red on vrtiite. In the counterfeit engraving the design is engraved upon the plate and fails in various ways. First, it is impossible to prodnee the perfect line as in the genu ine, and the effect to the eye will be more or less dull or sunken in appear ance as well as having a scratchy look. The design-will also be darker or light in spots, as the lines are sometimes heavier aud sometimes lighter, as well as the spaces between are sometimes wide and again near together, being irregular in size and sometimes broken. Second, it is impossible for the counter feiter to produce two designs exactly alike. As the counterfeit is engraved by hand and seperately, it is impossible to produce two exactly alike. On ex amination of the genuine bill the designs of the geometrical lathe work will show the beautiful clear raised impression produced by the correct and regular lines in the engraving. Sometimes the whole, face of the note except the vig nettes and dies will be tinted. The tin is composed of fiue carved or looped lines miming across the whole face of the bill. Genuine bank notes are always print ed with great care. The plate is covered with ink, which is then carefully wiped off, except what remains in the lines of the engraving. The engraving is then taken with a powerful press. Should any irregularity appear on tbe note it is immediately [canceled, and not issued. Thus all genuine notes have a clear and beautiful impression, which is very unu sual for a counterfeit. The ink used in bank-note printing gives a clear impres sion, without any smutty appearance. The green ink, aud also that used for the numbering of United States notes, is with great difficulty produced by the counterfeiters. The ink usually used by them for printing counterfeits has a heavy, dull look; while the numbering has a bricky appearanc i. Tbe Year and th- Calendar. The Assault an Tel-el-Ueber. Writer’s Cramp. This ailment consists mainly of spasms caused by excessive labor of the muscles of the hand, especially of the fingers. It is not confined to writers—as the name would imply—but persons are liable to it who are engaged in sewing, knitting, drawing, playing on the piano and in other employments which de mand continuous use of the fingers and hands. Only those, however, seem to have a special tendency to it who are of a nervous diathesis—have inherited an undue nervous sensitiveness. Writing is a veiy comp ioate.l process, involving the harmonious action of sev eral small muscles of tho fingers, and a few of the hand and forearm. Some of these muscles draw the fin gers in toward each other; others draw them outward^ still others tarn the hand to the right or left. The spasms so act on these muscles as either to cause the thumb and forefinger to grasp the pen convulsively, or to twirl it ou its axis, or to lift it suddenly from the paper. In the earlier stages of the disease there is a slight, hardly noticed sensa tion of tension in the hand. If the trouble progresses, the Land becomes fatigued, aud there is a tremor of tho fingers; the formation of strokes be comes more aud more difficult; the spasms and weakness increase, aud the tension becomes painful, and extends to tho forearm, aud even to tho muscles cf the shoulder and breast. In some patients neuralgic paius may be added. Rosenthal regards it as somewhat analogous to stuttering, and says it may be termed a “stuttering of the muscles.” The lighter forms connected with an impoverished condition of the blood (ausemia), dyspepsia, or over-exertion, may be arrested by the rest of the hand and a tonic treatment of the system. The severe forms are incurable, though they may be helped by pro longed rest, and by whatever will tend to moderate the nervous excitability. Stage Iiifttaud ot the Pulpit. On the day after the 4th ot October, i5r2, the people of Italy, Spain and Poitugal wrote the date October 15. Ten days had been dropped altogether. Tnis was because of the adoption of what is known as the Gregorian calen dar, because it was decreed by a bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII. The early division of time was very irregular and inaccurate. The reckon ing by months did not bring out even years, and it was only when astronomy became something like an exact science, that the actual length of the year was known. In the ume of ancient Rome, there were button months an 1 the Roman kings fixed the length of the year at thi ee hundred and fifty-five days. When this inexact division caused trouble, an extra month was inserted hero and there to restore the system to a degree of order. We owe it to Julius Caesar that the year was fixed at three hundred and sixty-five days, with an additional day onoo in four years. The fourth year iu which the day is added is bissextile, or as wo call it, leap year. The year of 865 1-4 days is known os the Julian year. But even this is not accurate. The true solar year is 365 1-4 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 49.62 seconds long. That is, it is 11 minutes and 10.38 sec onds shorter than the Julian year. The Julian calendar was adopted forty-six years before Christ, so that in A.D. 1582, more than sixteen centuries later, the error had amounted to about ten days. It was this error which the Gregorian calendar corrected. But iu making the correction it was necessary to guard against a similar accumulation of error. That object was accomplished in this way. The error amounts to very nearly eighteen hours on a century. Accord ingly it was decreed that each year whose number was divisible by one hun dred should not be a leap year unless it were divisible by four hundred. Consequently the year 1900 will not be a leap year bat the year 2000 will be one. Three leap years are omitted every four hundred years by this plan, and the result is that the average ciyil year dif ference will amount to a whole day in something Jess than four thousand years. The new system was adopted gradu ally. By the Roman Catholic world it was adopted almost at once—the last of the Catholic countries making the change in 1587. But it was not until 1700 that Protestant Germany adopted it; and in England and America* the Gregorian calendar was not used until 1752. The Greek church has never sanc tioned the change. Iu Russia to this day the t>ld style is in use, and the error, which was only ten days in 1582, is now more than twelve days. The Russian Christmas does not come until nearly a fortnight after all the rest of the Christ ian world has celebrated it. It is also a curious fact of which few are probably awate, that until one hun dred and thirty years ago, the year be gan in England and this country, not twith the first of January, but on the twenty-fifth of March. Before th it time, however, the prac tice had become common of indicating that there was a doubt to which year the days iu the first three months belonged. Thus in the old Boston newspapers of the last century we see sucu dates as this: ‘ February 4,1723-4,”—from which anybody can discover that the date, ac cording to the Gregorian calendar, is February 15 (eleven davs correction), 1724. The year is a varying quantity accord ing to the standard by which it is meas ured. Of course, it is the time within which the earth makes her passage around the sun, But if this time be measured by the period of the earth’s return to the same apparent place in the heavens, os seen from the sun, it is a “sidereal year;” 365 days, 6 floors, 9 minutes, 9,6 sec onds. The time in which the earth makes the circuit from her perihelion, that is, the point of her orbit where she is near est to the sun, around to the same point again, is the “anomalistic” year, 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes, 4S.6 seconds. The ’tropical” year, however, is that which astronomers have so ected as tne true solar year, it is the time included between two “vernalequinoxes.” This vernal equinox is that instant in the spring of the year when the equator of the earth, if extended, woutd pass through the center of the sun. It as also the time when the days and nights, all over the globe, are of equal length. The period between two vernal equinoxes is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 min utes, 48.6 seconds. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher should have gone ou the stage instead of the pulpit. He makes of his pulpit a stage, he does commonplace things in such a dramatic way. Plymouth Church was crowded on Monday evening with one of its characteristic audiouoes, and Miss Frances E. Willard, of Chicago, deliv ered a lecture on the work of the Women’s Gospel Temperance Union, which was received with great enthusi asm. As the prolonged applause at the dose of her lecture died away Mr. Beocher ascended the platform, slowly, thoughtfully, and stood for a moment regarding—almost staring at—the lec turer with an expression of mingled wonder and admiration. Then, turn ing to the audience, ho remarked, slowly and meditatively, emphasizing tho words with nods of his head: “And— yet—she cannot vote!” It is hardly necessary to add that it was some time before the audience was quiet enough for him to add in ringing tones: “Are you not ashamed of it?” | |Chanoxd his tune: Fogg says that etellem is the most fickle-minded m«n he ever saw. For the last six months he has been talking about his fiue country house, with its spacious rooms, grand views and splendid surroundings and not an “out” about it “Well,” says Fogg, “will you believe it, he told me to-day he had sold and mighty glad he Id rattle trap. ble to get rid of the old Yes, sir, bellem is the most changeabi fellow I ever saw.” Lnxurtoua Room*. The latest sensation in Washington is over the newly furnished and decorated rooms of Attorney General Brewster in the Department of Justice. Tbe furniture and decorations have all been made from de signs specially prepared in pursuance of an order from Attorney General Brewster himself, with carte blanche to make the rooms perfect. The principal room, the one need by the Attorney General to trans act official business, is turmshed with ebony chairs and lounges covered with the finest moruoco leather, and said to be the most elegant and costly suit of furniture m Washington. The center table, designed and made to order, is a gem of its kind. Although measuring only six feet by lour, it cost $250. This table has for a cover an exquisite piece of Algerian lace work, said to have cost $100. Tne smaller tables are also elegantly finished and strictly in keep ing with the central one. The carpet in this room, consisting of a turhisb rug, cost the Government $1,200. To walk upon it makes one imagine himself to be treading upon do*n. To complete this, there is also a rich, fleecy rag, cosliug $150. But the most gorgeous adornments in this room are the curtains. They are made of the finest silk plush, rich and dazz'ing in tex ture, hoed and interlined with fine Turkish g&tine, with cardinal cords and tassels. The brass rods, holders, and other acces sories are equally elaborate m pattern, and were specially designed for the Department of Justice. There are four windows in the room, and as the price paid for each curiam was $800, the cost is $1,200 for curtains alone. The Attorney General’s private office, his sanctum sauctorum. is certainly remar kable for splendor and elegance. Turkish carpet and rugs, handsome Oriental furni ture, covered w.lh French velours, with silk plush trimmings, and elaborate fres coing and fine pictures, make this a most luxurious room. The Attorney General’s expensive tastes have already cost the tax payers over $5,000, and by the time the innumerable additions aud fluisbing touch es are given to these offloes, making them what he designed they should be, the cost will reach $10,000. The daik line in front lit up with a blaze of fire ; rifled and big guns roared and crackled ; rockets whizzed overhead, and at the magic word “Charge I” the whole brigade sprang to its feet and rushed straight at the blazing line, the battalion on the left meeting so het a fire that five officers and sixty men went down before they got to the ditch. For an instant the onward rush was checked, but the bugler beside Sir Archibald sounded the “advance.” A wild cheer was the response, and the Highlanders dashed forward with a bound, and, after a race of some 450 yards, found them selves under the great sand heaps which formed the enemy’s stronghold. No time te stop now—over they went, clam bering and climbing, using each other’s shoulders as ladders ; sticking their ri fles into the sand as posts to hold on to; one way and another they got over and inside, to begin that short, ghastly work, the beginning and end of a “glorious victory.” There was no pause on the parapet, but eaeh group of soldiers us it gained the crest dashed at the enemy, and the melee became general and desperate. The Seventy- ninth and Seventy fifth could be seen in a large knot engaged in a hand to- hand fight with a body of rebels who were desperately defending an inner line of works, which met the front lino at right angles and was strengthened by redoubts at the angles. The men gallantly stormed these, which were as resolutely defended. Gens. Alison and Haleny, the former revolver in hand, were in the thick of it ; the Scotchman on foot, leading a dozen different as saults, where the Highlanders rushed iu and bayoneted the Egyptians. The fighting had lasted about half an hour 1 there was still a strong redoubt to be taken, and a crowd of men went at it. The enemy’s fire was extraordinaiy brisk aud rapid ; the air was alive with bullets and shells. The Highlanders in front of the curtain found themselves fired on on tlir.e sides, and a gr.at number began to retire. That was a ticklish moment, but the officers suc ceeded in stopping them, and they were reinforced from the second line, aud again went on. The point in the intrenchment which the Highlanders carried had been fortified with mnoh care, and was apparently the key to the position. \ strong line nearly two miles long had been constructed, at right angles to the main line to guard against a turning movement; a second line parallel to it in the same directioa. Everywhere redoubts had been con structed, and wherever there was cover there the Egyptians stood. Gen. Hanley however, rallied the men who were standing thickly, but in no formation, inside the front line which they had just carried, aud led them straight along those intrench m cuts, getting on both sides of them, and thus taking their de fenders in reverse. As one of the Black Watch says: “Up the bank we went, aud it was fa 1 of men and they turned on us like rats in a trap; bat the iulau- try did not stand long. However, honor to whom honor is due, the artillerymen stood to their guns like men, and we had to bayonet them. As soon as that job was done I saw two regiments of cavalry forming on the right. ‘Prepare for cavalry’ was given, and in less time than it takes to write this we formed in a square and were waiting for them ; but when they saw this they wheeled to the right about and off; they would not face a square of Scottish steel. Just then two batteries of onr artillery came iuto the field in fine style, and our men cleared ont and gave them room to work. Our men helped to wheel the guns into position, and so far as we were concerned the fighting was ove.r Keep tub Thoroughbreds Pube.— There is quite a diflerence between cros srag pure-bred animals of separate breeds and crossing the pure-breds on common stock. By using thr 'ughbred males the common herds or flocks can be elevated to a higher standard, and at small cost, fer the reason that the thoroughbreds are fixed in peculiar characteristics, and have the power transmit and Impress their qualities strongly on their offspring. They impart uniformity ot color especially, and as all breeds excel in eertaln peculiarities, while Inferior kinds possess no particular abilities the dominant quality becomes a fixed hab it, and It is to this fact that we are able to breed in any direction for the attainment of special objects. But it is something else in breeding together thorouchbred animals of different breeds. The Jersey cow is the result oi years of labor. Her qualities for making beef have been sacri ficed, her muscles weakened, her frame re duced and the chraacter of her milk cluing ed in order to create the butter cow. Bhe is not a great milker in quantity, nor is she fit for the dairy when the quality is no ob ject. She has been bred for a single pur pose only, which la the production of but ter. Bhe is exactly the opposite of tbe larger breeds, and bears no relation to .them. As the Jersey cow is a butter-pro ducing animal she is therefore a living factory for butter production, and if we desire an animal for milk alone we mist breed the Holsteins and Ayrshire?, whioh are rpecially adapted for such a purpose. By crossing the Jerseys and Ayrshires we divide the propensities lor both milk and butter, and the crossed animal is inferior to both parents. Its heavy milking pro perties are lessened and the butter yields are smaller. Bometimes by the superior power of either parent first class animals are produced, but the breeder can go no further with the cross, as the crossed ani mals are ot no fixed type and cannot re produce their points of excellence with any degree of certainty cn their young. The same may be noticed with horses, The thoroughbred will improve the common stock, but a cross between the runner and a trotter will not produce a runner, though the trotter is sometimes beneflited because it is not exactly a thoroughbred, and the benefit is derived from the finer bone, strength and endurance of the higher bred horse. A merino and G'otswold cross de stroys the combining qualities of the wool from the Uofcwoln and takes away the flneneas of belonging lo the merino, and the produce of the white-colored Chester hog and black Berkshire is inferior to eith er. The thoroughbreds are possessors of only one particular dominant quality to each breeo, thou.h often good in other qualities. This excellence is stamj e 1 on inferior kinds, or its own, only. When united with another of equal intensity the union is incompatible and is not perma nent. No animal is a general purpose animal, and the only way in which we can improve our thorougnbreds is to keep them pure, selecting our breeding animals from the best of the breeds, each year endeavor ing to more permanently establish and adapt the breed to the services required of it; but as it required long periods of time lo bring each breed to ns chatacteris- tic excellence an outcross only renders it difficult to improve, and is often a back ward step Dancing to Death. T. A. Cox, a young man employed as book-keeper by a merchant of Bucka- tunna. Alabama attended a party in the neighborhood of that town recently and danced with the young ladies until mid night, He remarked once or twice to his partners in the dance that he would die that night after the dancing was concluded. About one o’clock, when the participants in the entertainment were getting ready to go homp, young Cox called their attention to the way he had arranged the chairs around the room and how he had placed one chalk in the centre and covered it with a shawl. He requested the ladies to be seated, One of the ladies took the centre sejat, but he asked her to seat herself elsewhere, as that particular chair was reserved for himself. After all had taken places he seated himself in the centre, and placing his hand iu the bosom of his coat remarked that he would certainly die before the day aud desired the present witnesses to stay with him until the end was reached. He said he had been raised well by his mother, who had sent him to Sunday school and tried to make a good Christian of him, but in spite of her oare he had strayed from the paths of duty and could never face his mother again. He then drew a pistol from an inside pocket and saying, “This never fails,” placed tho muzzle against his ear and fired. The spectators were taken so entirely by surprise that they could make no movement to prevent the rash act, and it was not until his hand dropped into his lap and the pistol fell o the floor that they fully realized the horri ble deed which had been oonu fitted. When the gentlemen rushed to ti e cen tre of tho room they fonnd the young man dead. The meanest man: The meaner man on record sent through a post office presided over by a woman a postal card on which was written: Dear: Here’s the details of that scandal." And then the rest wee In Greek. DOMESTIC. HUMOROUS. Gathskino Grapes —Many good vari etles of grapes are injured in their reputa tion from being gathered and eaten before •hey are fully ripe; Most persons consider that a grape is fit to eat when it baa color ed, which is a great mistake. The color ing is a process toward ripening, but is not by any meant an indication of full maturity. boine grapes—Ire’s Seedliag and Clinton for example—are pretty well colored black lor weeks before they are fit to eat. This is one reason fer diversity of opinion upon the merits of grapes; and one who eats tbe Ives crape immediately after it turns black will certainly nat have a very high opinion as regards its quality. The same applies even with greater signi- flcance to the Clinton grape. Although a lats npening kind, it changes color as early as some of the most forward sorts, and if eaten when it first uurns black it is as acid as the greenest grapes, although when per mitted to remain on the vine until ripe it is one of vary late grape*. It is also a good keeping grape, owing to tha large percentage ot eugar it contains. Tnere are but few varieties of native grapes that show so large an amount of sugar in their juices as that to be found in a ripe Clin ton, as analysis has frequently demon strated, and yet the general opinion is that it is so acid as to be worthless as g table truit. The maturity of the shoot upon which the fruit is growing is a safe guide as in dicating ripenes*. When the wood be comes brown, and hardening toward ma turity, the fruit is also approaching to ripeness. A ripe bunch ot grapes cannot be gathtred from a green shoot; no mat ter how much the berries may be colored, the unripe shoot upon which ther are growing is nroof of immaturity. Thb manner of milking in the Channel islands, the home of the Jersey oew, or, more properly, perhaps, the Alderney, is peculiar, and has the merit of cleanliness, at least. Milking and straining the milk are done at one Operation. The milkmaid with her tin pall, linen strainer, and sea- shell proceeds to the pasture Besting her self beside the cow, she thus completes her arrangements: The strainer is securely tied over the narrow-mouthed bucket, and placing the large shallow shell on the strainer she vigorously directs the streams into the sheik Overflowing the narrow brim, the milk passes through the strain er into the receptacle beneath, the shell being used simply to prevent weiring hole in the linen strainer. In Professor Sanborn’s experiments the effects of warmth regulated the degree of increase, The hay eaten was daily weich- ed for each lot of cows fed; the w- ight of the cows noted and the amount of butte r from a given quantity of milk taken. The food laved by the warmer stalls was eight pounds stover and nine pounds hsy per cow per dsy. and the increase of miik- flow 2.8 per cent. With nay at $16 per toa, stover at $8, and a cow giving ten quarts of railk per day worth 2} cents per quart, we have a total in lavor of the war mer stalls of 11 cents per cow pit day. Toe difference iu temperature of the celled stalls and those of the open ban: was from tea to twelve degrees. These experiments demonstrate the importance of furnishing good, warm quarters for cattle. Thb ycung turkeys have uhout. accom plished their growth now, ana may be put up on fattening diet. For this purpose nothing is bette r than old corn, boiled po- tatoes and milk. Do not pen them up. Let them have free run. Feed them mod erately of cornmeal mashed potaucs ami milk mixed together, in the morning. Dur rag the day they will range over the farm, devour ng bugs, worms, young grass fallen apples and so on, giving them the variety of tood and exercise needed for food health, in the evening give what whole (old) corn they will eat clean. This course involves but little t ouble, and It Is in eveiy way satisfactory. Am old English lady contributes this recipe for a Christmas cake: She eays: “It is wine to try making it once before that day, so as to be sure of success then.” To five pounds of sifted flour allow one tablespoonful of salt, one pound and a half of butter, half a pint of fresh baker’s yeast, or five teaspoon- fuis of baking powder; if yon use the yeast in preference to the baking pow der, you must allow it time to rise be fore putting in the fruit, etc.: wash and mix in the dough three pounds of cur rants, one pound and a half of sugar, a whole nutmeg grated, one-quarter of a pound of candied lemon peel chopped very fine, one wineglassful of brandy, and four eggs beaten till they are very light; line the cake tics with buttered paper; bake in a moderate oven for a long time, from an hour and three-quar ters to two hours; the brandy used in this recipe is not intended as flavoring, but to keep the cake from drying. Reed Bird Pie.—Pluck and dress the birds, leaving them whole; either stuff them as already directed in the recipe for Stewed, Roast and Bboiced Reed Birds, with veal and ham, bread-crumbs or oysters; line an earthen baking-dish with a nice pastry. Put the birds into the dish, in layers, with flour, butter, wine or gravy, and seasonings, allowing to each dozen birds a tablespoon!al each of butter and flour, a glass of wine and a cupful of gravy, and a rather high si a soning of salt, pepper and powdered spioe. Cover the birds with pastry, wetting the edges of the crust to make them adhere; eat some places in tne crust to permit the escape of steam while the pie is baking, brush it with beaten egg, and bake it in a moderate oven until it is nicely browned An elegant mantel lambrequin is made of dark green velvet, and is with out decoration except across the edge at the bottom; crescents of thin brass are attached to cords, and a small tassel is fastened to each; this hast fleet of a rich fringe. A great addition to the ap pearance of the mantel is to have a piece of the velvet of the width aud depth of the lambrequin fastened to Ihe wall above the shelf. It may be tacked with brass-headed nails, or fastened to a regular curtain pole with brass rings. This makes a good background to bring into relief any handsome aitichs of mantel turniture. Brasses and paint ings of any kind are shown to good a [vantage; china also. Baked Reed Birds, Carolina Style. —Pluck and dress the birds, leaving them whole; in each one put a teaspoon- iui of butter and a little salt and pep per. Wash as many small, thick sweet potatoes as there are birds; split them lengthwise, and hollow them out in the middle, so that a bird can be placed in each one; tie them together with pieces of tape after the birds are placed in them, and then bake them until they are solt, in a moderate oven; remove the tapes when the potatoes are done, but take care not to open them, and sirve them hot at once. L ainty and yet serviceable aprons are made of the darned net, which has been and is so popular a material for dress trimmings and for pillow shams. A pretty apron is made of the plain net, with a deep ruffle, with the pattern darned in. The bottom aud top oi the ruffle should both be fiuished with scal lops, and then the ruffle needs no head ing, and is easily put on. Above the ruffle and up the sides of the aprou the pattern should also be worked. One or two pockets may be put on; one gives a little jauntier appearance to tho apron. If only oue is put on, place it on the left side. Hot Cabbage Salad.—Carefully wash a medium-sized head of tender white labbfge and cut it in very thin slices. Cut a quarter of a pound oi ham in half- inch dice, fry it brown in a tablespoon ful of butter, aud lay it on the cabbage; into the fat in which the ham was fried stir a wine-glassiul of vinegar mixed with the yelks of two raw eggs, a salt- spoonful of salt, and a quarter of a salt- spoonful of popper; stir all those ingre dients over the fire until they begin to thicKeu, aud then poor them* ever the cabbage, aud serve it at once. Fried Reed Birds.—Pluck and dress the birds, splitting them down the back; season tnem rather highly with salt and pepper, roll them in flour, luuiau meal or sifted bread or cracker-crumbs, and fry them brown in butter and lard equally mixed and made smoking hot before the birds are put inti it; or, dress them aud split, season and fry them without breading or flouring them, rhey must be served very hot, as soon as they are brown. Broiled Reed Birds.—Pluck and dress the birds, splitting them down the back; season them with salt and cay enne pepper, and broil them brown over a very hot fire. Serve them on toast, with a small piece ... buuer on each bird. It the birds are broiled in front of the fire, the toaat may be placed under them to catch their gravy as it falls from them, » A nice ginger cup-oake is made of two cups of powdered sugar, stirred to a cream with two cups of butter. The butter may first bo warmed until it is sott, but not melted; add three well- beaten eggs, a cup of molasses, four cups of flour, a tablespoonful of ginger, and one of souu—thq soda dissolved in a little hot water. Mix well, and bake in buttered gem pans, in a moderate oven. A nice dish for the supper of a conva lescent is made by tousling two thin slices of bread; flatten aud soften the crust by pounding it a little; butler the toast while hot, put one slice on a warm plate, aul spread over it a thin layer of cooked chicken chopped or out in small bills; season with pepper and salt, add a solt-boiled egg, then lay the < tuer slice of toast over it. Here is an economical i\cipulorSal'y Lunn: One tnUiespoonful ol sugar, oue egg, two tablespoonfuls of butter, one cup of milk, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, flour enough to make a batter as stiff us lor pancake. This is nice for breakfast or lor tea, and may he baked in cue tin or in gem pans. Pretty bell-pulls, to be used in place of cords, are made of strips of cunraa, lined with heavy canvas, or of ribbon hcavi>y lined. The c inuy be ornamen ted by embroidernt c a vine on them, or figures, as one muj fancy. The ends should be finished with tassels or with fringe. Bweet cider can be kept fresh and sparkling by heating it, not boiling hot, “ d heating until almost boiling, and then bottling it, aud sealing bght at once. It is advisable to put one or two raisins in each bottle. “Aye,” answered the countryman, •» hard enough at the bottom I warrai A young fellow riding down a steep hill, doubting if the foot of it was hog gish, sailed out to a clown that was ditching and asked if it was hard at the bottom. •tt warrant you.” But in half a dozen steps the horse sank up to the saddle-girths, winch made the young gallant whip and spur and utter catbs. “You rascal,” said he to the ditcher, “didst thow not tell me that it wss hard at the bottom ?” “Aye,” said the ditcher, “but you are not half way to the bottom ye*. ” Safe, anyhow: Schomourg, upon re turning to his store, on Galveston ave nue, from dinner, found Lis clerk very much excited. The clerk said that a stranger came in aud after asking aud paying the price for a cravat, which was oue dollar, picked up the eutire box, containing a dozen, and went off with them. “Did he pay you de'dollar?” asked Mose. “Yes,” responded the olerk. “Veil, then, ve makes, anyhow, fifty per cent, profits on dc investment.” Presence of mind: A few Bnudavs ago a Western church was discovered to be on fire, but the preacher, with great presence ot mind, said nothing about it He merely remarked: “This building is heavily burdened with debt, and I wish some one would lock the doors uuvh the amount is raised.” Everybody volun teered to do the locking, and as every body forgot to come back there was no panic, aud no one was hurt. Fond parent, almost bursting iu'o tears—‘ ■Angelina, my love, I have bad news for you. Heaven knows my child, 1 would spare you the sorrow if I could, but Edwin—” Daughter— “Speak quickly ! My love, my promised hus band—” Foud parent— ‘Is a gambler !” Daughter—“On, pa, is he lucky?” A story of the street car: ‘ Alas, we must part,” as the coat-tails said when the street-car passenger took his seat. “But we’ll meet again,” as the coat tails said when three fat women got aboard. “United we stand,” as the coat tails said “for the rest of the ride.’ Treatment of children: “Pa," asked Fogg’s hopeful, the other evening, “what kind of combs do they use to curry chickens with?” “Coxcombs,” replied Fogg, promptly. Fogg says he believes in always answering a child when you can. Definition of a novel: Mr. Swing says “that a novel is the world’s truth, with a beautiful woman walking through it.” Generally, we may add, with a man after her. Decidedly practical: William Hen derson has been arrested out in Utah for a desperate assault on anti-polvcramv Bill ' • About the Diimond.—'lhQ diair is nothing but crystallized carbou;but has it been formed? We cannot n carbon take this crysta’hne form, and it can have been brought about In na is one of the moat perplexing of sciet enigmas. Mr. A. B. Griffiths, ra a c mumcatioa to the London Chemical A suggests tbe following as a solution ol “conundrum:” “We know that the mond has been found in a fine-gra sandstone in Brazil, and is nrinclp found in an alluvial matrix of sands and quartz pebbles. Knowing these 1 and that there are only three methodi which crystals are tormed—namely fufijn, by solution and by sublimate and as the diamond has been found in dimentary rock?, and in an alluvial mi of sands’oue and pe’ bles; and knov tha' sandstone and pebbles are prodi by tbe action of water—hence their m of aqueous rocks—and as aqueoui or ( meutary strata are often fossiliferous may draw an inference that the carti ceous matter of the fossils (plants and mal remains) hss neen dissolved by hi heated water, aided by great pressure isting in the crust of the earth. It well-known fact that highly heated ws aided by pressure, can dissolve silica,a the geysers of Iceland, ete., where deposited around the mouth of the f ironing the ‘sinter; ’ and also we l av< experimental researches of De Senarra and others, on the artificial productio crystallized minerals, as quartz, mispi corundum, heavyspar, etc.,by the proioi action ot water at high temperatures pressures; aud I think we can see no eon why highly heated water or watei shou.d not have the power of dissol the carbonaceous matter of foseihfe plants and animals, and then, on coo depositing the carbon in the crystal condition, forming the gem known as diam rad. A* to whether tbe diamond formed by sublimation, we can drav inference trom farts or from nature m ist put this method of forming cry ou one side, as not being able to solve problem; and further, the diamond ca be formed by fusion, because we k that crystallized carbon, m the fort graphite, is formed by fusion. There] it appears from these views on the sut that the diamond has been formed in turc by the solvent action ot highly he water or water-gas, aided by enon pressure on the carbonaceous matte fossils contained in sedimentary racks lowed by slow cooling.” A co r.spondent asks how doubtful moods may be tested without Inj Uytirofluoric acid will not affect the mond, while it quickly corrodes g which is the material of most of the tation gems. The only objection to Iti is 'hit i‘, will attack certain stones of i or, but real value, like tho topaz, w are some nines passed off as diamonds, course, being a dangerous agent to ex] meat with, it must be employed great ca itioo. The Ulowing direcl from the Manufacturer and Bui may be safely followed: “Take a lei vessel, of saucer shape ard moderate i in which place some powdeied flour* which cover with enough oil of vitric completely moisten the powder. 1 put in the stone to be tested, and gt warm the mu lure over a gas lamp or other convenient source ot heat. ' should bo done in a good draft, where vapors will bo drawn up a chimney or sipatta, as they are dangerous to bres When the evolution of vapors appear have ceased, which will occur in from minutes to a quarter ot an hour, accor to the quantity of material employed, heat ehouM be withdrawn and the y< allowed to coni. The stone may be fished out from the pasty mass and ei mod. If it shows no signs of being a ,ti ed you may be assured that it is a gem stone. A pa-te stone will be found tc strongly corroded by tho hydrofluoric i that has come in contact with it; and, small ons, it will probably have I entirely dissolved,” m&ji; - Mi,