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THE REDBREAST. In country lanes the robins sing, Clear-throated, joyous, swift of wing, Prom misty dawn to dewy eve (Though cares of nesting vex and grieve), Their little heart-bells ring and ring. And when the roses say to spring: * V rrf* io a'oi* \rrlinn hn'n (T Jb wu J w O V VI ^ nuvu ui t The scents of sprays that lovers weave In country lanes; The redbreast still is heard to fling His music forth; and he will cling To autumn till the winds bereave Her yellowing trees. Nor will he leave Till winter finds hini shivering f In country lanes. A aOOD INVESTMENT. A nondescript red brick, with dingy windows and a brown wooden porch? that was the sort of house the Darrells lived in, and meant to die in, Berta used to say, sometimes rebelliously, but always hopeiessly, until that startling evening when Miss Matilda came home in a state nf cmAfmnol r?Vioonrl flirnur /-\n the lounge. Berta was knitting an amazing stitch before a dyspeptic little grate, with her feet crossed scissors-fashion on the fender. "Lost your office?" ejaculated that young person, when she had pieced together the bits of broken sobs that fell from her sister's lips like the toads in the fairy tale. ''Do give me that paper and let me see what it means.' "It means?starvation?for two !" wailed out the disconsolate Matilda from the sofa. It certainly did, as far as the six lines ol official literature went; but youth is so insolent in its hopefulness, that when the youngest Miss Darrell h id buried the letter under the coals with a vicious little dig her spirits mounted with the blaze. "Oh, Teddy, dear, don't go on like that; just think, there's enough money in the tin bank to put a silver streak in our cloud, and a whole month's salary, with our bills paid in advance?" "Seventy-five dollars!" sniffed Miss Darrell. ' It is that mach better than nothing," observed Berta, with a philosophical nod at the crumplcd-up figure, and another nod?a confidential one?at the fire. "I believe I could smuggle us out of our tro ibles if you would only trust the money to me," "jLiKeiy!" retorted JVliss Darrell, with a tear-chokcd sob of contempt. "I would as sojn trust a baby with matches." "That's what I call a burning shame; but even allowing I wasted the money, we would at least indulge in a new set of woes. There's nothing like variety in one's miseries, Matilda; and if you only would trust me, I would buy two tickcts right away." Miss Darrell permitted the feeble firelight to flicker for a moment across her small, wet face, as she lifted it from the ^ arm of the sofa. "Tickets for what? Tickets for where?" "Anywhere," answered Berta, with a generous circle of her brown hands in the air. "For the "West, I guess, if the money would take us that far." "Did I ever?" "No, Matilda, you never! If you had ever done anything else but plod right on in that old rut of an office, you wouldn't be crying because you are out of your rue to-aav. serves you just rignt for not marrying Jack. Oh, you needn't moan or wriggle like that, Teddy dear; it's true, every word, and you know it!" ' Miss Darrell raised her head again, and this time her face was flushed a dark, tempestuous red, and it wasn't fire-light either. "True or not, you are not the one to reproach! If I have kept on plodding in my 'nit,' it was only because you had to be raised and cared for; and now that I am weak and unnerved from my?my trouble, you can sit there and taunt me with your own superior intelligence. Wait until you have done something to prove it before you begin to brag. Oh, my head! my head!" and down it went again among the cushions. "You don't consider my head, nor my heart, either, to go on in that unfeeling fashion. Yes, it is unfeeling in you, Matilda, when you know how it hurts me to see you suffer so for nothing." i 9 /~i r t? XWlUlllg? VJUUU UUiUi I 1 "I suppose," and with statistical cheerfulness the girl set herself bolt up-1 right and proceed to check off undeniable facts on ner fingers?"I suppose the half the world would change places with you and me to-night. Just think of the streets lined with beggars; the hospitals cram-full of suffering people; the insane asylums and prisons, and " ' "And then look at us. Two women not over strong, with only one month's wages between them and the street; the contrast is really dazzling!" She willfully ignored the small bank behind the Swiss clock; but Berta, wise : from experience, suffered the omission in I silence. It was so like her small, nerv-! ous-tempered sister to struggle on and on like a Spartan, and then stumble at last in the slouch of despondency with a helpless splash, that she crept over to the sofa, and proceeded to administer on the half-exposed cheek a series of those carressing little dabs that go such a long way toward soothing woman's deepest woe. | When the storm of tears had lulled into irregular and rather childish sobs, Berta^ with her cheeks flushed and her voice quivering with eagerness, began: 4'0h, Matilda, do let up go! If we. were among strangers we could be no ! worse off than we are here. If we were starving to-morrow, do you know a soul we could go to for a penny? I don't. And I am so dead tired of this one room, ! and old Mrs. Bell's weak tea, and that Tommy Tolsom mooning at us from his side of the table." But wnere couia we go? ana wnat could we do when we got there?" "Anything?anything! Teach, sew?" ; Miss Matilda wriggled convulseively from head to foot. "And, if nccessarv scrub." Miss Matilda screamed. Berta laughed out in a fashion slightly boyish, but wholly delightful, because she enjoyed it -to the last echo, and sprang to her feet with a suddenness calculated at the very least to drive Miss Matilda wild. "If I arrange every thing?everything," i she cried, breathlessly, "will you let me have my way this time, Teddy? Say, will you??will you?" And because Miss Matilda was totally I demoralized and weak from her emotion, ! she helplessly answered yes. It could be proved?if only some one | would take the trouble to do it?that, theie exists no one quite so hopelessly ir-1 responsible as a woman newly dismissed from governmental office?unless it be a man! When Miss Darrell had cried herself rick enough for a prescription, she sank into a state of apathetic despair?and staid there?until Berta came home one evening after a week's busy planning, with two yellow tickets in her hands. "They cost exactly sixty dollars," she cried, joyously. "And I decidcd on Goldvillc for two splendid reasons?you sec, we shall have thirty dollars and fiftytwo-cents to astonish the natives with, and there is such a spice of comfort iu the first syllable, don't you think?" "What's in a name!" quoted Miss Matilda, dismally. But Bertha only laughed. Miss Matilda almost wanted to laugh herself, two days afterward, when she found herself flashing through State after : r 11 i i:r? t ,3 l OiiHl', lor an nur me uhu. uuij meant an many red and blue splashes on the map. There was no longer need to reprove ' Bertaforthe reckless handling of their 1 future. The money was spent now?and, after all, there was a flavor of dangerous pleasure in daring fate to do her worst. All her life she had walked without stumbling in the beaten path that lay before her as prim as a Dutch flower garden, and now that there had come a sudden and appalling end to her road, all the comfort she had got from Berta was 1 a reference to "ruts," that wasn't sisterly, 1 and another to "Jack," that was scarcely genteel. Very well! there was no longer the despised rut to plod in. They had a desolate amount of freedom now to starve where they pleased, and ot course, if it suited Berta best to have their bones bleach on the boundless prairies of the West, why - And then she did laugh at her own amazing stock of self-pity,and it brought such a sparkle in Berta's warm gray eyes ' that it was worth being hopeful just to sor? thnm. And, indeed, the girl was so cheerily familiar with things she never saw before 1 and knew nothing about, so worldly- j wise in the matter of checks and so equal to the baggagemen, that Miss Dar- ' ril, in spite of her thirty and something 1 over years, was beginning by the second 1 night to feel childishly, irresponsibly 1 happy, when?their journey came to an 1 end. - j Came to such a sudden and disastrous end, that she had been lying in an ugly ] heap under the stars quite twenty rain- } utes before she realized that there had ( been an accident, and that like as not j she was dead. f Wounded she certainly was, for her t arm lay under her as stiff and cold as a ^ wooden thing, and there was something r f r\ nr V*ftf in oIauT \A.\J *T 1_1 AAV/1 luVyV.) iU blAXVstV) OIV" j drops, that she knew* even in the awful J darkness was nothing less than blood? and then she fainted again. The accident had happened in an out- j of-the-way part of the country, with no j one to blame but a sleepy flagman. There c was an inch or so of paragraph in the ^ nearest paper, and a two-line telegram- r notice in the press all over the State?but it takes more than a handful of bruised and battered passengers to make headlines in these progressive days, so that when Miss Darrell opened her eyes on the t world again it had quite forgotten all s about her. i It was rather a strange world for a pair g of civilized eyes to open upon?four walls [ of round logs chinked with mud of deli- ^ cate yellow^ with a small, square opening for a window, aud a long panel slit j for a door. I Outside the window there were frostcoated mountains shooting up, up above ? the sky line, and on the other side of ^ the door there came swift, irregular r sounds of?what was it? What was that t sound? And where in the name of sense was Reberta? 0 Why, there she stood right beside her, and as her watchful eyes caught sight I of Miss Matilda's wide, wondering ones, d there came a pink wave of gladness into t her face, as with a womanly sob she leaned j j v.*. 1? T uver auu uitugut uei ui nci iiuus. j. "Berta," began Miss Matilda, in such li a small, faint voice that it very nearlyfrightened her into silence, 'Tve been ill, ? haven't I?" t "Yes, dear; but the doctor says?" a "I've needed a doctor, then?" And ? when she had asked her question, she ^ moaned and closcd her eyes. Berta could have told her she r came near needing a coroner, t but she only patted the thin white 1 hand, and purred out a series of soothing e endearments instead. c "And what did he say was the matter t with me? I feel as if everv bone in mv t * i _ 1 a _ i i T It Doay was spuncers?my arm is proven, i ~ know!" j ''Indeed it isn't!" cried the girl, eagerly. "You were just shook up, don't you t know, and bruised and scratched all * over, poor darling; but there was nothing j downright dangerous the matter, because the jury, or whatever you call it, sat on t you, and, of course, they ought to know." Then Miss Matilda Darrell's eyes flared open, and her moan was something , dreadful to hear. "It only serves me right tor trusting a ( child like you with the responsibilities, ? that belonged to me. I don't blame you ] heaven kuows; but to come back to con- x siousness in a hovel like this, penniless,- ( and maimed perhaps for life?it makes i me wish I was dead?oh, I wish I was r dead " And then the faint, quiver- t ing voice trailed off into a pitiful and } most childish sob. t "If you knew what you were talking t abou, Teddy, you wouldn't go on in that ( unfeeling way. It isn't a novel; it's a ] very nice shanty, with big blazing fires . x in both rooms, and its the loveliest spot you ever saw outside, with high mountains and miles and miles of pines?the ? cars will be coming by presently?don't shiver like that, poor darling?and when \ you see the doctor?well!" and Berta ac- j cented her last word with uplifted eyes and hands. ] "And how am I to pay him,, that's what I want to know! Oh, Berta, child, that was a bad investment you made oi T our last bit of money?" 4lI call it a very good investment," in- s terrupted the youngest Miss Darrell, ? stoutly. "I only had a hundred dollars , to work with, and I'm sure I've realized j on it to the extent of five thousand dol- s lars and a beau!" ? "Fiv<! thousand?dollars?and?a?" } "Beau?your beau, not mine. My operations have been purely disintereeted. I \ don't even exact the usual per cent. Good gracious, Matilda, don't sture at a body like that! Jack said I must break it by degrees, but he hidift seen your eyes when he gave me the order. You see, when we determined to 'Westward Ho,' i T wrote to .Tack, and the dear old boy? < you just ought to see what a drab-col- ; ored head he has, with a round bald spot ' in the middle?well, he said in his reply ; that I was to buy tickets for Goldville, i and that he would meet us at the station. ! The accident happened six miles this ) side, and as you were not able to be moved, he turned out the lumberman who own this cabin and fixed us up as snug, as snug. You can hear the men chopping in the pines now?isn't it the chee.iest, crispest music in the world! I'm going to marry a lumberman some day on account of his axe?and dear old Jack owns a comfortable home in Goldville and gets all the practice in the town. A bad investment, indeed!" Over Miss Darrell's face came a tinge of faintest pink, and her lips trembled like a baby's. 'Oh, yes, you are so taken up witl*. Jack that you don't consider the cash profits of my little speculation! The five thousand dollars is the result of a compromise the railroad made with me, and I've put it in Goldville bonds at six percent., which I consider a downright good investment!"?Nannie Lancaster. Hoiy the New Mexicans Capture Ants. An automatic combination self-adjusting ant trap and intoxicating machine I has been in use for years in New Mexico | and Arizona, which is worthy of careful civilized attention. The chief blessing of that arid section is held to be mescal, a fiery liquor distilled from a species of cactus, and the principal curse is an immense black ant that considers himself proprietor of any premises to which his nest may belong. It is said that the natives could not live without either the muscal or the ants, for while it is or.ly mescal that can make a Mexican's life endurable with the ants, it is only the ants that wake a Mexican from the profound coma into which the mescal plunges him. The ancient Mexican method of trving to get rid of an ant's nest was to fifl up the main hatch with fine gunpowder and touch it off, keep a fire boiling over it night and day for a week, or drown it ?' - - 1??a u a /> n 1*?nonlf UUb Willi UUlllll^ 1VC. ?1115 vuij iboutu was that the ants would stay down cellar until the trouble was over, and then cheerfully repair the damage done to their dwelling, and "lay for" the Mexican in the silent watches of the night with a vigor and alacrity that were truly awful. One day a desperate Mexican poured a quart of mescal down his throat and. buried the bottle in the centre of the, principal ant's nest in his yard, with the intention of filling it with gunpowder and blowing both himself and his enemies out of the territory. Having buried the bottle to the neck, he went to the trader's to get the powder. When he returned, he found that the bottle was illed with ants, whom curiosity had prompted to drop in, and who, unable to ilimb out, were indulging in a rough md tumb[e free fight that did the Mexican's heart no end of good. Another jottle was quickly procured and filled, ind by sunset the Mexican found JJhim- j lelf proprietor of seven quarts of ants in various stages of mutilation and wrath, fo shake these into a bonfire was easy, ind thus in a day the colony was broken lp forever. The writer has seen two pounds of rifle ' 1 nr?nof onfl juwuul I'cluiucu lutu an aui. a iivou auu jrove ineffective in its destruction, while , >y the bottle system the work was thorrnghly accomplished in less than a week >y the capture of the last ant in the comnunity.?Scientific American. Southern Forts. At the outbreak of the war between he South and the North there were eventeen forts in the South belongng to the United States. The list begins with the forts in Louisiana and fol-, ows the coast line in the order named )elo-vs;: Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip?On the Mississippi river, sevonty-five miles below sew Orleans. Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines?The former ,t Mobile Point, the entrance of Mobile bay, orty miles below Mobile; the latter on Dau>hin Island,, opposite Fort Morgan and three* niles distant. These two forts commanded he entrance to Mobile bay. Fort Pickens?Santa Rosa Island, entrance o Pensacola harbor, one of the largest forts in tlio fliilP nf Mnrim Fort McRae?On Poster's Island, opposite "orb Pickens, and one and a half miles listant A powerful caseniated water-batery. Fort Barrancas?Near the navy yard at 'ensacola, facing the entrance to the harbor, ntended also to cover the navy yard from und attack. Fort Jefferson?Intended to protect the mchorage of the Tortugas, as a naval depot .nd station: for guarding the commerce vuich follows the channel of the gulf stream, md for controlling the navigation of the fulf. Fort Taylor?Key West; an important vork protecting the harbor of Key West. Fort Pulaski?On Cockspur island, a few niles below Savannah, protecting the enrance to the river and approach to Savanlab. Forts Moultrie and Sumter?Protecting ';he mtrance to Charleston harbor. The former in Sullivan island, three miles below Charles- I ? ?J i? l-ii ~;i? I Oil, ttUU H1CJ lUblCl UUC UAX1C7 It VAX* JL- V/l 1/ iUVU. rie, and three-fourths of a mile from the learest land. Castle Pinekney?A small work on the ap>roach to and near Charleston. Forts Monroe and Calhoun?At the enrance to Hampton Roads, protecting the rloads and approach to Norfolk, James river, >tc. Fort Monroe was the largest work of the cind in the United States in 1861. Fort McHenry?An old work protecting he entrance to Baltimore harbor. Fort Carroll?A very important work a ew miles below Baltimore. His Private Mark. A mild-mannered German cook, wlio 1 loes business in a smali way in Grand ;treet, chanced to fall overboard from an 2ast river ferryboat. He was rescued after nuch trouble by three young men?a leek hand hand and two longshoremen. While the German's recovery seemed a natter of extreme uncertainty the three ? ? ? _# roung men quarreled over tne credit 01 , laving rescued him. Each man wished ' he glory of shining on the station-house jlotter as a rescuer, with perhaps the ;hance of subsequent material reward. { 3efore they had succeeded in settling the natter to their mutual satisfaction they vere forcibly drawn apart by the police. "See here," said an officer, "you can't settle this thing by fighting." "That's so," assented the smallest of ;he three. "I can prove without fightng that I saved that man." "Let's see you do it, then, and be ively." "I've got my private mark on him." "Show your mark and give us less of four jaw." The young man stepped blithely to the iide of the half-conscious man, pulled .1 A ?r>/I isme tne umiiKm mat uuvcjuu mm, aim jointed trumphantly to a two-inch gash n the fleshy part of his back. "There!" laid he; "there's my private mark I There's whore I stuck the boat-hook into lim!" His name went down on the police )lotter without farther question.?New York Times. Her Royal Spouse's Beard. The lovely Queen Marglierita, of Italy, i s at present in painful trouble on account ' )f her royal spouse's beard. About a ^*ear ago it began to turn gray. This ivjks 110 had. as his maiestv is only forty rears old, arfd, in the eyes of her majesty, the handsomest man in Italy. She purchased a bottle of patent hair restorer, and ordered his majesty to use it. King Humbert demurred, but as the Queen insisted, he first took the precaution to apply it to the cars of one of his hounds. When the queen asked next morning if his majesty had used her ; remedy. Kiny Humbert begged her to apply it to her pet parrot, and let him know the result next day. Her majesty took the bottle and left the room, but has not mentioned the subject since. The king's beard is now almost white. INDIAN JUGGLERY. CEREMONIES IN THE "SACRED IiODGE" OF SAVAGES. A. Programme of Performances Lasting Six Weeks and Ending in a Sham Hunt?Some of the Tricks. It is seldom that one meets with any special form of entertainment among Indians save shamanistic and other mystic ceremonies, which are part of the rites performed in connection with making rain, exercising evil spirits, etc., but among the Arikara Indians of Northern Dakota there survives a custom of giving a public entertainment each year, which causes the o-atherinor of friendlv Indians from all directions. The ceremony takes place during August and September, and | after continuing for six weeks terminates in sham hunts. The young men and j warriors among nearly all tribes of | the great plains organize themselves j into bands for mutual amuse- j ment, dancing and feasting, to while I away the long, dreary winter evenings, j One of these bands of Arikara braves j numbers but ten or twelve individuals of j acknowleged prowess, and appears to , consist of candidates for future recogni- i j tion as shamans or "medicine men." As | they progress in the art of deception it is ! j nccessary to impress the balance of tlje '. tribe with their assumed mystic powers ( and to secure for themselves the neces- ( sary amount of superstitious veneration . for future success in becoming leaders in . the tribe. {, The "Sacred Lodge'' of the Arikara is i around dirt lodge, with dome shaped! r 1.1: ~ T * i. i 1 roox, reseniuuiig a uu?e mveneu uusuei basket. It measures fifty feet in diameter and from fifteen to eighteen feet high, , and has a large opening at the top for the escape of smoke. There is only one door, | facing the east, and this is directly oppo- | site the point of the interior at which the band is stationed. In the middle of the J lodge are six heavy upright trunks of 1, cottonwood trees, serving aa pi'lars for the roof. The posts are arranged three on a side, thus forming an oblong square, | between which, on the ground floor, a fire is kept burning more for light than for i' heat,' although the evenings at this lati-!, tude become decidedly chilly at this sea- j eon of the year. Attached to these posts. and around the sides ot the lodge, are nu-1 ^ merous candles which shed just sufficient light to add to the weirdness of the scene. That quarter of the in- j terior next to the door I is reserved for the audience, the old men , and women taking the first two rows of seats?on the ground?the succeeding 1 ones being taken by the first comers. The 1 space around the wall of the lodge is appropriated by the young Indian bloods and boys, who usually manage to create j considerable merriment during the awk- j ward intervals, which are not infrequent, j The crier of the tribe mounts the roof of the sracred lodge each afternoon, and in a doleful, monotonous song announces , the programme for the evening of that ; day. When sunset approaches the . members of the band enter the structure ^ and pvepare for the evening. An orchestra of two drummers, two male singers and two women noted lor shrill voices J occupies a position on the right side of ; the floor, and at the proper time drum- j' ming Begins in a very faint tone, grad- j ually increasing in intensity, when the !1 singers join in. There may be one or j two preliminary songs before the members of the band rise from their places : and advance toward the central fire, ! where they form a semi-circle and dance, ] keeping time to the beating o f the d rums. , Then a young brave advances bearing a long pole before him which is surmounted by a stuffed sea gull. His com- . panions dance around him excitedly, ] oinmnir lnnritv and nonnmnftniftd hv thfi ; ' ~(r>*"fc> ?~"J ? 1 ~j j i hired singers. All of a sadden there is an instant of silence, when the bird's spirit can be heard, the voice issuing apparently from the mouth of the gull. Then, ns a murmur of approbation notifies the dancers that the trick is surcessful, it is repeated. Upon close examination it is found that a thin reed tube extends from the brave's mouth to the pole, that the pole is hollow, and that a small whistle has been inserted in the top, immediately under the bird. Another trick consists in swallowing a large bullet and having it removed from the back. The pomme blanche, or Indi- j an turnip, is made to grow in the earthen j floor of the lodge, though it is almost 1 needless to say that these have been planted there during the day of the per- j formance. A small puppet, representing ( an Indian, probably six inches in height, < is placed on the floor before the dancers, j and after considerable drumming and ( singing the image begins to bob up and 1 down in unison with the music. One dancer takes a ro4 and passes it above and behind the figure, to show that no strings exist whereby its movements can be governed. Finally all of the dancers run around so as to cross the fire, each time resting upon the burning branches a few moments, though not long enough ( to scorch the moccasins. The closing exercises have been thus described: "When the last day of the ( festival (Sundav) came the roofs of al- ' most every habitation in sight of the : plaza before the sacred lodge were crowded with spectators, as none were admitted on that day rave those taking part in the hunting scones. First appeared a man representing a duck, be- . ing covered with articles of clothing made of duck skins stitched together. As 1 he issued from the door of the lodge he , passed into the next house?the resi- ' dence of a shaman?where he tarried a short time. As he again started to visit the next house the duck hunters issued from " the door of the sacred lodge and fol- , lowed his trail. The duck imitated the ^ voice of the bird he represented, while the hunters passed through many amusing j evolutions in their search. So the hunt continued round the circle of six or eight dwellings and back to the point of dc- j parture. Then the rabbit appeared and < passed over the same ground, similarly , pursued by hunters armed with bows and ' arrows. The rabbit was almost without co-vering save the blotches of gray and white clay with which his body was besmeared. He, instead of returning to the sacred lodge, ran to the middle of the I pla/.a where he hopped about and finally ' squatted in a cluster of sage brush, which had previously been placed there. When j the hunters espied him one of them drew his arrow and shot him through the body. 1 Then two women came forth from a side ; lodge, removed the arrow, when plenty of blood(?) appeared, and after a few : minutes' careful pow-wowing the rabbit j was restored to life. 4<A oimiloi* fnfn OTTOifa/1 KnfPoln ! IX Ollllliui 1UI/V u U Ui UWVA tuw k/unuivj though this animal was shot with a 1 bullet instead of an arrow. He was carried upon the roof of th eacred lodge and there restored. Hunting the owl, the bear .-nd the wolf, beside other game animals, v.-as also illustrated in nearly the same manner." These ceremonies complete the festival, the Indians return to their respec tive houses and almost beggar themselves in entertaining their friends from a distance.?New York Herald. Silk Cnlture. Professor Riley, chief of the entomological division, department of agriculture, hitherto supposed to have been entliiioinflfi/> in rflrrorrl fA fliA oillr lUUOJUOllVy XU IV^um t/w l/UU puuio U1 OllXW culture in the United States, in a recent issue of the Rural New Yorker says: The experience of the experiment stations, both at Philadelphia and New Orleans, run under the auspicies of the department of agriculture to test the question of profit, has not been very encouraging the last year. The actual cost * at Philadelphia for producing a pound of silk has been $7.58, while the silk has brought $4.40 per pound. At New Orleans there is a better showing; 3,360 pounds of dried cocoons have been obtained, and have brought on an average $1 per pound; 2,710 pounds have already hcen reeled, and have produced G41 pounds of reeled silk, which has sold at $4.50 Tier nound. For labor employed in making this reeled silk the cost has been $1.75 per pound; in other words, the silk reeled has cost $0.07, and has brought but $4.o0. There has recently been a decided rise in the price of reeled silk, which would put a different showing on the above figures,. and it must be remembered that the general expense in purely experimental work is always heavy because under commercial circumstances there is some income from silk waste which is not here included. I have rather discouraged than encouraged this industry for the last three year*, because I am thoroughly convinced that the majority of those who engage in it are doomed to disappointment. Life Studies, by Lige Brown. Be cheerful and you are bound to be healthy. The despairing patient is the one who dies. Hope is a guideboard that is always pointing to a pleasant pathway through strove and meadow. Somebody has invented a woman's hat that shuts up, but the woman herself still continues otherwise. ' An exchange has a department headed "Woman's Talk." It crowds out a good 3hare of the advertisem nts. The man who thought that an editor's work was "nothing more than write," Found he was wrong when he tried it. It has been observed by the men who browse on the dry fodder of statistics, that the English could sparrow a fe.w more of their birds. Alligator hides are worth seventy-five :ents each in Louis iana. This significant fact explains why tramps are seldom seen 30 far south. To a certain extent we all profit by iach other's misfortunes, but the man ivho tells a woman that her babe is not pretty is liable to go home with a bleeding scalp. Why it is that an ordinary woman has more music in the neighborhood of her ander jaw than a blacksmith has in both irms, is one of the things that science bias never undertaken to explain. Somebody who has been digging down into the hard-pan of language, claims that the orig:nal meaning of the word editor was uto eat," but in the pinching present it means "to starve" in a good many localities that a blind horse might stray into. Every man who discovers a previously anknown fact is a benefactor to his race, ind adds to the mental wealth of the svorld, unless his discovery is the inevitible result of blowing into the muzzle of i shotgun to find out how much vacancy it contains. Bagdad is a place of over 100,000 inhabitants, and yet it has no place of public amusement, and the women folk never talk about each other. If human nature is the same the world over, what a godsend a dog fight must be among the Bagdadians.?Chicaoo Ledger. Dead Before the Knife FelL At the execution of the murderer 3agny, at Troyes, France, recently, an, incident took place the like of which had never before been witnessed in France, rhe condemned man, during his trial and anal imprisonment, did not evince the [east fear. When, on the morning of the fatal day, he was roused from sleep and informed that his hour was come, he received the intelligence quite calmly. He urnsp attended to his last relifrious duties, ate a hearty breakfast, had his "toilet" made, asked for a good glass of brandy, and said he was ready to go. Be walked between his attendants with i firm step and a look of courage, almost of defiance. But when he came in front j Df the ghastly instrument of death and glanced up at it, he was noticed to blanch or turn almost white. At the same time his body becamc inert. He was lifted on the bascule, where he lay for twenty-five awful' seconds before the knife fell. Meantime he did not stir. When the head was separated from the body it was noticed the blood did not spurt eight or nine feet, as it does in such cases. When TIT Ar A mtfATI LUC UUUlIUllig pujoiuiaiio ngiu ^xivu charge of the tody, they found the heart had filled with coagulated blood. This they explained by the fact that when Gagny looked at the machine and turned suddenly white, his heart ceased action and did not resume after. He was dead before the knife touched him. The Baby's Horoscope. Believers in astrology and fortune-telling of all kinds will find it a little difficult to explain the cause of a slight mistake made by Johannes Schoner, a zealous astrologer of the Sixteenth century. While on a journey, Schoner put up at the house of a friend, where he ?aw the youngest child of the latter, aged two years, lying asleep >in its cradle. Schoner immediately sat down and drew up the baby's horoscope. "Qe will be a ^reat man, a gallant warrior, and, like k-!o foi-linr Tirill o+fain tn Vnr/h rAnk and I A J o miuoij nui uvw?iM wv _ iignity," was the result of the astrologer's profound* meditation. The father glanced at the paper, gave an embarrassed little cough, and said, "Why?why, Johannes, the child is a girl!"?Youth's Companion. The Author of " Dixie." Colonel Will S. Hays, in conversation last night, declared that he was the original author of "Dixie." "The words [ wrote as a Confederate war ballad during the early part of the war. The music [ fitted to them was a variation or adaptation of a song that was current in my rT/M^Vt V?A?Inn!?n.. P T Vl.O Q ^AtllrOV yUULUj UC^IUUIU^* xx J. Aiwv* M V4VUU.VJ what wouldn't go.' I was working then in a printing office, and the music I engraved myself in the fourth floor of the building where the New York store now 3tands. The city was then in the hands of the Federals, and the plates and words had to bo surreptitiously smuggled through the lines into the Confederacy. The song became immediately popular in Urn (ii-mir on/1 Vion^o wirlpsnrpnd nn. l?uv U t 111 J ^ UliVt UV.UVIV A vu ?? a^vH. ?? toriety."?Louisville (Ky.) Post. Never be over-exacting with children; they will grow wiser with years. TTTiMW (IK KIIN ! JL/ V X/ VJIJLfi. V'A A VIM HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM c VARIOUS SOURCES. t After a Fashion?The Domestic Com- 2 promise?He Talked Too Much? fl Matrimonial Infelicity?The t Grocer's New Boy, Etc. f Johnny Grey?1 'Say, Mr. Black, did c you get the fashion?" r Mr. Black?4<Did I get what, Johnny?" c J.?"The fashion you wrote after." 1 Mr. "R.?"T Hnn'f; understand vou. really, I haven't written after any fashion." , Miss Grey?(coloring) "Johnny, you may leave the room, children should be seen and not heard." J.?"I don't care,I ain't done nothing. You told ma, yourself that Mr. Black wrote for the papers after a fashion."? Roxbury Advocate. The Domestic Compromise. "Bromley, I'm having a wretched time with my wife. We wrangle fearfully, and she's so wordy that she overwhelms me every time." "Well, Darringer, these little pleasantries are not to be avoided, it seems. My wife and I have reduced them to a science. She demands but two words, and I good-naturedly let her have them. It's a small concession, you see." "t should think it was. I envy vou. Bromlev. 'oon mv soul I do. Oh, by the way,'what are the two words?" "The first and last."?Pittsburg Telegraph. He Talked Too Much. "These building associations may be good things," said a man loafing about the station, "and they may teach a man to save his money, and enable him to get something ahead, and to build a house of his own, but I don't think I need any building association in mine. A year ago last August I took my present position. I hadn't a dollar to my name, then. Now I have a nice house and lot, all paid for, and money in the bank, and I haven't been very economical either." "And what position do you hold?" inquired a solid-looking man. "My position? Oh, I'm a conductor on this road. You say you're in the railUnMnnfld 4-r\r\ aVi 1 luau uuoiugao vut wu\*uv%w4? "No." "Engineer?" "No." "What then?" "Oh, I'm one of the directors of this company. Your name, please."?Peck?a Sun. ftfatrimonial Infelicity. ( It is generally understood in Austin | that Colonel Yerger and Mrs. Yerger | fight like cats and dogs. They recently ( gave a reception, to which Tom An jerry ] and Bill Yard, two Texan university ( students, were invited. < "Who is that little dude with an eye- , glass to whom Colonel and Mrs. Yerger are talking so pleasantly," asked Tom. j "He is an artist from Boston who is \ goingtopaint them on one picture," , replied Bill. i "Is?is he a painter of battle pieces?" j "I don't know. I believe he is going M -noint tlipm in nil " , 4'Paintthem in oil! What foolishncsss. He ought to paint them in vinegar."?Siftinga. The Grocer's New Boy. A Michigan avenue grocer took on a new boy the other day, and when it came noon he catechised the lad as to the price of butter, sugar, eggs, clothes-pins and other articles which might be called for and went home to dinner feeling that the boy was all right. When he returned, after an hour, he missed a barrel of flour and asked what had become of it. " old it!" wafc the proud reply. "For cash?" "No; the man said he had an account here." 1 "The dead-beat! He took advantage 1 of you 1" " ^ "Oh, no, he didn't. He said he ' couldn't wait for us to deliver it, and he ' rolled it out the back way and went after ( a wagon to take it off. Oh^ no?he didn't beat us any." ( "Bat the flour is gone." "Yes, but while this fellow was after a 1 wagon another man came along and stole 1 the barrel and got away with it! I'd like f to see anybody take advantage of me I"? f Free Press. f ( He'd Choose to be a Baby. ' The following story was told at the 1 recent encampment of the grand army at Mexico, Missouri. A group around one ? of the numerous camp fires were relating incidents of bravery and cowardice 9hown in battle, and this is one of them: "It was at the battle of Gettysburg," ' ' ? 11 1 At- - I said me speaicer, "wnen uie uuuuia ncic falling like hail, and the shells were a ? shrieking and bursting over our heads in < a way to make the bravest heart tremble, y a private dropped out of the ranks and < shulked back toward the rear. He was t well under way, when, unfortunately for { him, he was met by General Slocum < coming to the front. ] " 'What are you doing here? Get ] h.mk to vour uost.' the ereneral shouted, i y i' / cp "The poor fellow stopped still and trembled like a leaf, but made no reply. "Get back to your post, you miserable coward; aren't you ashamed of yourself to be skulking back here when you should be in the front with your brave comrades?" "Still the man made no reply, but commenced to cry like a year-old infant. "'You infamous, sneaking coward,' shouted the infuriated general, get back to your post; I'll ride you down like a dog. Why, you are nothing but a baby.' r " 'T-T.TMl t-t-t-tell vou what, cr-ff-crener al,' said the blubbering fellow," 'I'd f g-g-g-give anything just n-n-now if I was a b-b-baby, and i-i-f I had my ch-ch-choice I'd r-r-rather be a female b-b-b-baby.'" How Senators Talk. A Washington correspondent writes as follows to the Utica Observer: Dennis F. Murphy is as well known to the great men of the country as any man in Amerinu. lift has been reporting speeches since I860, and he has been eonnecttd j t with the Senate for a full generation. He was the leading short-band man in the ^ trial of President Linco^'s assassins, and he has reported all of thu Senators from Webster until now. "Daniel Webster,' c he says, ''talked very slow. Henry Clay' J averaged about 150 words a minute, and the fastest speakers we have to-day are ^ Senators Beck, Morgan, Hawley and i Plumb. The average of senatorial speak- ' ing to-day is about 150 words a minute, J ? ? And DOn/TA A C ll 1 An t LllUUgU OUIUC OCUatuio au.a xxAgu. OO 200 and some at times 225." * Good temper is like a snnny day; it sheds its brightness on everything. . ! i \ y viMfctf Ante*****!' fm&w " i'l .... _ . _/ < FACTS FOB THE CURIOUS" "I:- -'*^08 The present alphabet, in the course of tenturies, grew from the original twentywo signs of the Phoenicians. The finest screws used in a watch have 150 threads to the inch, but screws with K)0 threads to the inch can be cut. It akes 144,000 watch screws to weigh a >ound. ? ;v"'; The horses of the Numidiana and some if the northern nations were in ancient imes so docile and well broken that they :ould be managed by the voice, without em or bit. Harry Brownlee, of Adair county, !owa, has eaten tweuty-three big cucum>er pickles in four minutes, and therefore claims to be the champion pickle sater cf the State. ^ H Cathay was the name that Marco Polo ipplied to China when he visited it in ;he thirteenth century in the employ of he khan of Tartary. Columbus expected ;o find this land by sailing westwardfrom Jpain. An ordinary freight car holds ninety Darrels of flour; 340 bushels of wheat; 500 sacks of flour; 430 bushels of pota;oes; 6,000 feet of dumber; and unless ,rou keep a sharp lookout, from one to lalf a dozen tramps. There was a sort of prison and place - o )f correction attached to the farms and v alias of the Romans, in which those of :he slave family who were kept in fetors were lodged and made to work in irons; wherein the rest, who wore not chained, were provided with separate iccommodations in another part of the establishment. ' .y r/j A microscopic slide in the possession 4 3t the Manchester Philosophical and LitBrary society, in England, contains the Lord's prayer written within the 405,- ' )00th part of an iuch. The minute speck :an be found with powerful microscopes Dnly with great difficulty, as the focus , point of the letfs must be made to coyer ;he exact spot bearing the object. It was , ^ ?ngraved by Mr. Webb some years ago }y the aid of an instrument now held by ;he society. On May 12, 1780,' a remarkable darkipsa nvfirsnrfiad Now England, varvinar in' ntensity at different places. In.some secions persons could not read common printed matter in the open air. Birds be- v. iame silent and went to rest; barnyard fowls went to roost, and cattle sought - "/q ;heir accustomed evening resorts. Houses f^ere lighted with candles, and nearly all )ut-of-aoor work was suspended. * Tha )bscuration began at 10 o'clock in the > ->. norning and continued until night. The iause of the darkless has never been re- N realed. The air was unclouded. __ iVj.Sc ? The Stomach. The walls of the stomach are thin and - "'i ilastic, and may be temporarily dilated jy overmuch food, or by gas generated ay the decomposition of food. A dilated stomach, crowding against a heart enfeebled by fatty degeneration, or by any )ther cause, may so far hinder the action 3f the lattSr as to result in sudden leath. But the stomach may become permanently dilated, and enormously so. In ihe latter case, the two openings?the ' ' mtrance and the exit?maybe so affected is to make it difficult for it to eject food > into the intestines. The muscular walls of a dilated atom- , ich are weakened. This causes the ' food to remain too long in it?sometimes several days. The food thus retained loflnmnnceu infn o nnmhpr ftf irrifaifing icids and annoying gases. The worst forms of dyspepsia result. Such dilatation may be due to a diseased narrowing of the pylorus?the opening by which the food passes from ;he stomach?or to its obstruction bj ;umore of vanous kinds, thus hindering ;he passage of the food through it. Or ;he coats of the stomach may have become weakened by disease; or the nerves > )f the stomach, on which its peristaltic iction depends, may have lost their nor mal irritability. Habitual overeating also causes this lilatation. All persons are liable to it syho overload their stomachs with either Food or liquids, especially with beer, clearest evidence of dilatation is the ha bitual retention of food in the stomach )ver night. Tia dilataion is faequent in children, 'specially among those fed artificially. But it is not confined to them. Many nothers nurse their children at night ilmyst continuously. Such infants have *ood appetites?for their food does not iuly nourish them?but they are badly roubled with indigestion, colic, and 1iarrhn>A Their ahdomensare distended. rhe only relief is in more proper feedft is the same with adults, though the nuscular tone of the stomach may be itrengthened by tonics. The worst cases equire the doctor.?Youth's Companion. V Discovery of Daguerreotyping. J. A. B., writing from San Rafael, lays: An interesting fact in the history )f sun-printing which, in its beginning vas called daguerreotying, accidentally same to my knowledge recently, which X ;ake the liberty to furnish for the Ghron"de. My edition of Appleton'a new cyOnnmdio qottq if i<j nnf. L'nnwn whaf. led Daguerre to discover the art called by his same. Mr. Louis, an intelligent French gentleman, who has a shop in San Rafael, jave me, in substance, the following aciount of the beginning of this wonderful liscovery and invention, to which the vorld of sciencc and art is so deeply inlebted to-day: ''It was about the year 1834?a year or two after the cholera jlague?I was an apprentice boy in the irst of the three silversmith establishnents in Paris. Mr. Daguerre, the ar;ist, had been polishing a silver plate in he fourth story of his house, where he iai skylights arranged to afford fuller iglit for his purposes. One day, having >ccasion to leave the room for a time, on eturning he found some one had disirranged the room and stolen his money, booking down upon the table where he lad left the polished plate, to lis surprise he discovered the image of lis gardener, who came once a week to trrange his grounds, whom he charged with the theft, and recovered the money, rhis accidental discovery led to experinents with the camera, which established he art, and rendered Mr. Daguerre a vealthy man. I to^k him a polished >late, sat for my picture, and obtained ny likeness at a cost of about one dolar." Such is the statement of Mr. Louis, vhich I suppose is substantially correct, rhere seems, however, a discrepancy in lates, Mr. Louis putting the date of dis:overy about the year 1834; whereas the :yclopaedia places the establishment of he art in 1839. And I remember somo rears aso Mr. Rulofson, of Bradley & *ulofson, in San Francisco, told me that ? ?rrnrl TCoarrl'a rroilartr IC (X\UIUJl&UJXy YVUl fV^U it* o guuvij^ London, in 1839, which was about the >eginning of the art.?Chico (Cat.) 9hronicle. There are 111 young men's @hristian , aviations in New York, with 21,500 nembera.