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THROUGH THE STORM. I beard a voice, a tender voice, soft falling Through the storm; The waves were high, the bitter winds were callling, Yet breathing warm Of skies serene, of sunny uplands lying In peace beyond; This tender voice, unto my voice replying, Made answer foud; Sometimes, indeed, like crash of armies meeting, Arose the gale: But over all that sweet voice kept repeating, "I shall not fail." ?Harper'* Magazine. BETTY'S MISTAKE. BY ANSA KrXO. Miss Campion was a little restless. She had dressed for dinner some time previously, and now moved backward and forward from her post of observation at the window to consult the little Swiss clock hanging over the writing table? for her eyes were not so good as they had been. There were few people living who were very dear to her. and of these she was expe ting this evening the two whom she loved best in the world?her goddaughter and namesake, Betty Carew, and Colin Campion, her nephew. She had a definite object in view in briuging those young people together. A few weeks before she had had an attack of bronchitis, and this illness had sug gesteil to iier cue aavisimury 01 maKing | ncr will. When she began to consider I how she should divide her property between Hetty and Colin, her heart seemed torn asunder. She could not calmly contemplate her old lace and china, and all her favorite possessions, going out of the family, for she wanted Betty to have the m. Colin must, of course, have the little estate, but then, too, he must have the money to keep it up, for she did not wish Forde to be neglected after her death. At length an idea occurred to her which, if carried out, would obviate all di.lkulties. Why should not Betty and Co.in marry and share her fortune equally, without any troublesome division of it.' With this thought in her mind Miss Campion had invited them to Forde, and was now awaiting Betty's arrival : with some .nervousness. Her nervousness increased when she 1 had welcomed her goddaughter and brought her into the drawing-room?for I a.-uc neroesnrv that she should mrtke i Betty understand how desirable a husffiF baud Colin would bi: without raising any suspicion in her miud. 5^3 ''You are very tired, dear," she said, hastening to pour out a cup of tea with trembling lingers. "I shall never become reconciled to trains?they are so noisy and dustv. It is a pity we are in ' t *-1- - - ? rrn 9ucn a nurry a??i?_ys uuwiiunja. aiicj mutinied bettvr in the !a~t century, when journeys were made in a leisurely manner by coach." ' If we were eighteenth century ladies, godmother. I should be at the rectory at this moment?for the journey from Devonshire would have been impossible by coach. So I am glad that we were i aot boru a hundred years ago." "If you put it in that way, dear, so am 1. I hope this visit will be pleasanter than usual," she added, nervously. "My i nephew Colin is coming to-night; he is going to stay for some time." "He is a doctor in London, isn't he? i 1 have heard you speak of him." "I dare say. He has bought a practice there," answered Miss Campion. "He is very clever in his profession, and so tender and kind! It i3 quite beautiful i to see him with children. But he ought Efej to marry; there is always a prejudice in favor of married doctors." "You had better tell him so," said < Betty, wiiha little smile. "I mean to do so; and I think he will gyv-J De settled oeiore ioug, su.u tuc um lady, uoddiug her head mysteriously. "Oh, if lie is already in love, he will not need your a Ivice, godmother! " But he is not in love, my dear," returned Miss Campion hastily. "You must not think that Colin is a foolish, ; wntimental young mau. Indeed, he is considered rather cold in society; and he is as proud as you are, Betty." "Willhe marry if he is not in love?" asked Betty, raiding her eyebrows flight lv. ' Oh, no, my dear; of course not!" ' Then you think he will obediently ! fall in love wheu you tell him that he , ought to marry? He must have his emutions under admirable control?" "lie would not fall in love with any one." said Miss Campion, with only a tague understanding of Betty's sarcasm; "but he cannot fail to see what a sweet girl " '*1 see," interrupted Betty, quietly, "you are saving him a great deal of unnecessary trouble in suggesting whom as well as when he should marry." "Colin would not marry any girl whom he could not like and respect," said Miss Campion, a little anxiously. "Oh, no! But he is not sentimental," suggested Betty. "The girl he marries will be a happy woman!" "She will, iudeed," agreed her godmother. "I am so irl:id that vou an predate Colin.'' Soou after Betty had left the drawingjoom to dress for dinner Doctor Campion arrived. When the first greetings were over, his aunt remarked, tentatively: 4,I have asked Betty Carew to stay with mc while you are here, Colin. You I don't know Betty?" uNo,'' said Colin. "She is a sweet girl," said Miss Cam-1 pion nervously. ' Is she?" "A very sweet girl. I)o you know. Colin, I have thought lately that you ought to marry? Married doctors are al- i ways the most successful." "And you think Miss Betty would I maKc a good doctors wiier questioned i Colin, suppressing n smile at his aunt's ' s transparent plot. ".She is very dear to me, Colin; Ij should like Betty to be mistress here! when I die,'' she returned wistfully. Colin kissed her and said gently: I should like to please you in all things. Aunt Betty, but I must reserve the right of choosing my own wife. I hold some antiquated views about marriage?among the rest, that a man should love his wife. Moreover, there is the chance that Miss Carew would not be overcome by my many ami undoubted charms. But we will let that pass." ' I won't say anything more about it,'" said Miss Campion, with a sigh; "but when you know her you will understand | how happy she will make some one some j day.*' At dinner C'olin .sat opposite to Betty, and. as he watched her beautiful, tender face, he was quite prepared to indorse his aunt's opinion o? her goddaughter, though Betty was anything but kind to him. ''Doi^t you think Colin is very much like the painting of my grand father in the dr.iwiug-room, Hetty :i-k? d >J is? Campyion. "Do you mean th:?t very handsome soldier hanging between the windows?" asked Betty, regarding Colin critically. "Oh, no, godmother;! cannot see the faintest resemblance." Miss Campion hastily changed the subject, to spare her nephew's feelings, though Colin was inwardly delighted at Betty's frankness?the more so because he was undoubtedly good-looking. Presently another appeal was made to Betty by the fond aunt. "Do you know, dear, Colin was placed tirst -in every examination that he went in for when he was walking the hospitals?" "Keally?" said Betty, incredulously, raising to Colin the frankest, most innocent of eyes. "I thought clever peopie became doctors sometimes." For a moment Colin suspected that she was trying to snub him, but Miss Campion attributed Betty's rudeness to fatigue, and seat her oil to bed very soon ?t'f ?>r dinnpr * * * * * During the next few days Betty found numberless oppoitunities of slighting Colin, but she was so gentle and affectionate to her godmother that he retained his first opinion as to the sweetness of her character. He accepted her slights with so much good temper, and received his aunt's praises with such genuine amusement, that Betty was at last compelled to confess to herself that her estimate of him had been altogether wrong. She felt that she could not respect him very much, for a man who would marry any girl for expediency's sake was not worthy of much honor; but i sh?> would be more polite to him, as his j conduct would not in auv way affect i her. Colin was very grateful for this change in her attitude toward him, and a friend-1 ship sprang up between them which on i his side deepened into love. Of her feel-1 ings he could guess little. She was invariably sweet and frank: but the fear of losing her friendship by attempting to gain her love for some time prevented liim from putting his fate into her hands. On the last day of her visit, however, the longing of his heart overcame this fear, iind he poured out all his soul to-her, not noticing that her face was hardening at his words. "Tell me, Betty! Give me one word of hope! Have I any chance?'1 he pleaded. She turned toward him then, her face 1 - -3 wnorinrr o I will I c ailU Stem, I1C1 uiuuiu rtbonug u faint, bitter smile. "llow well you do it!" she said, in a bard voice. "Doit? What do you mean?" he asked, bis voice changing too. "Don't you understand { I love you, Betty!" "Hush!" she interrupted, harshly. "That is quite enough. No, I can give you no hope; you have no chance. Never speak of this to me again!"?and, rising from her garden-chair, she went into the house and up to her own room. This wa3 what it all meant then! How blind he had been! She was the "sweet girl" whom Miss Campion thought a suitable wife for Colin. She had been invited here in order that Colin might - * 'J "J- " U see II sue WOUIU " UU. now jjiaitiui she ought to feel! She went down stairs presently, feeling glad that this was her last day at j Forue. She found Miss Campion sitting j alone in the drawing-room, looking a little displeased. "I am so cross, ray dear," said the old lady, drawing Betty to a seat by her side. "Colin has ridden over to the Ladbrokes' for dinner. It was very thoughtless of him not to remember that this was your last eveuing." "It does not matter, godmother," said Betty, with gentle coldness. "I would rather spend it alone with you." "Would you, dear? I thought you and Colin had got on more comfortably lately. "It was only a surface agreement," answered Betty, rather proudly. "We are too entirely opposed in character to be i really friends." ''You will hardly believe it, Betty, but I had planned a match between you two. I thought you were so well suited for ea-h other, aud it would have been so nice for me to thfcik of your living here together i after my death!'' "And you spoke to him about it r" questioned Betty, without raising her eyes. "Yes; on the evening before you came I told him what I wished. But I was to meet the fate of all match-makers, you see," she added, sighing. "Colin said that he would never marry unless lie was in love?that he must reserve to himself , the right of choosing his wife. And, as you say, dear, you and he were very far from falling in love." "Did he say that?" asked Betty eagerly. "Wouldn't he agree to what you wished? Then I have wronged him terribly; he ip ever so much nicer than I thought 1" "You thought?" questioned Miss | Campion slowly. "Ah, I remember now j ?I told you that I was going to ! speak to him, and you believed that he would marry any one I suggested! How foolish and wrong I have' been! You might have liked him if you had not been so prejudiced beforehand, ami everything might have been different." "Do not grieve, godmother," said Betty, gently. "If we have not been friends, it is quite my own fault. I had no right to judge him before I knew him." But, in spite of her brave words, her heart sank strangely. She knew that she would have accepted Colin's love had she understood what he was offering her ? for her belief in his uuworthiness, though it had destroyed her trust in him, ; had not been strong enough to kill her ' love. And now her life wouid be one long sorrow for that mistake. Coiin wo ild never speak to her of his love again?had she not peremptorily forbidden him? He had gone away now to avoid her, and after to-morrow she would never >ee him again. But at any rate, she would see him once more, and then . Oh, surely he would see that she was sorry for having misjudged hiin so. But Colin remained at the Ladbrokes' i for the night, and liad not returned to Forde when she left it the next morning for home. Hetty had been right when she assumed that Colin had gone away on the previous afternoon to avoid her. Her harsh re-1 jeetion of his proposal had roused his anger, and he had felt too hurt to bill j her good-by. Hut on his return to London his anger grew le-s as time passed on; though his love for liutty did not i diminish. A.s his thoughts dwelt on her | s'> riijsstantly. ho began to seek for some re..soil for her unkindncss, and the more inexplicable did her conduct appear. Her harshness and anger the day that he proposed to her were so at variance with her character that he at last concluded that some misunderstanding must exist iu her mind which he ought to explain away. This idea led him to make a journey to Devonshire, a few days liter, though his hopes of winning Betty's love were small. He walked over to the Hectory on the morning after his at rival, and was shown into the empty drawing-room by a neat maid-servant, who told him that Betty would be there in a few minutes, as she could be easily sent for to the church, whither she had gone to practice. Colin, however, decided to go himself, and had tio difficulty in finding the sacred edifice, which was close at hand. He seated himself just inside the door, struck by the beauty of the picture before him. The old church was cool and dim and still, the chancel alone glorified by the sunlight, which glinted through the colored windows, while the whole building was filled with the long, plaintive notes of the organ. Colin sat down near the door and waited patiently till Betty should come. He heard her dismiss the little boy with a kind word of thanks for his services? saw her shut and lock the organ; and then he waited in almost trembling expectancy while she came slowly down thp r^nTM* "Betty!" he said, softly, rising as lie spoke. "Doctor Campion!" "You are surprised to see me here," he said," gently, walking out by her side. The sun shone down hotly on her as she leaned against the stonework of the doorway, revealing to Colin how pale and thin she had become, and how sad were her eyes and lips. "You have been ill!" he said, looking down at her anxiously. "Oh, no; I am perfectly well?unusually well indeed!" she answered hastily, nervously lingering the flowers in her belt. "You are surprised to see me here, seeing how we parted," he said, watching her intently. "We did not even say good-by." "Have you come to wish me good-by now?" she asked, trying to smile. "No; I have come to ask you why you were so angry that afternoon. You treated my proposal as if I had intended it as an insult; you spoke to me as if I were acting a part! I don't think I quite deserved it, Betty?do you?" '"I?it was a mistake," she faltered. "I thought you were acting; I did not believe in your love. I?I am very sorry." "Betty," he said, taking her hands orpntlv in his. "if vou had believed in my O " *i i > love, would your answer have beeu different?" "I?I think it might have been." "Dear, do you believe in it now? Can you trust me now?" "Yes," she said, looking up at him for the first time.. Vivisecting Dogs. Dr. B. F. Curtis has been conducing I a series of experiments on living ani- J trials to ascertain, if possible, the effects of injuries inflicted on and within the abdomen, and the best method of treating them. His inquiries are considered of especial importance by the profession. His experiments, or vivisections, were chiefly performed at the Carnegie Laboratory. The animals were dogs. Among other experiments the "buffer accident" was artificially produced. The dog. a large one, was given sufficient ether to be rendered unconscious, and while in this state he was placed on the floor on his back and a weight of six, eight, ten and twelve pounds was dropped on his stomach in different placcs from various heights to ascertain the amount of force necessary to rupture the internal organs, a matter about which there is much dispute among doctors, most of whom claim that great force is required. After the the weights had been dropped the dog was placed on the operating table, given I * > ? II? I stimulants nypouenrnuauy, me tut upcu and the extent of the injuries noted. The intestines were ruptured in several places, demonstrating that the force required was far less than usually supposed. The ruptured intestines were carefully sewed upand theabdom'nil cavity washed out with an antiseptic solution. The dog was then taken to the cellar of the building, where Dr. Curtis had arranged a dog hospital, which consisted of a vault in which a number of soap boxes were arranged along either side,in each of which a dog under treatment was placed and secured by a chain. The animal referred to above was a very sick dog, but pulled through and was made the subject of several more experiments before meeting his death. Almost every possible accident that can occur to the human abdomen was reproduced on the doirs. and every kind' of treatment sug gested by the most advauced scientific ideas tried. A large number of dogs were made subjets of vivisection, most of them finally losing their lives in the cause of science.?New York World. A Startling Prediction. Two hundred years ago in China there i was just such a craze about natural gas as j we Have in tnis country to-uay. uus wells were sunk with as much vim and vigor as the celestials were capable of, but owing to a gas explosion that killed several millions ot people and tore up and destroyed a large distiict of country, leaving a large inland sea, known on the maps as Lake Foo Chang, the boring of any more gas wells was then and there prohibited by law. It seems,according to the Chinese history, that many large and heavy pressure gas wells were struck, and in some districts wells were sunk quite near to each other. Gas was lighted as soon as struck, as is done in this country. It is stated that one well, with its unusual pressure, by induction or back draught, pulled down into the earth the burning gas of a smaller well,resulting in a dreadful explosion of a large distiict, destroying the inhabitants thereof. Lake Foo Chang rests on this district. The same caiastrophe is imminent in this country, unless the laws restrict further developments in boring so many wells. Should a similar explosion occur there will be such an upheaval as will dwarf the most terrible earthquakes ever known. The country along the gas belt from Toledo, through Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky -- mi i - ? * /? fVio nf 1 O.rtj) J win lie npjjcu u|j ii*j iiiv uc|/b(i v* *) -wvv to 1,500 feet and flopped over like a pancake, leaving a clmsm through which the waters of Lake Erie will come howling down, tilling the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and blotting them out forever.? Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. Opposed to Snubbing Boys. Don't snub a boy because he wears shabby clothes. When Edison, the inventor of the telephone, first entered Boston he wore a pair of yellow linen breeches in the depth of winter. Don't snub a boy because nis nome is plain and unpretending. Abraham Liucoln's early home was a log cabin. Don't snub a boy because of u dulness in his lessons. Hogarth, the celebrated painter and engraver, was a dull boy at his books. Don't snub a boy because of the ignorance of his parents. Shakespeare, the world's poet, was the son of a man who was unable to write his own name. Don't snub a boy because he chooses an humble trade. The author of Pilgrim's Progress was a tinker. Don't snub a boy because of physical diability. Milton was blind. Don't snub a boy because he stutters. Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, overcame a harsh and stammering voice. ? Our Dumb Animals. WOMAN'S WORLD. PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR FUMIMNJU KlliAUDKS. An Out-Door Belle. Some styles of beauty vary with their surroundings, as is shown by a writer in the New York Mail and Express: It often happens that a belle of the parlor is not a belle on the beach, aud that a girl that gets small attention indoors is admired out-doors. A group on the sand at Long Branch was composed of a dozen men and one girl, who was being talked to by all of them, aud one who was surely a neat, comely figure in a modest bathing suit. I recalled her as having seemed of no account at all in the hotel on the previous evening. " "VY^at makes the difference in her?''I asked of an expert. "The reason is that she bears the wetting and the sunshine," was the reply. "She has no brilliancy of com slflvian ?ai? Vvounfw nf fnofnroa unrf in P^AIUU uut uvauij Wi 1VUKU*VW| wu- ? the shade she can't bear competition with more luxuriously-endowed creatures, but out here in the glare her freckled face looks clean and bright, her drenched hair is becoming to her small features, and pcrfect naturalness gives to her a charm." How Ladies Count. "Did you ever notice how ladies count?" said a dry goods. clerk. "I do not refer," he continued, "to women in business, but the majority of ladies who shop. They seem to have some intuitive way of reaching results, very differently from the way men calculate money matters. What do I mean? Well, stand here and watch the next lady who counts her cash, and you will find that most of her arithmetic is done on her fingers. She may not snap them down 'one, two, three four,'but there is a slight movement of the muscles aud lips that tells one that she is counting by them all the same. Some never count the money over, but accept it as right. Others count it over and always say it is short. Now you see, of those six ladies who have received change while we have been talking, only one has counted her cash, and she counted it over twice before she was satisfied. I have given this matter considerable study, and am led to infer from my observations that the average female mind has no correct sense of numbers."?Detroit Tribune. Wpr Hawpv. The best dowry a wife can bring to her husband, says the Youth's Companion, is a true and faithful heart, and a sincere desire to be to him all that is expressed in that old-fashioned word, "help-meet." The question of other dowry, such as chattels or land or money, should always be secondary, and is when marriage con*?l. :? ti.? A m&L'ib tire uiuue 111 cuc u^ut opint. A very old lady, known to the writer, amuses her friends by giving the following inventory of the things contained in the dowry she brought to her husband: "In the first place," she says, "I thought the world and all of Reuben, and so did he of me; and neither of us ever changed our minds. "Then for other dowry I had from my home, one young cow, one colt, four head of shotes, six hens, and a dominick rooster, one cat, one feather bed, six good sheets, one new brass kettle, one warming pan, fourteen quilts and six coverlets, six pewter spoons, six plates, four cups and sassera, two knives and two forks, a bushel of seed corn, two chairs, ten pounds of wool and ten of fax, a glass molasses pitcher, and a pewter sugar bowl. *?T rAti fhminrVif "RnnVipn hfifi done mighty well to get me in those days, and I think so, too. So did he; and he never thought different. That's the best part of it." Insurinjr Maidens. In Denmark there is a society known as the Maiden Assurance Society; its aim is to provide for ladies of well-to-do families. It shelters and cares for them, and furnishes them with "pin money." Its methods are thus described: The nobleman ?for the association is peculiarly for this class?as soon as a female child is born, enrolls her name in a certain association of noble families and pays a certain sum. and thereafter a fixed annual amount to the society. When she reaches the age of twenty-one, she becomes entitled to a fixed income, and to a suite of apartments in a large building of the association, with gardens and park i '? i i 1 1 i.1 aoout it, lnnaouea uy ouicr youuger or older noble ludies who have, lh like manner, become me. ber*. If her father should die in her youth, and she should desire it, she has shelter in this building, and at a time fixed her income. When she dies or marries all this right to income lapses, and the money paid in swells the endowment of the association. Her father may pay for twenty years and then her marriage cuts off all advantage of the insurance. But this very chance must enable tiic company to cnarge lower annual premiums and make the burden less on the father insuring. He has, at any rate, the pleasant feeling that his smali annual payments are insuring his daughter's future, and giving her a com- J fortablchome and income after he is gone. It is obvious that the chances for marriage among a given number of women can be calculated as closely as those of death. The plan has worked well for generations in Copenhagen.?Manchester (Englani) Policy Holder. The Langtry Colfftire. The Langtry is at present in California, devoting herself to study, and one of the newspaper gossips writes, to the invention of a new coiffure. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, and the Langtry has grown so accustomed to i this species of adulation that she can't live and thrive without it. It was she who introduced last winter's fashion of fluting the buck and sides of tnc nair j after it had been arranged high on her head. Hut she did not pit the credit of it, though it became universal and was, very becoming. "When she returns she j will have some me'hod of folding up | her chestnut locks that will be easy to j imita'e, becoming and fashionable at j once. She herself has promised it, and j her entire mind is being bent toward the fulfillment of it. One thing about Langtrv's head-dress it is always difficult tn iniif:innd that is the exquisite chestnut brown of her silky locks, char- J acteristic English hnir that forms the most perfeot foil to the pink and white English skin. Some approach ! to this shade can be obtained by j bathing the hair frequently in j lukewarm water, to which half a 1 teaspoonful of hartshorn has been added. I It gives the hair an auburn tinge, and J makos it very light and fluffy, but ruins it in the long run, taking away :ill its life and drying up the natural oil of the scalp. The only hair dye that is known that does not injure the hair is that used j by the Persian women?a weak solution I of henna. In Persia only one shade of I hair is known and that one artificial. No ! matter what may be the color of a child's j hair?and there are even blondes there sometimes?as soon as it obtains to a / convenient length it is dyed with henna and kept dyed as long as she lives. The shade they desire to obtain is one that naturally is as rare as it is beautiful. The natural color which when in shadow is absolutely dark, but when the sun's rays strike it all the salient points turn to a reddish gold. It is a color sometimes seen in this country in children a year or two old, and nothing ean be more beautiful than these dark locki lit with this gleaming touch on the turn of the curl, on the fold of a braid or coil of a thick twist of silken hair. In Persia it is taken quite as a matter of course, and many of the wives of the Ambassadors to Teheran have adopted the custom of dyeing their hair the same way, as it suffers no injury from the process; New York Women Who Swim. "I never touch anything," he said to me one day composedly, "which is not of the upper crust. I instruct the aristocratic people of New York how to swim, I will not have anything to do with the humbler elements of the.town. This is partially because I like it, and partially because a bath that is run exclusively for the best class of society will be liberally patronized. My place occupies four city lots, for which I paid $85,000 before I began to build. The expenses are very large, as it is necessary to keep the pool warm enough in winter to admit of bathing, and all the accessories are in good taste. rn' - ? ? X--? i. ?. AMt'nAmi /Inrrvaa i ms was irue iu su ciumcub uigin., Everything that the water touched was marble or silver, and the dressing-rooms were models of comfort and elegance. Illustrated magazines and papers were scattered about the reading rooms, and the attendants were all in showy uniforms. There were probably half a dozen ladies swimming at the time. They wore very light and close fitting bathing suits, and their instructors were women. One of the swimmers was a society lady whose face had been familiar to New Yorkers at the opera and fashionable balls for several seasons. She is a dainty little woman, with a face as delicate as a cameo, and she has a soft voice and a gentle manner. She reminds one of a nun, she is so quiet and demure. The day that I glanced into the bath she was just emerging from her dressing room. She pattered down the walk on a run, scudded up the steps to a springboard five or six feet above the water, posed herself on the end a moment, and then sprang in the air like a bird and j dived out of sight. Presently she came ' to the surface of the water, ten or fifteen feet beyond, and went splashing hand over haDd to the steps. Once there she scrambled to the walk again and repeated her dive with a shriek of exultation that could be heard all over the builidng. She was as wild, untrammeled and venturesome as a street arab on an east side : dock. Many of the crack croquet, bad- j minton and polo playing girls swim i tesrularlv at the these baths. They have ! learned that it develops their muscles, j increases the color in their cheeks, and adds to their buoyancy, courage and > spirits. Most of them are as reckless as dock rats in the water, though as proper as quakeresses on land. Many of them would doubtless repeat with my friend the lawyer: "Me tub is mc second self.? Blakelg Hall. Fashion Notes. High flaring bows are still a feature of fashionable head coverings. Figured black tulle over a skirt of colored silk is liked for evening wear. Many of the newest tailor-made suits have the white pique waistcoat and collar. Numerous fancy trimmings appear upon the long wrists of the newest gloves. Solid silver chains for girdles or for looping up dresses are among new and novel things seen. Coarse braids are more stylish than any of finer wear for dressy hats, either in bark or in colors. Latest Parisian bonnets are by no means | as high as they were and are exceedingly simple and pretty. Bonnet pins become more and more elaborate and expensive, the designs now running to insects. Silver jewelry is as popular as ever and represents much the same patterns as are | seen in gold jewelry. i Silver bangles have as "danglers" ten 1 nis rackets, croquet mallets and other ' seasonable ornaments. - | Light white silk, voile or muslin takes ! | the place of heavy satin of moire for warm- I ; weather wedding dresses. Gauze ribbons are still the prettiest possible trimming for the white lace bonnets so stylish this season. A sash bridle is stylish on e'ther white or colored costumes and takes the place of a sash in finishing a costume. Honev-comb work is used for the yokes of thin fabrics instead of shirring, and is attractive for washable or thin woolen fabrics. I Cock's plumes are stylish on traveling hats and for generally knock about wear, as they perfectly stand any sort of weather. A beautiful costume of striped pink silk of black and white combined with chantilly lace is as elegant as anything seen this season. Cardinal hats of crape are worn with white costumes, and have a pretty effect. A cardinal sash also brightens the cos tume still further. The most becoming costumes 01 oerege j are trimmed with silk lace in color con- j trusting to the berege or in a dark shade i of the same color. Clear batiste muslin having bouquets of roses upon a white ground, or a border of roses, are used for some very dainty warm-weather toilets. Large tortoise shell buttons for outside jackets have a monogram in gold or if of ivory they have the design etchcd into the button in black. The small ornamental pins which are useful for fastening bonnet strings or j lace gradually grow less in size, but greater attention is given to their beauty and artistic finish. Pretty sandals are encrusted with jets over the straps that cross the instep. Sandals over the fashionable openworK i stockings are among the most stylish foot-gear of the season. Among the newest dress trimmings are metal embroidery. Cold, silver, bronze and iridesccnt threads are worked by machine in beautiful designs, and the foundation being afterwards cut away leaves an open work pattern, giving the effect of lace. The Farmer's Son. [ A farmer's son was Silas Brown, Whose misdeeds caused his parents pain, And who was known about the town As one "who'd ne'er do well again. So. when the father, through the door His offspring flung with wrathful cry, The neighbors said: "As oft before, Poor bi'own has heaved a heavy Si." ?Boston Budget. MAIL CAR CLERKS. m I SOME FACTS ABOUT THE RAIL WAY POSTAL SYSTEM. A Thousand Cars and Fire Thousand Clerks ? Severity of tho j Examination?What an Expert Clerk Must Do. In a New York letter to the Trov i Timos, "Hermit" says: How few of \ those who so continually receive letters i and newspapers have any idea of th? immensity which our postal system has I reached. 1 was recently informed by a member of the department that the weight of postal matter sent from this < city daily ia not less than 230 tons, which, in the days of our fathers, would i have loaded a ship. Taking the entire i year at the average, the annual aggre- ] gate would be 90,310 tons, one-fifth of j which is carried on the Central-Hudson road. The railway postal system is a , development due to the rapid increase in j business, and though it was hardly . known twenty-five years ago, it is now j an indispensable feature in the operations ] nf /low Ui Uiiv S4UJ The modern mail car is realy a traveling postoffice. When the idea was first introduced the mails were put up by the local postmasters, and all required of the j railway man was to receive and deliver the pouches. Now, however, the car is j fitted up as a postoffice, and a complete system of distribution is maintained. The mails are received in bulk, and the clerks distribute while in motion, a duty j which requires great rapidity and precision. Taking a national view of this 1 system, I find it divided into nine great [ divisions, all of which are under the supervision of Thomas E. Nash, general superintendent of the railway postal ser- ' tv _ _ _i. *. \ vice. xii3 omcu ul vvuMiiugiuu, uuu his salary is $4,500 which he well earns, as his duties are very laborious. He i travels incessantly, and must be inconstant readiness to obey a telegraphic summons to any place where difficulties 1 may arise. He has nine assistant super- 1 intendents, one to each division. It is estimated that the railway postal 1 system requires 5,000 men, and as they ' average five to a car the number of 1 postal cars cannot be less than 1,000. 1 As a first-class car costs $8,000, the 1 reader can form an idea of the capital req.uirea. There are 100 railroads in this State on which postal cars are employed. Each car, as I have said, contains a crew of five, one of which is generally a green hand learning the business, and there- 1 fore required to do the rougher part of 1 the work. Applications for employment 1 are made through some influential man? generally the Congressman of the district?and the appointment is limited to I -2? ? ?TU,n ia Bl.\ UlUllbUa. lug tauuiuui.? us gui/jw^ to an examination of miscellaneous reading, the test being a batch of envelopes, 1 and he is expected to read the address of 100 in from five to seven minutes. He i is not obliged to do this, for, however dull he may be, his job is good for sii 1 months, the pay being $80 a month. Another important requisite is good i bodily health, and especially eyesight. 1 He is set to work immediately, and if hedoes not give satisfaction he is dropped i at the end of the term. I If the candidate display an adaptation to the work he is at the close of his probation subjected to another examination. The scene is a miniature postoffice, with the usual array of boxes for making up the mail. A large number of envelopes (sometimes cards are used) is handed him, and he is required to place them in the boxes proper for their destination. This requires not only rapidity of* thought, but also knowledge of locality, and to bccome an expert one must have a natural gift for geography. One of these candidates distributed 3,500 addressed cards in three and a half hours, and ninety-seven per cent, of the whole number was correct. The same task has been done by an expert in less than two hours, but it was a severe effort. It is required j of the candidate that ninety-five per cent, of this distribution be correct, or he is dropped. The necessity of this familiarity with postoffice localities is evident from the fact that every postal car has - ? 1 1 m - *T T_ 3 AOA 17i pigeon notes ior new ions udu sou j for Pennsylvania, together with others in j proportion. Pennsylvania contains more j postoffices than any other State in the [ Union, and though most of them are of i minor importance the clerk must know i the best way of reaching them. These j examinations are held cither in this city j or in Syracuse under Chief Examiner i Warring, whose t<\sts ^re a complete bar J against all incompetents. ^ * The pay, however, at best is small, at least for the service required, and ranges from $80 to $115 per month. No candidate is eligible under sixteen, but the ! most desirable age is from twenty-seven to thirty-two, since the faculties are | mrnlv fullv develoued until some years | after reaching manhood. Old men are I not wanted, and though there is a man J still in serv ice at sixty, he is a rare exception. 0!<? men may be able to go through a routine, but postal clerks are often required to perform double duty, which ' could not be expccted of aged persons. The service between this city and Chicago requires 320 men, all of whom work very hard. The morning train leaves at four o'clock a. m., but they are required to be on hand two hours earlier to get their work ready, and they are kept busy until tney reacn Syracuse, | where they are relieved, and the next j day resume work and return on the pos- | tal train. Some who arc very available in j other points find the service too hard for j health, especially when liable to kidney disease or vertigo. A clear head, strong and adroit muscle and rapid calculation I are requisite, and hence few become per- ! mancntly successful. In fact, of all the ; pUDUC SCrvams U1CIC uic liuue Tf uw o\j | thoroughly cam their money as the railway postal clerks. Something About tlie Bicycle. "You might think that only the legs 1 would be exercised by riding a wheel, but it is a fact that a beginner feels the effects first in his shoulders aud back. The muscles of the trunk, purticlorly about the sides and abdomen, are also used a great deal. Although the action I of the legs appears to be similar to their j action in walking it is found that six muscles in the calf not used at all in ! walking are brought into play. You cau work those muscles by rising on your toes, but in walking they are not cxer- j cised. The speed attainable on ordinary i roads in a ride of four or five hours, ; ; taking it comfortably and not trying to 1 make a record, will average about eight 1 miles an hour. It is a good horse that | will keep up that gate. Expert riders j can out-travel any horse that ever wore , shoes in a twenty-four-hour journey, but j that, of course, is a feat of endurance. 1 t-AnartnnKlo trnvnl tha 1?. I rur jjriiuuuiki, v., v?*^ cycle is superior to a horse on good roads, and is by no means a plaything or an athlete's apparatus. It is a business and pleasure vehicle, and ought to be considered iu the road laws.?Weatcrn Newt' won. v :r-r&t ' '1 ???????????^???? POPULAR SCIENCE The largest guns now used on shipboard are calculated to penetrate 30 inches of iron, 10 to 20 of granite &nd ? 75 feet of earth. The death rate of the world is computed about 67 a minute, 97,790 a day, and 35,639,835 a year, while the birth rate is 79 a minute, 100,500 a day, and 86,792,000 a year. A. photographer at Pesth has succceded in taking photographs of projectiles, Bred from a Werendler gun, while having a velocity of 1,100 feet per second. The projectiles appeared on the impressions enveloped in a layer of air, hyperbolic in form. Photographic outfits are being placed jn board all United States men-of-war with the purpose of illustrating despatches. All points of value in naviga tion are to be photographed and the ' pictures are to be preserved for reference it the Navy Department. Cultivated in groves, the average growth in twelve years of several varieties of hard wood has been ascertained to be about as follows: White maple reaches 1 foot in diameter and 30 feet in height; ash, leaf maple or box elder, 1 foot in diameter and 20 feet in height; white willow, 18 inches and 40 feet; yellow willow, 18 inches and 35 feet; Lombardy poplar, 10 inches and 40 feet; blue and white ash, 10 inchcs and 35 feet; black walnut and butternut, 10 inches and 20 feet. jx r reacn savant naa prupuuuueu a theory that coal was originally a liquid generated by the decomposition of inferior vegetation in an atmospere highly charged with carbonic acid. The carbon of the jelly-like mass thus formed, after passing through various transformations into asphalt, petroleum, bitumen, etc., finally assumed the form of coal. The authcr cites various facts connected with the occurrence of coal, which, he thinks, are better explained on his theory than by the usual one. Dr. A. B, Griffiths, an English physi- \ cian, has just published a communication which is of great importance to horarirj offnvnltnr'flfa tta oionstrate9 that iron sulphate is an antidote for many of the most vy-ulent epidemics which attuck field and garden crops. These diseases are due to micro- * scopic fungi, whose structures are built up in a somewhat different manner to the corresponding parts in otner plants. It appears that the cellulose in these fungi is acted upon by iron sulphate, whereas in the higher plants the cellulose of the cell walU is not influenced. The iron sulphate destroys the. cellulose, but does not affect that of the attacked plant. It is, therefore, an --- ^ antidote and destroyer of such parasitic germs and fungi as the potato disease, wheat mildew, etc. During many years spent in Tunis, ' ;$ Colonel Roudaire surveyed four great depressions or "shotts," extending below sea level in such a position that they may be filled with water by means of a canal. These depressions ? named Tedjed, l p. Djerid, Rharsa and Melrir?could thus be . changed in a lake more than seventy-five feet deep, and having an area of 8,164 square miles. The creation of tbis lalce and the consequent improvement of # much surrounding couutry formed the favorite project of Colonel Houdaire, and now seems likely to be accomplished in spite of its author's death. The ar- -;i tesian weils tried in the district, and from which a revenue in aid of the canal was expected, are proving successful. ?? The first well, sunk in 1883 to a depth of 295 feet, commenced yielding water at the rate of 1,760 gallons per minute, and has now increased its flow to 10,800 gallons per minute. According to Sir P. de Lesseps, the bauks of the river Mclah, ... which fifteen month? ago were deserts, are now populated; and very shortly the canal will be commenced. A Tartar44 Shamman." In all nomad Tartar communities? such, for instance, as the Kirgese hordes of the inner steppe between the Volga and the Ural?the ''shamman," or memcine man, is a person of first-rate importance. He is the priest and prophet of the wandering tent folk, physician and soothsayer, saint and thaumaturg. He is regarded as being on familiar terms with the unseen powers of the universe, and is supposed to have direct control over the entire shammanist pantheon, from the "ticsstori," or "gooa spirits, who ride upon the "red foxes," to the four-horned demons who rule in the nether world. His blessing can insure good health and s"cc<?w in life; his prayers can warn off evil and avert an early acatn; ms aujuraiiona euro Bigness and prevent disease. He is revered as one semi-divine, and no Tartar ceremony, whether in connection with a birth, death, marriage or funeral, can be performed without him. He has hia own "yurta," and this is deemed as sacred to the superstitious nomads as the holy groves and hills, the "stocks" and "stones," which are everywhere objects of worship to the wandering Mongol tribes. The office of shamman is r'i not hereditary among the Kirgese Tartars. Only specially endowed individuals are considered eligible for the dignity. Spearin? Eels. By far the most expert method of eel fishing is "gigging"or ''spearing." It is very laborious sport, for, unlike the easy posture of the Indian in his river craft, the modern night fisherman wades the water. He carries a gigging lamp in one hand, whose reflector scatter.? a threepronged flame over a wide surface and plainly reveals the bottom of the stream, lying two feet deep. A gig of six nicked prongs is in his other hand. He moves up stream; so docs his game. The glare of the light will bring the game to a standstill. The eel lies straight as an arrow and in waiting for any food that floats down stream. The light so dazzles the eel that you can stand over it and with slow aim thrust the spear into its tail. There lies its greatest strength. To hit it in the head will allow the captive' to entwine the pole and break it. A ?f'nn" "*>l eonld easily break the arm of a man.? Philadelphia Times. A Kitten with Five Heads. A citizen of Cincinnati thought he had a sure fortune in a kitten which had five heads, five tails, ten fore legs and five Iama II n rtleA lmiKThf if nnclit IIIIIU A1V UiOXJ iuvu^uo ? ^ t) have about forty-five lives and was irood for many years, but after a brief career of fifteen days the little monstrosity died, the result of too much handling by the curious. ? Troy Times. The Fiery Ordeal. On pottery my love was pleased to paint that wpre exceeding rare and iyCSIfcl" ? " ? quaint; And when she had them done as she desired, With neatness and dispatch the pots were fired. "Love, I am but a vase of common clayDesign me as you will, I humbly pray!" The maiden fashioned me as she thought beat. And then?why, I was fired with the rest. ?T. B. Sanborn. . 4I