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a mahogony box twelve inches long, th? other dimensions being four inches each. In the center of the top is to be a slit, larjje enough to admit the largest silvei coin." "A money box," said the cabincl maker. ' Yes." "Pretty large for that, isn't it?" "leather," said Mrs. Stetsou, smiling "but better too large than too small." John Stetson fell in with a companion in the afternoon, with whom he had s social chat. As they were walking lcis AN OLD MANS SONG. Ske world is full of mystery, ffiucb no ono understands: "What o before our eyes wesoe, 7b? -work of unseen hands; SbS whence and when and why they wrought, Saupcs the grasp of human thought. Tbere -was a t.'me when wo were not, Ai?d there will bo again. W>?pa we must cease and be forgot, With all our joy and pain? Sara like the w.nd, or like the snow That 1 11 a thousand years ago. W? fire as if we should not die, Blindly, but wisely, too; For if we knew that death was nigh, What could we say or do, But fold our arms and close our eyes, ? ?"> ?V - l: ? J mm tuiv nu jliuiu ?uu lives kji uics; 2f df atb to each man in his turn 3s coming soon or late, Bbwzts the soldier's uwoncern, And his courageous fate; Beater to perish in the strife Them to preserve the coward's life. Hew Year, if you were bringing youth As you are bringing age, 3would not have it back: in sooth, lhsre no strength to wage licet bat tit s over. Let them be; 3Sury jour dead, 0 memory! Yea ran bring nothing will surprise, And nothing will dismay, Botesrs again in these old cye3, 2#o darkness in my day. Yon might bring light and smiles instead, $f you could give me back my dead. 1 ksTe beheld your kin, New Year, Folly Jifty times, and none That was so happy and so dear, I wept when it was done. Why should we weep when years depart, Aad leave their ashes in the heart.9 Good by, since you are gone, Old Year, And my past life, good-by! 1 s-bed no tear upon your bier, For it is well to dio. Setr Year, your \Vorst will be my best? What can an okl man want but rest* ?liichard Henry Stoddard. SMALL SAVINGS. BY JTORATrO ALGER, JR. *1 don't see how Holmes does it," aid .lohn Stetson, with a puzzled expression. "Does what?" asked his wife, looking Bp from her sewing. ""Why, save so much money from his alary, to be buvc." "Then he does save, doe3 he?" "You know the haif-acre lot adjoining Us house "Yea." "Well, he has just bought it for a Irodred dollars, and what is more, paid lor it out of money saved from his salary Ibis year." "How does his salary compare with jours:" "He ha3 only seven hundred dollars a year, while I have eight. Then our1 families are the same; each of us has two j children." "Yet. I am afraid you don't save near ' that amount." 4*No. I guess not. The fact is, if I find myself square at the end of the year, 1 think myself lucky." ".And yef, John," said his wife, ! gravely, "it seems to me as if we ought i Zo Iav by something." "lVs easy enough to say that, but the <anefftion is. 'How are we ." oin"1 to do iti' I 1 ' * O O " I There's ilary's music lessons, at tea dol- j lare a quarter. That's the only way I i can think of, and I shouldn't want to stop those." "Jia. to be sure not; but isn't there any other way?" * 'Sot that I know of." "Don't you think, John, the little incidental expenses cost more than you think for:" 44Such as what?" "Cigars, ice cream, oysters, the theatre, xsd so on." John Stetson winced a little. "They are mere trilles,'' said he, carelessly. "A few cents each time. Pooh! tiey would make precious little dider??cc at the end of the year." "You know there's an old proverb: ^Many a little makes a mickle.' " "Pshaw! I hate old proverbs. Bender these little things are really of i Toy little account. A man doesn't feel j the sum he pays out, and if it doesn't j in one way, it would in another." "How many cigars do you smoke daily?'' pursued his wife. "Three." "And bow much do vou pay for them." "F iveccnts anieee " "That would make fifteen rents." 'And what's fifteen ceotsr" "Sot much in it>elf, but multiplied hy a large number, it amounts to something." "What are you driving at, wife?" "I am going to make a proposition to jou." *Tra all attention." "You say you don't mind a few cents ; a day." tvOf course not." "Then I propose that a small box be btained, with a slit in the lid, just like I the children's tin savings boxes, in short, | ?m)y larger; and that lor every cent jou spend for cigar#, ice cream, theatres, or any such little luxury, you deposit an equal sum in the box." John Stetson laughed. dare say," he remarked, "it would Iriog me out a perfect Croesus at the and of the year." 44I)o you agree?" asked his wife, with aosne appearance of anxiety. "Yes; I have no great objection, if jon desire it, though I acknowledge it seems a little foolish and childish." "Never mind about that. I have jour promise, and we'll try the experiment one year. If it doesn't amount to enough to inakc it an object, theu it i will be time to give it up." 'You must take all the trouble of it. I 1 can't engage to do anything about it I esccpt to furnish the money when it is I called for." 4kThat is all I shall require of you. 3hrt I shall expect you to give an account cwy night of all" that you have distorted in the ways I spoke of, and to be prepared with an equal amount of change for deposit." tk\ ery well, I'll try." This conversation took place at the ixea;<f.ist table. Having drained his acton11 cap of coffee, John Stetson put ?n his overcoat, and took his way to his ptaco of business. I may as well mention, in this connection, that he was cashier of a small country bank, and, as kis duties occup ed him only a few feosrs in the day, he was more likely, from the ieisuie which he enjoyed, to indulge in small expenses. "My wife is an enthusiast," thought be. as he was walking down town. "However, her hobby won't co3t much, so I might a^ weil indulge her in it." He stepped into a store and obtained daily allowance of cigars. Meanwhile, Mrs. Stetson proceeded to shop of a cabinet maker. ?ll -want you," said she, "to make me < y . . - urely along, they parsed an oyster saloon. Stetson was particularly fon?l of tht bivalves, and he proposed that thej shouhl ?0 in and tnke some. To this his friond did not demur, and they accordingly entered. Two plate1 of oysters came to thirty ccnt?. Beside: this, they took a glass of soda each, which made ten cents more. This brought up the bill to forty cents, which Stetson paid. Accordingly, adding tc this fifteen cents for cigars, he depo-ited lifty-five cents in his wife's hauds that evening. "I might as well make it sixty," said he, smiling. "No," said she. "Not a cent over. ] want the savings to represent exacth what you spend on these little luxuries, and no more." The next evening he had nothing tc deposit, except the usual amount oJ j cigars. "Jr. won't amount up very fast at thai rate,"' said he, triumphantly. "Never mind," said his wife. "1 don't want you to increase your expendi; turws on my account. I am inclined tc ; think they wiii not often be as small as this. She was right. The next day, being "Wednesday. .Tohc Stetson brought home a couple of tickets I for the theatre. It was a benefit ni^lit. | and he was anxious that his wife should I S?{ "Certainly," said she. "I shall b? glad to go; but you remember our compact." "What?" "How much did you pay for the j tickets!" I "Fifty cents apiece." "That will make a dollar. Please | hand me tliat amount for our fund." "Was the theatre included:" said Jchn, a little reluctantly. "Certainly. That was expressly menI tioncd." "Oh. well, then, so let it be. Here is ! a silver dollar." i The dollar was at oace dropped intc I the box. The next day, in passing a shop window, Stetson noticed some fine orange-?. "Just what Mary and the children would like," thought he. "I'll go in and inquire the price." They were four ccnt9 apiece. He I bought half a dozen, at a cost of a quar' i i xer, which tyiiuiub eiyur iuuul-v, iubuiuj thirty-seven cents to deposit. The succeeding day he spent nothing J except for cigars. On "Saturday he j stepped into a coofectioneiy establishment with a friend and had a lunch. When hi* wife added up the daily sums, she found to her own surprise even, that she had received from liei husband two dollars and sixty-two cents. He would have been astonished to hear it, but she thought it not best to say any. thing about it. He would have alleged that it was a special case, as they did not go to the theatre every week. Tlrs was true; but then, something el?e was sure to come of equivalent cost, such a* a ride or a concert. So time slipped away. The necessity, according to the compact, of giving his wife as much as?he spent for incidental evpen9C9, no doubt contributed to check him somewhat, so that probably he did not spend more than two-thirds as much in th s way as he had done before the agreement. Still, he kept up to the average of the first week. We will now suppose the year to have glided by. John Stetson came into the sitting room with a preoccupied air. "What are you thinking about?"' asked his wife. "About the half-acre lot adjoining the one Homes bought last year.'1 "TWl T?nii wiwli tn nnrrhftsR it?" "Yes; I should like to; but of course I can't, nothavin? the money." "How much do they ask for it?" "Holmes paid a hundred dollars for his. This is on some accounts, preferable, and they hold it at one hundred and twenty-live dollars." "Perhaps you could raise the money, John," said his wife, quietly. "By borrowing? I shouldn't want to do that." "You remember our fund;" "Pshaw! That may possibly amount to thirty or forty dollars." "Suppose we count it, as the year is up to day." "Very well." The box was opened,and husband and wife commenced counting. They soon reached, and passed, forty dollars. "Bless my 5-oul !*'said John Stetson. "I had no idea there was so much." "What was his astonishment when the total proved to be one hundred and twenty-nine dollars and forty cents! "You see you can buy the lot." ' But haven't you swelled the amount from your own aHowauce?" he asked, somewhat bewildered. ".Not by aieut; and don't you see, John, that if you had refrained from even half of the expenses we spoke of. we might have had in the neighborhood of two hundred dollars?" John Stetson did see, and he determined that the lesson should be a serviceable one. The half-acre lot was bought, and now, at the end of five years, it is worth double what he paid for it. lie has also laid aside two hundred dollars a year during this period, and all by small savings.? Yankee Blade. Tea Drinking on the Increase. The city is tea drenched, tea soaked. It would uot be surprising to see a fog hang over it from the steam of tea. Every woman who is anything of a woman at jill owns one of tho-e cast iron, hooked parlor tripods which hang a tea kettle ovcran alcohol lamp, keeping things hot for who-:o may drop in for a cup of an afternoon. The tea tripod is becoming as essential an article of furniture as the I two and four shade lamps which stand [ on pedestals and confer the latest touch of elegance on the drawing room. Two or four. Milaily ubors three. She thinks a three shade lamp unlucky. Can it be that she is growing superstitious these ? K.'ir. Midi a <d k'.ntmx. A S.ifc That Defies ftursrlars. It is a saying of the police that a lock is no sooner invented than a burglar finds a way to open it. '1 he safe makers, however, have at last built a strong box which defies the crackman's elfort. It consists of an arrangement in the casing of the safe of a lot of steel balls, which are loosely arranged so that a drill cannot be used on them. They turn arouud, and even if a drill would pierce one it would only fall and let another ball into its place. An Eastern burglar has devised an electric machine to make ail entrance into safes, but the device is so clumsy that it can never bccome a popular leature of the "kit."?tit. Louit ticar. o" . ' - . s> cv*~ Viisv.-L.v- . ' WOMAN'S WORLD. 1' PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR FEMININE READERS. Violets. Violets are the prevailing flower in the fashionable world now. White violets are succeeding lilies of the valley for bridal bouquets, and bridesmaids carry dark blue Parma violet?. At a recent wedding all the llowers used about the liouso for the wedding decorations were violets. The cost of the display was fabulous. Great bunches of maidenhair ferns are also used for bridesmaids. Fashionable women are using violet perfume aud no other, for the odor is delicious.?New Yor.'c Telegram. Patches on tlie Cheek, It has been asserted gravely that ladies are to wear mouches.or "patches," as iu the old days of J.ouis XIII., Louis XIV'., aud the two following monarchs, says a Paris letter. The patches will be coquettishly placcd on dainty cheeks and alabaster ihoulders, and will be sprinkled, when safely in position, with the dimmest suggeition of pearl powder. The fashionable coiffeurs of Paris are already rehearsing their parts, and practicc the art by plantiug mouches on the rigid features and immovable busts of the wonderful waxen elhgies that adorn their shop windows and hairdressiug saloous. Iu the days of la pompadour a patch under the eye was called dangerous, that under the chin la fatale, and that near the mouth l'assassine. Equally fantastic names would uo doubt UU UC V lOC^A iV/4 lliU UiUViV/i.ii wu vvu vu> j mouches which are seen to be the mode. Dangers of Nail Nibbling. "A novel incident resulting from a habit of very common prevalence anion" nervous people was brought to my notice recently," said a leading physician of Philadelphia to a reporter the other day. 4'A young lady presented herself at ray oflice and complained of a constant irritation in her throat. Two weeks previously she had been taken with a very severe attack of sore throat, which was treated by the family physician. Under his care, she said, the inflammation quickly subsided, but there still remained a sensation of irritation. Examination revealed a small lleshy looking object about the size of a kernel of wheat adherent to the tissues posterior to the left tonsil by the one end. The other parts of the throat were normal. The little mass could not be detached by a cottoncovered probe, but by the use of forceps . it was easily removed and on examination proved to be a piece of finger nail which had become embedded in a cheesy deposit. A broken piece of the nail was also removed from under the mucous membrane at the same spot by a sharppointed probe. The lady then confess; d to the habit of biting her finger-nails, i u 1 ti - ana moreover couiu rememuer mai a unj or two previous to her throat trouble a picce of nail she had bitten oil had become lost iu her mouth, but after it had caused a fit of coughing, she had forgotten all about it until reminded by the discovery." Beauty of Irish Women. 1 The Irioh ladies are perhaps the prettiest in the wide world,always excepting their fair cousins, the Yankee belloi. Their features, it is true, are less regular than those of English women, but they triumph over them with their soft creamy complexions, their larn;e, appealing gray-blue eyes and long lashes, and a sort of indefinable charm and demure coquetry, yet thoroughly modest manners. "Every third Irish woman," wrote Queen Victoria in her dinry when last visiting the country, "is beautiful, and some of them remarkably so. Their hair aud eyes arc simply lovely." Apart from personal charms, it is impossible not to admire the gentle grace and dignity of the wives and daughters of the Emerald Isle. Go where you will, I de?n Tfieli wrtmnn wlin Jc 1J JUU LU JlliU uu Aiiau .. t.v# ?W otherwise than naturally distinguished ?the very barmaids being superior in bearing and speech to many English Duchesses. Tho list of beauties is a long one, and looking back we can recall histories ol' the extraordinary loveliness of the three Miss Gunnings, who, when they came up to London, had actually to be escorted in Hyde Park by a guard of soldiers sent by order of the Secretary of State, so overwhelmingly was the crowd pressing upon them. Then there were Lady Denny, Lady Cnhir, Lady Clare and many others, to say nothing of the present young Duchcss of I.cinstcr, one of tho most attractive women of this or auy other day.?.b'a/i Francisco Chronicle. Intellectual Women as Wives. Do intellectual women make the best partners for life? asks a writer in the Baltimore Nem. Emerson says "it is not beauty that inspires the deepest passion;" and Jean Paul liichtcr declared that he would not lead a woman into the matrimonial noose whom it n.rvi.trl nnt Holitrl-if tn lipnr him rfijid the I """ ~ " ? - learned reviews of Gottingeu, or the universal German library, when they sounded his praise, though it might be in some degree exaggerated. .John Stuart Mill regarded the institution of marriage in its highest aim aud aspect as "a union of two persons of cultivated faculties, identical in opinion and purposes, between whom there exists that best kind of equality, similarity of powers with reciprocal superiority in them, so that one cau enjoy the luxury of looking up to the other and can have alternately the pleasure of leading and being led in the p.ith of development." But other men of genius have thought differently on the subject. It is an oft-quoted saying of Dr. .Johnston that "a man in general is better pleased when j he has a good dinner on the table than when his wife talks Greek." liaciue had j an illiterate wife and was accustomed to boastfully declare that she could not read any of his tragedies, i'ufrcsny married his washerwoman. Goethe's i wife was a woman of mediocre capacity. Heine said of the woman he loved; "She | has never read a line of my writings and ! does not even know what a poet is." Tlierese Lavasseur, the last dame of I liousseau, could not tell the time of day. | "How many of the wise and learned," I says Thackeray, ''have married their 1 cooks? Did not Lord Kldon, himself i the most prudent of men, make a run- j awav match? Were not Achilles and : % a. i ? s v. i A|HX DOia JQ 10VU Willi tucii stivnui- ; maidsr" Seven hundred people sat up j all night to see the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton yet in her carriage, but would one in a thousand lose e. wiuk of sleep to got a glimpse of the learned wife of the i ]iuadit Yaiuavalkn, who discoursed with i the Indian in Sanscrit on the vexed | problems of life? j Tea-Eating Women. j Two servants, who were hauled up be- ' fore a Boston police justice the other day, charged with creating a rumpus, indignantly denied having been drunk, i They said that they had been somewhat j under the influence of tea, which was j responsible for their eccentric behavior. ! ' But,'' remarked the juJge, "i never , ... ' v: i knew that any one could become really intoxicated from drinking tea." "No more they can, ver honer," was the reply. "We ate it." It is becoming quite a popular vice in Boston, writes a correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, and presumably elsewhere?this tea eating. And, curiously enough, its victims are mostly found among the "help," who, having the household tea-caddy always accessible, get accustomed to helping themselves lrom it, a pinch at a time, of the dry leaves. These they chew, thus extracting the alkaloid, which is a toxic agent of a most powerful description, its nrst elTectisan agreeable exhilaration. Ultimately it induce sleeplessness and an abnormal condition of mind, with strange wishes and delirium. It is an amusing fact, by the way, that when tea was first brought to England, about the year lGtio, it was served experimentally for eating in a bowl, like spiuach. For a long time after that it was regarded as a deadly drug, and people who sold it was considered disreputable. It is positively wonderful how the demand for new and particularly destructive vices gives birth to an apparently exhaustless supply. One in particular that is said to be making great progress among women is the habit of ether drinking. This chemical product, so well known for its virtues as an anesthetic, is an ethereal spirit of alcohol, containing that element of alcohol which has the erl'ect of deadened pain. Most people have had opportunities of observing this effect in drunken men, who suffer severe hurts without feeling them, apparently. Ether, taken internally, produces a feeling of exaltation, which is not fol" ? < J? UU lowed l)J IQC Uisiijjrcuttwn; aucrjjuj|itoni9 arising from over-indulgfnce in the crude whisky or other spirits. Its results are slower, affecting the mind by slow degrees and depriving the victim of all moral sense. The coulirmed ether drinker will murder her own grandmother, without so much as a qualm of conscience, to get fifty cents wherewith to purchase a bottle of her favorite intoxicant. In its effects upon the moral being ether bears a strong resemblance to opium, which might be called a poison for the soul. The use of the latter drug is said to be fearfully prevalent among the wives of New England farmers, who devote the pennies they earn by selling e^gs?always the private perquisite of the country women in this region?to secret purchases of the deadly stuff from itinerant peddlers. One woman in a small rural community will spread the vice among all her female friends, who, wearied by the endless monotony of their lives, are eager for any excitement. The experienced eye can detect the habitual eater of opium by an uncertainty of gait, a sallowncfls of skin and other symptoms. It is likely that the sallow complexion and weakly appearance so universal among the Chinese oue 6ees are due to this cause. Everywhere throughout that part of China which is familiar to travelers, the fields of rice are checkered with wide areas of growing poppies, the seeds of which the natives stei-p to make an intoxicating liquor. This is the most primitive method of consuming opium. For commercial uses it is gathered by cutting open the poppy peed heads with a knife, leaving the opium gum to exude. Hopes, held taut, arc then dragged across the tops of the plants by pairs of laborers, and the gum sticks to the' hempen strands, from which it is subsequently taken and packed for sale. The people of the faraway mountain region in China, where opium is unknown?particularly in the rugged north?are big, strong on/1 Viuolllitr uuu AJLV-UI Fashion NotesCarnation brooches arc a feature. Shoulder knots of dowers are again in vogue. Fur boas have become a triumphant success. Plush and cloth are combined in many of the newest cloaks. White, green and rose arc preferred colors for evening toilets. The hair is worn both high and low, as best becomcs the wearer. Russian lambskin is a popular fur with ladies who wear mourning. Empire designs are selected for evening gowns by fashionable women. Bracelets in rope pattern are irregularly studded with enameled pansies. White undressed kid glove3 are much worn with Empire dresses on full dress occasions. Fur fronts which cover the wearer from throat to feet are seen upon the newest cloth cloaks. The most stylish evening gloves aie in ? 1- *? ???!?/% oV?o<lao with hflpi/Q puiu Dili ur ajui^ui oubuvjj it?km kmw vmwmmp tinely corded. Empire green, a cold tint similar to Nile grocn, :s a popular shade for tulle or crepe ball gowns. Open-face watches are quite popular, especially when made with a view to wearing oa a ehatelaiuc. Coronets of rose petals are a feature of many dark velvet bonnets, and they are becoming to most faces. Garlands of artificial flowers are used upou evening toilettes in greater profusion than for many years. For day gowns wool is emphatically the wear?and the dircctoire rediugote the favorite design for them. Clusters of velvet violets are used to trim round hats of dark velvet, and also to fasten boas of black lace. A thick binding of short-haired fur, seal, beaver, Persian lamb,etc.,is a popular trimming of cloth jackets. Gauze fans, powdered over with very tiny kittens heads, are even more violently new than the bat win^s. % 1 -1 a. A new queen cuaiu nas as a jieuuu.ug a tiny fan, ihe upper half of which is ornamented with enameled flowers. The newest guimpes for little girls have hemstitched ruffles edged with V'aleuciennes about the neck aud sleeves. London now ordains a dinner card of rough board with gilt edyes, and the owner's crest in gold as its sole ornament. The Empire fan is of gauze, with a border of ribbons painted in gay colors, or else the gay stripes are lengthwise along the sticks. Corselet-:, with shoulder straps, or else narrow baby sleeves, are worn in great numbers over half-high guimpes of crepe lisse or silk muslin. A tuft of silver-tipped white ostrich feathers is a favorite hair ornament with ladies anywhere in that debatable land of age between thirty aud fifty. The slender effect now so much sought in walking costumes is best attained by wearing with them a shoulder cape and deep culTs of heavy long fleeced fur. Black monkey is used for capes, collars, cuffs, muffs and bands down the front of long cloaks, and is, if possible, more sought after than when first introduced. The richest university in the world i; said to be that of Leyden, Holland. It has real estate to the value of $0,000,000. . V - / - V / . . : . . ;* ? POPULAR SCIENCE. The great mass of air is concentrated within five miles of the earth's surface. The monster 111-ton cannon recently nnnufactured in Germany carries twenty nile-. It is by no means settled that forests increase rainfall, as is quite generally believed. i j. :*v. A man may intrust nis servant ?nu ;he duty of buying his coal, but he must mgage skill aud science to burn it. The discovery of a deposit of stone bearing a resemblance to some valuable descriptions of marble, at Bolton, N. Y., Qas excited much interest, and active operations have commenced. AmoDg rscent camera achievments is a portrait copy taken by the light of a Cuban fireily in thirty seconds, and a photograph of the aurora borealis. To obtain the latter had been declared an utter impossibility. In a machinc which has come into use in France for testing steel railway ties, a succession of blows similar to those delivered by means of a sledge hammer arc given to the tires in place on their wheel centres and revolved on rollers. A cement very much used in China and Japan is made from rice. It is ouly necessary to mix rice flour intimately with water and gentlyjsimmer the mixture over a clear fire, when it readily forms a delicate and durable cement. The longest period a total eclipse oi the sun can continue to the inhabitants of the earth is seven minutes auu nuyeight seconds. The conditions under which such an cclipse would take place are so rare that it might not occur once in tea thousand years. Dr. Paul Gibier, who has been investigating the yellow fever germ,at Jacksonville, Fla., has started for Washington to offer his services free to the Government for further experiments, which he will suggest be carried on in an island off the tlorida coast, where they cannot be dangerous to other localities. A factory at Leominster, Mas-!., is producing in large quantities asbestos millboard for steam packing, or use in other ways, to resist fire and heat, it being absolutely non-combustible as well as a non-conductor, and is now being introduced for packing in kerosene engines; it is more easily applied and cheaper than rubber packing. Among the latest methods resorted to for hardening copper is that of melting together, and stirring until thoroughly incorporated, copper and from one to si* nor cent, of manganese oxide; the other ingredients for bronze and other alloys may then be added. The copper thus becomes homogenuous, harder and tougher. Building blocks made of corncobs form the object of a new Italian patent. The cobs are pressed by machinery into forms similar to bricks, and held together by wire. They are made water tipht by soaking with tar. These molds are very light and strong. Their weight is less than one-third of that of a hollow brick, and they can never get damp. The deposit of borate of lime in Curry County, Oregon, proves of mueh greater extent than was at lirst supposed, and gives promise of considerable commercial importance. The deposit is a dry one, in a blulf directly upon the ocean shore, in a locality very convenient for shipment. It has already beon traced for half a mile, the width also being found to be some yOO feet, and the depth 80 feet. It is thought to be the most valuable deposit of the kind yet discovered on the 1'acilic coast. A low ledqe in western Norway marks the spot on which an extensive proraon- j tory stood until 1717. During a thaw in that yeur the crevices in the rock were I filing TvitVi iwnfnr wliir.h was nuicklv I fro/en by a sadden change to cold* The result was the rending of the rock and its projection, with its cultivated fields and farmstead, from a height of MOO feet into the neighboring fjord. The fall raised a great wave, which not only destroyed all the lishing boats wnhin two and a half miles, but swept away a church lilty feet above the water a mile away lroin the promontory. An Important Discovery. A discovery which promises to be of i the utmost importance to the Southern States has bceu made by Dr. C. Jb\ 'Pan- i kuin, of Charleston, S. C. At dilferent times many experiments looking to the cultivation of ramie have I been made in the South, aud the plant, j it has been found, cau be grown without I 1 difficulty. It will grow anywhere that j j cotton grows, at r.o espouse whatever I for cultivation. It grows like a weed, j ! and is not sub cct to the ravages or | | worms, nor is it liable to any of the ; other maladies to which the more tender | cotton is subject. Knmie, then, can be grown without difficulty. The trouble hitherto has been to .iind a quick and inexpensive way in whlch the bark of the ramie plant could be prepared for manufacture without injury to the peculiar quality and value of the fibre, it is such a process as that which lias been so long sought which Dr. Panknin has discovered. Without any mcchanical proccss of consequence, and by simple chemical treatment, occupying in all from fortyeight to sixty hours, the bark of the ramie is brought into condition to he carded and spun, so that in this condition it is available for all the various uses for the different textile materials, such as the finest cottcn and silk. Dr. Panknin has been engaged on his experiment for a considerable time,and has now brought it to a satisfactory conclusion. The process is of the simplest possible rharacter. I ainie is cultivated and manu factured lor use in line domestic goods, linens and similar cloths, hut the process is kept secret, and the right to make use of it is not sold. The specimens of the ramie stock subjected to treatment by i)r. I'anknin show the utter destrucl ion of the skin or bark of the plaut. and of the viscous or glutinous matter which holds the fibres together. The fibre is ready for spinning. The cost of preparing the plaut is said to be trilling.?.Yew Yui\: Times. An Oyster Trust. A new industry has been established I j at City Island, which is the centre of the oyster trade for places on Long | Island bound. A trust has been formed i l>y some of the dealers ou the island,and i they have opened an establishment I wh'Vc I lie oysters arc opened and shipped ! to IJiillnlo, Chicago and other points in ! the interior. The association employs from thirtv to fifty men. who have never before had steady employment in winter, and send away more than fifti thousand I ovsters a day. The men work by the piece and earn from to per I day. They are paid $1 per 1000 for ! opening oysters, and one mnn a few { days a^o opened 7000 in one day. The oysters are put up in eight-gallon pails, ) (.><)? to a pail. The association has exj hausted nearly all the City Island crop j fur the season, and will now make a dc| mand ou Norwalk, which is the great oyster ground of Connecticut.?Ncic | Yjrk Commercial Ad:erMer. Intensive Gardening. Man naturally wants the earth, or at least that particular part of it which adjoins his particular estate, but he makes a great mistake when he engages in farming on an extensive scale. Prince Krapotkine, who has made a careful study of the subject in France, gives a number of instances in the country districts around Paris, where comparatively ignorant farmers have made small market gardens enormously productive. Odc larra is mentioned by him of two and seven-tenth3 acres which produced annually 125 tons of market vegetables of all kinds. The owner of this farm, by building walls to protect his lands from cold winds, by whitening the walls to secure all possible radiated heat, and by the constant and judicious use of fertilizers, has his little farm in a productive condition from the 1st of Tamvvmmm 4^ A# hot* T^TT jauuttlj tu LUO 1UO 0 UI l/CV\.muvi? A/f simple and inexpensive means he has practically located his larm in the tropics. A French gardener docs not care what kind of soil he starts with. He would be satisfied with an asphalt pavement, because he makej his soil, and so much of it that he has iO sell it to keep his place from being gradually raised above the level of the surrounding couutry. "When a farmer once understands tho laws of chemistry he has no difficulty in making soil that contains all the materials needed for plant life. Prince Krapotkine speaKs of one gardener who hus covercd half an acre witi' a glass roof, and run steam pipes, supplied by a small boiler under the ground sheltered by this covering. The result has beeu that he has cut every day for ten months from 1001) to 1200 large bunches of asparagus, a product which under ordinary conditions would require sixty acres of land. But this result has been surpassed by an English farmer, who has a one-acre mushroom farm which yields him an annual income of $5000. Under the French method of culture it would be possible to make one square mile support 1000 human beings. On such a scale of productive capacity this country would support a population of 3,1100,000,000. Even when we knock off a fair percentage for mistakes, exaggerations and unfavorable conditions, it will be seen that are in no danger of laving an overpopulation for many centuries to come.?I'icayune. Walking on Cratches. A New Vork Graphic reporter sat beside two men in a Third avenue surface care. One of them had lost a leg, aud his crutches were beside him. "1 suppose." said his friend to the lame man, ' you dread the approach of slippery weather. It mu9t give you a good deal of trouble to get about." "Yes," replied the lame man," we do slip around a little at first, but almost every one who depends on canes or crutches has them fixed this way for winter," lifting one of his own as he spoke and showing a stout brad in the end. "You see," he said, "that unless a freezing spell comes on unexpectedly a lame man is generally better Oif than some who are obliged to trust to their own legs." "I suppose that a good deal of the sympathy we feel for lame people is ! wasted, then?" said the first speaker. "I am afraid some of it is," replied the lame man. "It is in my case anyway. I've got one good leg and one wooden one and two crutches, and for just walking around on the street or any- I where else on a level I don't ask any one for favors. In fact, I can, with my four legs, outwalk almost anybody who de j. ?_ r,,* trViPn it comes pcuus Ull 1113 nw. UUV to going up and down stairs it is a little bard sometimes. In old times there used to be a one-legged fireman in New York, aud all the show he asked was a chance to swing his crutch. Then he would take bold of the drag-rope and do his share of the going, I tell you." A Modern Kuixht Crusader. The Hetman Om Achmoff, the leader of the proposed expedition of missionaries into Abyssinia, on which the Russian Government has placed-an embargo, is a Cossack General whose record as a j knight errant and leader of freelances is far more suited to tigure in the chronicles of the Middles Ages than in the history of the prosaic ointeenth century. He is a man of remarkably unprepossessing appearance, with red, disheveled hair, a restless eye, a bull's neck, and the ligure of an athlete. After various exciting adventures in the Caucasus, he turned up in Abyssinia about three years ago, and succeeded in conquering, at his own expense, about twenty miles of territory on the adjacent east coast of Africa. There he set up a sn-t nf indeoendent Government which ! he named .New .Voscow. After a hard I tight he secured from the native Kin<; from whom he seized the territory a tieatv recognizing him as a sovere gn. Some months ago he returned to Russia to secure colcnists for his settlement. The Russian Government has never looked upon his proceedings with much favor, and appears to have formally put an extinguisher upon it. When Aschiuorf left New Moscow there were only 140 Russians, all Cossacks, in his settlement.? Philadelphia Telegraph. The Prize Cattle of England. The champion beast in England is a splendid Devon steer,whose sire re.oices in the popular name of Gladstone, and which be.oiigs to a Norwich man, but which was bred at Tavistock. Just under three years of age, this animal tips the beam at 130 hundredweight and a quarter. How does that Iook, says the patriotic visitor, for the roast beef of old England 1 At the Birmingham show the it <;ct3 older become miiky and of a sweet taste ftiid gradually continues to change until it becomes so hard as to make it a valuable substitute for animal ivory. The seeds are imported as corozo nuts, or ivory nuts, and many small articles of turnery are made from them, such as cane heads, knobs, buttons, etc.? New Yot'.c World. "gSi * ' Ai-. ..'o.w V, iA -v," :fc % CURIOUS FACTS. The thimble is a Dutch invention. The Chinese say a large nose indicate# shrewdness. Three words can be cabled across thfi Atlantic in one minute. Connecticut was settled by emigrant* from Massachusetts in 1(533. Two cypress trees cut near the Wekiva (Fla.) shingle mills produced 510,000 shingles. ? "C'iisar''was a title or name given to the twelve Emperors of Home who succeeded Julius CiEsar. f_ Lysistratus, the statuary, was the inventor of moulds from which he cafit wax figures in 328 B. C. 1 The surrender of Yorktown, toe crowning glory of the American army, nrnirrp.fi Kriaav. October 19. 1781. I The ruins of Pompeii, at the foot oil Mount Vesuvius, Italy, were not discovered until the middle of tho eighteenth century, A sportsman, while out gunning.neui Barnesville, Md., shot a partridge oJ( of a hawk's mouth and did not injuria the hawk. *1 A curious sight near Ellijay, Ga., m the grave of a mountaineer's wife whicH is protected from the fury of the element by a number of lightning rods. ( J In the stomach of a bear recently killftl in northern Michigan was found a bo J of sardines over which tho membrane oa the stomach had partially grown. I A curious local name for a plant ifl "John-go-to-bed-at-noon," applied ill England to the yellow goat's beardJ which open9 at four and closes just bej fore twelve o'clock. The employes of the Providence (19 I.) Bleaching and Calendering Compans are called to work by a bell whicli waB taken from a convent in Spain, and wafl cast in 1815 in houor of Ferdinand YI9 One of the natural curiosities |afl Antelope Creek, in the Butte CreeSw Valley, Montana, about a mile from tttfl residence of W. J. Bray, is a cave whicfl contains superior ice all the year rounijd A bunch of dates that weighed thirtsfl five pounds was picked on a ranch afl Winters, Cal., recently. The owner afl out a few trees as an experiment twenfl five years a go, ana tney nave Deea Dean ing for ten years. - -YsU A St. Louis sportsman recently prfl cured in Oregon a trophy that is one fl tbe greatest curiosities of its kind in tfl world. It consists of a large and perfeS pair of caribou antlers which are entire? covered with a line, close growth cl Some time ago, Mat tie Tennell, I young woman of Santa Barbara, Call had some lemon juice accidentally spillel over her hair on one side of the neafl Since then the hair on that side has bfl come perfectly white, and the ends'J the hair curl as though treated with J curlinir iron. A curious piece of gold was paid tp-fl Lewiston, Ale., man the other day. . is a $5u slug coined in l?5l in Sal I Francisco. It is an eight-cornered piec* of yellow gold about as big as a silvifl dollar. It bears the stamp of the coin? and his address in'Frisco. It is safl to be worth about $53. A LewiatB lady had kept it for years. I In one of the cellars of the Rathskeller, Bremen, Germany, there are twelve larjfl cases of wine, each case containing 'tlfl celebrated Rosen wein,' which was posited there in 1624. One case of thM wine, containing 204 bottles, cost rix dollars at that time. Taking all eM penses into account and compoundhfl the interest, a single glass, one-eighll of a bottle, would coat about $300,00? or about $300 a drop." I The point farthest North reached by afl exploring partj is 2(50 miles from tfl -North Pole, lieyond this are ice gorgfl insurmountable, and frost so severe thfl no human ingenuity has yet constructfl any appliance to withstand its cold.^H blisters the skin like extreme heat. rflH greatest progress ever made across desolate wilderness was at the rate of^| miles a day, the explorers often rest^f I as many days as they had journeyed mH| ! in a single day. M A Farmer With Immovable Jaws.fl i Newspapers at the present time col tain many interesting stories of old peH ! pie who are hearty, but it is doubtfolH a more curiou* case than the one ifl ported by the Fall liiver Globe has befl I published. It is that of a DartmouH farmer named William Bennett, who H nearly sixty years of age. He waa boH at Tiverton, ii. I., and lived for mafl years in a comfortable farmhouse on tfl main road to Newport. H When he was about five years of aH he was attacked with a child's diseaj fnr ttViiVTi llr WfiSt WRS Cn?a(?ed tO 0^1 scribe. The Dr. West mentioned. lirS in a large mansion below Bridgepofl and was nn ancestor of the presoH family which resides in that vicinity. the time of Mr. Bennett's illness, salhH tion was a favorite form of treatmetH Calomel was the drug ordered and aH ministered to the patient. Either fnfl carelessness or other cause the mercurH preparation lodged in the boy's javH and a cancerous sore was developeH For many weeks his life was despairH of. Finally the growth was killed, bH when it disappeared it was found tlfl the muscles of the child's jaws wffl ruined, and, like the upper, the lov^J jaw would always remaiu fixed. To H gain strength it was necessary to haH all his food specially piepared befcH it was given to him. When placed iH fore him he mantled to squeeze itia^B tween his lips which were slowly recovH ing from the almost fatal work done H the deadly dru<x. The salivary glan^| were not injured by the burning of tH calomel. Bennett recovered after a loH illness, and grew up as most KhoH Island boys do who spend a life on^J farm. He pays visits to the Fall markctmen, with whom he hus do^H business for nearly fifty years. is a ruddy-featured portly man of gen^f temperament, and with the exceptional eil.rlif fuoinl dpfpnt hfi shows no sis^l of the accident which have kept his ja^E immovable for so many years.? Indiana With Artistic Skill. 9 A Virginia City newspaper says tl^| a Piute, now ia jail on a charge of mt^B der, displays great skill in drawing, a^B has made a picture of the prison, ass^H from the yard, that is really line.# I^H newspaper further says that the Piu^B have a natural taste for drawing, aH that many of them are able to draw vAH good pictuies of railroad trains and t^B like. The children made all kinds animals in clay, as naturally as Wh^H children model mud pies: and even stupidest looking ot the bucks will w^H a pt'nril dash ojf without the slight^f hesitation a map ot any portion of coi^H try with which he is acquainted, putt^H all the rivers, lakes aud mountains^H their proper places, and giving whole proportional dimensions. HB Americau wagons have the markei^l South America, and the American wh^H barrow is to be met with in every tion of China and Japan. juuges proclaimed tins steer rue oest ui its breed they had seen, and the Islington wise men have crowned the edifice of Gladstone pere's lame by the suprema award of all, to say noihing of being fir.>t in h:s class, best of his breed, and the best male in the show. When I looked at him he did not seem much affected by all this honor; but I am afraid he will be rather cut up before long. His closest rival was a black Scotch heifer from Jioss-shire, pronounced a little beauty, and awardeu a cup as the best lady in the show. ?Philadelphia Tclcjrajjh. Home of Vegetable Ivory. The plant yielding the vegetable ivory, or ivory nuts of commcrce, is a native of South America, and is the most extensively found on the banks of the nver jWagduk-ua, in Colombia. It grows mostly in separate groves not mixed wit'.i other trees or shrubs, and only iu a warm, damp atmosphere. It is a palm-iike plant, of which the fruit consists of a conglomerated head composed of six or o.. ..? iirimps each containing from six to nine seeds. In its very young state the seed contains a clear iiuid, which as