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OUR FLAG. f At the recent sinking of the war ships at Apia the Captain of one of them ordered the flag unfurled. The men on board another of the doomed vessels greeted it with a cheer, which was responded to with their last breath by the loyal Captain and his men. Across the peach-blow sky of 6pring The storm-dark clouds are looming; With sullen voioe the breakers ring, The thunder loudly booming. The huddled war ships ride apace, Each at her anchor straining; Black, black, is all of heaven's face; It lightens 'twist the raining. Like crumpled rose leaves the mist edge The hidden reef enwreathing, But cruel as hell the jagged ledge Beneath those waters seething. On, on they come, the poor dumb things, The storm winds fiercely driving; At her dread work each breaker sings, For conquest madly striving. "If we must die"?the leader's voice Outswelled the roar of thunder? "It is our own and solemn choice To die our dear flag under. "For us to-day the battle field Is where the seas are lying. TVe claim a right we cannot yield, To glory in our dying." He ceased; upon the topmost mast The Stars and Stripes were floating. The sight is like a trumpet blast, And other ships quick noting. Up to the sky there sounds a cheer That starts the echoes flying. Back comes the answer, loud and clear, From gallant hearts, though dying. A moment's space, the waves in brine Baptize the flag low lying, And from the breakers comes no sign Of living or of dying. 0 flag, dear flag, once more thy name, As always in thy story, Has set a thousand hearts aflame For thee and for thy glory. ?4-nnie B. King, in Harper's Bazar. A FATEFUL VOYAGE. In the year 1S68 I signed papers with Captain Delano, of the brig Josephine, for a voyage from Sidney to Auckland" 3 J C?"U#V ?fnn n? T?r?r?licV? ana return. ouc nao iiuguou , and was loaded with a general cargo,and had made many voyages across the New Zealand Sea. The crew consisted of Captain, mate, cook and four men before the mast, and every one but the cook was white and spoke English. I was then eighteen years old and just out of my apprenticeship. I should have had a second mate's berth, but the Josephine carried no such officer. The Captain stood his own watch, and there were occasions when the mate had to go aloft j with the men. Captain Delano was a | good sailor and a good-hearted man, and j there was nothing in the grub or the dis-! cipline to find fault with. We left Sid- I ney one morning with a fair wind for the ! fifteen-hundred-mile voyage, and had any one predicted the queer adventures and the tragedies which were to befall us he would have been looked on as a lunatic. A portion of the story I am going to tell you appeared in some of the Australian papers twenty years ago, but only a portion, and that full of errors. It was j only a month ago that I was asked to | send my affidavit to certain facts to a lawyer at Melbourne, and so the whole series of adventures is fresh in my memory. For the first three days out we had fair winds and a smooth sea, and the brig made fine progress. At midnight on the ; third nij/ht the wind shifted, blew up a ! squall which lasted half an hour, and then j died away as flat as you please. "We were left rolling on the waves for an hour or two, but when daylight came the surface of the sea was without a ripple, while j there was not the slightest breath of air moving above. The sun came up like a j ball of fire, and the greenest hand aboard knew that we were in for a calm. It was terrible hot by mid-forenoon, and our humane Captain ordered all hands to knock off and make themselves as comfortable as possible. By noon the brig " was like an oven. The decks were so hot that even the cook with his tough feet dared not walk them unshod. Down in the fo'castle in was stifling, but as it was worse on deck Ave had to stand it. It was about noon when the cook, who had gone to the side to throw over some slops, called out to us to come and see the largest shark which human eyes ever beheld. I crawled up from the fo'castle, always curious to see one of the monsters close at hand, but expecting that the cook had greatly exaggerated, and when IL looked over the rail I was astonished. J There lay a shovel-nosed shark of such dimensions that I dared not csedit my own eyesight. He lay parallel and not over ten feet away, and when, after a few minutes, Captain and all hands had roused up to look at the fellow, we got his exact length by a tape line along the deck. He was thirty-two and one-half feet long, with jaws capable of cutting a bullock in two at one snap. The only sign of life he gave was a slight move-1 ment of the eye now and then. He lay | with his great dorsal fin baking in the i hot sun, and so near that we could sec j every little detail. All agreed that he ' was the largest shark any one had ever j seen, although all of us had sailed in the : warm seas, and some of the men had j turned away when the eook climbed upon j the rail' and said he would stop a little j for a game with the big fellow. He meant by that that he would have a talk j with him. I have met numbers of ship's j cooks who claimed to have "made up") with sharks and were not afraid of being j hurt by them. The cook sat just oppo- \ site the shark's middle, and he had be- j gun a sort of chant, when I passed for-. ward intending to find a missile, and j heave it over and scare the monster away, j I had just found an old bit of iron and j got back to the rail when there was a | splash and a yell. The cook was in the j water through some careless move of his. j I had my eye on the shark, and his movements were like lightning. With one flirt of his tail he slewed himself around, ' his great jaws opened, and I was looking | right down upon him as he took the cook j in clear to the middle and bit him in two so slick and clean that the upper part of the body rolled away from the shark's nose and remained on the surface directly below me. After half a minute it began slowly to sink, but was not yet out of sight when I saw the shark seize it. As he grabbed it he rushed away and we , jsaw him no more. The tragedy upset us in more ways than one. Here we were, left wtthout a cook at the beginning of the voyage, and there was something in his taking off which roused the superstition of the'hands forward. I think the Captain felt it as much \ as we did, but of course he concealed it as much as possible. All that day we lay roasting and motionless, and as the sun went down and a light breeze sprang up every man uttered a heartfelt "Thank Heaven!" We crowed too soon, however. The breeze did not push us over five miles before it tired out, and we were left as before, the sky full of stars and the sea like a mirror. I was in the mate's watch and came on duty at midnight. Indeed, we were all on duty for tnat maner, as there was nothing whatever to do and we were sleeping on deck. I was aroused, however, to take the lookout, and I took my seat on the heel of the bowsprit as a matter of form. As we were not moving, no other sailing craft could move, and the few steamers crossing on our line could see our lights and avoid us. Something happened, however, before I had been on duty an hour. The Josephine was rising and falling on the glassy swells, and swinging her head to every point of the compass by turns, and I was scanning the sea and the heavens in the most perfunctory way, when an object suddeniy came into view. It was a black spot against the darkness, and after rising to my feet and watching it for a few minutes I made out, as I thought, the dismasted hull of a small vessel. It was coining down toward us, and when sure of this I hailed the mate. He came forward with the glass, and after a long look he said: "Well, that beats my time. It is the hull of,a dismasted schooner, and stands up high and dry. There's a lot of raffle around her bows, and I believe a whale is tangled up in it and towing the wreck!" He sent me to call the Captain, and in a few minutes all hands had caught the excitement. The wreck stopped for a while on our starboard bow, and not over a quarter of a mile away. Then it crossed our bows and came down on our port side to the quarter, where it lay so close that every man could see what it was. It was then, at the suggestion of the Captain, that we raised our voices in a shout to see if anybody was aboard the strange craft. "We were answered almost JmmorHnfplTT hv thr> h.irkinor of a do<?. and ""J " ~" O ~ O' the Captain said: "There are men there, and they may be starving and suffering. "Well, lower a boat and pull out to her." "Heavens! sir, but you wouldn't think of it!" whispered the mate. "She's being towed by who knows what? See! There she moves again! And just listen to that howling!" It was true that the hulk was moving. She moved across our stern at slow speed and ranged up on the other quarter, and the dog ceased his barking and sent forth such mournful howls that every man was upset. "What do you make out under her bows?" asked the Captain of the mate as he handed him the glass after a long look. ? "Why, sir, there's the bowsprit, the foretopmast, and a big tangle of ropes," was the reply. "It looks to me as if all the foremast raffle had somehow slewed around under her bows, and I'm certain that a whale is tangled up therein. I can see flecks of foam as he churns away, and you can hear a ripple along our side from the sea he kicks up." The dog barked and howled by turns, but we got no other answer to our repeated shouts. "Men," said the Captnin, as the wreck began moving slowly away, "it's our plain duty to board that hulk. I could ' it T lftff nnr fn never lurgivu u x iuxb vuv ?<v die of starvation. I won't order any one to go, but I'll call for volunteers." Not a sailor responded for a minute. I waited to give the men a cliance, and as they hesitated I volunteered. Two others then came forward, and their action shamed the mate into saying: "Very well, sir. I'll take Jones and Harris and pull oil and investigate." Why he left me out I do not know, but I was quietly ignored, and the two middle-aged men whose names I have given kid the oars as the boat moved away. The Captain called after the mate to be sure to board the hulk, and if he found her in good condition to cut the raffle loose and report. The wreck had been moving away from us pretty steadily for ten minutes, and as the yawl left us I could hardly make her out. The mate was to show a light when he boarded her, and for the next half hour we were straining our eyes to catch it. Then we figured that he had missed the hulk and was pulling back to us, and although we had out our regular lights, which could have been seen for two or three miles, we sent up several skyrockets and burned a flare as further guides. But the hours wore on and brought no tidings, and daylight came vrc swept the sea in vain for sight of either hulk or boat. A breeze came with the sun, and we began a search which lasted all the day without result. The loss of three men reduced us to sad straits. There were only two working hands, and as a measure of safety we had to get the big sails reefed against what might come. The breeze was light, and as we were under shortened sail we did not cover any great distance during the day, not over thirty miles. This satisfied us, however, that a calamity \--x ,1 rriu.. ,1^1 nau UUUUITUU. 1UU wicwn. wuiu aub have been over half a mile from us when the yawl pulled away. I would not take over ten minutes to pull to her. What could have happened to the boat? If not able to board, she should have returned. In boarding she should have displayed a light, as ordered, and then returned to report the state of the wreck. The last ever seen of the three men was when they pulled away from us. Not' a word has been heard from them to this day, nor will it ever be known how they perished. Night brought a calm again, and I was so fagged out with the heavy work of the day that I went to sleep almost before I had finished the cold bite I got from the pantry. We understood from the Captain that he should cruise about for a day or two more in hopes of falling in with the boat, but it was easy to see that he was badly upset, and in the afternoon I smelled liquor about him very strong. When he told us to go into the pantry and forage for something to eat his voice was thick and his legs very weak. My mate was to stand watch the regular time and then awaken me. Sometime in the night I was aroused by something and sat up and looked about me. The calm continued, and everything was quiet, and so I lay down and slept again. It was daylight when I awoke again, and after a wash I got some biscuit and meat from the pantry and looked around for my mate. Not finding him after a hunt of ten minutes I knocked at the open cabin door. Receiving no response, I finally ventured in, and five minutes later I realized that I was entirely alone aboard he Josephine. Jseither Captain nor sailor ould be found, nor was there the slightst clue to tell me how or why they had disappeared. I did not give up until ] ; had searched every possible place whera they could have hidden away, and then 1 I sat down and let superstition and terroi take such hold of me for half a day that I liked to have gone crazy. It was only by calling up all my will power that I could prevent myself from leaping over the rail. After several hours, however, this feeling wore off, and I could view the situation with common sense. I was alone, but it was a flat calm, and I turned into the cabin and slept for six hours before I opened my eyes. Then it was to find that evening had come, and that the brig had been boarded by a boat from one of the mail steamers plying between the big island and New Zealand. My explanations astonished and astounded the men, and after I had been taken off to the steamer, and given all the details to the Cantain. he took the brie in tow and continued his course for Sidney. There the story was told and retold, but with very little satisfaction to any one. A craft was sent out in search of the lost yawl and the hulk,, but neither could be found. The general idea at Sidney was that the Captain and sailor both got drunk that night, and somehow got overboard, but no one could even guess the calamity which befell the yawl.-j-iVfao York Sun. Thrilling Adventures of a Skipper. "Any man of this crew who attempts to desert this vessel leaves his dead body on the deck," was the determined warning shouted above the noise of the breaking sea by Captain Charles Hale on the dismasted schooner City of Philadelphia as his crew rushed toward the stern to escape on a passing vessel. The schooner had sailed from Cardenas for Philadelphia laden with a large cargo of sugar, and is one of the man^ vessels owned by Philip Fitzp;itrick. She is usually commanded by Captain Burton, but he was detained at home the last voyage by sickness in his family, and the vessel was placed in command of First Mate Hale, who acquitted himself, with distinction in saving the vessel and crew during a violent gale and bringing them into port afterward when many masters would have deserted the valuable craft. Before the schoonfer had lost sight of land sails were furled and, preparation made for heavy weather. Within a few hours the vessel began to roll deep into t.hp. sea. besides strainincr heavily. This contained until the Cape Florida light bore ten miles distant, and the weather began to moderate. Again heavy weather was experienced in the shape of sudden and violent squalls, blowing with the force of a hurricane. During one of the heaviest bursts of wind a terrible sea swept the decks, carrying overboard William Cosgrove, a sailor, of Bath, Me., taking away the mainmast and foremast and breaking the mizzenmast fifteen feet above the de.ck, and leaving the vessel completely at the mercy of the sea. The cabin was filled with water, and the sea made a clean breach of the deck. This j continued the next day, knocking the hatchcs off and letting the water into the I cargo and crippling the entire crew. Temporary masts made from booms and spars were rigged, and the schooner kept on her course. One morning the bark Kelvin, of St. John, appeared in sight, and the entire crew rushed to loose the davits and lower the boats. The ringleader was met at the cabin door by Caplain Hale, who aimed a six-shooter at his head. Seeing the determination of Captain Hale the men at once crept into the forecastle, and, after a consultation, agreed not to attempt to desert the schooner. "When the Kelvin hove to a call was made by permission of her master for volunteers to go aboard the Philadelphia Kuf tVin nnlv rpsnr>n<?fi was from & I"11") ""V ?t _ t young Irishman named Patrick Higgins, who came on board and worked until the Philadelphia was docked at B. Hillman & Co.'s shipyard. During the time that the vessel was dismasted, and up to her arrival at Hampton Roads, she was spoken ten times and boarded by captains from many tugs, one of the latter ottering Captain Hale $300 cash for the privilege of charging the owners $1D00 for towing him into a port of safety.? Cincinnati Enquirer. Horsemanship of Indian Riders. Fifty fine-looking young men, mounted upon ponies, drew up before' the tents. At a signal from the chief they began | their evolutions with a loud yell. In a moment they disappeared over a neighboring hill. Then there suddenly rose a mighty trampling of horses' feet, and they swept past again, so compact that I only saw a ball made of horses and men, Splitting in two, one body swept to the right and another to the left, and again they disappeared. Presently they charged each other in solid lines, and while the spectators waited breathlessly for the shock of collision the files skillfully opened to the right and left and the lines passed through the intervals without touching. Now came the moment for displaying individual horsemanship. Some of the riders approached, each lying so close to his pony's back that nothing but the horse could be seen. Others stood erect upon their aaimals's backs. Some hung to the horse by one foot and one hand, so that their bodies were completely protected by those of the ponies. These young warriors also threw objects upon the ground, and picked them up at full gallop, and drew bows and shot arrows from beneath the horses' neck. Some of j the men exchanged horses while riding. Again a man would'fall from his horse, as 11 wounaea, ana iwo oiners, nuuig up behind him, would take him by an arm and a leg, swing him between their horses and carry him off: This exhibition lasted nearly two hours, and at its close men and horses were completely exhausted. All that evening the human performers lay in their lodges, while the Indian women brought them food and bathed them.?Horse and Stable. Cellular Cloth. The new cellular clothing now coming into use in England is said to be a success. It is woven out of the same material as the common weaves of cloth, being simply, as its name indicates, closely woven into cells, the network of which is covered over with a thin fluff. Its porous quality allows the slow passing of the inside and outside air, giving time for the outside air to become of the same temperature as the body, obviating all danger of catching colds and allowing vapors constantly exhaled by the body to pass off, thus contributing to health and cleanliness. The common objection to cotton clothing, that it is productive of chills and colds,is removed if woven in this manner, and the invention can certainly be said to be strictly in accordance with hygienic and scientific principles. I I | WOMAN'S WORLD. PLiEASANT LITERATURE FOR FEMININE READERS. A 6IGN OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN. 'See that lady putting on her gloves," said a Frenchman as he stood in front of the Lafayette Hotel. "Do you know that's the first means of recognizing an American lady on the streets of Paris. We would as soon think of buttoning up our vests, or putting on our ties after leaving the door for a walk in Paris. Many and many a time we have picked out Americans in Paris by that sign. I rather like the American girl for it, though. She looks as if she didn't care a cent whom it pleased or displeased."?Philadelphia Inquirer. A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE BUSTLE. "What makes women look so" odd nowadays?" said the Man About Town to an observing woman recently. "It is the absence of bustle," she replied. "We have our choice of a small bustle and one reed, or two reeds and no bustle. When one's dressmaker does not take in her customer's points, she fails to' put?if it is two reeds?the first one near enough to the belt to avoid awkwardness. Hence the falling back appearance you mention. It is very ungraceful," she continued, "but it will soon be overcome. Trust a woman to conquer obstacles, no matter where they lie or what causes them. It is one of her missions, you know."?New York Star. MASQUERADED AS HER CHILD'S NURSE. Here is a pretty story from the Detroit News: "What a pretty child; whose is it?" said one lady to another, as they crossed Madison square. "I noticed you nodded to the nurse." "Thereby hangs a tale," responded her companion. "The nurse used to be in my employ and left it to becomc the wife of a coachman. They live over the stable not far away, and the child is theirs. She dresses it like a millionaire's baby, in the finest and most dainty of clothes, which 3he faithfully copies from Fifth avenue children. She cannot dress herself to correspond, so she wears the nurse's livery for her own child, and is proud to have passers-by stop and admire him as some favored darling of a wealthy home. Curious fancy for one of her sort, isn't it, who, as a rule, are so eager to drop the regalia of service?" READY-MADE DRESSES. Dressmakers can thrive no more in St. Louis. Their business is rapidly dwindling, and except in the case of those who cater to the rich, whose prejudices compel them to cling to long established customs, the modistes are generally retiring from business. This is due to the general adoption of ready-made dresses by the ladies of the city; hand-me-downs they are called by sarcastic dressmakers. Before the introduction of ready-made dresses, ladies were in the habit of expending a large amount of money for the material, and then paying from ?15 to $25 in having it made up. Now,a dress similar in every detail to one of those made up by a fashionable modiste can be secured at the dry goods stores for $25,and 1 they are made to fit perfectly before they are allowed to leave the store. A lady purchased a black silk dress, recently, exquisitely made and of handsome material. It' was procured for $25, and was pronounced Dy an wno saw it to be the best fitting dress the lady had ever worn. Made up at a dressmaker's, the dress would have cost $40, counting the material, thread, buttons, trimming and the like.?Star-Sayings, COSTOrES OF THE EOTIRE PERIOD. The Empress Josephine and her ladies always wore light colors?clear yellows, pinks, lilacs, etc. A real Directoire or Empire gown touches the ground, and is painfully scanty, so were it to be made into a short walking dress the effect would be indescribably ludicrous and unbecoming. The French women of that period lay at home on sofas whilst their husbands went to the wars. They were nearly always painted, reclining on couches or standing up?never sitting. Their stockings were invariably white, and when possible ces dames showed the tips of their pretty feet encascd in Greek sandals. Any attempt at tight lacing had to be abandoned, for the great art of dress in those days was to appear loosely and simply robed, recalling in every possible way the beautiful Athenian women, even to the wearing of fillets and bands across the hair. In the midst of all this simplicity French feeling asserted itself, and hats were accordingly produced, which any belle Athenienne would have rejected with scorn. Another important and expensive item of that day was the mittens. No Empire gown was complete without these quaint adjuncts, which are found now with great difficulty.?JSew Orleans Picayune. - v.--.--.. -vV;*.? BURMESE WOMEN. The Burmese woman has few of the troubles and pleasures of a New England housewife, writes Frank G. Carpenter. All of her cooking is done out of doors at this time of the year, and her range never gets out of order. She builds her fire on the ground, and her cooking utensils consist of two or three earthen pots. These and a jar of water, with a cocoanut ladle, make up the kitchen fur. niture-, and our Burmese wife is not troubled with table spreading or dish washing. She is never worried about her flour nor her baking powder. The Burmese use neither knives nor forks. Their staple food is rice, and a huge platter of . this is cooked for the family and placed upon the floor. In addition there is a Kr\wl r\f nwvrxr o lrinrl nf cmin rrrnvr. uu"' "* " " o ? like mixture, which is seasoned with fish and pepper, and which is very hot. The family squat around the rice dish, ' and each has his own little bowl for j curry, and a larger one for rice. Every- : one helps himself, putting his fingers into the rice platter and taking as much as he can squeeze up in his hands. The j food is conveyed from the bowl to the ; mouth with the hand, and at the close of j the meal everyone is expected to wash 1 his own dishes. No drinking is done , during the meal, and at the end each J goes to the water jar and rinses out his 1 mouth. I have 6oen many families at ] meals, and in no case have I seen chop , sticks for knives and forks. The Burmese dinner is thus a perpetual picnic. ^ - I ? FASHION NOTES. The newest toques are more pointed in ] front. i Raw veal is the name of a new shade ' of pink, < Black and yellow is a favorite millinery combination. Plaid mohair is the newest fabrc for little girl's wear. Cases of spot silk accompany most of the new parasols. Spanish flounces are to be seen on summer wash dresses. Japanese designs are a feature of some of the new brocades. For afternoon receptions bengaline dresses stand high in favor. Quaint hairpins of transparent amber are in the form of muskets. Drawn hats and bonnets of black mull will be popular for country wear. "With gosamer gowns silk or satin petticoats will be de rigueur this year. Some expensive parasols have balls of gold or iron on the points of the ribs. Pale gray and yellow is just now a ' * i-i-.-x* !lL 1^1 J ? iavonre coior comomatiou wim uivuuea. Black gloves and ribbons are worn with gowns of pale green crepe de chine. Cotton bunting in dark shades will be utilized for summer gowns for country wear. Stylish parasols handles are of silver and stained ivory, intermingled in spirfcl pattern. Mignonette green, violet and deep orange were combined in a costly Parisian teagown. The riisset-red shades promise to ba popular at the seaside and in the country this summer. Printed India silks are made up into parasols to match the gowns with which they are worn. The prominent feature of the ribbon trade is the great number of fancy styles that are shown. The newest blue is Pompeiian, a brilliant shade, particularly effective in velvets and plushes. Genuine metalic ribbons, gold or silver, are used to trim summer toilets of black or white net. Velontine, the new gown stuff, has a silk back and stripes of short pile velvet over the right side. Natural colored pongees will be stylishly trimmed with white lace or embroidery laid on flat. New checked 'and plaid silks, now shown in Paris, have considerable black in their composition. English milliners introduce gold in some form into almost all of the hats and bonnets furnished by them. Strawberry and old rose . shades are well established in popular favor,but are more delicate than heretofore. The newest form of tea gown is the mediaeval, which has a cuirass corsage, full skirt and antique sleeves. Strings are generally dispensed with upon the newest Paris bonnets, but when worn they are oftenest of ribbon velvet. Ribbons of all widths and all materials "* " -i-1 * J / AL* are usea upon au siyies 01 areas, irum me sheerest muslin to the richest brocades. Black is a leading color for dresses, bonnets, wraps and hats. It cannot compete with the popular greens, however. Bonnet strings are tiny pipings like milliner's folds. They pass under the chin and end in a rosette just below the ear. The bustle is a rcminiscencc. The substitute for it is a steel twelve inches long and placed in the back of the dress twelve inches below the waist line. Handling an Ocean Leviathan. Although everybody knows that the transatlantic steamships are immense structures, one must see a ship from abroad brought alongside her pier in order to appreciate adequately her 6ize. Either there is something the matter with the mechanism by which such ships as the Servia, the Umbria, the City of Rome, or the City of Paris is moored, or else there is not _oom enough around the pier fronts, for almost invariably it takes from half an hour to something more than an hour to bring a large ship into place and have everything ready for the passengers to disembark. The other day when the Servia came in there was a group of men and women waiting on the wharf to receive their friends from abroad. The great steamer was in sight at 11-J-, a few boat lengths down the stream. She came clmvlv nlonrr like a wounded monster. It was a little before 12 when she touched the edge of the dock. All that theii remained to do was to swing her around into the slip. This operation took an hour, and five tugs and a large number of men pulling and hauling upon ropes were engaged in it.?New York Sun. A Battle With Bright's Disease. The fact that General Schenck is able to get about again in fair health is an attcstion of his wonderful will power. Some years ago he was so wasted by ' Bright's disease, with which he was afflicted, that none of his friends expected he would live more than a few days longer. His physicians told him there was just one chance of prolonging his life, life. If he would absolutely refrain from nourishment of every kind except skimmed milk the progress of the disease might be checked. Like poor Garfield, only-with better success, he said: "I'll take the chance." For one whole year he permitted no food of any kind to pass his lips but the skimmed milk prescribed by his physicians. He began to gain strength, and is now able to drive about with bis daughter, and occasionally to attend to a little business. He lives comfortably in a handsome, old-fashioned house on Thomas Circle, near the residence just bought by Chief Justice Fuller, in Washington, and draws a pension from the Government for disabilities contracted in his army service.?Commercial Gasette. An Irresistible Bait for Kats. According to a Washington correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, an interesting not to say valuable discovery has been made by Captain Weedin, in charge of the animals at the Zoo. The building is infested by rats, and how to get rid of them has long been a perplexing question. Traps were used, but nothing would tempt the rodents to cuter. In i store room drawer was placed a quantity of sunflower seeds, used as food for some of the birds. Into this drawer the rats gnawed their way, a fact which led the Captain to experiment with them for bait in the traps. The result was that the rats can't be kept out. A trap which appears crowded with six or eight rats is found some mornings to hold fifteen. ]Tiey are turned into the cages containing, weasels and minks. The latter will kill a. rat absolutely almost before one can see it, so rapid are its movements. The weasels are a trifle slower, but none of the rats Escape them. y :. \ LIFE OR DEATH? THE MYSTERIOUS PHENOMENA , OP SUSPENDED ANIMATION. The Difficulty of Distinguishing tht Living From the Dead?Remarkable Case of the Fakir of Lahore. In a letter to the New York Tribunl on the mysterious phenomena of catalepsy] the writer says: . There is the case of Colonel Townsend. He was able of his own volition to simulate death so closely that all the usual signs of that change were present. Dr: George Cheyne witnessed this operation, and has recorded it in detail. Colonel Townsend remained apparently dead foij fully half an hour. On one occasion hd performed the experiment in the presencd of three medical men, who found thai respiration and pulsation gradually ceased until no trace of either could be detected., In fact, the three observers became convinced that the man really was dead, and they were about to leave him, under that1 belief, when signs of life appeared, and he slowly* revived. Thi9 may not have been catalepsy, but it was certainly a case? of suspended animation. Dr. "W. B. Carpenter says in hia 'Physiology:" "It is quite certain that an apparent cessation of all the vital; functions may take place without thati entire loss of vitality which would leave| the organism in the condition of a dead) body, liable to be speedily disintegrated* by the operation of chemical and physical' agencies." It is also apparently a fact that such "apparent cessation of the vital functions" may continue for an indefinite, period when the right conditions exist. The best known illustration of this is the> case of the Fakir of Lahore, who was buried for six weeks, at the instance of Runjeet Singh, as attested by Sir Claude Wade, the British Resident at the Court of Loodhiana, in 1837. In this thoroughly authenticated case?which, however, is but one of a class of similar facts known to Anglo-Indians and travelers? the Fakir was first put into a linen bag, the bag was placed in a wooden box, fastened with a padlock, the wooden box was deposited in a cell in the middle of a square brick vault, every aperture of whinh hut. one was bricked ut>. while the remaining door was built up with mud above the lock, and fastened with the Rajah's seal. As a final precaution, a company of soldiers was detailed to guard the vault day and night, four sentries constantly patroling its four sides during the whole period. When, at the expiration of six weeks, the vault and the box were successfully opened, Sir Clande Wade, who, with Runjeet Singh, had entered the building, and taken their places close to the body, so as to see , everything, this is what appeared before them: "The servant then began pouring warm water over the figure; but as my object was to see if any fraudulent practices could be detected, I proposed to Runjeet Singh to tear open the bag and have a perfect view of the body before any means of resuscitatiep. were employed. I accordingly did so; and may here remark that the bag, when first seen by us, appeared mildewed, as if it had been buried some time. The legs and arms of the body were shriveled and stiff, the face full, the head reclining on the shoulder like that of a corpse. I then called to the medical gentleman who was attending me to come down and inspect the body, which he did, but could discover no pulsation in the heart, the temples, or the arm. There was, however, a heat about the-region of the brain, which no other part of the body exhibited. "The servant then recommended bathing him with hot water, and gradually I relaxing his arms and legs from the rigid state in which they were contracted, Runjeet Singh taking his right and I his left leg, to aid by friction in restoring them to their proper action; during which time the servant placed a hot wheaten cake, about an inch thich, on the top of the head?a process which he twice or thrice renewed. He then pulled out of his nostrils and ears the wax and cotton with which they were stopped; and after great exertion opened his mouth by inserting the point of a knife between his teeth, and, while holding his jaws open with his left hand, drew the tongue forward with his right?in the course of which the tongue flew back several times to its curved position upward, in which it had originally been, so as to close the gullet. He then rubbed his eyelids with ghee (or clarified butter) for some seconds,, until he succeeded in opening them, when the eyes appeared quite motionless and glazed. After the cake had been applied for the third time to the top of his head, his body was violently convulsed, the. nostrils became inflated, respiration ensued, and the limbs began to assume a natural fulness; but the pulsation was still faintly perceptible. The servant then put some of the ghee on his tongue, and made him swallow it. A few minutes afterward the eyeballs became dilated, and recovered their natural color, when the Fakir, recognizing Runjeet Singh sitting close to him, articulated, in a low, sepulchral tone, scarcely aftdible: 'JDo you believe me now?' Runjeat, Singh replied in the affirmative, and invested the Fakir with a pearl necklccc* and superb pair of gold brccelets, and pieces of muslin and silk, and shawls fnrminrr -ceVint is rallfid a khelat. SUCh 0.ci is usually conferred by the Princes of. India on persons of distinction. FromJ the time of the box being opened to tliej recovery of the voice, not more than halij an hour could have elapsed! and in au-l other half hour the Fakir talked withf myself and those about him freely,! though feebly, like a sick person; ancl^ we then left him, convinced that therehad been no fraud or collusion in the exhibition we had witnessed." This case, so circumstantially narrated' and so strongly authenticated, does notl stand alone. Another case is recorded byj Lieutenant Boileau, in which a man hadj been buried for ten days in a grave lined; with masonry and covered with largtl slates of stone, and strictly guarded; ana] the subject told Lieutenant Boileau tbatj he was ready to submit to au interrncntj of a twelve-months' duration, if desired.: In all these cases the appearance of the') body when disinterred is described asj being quite corpse-like, and no pulsationj could be detected at the head or at the! arteries. It may well be asked, in view} of such possibilities of suspended anima-] tion, how physicians can be positive that) death has occurred in cases of catalepsy! or trance by any other indication than) that of decomposition. The latest atrocity is a pocket edition of the pigs in clover puzzle, bound in brass and about the size of an ordinary watch.' j J 1 y , x1 ' t ! i .... i WOBDS OT WISDOM. A whisperer separates chief friends. The heart of the -wise teacheth hit ! mouth. ! Of two evils, the lesa is always to b< i chosen. < Early and provident fear is the motha { of safety. j Truth is the highest thing that may keep. ? One good mother is worth a hundred I schoolmasters. Grief counts the seconds: happinest t j._ ai.. i -j. i iuigeus tut; iiuuTH. Silence is worth its weight in gold il [ many crises of human experience, s Nothing is so strong as gentleness^ ! nothing so gentle as real strength, i They are as sick that surfeit with to* I much as they that starve with nothing, i Some persons, instead of "putting ofl' '.the old man," dress him up in a new i shape. One may be better than his reputation ;or his conduct, but never better *>>*? hii j principles. Toil, feel, hope. A is sure to 'dream enough before he dies, without jmaking arrangements for the purpose. Gayety is to good-humor as perfumei [to vegetable fragrance; the one over* {powers weak spirits, the other recreates land revives them. : Private credit is wealth, public honoi lis security; the feather that adorns thfl .Toyal bird supports its flight; strip hin i 'of his plumage, and you flx him to tha earth. Sloth makes all things difficult, but .industry all easy; and he that riseth latfl must trot all day, and scarce overtake! :his business at night; while Lazinesi travels so slowly that Poverty soon over* takes him. The White House. The residence Of the President of the ;United States, says Youth?i Companion, is officially known as the Executive Man^ si on, which means that it is the residence of the head of the Executive branch of tha iGoverament; but it is seldom called, i< ordinary talk, either by those who live iq it, or by the American people in general, anything but the White House. This i| a very unpretentious title, and it is inter* .eating to note how the residence of thi 'President, in a country which is full of white houses, came to bear this simple name as its special property. The explanation is easily found. The first Executive Mansion at Washington was occupied in 1800, It was built oi freestone, and was unpainted; but in 1814 the British array occupied Washing* ton, and burned, with other public builai ings, the President's house, leaving it 4 blackened ruin. The house was rebuilt on the same site} and the same walls were used in its coni struction; but they were so discolored bl smoke that, on the suggestion of General Jackson, they were painted white, noi only to improve their appearance, but iq token of the successful defiance of British fire by the American Republic. The mansion soon became the "White House" in the mouths of the people oa account of its dazzling color, and from that day to this it has been repainted white every ten years. Its name com* memorates a patriotic feeling, therefore, as well as serves to describe the appeaW ance of the mansion, for the original coaj) of white paint was a sort of protest against the vandalism of the British, and everj subsequent coat has served to perpetuate me protest. The house has not been altogether com* fortable as a place of residence, and hat required almost constant repairs and al{ terations. It is said to be damp, and while it may not be positively unhealthy^ it has become customary for the PresM dent's family to take quarters elsewhera for the summer. The White House is the President's oft fice as well as his residence. On the first floor are several large apartments, inchid* ing the East Room, which is forty bj eighty feet in size and twenty-two feet high, the Blue Room, the Red Room and the Green Room. On the second floor are the President'? office?a large room looking to the Poto^ mac and the Long Bridge?the rooms o< the President's secretaries, and the pri-, vate apartments for the President'^ family. It has occasionally been suggested tha$ a new and mOre magnificent residence be erected for the President, and that tha White House be reserved as an office fo< the Executive Department, but Congress has thus far been disinclined, or toa busy, to adopt the suggestion. ? r.-rt The First Greenback. * j Gaddis, a Cincinnati hack-driver,' treasures a dollar bill of the first greeny hont issue The Enauirer of that citf tells that Salmon P. Chase, while Secret fl tary of the Treasury, visited Cincinnati J fl "Shine, sir!" shouted Gaddiff, then a boot-*' I black, to a stranger in the Burnet Housa I lobby. "Do your prettiest," said thej B gentleman, with a smile, "and I'll givaj I you my photograph." The boy did noli I fall in very heartily with the proposition,' fl as he had no particular use for photoJ I graphs of his customers, but after a littlaj fl bantering he took the job. At the finish*: I the gentleman handed the boy a brand^ fl new one-dollar bill "That's my photo-^ fl graph," said he, walking away. Thebojj fl glanced from his customer to the bill igj fl momentary perplexity. Then the strongj B resemblance which his customer bore taj fl the vignette in one corner of the greeruf fl back caught his eye, and he knew that thq I Secretary of the Treasury had been hav* fl ing a little fun with him at his own ex* B pensc. H Production of Salt j I At one time nearly the whole of tW fl salt used as food and for industrial pur* fl poses was obtained from the sea, and izt fl many countries where the climate is dry, B and warm, and which have a convenient^ I seaboard, a great quantity of salt is stiH fl so obtained; 250,000 tons are produced} fl yearly in Portugal, and an approximate fl quantity on the Atlantic and Meditera^ fl nean coasts of France. Spain turns out; fl from the Balearic Islands, tb? Bay o^ fl Cadiz and elsewhere 300,000 ton? an-i E nually, and even the small seaboard o| fl Austria produces 70,000 to 100,000 tons^ I Valuable Japanese Fountains. ' ? The moat valuable of a collection o4 articles shipped from Japan for tha\ French Exhibition is a cabinet from thqj industrial bureau valued at $2500, and ai pair of bronze fountains, valued at $4000^ The fountains, which stand twenty feel high, are of the form of two storks wiil^ wings expanded. They are to be fixed iaj front of the eslubitioa.-r&w&w Fiacuw 1 . - t 'I L, ' "Jfe