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THE SONG OF THE WIND. Who hath an eye to find me? Who hath a chain to bind me? My haunts are earth's fair forests, fields and seas. . I break the sunlight into dancing flakes, And blurr the pictured dreams cf sleeping lakes, Either and thither going where I please. Men see not, but they hear me; They love me, yet they fear me. All nature breathes and moves at my com Sometimes I dally with a maiden's tresses, Or bear faiirt odors from far wildernesses, Then strew with wrecks the desolated land. Well may the seaman tremble When I with smiles dissemble! For ne'er a spirit had such changing moods. From wafting heavenward the whitewinged ships Under propitious skies, I seizo my whips And lash the tempests from their solitudes. Who hath an eye to find me? Who hath a chain to bind me. The vagrant roamer of the homeless sky? Before the hoary mountains were, I lived; For ages murmuring through their pines have grieved That I alone of all things ne'er shall die. ?J. P. Hitter, Jr., in Belford's Magazine. THE SOUDANESE SPY. BY WILLIAM M. GRAYDON. "Listen, Bruce, what's that?" aud Carriston raised his hand with a gesture of silence and looked at me intently. Then we both dropped our cigars and rushed out to the door of the Embassy. A gun-shot, plain and unmistakable, had echoed through the night air, and we certainly had heard a faint cry. But in the dreary street all was quiet, and the solitary electric lamp reflected no shadows save our own on the pavement of the British Embassy, while the palacc ^across the way, with its coral facades and massive carved gates, showed no signs of life. Then a gun went oft, a drum began to rattle loudly, arms clashed, hurrying footsteps echoed on the stones, and shouts were given and answered. I listened in speechless astonishment, and then rushed back for my cap and sword. It was best -to be prepared, though what possible .ground for alarm existed I could not see. Suakin was protected by a line of sentries that extended a mile beyond the town. No signal had come from the outskirts, yet here was this turmoil in the very midst of the European quarter. As I hurried back to the door the great r>nlorntj?o cumrior nopn nnrl si ermnd nf K ?ft ft T -"1 ? Egyptian soldiers trooped out, their swarthy faces shining under their crimson caps. Close behind them, escorted by several officers, came a tall, dignified, looking man. He was bareheaded and held an unsheathed sword in his hand. I recognized him at first sight as Achmed Ras, the Egyptian Governor of Suakin. He glanced up and down the street and then hurried across to the Embassy." "You are a British officer!" he said, breathless with excitement. Captain Dugdale, of the Ninth Dragoons, at your command, Your Excellency," I said, briefly. "Thank you. I am in need of your services. An Arab prisoner, a captured spy of the Mahdi, has made his escape. Mv stupid soldiers are to blame. The fellow has been gone some time now, and it is important he be retaken, for he has stolen valuable plans of the town and fortifications. I fear my soldiers can do little, but if your dragoons will scour the plain- " "Your Excellency," I interrupted, "what you desire shall be done at once." I mounted my horse, waved a hasty salute, and galloped off down the narrow street, leaving Achmecl Ras and Can iston hobnobbing together on the steps of the Embassy, for Carriston was the British Ambassador at Suakin. The hot blood was coursing madly through my veins, for I had only been at Suakini u week, and the faintest touch of excitement was intensely wclcome. I remembered, too, having seen this escaped Arab only a few days previous, when he was being led captive through the streets of the town?a great black .giant, with muscular, brawny limbs and his black locks dangling in curls down his,, ahoulders. I spurred rapidly through the town, crossed the peiiinsula to the mainland, where the troops were quartered side by side with the native population, and soon the bugle call to anns was floating out on the niwht air. nnd the iina-linff of sours O 7 J O O " ~ ' X" and the trampling of hoofs were heard on all sides. A few brief, concise orders and we galloped out onto the desert and scattered over the sandy plain. Chances were in our favor, for the moon was coming up slowly, and the enemy's outposts, where alene the Arab could find safety, were at that time three miles beyond the town. Not a stone or bush or a mound of sand escaped scrutiny. The men were widely scattered, clinging far to the north and to the south and drawing steadily nearer to the enemy's lines. I galloped straight across the plain, closely attended by a solitary trooper, a brave fellow named Tom Fraser. I kept as.far as possible in the direction I judged the fugitive had taken and I hoped to have the pleasure of capturing him myself, for the trampling of my horse was muffled by the drifted sand and would not betray my approach until I should be ^ose upon him. A mile and a half from the town lay a belt of deserted intrenchmcnts from which the enemy had been driven a month or so previous. As we approachcd these V _we slackened our speed and began to look ^^^^for a suitable crossing place. The Brit- ! ish shells had leveled them in places, and j one of these points we soon found, a ; break in the trench with a gentle slope ! on either side. "We rode slowly down ! into the hollow, aud as our horses were i , commencing to ascend again Fraser sud. denly tugged fiercely at my arm. "Look, Captain, look!" he whispered J -excitedly, and as I followed the range of his outstretched hand I saw a sight that | made my heart leap. Off to the south extended the trenches in one unbroken formulation, their mounds of sands rigid and exact, and outlined sharply in the moonlight against the right hand wall of eartle was a swiftly moving shadow. Even as we looked the specter vanished around a curve and we saw it no more. We pulled our horses' heads round and .dashed down the trench side by side, for It was fully wide enough for three horsemen to ride abreast. "We thundered on in silence. I clutched the reins tightly with one hand and with the other I held ray saber. The Arab was unarmed and I would take him alive, V . , f v. I thought, and lead him back in triumph to Saukin. This all passed through my mind in an instant and then we galloped round the curve and saw our prey in full view before us. He was struggling along painfully and limping as though one leg was hurt. The moon shone full upon him, and to my surprise I -jaw that he carried a great shield and one of those enormous double-edged swords which these Arabs use with such terrible effect. He had doubtless found them in the trench. Wc called on him to surrender, but he never even turned until as we were close upon him he suddenly whirled around in desperation and confronted us menacingly. We drew our sabers and dashed upon him. Just here, extending full across the trench, was a rugged depression, caused probably by an exploding shell. This we failed to see, and, while Fraser's horse leaped it gallantry, my animal stumbled and fell, and down I went, partly beneath him. I tried to rise, but my ankle was badly sprained, and, with a cry of pain, I Ji V\r?V?f lmrco Thon T UrupjJCU UA/vrii UCUAUU luv uwicv. auvu ? forgot every thing in what I saw going on before me. The Arab had retreated against the wall and was fiercely keeping Eraser at bay. Their swords clashed until the sparks flew, and Fraser's heavy strokes were intercepted by the Arab's leathern shield. They fought on in silence and in the moonlight I saw the Arab's face, the eye3 sparkling with hatred and the white teeth clinched in deadly determination. Clash after clash rang on the night air. Suddenly Fraser spurred on his horse and dealt a fearful blow at the Arab's exposed head, but quick as a flash the great sword flew up, and the short saber striking full and forcibly against the awful edge, broke off close beside the hilt and lay shining on the sand at their feet. What followed I can never forget. It will haunt me to my dying day. Fraser threw up his right hand, with the broken hilt, and with the left reached for his revolver, and then, as I looked on, stupid with horror, the Arab raised his great sword aloft with both hands, and with all the force of his desperate strength he hurled it forward like a catapult. The gleaming blade flashed the moonlight from its edge and crushed with an awful sound through poor Fraser's head, cleaving its way through the skull and between the shoulders and on down through the back until its point fairly touched the rear of the saddle. Split in twain from head to waist the poor fellow dropped to the ground without a cry, and his plunging steed trampled over the body and then galloped in mad fright down the trench. Wholly engrossed in this awful scene, I forgot my own peril, and only realized it fully when the Arab, bracing himself against the wall of the trench, began to drag his apord out of Fraser's body. With a slufader I reached for my pistol, and grew faint for an instant when I remembered that it lay under the horse in the holster. I was wholly at the Arab's toaositt nrrofnli tVOQ qHII fcllf/ITinf* fit men*jr. iuv- ?3=)?D ? the sword, and seemed unable to loosen it. If only I had ray pistol how nicely I could bring him down. All at once I saw something glitter in one of Fraser's outstretched hands, and the sight of it gave me a thrill of hope. It was his revolver, which he had succeeded in grasping just before the blow fell. If I could reach it before the Arab could extricate his sword, I was saved. If not?Fraser's fate would be mine. I gritted my teeth, seized ray sabsr firmly and rose erect. The Arab saw me, and, with a savage imprecation to Allah he threw himself on the sword with a terrible effort. Still it clung to Fraser's body, and then, as I leaped toward him, forgetful of my sprained ankle, and flourished my sabre fiercelv, he grabbed his shield and fell back a few yards, keeping on the defensive. I uttered a loud shout to intimidate him, and then bent over poor Fraser. He still held the pistol, but his grip was like iron. I gave a strong pull and then another, and just as his stiffened fingers loosened their clasp my injured ankle nsserted itself and I fell heavily to one side. The wary Arab was watching his chance and before I could even turn he leaped on me like a tiger and we rolled over in the sand splashing through a pool of Fraser's crimson life-blood. The Arab had clutched at my throat, but missed it and clasping each other's shoulders we floundered about the trench, now one uppermost and now the other. With clenched teeth, and struggling for breath we fought on desperately, knowing that one or the other must die. I could feel the Arab's hot breath upon my neck and his huge brass earrings flapping against my cheeks. I still held the pistol tightly in my left hnnd. If I could only get a chance to use it! Very foolishly I relaxed my grasp a brief second and in that lightening-like interval the Arab +V>? nduontmro on/} fncf/inprl hr>t)i WIUU ^ llUIHUWljjV """ " his brawny hands firmly on my throat. In vain I struggled and strove to turn, the bony fingers were pressing my windpipe and the hideous face was glaring into mine with a mocking smile. I was choking, suffocating?all sense was leaving me. Must I die thus? It was horrible. With a fearful effort, the strength that madness alone can give, I twisted the Arab sideways. My left arm was free. My hand still clutched the pistol. I raised it with a jerk. I put the muzzle to his ear, with the last atom of strength I pulled the trigger, and as the stunning report echoed through the trench with thundering rcvcrbations everything grew black and dim. * * * * * * * Attracted by the pistol-shot, they found us there half an hour later, still locked in a close embracc. My uniform was spattered with the Arab's blood. Messengers were sent to Suakin for stretchers, and while waiting the body of my desperate foe was buried where he lay in the trench, and beside him was laid my horse, whose ncck had been broken in the fall. Wc marched mournfully back to Suakin, I and the next day poor Fraser was laid to I rest in the English cemetery on the shores | of the Red Sea. I've been in many a skir misli with the Arabs since, but that night ' in the trenches outside Suakin was the i closest call I ever had, and as a living remembrance I have kept that great twoedged sword which split Tom Fraser nearly in half before my very eyes.? Chicago Times. Forty-five years ago the farmers of Illinois used their watermelons for making molasses. The juice was boiled down in : open kettles out of doors, and though the flavor was not equal to the best "honey syrup" it was sweet, and the user knew what was in it. | WOMAN'S WORLD. PLEASANT LITERATURE FOR FEMININE READERS. SENSIBLE SHOES IN STYLE. In the battle of the boots the French seems to be losing its grip, and the common-sense shoe now vaunteth itself. The heels have come down and the loles have spread out. Observation on Broadway on a windy day will display two common-sense shoes to one French i heel, whereas a medium style or compromise between the two extremes adorns ihe feet of the great majority. On Fifth tvenue, and from Thirty-third street to Fiftieth, where the daughters of wealth ind luxury most appear, the extreme type of common-sense shoe "takes the lidewalk" by a large majority.?Shoe ind Leather Facts. ) SENTIMENT AND PRACTICE. J. Randolph Tucker, in a few remarks i iddressed to the young ladies of the j Norwood, told them that it was not the I dude of the light fantastic toe they | ihould smile upon, but the man who ! ionld work the best with his head and love the best with his heart, and the rirls applauded vociferously. Half an j pour aftenrard nearly every girl in the tot was whirling about the floor with one if those self-same dudes, and the young j aian with a great head and a comI cnodicus heart was leaning against the j tvall, bewailing at the luck because he j couldn't dance. Such is life in large j cities. And still Mr. Tucker isn't alI together wrong.?Washington Critio. CROWNLESS BONSTET8. The majority of women rejoice in that (t is a bonnet season, and that there are few occasions when either the shapely little bonnet or the becoming big hat is | aot permissible. Leading among the vaI garies in millinery is a bonnet absolutely j crownless. "What extremists we are, to j be sure. One day we defy the criticisms j ?f the masculine punster, who likens the j crown of our favorite bonnet to the Tower of London, and the next day, as It were, we wax enthusiastic over a "creition" that has no crown at all, but is literally nothing more nor less than a tvTeath of fine flowers, violets, daisies, or forget-me-nots, encircling the head, and over which the rolls and twi6ts of shining hair are distinctly visible. More real millinery triumphs are shown in finely woven straws and chips, and in Neapolitan and Milan braids, and the shapes most (n favor include the demure Alsacian bonnet,the French capote and the toque, while the hats strikes variations on the Direc > ? - ?? V CV__ soire ana uamsouruugu suopca.? Siftings. WOMEN AS BEE KEEPERS. I wish for the benefit of many women who are desirous of supporting themjelves, or aiding in the support of their families, to cite them to an employment by the aid of which many women make money, and do it independently and easy, j&ys an Atlanta lady in the Sunny South. [n this avocation I know women who have regained lost health, and at the same time made money in abundance. Indeed, I know women who make as much as fifteen hundred dollars per annum, and do qo work during the winter, in what f conceive to be the most enobling, profitable and pleasant of all businesses?that of keeping bees?scientifically. And what more pleasant place is there than a well kept apiary where the hum of the ever industrious workers make music in their flight, and where vines and flowers lend an enchantment to the scene? Every lady who has a rod of ground should have an apiary, and more especially those who live in the suburbs of cities, in villages and in the country, where blooming flowers constantly exude their sweetness which would be otherwise lost except for the industry of these pets. What is more fascinating than producing co.ub honey in all its purity and whiteness in one pound sections for home use or stale at home or abroad, or in rearing Italian queens for the market where there Is a conztant demand at prices ranging from $2 to $5 each? A colony of bees will give twenty-five j queen cells weekly, whicn can be hatched i In little hives having frames 4x5 inches. | A. queen will lay two thousand eggs daily, j from each of which a queen can be reared in twenty-one days, and if we have enough little hives we can rear hundreds of queens.. As is said in Root's standard work on bees: 4'One hundred of these little hives will give us ten laying queens iach day," from April to September. In honey one thousand pounds per colony has been rcached. What business is more beautiful than this which as has been truthfully said is "the poetry of labor?" Ladies who will start with Italian bees and in a proper manner will reap success, and to all who tvish to embark in this and will write me enclosing a stamp for reply, I will cheerfully give full particulars. Or if desired, ind the editor wishes it, I will answer in i general way through the Sunny South. CONSTANTINOPLE'S VEILED WOMEN. The women of the higher classes of Constantiuopolitan society may be seen j in the fall at the Sweet Waters of Asia, j ind in the spring at the Sweet Waters of Europe?cnarming open giaues, wnere they resort on Fridays and take the only public promenade of the week. Brought from the harems in carriages and caiques, they arc dressed in gala attire and idorned with jewels. A group sitting on the grass or walking to and fro is at once juggestive of association in marital vow ind subjection under one lord. I have iecn as many as fourteen together, all of various ages, different heights and different degrees of attractiveness, indicating the mood or the straits of the imiubie man. Most of the women are coarse of appearancc. Some are exceedingly fair of complexion, with black, lustrous eyes and grace of carriage. They relax the rigidity of Mohammedan usage ?vhen there is no danger of detection and I loosen their veils. The yashmak, the Egyptian style of veil, covering the face from the eyes downward, is now the fashion in Constantinople. In Damascus the veil is dark in color and covers the entire face, which it fully conceals. In Constantinople many of the women wear a white veil drawn back and bound behind the head. Some of them dress in ParisIan costume aud wear dainty Turkish caps,. If the veil is a misery to the young and fair, it is a solace to the ugly, whom it puts on a par with the attractive. "We Qoticed that the latter class were strict conformists to the law. There is a growing fretdom in the use of the veil which every few years calls forth a fresh order from the palace ordering rigid observance of the Mohamedan law. Polygamy prevails, and, although the public slave market is suppressed, the harems must be supplied from dealers who carry on the traffic clandestinely. Some Turks like Vefik Pasha, Ambassador to France for many years, confine themselves to one wife, but human nature is not noted for living above the precepts and permissions of its religion on the Bosphorus any more than anywhere else. But degrading as polygamy is, those who are competent to judge by reason of being on the ground pronounce the utter' facility with which divorce is secured a greater evil. The utterance of a few words by the husband constitutes divorce. The theory of tho Koran and the practice of its followers are to keep woman as a slave. Her condition is a pitiable one, but in her present state of ignorance it is doubtful whether a law emancipating her from the seclusion and inaneness of harem life would be a benefit to the present generation of women.?Mail and Bzprw. LATEST 8TYLES OP DRESSING THE HAlZt. The coiffure is at present in that delightful state of transition -which forbids the making of arbitrary laws and allows a woman to dress her hair high or low, aocording to her caprice. The one thing requisite to stylish hair dressing is that the hair shall be loose and fluffy. The wise women barber up town -with the wicked eyes and the winning dimples, says that about one woman in one hundred has the kind of hair that by careful washing will possess the requisite fluffyness, and that that one woman never likes it. The effect is usually produced with curling irons and with artificial additions of curly hair. The coils of braids so frequently seen below round hate, on the street are very often put on and taken off with the hats, for they are really becoming to few faces and more suitable for the street than for more dressy occasions, and ladies prefer to dress their hair high when it is becoming and pin on the braids at need. The two extremes of styles are the Empire coiffure and the catogan braid. The latter style is a simple loose plait looped low in the neck and fastened with a ribbon or a single long pin of gold or silver. The Empire headdress is mostly used with evening gowns, and has three prominent features?curls, bunch of ribbon and flowers. The hair is combed very high up on the head, and twisted in a small knot to be completely covered -with short, soft curls falling toward the forehead and also toward the back. One long curl is combed out and covers the back of the head with waves, until a little way above the neck it twists into a curl again. Flowers arc to be very much worn with this coiffure, and fillets of gold and silver, diadems of precious stones, or a bunch of ribbon will be also used on dressy occasions. Ultra-fashionable women adopt a style of headdress in - " T- ?i- mi w&icn tue nair is worn very mgn. mo front tresses are parted in the centre to form two crimped bandeaux, over which rests the Watteau wreath, encircling the cluster of loops of hair arranged on top of the head. There are some prophecies concerning the abandonment of bangs, but their decline will be slow, as few faces are so perfect in outline as to dispense with them. Since Mrs. Cleveland has lost the prestige of her high place the style of tossing the bangs up in front in a puff has been losing favor and is rarely seen. The short pointed or rather square bang are most in favor loosely curled, and for youthful faces the light fringe of hair upon the forehead, the rest of the wavy mass being combed straight back, is very popular. Now that the pretty Hading has sailed away, leaving only a delicious memory of grace and loveliness, the style of coiffure she inaugurated has fallen into desuetude. This consisted in combing the loose hair over the tips of the ears and twisting it in a loose knot at the back. A woman with small, pretty cars could never be prevailed upon to hide them, and the size of large or prominent ears was emphasized and rendered jet more noticeaKlo Kit t.Vmf cfvlp r>f hpadrlrpss. One of the moat effective and pleasing arrangements now worn is that which is neither high nor low, but covers the back of the . head with loose, soft coils and folds reaching from the crown of the head to the neck, a style affected by Mrs. James G. Blaine, Jr., and Miss Otis, the pretty society star actress. Young girls will return to the old-time popular fashion of leaving the hair loose and flowing, tied back from the face with a simple ribbon and ornamented with a simple flower, which accords well with the picturesque and juvenile style of I dressing now in vogue. All the styles seem to be based on Grecian ideals and ' picturesque models, and perhaps the greatest boon to womankind that the change will bring about is that the stylish "fluffiness" can only be effected in hair that is frequently washed, and a general cleanliness will prevail for a time.?Nm York Sun. FASniON NOTES. The skirts of tulle dresses are made in fan plisses. There is a revival of the garnet as a fashionable jewel. Jeweled hairpins are being produced in every conceivable design. Ribbons intended for sashes vary in width from ten to twelve inches. Sandal shoes are worn with Empire and Directory gowns on the other side. Nothing thicker than tulle or net is used as a lining to the brims of large straw hats. The toque capote is a bonnet with long, oval crown, like a toque with strings attached. Beautifully printed raohairs and alpacas arc among the dressy yet inexpensive materials of the season. The summer stocking par excellence is of fine black lisle thread, with toes, heels and upper half all in white. The latest fancy in neck lingerie is the deep falling plisse and the narrow upright ruche of sulphur-yellow gauze. The newest earrings arc a revival of the old Creole hoops of gold or silver, plaiu, chased or set with jewels. Some of the daintiest parasols of net and tulle are fringed all around with the petals of roses, poppies, lilies or ferns. Pongee, tussore and China silk in combination with plaided surah make pretty and comparatively inexpensive summer gowns. The combination of velvet with all species of tissues will continue to be a feature of costumes for day, and of toilets , for evening wear. Straw braids and stripes, composed of braided rushes or straw embroidery on an open ground, give pretty trimmings for hats and bonnets for the summer. ' . ' ' *. . V*v ~TDEN OF DEATH. A WIRE CAGE WHICH CONTAINS 200 RATTLESNAKES. A Man Enters and Fondles the Rep- j tiles ?Their Deadly Breath ? Feeding and Washing Them Once a Week. I was taken to a Dime Museum on Eighth avenue, says Nym Crinkle in the New York World. It was one of those shows of winch we have altogether too many. A collection of human monstrosities, human frauds and human invalids, with a fringe of museum and an attempt at performance. But in one corner on the second floor, where no sunlight ever came, and abutting the little stage where disease stalked in tinsel and to which morbid visitors came with delight, there stood a wire cage about eight square, with a movable lid, and by its side sat a rather spare young man with a turban on, made of a dirty American flag. In this cage, coiled, interlocked, writhing in convoluted masses, and darkly moving about were the two hundred rattlesnakes. They were the unmistakable crotafidje, and represented every variety of the animal that is known to our land, from the lively and (^nerous prairie rattler to the scaled beast that one seldom sees except in the rocky retreats of the AUcghanies, the Catskills or the White Mountains. The wire cage in which they were placed was not over three feet high, and when the lid was lifted it was open across one-half its top. Presently the floor-walker of the museum, who conducts the crowd from freak to freak and explains the wonders with proverbial rhetoric, approached this end of the room, and as he called the attention of the sight-seers to the den of snakes, the man with the star-spangled turban, who had been sitting on a box by the side of his cage, got up and with the utmost sangfroid lifted the lid and stepped over the wire side into the box. I noticed that lie was very careful where he put his moccasined feet, the toes of which went down very gingerly in the narrow space where there was no snake. But the 1- ' ?--A- 1. A f A moment IIU pub LUS liuuu U^JUU mu uu XV lift it the occupants of the box showed a curious activity, and there rose from every serpent the whirring cicada sound of rattles. There was an unmistakable endeavor on the part of each snake to get himself into the concentric position, which is most favorable for striking, but so interlocked and massed were they that it was not an easy matter. The exhibitor seated himself in the centre of the box. Its inhabitants were now in a most lively condition. They squirmed and rattled, but not one of them struck at him. He picked them up, regardless of their attitudes and warnings, laid them one upon the other across his knees, put them about his neck so that the little black scaly heads came together on his chin, and hung two of the smallest over his ears, and presently he was pretty well covered with a writhing mass. I noticed that he exercised a great deal of dexterity in picking them up. That is to say he picked them up gently, and at the same time appeared to do it carelessly. His one great care was obviously not to irritate the snake. In putting down his hands to feel for them on the floor of the cage he could not turn his head to direct the motion of his hands with his eyes, as his writhing neckerchief interfered. He therefore groped deftly | about with his fingers, now collecting a snake by the head, now by the tail, and nearly every one that he lifted kept up the rattling, rather, however, in an automatic than in a vicious manner. He remained in the cage just two minutes and thirty seconds by the watch. When he disengaged himsolf and slipped out he was in that condition called as "a dripping perspiration," and his pulse was abnormally high. The crowd paid no attention to him and passed on to the other wonders. So I had him alone. I found him to be an intelligent Irishman (O'Connell is his name), and he told me that he could not stay in the cage over three minutes, because "the breaths of the snakes overcame him." I asked him in what way he was affected. He said it made him "weak." This is a curious and interesting point, and I am inclined to believe that tnis man suffered from an unconscious fear. He has been struck three times, and has escaped so far, but he never steps over the wires without a sub-consciousness that it may be the last time. That this affects him in some way I have no doubt. Mr. O'Connell told me that he had no fear of snakes, and never saw one that he could not handle. But this only amounts to the statement that he was not aware of any fear, and I have heard the boast before about handling serponts. Once a week he washes his pets and rubs them off gently with a whisk broom, after which they shine, he says, like a morning star. What is still more interesting, he feeds them on raw meat, and has to open their mouths and put it in, the snake of coursc not being disposed to seek food that is not animated. He has to put this moat into their throats, so to speak, before the act of deglutition begins. All the information mac ne gave niu concerning the crotalidse was correct enough. I asked him why he did not extract the fangs, and he said they would grow in again, which is true, for behind the developed fangs arc the rudiments of othere, sometimes as many as live. I have icen an expert Indian boy jerk the tooth jut with a piece of canvas which the make had struck. Mr. O'Connell insists :hat the rattlesnake never strikes unless it is irritated. I believe this to be true. So flat a head its that of the crotalidae leaves them without any upper brain whatever. They have not even the cerebrum of a porgic. It is idle, therefore, to look for volition in his scaly system. He furnishes the best example of the muscular automaton in the chain of animated nature and would have delighted Descartcs. He is a creature of surface irritation. The whirr of a bird, the sharp crack of a bough, the tramp of a heavy foot sends the nervous current along that spme to the alarum. But the sleeping beauty might harbor him in her bosom if she were quiet. Mr. O'Connell appears to know this from experience. Better philosophers than Mr. O'Connell have advanced it out of their inner consciousness. The crotalida; are subject to rhythm. This is the explanation of serpent charming and the explanation of Mr. O'CojnnelTs success. The Hindoo uses the rhythm of sound. The Irishman uses the rhythm of motion. He is like a serpent himself in his motion and gesture. -J = A Man-Eater' sad Her Victim. The notoriouj Jounsar man-eating tigress has at last been killed by a young forest officer. This tigress has been the scourge of the neighborhood of Chakraia, India, for the last ten. yeaw, and her victims have been innumerable. On one occasion she seized J one out of a number of foresters who were sleeping together in a hut, carried him off, and deliberately made him over to her cubs to play with, while she protected their innocent gambols from being disturbed. His companions were 1 eventually forced to take refuge in a J tree from her savage attacks. Here they witnessed the following ghastly ! tragedy: The tigress went back and ! stood over the prostrate form of her j victim and purred in a catlike and self- ! complacent way to her cuds, wno were romping about and rolling over the apparently lifeless body. She then lay down a few yards off, and with blinking eyes watched the gambols of her young progeny. In a few moments the man sat up and tried to beat the young brutes off. They were too young to hold him down, so he made a desperate attempt to shake himself free, and started off at a run; but before he had gone twenty yards the tigress bounded out and brought him back to her cubs. Once more the doomed wretch had to defend himself over again from their playful attacks. He made Tcnewed attcrnps to regain his freedom, but was seized by the old tigress and brought back each time before he had gone many yards. His groans and cries for help were heartrending; but the men on the tree were paralyzed with fear and quite unable to move. At last the tigress herself joined in the gambols of her cuts, and the wretched man was thrown about and tossed over her head exactly as many of us have seen our domestic cat throw rats and mice about before beginning to feed on them. The man's efforts at escape grew feebler. For the last time they saw him try to get away on his hands and knees ioward a large fir tree, with the cubs clinging to his limbs. This final attempt was as futile as the rest. The tigress brought him back once again, and then held him down under her forepaws, and deliberately began her living meal before their eyes. It was this formidable beast that the young Coopers Hill officer and a student attacked on foot. They were working up her trail, fifteen yards apart, when suddenly Mr. Osmaston heard his younger companion groan, and turning round saw him borne to the ground by the tigress. Mr. Osmaston fortunately succeeded in shooting her through the spine, and a second ball stopped her in mid spring. Meantime his companion rolled over the hill, and was eventually discovered insensible a few feet away from his terrible assailant. He is terribly mauled, and now lies at the Chakrata Station Hospital, where hopes of his recovery are entertained.?London Times. A Male That Befosed to be Borrowed. "Speaking of hoss thieves," said the old farmer as he leaned back with a chuckle, "but I've had two or three funny experiences with them. About five years ago I had a valuable hoss, and I had to work all kinds of tricks to prevent his being stolen. One day a feller came along in a buggy, pretending he wanted to buy a farm, and he made two or three moves around the stable which satisfied me that he was spotting the hoss. I wasn't feeling well and couldn't stay up all night to act as guard, and so I put my ho3S in a neighbor's barn and brought his mule over to my stable. That mule was the worst kicker on top o' the earth, and I knew there'd be fun if a visitor appeared. On the fourth morning I went out to find the would-be purchaser of my farm lying under a shed in the barnyard with a broken leg and a scalp wound. oottcj T 'ttrVinf 'Q JLXL/liU O?jo Xj ?? UMU w waav** * " 'Robbers,' says he. 'They attacked me just at your gate, and I think I'm badly hurt.' u 'But you didn't holler.' " 'Oh, no. I didn't want to disturb your rest.' " 'Did they hit you?' " 'Yes. They struck me with a sand club.' " 'Was that club stuffed with hair?' says I, as I plucked a tuft of mule's hair off his shirt front. " 'I think not,' says he, cool as a cucumber. 'I think I got that off the beast in there.' " 'But what were you doincr in my stable?' " 'I thought I'd borrow your horse and try to get to a surgeon's without disturbing you, but as he objected to being borrowed I gave up the idea. Now, my friend, here's $40 for the trouble I'm going to be to you. Please hitch up and drive me to town, where I can be taken care of.' "And you did it?" "Sartinly. I alius like to oblige, and them ?40 jist paid all my taxes." "What became of the man?" "Lay on his back in town for a couple of months, and was then shipped off East. I saw him the day before he went, and asked him if he calkerlated on hunting down the highwaymen who had attacked him that nig'ut in front of my house. " 'T'm jifonred I couldn't identifv 'em. | even if -we got the guilty parties,' he i answered, as he handed over another ten, and sort o' dodged as if expectin1 thatole mule to let fly agin."?New York Sun. All Eel Yarn. One of the most novel sights in the | | spring of the year at the rocks; of the Willamette Falls is the swarms of gyrating eels. They are friskiness itself, and show a low order of intelligence. If you put your hand in the water over the eels, or spit on it, instantly they are gone. ( But poke a stick down among the shaky ! things and they will not notice it. Tho j sense of smelling seems to be their main guard against danger. Like salmon,they 1 do their level best to dart up the rocks in ! order to ascend the river, and w ith good ; success. Says a fisherman: "I have seen ! as many as a hundred bushels of eels 1 hanging on the rocks at one time by the j suckers of their mouths. They would wiggle and fling up their tails and by the momentum thus obtained, letting go with j their suckers, jump up about six inches higher. I caught about forty barrels last season, that I salted and sold to the Columbia fishermen for bait. I picked them off the rocks with a fishhook tied to a pole. I started at the bottom row of eels and would pick off barrels of them. The upper rows hadn't sense enough to perceive the enemy. I have caught eels in the headwaters of the Santiam, in tha Cascade Mountains. Suppose they had swum up the Willamette.?Salem (Oregon) Journal. :. - .i. ' - ' , .. i - /! V;-. . yjji : :M - rriT ' ? CUBIOUS FACTS. A Charlestown (Mass.) man claims to prove that the earth is flat and floats in | water. The illumination of the dome and1 cupola of St. Peter's, Rome, usually requires over 200 men. The master and engineer of a trading steamer on the Columbia River, Oregon, are husband and wife. . f vA fifteen-year-old boy of Fitehville, Conn., has trained six sheep to harness and drives them daily about the village. The machinery palace of the Pari* ^ Exposition is 1400 feet long and tha \ largest building ever constructed under a single roof. The fortune of the richest man in New South "Wales, Sydney Burdekin, began in pawnbroking. He is worth several millions of dollars. A "sandwich man," in New. York ; parlance, is a man who walks along the streets between two advertising signs, strapped over his shoulders. Windmills are said to have been originally introduced into Europe by the Knights of St. John, who took the hint from what they had seen in the crusades. Sea lions are so plentiful on the coast of California this year as to be a nuisance, especially to fishermen, while their barking annoys the farmers for two miles inland. In China grief is associated with a y white dress, in Ethiopia with brown, in Turkey with violet, and in Egypt with yellpw. Thoroughly civilized nations all affect the black. A rustic chair, bought by a citizen of York, Perm., was made of green sassafras wood, and a few warm days have caused it to put forth many sprouts, . some an inch long. Mathematics has its oddities. The multiplication of 987,654,321 by 45 gives 44,444,444,445. Reversing the order and multiplying 123,456,789 by 45 a res-alt equally odd is * obtained, * 5,555,555,505. Judge J. H. Gaston, of Merriweather, Ga., has jumped across a thirteen-foot gully every birthday of his Kfe for many years. The other day he was seventy live years ottt, ana ne maae we jump with perfect ease. A man on Long Island, N. Y., has had a dog fish in a pond for twenty-eight years, and there is no sign of his being worn out yet. He figures that the life of a dog fish who takes proper care of himself is at least forty years. J. E. Vardeman, who died in Sparta, Ga., a few days ago, possessed a won- J derfully retentive memory. He knew the greater part of the Bible by heart, and had a vast array of political and historical facts at his tongue's end. Beekeepers at Independence, Inyo County, Cal., complain that for no reason that they can see their bees are idling and not gathering honey. One man keeps a hive on a platform scale and says it did' not increase in weight over a poundNin a week. A curious feature in ornithology it / ' reported from Eckington, Yorkshire, England, where a hen has hatched two chickens from one egg, both chickens being in a perfect state except that they are joined together on one side of the membranes of the wing. A Montgomery (N. Y.) farmer has a colt that has learned to ring the farm bell by catching the rope in his teeth and prancing back and forth. He knowB, too, when to ring it?at daybreak, to awaken the farm hands, and at noon, to call them our) ic npvpr five minutes late IV } WMV*. AW _ ^ or early. An Experiment in Fisli-Coltoro. Last spring about half a million young' shad were placed soon after hatching in a large pond in Washington, and were carefully tended and fed and protected from enemies during the whole of the period which the young shad spends in fresh water. The young fishes prospered and grew rapidly, and nearly all of them were still alive when the time for migrating to the ocean came in the fall. The gates of the pond were then opened one morning, . and all day long the silver stream of young shad poured out through them and started on the long journey down to the sea. All naturalists will look forward with the greatest interest to the time when these fishes return, bringing back with them Jo the fishermen of the Potomac the wealth of food which they have gathered in the ocean. In the mean time we may indulge the hope that the strong constitutions which they have acquired during their carefully nurtured youth will enable them to excel their less favored brothei s. and that when they reach our market they will have some of the excellence of our improved garden products. But this is not all. These shad were reared from selected eggs. The adults which entered our waters first in the spring are most valuable to the fishermen, since they are put upon the market at a time when fresh fish are scarce and high priced. Our experience with garden vegetables justifies the expectation that the eggs of early shad shall themselves give birth to early shad. Now, all the ^ . i *_x_ iL- TXM. young fisfieswmcn were put into uw r Commission pond were hatched from eggs taken from the earliest shad of the season, and, if this process of selection be pursued for a few years, we may feel confident that the Potomac River will soon abound in shad of extra quality at the time when fine shad are hardest to get and most valuable.?Popular Science Monthly. A Humorous Plant. A good-natured plant has been discovered, one which has the same desire as Punch is supposed to feel, namely, to make people laugh. The seeds are black, resembling a French bean in size and shape, and have a sweet taste, a flavor somewhat like opium and a sickening odor. Small doses of the pulverized seeds give rise to peculiar manifestations. The person laughs boisterously, sings, dances and cuts up all kinds of fantastic capers. The excitement continues about an hour, when the subject falls into a deep sleep of an hour or more, and awakens utterly unconscious of his late ridiculous behavior.?London Court Journal. Cold Comfort The ice. $ Tho price. This is an illustrated "pome," and is especially applicable to the present season.?Rutland Telegram.