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3 TEE BABY ACB0S3 THE WAT. BT JEFPEE PORBD8H HASiTOBD. There's a dear little baby across the way. A baby with eyes so blue, And sweet little lips tnat seem to say To every one, "I love you But when 1 look at that baby lair It makes me lonely and sad, he Those sweet blue eyes and golden hair r'T Never can make me glad. For they bring to mv mind the happy days In the long, sad years that have down, And I dream of my baby's pretty ways, And wake to my sorrow alone. Alone, how the sad word lingers As 1 glance across the way And watch those baby fingers, Happy in innocent play. For once I'd a dear little baby myself? That "once" seems so far away? And mine was a little blue-eyed elf, Like the one across tbe way. Oh, fond young mother, soothing to rost Your dimpled bnb9 upon your breast. Sing, aud be happy, your lullaby low, As I suns mine, loug, long ago. i 3IAD MARRIAGE; OK. The Heiress of Lawrence Park. A STORY OF ABSORBING INTEREST. BY MRS. E. B. COLLINS. CHAPTER XXIIL Maggie's oath. He stood gazing into her triumphant face with eyes full of murderous hatred. She faced him in exultant delight, pale and trembling with triumph, while over all the room an awful silence settled down like a pall, broken f by a stifled groan from Mark's lips. He fell back, panting brokenly, his eves wild and horrified, one hand clutching at his throat as though he were suffocating. At last, shaking like a leaf, and with a devilish look upon his face, he stepped forward and laid his hand upon her shoulder with a mad grip. "What does this mean?" he demanded, hoarsely. "Answer me! What is the meaning of all this mummery ? How dare you come here in the place of Adele? Where is my wife?" She threw back her head, and laughed scornfully; a laugh that made his blood run cold. "Ha! ha!" she cried, sneeringly; "it is you who are fooled, duped, deceived, made a mock of! Where is your wife, Jou ask, Mark Alleyne ? Look at me! am your wife, your lawful, wedded wife!" "It is false!" The words broke from his lips in a gasp of despair; his eyes burned like coals of fire; his voice was hoarse and choked. "It 18 iaise: ne repeated, uieaitiy, glaring into her face with wild, horrortilled eves. "False as you are! You shall suffer for those words. Where is my wife, I say ? Answer me, you Jezebel!" She moved away with a mocking gesture, and with a sneering look upon her face threw open the door of the sleeping-room. There, upon the bed, pale and apparently lifeless, lay Adele St. Cyr. He long golden hair fell over the snowy pillow; the dark eyes Bl were closed; the small, white hands 7 folded. He uttered a maddened cry and turned fiercely upon the woman at his side. "She is d<iad, and you have killed her!" he parted. "You murderess! As Heaven hears me, you shall swing for this!" But she stood there like a rock, that sneering smile still touching her face, like an evil shadow. "You forget," she said, slowly, her lip curling scornfully, "a husband can not bear witness against his wife! If Adele St. Cyr is dead, you cannot? dare not?accuse me of the crime, and attempt to have me punished for it. You are my husband, Mark Alleyne!" "It is false F he reiterated. "I married her, Adele St. Cyr Lawrence, and after the ceremony you killed her! She is dead?dead?dead; my own, my beautiful wife!" He fell upon his knees beside the bed, and wept and moaned in bitter grief. The woman who had betrayed him so cruelly crept to his side and laid herhand upon his shoulder. He struck it down witii a swift, fierce, cruel blow. She uttered no cry, no word passed lxer lips; 6he only lifted the hand that he had struck and held it up to the light for a moment, and as she gazed upon the cruel bruise which his hand had inflicted her lips moved slowly, softly, as though she was calling down a silent curse upon this man. Heaven only knew. She crept to hi3 side once more, but this time she did not touch him. "Mark Alleyne!" The low. tense voice sounded unnatural and far away?like a voice from the tomb. "Listen to me. I loved you once!" He turned away with an impatient gesture. v. "For months I was your slave?your servant?your tool. You made me what I am. If I perish upon the gallows, remember that it was you who brought me there. I loved yon?curse you!?and you made me believe that you loved me. For your sake I have toiled, sinned, and suffered, relying upon your oft-bro ken promise to make Dje your wife. "Ion made me wnat 1 an., Mars Alloyne, and now, when I have risked the gallows for your sake, to gain the protection of your name?forlove of you? you turn from me, curse me, strike me an unmanly blow! "If I had felt a tinge of pity for you in my heart; if the love, now dead, but which once lived and reigned .there, did sometimes steal back to me for a moment, all that is past now, wiped away forever, by that cruel, brutal blow. "I hate you now, Mark Alleyne, even as I loved you once. And yet I am your lawful wife 1 You need cry and whiue no longer. Adele St. Cyr is not dead! Ah! I know all her past history?all her /bad, black, bidden past, as I know ber ,mother's?and?and?yours. Look up, Mark Alleyne; listen to me. I have something to say to you!" She bent her head and whispered a few words in his ear. He started, as though he had been k shot, and an awful look crept over his r dusky face. He arose slowly to his feet, trembling in every limb. -now?where?did you learn that?" he panted. She shook her head, an evil smile touching her lip. ? _"I will never tell you," she said. "But t" . A - * ; 'V\' v"l . tnere is another thing that you might like to know. It is this: Arthur Wynne is not dead! When you pushed liim from the pier into the lake, he was too much for you, and he saved his own life! And I know where he is! Do you want me to turn State's evidence?" Slowly Mark Alleyne tottered to the door. "My God! you are a fiend!" he muttered, hoarsely. She smiled. "Oh no! Only a wronged woman?a scorned woman! And, 'hell bath no fury like a woman scorned!' But before you go, I must tell you that your dear'Adele is still living. I gave her a liberal dose of laudanum. I did not fancy having her a witness to our marriage. "Mrs. Lawrence (ahem! Gabrielle St. Cyr) is out, and the coast was olear. | 1 ? i xue woman who usaisicu. mo *u mo farce is an old and tried friend of mine. Really, a very slirewd game, and well carried out, Eh, friend Mark?" He made no reply. He was standing like a statue, his face white and wild. "But, the clergyman called j/ou by her name!" he panted, hoarsely, after a time. "He certainly called yon Adele!" She smiled. "To be sure. My name happens to e Adele Margaret. I suppose I have a right to the name, if my sponsors saw fit to give it to me ? Mark Alleyne, yoii are caught like a rat in a trap, hedged in on every side, and you have to deal with a desperate woman! "I no longer love you! All my love I is turned to bitter hate, and I intend to punish you! To make you see the time when you will curse the hour in which you were born! There! I hear the carriage coming up the avenue. The madam has returned from her visit. I Shall you, or shall I break the news? that strange, unexpected news, to your almost mother-in-law?" He made no answer. Still as a statue he stood there, his dark eye 3 riveted upon her white, triumphant face. At last his lips opened, and he panted, bleakly: "Curse yon! I will be even with you for this, if it costs me my life!" I nm 1? 1 J ^ loft. J. HULL XiU 1/UIiiDU U/?a J auu iCiu WUU room with eager step, as though the place had suddenly grown hateful to him. Left the room and the house with that same awful light in his eyes, that evil expression upon his face. Left Mrs. Mark Alleyne (nee Maggie Willett) to receive the mistress of Lawrence Park, to break to her the sudden, overwhelming news, that she, Maggie Willett, was Mark Allevne's wedded wife. And so, all living obstacles had been removed from Adele's pathway. Arthur Wynne still lived, so Maggie Willett had asserted; and nothing must now separate Adele from the man she loved. Nothing, except a shadow?the ghost of the woman whom Arthur Wynne had never ceased to love, and would love until he died. Poor little Ruby 1 CHAPTER XXIV. WITHOUT DISGUISE. Adele St. Cyr recovered from her unconscious state, and from that hour began slowly but surely to improve. Perhaps the news of Mark Alleyne's strange marriage, duly repeated to her by her mother, might have had something to do with her recovery. But she grew gradually better. One day she received an anonymous letter?a letter in a strange, cramped hand, which contained these words: Miss Laweence: Arthur Wynne is not dead. Ho still lives, but is keeping out ol Bight for the present foi1 purposes of his own. Bo of good cheer: he ts living, and whila there is life there is hope. That was all; but it was enough for the girl's heart to feed upon and nourish a wild, mad hope; "He lives!" she panted fiercely, a bright crimBon suffusing her pale | sheeks, and her eyes shining like stars. 'He is living, and while there is life and?hope?I will never give him up. [ will naver relinquish the hope in my heart of winning his love some day. I san wait; his love is worth waiting for." Her recovery henceforth wa3 rapid. She had confided everything to her mother,"and Gabrielle, too, was full of fc wild hope that Adele would yet sue- | peed in capturing this man, whom she Sesired above all others to become her daughter's husband. And then, if anything came between them and the r far hi no. if ftnv unforeseen chance should wrest it Irom their grasp, they would have the Wynne fortune to ! fall* back upon. Adele entered the drawing-room one morning to find it occupied by Sir Arthur Stanley. She fell back with a half uttereil exclamation at sight of \ the man whom, for some inexplicable | reason, she both feared and hated. The baronet stood smiling and bowing ! before her; she was forced to advance j into the room. He took her hand in ! his for a moment. "I have called, Miss Lawrence," he j began, "to bid you farewell, as I am about to start for my native land. I | wished, also, to be assured of your forgiveness for having annoyed you that night of the reception." She gazed into his pale, cadaverous face with wide-open, surprised, dark J eye*. "Annoying me, Sir Arthur?" she repeated, blankly. "I?pardon me, my lord?I do not understand you!" He checked a smile. "You will remember my persistent references to a certain danseuse, Miss Lawrence!" he returned, quickly. "My words seemed to vex you! I feel that my remarks,. and the comparisons wmcn 1 drew between yoursell and the dancer, quite uncalled for and in bad taste. It has troubled me greatly, and I have come here to sue for pardon. J Have I vonr forgiveness V" Still she gazerti into liis face with wide-open, puzzled eyes. "I do not recollect any such subject of conversation, my lord!" she reiterated. He bowed. "Let us forget it, then!" he returned. "I am sure it is my wish to forget any subject of disagreement between your beautiful self and your humble servant! I fear, however, that " He came to a halt, the words dying upon his lips in a gasp of wild surprise. She stood before him, pale and trembling, her eyes full of a _strange light, as ttiougn she was reading the very secrets of his soul. Perhaps that letter?that anonymous letter which she had received?might have had something to do with the strange, bold act which suddenly followed. But a veil seemed all at once lifted from her eyes; and she knew?knew that the man before her was an impostor; and no more an English lord than she. .was. 'ill : ' ' Strange as ,it may appear, a suspi- I cion that she knew all, suddenly staggered into the p3eudo baronet's mind. He arose to his feet, and turned toward the door. "I will see you again before I leave, Miss Lawrence," he was beginning. But she was at his side in an instant, her hand upon his arm, her face pale with excitement, her eyes glittering ominously. "Stop!" she panted, bleakly. "You are no more Sir Arthur Stanley, of Sussex, England?no. more an English lord than I am! Would you like me to tell you your name ?" He wheeled about and confronted her. "Tell me!" She lifted her eyes to his face once with that strange look, as though she could read his thoughts. "You are Arthur Wynne!" she said, Blowly. "You thought to deceive me for your own purposes, but you have failed?failed utterly!" She lifted her hand with a swift gesture, and tore the fiery red wig from his head; then she seized the eye-glass, and tossed it upon the table near. She had been too long an actfess, accustomed to disguises and transforj mation scenes, to be easily deceived by such artifices. - f/in nort rovar Tesaptlfanrniao VATirHPl f so that I shall not recognize you," she went on, slowly, "because," her voice sank to a trembling whisper, "because I love you wath my whole heart and strength! I have staked my life upon the hope of winning your love; and I will die sooner than relinquish that hope! Arthur! Arthur!" She clasped her small hands in piteous appeal, her eyes fixed upon his faca with deathless love in their luminous depths?"tell me?am I hateful to you ? Can you never return this mad, wild love that I?unhappy creature that I am?have lavished upon you ?" He turned and took her hand in his Dwn; in his eyes there shone a strange, deep, intense look. "Listen, Adele," he murmured. [TO BE CONTINUED.] POPULAR SCIENCE. The Imperial University of Tokio h? 138 professors and teachers, all but sixteen being Japanese. This year's students number 788. Two new minor planets were recently discovered, the one, No. 285, by Hen Palisa at Vienna, the other, No. 286, by M. Charlois at Nice. The United States is supplying electrical machinery to Japan in large quanti I ties. The light is growing in popularity throughout the Empire. An Austrian railway official has invented a portable telephone for speaking from a railway train at any point stopping to the nearest station. , Dr. George Is'asez, chief botanist ol the National Department of Agriculture, is making a collection of California plants for the Washington Herbbarium. Experiments have demonstrated the practicability of handling large masses ol iron in rolling mills by means of electro magnets suspended from hydraulic cranes. Excellent results are reported from the most recent experiments with the Italian smokeless powder, which enables the men to hit the target twice as often as with ordinary powder. The total value of the mineral production of the United States in the yeai 1886, as near as can be ascertained, was more than $460,000,000, the largest smnmint. vpfc rnrnrrlerl in :mv ronntrv. The manufacture of terra-cotta lumber seems likely to become a really important industry, factories having already been established in Europe, Canada and Australia, in addition to the considerable number in the United States. . The antiseptic properties of saccharine make it an effective wash for the mouth and teeth when dissolved in water, according to a French writer. A six per cent, solution is used, but a strength of only one in 500 is said to prevent fermentation or spoiling of mucilage, etc. Three years hence the planet Mars will be nearer to the earth than it has been for 515 years (A. D. 1377). Astrologers and lovers of the marvelous will be disappointed to hear that nothing of importance took place when Mars came a few million miles nearer us thpn is his wont. According to a recent writer, there need be no anxiety as to the failure of sources of energy when the supplies of coal give out. Roughly speaking, he says, either a lump of hard coal weighing two and one-half pounds, or 453 gallons of water which can be made to fall ten feet, will produce commercially ono torse power of work. Professor Kedzie emphatically points out the danger of leaving on the old paper when repapering a room. No room with such wall accumulations of naste and uaDer can remain in a erood sanitary condition, and disease germs are likely to be developed. His advice is: "Peel your walls of old paper before applying new paper." "Among the various uses of celluloid," says a London exchange, "it would appear to be a suitable sheathing for ships, in place of copper. In experiments by M. Butaine, plates of celluloid applied to various vessels in January last were removed five or six months after, and found intact and free from marine vegetation, which was abundant on parts uncovered." A process of engraving on glass and crystal by electricity has been communicated to the French Academy of Science by M. Plante. The plate to be engraved is covered with a concentrated solution of nitrate of potash and put in connection with one of the poles of the battery, and the design is traced out with a fine platinum point connected to the other i nolo. The results are said to be of marvelous delicacy. "Volt" means the inducing caused by on electrical current, bearing the same relation to electricity that "pounds pressure per inch" do to steam or "head" does to water. One cell of gravity or Daniell's battery gives about 1.07 volt potential. "Ohm"' is the unit of resistance offered by a wire or other conductor to the passage of an electric current; one thousand feet No. 10 pure copper wire represent a little over one ohm. "They must never hear of it in New York. They would never stop laughing at me." This is what Edison said when he heard that he had been made a count. No doubt his countrymen will pardon him. He couldn't help it. The honor was thrust upon him. MONEY-MAKERS, j THE MEN WHO COIN UNCLE SAM'S GOLD AND SILVER. A Visit to the Largest Mint in the World?The Processes of Turning- J Gold and Silver Into Coin -How It Is Milled. The handsome structure at Fifth and Mission streets in which Uncle Sam's current coins are turned out, in co-operation with the establishments at New Orleans and Philadelphia, has attracted renewed inierest since the appointment of ! General Dimond as Superintendent inaugurated a new regime by which a number of patriotic San Franciscans hope to be furnished with an office at the earliest possible date. To these and to the public generally it will be a matter of profit and useful information to repair to the mint about y :3U a. m. tuc waiting- j room is by this time pretty well filled and ' the early visitors have fully satisfied their curiosity in regard to the collection of coins and metals belonging to the State of California pioneers, and formerly known as Dr. Spiers's collection. Among the contents of the cases is a complete set of United States dollars', fiftytwo in number, one for every year in which they were coined. J * the san francisco mint. The conductor having satisfied himself that he has as large ^ party as he can conveniently take in chargc, gives the' signal and descends to the basement with the preliminary remark for lie visitor: "You are now in the largest mint in the world." There is a heavy sound of rol-' line wheels as the engine-room is en tered. The motive power for the im-i I mense wheels and machinery is furnished I by two engines, one ' for the coining-1 presses, the other for the rollers. There* j is also a smaller engine for general pur- | poses, which is constantly working. After a brief glance at the fires and huge boilers, the visitors pass on to the deposit; i and melting room. In this departmentj i the uncoined gold brought by private- ' holders in taken in and receipted for.1 ! Each deposit is melted separately and on'! the following day the value in coin is paid' by the Treasurer. CASTING GOLD INGOTS. Gold requires a tolerably intense heat for fusion, though not nearly so great as in the case of iron or steel. Yet the visitor is able to convince himself by a passing glance at the crucible* in the furnace that the temperature approaches u white heat. When perfectly fluid the metal is run into steel molds, whence it comes forth as bars or ingots. A fragment of each ingot is removed and sent to the assaying department, where the percentage of pure gold is determined by cupellation. The value of each ingot is about $1700, and it should be mentioned that ten per cent, of copper alloy enters into the composition of both silvti and gold ingots that are to be used for currency. The ingots are taken to the rolling mill, where they are repeatedly put ;hrough steel rollers until the original short bar becomes a long strip of the width of the desired coin, and by reason of the rolling assumes a very dense, hard and brittle condition. During these operations the visitor's attention is drawn very strongly MILLING THE PLANCHETS. to the fact that he is walking on a flooring consisting of movable iron gratings about eicrht inches square. Inquiry lends to the explanation that with all precautions to prevent waste, such as greasing the gold with beeswax and the silver with tallow, a considerable amount of dust is carried about the operating-room and a periodical sweeping is resorted to with surnrisioer results. The guide intimates in a matter-of-fact way that the sweepings of the Mint are worth from $30 to $40 a clay, and that in carpeted rooms enough gold dust is entangled in the fibres of the old carpet to more than pay for a new one. The sweepings contain of course silver and copper as well as gold, the copper by cupcllation and the silver by the action of the nitric acic, in which gold is insoluble. The nitrate of silver is subsequently converted into chloride by the action of common salt and the chloride into pure silver by an easy chemical process. After the bars have been annealed to get rid of the hardness and brittleness, the strips of gold with their coatiug of beeswax are passed through the cutting machine and then ' punched into blank coins or "planchcts," which exactly resemble the future coin without the design and the milling at the edges. The strips, after the blanks have been punched out at the rate of 180 a minute, are sent I back to be remeltecl into ingots. The sight of these bars never fails to make the visitor's eyes flash with cupidity. The next operation is the washing of the plaachets in hot water and soap to get rid of the beeswax, after which they are sent to the adjusting-room to be weighed. Each b^ank or planchet is passed upon most carefully in this particuliar; if too heavy it is filed down to standard weight, if too light it is remelted and recoined. When the machines are in active operation gold coin can be turned out at the rate of $450,000 an hour. The milling of the coins is effected by raising an edge on them, with a suitable machine, for the purpose of protecting the face of the coin, for in a well-worn specimen it will be noticed that the milling disappears first, and when this has happened the inscription, effigy and date quickly follow suit. When the milling has been completed,, the blanks go through another annealing process to soften them for the final impression which is to convert them into Uncle Ham's currency. The stamping is; an operation requiring a pressure equai to. 150 tons on every part of the blanks, andj CLEANING THE FLANCHETS. j it is not surprising to find that when the, latter are fed into the presses and clasped by the upper and lower die, they rcceive a minutely exact impression,: while a toothed collar clasping them atf the same moment, produces the reeded edge. After being once more individually weighed the coins are piled up in trays by an ingenious method which does the work almost automatically. The1 workman plunges his arm into the heap of coins, gives the tray a shake, and "hey, presto!" in less than a minute the bright gold "twenties" are neatly piled **_ -i < away in rows, reaay ior circulation. By this time the party is on the way( out, and the conductor begins to count noses in the visitors' waiting-room, to' see if the arrivals are numerous enough to form a new party. The survey thus described and concluded is that which falls to the lot of the routine visitor, but it cannot be said to be in any sense a complete inspection of the multifarious operations in progress at the Mint. Presumably the complete elucidation of the processes would merely weary the average) curiosity seeker, besides consuming so much time that but one batch of visitors could be taken through in the brief two hours and a half allowed for daily inspection by the outside world. Among the departments not usually shown is that devoted to refining. California gold contains from three to twelve per cent, of silver, and this has to be separated. For this purpose the crude product is melted, more silver is added so as to enable acid to act on the alloy, and the metal is "granulated" by being poured into cold water while still in a fluid state. The effect of this granulation is to convert the metal into a condition resemAH *Miminn.ofAno QO a uilli^ J/UpisVJ&U vi j/uuiivv -^vv/uv5 MW ???. ?. large surface is exposed to the action of ROLLING THE BARS. the acid. After being boiled for some hours in porcelain pots the silver and baser metals are taken up by the acid, while the gold remains as a dark powder at the bottom of the vessels. It is collected and taken to the melting-room, while the silver is easily recovered from the acid solution. The gold having been tested for purity in the assaying room, is melted with sufficient copper to reduce the standard from 1000 to 903, the precise standard of ten per cent, being obtiined by a subsequent addition of copper, according to the proportion indicated by the assay. There are usually from thirty-six to forty ingots of gold, weighing sixty ounces each, in one melt. A question which hovers on the lips of every visitor to the Mint, but which is, for obvious reasons of courtesy and propriety, rarely asked, is this: Where so valuable a substance as gold is freely handled by so many persons, how is it possible to prevent peculation and loss? The answer is found in the fact that gold is so heavy a metal that it is easy to keep a check or tallv on all who handle it by the simple expedient of weighing, as it passes from hand to hand and from department to department. Gold is nineteen times heavier than water. No other metal, except platinum, could be used affectively as a substitute or imitation for it; and it so happens that platinum is itself very scarce, very valuable, and from its extremely high melting point, altogether useless for the purpose of fraudulent substitution of alloys for gold. The weight test is therefore an effectual check, and as each employe is interested in conserving his own reputation for in4.?v. ...innnf-ifinrtl to overlook anv shortcomings on the part of the gold received from his neighbor. Whenever a bar or oilier portion of uncoined gold passes from one department to another it is cheeked and receipted for. Thus after the annealing process is completed the ingots or bars are delivered to the melter and refiner, and in turn to the treasurer, who weighs them accurately and then delivers them to the coiner. Ingots thus delivered for $20 pieces are about twelve inches long, one and seven-sixteenths wide, and nearly half an inch thick. The work of adjusting the planehets is done by females, each of whom sits in front of a little pair of scales and weighs every planchet without fear or favor. In consequence of the great specific gravity of geld, a difference altogether inappre ' ciable to the eye is readily detected by. the scales, and, as before explained, in those planchets which are too heavy, the superfluous gold is filed off, while the light ones are set aside to be remelted. Not only is a careful tally kept of everything which passes through the hands of the "scalesladies," but there is a periodical housecleaning, in the course of which the carpets and the gloves worn by the operators are burned to ashes for the sake of the precious dust which clings to them.? San Francisco Chronicle. ^ The Use and Abnse of Eyeglasses. " The tendency in eyegksses at present is toward the use of a ridiculously large lens by people with small faces," said a New York optician to a Star reporter the other day. "For a long time the sizes of lenses for eyeglasses have been increasing until now it is at its height. People do not seem to understand that for one style of a face a large glass is becoming, and for a small face and small eyes the proper proportions should be observed." " Do people now want better glasses than they called for a few years ago?" "No ; the general trade wants something cheap, with the idea that a glass is i class." A Vatt Wtti n/lln ah Potontnoa XX iiCll OIT1UUAV vu J. awii?vua? Numerous owners of patents are opening their eyes to the fact that they are th? victims of a gang of swindlers who are operating in a very systematic manner. It seems that in various localities, and notably on the Pacific Coast, there are certain so-called patent agents who are making a good living out of patentees without rendering any service. One of these agents will write to a patentee at a distance and ask if he is willing to sell his interest in his patent, and at what price. Generally a reply is sent fixing the price. Then the agent writes that he hgs found a purchaser, but that the title must first be investigated, and from twenty to fifty dollars is demanded for the expenses of such investigation. The owner of the patent is in a hurry to sell, and he, therefore, sends on the required fee. After that the patent agent is never heard from again. Letters to him are returned through the dead letter office, showing that the swindler uses a new name in each ease. This game has been played so often of late that patentees, should make it a point to deal with none but reputable and well known patent agents. Especially should a man in the Atlantic States exercise great caution when a stranger on the Pacific Coast makes him a proposition, and asks for a fee in advance.?Atlanta Constitution. Tlie Evolution of the Pitcher. fruit tinming Ont of the Kucss. A hardy apple tree, loaded with ripe, luscious fruit, growing from the crevices of a rock, was a curiosity which attracted the attention of visitors to Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, the past summer. The tree, which is very large, shoots up from the crevice of the rocks blasted to form the pool for the pumping at the Fairmount Water Works. The apples on the tree were the beautiful rosy-cheeked, yellow variety, and from their quality and size it would appear that there was some rich source of sustenance, though none was visible from any point of view, the roots being plainly seen clinging to the rocky walls, shooting in one crevice and out of another. Hundreds of small boys tried, day after day, to procure specimens of the fruit, but the isolated position of the tree saved it from their raids. Kin; of the Dressmakers. The greatest of dressmakers is Charlas Frederick Worth, an Englishman by birth, but his fame was made in Paris during the second empire. He w&s born at Bourne, Lincolnshire, and his parents apprenticed him to a printer. "Worth disliked the business exceedingly and seven months after entering it abandoned the printing office and went to London. He had secured employment in a dry goods store, where he remained six years. CHARLES FREDERICK WORTH. While there he conceived the idea of becoming a dressmaker, and thought of Paris as the most eligible place in which to follow out his inclination. He had learned the French language before going to Paris, where, when he was about twenty-two years old, he found employment. After a few years he and a partner began business* for themselves. The partnership continued until 1870, in which year Worth became the sole name of the establishment. Worth had received medals for designs at the exhibitions of London and Paris before he was so fortunate as to make dresses for the Empress Eugenie. This was the beginning of an illustrious reputation which is still maintained. P0II7 a ad the Hen. Our next neighbor, -writes a correi spondfent, owned an amusing parroj which was always getting into mischief! but usually got out again without mucH trouble to herself. When she had donj anything for which she knew she ought to be punished, she would hold her heatj to one side, and eying her mistress^ protest in a sing-song tone: "Polly is i ; good girl," until she saw her mistresi i Bmile; then she would flap her wings and cry out in exultation: "Hurrah! Polly ii a good girl!" She was allowed to gcj free, and usually took her exercise in the garden, where she promenaded back and ; ^ forth on the walks, sunning herself, ana m warning on au intruders. One morning a hen strayed out of thtf chicken-yard, and was quietly picking uj? its breakfast, when Poll inarched up to her, and called out "Shoo!"in her shrill voice, emphasizing the command with arf smart pick of her sharp beak on tha' chicken's head. The poor hen re treated : to her own quarters, running as fast as.;: she could, followed by Poll, who screamed "Shoo!" at every step. The hen had her revenge a few day? later, when Poll exteoded her morning walk into the chicken yard. Here, with her usual curiosity, she went peering into every corner, till she came to the old hen upon her nest. The hen made pf dive for Poll's yellow head, but missediti Poll, thinking discretion the better part of valor, turned to run, the hen, with her wing3 wide-spread, following clojie after. As she ran, Poll screamed in hex; ; shrillest tones, "O Lord! OLord!" y> 1 A member of the family, who had witnessed the whole performance, thought j it time to interfere Li Poll's behalf, a* the angry hen was gaining on her. He ran out, and stooping down held out his ' hand. Poll lost no time in traveling tqi up to his shoulder. Then, from her high vantage-ground, she turned hei head to one side, and, looking down op her foe, screamed: "Hello there! shool" I Th' frightened hen acknowledged defeat by returning to her nest as rapidly as she had come. The Brass Buttons of Army Officers] When people talk about the " flurry of brass buttons " they often do so in ignorance of the importance that at* taches itself to these useful, if orna-i mental, articles. In the army, particu^ larly, the button is as essential and disi tinguishing a part of the uniform as the shoulder-strap, the stripe or the era! broidery on the coat sleeve. Not only it it true that each branch of the servici has its peculiar button, but it is also true that the arrangement of these button! ' indicates the rank of the wearer. Indeed, the army regulations are very exact on this head, and it is part of every man'i duty to learn what such and such axf arrangement means. According to article 86 of the armj * regulations at present in force, the v General must wear two rows of button! on the breast of his frock coat, twelve in each row, placed by fours. More than this the distance between each row musf be just so, that is five and one hali! inch at the top and three and one-hall/ inches at the bottom. Coining down a grade the Lieutenant-; General can only wear ten buttons ini sach row, the upper and the lower arranged by groups of threes .and thflj xiiddle groups by fours: The Major-j General only reaches the dignity of nine! suttons in each row placed by threes, ij *5? Brigadier-General has but eight buttons] b each row on his breast, these being;' let out in groups of twos. The Colonel,! Lieutenant-Colonel and Major wear nifie iuttons in each row, but they are placed at equal distances apart and arej lot grouped. The Captain, First and! Second Lieutenants wear seven buttons in! ach row, sewed on at equal distances. The non-commissioned officers all wear a ringle low of seven buttons set at equal .v instances.?San Francisco Oh-onide. keHM An Odd Genius. V: :JK| Professor F. V. Hayden was the founder of the system which developed! M into the geological survey of the United ^ States. He was a man great of genius and i renowned scholar, but, according to' the Pittsburg Dispatch, erratic and peculiar. It was not uncommon for strangers % to follow him for several blocks, their attention arrested by his bowed figure as he almost ran for a few steps?then suddenly stopped, with his gray, sharp eyes Gxed on the pavement?then ran again as if a sudden thought had struck him;! then they would inquire, "Who can that poor insane man be?" While Professor Hayden was exploring the land of the Sioux Indians some years ago, he once, in his enthusiastic: passion for geological research, wandered away from his party; he had loaded himself down with large specimens of mineral, and was tramping slowly along in his absent-minded way the Indians captured! him. They whooped and yelled at theiri prize at first, but upon seeing all thej "rocks and worthless stones" which the poor man waf staggering under, and his ? cojaposed, abstracted manner, they de-j <tfded that he was "afflicted with a foolish mind." They took him without proj test on his part, which only confirmed their fears; and after a few hours' captiv-1 lty the old scientist with "ms rocKS'waa led to the nearest point of civilization; and "turned loose" lest the Great Spirit should punish them for any ' 'harm done< the foolish or simple-mined." He was daring, fearless and reckless in.; danger; a most distinguished scientific] man, and much beloved by the young, men of his survey. His death during; the past year was greatly mourned. Mr. Gladstone's Simple Life. Mr. Gladstone's habits of life are vera simple, although busy. He rises about? 6:30 o'clock, breakfasts on bacon and eggs or a little fish and tea, and thou goes to his library to skim over the newspapers. From 9 to 1 o'clock he receives visitors. A light lunch follows, and theni he drives directly to Parliament. He| usually dines quietly at home at 7:30 inf the evening, the food being simple and! the -wines light, and then he returns toi the House. Unless there is to be an im-? portant division, he is at home and im bed by 11 o'clock. Mr. Gladstone has a fondness for his old clothes, and wheni new ones are bought for him, his wife* has to resort to diplomacy to make him wear them. When he speaks in the House he loosens his collar, turns up his wristbands and unbuttons his waistcoat, his gestures becoming exceeding vigorous as he warms up.?New York Graphic. In conscquence of the success of tha smokeless powder, the Italian Government has suspended the manufacture oi all other kinds of srunDowder. , .. . V . . - V. * - . - - J .. _ >... v.rSi^!