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p. 1;" HEARTS OF GOLD; OR.-t' The Heiress of Maple Leaf Farm. BY GENEVIEVE ULMER CHAPTER T. DRrVKN FROM EDEIf. An ex-convict! , As if he had been dealt a sudden anc terrible blow, as the vindictive Ralph Preseott spoke those words, Paul Daltoi staggered under a fearful shock. Hie face became the color of ashes kis eyes expressed the wretchedness anc despair of a man lost utterly, and, clutching at a chair for support, he gasped, ii * quivering, agonized tone: "It has come at last. The blow hai fallen!" Farmer John stared at him with wondering, half-believing face. Euth, witt a little ory of terror, more at hi6 bearing than at the accusation, seemed unable to rally from the 6hock it gave her. Only the revengeful, excited Prescotl was alive to the real issue of the moment. "Do you see?" he cried Id jeering, exoltant tones. "He dares not deny it. l?et him dare say it ain't true! I'll prove what I say?I'll prove it now and here." "I neither affirm nor deny it. Let me pass." The words were a sob. With dazed eyes, hi6 face a void of misery, Paul Dalton groped blindly for the door. Through it he passed. Upon him it eloeed. The crafty Preseott himseli was amazed. He had counted on triumph, but the victory had come too easy to him. The victim had submitted without a struggle. He had not even afforded him an opportunity to gloat over hie downfall. Farmer John had sunk to a chair, fairly overcome. He had housed not only a thief, a trifler with the affectione of his only child, but a man reeking with the prison-rot?branded as a wretch, with his hand against every man, and every man's hand against his own! Choking down her dread, her uncertainty, her anguish, Kuth managed tc totter to her feet. "Father," 6he wailed, "I love him." An awlul frown darkened the brow of John Elliott. "Silence!" he ordered sternly. "Speak that man's name in my presence again j * ?? ?? ? m kim nw 4U1U 1 UlbUWli vvu, JJUOCt liiui, c>tu audress a siiiprle -word to him, and I curse you. And 1 trusted him?a thief, a convict. " "It is false. Father! father!" oried Buth, "can you think it true -when you remember his goodness? His face is feot the face of a criminal, and his word6 to me?oh! my heart i6 breaking, breakJug." "Why, he did not even deny it," muttered Elliott. "He dared not," burst out Prescott. *Let him try it. I have a man at the village who knows him?was in the same cell with him. He was caged for forgery, and pleaded guilty to get a light sentence. Well rid of him, Mr. Eliiott. Lucky to get him away without - ycur threat cyt or your house burned - ove? your Bend,"" - --? V^jtyth'wal bobbing piteously. A realization that her tears were shed for the man he eo hated nettled the spiteful Prescott like an ox-goad. i ? i_s ?1 xtrv _n u? ?*??i ' ilDU worst) LUttli UIX, uc UJCU IU Dvcut her away from m?. ^s^Eco'jgh of this, ordeied Farmer JohS^ ilernly". "It's an experience I hall profit by. I've heard of such villains?robbing their benefactors, deluding silly girls. He's not the man to leave as in peace, even after all the trouble he has made. He'll hang arpund and try to meet Ruth again, and work on her sympathies, but there shall be no such risl% Ruth, you knot? my iron will. There will be no further delay. Ralph, your marrying her was settled long ago." "Father * "Silence! My blessing or my curse-* a convict or an honest man?tako your choice. You marry Ralph Preecott within a week, or you leave my roof forever." He lifted the crushed girl to her feet, and led her from the room as he spoke. Her sobs died away in the distance. Grim-faced, the Roman father in mien and heart, he stood looking from the uncurtained window. The crafty Ralph, gloating with triumph, approached him, but he waved him gloomily aside. 1 T\- 1* Wn/1 JTitUI UULIAJLI UI UOOrJLX WiC U1VOU OUCOUi of lamplight cast across the gravel path a minute later. His head was bowed, his face colorless. Never a word did he speak, never a backward glance did he take, until he liad reached the stile. His face was one great void of despair as he halted, aud, turning slowly, looked across the fair field and the bright haven that was home to him no more. "It has come," he murmured, brokenly. "I might have known it. "What right had I to love, what right to drag an innooent lifo to shame and sorrow? And I dared not deny?I dared not speak my proiniso, my oath! Well, it is only one more fetter to the heavy chain; bnt she?it was no crime to love her? but heaven forgivo me for the grief I have brought to the woman whose love was tho one bright star of a cheerless existence." He turned to take the highway that hounded the Lden of his dreams, but paused suddenly. From the hedgo a. woman's form had fluttered. Her hands grasped hi? own spasmodi* cally a minuto lav?. Ruth!" SFe swaye l where she stood, her eyes burning up into hi6 own. "One word "before you go," sho wailed, Hiteously. "Innocent or guilty?teL) mc quick, tell me truthlully, or my neart 'will break!" CHAPTER VI. DISOWNED. *"1 cannot, I dare not tell you!" The words seemed to sound doom, disaster to all Ruth Elliott's hopes?the despairing misery in Paul Dalton's eyea crushed her. She had pleaded for an answer to that wild appeal, to know if he was innocent <?r miiltv. for the eako of tho love that was breaking her poor, anxious heart, *ud he had replied to ber thus! The clinging hands relaxed with a shudder. Terror in her eyes, she surveyed him in dubious dread. "Oh, my love," she wailed brokenly, "you cannot mean that the cruel words Ealph Prescott spoke are true!" He Baid you were "An ex-convictl" cried Paul, the jarlng dissonance of tortured acoente Ji Tiffe tones. "Did he not also say that hi could prove it, and I"?he laughec harshly,' bitterly?"I am powerless t< refute him." Ruth's eyes distended with shivering anxiety. IThon it ls_ true?? she gasped. _ Me grasps her hands suddenly, i looked down Into her shrinking e with that earnest irapressiveness t told that falsehood could never ac ate It. "They said I was a thief," ho begar "Oh, that I know is false!" ! "They make another charge, Bb What I have feared has come. Be1 for your sake, better for the sake those you love, better for myself, t we part, here and now. Let the past gull all this mystery, a mystery I d not explain. Forget me, forget it i Good-by." > "You are innocent. Oh! I see It vour face. I read it In your patie Suffering eyes. Leave you"?forget y Do you value a true woman's love lightly as that? Speak, Paul! I conj yuu. VJ1 ve UIO tue UUC ancuiouuo torn heart craves. Only say that ] I are innocent,. and. though they pile pr i mountain-high, I will 6ee your bri i face shining, serene, defiant, above all." , Paul Dalton's pale, undecided featu 1 showed that he was suffering intense "Ruth," he said calmly, at last, "b ? pose this man Prescott, who hates so, should prove that one Paul Dali 3 was imprisoned for forgery, filled a hii ous convict's cell; suppose the reco evidence it, the testimony of others i i parently verities it, and I, unable to c ; prove it, unwilling to lift the veil o ) mystery that would wreck lives I h precious, should deny it, simply deny t and say to you, face to face, heart heart, 'it is a cruel lie,' what would 3 say?" With a wild cry of joy, of perfect ct fidence^ the fair young girl buried ] [ face oh his Bhoulder. I "Only say that," .she breathed f vently, "only tell me that you are ini 1 cent!" "It is true?but there all explanati 1 must, cease. Even to vou. the womai love, I dare not explain a mystery tl links my life to gloom and doubt. ] ; lips are sealed!" ; "But, surely * "The"veil will lift??yes," spoke Pa bitterly. "When a heart of iron wi it?when he?no, I have said too mu To the censor of my fate, to the kee] i of my destiny, I will make a last appi for justice. If I fail?good-byi Ii a month I will return, if the galli chains can be unlinked." "A month!" cried Ruth, shuddering "Do you know what that will mean? you realize that my father, iron-willresolute, will by that time make mo' 1 the wife of the man whom you am know to have caused all this trouble?' "He would not press the sacrifice?< surely, neverl" panted Dalton, his ej flashing indignantly. "He would r doom you, his darling child, to aloveh existence. It shall not be?I canc lose you?I will not see you bound wretchedness unutterable. Ruth, I w clear up this mystery?I will stand ] nocent before the world; but if I lc you " There was the interruption of passi pedestrians, and they crossed the gro) Toward the distant town their fe strayed, he talking earnestly, she clin ins to his words and suggestions, trei bling, fearful, as she realized that, oil parted, once her father's resolute w was carried out, their future happine was doomed. She sped home an hour later, a frigh ened, {uixious look in her young fac She gained the house unobserved. "For his 8aW" she murm'ijfed. "He Innocent; he lovestneV' Ho ha^gon? clear his name?to remove the stain shame and mystery. When they kno' I must endure the blow. It was right it was the only way; and I love him lp\e him so!" Affairs seemed to come back to th< usual within the courss of t next few aavs. ""* There was a settled cloud on Farm John's brow, but it was one of 6uspici< and watchfulness alone, and it becat less.dense as he seemed to beconvinc at'laBt.that Paul Dalton had left the i cinity for good, and that Ruth was g< ting over her foolish fancy for him. Ralph Prescott did not worry Ru with either taunts or attentions. There was a new light in the gir. eyes that he did not like?a definite co Bciousness of security, a mute deGan that made him restless. , He was content to await the develo ments of the case, and they came quick! Farmer John was obdurate, once i idea got into hi6 stubborn head. He made a long call on Geoffr Forsythe; he was thoughful, preoocupi all one day. At eventide, as Ruth Pr? cott and himself were seated in t oozy dining-room, he said, abruptly: "Ruth, come here." She had been watching the fli feathery snow flakes of the year, s hod been thinking uf him! Guilti] tremblingly, she walked to her fathei side. "You have always been a good girl said Elliott, with a rude attempt affection. "I am getting old?circui stances have hurried matters. I wa to have things settled. I had a ta with your grandfather to-day. It is 1 wish, as well as mine, that we see y comfortably settled in life." Ruth turned white about the lips, t was silent. "You know how we have planned a talked about it," pursued Elliott gent "Ralph needs a wife to make him reali the responsibilities of life. We ha arranged for a quiet wedding?wl cirl, don't stand as if I was pronounci sentence on you. Speak, can't yoi cried Elliott, angry at the right of 1 pale face and downcast eyelids. Ruth rallied with an effort. "You wish me to speak, father,n t eaid, in a strangely constrained voi that somehow chilled the eager Prescc "I want to see some return of affect! and obedienco for all my years cf a and kindness," replied her father ir nettled tone. "Not many girls can ge husband that pleases all hands aroui and jump into a fortune from a fond, i dulgent grandfather." "I have always obeyed you, fathe replied Ruth, "but in this?it can ne\ be." "How's that?" Farmer John's brow grew hoavy a k dark. "It can never be." "You won't marry Ralph?" "I cannot." "Cannot? "Will not, you mean, f here, girl! If you have any lurki thougiit that I will ever consider tl hypocrite jaii-bird, Paul Dalton " "Stop!" Incisive as a clarion note the w< sounded forth. i "Stop!" repeated Ruth, drawing h i 6elf erect like some affronted quei "he is no thief, no convict, and he i my husband!" I It was out at last! Ralph Presc i sank back cmshed. FarmerJohn sta at the girl as if he adjudged her sudd lw Kuroft r>f >w>r "Your husband!" ho gasped, incre lously. "Yes, you drove him away?you i that wretch yonder. Llo told me it h ( all false, and 1 believed him. He ! ( gone to seek th<*proofs of liisinnoccr The night ho left I met him. We w hurriedly married at the next town, t knew that this would come. Not he, > I, placed this barrier against your cr [ will, that would otherwise have rnadi > marriage a mockery, a crime, in link my life to that of a man I loathe i r de6pi6e!" * She had never believed herself p eessed of the courace to tell it all; I 65^. He loJ the. troth had bleen revealed daun ye8 lesely. hat Farmer John regarded her in silent !^u" for a moment; then, a guttural, chokii cry in hie throat, he flashed out: ' "And this is true?" "Yes; I am his wife." ith. The burly form trembled, the gre 'ter knotted hands went up in the air ot furious gesture, the lurid eyes glow* hat -with the pent-up rage of an unmasten en- spirit. are "Then go!" he almost yelled. "Go and he flung open the door with a eras "You are no child of mine; you ha ; ^ chosen the jail-bird, the scoundrel; ( >nt, find him. I pray heaven that my eyi ou? shall never again rest on the child wl so " " defied my authority, wrecked n uro Ii?e, and "broken my heart. Girl, I curi ^ you, I disown you out of my heart ai out of my home. Go! You are no chi ?yof of mine!" [TO BE CONTINUED.] ;?8 TEMPERANCE. up- i' me ft' the bight shall prevail. ^?n Lo! a cloud's about to vanish/ de- From the day; ? rds And a brazen wrong to crumble ? ap- Into clay. [is- Lo! the right's about to conquer? f a Clear the way. * ]d With the right shall many more Enter smiling at the door; 1C? With this giant wrong shall fall to Many others, great and small, rou That for ages long have held us for Their prey. m- Hen of thought, and men of action? tier Clear the way. ?Robert Mackay. er" detaining drunkards in asylums. 30* The British Home Secretary, Mr. Asquitl has drafted a bill, which adds another to tt ion experiment in the care of drunkards. ] i I empowers magistrate? to order that drunl aat ards whose conduct shows that they are nc My responsible for their actions, shall be d< tained in curative asylums. The main diff c\ilty would be, we imagine, in finding oi when they are cured, unless Dr. Keeley wi ul, take the job and agree to warriint a cure.,11s Independent ck* saii-obs and gfiog. A Boston paper notes that of all the ship eai assembled at the late naval parade the Amer 1 a mns wflrfl the onlv ones on which liauor wa ing not regularly served to the sailors. On th British, Russian and German ships a ratio ly. of some distilled liquor ie served out to eac -d0 man daily.' On the French and Italian ves P(j sels, it is said, a cask of light wine stand where every man can help himself wheneve j ? he wants it. The foreign officers Believe tha J * liquor h%lps the men withstand cold an fatigue. The Americans do not think so )h, and their position seems to be maintained b; res recent experiments on whaling, vessels inth lot Arctic Ocean. A writer, who has just re ;g8 turned from a long whaling voyage, says "One of the curses of life at sea has been th use of grog. Formerly liquor was though .tr to be necessary for men in the Arctic, but es 111 perience has proved it to be harmful instead of beneficial, and only in cases of great die ?se tress is it now used. Strong coffee has takej its place, and on ever}- whaler, during time ng of groat exposure or unusual fatigue, stronj tre hot coffee is always at hand, grog never. ,ej Picayune. gn? a fatheb's pathetic letter. " ce Rev. W. H. Miiburn. the blind chaplain < jjl the House of Representatives, is deeply pro; ,S8 trated over the sad 6uieide of his son at Ch cago and has furnished the following stat< ment for the public: lt" ''It is hard that the silence which befits th Af /1/tnlk ?kAn1,\ ?,? it. ,Vf I'lCCOUW VI UUUbU RUUUJU UV UlVtLUU uuu IUL the veil should be Jilted which belongs toth Jb fiay^nfes of t?e fqgjly en-i its ylatipm to 110 other cours 0{ seems opon that the only'Sarthly posscssio; _ left me, a good name, should be preserved ' My son, Fletcher Harper Milburn.who woul< ' have been forty years of age in Septembei 60 was for a long time the victim of the alcohc disease. But last summer spent some tim sir at a retreat in Denver and was pronounce he by its authorities perfectly cured and himsel assured that he had lost all taate for liquo er and gave me the pledge of his honor that hi Dn would never use it again. " "These assurances gave mo immeasurabl n? happiness. His frequent draughty upon m; ed narrow ?income of later years had alway 7i' b?$n promptly and kindly met; not seldon itr was the last cent I then possessed remittei to him or for his use, but nowthat he was re th stored to a sound mind and body ho promisei to support himself. From that day, believ ing in his thorough cure and the steadfast ness of his will. I have used every means ii n" my poWer, confident that I wae'justiiio J h c? doing bo by truth and honor, to enable hin to regain the position in the world he ho< p- lost and to which his energy, business talent ;y. and accomplishments entitled him. And m; an heart glowed with the hope of seeing my soli surviving son filling an honorable plac< among men. J "My efforts have been unsparing to secur? ea him a position under the Government witl )8* the hope of success, and meiinwhilc I tried t< he find a situation in Chicago to tide over 'th< period of waiting for a better place, at th< same time urging him to remain in Denve gt until my friends and myself could secure fo be him such a position. Against my earnes i_ and repeated advice he started, was tw< weeks on the wny and. seems to have fallei r 8 into temptation and yielded. I had givei m him a letter of strpng recommendation, ad dressed to a number of friends in Chicago at and when there at the opening of the World'i 21- Pair I had interested others in bis behalf. nt "When his telegram camc on Friday even jk ing last, asking to come here my heart faile( me, having no money of my own with whicl to care for him. and I saw what must hav< ou happened. I wired and also wrote immedi ately. stating the condition of the house am >ut family here?my only brother's widow am children?and telling him of my own circum ? stances?narrow and hard, informing him a ^ the same time that a number of my lerter 7- awaited him in care of my friend. \V Ize Quincey. ive "He said nothing about being penniless iy, but on the contrary wrote just before leavinj _ng Denver that he saved a considerable sum o jt" money, which 1 supposed was still In hi ^ hands. "Then came the terrible news an hour o two after midnight. I have bowed witl reverent submission to the will of Him whos ihd ways arc past finding out, nnd from the four ce, fold darkness in which I stand?age. pover itt. ty, blindness and sorrow?with lifted ham on declare before flod and the world that I havi __ used my best intelligence to rescue and re deem my son, and in the unmistakabl 1 anguish of this affliction 1 appeal to th 8 kind judgment and sympathy of all sort id, and conditions of men throughout the land in- [Signed] "W. U. Milbubn. f " temperance news and notes. -er Belgium has 150,000 "schnapps" houses and only 5000 schools. Lord Randolph Churchill, it is announced no has become a strict total abstainer. InLockhart's Cocoa Rooms, London. 3C7 persons signed the pledge during the yea 1892. The Old Colony Railroad refuses transpor ? "? rv..ooon?oiv tho indllon^H (1 ^0^ likkuju ivy j;?oowu{jwo nuuvt vuw *uuuumw V ing !i(luorbat Chinese wine, made from n liquor ilistill? from rice, has been found by analysis to cot tain 38.32 per cout. of alcohol. or^ In 1891. the arrests for drunkenness in Ir< land amounted to 100,528. an increase of ovt 26 per cent, since 1887, when the numbc er" stood at 79.000. The total quantity of wine exported froi 8 the champagne districts of Europe the iln three months of this year, amounted to 21 ott 0-18.21:; bottles. rod Senator Stanford, of California, has mad en- arrangements for the erection of a ?re;i wine-cellar and braudy bonded warehouse ji du- l'ort Costa, in that State. The Bavarian Government levies *'1.000,Of md a year on the brwries. whilo the in.-oine i all the North German States from the, saui source is only *0.000,000. _e Ensign Fryi- was recently tried by eour ' martial in New Yori: City on a charge c er? drunkenness, and sen ten rod. with the i:j * proval of the Se-retary of the Navy, to I but suspended from rank'and duty for a peric uel of tliree yoars ou furlough pay, 3 of Dr. Li. W. R iehurdson, now its senior phy ing ic.ian, at the recent annual public meeting i and the London Temperance Hospital, stated t\< during all the time of his connection withtl OS- place he had never occasion to pret-.Tibe :t . t coho! to a patient in any form, no matt* - how serious the cause. * MAKING BIG GUNS. I 36 1R WORK AT A UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT ARSENAL. at in Why a Composite or Built Up Cannon 3d -- Stronger Than One Cast In a ^ Single Piece?Cost of Mod.? crn Gunmaking. h. -0 ft ^ MfiPJilL making of grins ee to-day is not the 10 simple foundry ij y&lgp . work of a few si years ago, but a |<j TjilMro''i science requiring ematical calcula4*at?o infvinoffli onrl />ar/ifn 1 blVJUO) UUU JUiUUK luw JVHWV v* VMA v*%*A preparation of designs, and skilled workmanship scarcely second to that required in the munufacture of the finest watches. It was necessary for the United States Government, in order to insure a certain supply of guns, to establish a National gun factory for the army, and also one for the navy. While these factories are sufficiently large to supply the peace demands,, they could not supply the demands in case of war. To provide for the latter emergency, instead of increasing the plant of.the established factories, it was deemed wiser, by giving sufficient-1 ly large contracts for guns to private | e ? 1NTKKI0B OP TH1 n ? firms to induce them to introduce gun I x making as a branch of their business, it so that at the present day there are a d number of steel works capable fcf buildy ing guns equal to those turned out at e the National factories. h The army gun factory is situated at o Watervliet arsenal, West Troy, ,N. Y. t The grounds contain over one hundred 11 jjjjm b 11 f \ I ' f 1 a > I w ; W/M I f) 1 SHRINKING ON AN EIGHT-INCH JACKET. 6 [ acres, and are advantageously located > on the Hudson River and Erie Canal. The factory consists of the old gun ? shop connected with the large new gun 3 shop; the former is devoted principally 5 to the manufacture of guns of smaller J salibres, and the latter to the manufac? fcure of large calibre guns. The new t building consists of two wings con3 nected by a central section. The north BORING THE TTBE OF > wing is 400 feet long and 128 feet wide; | p the central section is 165 feet long, p and the south wing is 400 feet long and 158 feet wide. The extra width of this r wing is to accommodate the enormous g lathes (some of which are over one hundred feet long) which are needed for the manufacture of the largest calibre e ^lDa The shops are filled with lathes, bore ing mills, drills, slotting, milling and e rifling machines. Overhead, running s the entire length of the building, whose total length is 965 feet, are two traveling cranes capable of carrying the huge masses of metal to any part of the ' building. The manufacture of a gun is a very interesting operation. A modern high r; power gun is a convex structure r "built up" or composed of a number cf parts. There are two reasons for "building up" a gun. First, it makes f it stronger; second, since the parts j used are made from smaller masses of metal, the quality of the metal can be made better and quite uniform. The rough forgings, from which the parts !r of the gun are made, are made at priT rate works for the Government and chipped to the factory, where they are it carefully inspected to see that they fulfil the requirements. The piece which foram the part next 1? to the bore of the gun and whieh is ? called the "tube"' is-first picked up l>y the traveling crime, and placed in one I) of the huge lathes to be turned un<l bored to the proper size. This tube is 10 the longest piece in the gun. By itself it would not be strong enough to stanil the powder pressure, so it lias to i be strengthened by "hoops" and a k "jacket." * When the tube is finished the jacket, which is the first piece "assembled." is turned and bored. The interior of the it jacket is slightly smaller than the exterior of the tube, so that when assembled it will compress the tube and 0 bo increase its strength, since the powder gas must first overcome this compression before it begins to strain the tube. This is the reason why a "built up" gun is stronger than one made of a single casting. The condition is somewhat similar to two trains, one at rest (the case of the single casting) and the other backing. The engine of the first can start ahead -without much expenditure of force while that of the latter has first to overcome the retrograde motion before it can 6tart ahead, and, therefore, must expend much more force. The "built up" gun whose tube is under a strain of compression can for a similar reason stand a much greater powder pressure before bursting than a gun made by a single casting. When the jacket is finished it is placed in a hot air furnace and heated to about 550 degrees. This heat causes it to expand sufficiently to be placed over the tube. To assemble the tube and jacket the former is placed on end in a shrinkage pit in the middle section of the factory, and the jacket, after being heated, is slowly lowered into place. It is then cooled by a stream of wspter which is thrown against it The hoops are next finished, and as soon as the jacket is cool a row of hoops are shrunk on one by one in a similar manner extending from tha jacket to. the muzzle.. It is necessary to still further increase the strength of the gun over the bottom ' of the ,bore, where the powder pressure E NEW GUN SHOP. is tlie greatest; consequently the jacket, has shrunk over, it a row of hoops. The gun is now ajjnost completed, though it still hats to be placed in the lathe to be rifled and turned on the outside. When this is finished the breech mechanism is fitted and the gun is ready for shipment to the proving ground. Every gun after completion is thoroughly tested on the proving ground before it is sent to the fort where it "is to be mounted. The sea coast guns in our service weigh from fourteen to sixty tons and cost on the average of $1000 a ton. The smaller guns are made in a similar manner in the old gun shop and differ from the one described only in having a fewer number of pieces. Some of the smaller guns can be completed in a few weeks' time, but to complete a gun of the largest calibre it requires eeveral months of continuous work. ? New York Herald. A Gallant Though heedless Act. "In Chicago, during the hardest paiA of the winter,1' 6aid William Munsel/ the other day, "I was walking along Dearborn street holding my ears and pressing along through the crowd of - "1 T AT^ fllfi cfrOAf Oliier iitt.il IX U/tCU uu uuv wv? vv?. Presently I noticed a young lady in evident distress. She was ravishingly beautiful. Having been in the drng business several years. I was -well acquainted -with corns, chilblains and frost bifes and theirremedies. My practised eye detected a dangerous symptom. "The end of the charming young lady's nose was as white as a china egg, while the remainder of it was as red aa a tomato. 'Her nose is frozen and she doesn't know it,' I thought. Quick as a flash I sprang to her side and with my customary gallantry proffered my assistance. Before she could answer I did what 1 knew the occasion demand ed, and I grabbed up a handful of snow and rubbed her nose. "Her face Hushed with indignation, and I hurried on before she could thank me. The next day a young man?her brother?called on me at my hotel and I I) 1 ftkl t A TWELVE-INCH GUV. demanded an explanation. I explained 'You duffer,' he said, 'that was only a daub of face powder on her nose.' He ' went off laughing, and now he and 1 and the young lady are good friends. But you can imagine how I felt over the mistake."?Cincinnati Enquirer. A Stylish Summer Hat. The summer hat shown here is a large shape of ecru lace Btraw bent in front. On the left large double fans of ecru silk muslin in plaits are held by a knot of black velvet, with two black tips above arraugeil to fall in opposite directions. A roll of black velvet trims the right side of the crown. The ontputof the fanions Kimberley diamond fields in South Africa is limited to 8^5,000,000 yearly. The product might he twice as great, but it is not deemed wise to throw too many of the precious stones on the market. 1 The Meerkat of Sooth Africa. The meerkat of South Africa resem* bles iu its habits aud characteristics the prairie dog of America, but it is much more cunning and intelligent and makes a charming pet, being easily tamed. In the South African karroo the meerkat lives in little colonies like the prairie dog, and travelers driving through the veldt will come across families of them sitting upright in the sun and maintaining their positions until they are approached quite closely, when they scatter like mice and run into their holes. They are very pretty, bright-eyed, nimble little creatures, soft and furry and very fond of their captors. They are so quaintly made and marked that one entertains the idea that they have been sewed into their skins by hand, and the curious seam which extends their entire length, and the neat way in which their dainty claws and email feet and ears are finished off, adds to this process of the imagination. They are very fond of dogs, and of whom even the largest they are not afraid, and the tame meerkat invariable choses for a soft pillow the outstretched form of the skye or collie in the family, and burrows in the warm coat with great satisfaction. They love the sun, and may be seen early in the morning turned toward it, i sitting up in their, peculiar mannei and blinking, with satisfaction as they feel the warm-rays enveloping them. The meerkat follows its owner when adopted-muoh'as a faithful dog does, and it is a more picturesque object. It is full of tricks, steals boldly anything it wants, and is brimful of mischief. Then, when it is scolded for its naughtiness, it sits up and begs forgiveness in such a funny attitute of mock humility, that the rogue is at once taken into favor and carressed like a naughty child. These little creatures have a natural faculty of changing into different shapes and postures with lightninglike rapidity. At one moment the meerkat is quite a formidable animal, sitting up and regarding you with large, BP.rimiR even. Then it is as soft and limber as a bag of feathere, etretched out on the ground, and it can curl itself into a ball and roll into a corner, where its bits of ears and clusters of feet resemble the ornaments on 6ome decorative object. Indeed, to look pretty and beguile its owners with its mimic ways 6eemB to be its sole object in life. THE MEERKAT. Occasionally a docile and apparently happy tame meerkat will suddenly go back to its wild life, which it can never again be induced to leave, not even by its chosen playmates, the dogs, with which it has been happily associated. Many of these little animals are taken to England by travelers, and domiciled among other household pets, where they are regarded as objects of curiosity and made much of in consequence, for no matter how many larger or older pets .there may be in the family, the lordly meerkat at once assumes and keeps the egotistical attitude of a spoiled child.?Detroit Free Press. A Giant Lop ol Oak. An oak log remarkable for its size and weight is lying on the dock at the THE GIANT LOO. foot of East Eleventh street. It is the property of George Hagemeyer & Sons. The log was cut on the farm of Unck Sammy Soggens, two and a half .milee southeast of Bedford, Ind. It was intended for exhibition at the World'* Fair, but after felling it the base wa* found to be rotten and had to be cut off. This materially lessened the size of the log. It is 40 feet long, 6* feet in diameter at the base, 4} feet at the top, weighs 17$ tons, and is thought to be 400 years old. The log was brought from the West on two flat cars. It will have to be blasted to cut in two, as <no sawmill in New York can handle a stick over twenty-eight feet in length. The monster will be cut up into counter tops.?New York Sjun. Saved by a Tramp. The tramp does so few things to justify his existence that when he does do something it is worthy of being recorded. A four-year-old'girl was playing with some companions the other day around a fire of leaves that had been kindled near their home, in the upper part of New York City, when her clothing caught fire and in a moment she was all in a blaze. Her frightened playmates ran screaming from her and she was in the most imminent peril, when a tramp, who happened to be passing, ran to her, and, jerking off his tattered coat, wrapped it around the child and smothered the llamcfi. He then look the baby in his arms and carried her to her mother. Dnring the excitement that followed, the trump went away ami nobody knows who he was.?New Orleans Picayune. | There are in this country 430 colleges and universities, with 8472 proj feesors and teachers. ? i Pallid a'Tiger's Tooth. , Professor Fritz Mauss gently wipectj I the blood from a pair of gae-fitter'a, pliers yesterday afternoon. i ' "It is harder to pull a tiger's tor h' ' than an alderman's leg," he remarked, 1 under the impression that he was quot-: ing from the proverbs of Solomon.! * The professor was in a profneed' THE THREE HUSKY DENTISTS. '*"N ' ??|j perspiration. His shirt sleeves were! rolled up. A few yards away, in her cage at the Hagenback menagerie, Kitty was panting and swearing. Her whole six or eight feet of brown,1 and black stripes quivered with rage.] Kitty is one of the largest tigresses in the mammoth menagerie, and she had! just submitted most unwillingly to an, operation that cost.her a tooth. 'i For three weeks past Kitty has been' the victim of a remorseless toothache ?a regular old-fashioned, doublei action anguish that tied knots in her tail and kept her awake nights./ Kitty's howls kept the whole menagerie awake. She used to tramp up and down her cage and knock her hea<r acrainst the wall to see if that would produce any good results. The ettira population was in despair. Life was not worth living at the Hagenback hostelry. There were' ponies, high-bred animals with valets to put their manes in paper and sand-. paper their backs into glossiness, who had not had as much sleep in a week1 as a Brighton Park policeman secures in one hour of duty. Something hacf to be done about it Poultices were ^ tried, and Kitty swallowed a half dozen! the first night. They gave her indigestion, and she was more demoDstra-j tive than ever. They tried opiates.] Professor Mauss determined upon a radical reform yesterday. ij Kitty, after a night-long din, wafll resting peacefully. To her entered the professor, likewise the professor's twd assistants and a rope. Kitty merely blinked and smacked her lips at the t possibility of masticating another poultice. A moment and a stalwart 180pound man was sitting on her head and each of her four paws were grasped in a noose. \ "We can hold Forepaughs at this menagerie bus'iness any time," said tho professor. Kitty struggled and howled and .! frothed at the mouth, but it was all in vain. There was a dexterous twirl of the professor's pliers, a sharp twinge in her lower jaw, and peace had been, won for the wild beast show. ?Chicago Times. t ???. fc . New Styles in Hair Dressing. The brief day of the Brighton bun is past, and somewhat less atrocious hair dressing prevails. The two favorite styles at present are the simple coij r just above the napo of the neck and the double loop somewhat higher. In the latter the hair is twisted into two coils close together, each one repre-? senting the figure "3." Instead of the customary pin of shell or silver or gold, a clasp, fastening the loopfl across the center, ie the only adornment.?New York World. , I How Parrots Shaped America's Destiny# $ A flight of birds, couplcd with a sailor's superstition., robbed Columbus of the honor of discovering the continent. It is a curious but historical fact. When Columbus sailed west-, ward over the unknown Atlantic he expccted to reach Zipangu (Japan)., After several days' sail from Gcmera. one of the Canary Islands, he became uneasy at not discovering Zipangu, r which, according to his reckoning, ' should have been 216 nautical miles more to the east. After a long discussion he yielded to the opinion of Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, and steered to the southwest. Pinzon was guided iu his opinion solely by a flight of parrots, which took wing in that direction. It waa good luck to follow in the wake of a flock of birds when engaged upon a - i- _ voyage OI discovery ?? ?iur: ,nt?u superstition among Spanish seamen of that day?and this change in the great navigator's course curiously exemplifies the influence of small and apparently trivial events in the -world's history. If Columbus had held to his course he would have entered the Gulf Stream, have reached Florida, and then probably have been carried to Cape Hatteras and Virginia. "Never," wrote Humboldt, "had the flight of birds more important consequences." ?St. Louie Globe Democrat. Bound to lie >Vitli the Times. s> j "Say, why don't yon shake that old eggshell off?" "Shake nothing! Don't you know that crinoline is the style again?"? JB/KM Frank Austin, of Eckerly. Ind., had a collie dog that was very fonrl of him. He was going on a journey the other day, and the dog wanted to accompany him. Austin drove him from the train, and the dog was so dejected that he lay before the engine, and the train passed over him. J