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/ ?? ? LOVE AND HOMANJATORE. Tale of a Short Coartship on , the Mississippi Riier. /, RV -TOITM FT A RTTEVRTO*!. ! CHAPTER I. ? Continued. When the old man went away Jack retired to his little cabin and pretended > to go to Bleep, but he spent a most uncomfortable night. Why, even his boat cabin, not ten feet square, was a palace compared with the house at which he had taken supper. The idea of a man g&c, * and woman bringing up such a daughter . In such a place! What could they be thinking of, or, could it be they did not think at all? He thought his own quarters cramped and his river life almost as quiet as a hermit's, yet if that girl lived on a bee-bopi she would 6ee a great deal more of the world and its inhabitants than she ever could while she inhabited that bare cabin. But why should he think of her being on a bee?[>:' boat at all? There was no way for her .1 to reach such luck unless she were some 1 day to marry a man in the honey busi ^ Tiaac inctam] nf tlinf B>1? wntllfl hfl etlTG to throw herself away on that stupid, / unmannerly, lounging, hulking fellow 'With a gun. He wished his mother and Bisters could have the making of that r , girl, and then send her back to her own country to teach her old acquaintances what was what. "Wouldn't she make a stir if she could be put in that quiet old New Hampshire village?even if she T made her first appearance in that very faded calico dress? As he imagined her talking into the village church, the c white walls of that barn-like edifice F suddenly grew rosy, to his closed eyes, ^ and the scent of orange flowers banish- * ?d the well-remembered and pervasive p odor of caraway seed. t Nothing of that 6ort could hap- e pen, though, if she already was I gone on that infernal fellow with a v gun, as, of course, she was; if not, why ' aid she rush out so wildly to stop him h as he went along and bring him into the house? Beauty did not imply brains?he had learned this long ago in lb bis home studies of heredity; ^either c did it save its possessor from rude % tastes. Well, Jack -was sure the -whole I /. affair was none of his business, and, if v he could not get it out of his head, y where it seemed determined to stay, he y "would have himself towed up the river e ahead of lime, and get away from 6uch a nightmare of stupidity. If he could fi afford to rush the season a little he p guessed the bees could stand it, too. fr CHAFTEKII. 5" a As he emerged from his cabin in the n morning, with a light and aching head, v and began to make his toilet, he wae * startled by an apparition of the young man with a gun. Jack rubbed his eyes 6, and saw that it was no apparition at all, 6l but the man in hi? real person, with a ^j very real gun. Jack had a gun of his 61 own and knew how to use it, so he hurried into the cabin, slipped a cartridge , Infn V*ia riflo nnH iVion rtoorori nnntinnalr v ' r J Q through one of his little windows. The man was still there, but he did not seem In baste to proceed to bloody work, for he had leaned his gun against a tree' . and seated himself on a stump. Jack t placed his own gun within the door yet where he could reach it quickly if neces- . eary; then he ventured outside again. > , The man with the gun raised his head, J Baw Jack and shouted: . A "Hello!" * ? "Hello yourself," Jack replied; then ^ i he thought it safe say: "Won't you t{ : come aboard?" h 1 "Don't care if I do." ^ ^ ! Jack pushed out a plank, and the Q visitor, leaving his gun behind, saun- tered aboard with his hands in his pockets and looked carelessly about him. He seemed to approve of what he saw, for he soon remarked: S "J^ightv pooty bizness, this of yourn. Old man Mazzitt was tellin me 'bout it . after he came back last night, an' I 'llowed I'd take a look at it if you f v. didn't mind." j, Evidently, then, the man with the cun was 60 close a friend of the family that he had spent the nieht with them. The idea of eo uncouth a fellow being even under the eame roof with that girl and / treated ae her equal! Jack wanted to toss him overboard and drive him to the 0 bottom with a push-pole, but he re- " strained himself and explained the bee- j boat bu6ine6? to him. If the fellow ' was to marry Lizzie perhaps the girl's J life, would, be more, endurable if. her ? Eusband was to go into some business J: which would enable his wife to see \ what little of the world lay along the ? banks of the big river. It wasn't an ^ impossible scheme. The business did n not require much capital to start it, :and to tell the truth, there wa* not , much more work about it than in carrying a.gun and skulking about in tbo ? "woods! So Jack enlarged a little upon J* what he had already said about beeboating, and the fellow seemed to un- *' derstand it, for he asked an intelligent question or two. anen ne ieunnu against the sunny side of the cabin, 0 looked Jack full in the eys, and 6tartled a the owner of the boat by remarking: a "You 'pear to be a pooty decent kind of a feller." hi "Thank you," paid Jack, "though I &t don't see how you've made up your g< mind on 60 slight acquaintance." " bi "Oh, well," said the hnnter, "we have T to learn in this country to take a man's hi measure pooty quick. There'6 all sorts el come along, some by land and some by tl water, an* there's no time u> look up somebody that knows 'em and ask ques- ^ tions about 'em. If Ididn't thinkmore'n it usual well of you, I wouldn't have come h down here this morning to sav some- ^ thin' to you?somethin' strictly 'tweer si man an' man." "What the?something?is the fellow y up to?" Jack asked himself. a "It's about her," said the native, nod- w dine his head in the direction of Llzzie'e ^ residence. 11 "Don't worry about me." said Jack f< promptly and quite loftily. "I nevei attempted to take a girl away from an- * other fellow." s< "There's lots that 6he'll betaken away w from, by whoever gets her," was the re- ? ply. "I 'llow you aint married? Well, * her heads full of you." n "Nonsene*!" exclaim sd Jack, with 8 o frown which II* could scarcely keep h from becoming a ?3milc*. "She never tl saw me until last night." "Thnt. make nn difference." said n the v.'sitor. "I know the signs in gal9. 6hp touldn't talk about nothin' else all tl last night -while me an' the old man was Bmokin'." n "You must have got two men mixed, .. my friend," said Jack. "I don't thick I exchanged twenty words with her." "(.ials have eyes as well as ears, my f friend," was the reply. "I ain t a-goin' i( to ko over ag.n what she said, 'cause I don't b'lieve in tattlin', but what I've " told you is dead sure, an' as you're a " pooty decent kind of feller, as I said be- 8 Jore, I made bold to come down an' ask " you between men, an* not to go any ll lurther, an' that you don't go to makin' yourseif estry pleasant an' sociable- a like onless you mean bizness." c Jack eyed the fellow sharply. Was ^his talk what it seemed on the surface, W&l; ' ) or was it a sly way of discoverini whether he had any intentions regard ing another man's sweetheart? 0 course this man BiJlwas himself in lov< with the girl?he couldn't help it?n< one could, Jack was sure, who saw he: often. He had heard that some simple looking Southerners wore desperately crafty, and it was plain to Jack's prac ticed eye that this fellow, in spite of hii rude exterior, was no fool; had he noi discovered, through his own unaided in telligence, that Jack himself wns "f pooty decent kind of a feller?" Whai could he be (up to? Well, the mcsl straightforward course was the best particularly with a man who always carried a gun, and was astir so early ir the morning. "My friend," said Jack, "I give yot my word as an honest man that all I'n thinking about down here is the bee business. I like the people I've mel ilong the river, and the young womar j-ou have been talking about, is a verj charming girl, but I've a mother anc sisters of my own, and I've too mud espect for other women to trifle witt ;beir feelings." "I didn't 'llow that you'd do anythin' nean?no siree?not a bit of it," was :he reply. "It aint you I'm afraid ol loin' anythin', it's her, blees her big, K-arm, natural, innocent, heart. You're jomethin' new an' 6trange, not that she lin't seen other men that wasn't troughl jp in these parts, but I reckon you aln'1 ike the rest of 'em; she thinks so, anylow." Ja?k had been studying the 'man slosely while he talked. Unless all ules of human nature were false, thie nan was no sly dog; there were traces >f the gentleman in the expression ol ris countenance. It was natural thai ie should not have said bluntly that he limself was in love with the girl; he lad displayed admirable taste in the ray he put the case. Jack's heart rarmed toward him, and Jack's hand rent forward as its owner 6aid: "Your manner does you great credit, ild man, and I wish you joy of her. 1 iromise solemnly that I will not go neai ler house again. When 1 And mysell eelinc lonesome I'll tramp in the op lOSiteT direction and find somebody to alk to. We Yankees are great talkers; verybody has his weakness, you know. Jut as for that girl, I again give you my rord that I won't see her again." The visitor dropped Jack's hand and lis face grew long as he 6ighed: "That'll be awful hard on her." Jack stared in astonishment; then he iegan to lose his temper and he exlaimed?almost shouted: "See here, old man. you talk like a ool. No man can be near that girl rithout admiring her a great deal; ou've told me certain things about her; ou don't want her to get more intersted in me. nor me in her, yet " "Yes, I do," came with great energy rom the visitor, while Jack in his surrise stepped backward and nearly umbled into the river. "I only want ou to keep away if you don't mean nythin' serious. Nothin' would 6uit le better than for her to git a man like ou for her husband." "What? And you giv? her up?" Then it was the visitor's turn to be urprised. He began to straighten nimelf to a standing posture, and he connued until he seemed a giant when he aid: "What have I got to do with it? 1 aint er beau. I'm goin' to marry a friend f hers as soon as my cabin's done." "Oh," said Jack, with a whole gamut f inflections as the change of condions became clear to him. Then he >und his brain in a whirl. It was ut;rly ridiculous, the discomfor^ he had affered in abandoning that girl, whom e had first seen only twelve hours be)re, to the.man whom he supposed was er lover. Now that he learned she as free he wanted to shout with joy, hich of course was equally ridiculous. eside6, the fellow was probably misiken; any man in love imagines everyody else in the same condition. He ould question his informant farther, ot that it would be possible for him to ill in love in earnest with a woman of hose family ho knew nothing, but it rould be delightful to t>e sure that so lorious a creature had really become interested in him. "It's born in her," eaid the visitor, afjr a short chat about the indications hich had aroused his interest. "Htr ither and mother went the same way. ve heard ag'in an' ag'in how her lother, who was the most run-after gal 1 these parts, never took a shine to any jller till one day Sam came along. here d been some land flooded dovrn ere by a break in the levee, an' Sam ome down with some more fellers from p-river to go for deer (hat got bunched n a little rise of ground that the water idn't cover. He stopped at her old lan's house to light his pipe; hedidn'f it no deev with his gun, but he got a lear' with his tongue before mornin'." 'hea the visitor indulged in a long and entle laugh over this time-honored >ke of the vicinity. As for Jack, he lurmured beneath his mustache: "Heredity! heredity!" "Sam could have done a good deal etter for himself, in the monfey way," aid the visitor, "if he hadn't been so :>nd of his wife. He's got a good head >r business, an' more'n one big plantaon owner back of the river has offered > go shares with him if Sam would lanage the place an' let .the owner go ft North or somewheres else an' fool way his money, but Sam won't live nywheres but in the cabin where he ist met his gal. Well, I don't blame im. If a feller has got that sort of ;uff in him good and solid, he gits more 3oa out oi xne woria man money couia jy him?don't you think so, stranger? he old gal's ju6t as sweet an' pooty in is eyes as the fust day he 6aw her, an' ie can't see no change in him. Ain't lat enough?" "It certainly ought to be," said Jack, ith a great deal of feeling. The visor, who had been studying Jack's alf averted face, offered his own hand, hich had a grasp like a vise, as he iiid: "I thought you'd say so; I saw It in our eye. Well, I must bo goin' I'm fter a buck that I saw in the oods down here a lew days ago. He as too quick for me that time, but 1 larked his runway, an' I'm goin' to lay ?r him." "Here!" 6houted Jack, as tho visitor 'as going ashore. "Won't you have omething to keep the chills off?" Jack ondered, as he dashed into his cabin nd emerged with a flask of brandy rhich he had broucht down only for ledicinal purposes, what any inhabitant f his native village would have thought ad they seen him offer any one a drink int was stronger taan water. "Much obliged, but I don't ever take othin'," was the reply. Then, after tending silent on the ilank a moment, ie visitor remarked: "You didn't look to me like a drinkin' lan." "I'm not," 6aid Jack. 'I never touch quor except when.I am sick." "Oh, that's all right," was the reply. 'Twould have gone agin me to have mnd you was a driiikin' man." "Say," shouted Jaok, as the man gain 6tarted away, "are you sure you ave plenty of cartridges? Is your un dead sure? You're welcome to take line, it's the best that money can u}*." The visitor leturned. Was there ever hunter in so much of a hurry that he ould not stop to look at another hunsr's gun? Jack's breech-loader was joked over critically and admiringly, ? but; returned with the'remark: "It's as pooty as a young magnolia in THE ^BREE^-ZK>AOE^'' WAB LOOKED OVER. ** It? fust bloom, but I haven't gofr the ^ hang of it. I can fire this old gal with I mv eves shut an' hit the mark two ? ! times in three." Jack bad manners enough to remain , ' on deck until the departing visitor was 1 out of sight; then he entered his little ; cabin, threw himself on the bed, and ' did the hardest and most disconnected ' thinking of which he ever had been guilty. If Lizzie Mazzitt had been before ni6 eyes he could not have 6een her ' more plainly than he did lying there 1 with his eyes shut. The whole thing was utterly ridiculous, but it was | also very real. A handsome young woman?a clear case of hereditary singling out of a single man?a J young man Impressed as he never had been before, and all in an atmosphere | that seemed redolent of love and all : manner of sweetness. What would peo1 pie at home say? Hang the people at home! His mother and sisters had never known him to be mistaken in his estimates of human nature; they would | trust him now; and as to Qther6, It was none of their business. He would have no time for love-making; all such at fairs in New Hampshire took a full year, unless they began in the summer and ft fellow had to marry before planting season, so as not to waste time. He might try to hasten things a little, so as nbt to delay his move up the river at the proper time?try to make the girl better acquainted with him, so that she would be willing to wait for him until the next season; but how awful it would be to be separated from her for a year? be separated from this girl whom he do had seen for about half an hour?no tu more! What nonsense! Remembering that he had not break- n0 fasted, he made 6ome coffee and at? a biscuit; at dinner time his appetite was equally doubtful. He paced the shore 8* beside the boat, artjuing with himself. in and finally informed himself that he ha never before had heard of such a fool, ha He would go right up to the cabin and 6ee whether this girl was really what BUj his fancy had painted her; girls beat + Satan for appearing in different guises, , as he had learned tu his sorrow. ~,? He reached the cabin in the middle of 11,13 the afternoon, and the girl stood in the sel ^AAMinntt Tf tlTOP A aorvtA ff I T"1 O frJflfl 4"V?< UWUl v> olj . J. \j n or? i/ul ouuiv ?** i? ? w*?*v less brilliancy of complexion, perhaps, we than on the previous evening, but with ]0I more earnestness in her face. "She jja 6eemed to be looking for some one. . "Pop ain't home," said she with a , blush that seemed to Jack like a sunPJ "pop ain't jiome," said she. Pu ? ~ fr rlso In paradise. *1 thought he might mc be comiug." r Jack looked at her intently, and the blush became the glory of the celestial ev< day. - ODl "Ibn't he .careless to ro away and Th leave such a jewel unguarded?" the far young man asked. He thought after- gU ward it was a very stupid and stilted am speech, but there are times wfcen young C0] men can't be sensible. "Popknows I'm perfectly able to take * care of myself," said the girl, with an arch smile which robbed Jack at once of *U( his senses, though it made him respect "ei the speaker all the more. Still, he ven- of tured to say: up< "If you're not, you're welcome to call ]aj upon me any time, now or forever" atr The girl's eyes opened wide, though ^ xrithmif n hif r\f fAar wpnt, on! ' I came up to ask you as a special favor to let me become* "well acquainted with you. I don't amount to much, but t*1* such as there is of me is genuine, and eel I'd be very glad if you could learn to tui like me." ing "I like you now," said the girl, as th< honestly a6 if she was talking of 6ome ] matter-of-faet affair. "But I want you to like me move," -p. the young man persisted. "I don't un- un derstand much but honey and human ? nature, but I do profess to know all that's worth knowing about ooth of them. I'm filling my boat with the best honey that ever was taken North, but it would be a great deal sweeter, and so would my life be forever, if I could take you.too." "Are you joking?" asked the girl, with a very serious face. "I never was more in earnest In my .life," said Jack, lifting his hat and bowing his head. "I'd follow you all over the world," murmured the girl. Jack looked up quickly, and saw a lace so transfigured that he took it to his heart to make sure that it -was real. He found that it was; to he kept it there for some moments, releasing it ouly for a second 01 two at a time for purposes which need not be explained to any one who has been in love. Jack never could explain to his farbUy and friends; all he could say was that there was something 'peculiar and delicious about the air of the Louisiana lowlands. Certain it is that he married T t ft M<ilV\Sn 4 lwv f/Mt 4 k A K. IA O ; "iinu; uiv ween, iui im; i/vvo were demanding fresh flowers, and there , began among the hiv? fi a honeymoon 60 ' long that it has not yet ended." *?r [ THU EXU. j 6in Copyrighted by :he Authors' Alliance; all 0V? rights reserved. abc Dead Sea Steamer*. According to consular reports, it is the intention of the Turkish authorities nt Jerusa- c013 lem to establish a steamship liueon theDearl the Sea. The existenceof asnhalt in that region bri has been ascertained, an l it is supposed that ion petroleum will !>e found also. A rational . development of the Jordan Valley from Lake * Tiberias down, and especially the opening anc up of the rich niinerial resources of the Dead jv( Sea basin, is considered a very profitable i undertaking, for which, however, foreign capital will hardly be found, as the legal *n< status of property-holders in those reg'ons is 023 very ungate. 1 BOER TRAITS. j P HEIR PRESENT CHARACTER J AND PAST ACHIEVEMENTS. t s le Farmers of the Transvaal WIl- F derness Have a Stlrrlnjj History? ' The Great Trek?How They v Conquered the Zulus. 8 8 I ~JC MONG all the white men now h / \ thronging Johannesburg and p other parts of the Transvaal t; in search of gold, Writes a rrespondent of the London Times, a >w mapy can say with truth that they 1 low anything of the Butch farmer? ii Dt one man in a hundred. They will t. eer ?t him, laugh at his gutteral a ngue and his heavy, uncooth ways, b il at his Government; but as for t; king the trouble to acquire his lan- t; lage ind find out something of the fi ner leart of the man, they will not g BURGHER S0LDIER3 OP it?in their feverish search for for- n ne they have not the time. n And yet thiB farmer of the wilder- b sb, rough and uncouth, and often rly and suspicious as he is, has a p eat and stirring history behind him n South Africa, of which he is and ^ s a right to be proud. He and his n ve struggled, and {[trekked, and d rred, and been massacred, and have tl Gfered in blood and purse and pas- f< :al wealth these 250 years past. I n ubt whether an equal number of si tglish peasants, farmers, soldiers and v ;tlers, if they had been planted at tl s Cape in 1652, as the early Dutoh b re, woum nave emergen irom tne e ig struggle so little spoiled, and h ring lost so little of their National b iracteristics. t: rhe Dntch Afrikanders are still of t re European blood, tbey still cling t bh the simplest and sublimest faitb I the literal teaching of their Bibles, n 11 cherish with deep affection their 1< tes and families, still go about v sir herding and hunting and trek- t ig in the old slow, unconquerable, a gged spirit of their ancestors, still ti rn their faoes north, and as their I atures grow small and crowded, a k for new lands with undimmed I pe and vigor. v in the "Great Trek," as it is called, h ndreds of farmers quitted Cape v lony, selling their farms for any- s ng they would fetch in a forced o rket, and, with their families be- a wed iu their wagons and their o oks and herds around them, crossed d ) Orange River and sought new f> mes and pastures. The present re- t blics of the Transvaal and Orange ee State owe their origin to this ? ivement. rhe history of the Great Trek, if it 2 ?r comes to be written, will furnish a b of the most inspiring of epics, t ese despised and slow-moving Dutch P mers, armed with only flintlock c ns, after suffering cruel reverses ^ 3 the bloodiest treaohery, met and iquered the whole Zulu army, then t the height of its strength and mili- a y discipline. Fewer than 450 Boers ^ jcessfully resisted 12,000 of the c rcest Zulu warriors. At the close a thut Sunday morning battle, fought i' on December 16, 1838, 3000 Zulus c ' dead round the Dutch laager; the c earn flowing by, ever eince called t s Elood Eiver, ran crsmson; and I ; power of Dingaan and his nation n s for years broken. To this hour t. j Transvaal Dutch annually meet to I ebrate "Dingaan's Day," and re- a n humble thanks for their crown- t: r mercy, that wonderful victory over v i Zulu host. t] in tneir warfare witn tne ^ums, in i] i country now called Natal, the ii tch farmers used that plan of bat- h BOERS TRAVELING BY OX-C.A ?laagering their wagons in square E mniirm ? roViinli line Vipati frmnrl fivpr h ce an invaluable aid against the 11 ir-powering numbers of savage a; aes. Only so lately as in. the Mat- ci :le war this old Boer method -was S >pted; and by its use?aided of irse, immensely by Maxim guns? fi i colonists of Mashonaland won their e1 lliant victories, and destroyed the n g and cruel Matabele tyranny. c< Ubout this same period ?1836-'37? ai >ther great portion of the Great oi ik made its way into the present ai ritory of the Orange Free State, n 1 thence, crossing the Yaal, buc- a] ded, after some bloody and dis- e] / ' ' II I 1 ' 31 ? strous reverses, in driving Moselikat father of Lobengnla) beyond the Lir iopo into the country now call* latabeleland. Moselikatse was th< he most redoubted native captain : louth Africa, and his men, almost f mre-bred Zulus, who had migrat< rom Zululand with him in a bod rere as fearless, as fierce, as cruel,ai s highly trained a8 Chaka's and Di :aan's finest warriors. Yet the Tr< >oers vanquished Moselikatse as thi iad vanquished Dingaan, and 'tot ossession of that fair and rich cou ry now called Transvaal.^ One battle was fough't in laag gainst Moselikatse's Matabele horde 'here were but forty grown Dutchmi a the camp, but the women and ev? be children (President Kruger, th< boy, was, I believe, among the nui er) served in the defence, loadii he long smooth-bore guns as fast hey were emptied, and the Boe nally beat off their savage enemy wi reat loss. After this fight reinforc THE BOEP. REPUBLIC.' lenta 'came in and small bands lounted farmers attacked the Mat ele in .their own kraals. In the last of these daring can aigns 135 Boers followed np and fe pon Moslikatse in person on ti larico River. Mosklikatse commandi o fewer than 10,000 of his finest s< iers. Fierce as they were, howeve hflv lnplrpil hnrnpa nn<1 irnnB. at Dund themselves no match for tl lonnted Dutch farmers, all fine gac hots, and ' all imbned with an i incible determination. For mo ban a week the Boers, with nothii nt biltong (snn dried game meat) 1 at, and no lied bnt the bare veld arried and harassed the Matabe oats. Again and again the Matabe tied to entrap their active opponent _ 1 Z It. A. _ -1 X 1_ . o oriog inem 10 ciose quarieiB, wui heir stabbing assegais might 1 nought into play. But the mount len always evaded them, and jngth, after losing large numbers rarriors, Moselikatse gave ap the co est, retreating beyond the Limpop nd left the whole vast territory be Transvaal, which he had long he >y the sheer terror of his name ai rms, to the "Voor-Trekkert." V English, in a miserably mismanagi rar, and after a shameful peace, ha ad our bad moments with the Trar aal Boers. Bat, now that time h omewhat assuaged the bitter memori f Majuba Hill, those of us who knc nd appreciate the sterling qaaliti f the Boer character?the stubbo: etermination, the simple yet sublii aith, the deep love of "ons land," bey call the country of their adopti< -cannot deny to these rude farme beir meed of praise. For years after the battles with tl lulu and Matabele tribes the Boers body settled themselves quietly he Or&nee Free State and Transvai leopling the country, growing the rops, and amassing great flocks ai lerds. The more adventurous spirits amoi hem?the elephant hunters?we nnually into the hunting veldt, ai men they had denuded their o\ ountry of great game, trekked f Held in every direction in pursuit vory. It has been the custom harge the average Boer with a lack ourage. I cannot follow this imput ion. The Afrikander Dutchman i will grant, inert and hard love. Even in the agitation amoi tie Transvaal faimers, before ti toer war, in which, undoubtedl large proportion of the popul ion viewed the British annexati< rith extreme anger and indignation bey were very slow to go "out" i a former stuggles, the vrouws did i mmense *lenl in screwing up the usbands to the fighting point, T] .RT IN THE TR.VNSV A \L. >utch wife has great influence ov( er man ; she ib usually possessed < idomitable spirit and determinatioi ad in moments of danger and diii alty she counts for a good deal i outh African movements. When the Boers finally took tl eld in 1881, they fought well, t ren we ourselves must admit. It o light matter to take up nrms an* sssfully aguinst the strength of Bri in as these farmers did. By a seri< f ltjky accidents, the Boers foun rrayed against them troops weak i umbers, mostly consisting of youn ad unseasoned soldiers, led by a Gei ral who, after a series of extracrd . ,'vV s.-v- v., -.-.JS se nary blunders, paid with hifl own life n- the penalty of rashness and lack of id judgment. M ?n At Laing's Nek and Ingogo Rivet in the Boers undoubtedly had our men at ill immense disadvantage, and by the 0] 3d help of their very excellent shooting It y, scored their victories. ButatMajuba b id Hill, where less than 150 Dutchmen ^ n- 6tormed a mountain held by 400 Brit- fj ik ieh troops and defeated them with the \ ey loss of their General, six officers, and _ )k ninety men killed and a large number n- wounded, want of courage can scarcely be charged against these ignorant, er undrilled farmers. They themselves is. still look upon that event in their Bn simple way as more an act of God sn than of their own courage. Nor, in sn the far more desperate fighting against n- the Zulus and Matabele during the ig Great Trek, can want of courage be as urged against the frontier Boers. * rs. mm fch x KITE BALLOON. ? Interesting Experiments by Our Weather Bureau's Chief. j The meteorologists have admitted for many years that some knowledge of the condition of tlie upper air will be very valuable as an aid to weather prediction. The upper air strata are peculiarly inaccesible in the case of an attempt to suspend meteorological instruments for many hours above any local point, owing to sudden gusts and equally sudden calms. A captive balloon during ? strong winds is apt to be disabled by a the variable pressure upon its im-. c mense globe of confined gas. The c wind, if very powerful, may drive the t tethered balloon downward sidewise I and force the gas out of its neck, cans- t ing loss of buoyancy. a According to recent drawings mada I in London, Professor Willis L. Moore, e Chief of the United States Weather n Bureau, is experimenting with a com- ( bination of the balloon and the kite, p by which during dead calms the gas i: hjrro of. tiio Viftrtfe nf thn kite mav carrv I it upward, while during strong winds * the kite would take the pressure end c protect the gas apparatus behind it. 1 The Moore kite, as drawn, has a s tail, which may ultimately be dis- t ? peneed with, as in the case of the kites g 0f devised by me in 1891, writes Will- f a. i%m A. Eddy in the New York World, f Since flat kites of light construction, I j. in mild winds, require little tail, it ? II seems to follow that a gas-inflatod t , ? ?????? ??? ne as 5n PROFESSOR MOORE'S RE] !7B ; kite will need very small tail weights < be to balance it if the wind is light In 1 a strong wind a tail about 300 feet in c *" length -will tie required, rroiessor i .' Moore's proposed line of experiment 1 (1* is interesting and valuable, and if all ld the Weather Bareau stations are eqnipped with such an apparatus the 3g predictions would be more exact, nt Kites of light construction can id maintain themselves aloft six days in ro seven at New York, and probably four days in seven at Cincinnati, of where the wind is light, if night winds to in both cities are included in the e6ti- ] of mate. But Professor Moore's kite, if < a- he uses gas, would doubtless make the is, record almost continuous. Since there to is often plenty of wind aloft and none ag at the surface of the earth, the facts < lie are only approximately known at the j y> present. { a- ? Novel Thin? in Cycles. a. Over in London they have ft new cycle?whether to give it the prefix in uni or bi has not yet been determined ir ?which is altogether different from he the models seen m this country. In? stead of being on the wheel the rider is inside. As shown in the picture, there are two wheels, one inside the other. The inner wheel maintains a stationary position, which.is necessary because it has fastened toitthe rider's seat. Around it revolves the outer wheel, with which it has three points of contact, three grooved wheels, that form a runway. The power is obtained by the simple action of a spring attached to the treadles, and it is promised that great speed will be made when the wheel is properly used. 18 Si jg A NOVEL CYCLE. ^ 3- Lightness and simplicity of cons'/ac- b t- tion seem to be its best points. The h -'a rider, being suspended below tbe n d machine's center of gravity, maintains c n a level seat whatever the 6eat or grade, b g ?? ti l- Osage, the name of a Missouri river, ^ i- means "the etroDg." |C I A STANLEY AMONG WOB^If. I las Mary Kingslej's Feata as an nH African Traveler. I Miss Mary King6ley, niece of the ? j^H ergymar* athor, haa been accorded ink with .uivingetone, Speke, Grant, ^Hj nrton, Cameron, Johnson, Selous nd Stanley. She Las juat returned "ona a long journey of exploration in Pest Africa, and is much surprised to B& :;fli Q> / / v^lf I HISS MABY BXNOSLET. ind herself famojs. Miss Eingsley is ' flfl , modest, diffident little "woman in so- 3 iety, however brave and assertive she ! aay be in the jangle, and had no idea hat she was a celebrity. Barring t" |H Ime. Ida Pfeffer, who traveled abont ' he greater part of the earth, alone, . j? nd Mrs. French-Sheldon, of America. vifl liss Eingsley has made a record as an \M xplorer unapproachable by aay wo- tfl nan. She traveled in Africa from Old I felabar through the French. Gaboon, enetrating the gorilla country of thenterior ana proceeding up the Ogowe liver to N'Djole. It is a dangerous '/ij raete region and borders the country ftheFangwes, who have no cemeteries. ?hey not .only eat their own dewl but noh. stray strangers as they may forunately find. Miss Eingsley was re;arded by this hospitable folk as : V*; etich, and wasi thus insured against orming part of the bill of fat^ of a. I'angwe banquet. She had mach dificulty to retain her eight or ten naive attendants however, and it was . || HARK ABLE NEW KITE. T ... , ,.j mly by strong threats of punishment ay the French Government, that she. laved the lives of her men. She came icross a Nation of vicious dwarfs near V>? "Pan war no Tfiesn were moifi dan jerous than their man-eating neigh- v sore, but Miss Kinsley's party evaded ;he poisoned arrows and maintained ;he full integrity of the muster roll. Eler chief feats were the navigating of Lake N'Covi, hitherto unexplored, the srossing .of the Sierra del Cristal fountains, and canoeing down the V Rumbi Biver. Daring all her travels Sdiss Kingsley's health was in perfect - v condition. General Longstreet's Account. General James Longstreet, the ex- } ' Confederate veteran who took a promnent part in the Civil War, has writen a history of that momentous trnggle. It is called "From Man- ~ % / GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET. ssas to Appomattox," and the Chiago Times-tferald says that it is 'a truthful, impartial and unfevered ccount of the Confederate side's tactic*! nd movements during the war." Ugliest Man in Europe. The late Count Taaffe had the disinction of being about the ugliest aan iu Europe, and always attracted lie amazed attention of strangers who aw him in the streets of Vienna. He ore an extraordinary hat shoved far i __ i -i ^ tx:? aCK Oil IllS CjUCCi-suttjjcu ucau. axis air was long, black and straight. No latter bow ugly a roan may be, be an be very popular among those who ke to be flattered simply by giving ifly to all. It may have been that ay with the late Count Taaffe.?New Irleans Picayune.