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CHAPTER XII?Continued. xnere was a areary lapse 01 euence during its reign the gleaming, 6cin tlllant eyes of Beatrice Meroer told tha their owner was not Idle. She was thinking, plotting, preparing to act. Her quick mind grasped th? Situation readily, the situation 6ho had Anticipated, and which she had come prepared to meet. She held the remedy ?gold. To befriend the father of the man she loved in his dire extremity, to save an honored family name from reproach?would it not win the gratitude of the delinquent son, and gratitude pity, and pity love? i She had other final resources In reserve. 6he had prepared plans calmly, systematically. This was but the first Step. Oh! she could not fail. j She arose and stole to the door; she peered in. There sat the stern-faced, ilmplacable lawyer, the fatal documents spread out before him. There, too, wan-faced, wretched, lost, shrank the lather of Kaymond Marshall. j She stepped boldly across the threshold of the room. Not until she had {reached the table and her shadow fell *oross It did lawyer and victim glance bp, with a vivid start. I, "Madam!?why " began the former. i "I have come to purchase those documents." Her hand pointed to the pile of notes <and securities, almost touching them. In profound wonderment the lawyer regarded her. With a gasp of hope, suspense, dread, Colonel Marshall 6tajnJ at hsr veiled face. fw* "You have come " repeated the lawyer, vaguely. ! "To buy those'documents!" "Why?I do not understand?by what right." uiujr ivx tttic; Her voice rang out sharply. , "To Colonel Marshall or his authorized agent, yes, but to a stranger " J Beatrice Mercer turned to the be wildered Colonel. "I anar no 6tranger, but a friend," she maMxJffilspered in his dumfounded ear. ->"?k~-'"'*-^r"came to save you," and then aloud: Colonel Marshall, you authorize me to |act for you?" The half-stunned Colonel could only nod like an automaton. ! "Ten thousand dollars is the amount, 1 believe," went on Beatrice, calmly. ^There is the money. See that it is Tight." j She had flashed a heap of bank-notes -? 1 tnnflnnn tko 1 o . *vi lai^c ucauiiiiuttuvuo i.viviv iuv ***??Iyer's sight. She took up the papers on the table. , "This is the forged $2,000 note, I believe?" she said, selecting one from the many papers, "Colonel Marshall, it ehall never trouble you again." With two twists of her dainty tut Bupple wrists, she severed the fatal document in twain. "These other papers I shall keep for a day or two. The amount is correct?" ehe demanded of the lawyer. "Colonel Marshall, you are free from debt and dread alike. I trust we all know how to keep a secret. I would like to speak a few words to you alone." The lawyer had witnessed some trange scenes in his professional ca reer, but the denouement of the present Inexplicable one left him speechless, i Colonel Marshall, like one in a dream, followed the woman who had mysteriously saved him from ruin and dishonor from the room. Then, realizing that he had been enatched from the brink of a precipice, he reeled to a table in the outer office Xor support, and burst into tears. "Woman, angelic deliverer!" he fairly oHDed. "Who sent you here? You have saved to me all I hold dear on earth. My tears, my prayers shall be yours till my last breath. I shall teach my own to reverence you. I 6hall repay you dollar for dollar. What can I Bay, what can I do to acknowledge, to repay this stupendous obligation that crushes, stuns, mystifies me?" "One single favor.' "Name it?oh! name it* "Ask no questions, feel no obligations. I only ask that to-morrow evening at dusk you come to the hotel and to the apartments of Mi6s Leslie, and bring your son Raymond with you." She was gone like a fla6h with the words. The Colonel stood staring after her as if she were some wraith. His closed and ho swavfld lik? ono in a dream. He hastened after her a minute later to demand a moro lucid explanation of her strange intercession in his behalf, but when he reached the btreet, like the fairy in the story-books, .she had disappeared utterly. Beatrice Mercer had hastened back to the hotel. Her face was flushed, her eyes hopeful, exultant, as she laid aside her wraps. "So far all is well," she murmured, confidently. "Now for the most difficult part of the plot." When Dr. Simms came, she led him to a sofa, and for over an hour in low, earnest tones she conversed with him. She told him all her plot, all her desires. She startled him with her boldness and shrewdness, she dazzled him with the promise of munificent rewards. "What a scheme!" he ejaculated, arising at last, "and all for the love of a man whose heart is buried in the grave of that lost, drowned #irl. Beatrice, is the earne worth the candle?" "Twill hnvo it so!" she cried, wildly. "Without 1'aymond Marshall, what is wealth to me! You will help me?" "To the last!" "You can give me the medicine to produce the effect I desire. You will help me carry out the imposition?" "Yes. Wait till I go to my office." In an hour he returned. Deep and subtle must have been the plots of the fair and false siren, for, as ho handed her a tiny phial, he said: "You can rely upon it. When Raymond Marshall comes to see you to morrow, it will be as you desire. A1 the pity of his heart caunot fail to gc iout to the woman who has saved hi family from penury and disgrace, for. t all seeming, through the agency of tha potent drug, you will bo a dying woman! CHAPTER XIII. A SCtTLE PLOT. "All Is ready?" "Everything. My housekeeper, whor we can tru-^t, will act as nurse and is i the next room. I will receive the Mar Bhulls when they arrive and pavo th way for you." "Make no mistake!" it was the afternoon of the day succeed Jng thut which had witnessed Beat rice Mercer's strange act of generosity , Beatrice herself, in propria persona .. -X.... A AX^pFFI 3 r\J qJILLL^ ' the <3i6gulse 6he cad nithorto" adopted now abandoned, lay upon a couch In one corner of her sleeping apartment. She was no longer disguised, but there was a change in her from her ordinary appearance that was most remarkable. Her face looked thin and wretchedly white, her eyes heavy. As 6he lay back on the pillow, her labored breathing and hectic cheeks seemed to Indicate a hot, burning fever. A Virtf hnrnlncr she had. but produced by artificial means. This ruthless schemer had paused at nothing ' to accomplish her ends. To further her I schemes an assumption of mortal illness had been necessary, and her worthy coadjutor, Dr. Simms, had not ' prevaricated when no tola her tnat the I contents of the little phial he had given her th day previous would bring about the result she desired. These two had plotted well In unison, | and as he entered the outer room of the 6uite he assumed that grave, serious expression of face that the average physician wears while attending a patient in the last extremity. He opened the door with warning | noiselessness as there came a tap finall ly. A servant stood there, two persons l at his side. I "Gentleman to see Miss Leslie, sir," | he announced, withdrew, and Doctor i Gimms ushered his two visitors into the i room and pointed to chairs, his serious manner evidently surprising them. Colonel Marshall was the one, his son Raymond the othor. The former was all curiosity and excitement As to Raymond, as he sat gazing vacantly at the floor, his hollow cheeks, haunted eyes and dejected bearing generally told that the present visit had no interest for him, "Doctor Simms!" ejaoulated the Colonel. "Why! I came to see " "Miss Leslie?" "Yes." "Miss Leslie fs a dying woman, Colo "fcel Marshall. w nat: With an Incredulous gasp the Colonel started to his feet. "Yes, she has been ill for some time. ; 1 vras summoned yesterday afternoon. 1 found her fevered, almost delirious. She asked me to receive you," "Doctor, you amaze me! This 6traDge lady " "Has an iron will even in death. She has explained everything to me. She insists upon seeing yourself and your son, even in her dangerous condition. I told her that the sho.-k might kill her, but she insists." '"Doctor! I am a1, a perfect loss to understand this lady's remarkable generosity in my behalf?the mystery surrounding her " "Here are the notes she took yesterday. She bade me destroy them in yous presence." ""Wait! Don't! I really cannot accept all these favors from a stranger." The Colonel spoke too late. The documents were blazing on the hearth. He was a free man! A stranger had liberated him from all the financial entanglements of the hour. "Doctor!" he panted, "this mystery is 1 maddening. Who is this lady?" "You will be surprised when you 1 know. Come; you, too, Mr. Marshall," to Kaymond. He advanced to the door of the sleeping-room and tapped lightly. The nurse opened it. Awed, startled, Col. Marshal stood in the center of the apartment, gazing dubiously at the figure lying on the couch, its face turned from him. Quite as curious and Interested for the moment, Kaymond Marshall locked up, too. "Miss Leslie has asked ine to explain to you why she has interested herself in your behalf," spoke the Doctor, in calm, measured accents. "Her act has been one in a measure of atonement, of compensation for a wrong done a member of your family." "Ha!" exclaimed the Colonel with a start, "she must be, then, some relative of the wretch who robbed me?who en(inmnoceod mo In all thia t.rnnhlft. mv former partner!" "Not at all. She simply deceived a member of your family. She is familiar with the troubles of your son, as well as yourself, and she desires me to impart some mouinful information to him. Mr. Marshall, will you kindly read that article?" The Doctor had handed to Raymond Marshall the newspaper which had first set Beatrice on the trail or Edna Deane. It chronicled her death at the snowladen bridge. So accurately did it describe Edna and her attire, that, as Raymond Marshall perused it, with distended eyes and ashen face, he could not mistake the truth. With a wild cry he sank to a chair, the paper fluttering to the floor. "Dead! dead!" he wailed. "All hope, then, is lost!" "What may all this have to do with the lady here?" began the astounded and mystified Colonel Marshall. "Much. This ordeal is trying, fatal to her, but she insists. Nurse, turn up the lamp. Colonel?Mr. Marshall, your benefactress, the lady who makes an atonement for a great wrong, is " "Beatrice Mercer!" In surprised accents from the Colonel's lips, in a gasp of incredulity from those of Raymond Marshall, rang the name simultaneously, as the pretended invalid turned her wan features toward them. Dying features they were, to all semblance. The Doctor's art and her own deft acting carried out the intended effect completely. "Kaymond!" she fluttered, in a weak, wailing voice. "Say that you forgive 1 me. I did wrong in deluding you. I 1 even sought to ?nd Edna and restore her to you after my cruel deception, but she is dead. A distant relative left me 1 a fortune. The only restitution I could make was to aid your father. I am dying. The only reward I ask Is that .vou take my hand and rorgive me ior it au. Raymond Marshall stood liko one In a dream. All the past flashed over his mind. This woman had, indeed, wronged him, but still she was not fic| countable for Edna's death. As he thought of all she had done for his father, as he fancied he read a noble remorse in her words and deeds, a generJ ous impulse drove him forward. Ho felt her burning land twitch in } his own. Ho did not doubt, after all the Doctor had said, that she was adys ing woman. ? "You did me no wrong except to tortun.* :nc with a passing belief in tho * * * * * - * T 1 1 ?? U _ | laithlessness 01 trie woman j. iuvuu, uo said. "For love of you!" murmured Bei atrice, fervently. "Haymond, I can tell <i i you now, for I shall soon dio. I was not n j to blame for my love, and I had not Ed j na's gentle nature to endure in silence, e I loved you so hopelessly, yet so fondly!" His eyes dimmcl with tears. Love . I was surely no sin, eveu when hopeless. . | His great heart stinvd with honest . pity. 1 "J can die in geace, now," she Bald, "for your eyes ten me tnat i am lor- J given. Raymond, good-by?good-by!" Her eyes were raining tears. Oh, I actress deft and subtle! oh, hypocrite 6trong and confident! pitting all the issues of life upon the frail cast of a die. She turned her face to the wall, her sobs causing the sympathetic Colonel to wince with honest pity. Raymond looked concerned, grieved. "Can we do nothing to make her bappier?" spoke the Colonel, deeply aflected. "Can I not tell her how grateful I am?how some arrangement must be made for the repayment of the money advanced?" "She would refuse to consider it," responded the Doctor. "But?no! I had better not mention It." "Speak, Doctor!" urged the Colonel, eagerly. "You wore about to make ' Bome suggestion?" "It concerns your son. This morning ' this poor creature wailed her heart-e.ick- I ? ' 1 r-~ 1.!? OV- ! ueso uvbi u?r love ior mm. sue uouuw i 6urvlve tho night, and yet I think she would be infinitely happy for that brief period of time if she knew that you Forgive me, gentlemen, my task is too difficult to complete." "If she knew what?" demanded Raymond, softly. "If you would consent to wed her. Kay, sir, do not start. A dying child's wish; you need not gratify it, only she has left all her fortune to you." "I will never accept iti" dissented Eaymond, indignantly. "The law will make you. This poor girl's devotion is pitiable. Give her your name, render her dying moments happy. It is not much to do, for before morning you will be a widower." The plot was out. This wa9 the defti design two clever schemers had planned. The unsuspecting Raymond Marshall never dreamed of a new deception. "Raymond, do it; it will quiet talk when ner will is read. Poor creature! her devotion is indeed pitiable," spok? the Colonel. Eaymond Marshall thought of the woman dead and of all his love for her; of the woman dying and his pity for her fnrlnrn helolessness. 1 "What does it matter!" he murmured, dejectedly. "My life is gloom?the future aimless. If that small ceremony can brighten this dying girl's moments, Doctor, I will marry her!" The cleyer actress on the couch thrilled wildly. At last, reward; at last, success! Her hour of triumph had come. !to be conxinced.1 CURIOUS FAC1S: The Bank of England contains icgots . cf silver which have iain in its vaults for 200 years. In every school in Paris there is a restaurant where free meals are served to the children who are too poor to pay for them. A well seasoned old colored woman is Mary Marks, vho resides in Brenham, Texas. She was born in the West Indies in 1776,.and i6 therefore 120 years of age. Paper coffins are the latest novelty in mortuary furniture. They are i pressed into shape from a mass of pulp, and, when stained and Vftrni.-hed, look just like wood. In Deerfield Township, Kansas, a swarm of bees settled on the neck of a horse belonging to D. L. Palmer. Afterward Mr. Palmer picked 300 or 400 6tings from the animal. A willow tree in front of Mr. Barker's house in East Sullivan, N. H., spreads ninety feet and is 6ixtv-h've feet high, and its circumference one foot above the ground 16 sixteen feet. The sense of smell is keen with cats, even when they are asleep. A piece of meat placed before the nose of a sleoping cat causes the nostrils to dilate, and in a few moments the animal awakes. The largest bell in France has been hung in the belfry of the Church of the Sacred Heart, in Paris. It weighs twenty-eight tons, can be heard a distance of twenty-five miles and its vibrations last six minute?. A useful charity called the London Spectacle Mission provides spectacles for poor needlewomen and other deserving persons dependent on their eyesight for a living. Last year 726 applicants were provided with spectacles. A two-year-old child of the Rev. Arch Luca*, who preaches in the Kentucky mountains, near Lucasville, has never U6ed its fingeis, but does everything with its toes. The toe9 are as flexible as the fingers of the ordinary child, and about as useful. Orvingsville, Ky., feels itself entitled toclaimjthe weather record for the year, inasmuch as a lemon in a drug store sprouted under the heat, shoots springing from eight of the 6eeds. One of the sprouts protruded through the skin and led to the discovery. That a candle made from human fat bestows invisibility upon the one who carries the light is a Russian superstition of which two thieves took advantage recently. They killei a handsome boy of eigliteen, whose body, with the fatty layers surrounding the kidneys extracted, was discovered. A Portland (Oregon) man has been exhibiting some rabbits of a peculiar breed. Their ears are described as more than a foot long and covered with unusually loDg hair. He got them to tnrn loose for breeding in the thiok Nehalem forests and thinks there is no danger of their becoming pests, as English rabbits sometimes do. Tlie Largest Kitchen, The largest kitchen in the world is in that great Parisian 6tore, the Bon Marche, which has 4000 employes. The smallest kettle contains 100 quarts and the largest 500. Each of the fifty roasting pans is big enough for 300 cutlets. Each dish for baking potatoes holds "225 pounds. When omelets are on the bill of fare 7800 eggs are used at once. For cooking alone 6ixty cooks and 100 assistants are always at the ranges. Physical Inequalities. By actual measurement, of filtv skeletons the right arm and left lag have been found to be longer in twentythree, the left arm and right leg, in six, the limbs on tho right longer than those on the left in four, and in the remainder the inequality of tho limbs fire varied. Only seven out of the seventy skeletons measured, or ten per cent., lind limbs of e<]nul length.?Lancet. A riucliinif Boot. A boot or shoe that is uncomfortable from pinching may be eased by laying a cloth moistened in hot wtter across the place where the pressure _t_ if enrrnrn 1 fiinnc fla if conies, cuujjyiui; m grows cooler. This simple method causes the leather to ehspo itself to tho I foot. ..... li.J.yl fl-.-l LI-l-L.-l-1 ^ 111 h^ep i /VrcVj&j. I FOOD VALUE OF STRAWS. Buckwheat straw is never fed or, indeed, used in any way, on account of a common prejudice against it, to the effeot that it causes diseases of the Bkin.' Its value as given in the scientific tables is forty cents for 100 nAnrt/lo r>n f of ?n TTT r? trtAnlVi t?? puuuuD) unv oiian uciii^ nuiiu x\j*vjfive cents.?New York Times. PRUNING RASPBERRY CANES. Prnne raspberry canes in the fall. Then the patch can be cultivated, or what is better, plowed out with a one horse plow, turning a furrow against the plant. This brings to the surfaoe many insect larvae, and thus cuts short their career, to the advantage of the fruit grower. A furrow is left between the rcws whioh facilitates drainage and puts the ground in better condition for early cultivating than if treat- ^ ed otherwise.?Amerioan Agriculturist. CORN AND SUNFLOWERS FOB SILAGE. These two may be put into the silo together and used as food for cows with much advantage. The leaves and beads of the sunflowers alone are used. The stalks are only fit for fuel, for which they are excellent, and in places it pays to grow these flowers especially for the fnel value of the stalk. The seeds in the heads contain fifty per cent, of their weight of a fine oil excellent for cows. TheleaveB are somewhat more nutritious than those of . corn. Ti i REARING FALL PIGS. 1 It depends on circumstances wheth- 1 er or not it will pay to feed young 1 pigs over the winter. It depends, for ? one thing, on how they are fed. Cer- < tainly it won't pay to keep them, if ? they do not grow ; and, as the summer \ growth is made at a vory small cost on pasture, and the most growth is then ' made for the food used, it pays bet* ter, we may be 6ure, to feed spring pigs; but a skillful feeder, having: some roots or potatoes to spare for this use, with waste milk and bran or oatmeal, may make the feeding pay a good profit, but it surely will not pay to half feed them. AIM FOB THE TOP. As long as the highest prices are paid for the best, the moat enterprie ing farmers will spare neither pains t nor expense fo produce the best, and e if their neighbors do not exert them- i selves to keep up they soon will find t themselves in the background. Our c farmers must keep abreast of the t times. They must think; they must b read; they must study; they must ex- 1 perient; they must exert their minds to the fullest extent to drag out from Mother Earth her secrets of fertility. Let them do it and she will reward ? them with fertile fields and good crops in abundance, and they will enjoy the richest blessings of the most satisfying and noblest occupation on earth. c The Tvide-awake farmer who has 8 studied up agriculture can always live as good as any other professional man, a very often much better. For pure i and fresh fruits, vegetables, butter, egge, and meat there is no one to com- ] pete with the farmer.?Practical < Farmer. i COWS IN THE BAItN. ? A cow is nothing more nor less than i a machine used to manufacture the f rough products of our farms into a condensed and finished product, and ] her ability to do this at a profit or | loss depends almost entirely upon us. j None of us would expect a piece of j machinery to do the best it was capable of doing unless we did all we , could to keep it in running order, r then why should we expect our cows " to give us the best returns unless we * do everything we can to have all the 1 oonditions right? Cnwa Rhonld alwavs stand with backs 1 to tho light, and have plenty of room, ^ and be so fastened that they can mov6 1 about easily. I do not believe a cow ' will begin to do her best if crowded and her head fastened with a rigid I stanchion. If any think this position i is comfortable, let them place their J own necks between two boards and see i whether or not it is comfortable, and whether the position tends towards j making one feel good natured. ?James ] H. Brown, in Massachusetts Plough- \ man. , expebt LABok Professor CanSeld, President of the 1 Ohio State University, tells the story of going into a great steel foundry and j seeing a certain man whose simple duty ] it was to watch intently the heated \ metal, and when the refuse came to j the surface to skim it off quickly. < That was his sole occupation. "And ( bo," he continues, "I have been again ( ahnnc q ri UUU QqUIU 1U gignv jjitn/uiuv WUV|/^ MMV. j fouud men who were called expert workmen assigned to do a single thing; ^ and while it did require a large ( amount of experience and a large , amount of special training in that J special direction, there was no demand for general intelligence, and the workman was himself constantly narrowed ] and shrivelled and weakened by the , very condition under which he was obliged to labor." He was simply a cog in the vast machinery. That was all. There was 1 hardly a similtude left there, if we re- : gard the free play of the faculties of 1 the mind, of that which makesa human being to-day. In connection with this work of ' aqriculturo more than anywhere else is this demand for the free play of all 1 the faculties and powers of the mind and body. I can only mention three fnm. linon Tf i-nil llollAVA 1T1 t.hfl mastery of all the conditions of production, see bow absolutely essential it is that tko iean have that large intelligence and very quick mind. There is ft certain kind of alertness that would be found absolutely necessary in any other trade or calling?in jbho learned professions. See how necessary it is that he should be nble to understand and read signs and indications, that he should; >e able to catch quickly what nature las to tell him. Finding yourself face ;o face with the question of produc- [ ion to-dav in all lines, think what it . V ~ * I neans, tbu mastery of the conditions , >f the soil, the wisest and best condi- , ions of fertilization of the ground j Every one can multiply it by almost ( thousands, and certainly by hundreds, | ind still find its ramifications and lifferent lines of thought and activity. ( How much more is required to-day | ;ban was required forty or fifty years j igo? What is the market to-day, in . ivhich you buy and sell? There may j 10 longer be any question that it is J ;he market of the world.?New Eng- , and Farmer. i DEVICES FOR A FARM WORK BENCH. xne illustrations snow two devices ( "or making the work bench "handy." | ^ ! rhe strip of board has two pegs set ' nto it at an angle. In the side of the jench are a series of holes bored, not lorizontally through the side of the jench, but downward through the 1 tide. The strip with the pegs can ! ;hen be slipped into any set of holes, iccording as the board to be planed ' lpon the edge is wide or narrow. The other device is made by a 1 i jlacksmith from an old flat file or itrip of iron. When a board is to be )laned npon the face this is driven into he back end, and the other two points Iriven into the top of the bench, when he board will be held securely from winging to one side or the other.?' 'Jew York Tribune. POULTRY HINTS. Don't overfeed. Too much grain is sruelty. Fowls need no food at all if 'u a iou^o? The roosling places should never be )n an inclined plane, as there will be k fight for the top places. It is not desirable to have ducks lay it this season, as there is but little denand for their eggs at fair prices. In the warm weather the hens on the ; ange secure a large share of food that i jannot be utilized in any other man- | ler. The production of eggs is continu- i illy falling behind in this country. It i s a source of possible profit lost ;ight of. The b9st food for moulting hens is ean meat. To have hens lay in win;er, the early moulting hens muat be :ed on food that will assist to renew ;he feathers. Water given the fowls onoe a day in lot weather is not the best plan, rwice a day is the least it should be jiven them, and three or more times irould be better. There is no better food for fatten- , .ns: ducks than cooKea potatoes or turnips thickened with bran and corn neal. Feed the ducks three times a 3ay all they will eat of it. Two square feet of floor space is sufficient room for ducks. A floor ten by ben will accommodate fifty clucks. Have the floor covered with chaff, cut straw or some similar stuff. Foods rich in nitrogen and the phosphates are in demmd by moulting bens, and of the grain foods, bran is the best. The bran should be scalded md to a pint of bran should be added balf a pint of corn meal and a gill of 'inseed meal, mixed to a stiff dough tvith milk. One of the best uses for wheat chaff is to use it on the floor of the poultry bouse. It may be three or four inches ' thick, and serves several purposes, the first being to keep the floor always iry and clean, and the next is that if 1 i few millet seeds be scattered in the :haff, the hens will work and search industriously for the seeds. A limited quantity of silage for poultry can be preserved in tight barrels, jreen clover and finely cut sweet corn ire most desirable. Put in a layer of jlover, then a layer of corn, alternating until the barrel is full. Pack well, put in the head, and cover with earth jr coarse horse manure. The ersilage will come out in good shape and make in excellent succulent feed for winter. It w:ll do to pick geese two or three times a year, whenever the feather is ripe, which will be known by examiniug. It' it is bloodless and pulls easily, is ready to pluck, but if tilled with blood, is "green" and not mature. Commonly, when readv to pluck, the feathers drop more or less. It is n or.,1 cm T-?TT>to/>tinn tn draw all DJ LLiJ/IO I?UU uiuw ^/avvvwv.VM old stocking over a goose's Lead, during the operation. There is no sure remedy for feathei pulling. The first lien caught at ii should be killed. Some smear the bare places with tar, and others trim th( edges of the upper and lower mandibles so that the hens cannot hold ? featlier. utnere separate mem, uuu fining tliein for two weeks. The cheaj) est preventative is to keep the hens al work, but ns a cure is difficult, it is best to send them to market and begii anew. THE WILD BULL i THRILLING FIGHT BETWEEN i BUFFALO AND SIOUX. [*wo Daring Indians With Bows and Arrows Bring to the Dust the Kins of the Herd?The Last Charge. i "T WAS on the plains in the sixties," i said the short man. He did not I look over forty, bnt he must have i 6 been more than fifty, for the tales ] 16 torn earned so muon 01 ine coior i >f the country that one found it diffi- i suit to disbelieve them. He was an i ix-member of the* Colorado LegiBla- i ;nre, and had oome to Washington to ] ?ork for the passage of a bill to re- j ieve railway employes, and was now \ leated with a party of friendB at one i )f the small tables in the House res- 1 ;aurant. His life had been varied and nteresting. He had been a cowboy, < in engineman, a railway postal clerk 1 md politician. The Spanish gentle* nan had just finished an interesting i iccount of a bnll fight whichhad taken i place at Barcelona, in which, by some < iccident, the bull had the best of it i "I saw a bull fight on the plains 1 )nce," said the short man, laying his < ;ools down, "right out in the open, 1 vith nothing to hide behind, 'nowhere i So stand bat on, and nowbere to rail J Dot off,' as the deceased bard of St. ] To would say. : "It was while we were locating the ] ine of the Union Paoifio?simply 1 Iriving across the country and mak- j ng observations. A couple of Sioux fell in with our party and were riding ilong looking for a chance to steal something, when we came suddenly ( lpon a small herd of buffalo. The rear guard, a sturdy old bull, was feed- . ng along in a sag between the sand ' lills, and, the wind blowing from him bo us, prevented him from scenting >ur party until the two Indians dashed by, cutting him off from the main herd. Lowering his head the great brnte bounded away up the little hill, it tlie top ot wmcn ine iwo oioux sai waiting to receive him. Each of the Indians carried a rifle, bnt to oar surprise they were left hanging at the saddles. The bnll made straight for one of the horses, but just as he seemed about to collide the bron3ho sprang to one side and m arrow from the Indian's bow was driven deep into the back of the bull. We expected the animal to bolt uow, but he was enraged and scorned to escape. Turning, he came straight for the other Sioux, only to plow the air close?alarmingly close?to the agile horse, which carried his rider ? TKa Indian SaiBl^T IU bUO X gui > J.ue U*?I> bad by this time fixed another arrow, and when the oharge was made planted it deep behind the ball's left shoalder. The fight had by this time become so exciting that oar driver, forgetting the danger, had driven np to within a hundred yards of the scene of the battle. Having bounded by one of the Indians, carrying another arrow away with him, the infuriated animal oaught sight of our wagon and drove straight for us. It was like standing on the track in front of a locomotive, and every man of us, realizing the great danger, was seized with a fear that almost froze his blood. The driver was bo filled with terror that he made no attempt to avoid the collision, which, from the moment the bull passed the Indian, seemed inevitable. On he came, snorting like a enowplow and looking as formidable, and not one of as had presence of mind enough to reaoh for a rifle. We were too badly Beared to move, bat not eo with the Sioax. Seeing oar danger the brave fellows tamed their horses and came galloping past the ball, one on either Bide, and as they passed him each drove an arrow into the mad brute. These new wonnds seemed only to increase his rage, and on he came, tearing toward as, bat before they reached our wagon, the Indians whirled their horses, and with arrows drawn stood between us aad the approaching buffalo. The horses had barely time to turn before the bull was upon them. One of the broncos sprang away, his rider emitting a wild yell as he sent another arrow into the bleeding buffalo. The other Indian was not bo fortunate. His horse failed to clear and one of the bull's horns caught in its side just behind the girth and niotPAd a creat furrow back to the " ? - o dank. "The bnffalo appeared to appreciate the advantage of this thrust, and at once turned and charged the unhorsed Sioux. The Indian might have ended the fight by takincr up his rifle, but he did not. Standing erect at the side of his dead borse he faced the rapidly advancing foe and sent an arrow deep under the shoulder blade. As the arrow left the string the Indian dropped beside the body of his horse and the buffalo passed over him without doing any damage. Now the mounted Sioux claimed the attention of the wounded bull, and again tho Sioux on foot. By this time the buffalo fairly bristled with arrows and resembled a huge porcupine. We could see that the animal was getting groggy, as they say of prize fighters, but his sand seemed never to leave him. With a roar that would send a chill down your spine, with blood spurting from his nostrils, he would drive like a hurricane at his tormentors, who, with the exception noted, 1 ""i.l V?im Iitt nhnnt. thfl btiemea iu UIUIU u.ui ??? ? breadth of two hairs. When they had fought five minutes the earth for the space of fifty feet about resembled a plowed field. The one living horse was iiecked with the froth of battle and, like the buffalo, showed unmistakable signs of exhaustion. As the action of the bull grew slower, the horseless Sioux fought further from cover. At times he would stand forth in the very face of his furious adversary and after discharging his arrow leap to one side while the monster brushed by. "We were surprised at the beginning of the fight to see the Indians using their bows, allowing their rifles - i- XL. J to remain at tue buuuie, uuw um auiprise was still greater now, when the mounted Sioux turned his horse about and left the field, leaving his companion to fight it out singlo-handed. The bull seemed to take new courage, finding but one of his assailants, and for a time fought desperately. Of a sudden he stopped, facing the Indian, j With his front feet far apart he ap- j peared to rest, pernaps 10 coneci ma i last failing strength. He was an ob-! Jeot sow to exoite one's pity, and, although it may seem unchristian, I almost wished he could win, for in those days there were nearly as many Indians as buffaloes and they were infinitely more dangerous. "An arrow had destroyed one of the bull's eyes, blood was rushing from his mouth and nostrils and trickling from a score of wounds along his . spine. His life blood was ebbing away, and now, seeing his tormentor Btanding before him, he made a last desperate effort to reach him. With a mighty roar the bleeding brute I bounded forward, and it seemed to us 9 that he had regained all his bat I strength, for he went with the speed I md force of an express train. The I iaring Sioux drew another arrow and fl let it drive into the buffalo, made a I feint of dodging to the right, and I ' ? * I i.~ la* flrr fl men, leaping w mo au&v, mother arrow as the baffled ball went by. . . ' "The buffalo was by this time acquainted with the Sioux's trioks, and the moment he passed the Indian, whirled and came back at his adversary with renewed vigor. The Sioux, surprised perhaps by the suddenness the charge, leaned back, stumbled, and nearly fell backward over the body of his dead horse. Before he uould regain his feet the animal was apon him. It seemed that in another moment the Indian would be tossed high in the air, but the new lease of life the bull had was out, and in that moment in which we had looked to see him triumph, the great beast stum blod and fell in a heap at the Sioux's feet."?Cy Warman, in New York Sun. In Which Teeth Figure. Hippocrates, 450 B. 0., was the first dentist on record. Gold-filled teeth are fonnd in the jaws of skeletons exhumed at Pompeii. Wetting a brush and dipping it in salt will be found efficacious in removing tartar. Dental science was utterly lost to the world during the dark ages, or for about 1000 years, and was only restored in 1700. Out of 100 teeth of adults that twenty-five years ago would have been 1L1??1- A<nn A Irtftcf n 1 flflf tf.Ttl 71 A rUlUICBBljr uilinu bu igaov uiuwvj mamv are saved to-day by the progress of dental science. In China while the dentist pnlls a tooth an assistant stands by and drowns the lamentations of the victim by beating a large gong. , The ancient Greeks used false teeth of sycamore wood fastened to the adjacent sound teeth by ligatures of silver or gold in the way bridge work is done to-day. In ancient Egypt the art of surgery and medicine was confined to the priesthood and every priest adopted a special ty. His proficiency was attained in thfl Hftntal art. Under the Mosaic law of an eye for an eje ana a tooth for a tooth the regime was practically carried oat and the lord high executioner numbered forceps among his instruments of penalty and torture. Weight Before and After Meals. Why is it that a man does not weigh a pound more after eating a pound of food than he did before? A little reflection will readily explain this apparent mystery. During the process of mastioation, deglutation, etc., certain muscles are brought into active play. Now, it is a well-established fact in physiology that the exercise of any muscle or set of muse' necessitates a temporary waste of tissue, and that a certain amount of carbon is eliminated and passed off in the course of a meal. This loss, however, is trifling as compared with that of respiration and perspiration, both of which fnnftfcinna are increased during the operation of making a meal. The length of time one may take to consume a pound of food makes but little difference in the losses. If it be eaten very leieurelyjthere is but slight increase of respiration or perspiration. Whereas, if it be hurried through both are abnormally accelerated. Hence by the time the meal is finished the consumer has lost appreciably in botb moisture and carbonic acid. The above explains, in a rough but clear manner, why it is that a man ma; pat a nound of food and vet not weigh but from one-third to five-eighths o) a pound more than he did before the meal. Odd Tilings in Animal Lite. The horn of the rhinoceros is noj joined to the bone of the head, bu> grows on the skin like a wort or corn. The colors of a chamelion do not change instantly, as is popularly sup posed, bnt require a considerable length of time. The idea that the toad is poisonom has a foundation in fact. Their skint secret an acrid fluid, which is very irritating to human flesh. Condors have been seen to circle tc and fro in the skies for half a day at c time, rising and descending without once flapping wing. There is a mys' tery about their method of motion that has never been explained. A rat's teeth have a verj hard anterior edge, while the hinder part art Comparatively soft. By continual gnawing the rat manages to wearawaj the softer parts of his tooth substance, keeping the harder parts at & razor edge all the time. There are several species of lizard* which, when frightened, will amputate their own tails by a quick jerk. Th< discarded member flounces around anc attracts the enemy while the body is effecting its escape. Within a few weeks the tail grows out fall length., and the lizard is again ready to work a trick on an enemy. TThat Dreams Indicate, Professor Theltshu says that livelj dreams are in general a sign of nervoui action. Soft dreams a sign of sligh! irritation of the brain; often ir nervous fever announcing the approach of a favorable crisis. Fright ful dreams are a determination of Mnrwi to the hoxd. Dreams about blood and red objects are signs of ia ? flammatory conditions. Dreams aboui rain and water are often signs of dis eased mncous membranes and dropsy, Dreams of distorted forms are fre quently a sign of abdominal obstruc tions and disoruer of the liver. Dreams in which the patient sees anj nf tha boflv p<ar>pr?inllv sufferin? lyt** v -J ?sr * mm indicate disease iu that part. Th< B nightmare, with great sensitiveness, is a sign of determination of blood t< I the chest.--Hall's Journal of Health H