The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, February 17, 1904, Image 6

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r If the Kansas bachelor tax Is a success Massachusetts may lose some of her surplus women. Ferhaps the Chicago doctor Trfio thinks bathing shortens life bases his theory uuon the fact that tramps never Beom to die ofi. The President of Yale University comes forward with a theory that only rich men should go into-politics. But a great many men go in just for tbe purp??? of getting rich. "There are in this city at least 1000 married couples living together, yet never speaking," declares a prominent New York divorce lawyer. What admirable control Ub^y have over their tempers! Somebody clever at figures has found out that the Weatlier Bureau has cost us about two cents apiece during the year, remarks the Cleveland Flain Dealer. And just think what a lot of weather you get for this insignificant sum. 'A New York commission is studying the reasons why Montreal is getting grain carrying trade from the United States, and a Canadian commission is trying to find out why United States ports carry Canadian products. The commissioners really ought to have joint sessions. ^ 'A Dallas woman has just died at the age of eighty-sis, who was the mother of seventeen children, the grandmother of sixty-eight and the great grandmother ol' 165. Hero's a rbance for the President to show his appreciation by something neat in the .way of a contribution toward a monument The scarcity of divorces jn Canada is remarkable. In Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and the territories divorces can be obtained only by an act of the Parliament of Canada, and from 1SC8 to 3900 only sixty-nine were so secured. In the other provinces they may be obtained in the courts, and, during the same period Novia Scotia bas granted ninety-two, New Brunswick, seventy-three; British Columbia, forty-seven, and Trinee Edward Island none. ' 'A French savant points out that spiders' webs improve the acoustic properties of a room. He says he knew in England a hall that was ideal for the conveyance of sound. In an evil, moment it was decided to cleau ' the ceiling*:, and all the spiders were dislodged. The hall was ruined as a place of speaking. The savant suggests that cotton strings might be hung loosely across .ceilings to improve the sound-carrying properties of a room. ? The tuberculosis mortality has decreased in New England. in the last fifty years even more rapidly among females than among males, and there is little doubt that it will go lower yet if the habit of sleeping with open windows or even out of doors, not merely asa means of cure but also of prevention) once gets established. Without interference with its normal activities this entire Commonwealth may eventually become a great open-air sanatorium; and in that day the hotels of Arizona will run to bad. business. The veneration of intellectual Germany for Goethe has been shocked by * I a proposition to disligure the garden of the house in which the poet lived in Weimar, and which is now used as a Goethe National Museum, by cutting off a part of the garden, demolishing a stone wall and substituting for it an iron fence around the remaining part of the garden. Leading artists, prolessors, academicians and literary men of Berlin have sent a strong protest to the national museum against the proposed step as a "desecration of a * historical sanctuary." ; 44 'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody good," and the recent cases of cruelty to soldiers in tie German army have ibeen a good thing for America. One officer, Franzke, by name, has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and dishonorable discharge from the army on 1520 counts of mistreatment of soldiers and 100 of abuse of authority. This is a remarkable but no doubt not an isolated case. Many sood German youths choose to expatriate themselves rather than submit to the brutality, and hundreds of model citizens, dri\*en from the German army, find their way to America's hospitable shores. Professor Sandford Bell, a fellow in Clark University, declared recently after a scientific investigation of the love question covering a period of fifteen years and embracing 1700 cases, that the love period extends from three years to old age,.and that no one . is safe from the fever during that time. Men reach their maturity in affairs of the heart at twenty-four and women at twenty-two, he says, and adds that the masculine stages of love are from three to eight years, eight to fourteen, fourteen to twenty-six (mafwAn+r.oir f a a!/7 o era onrl nr. imiij/, mviii; wiA iv v?u ^ ? tending through old age. For women in love he fixes the stages at three to ?ight, eight to twelve, twelve to twenty-two (maturity), tweniy-three to old ?ge and through old >ige Are ,suicje<iies more alarmingly fre 5upct nowadays, or are the newspaper: more efficient in chronicling them' Thus aslis u distinguished sociologist Both. Health Commissioner Darlington, c New York. In speaking of the alarmin? increase ol' pneumonia, says the preva lence of the disease is due in a larg< mpnKiim to oxneetoration in publit places. Only another argument ii favor of tbe enforcement of the spittiuj ordinance. ^ Holt County, Mo., lias a survivJnj grandchild ol' a Revolutionary hero Mrs. Mary Mclntyre is her name. Hci grandfather was William Montgomery Blair, who was one of "Mad Anthony' Wayne's staff officers at the storminj of Stony Point. Mrs. Mclntyre has two brothers in Kansas. Uriah am Samuel Blias, and one sister in Mis souri, Mrs. Dr.n Snyder, of Rock Tort. A new application of electricity ha? been made in Franco, and now tlx power is actually used for fellinj tr?os. A platinum wire is heated to ; white heat by an electric current, an< this is simply pulled through the trunl which it outs like a big cheese. Th< new invention should find a place ii American forests. Tuberculosis may be fought by wis< methods and by foolish ones. To tb< latter class belongs the plan whicl the Australian colony 01 victoria is said to have adopted. It is propose*] to isolate consumptives, whether tbej like it or not. and send them to a quar antine station. Educating them in re gard to the proper precautions foi avoiding the spread of infection would be far more sensible. Dr. d'Arsonval, lecturing in Faris or the effects of electricity upon bumai beings, expressed the belief ibat th< world is on the eve of a therapeutical revolution, electricity being the modi cine of the future. He demonstrated the utility of electrical treatment ir skin diseases, and said that under an esthesia produced by electricity a pa J * -* 1-1 l- ? ?AA4-A>3 M^vrr!. uenx VOUJU ISUUjtticu iv ufcui, ca] operations without narcotics. There is nothing.new in the idea o1 taking a supply of oxygen along t< breathe when high altitudes an reached in balloons. It has already been tried with excellent results. Dr Von Schrotter's proposition to.imprisoi an aeronaut in a cage of glass anc aluminum filled with that gas maj prove an advance on the earlier meth od, but it is only a development of ;i plan that is not original with him. The temperance movement, which began in 1873 with a society of foreign residents of Yokohama, has grown until now there are forty-six of these societies united in a national temperance league. The league represents 3017 members. As a result of their agitation a bill has been passed prohibiting the use of tobacco by children under twenty years of age. Even the United States might profit by such a measure. The town of Shekpo was destroyed and 2000 villagers massacred ou East River, near u.inton, unina, jn an euori to capture Ma Wong Hoi. a noted ban. dit. The brigand took refuge in SJaekpo, bis native village. Admiral Fong surrounded tlie town with U."iOO troops. Wben be requested tbe elders cf the town to deliver Ma Wong Hoi the bandit himself appeared and killed eight soldiers. Thtfs so enraged tbe troops that tbe admiral permitted a heavy cannonade, which set the town on fire. Two thousand perished, including many .women and children. The model of no structure more famous, certainly none dearer to the peo?1a f IKa CaiiIU Tt??ll hrt Cflan ihr piu ui U1V tJVU(U, "ill Ut OCCil (U liiv Louisiana Purchase Exposition than that of "Liherty Hall," the ancestral home of Alexander H. Stephens, VicePresident of the Confederacy. Tin State of Georgia has agreed to ercct a model of "Liberty Hall" at its State building. There is no private residence in that State: better known than the famous old home of Stephens, and nc building about which centres fondei recollections of the great man who made it bis home for years. Statistics of inconsequence are frequently interesting. The latest pub lished in this class come5; from a person who took to studying for a few weeks the folk who eyed themselves in a certain elevator having two side: freely set with mirrors, observes tb( Boston Transcript. His first atteinpl was to decide whether more womer than men patronized the looking glass during which he learned, perhaps t< his surprise, tiat the patrons wen equally divided between the sexes Next he fell to studying the object o: each sex in this contemplation of self with the result that he opined tha men peered into the mirror for the sol< purfose of seeing and approvingjtfceni Aiiu? wiiu woixieu men seemed to be a desire to be sure tbei: bats were tipped at tbe right angle and tbat the numerous bows affeetec bow by the fair sex were all in tb< }iV place dictated by custom. Thus ii seems to be established that vanity alone prompted tbe men to look, whil< a commendable wish to be "set right' animated the women. j 'the lament of ,1 J ? 1 Id youth I never cared for sport; Fresh air was not a paatsion to me; 'Athletic feats of any sort Sent unrepsoneive shudders through me; l J fiau, in iaci, a eeaeiuary imnu, , And hated exercise of any kind. And so, when others smote the sphere ^ With bat or mallet, boots or putter, ~ I charmed with song the female car, ; And made the female bosom flutter. I also played the zither And recited * Poems of young loves preroaturely?bligbted. s I sang. as I have said; I had Tbat kind of voice that folks call."fluty;" I trilled of "Memories strangely sad," r Of "Bansies" and the "Eyes of Beauty." ; ' Not mere divinely does the early-bird Sing when the worm has recently occurred. ' At. that delightful hour of doom, Slightly anterior to tea time, I paralyzed the drawing room ' With trifles of my own in three-time,. Till all the air was heavy with desire, ' And prostrate matrons begged me to re5 lire. 1 His Ciffle ; Bv Celtic i 1 OHN BRANSCOMBE sat 1 L J, broken - hearted in his ; - O I o dreary little room on the ] l J| " & third floor of McCabe's : "WOW Flats. Outside the sun was ; shining, but John Branscombe had no i j eyes for anything but the trouble and despair which stared him in the face. A glance at him was sufficient to con- 1 1 vince one that he was a refined maD, < > an intellectual man, utterly out of keep- i L ing with his surroundings; for Mc- ] r Cabe's Flats were hot conspicuous for J wealthy inhabitants or luxurious appointments. If anything, there was 1 ' among them a chronic habit of just scraping the rent together in time to i [ avoid ejectment. They were not a low ' class of tenants; on tbe contrary, they .were, as a rule, clean-and industrious, ] hard working, commonplace and hon- i ! est, who just managed to pay their way ] i and exist, and that was all. > And John Branscombe, who, some ! I seven or eight years before, had a mod- i est competency, a comfortable home, a < ' .wife and friends and acquaintances in I abundance, had fallen so low that he t now sat there with his eyes fixed on < the empty stove, staring into vacancy; iWith his cupboard as bare of food as his heart was foil of despair?black, j numbing despair. His mind mechanically reviews the ? last five or six years of his life, years ; f of boundless energy, untiring efforts, j all endiDg in bitter disappointment. He .1 sees the wife with whom he quarreled 1 ' and uarted after two years of content- 1 r ment and happiness: he sees the friends 1 . with whom he has long since severed , all intercourse. He sees his work?his ' I beloved inventions?for which he lias sacrificed wife, friends, money, every- i thing, both on the threshold of success, i and ending in nothing; the one owing i i to a lawsuit which has dragged its slow i length along for three weary years, and i which is now at a standstill for lack of i funds to carry it on; the second, on ] which he had built all his remaining hope?, stolen from him by a rascally agent he had trusted. Absorbed in his work, fired by ainbi , tion, he neglected, unintentionally, ins wife, a good woman, but a proud one. i When she asked him to choose between his work anf herself, his infatuation j allowed him to let her go. When he grew harder and colder to his friends, t as successive disappointments began to <\ tell on him, he saw tbeir visits grow t more and more infrequent, and in his j pride said, "Let them stay away." And j I now, ruined and penniless, robbed of all he has worked for, he sits with only f a pistol to console him and to put a tragic end to a tragic life. He gets up and takes his revolver g from an old satchel standing in the cor- ? ; ner. He bought it when be was made bankrupt two years ago, and fully in- s tended to use it. A fresh idea took pos- l session of his mind and saved him, hope sprang up again in his heart, and : the thought of suicide passed away. ; Now, with another disaster crushing t him down the old notion of ending it all has come back to him, and his mind for the last week has dwelt upon little ^ else. He has not delayed because he l has hesitated, or because he is afraid; he has just simply gone Jiving on in a . dull, meaningless way until his last t dime was gone, and then His last l dime was gone, and he recognizes that I the cruicial moment has cqipe. 1 As John Combes he has lived here for t I twelve or fourteen months, as John . Combes he can die here. He has but to t , destroy the letter he sat up writing the night before, and he will be buried in a j 1 pauper's grave under the name he has t ! assumed, the name which will tell the ; world nothing. It is the one single point he is unde- i cided upon. Even in his misery, even t in his despair, one desire has risen up in his heart?the desire to fling one last i letter of defiance at the world, and at i those who have treated biro badly. 1 The desire has been strong upon liim i . to let his enemies know to what tiioy 1 have brought him. I * He laid the revolver down, opened a i drawer in the rickety old table and. c ' drew out a letter. It was sealed and 1 ; addressed to the Coroner. Hesitating f s a moment he broke the seal and read t , the letter slowly. 1 "I'll leave it," he said, when he had i ^ finished. "If I destroyed it, aud died i ? without a word they'd bring in tiome i t ridiculous verdict ?that I was mad, j perhaps ? and I'll have no lies told < about iue when I'm dead." < He lays the letter down and picks up : the revolver loading it carefully t 1 with some ca? iages be takes from tbe ] , drawer. With a grim smile be closes it i j with a snap; be rises to bis feet. He looks out of the window across f * tbe housetops, bis back is to tbe door. < "As well now as any time," be mur- < 2 mnr?, and Ins band steadily gripping r the revolver, approaches bis bead. j A second more and John Brunscombe would have fallen with a bullet in his i brain. But at that instant a voice in a 1 i childish treble says: t "Please will you let me come in and i r talk to you?" ] ******* j ' John Branscombe's hand fell and he ] j turned to the door, concealing the rej Tolver b.v bis sijie. There on the \ f rHE LADIES' MAN. 1* ___ J Just then a vogue for high Tomance 11 Prevailed, and I'd a pent-up yearning; a Ihe hollow cheek, the hungry glance, 0 Betrayed the fever inly burning; At inconvenient times the thing would out, 0 Especially when ladies were about. g Somehow the carc of female hearts At that time always fell to my lot; .Within the maze of Cupid's arts a I was their gliding star, their pilot; a Not to have loved me with a blindine pas- t sion . Was, broadly speaking, to be out of fash- * ion. ( 6 But latterly, T don't know why, # c That star has waned, until at last I'ni Left in the lurch .while maijdensjy r Toward the ruder forms of pastime; f And now their talk is all of tennis courts, r Of golf, gymkhanas and athletic sporta, e I don't complain. I know there'll be "V One of these days a mild renaissance In the exclusive cult of Me; I view the fact with some complaisance; . One day there'll come an era of tne brain i And Theodore will be himself again. J; ?Punch. t =ZZZZH t b Neighbor o s threshold he saw a little girl about six rears old, a child with lovely waving a hair and great dark eyes lighting up a face grave and intelligent beyond her jj rears. He recognized her as the child of some one in the dwellings, a child j who was, during the daytime, and h while her parent was absent at work, taken charge of by the wife of the 0 caretaker below. He had first seen the child about a month before, when she bad climbed the stairs and mistaken bis room for her mother's. "Come in, little neighbor; I am always glad to talk to you." TV He 6lippejl the* revolver stealthily c into his pocket and advanced toward the child. She came in, shutting the door be- a bind her as quietly as she. had opened it, and sat down on the chair before the Sreplace. h "And I'm always glad to talk to you," p -1' - "T litre tfllklllC tO 3UC UUOVTCT1CU. JL K*\*MS ? ?.?v - ? inybody but you and mamma. The 3thers don't talk. nice." y "What shall we talk about?" "About yourself. What .were you loing as I came in?" The man started. $: "What was I doing? I?I was starting on a long, long journey." ti "You are going away! Ob, I am so? o >o sorry. But why are you going c; iway?" is "Because," answered the man, trying :o conquer . bis emotion, and speak ightly, "because. I can no longer stcy ^ jere?there is nothing left for me but :o go." 11 "Will you?" the child hesitated, 'will you tell me where you are going?" ^ "I am going," said the man in a voice S( fvhich trembled in spite of his efforts :o control it, "I am going to a place where there is no more misery or J wretchedness; to a place where the ^ veary can rest in peace, where sorrow, ^ ind deceit, and disappointment are un- 01 inown." " , The child clapped her hands. ' "And you will be happy tbere?" The mran bowed his head. "Yes, 1 hope so." "But," persisted the little one, "where f s this place?" S1 "Why do you wish to know?" he i oL'or? o: "Because I should like mamma to go h here, too. Poor mamma, she does not ^ vish to stay here. She is so sad same- ^ imes, and works so hard. Couldn't ^ ihe go to this place you are telling me A tbout?" " "She will one day, but let us hope not or a long, long time." "Why do you say that?" "For your sake. If she went as I am. joing she would leave you behind? '1 ilone." The child knitted her little brows and, 11 at thinking. Then suddenly she okked up and said: "When do you mean to go?" "To-night." k. "Can't you put off your journey till o-morrow?" , , "Why?" aj "'Cause I like you so much, and 1 ^ vant to see you again. It'll be ever so ong before you come back, won't it?" ! "I shnll never come back." The child came to the man's side and ook his hand. "I shall never like any- ' )ody so much as I do you," she said, ooking at him wistfully; "I shall cry ? vhen you are goue. Won't you wait -r ill to-morrow, please?" The man's figure shook with the emo- Q. ion which was stirring his soul. ^ "I will wait till to-morrow," he re)lied, at last; "for your sake I will wait :ill to-morrow." ^ The little figure trotted to the door. ^ "I am so glad," the child said, softly, ind disappeared down the stairs in the n wilight. d. * *.* j John Branscombo has waited in vain . ill day for tlio promised visit from his s1 ittle neighbor. Face to face though he vas with the srent crisis of his life, he n lad not thought for a moment of q jreaking his promise to the child. But n norning had passed, the afternoon was f( >n the wane, and night would be upon q lim in an hour or so. All day he had s] ;at silently and patiently waiting for ;he last interview with his little frioni},; 0] Food he had none, nor did he think of T T ~ n.Ar/lftViH? wliv dl Ck lull? lliy. IIlV UIIIJ U Viiuc*?.u ? - J lot come?had slio forgottenV?was she ]]??was she gone. l(i The afternoon passed into evening, <J( md still she had not <?onie. A church jr >lock outside boomed out the hour of 7 ,, ind startled him. At last he came to 0] he conclusion Iif had waited in vain. _] He would listen for the clock and when j, t struck S 'j The sound of a light footstep on {be stair aroused him. Then the door opened and the child came in, excited j, md breathless. "You are here. 1 was? afraid you tvould go without me seeing you."' ;1 "You didn't forget, then?" said the man. "I have waited all day. Where ;i have you been?' y "Mrs. Tucker, who minds me for a: mamma, took me out with her, and we n have only just got home, and, oh! n please, here's a letter for you. The p postman brought it as we came in." c; "A letter!" I' John Branscombe mechanics!!* fnok r. \ be missive. It;was addr?fesed tohim, I ohn Combes, in a precise, legal-lookQg handwriting. He turned it over nd stared at the back. There, stamped n the flap, was the address of a firm J f lawyers he knew. He tore the letter open feverishly and ? ;lanced through it. "Dear Sir," it ran, "we have at last seertained your address, and that you j re living under the name of John "ombefi. We are glad to inform you hat our clients, Messrs. Effington & 1 -O., have come to a: satisfactory under-.1 ] tanding with-the defendants in tne ase Branscombe-vs. Ormonde, and are iow in a position to make you an offer i or such rights 'in your patent as you/ < nay be disposed to cede to them. An j arly interview will be esteemed a faor." John Branscombe dropped into his i hair. The letter meant salvation, and i t had come to him by the hand of his 1 ittle neighbor who had induced him to i tut off "the long journey" he bad conemplated. But for her he would have een dead hours ago, and the news that 1 t last justice was to be his would have 1 ome too late. < He dropped on his knee and drew the 1 hild to him. "God bless you, little neighbor," he aid. "Providence sent your baby foot- ' teps to me." A gentle^tap came at the door. J "Come in," he said. The door opened | ! nd a woman stood in the doorway. "I beg your pardon," she said; "is my ( ttle " '' Then she stopped and staggered. oBn Branscombe had arisen and faced ier. * 1 His own child had saved him; his wn child had brought husband and rife together after nearly seven years. -New York Weekly. On the Installment Flan. "What's that watch worth?" asked fr. Klose, pointing to one in the show ase. "Ten dollars," replied^tbe jeweler. "I'll take it," said the ^customer, and fter paying for it he went out. The next day he came,around again. "This watch doesn't exactly suit me,"' e said. "What's that one worth?" ointing to another. * "Fifteen dollars." "I'll take that instead of this one, if ou don't mind." "Certainly." A day or two later he came in again. "How good a watch have you got for 25?"' he inquired. "Well, $25 will get a pretty good mepiece," said the jeweler, handing ne out "Here's one with a gold filled ase and full jeweled. The movement : warranted." "I'll take it." He paid the difference, took the atch and went away. After the lapse of a few days he lade his appearance once more. "Have you got a first-class watch, pith a solid gold case, that you can ell for $50?" he,said. "Yes. Here it is." "Well, I'll take it," said Mr. Klose. Here's the other watch and$25. That's tie one I really wanted at first, but 1 a ted to pay out all that money at Qce."?Youth's Companion^ Birds' Nests in Tiers. In' the little island of Layson, of the tawaiian group, which has no human lhabitants, bird life is so dfnse that he various species have economized pace by building their nests, one above ic other. The similarity of these tiers ? nests to the fats in tall apartment ouses is quite marked. For example, tie petrel and the wedge tailed shearrater live in burrows which compare 'ith an apartment house basement, bove them dwell the gray backed tern cd the sooty tern. Higher still in g nfli/iu a frAni/> Vkir*rl orirl uoiico tutr XCU UiJivu wnu uuu ^ Lie Christmas Island shearwater have t leir apartments. Higher still in e limbs the Laysan finch and the miller f ird build their homes. The loftier t ranches of trees are filled with the g ?d footed booby, the man'o-war bird i nd the Hawaiian tern. Naturalists c ho visited the island lost year fre- t uently crushed through the roofs of t ie petrel burrows, sinking to the g noes in these subterranean bird i omes. It was necessary in walking t bout to exercise great care lest nests ? ad eggs and young of all kinds of u ii'ds be trampled upon.?-Chicago News. a r A Winter Hardship. S Senator Proctor, of Vermont, has a >r.stituent -who rejoices in the name f Mike Quinn, who lirst saw the light E day in the "ould counthry." Quinn i aked his claim to business patronage. V i Rutland in the days when a great in- 1( ux of foreigners followed the opening a f railroad construction work, in that v ommonwealth. Quinn opened, a livery lable, and when he hung out his sign r le "Mike" was missing. He said it 6 idn't suit him, and his name forth- v 'ith was M. Quinn. a .One day a friend who had been, fig- v ratively speaking, down in the heels, * ropped into his office. He told Quinn n lat he had been unlucky nil his life, 0 i fact, was born under the guiding ar of misfortune. 3 "Faith," replied Quinn, ""and Oi'm v vah In Ii/v*- Wllill Wli! n hllAV ^ iUi J CI Jli liiVi, iliiiu v** ??. i had niver a sint and Oi whit hungry i'ny?s thor toime. Oi used to fro barejoted. but that wasn't so barrud. But n i did used/ to moiiid it a bit when satin* toime came aud Oi bad to run ? k* spoike up my heel to keep tbe skate u.''?Collier's Weekly. ^ Summoned by Name* , b An exciting lover s quarrel was onco rough t about by tbc young woman's L'cideutal reading of a telegram where- _ i tbe unfortunate lover bad spoken of is new yacht in terms of endearment, ruitting to mention tbe faet tbat Ger- ^ Mine was only a boat. A similar c lunder is reported by tbe Philadelphia ^ elegrapb. There were live passengers in tbe i,, reet car, and as it approached fi crossig the conductor called, "William." b One:mau got up and went out. "Ann!" announced tbe conductor, and S woman left tbe car. y Tucked away in the corner was a lit- p e man with a foreign looking face, n /hen the conductor called "George!" p nd another passenger alighted, the d tile man awoke to the situation. Ht c< >.se. tiptoed down the aisle and whis t( trod to the conductor: "Before you d alls out de name of de lady in dere, c< II tell you I wants to git off soon. My v* air.u it !e Paul " i :ri > '/ - ' + Men Lave a more acute sense of smell tiian women. The banana and potato are almt^t identical in cbemicai composition. Electricity secured from the mountain streams of France is poetically referred to as "white eoal." In five minutes the average man tvould die for want of air; for want jf water, in * week; for want of sleep, in ten days. In Chicago and New York, accordng to recent statistics, pneumonia has low superseded pulmonary tuberculosis as the cause of greatest mortalty. Men who talk much have tfcek beards grow gray earlier than their lair. The hair of men who arc studious sr think much, becomes gray long before their beards. In the interest of preventing consumption in the hoarding, schools of Prance, only metal bedsteads are permitted, every child older .than twelve nust sleep in a room by itself, and in the kitchen and the dining room scientific precautions must be taker igainst the disease. SPORT f/F THE AUTOMANIAC ffeceasity For Laws Governing 1113 Speed o< tte Automobiles. The JJassachusetts Legislature of his year, after careful deliberation, jassed a bill to regulate the use of lutomobiles and motor cycles. It provides for the registering of machines md the licensing of their operators; t limited their speed to fifteen miles in hour on country roads, and to ten mijes an hour in cities or the thickly settled parts of towns. The law was tc ?0 -into, effect on the 1st of September, *nd now before it has really had a chance to be tried and its workings observed the atitomobilists, it is understood, are organizing to secure its relea 1 at the meeting of the next Lecisla :ure. The registration of the machines md the numbering of them plainly, :ogether with the licensing of their >perators for the purpose of identification, appear to be particularly obloxious to those affected by these neasures. This is thoroughly characteristic of :he automaniac who wishes to indulge n his favorite sport of rushing through :he crowded streets and over country oads at railroad), speed without the ilightest regard for the rights of )ther users of p,ublic highways and hen to evade any responsibility foi? the iccidents he may cause by avoiding ecognition. Such individuals can be estrained only by the most stringent neasures. The Massachusetts law, as it iow stands, is none too strict and is far ess so than the Jaw which it has been ound necessary to enact in England tnd on the continent of Europe. Initead of trying to have this law re? >ealed, the automobilists would do well o keep quiet lest a worse thing happen :o them. This orgaulzed effort to haye.the speed imit both in town and country inreased and to do away with the means ?f identifying those who violate the itva in hoc portnin jentlemen of prominence in Boston to ssue a circular letter calling attention o the matter. The letter asks for cooperation in bringing this matter t<j the ittention of candidates for election to he Legislature, so as to secure a statenent from them of their attitude in regard to it. The law was passed after a areful canvass and deserves a fair rial for a year or more, so that its fleets may be observed. Then, if it is ound to work any real hardship to auomobilists, modifications can be conidered. Experience abroad has shown low utterly inconsiderate of the rights >f others many automobilists are and hat severe punishment is the only hing that will make such listen to reaon. The Massachusetts law is comnendable as far as it goes, and could ie imitated with advantage in other tates, and the people may be depended ipon, as soon as their attention is roused, to second the efforts of those noving in opposition to the effort to ecure its repeal.?Providence Journal. Umbrellas Now Made to Orde.J In these progressive days one is not bliged to buy umbrellas "ready made" nless one choose. It is quite the fashon to go to a manufacturer and order n umbrella made up to suit the indiidual taste. The handles and tips are in great vaiety?in gold, silver, pearl, tortoise bell and gun metal. Some are plaiu, ,-hile others are handsomely mounted nd decorated. When the umbrella rears out the handle and tips, if of be best material, will be as good as ew. The frame can then be turned ver to an umbrella maker to re-cover. Among the novelties in Christmas ifts in the leading dry goods houses rere handles and tips, which came eautifully mounted in a box. How Conld It Be a Mistake. "What a woman doesn't know about ewspapers isn't worm Knowing, x nether morning Mrs. B. was talking to er husband. "I notice in the Daily Hoodoo that Ir. Biffkins died on Sunday."' "It's a mistake, my dear," replied the usband. "He died on Monday.'' "But the paper said Sunday.'' *'1 know it, but it was an error in the rint." liI thought so, too, at first, but I got half dozen copies of the paper, and : was the same in all of them. They ertainly couldn't have made the misike over and over again." The husband tried to convince her, ut it was no use, and he gave it up. Iiwl Seventy-five Groat-Grandchildren* Mrs. Elizabeth McLean is dead at camrrwn at the remarkable age of 107 ears. She was probably ibe oldest erson in the State, and was the lother of twelve children and the randaaother of eighty-four gfandchilren, most of whom are living in the ammunity of Scammon and Fronjnac. Seventy-five great-grandehilren are known to be living in this juntry, besides those in Ireland, here she was born.?Topeka Capital. r i I THEY WERE MOSTLY MISTAKEN v \ A well-known Indiana man, ? One dark night late last week Went to the cellar with a match , In search of a gas leak. J ?fle found it.) x \ John Welch by curiosity < . (Despatches state) was goaded; He sauinted in his old shotgun I To see if it was loaded. \ (It was.) . A man in Macon stopped to watcu ^ A patent cigar clipper; He wondered if hi6 finger wm NoS quicker than the nipper. ! > lit wasn't.) J i A Maine man read that the human eye? Of hypnotism were full; He went to see if it would work Upon an angry (bull. (It wouldit't) V ' \ James Wilkin^ fancied if he dieV. V The rolling sphere would stop; i He took the gas route to see if _ V The world would shut up shop.' V (It didn't.) ?San Francisco Bulletin. I Humor oj\ J I n^fa\r ' I M V'uu, y/ Miss Withers?"When Harold* kissed me he told me that be loved me." The . Friend?"What a waste of Words."? i Town Topics. They shiver by the steam pipes, i While their vigils drear they keep, Tor the frost is on the window And the janitor's asleep. j , "My friend," said the parson, "yott should be content with what y<J?\ i have." "I am," replied the grumbler; V "it's what I haven't got that worries \ me."?Chicago News. U \ The general opinion of the neighbors is that the Chelsea girl who has ba<l her winter bat trimmed with sprays 1 mistletoe has gone a step too far.-* Somerville (Mass.) Journal. f? 'Tis hard tq get along in life '< . If fortune' tyaile or frown, Tor first you live your income up, ) 1 Then try to live it down. \ -life. "Our new company is capitalized at $40,000,000." "Qreat! Let me see your prospectus." "Ob, we haven't got out n prospectus yet. The?er?the blamed printer wants his pay in advance."? L Puck. IJ '\ "Impressionism," said the fiance, as 1 he gazed ruefully at the powderstained waistcoat, where her fair .head bad restW, "may be all right, but it's a poor thing in engagements."?Princeton Tiger. "Can you support my daughter ill the style to which she has been accustomed?' "No, siree! I don't Intend! to keep..right on buying her candy and flower?. She'll have to do without that.'?Detroit Free Press. 1 "Why," he was asked, "do you give your audience. so much ragtime music?" "Because," said the great bandmaster, swallowing a sob, "that's all that gives me my glad rags and my easy time."?Chicago Tribune. <.1 Henley?"So you liked my brother's C&aging at the vaudeville show last evening? And yet some people say. he can't sing at all!" Bentley?"He can't. That's what makes it so inter* esting when he tries to."?Boston Transcript. . , Manager?"I'm going to start a comedy company on the rosd in a couple of weeks." Crittick?"What's the play?" Manager?"Oh, I haven't written that yet, but I heard a good joke to-day that we can use in it."?Pbila? delphia Press. ! , > Dasbaway?"A few short hours ago I was sitting with a girl, telling her V she was the only one in ail the world ' I ever loved, and so forth, and so fortb." Cleverton?"And she believed you, didn't she?" "How could she help it? Why, I. believed it "my self."?Life. "I believe in corporal punishment," said the man. "You can't bring up children right by simply talkjn' to them. I used to get licked nearly; every, day when I was a b Dr." Then seventeen people arose and shotted: "Who wants further proof that-wliipi ping is horrible?"?Chicago RecordHerald. " The Discovery of Badiniu. It was at the close of the year 1897 that I began to study the compounds of uranium, the properties of which had greatly attracted my interest. Here A was a substance emitting spontaneously and continuously radiations similar to Roentgen rays, whereas ordinarily. Roentgen rays can be produced only in a vacuum-tube with the expenditure of electrical energy. By what process can uranium furnish the same rays without expenditure of energy and without undergoing apparent modifiesT? fhft ATllr H/V?T7 Tt'llAtfl 11U11* IQ uiauiuiii iuv vuij wvuj ?t uwjv, compounds emit similar rays? Such were the questions I asked myself, ami it was while seeking to answer them that I entered into the researches which have led to the discovery of radium. ? Mme. Curie, in the Century. ^ Magazine. , Nature's Equilibrium. Some twenty-five years ago mongooses were imported into Barbados to drive the rats which ate the sugar cane. Now the sugar planters have petitioned the governor to authorize the destruction of the mongooses because the latter, instead of confining their attention to the rats, have driven out many useful native animals, including lizards, which were the enemies of the moth-borer caterpillars. The caterpillars are now left free to penetrate the sugar canes, thereby, making holes for the lodgment of destructive fungi. Thus in the continual struggle for existence nature herself in often found to have established the best system of equilibrium, interference with which brings more ills thaa it drives away. o Zinc White From Mine Slap. News received from abroad would seem to indicate that Trofessor Eller shausen. a well-Known uerman cnemist, iias invented a process of extract ing ainc white from slag. He and Professor Sir William Ramsay successfully experimented at the Hafaa mine in North Wales, showing that a ton "of < zinc white can be extracted from i fifteen tons of slag by a far simpler and I cheaper process than is now used in ai M roundabout production from spelter. Great Britain imports about 200,000 ,* tons of zinc white annually from the / United States. Germany and Belgium, { t '