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MB IboN'T WEAR YOUR RUFFLES ALL THE TDD2. jOh! fussy folks who fret and fume I And carp and sneer and criticise. [Whose presence puts an end to peace, f From whom all pleasure quickly tiies; [Who never yet have found a place, f A person, function, thing, or clime ETo suit your aggravating souls, Don't wear your ruffles all the time. pfou make your troubles for yourself, [ And ruffle others as you go; I [You want December when it's May, , And sigh for roses in the snow; iYou hate to hear the children laugh, 1 You think a frolic is a crime; 1 For other people's sakes, I pray, ( Don't wear your luriies all the time. You tire of single life, perhaps, 1 "No boarding round," you say, "for me; i T mean to wed and settle down I 1 Ir And take some comfort, yes, siree!" ' [But you're at odds with Hymen ere ' I The marriage bells have ceased to chime. hJust take a bit of good advice? ( Don't wear your ruffles all the time. Your train is never fast enough, ' I Your paper is not fit to read, 1 pour tailor cuts your garments wrong, The drama, too, has gone to seed; The waiter does not know his place, The dinner is not worth a dime? ? Tis thus you're always finding fault. ] Don't wear your ruffles all the time. For when you climb the starry stairs That leaa above this earthly sphere, < !An angel at the door will say, ( "You cannot wear your ruffles here." So if you ever wish to see The mansions of the blest sublime, lAnd mingle with the seraphs there, Don't wear vour ruffles all the time. ?Minna Irving, in Leslie's WeeLJy. iiillHE SCAREDNESS illfpF DORMS TRIPP ^? in^w^wril By ANNIE HAMILTON DONNELL "Dear land, yes, we've had an epidemic fast enough; down to the Bridge! But it's over 'n gone, thank goodness, an' nobody dead, without it's me." Aunt Roxy Knapp's lean old face wrinkled into a smile. "My <iear," she added, "I can count the little creatures that I didn't nuss on the fingers o* one hand." Aunt Roxy had come up river for her annual visit to little Rosemary ' IXamont. Rosemary claimed Aunt Rosy because, she reasoned, she might have married Uncle Rufus Lamont "as easy as not," in which case she would have been an aunt, ^wouldn't she? "I suppose you ain't heard how it "happened? No, o( course not?well, soon's I get my breath I'll tell you the hull story. It's a kind of funny story the way it's turned out, but, dear land, it might've been solemn enough! The Bridge folks ain't liable to forgive Mis' Tripp for one spell." "Miss Tripp?" Rosemary queried, 4'0h, Mrs. Tripp, with so many little !Tripps!" "Five?boys and girls equally divided. She's the one I mean, my dear." "Aunt Roxy!" Rosemary whirled about from the kitchen stove, "how do you equally divide five children?" "Two boys, two girls, an' the twins?one a boy an' one a girl, and neither of 'em but a half. Two an' two's four an' a half 'n' a half is another. There's vour five children. ? -equally divided, my dear!" Aunt g Roxy's laugh wrinkled again pleas- * antly. She put out a slender old hand j lor Rosemary's cup of steaming tea. c .Under its benign influence the epi- 3 4emic story unfolded. a "Dorcas Tripp was born scared, g an' it grew on her, till when she s come to be married and have children t ^ declare to goodness if she wasn't j most too scairt to bring 'em up! Ep- , idemics was her worst dread of all. c She was always certain the children s were going to catch something. It t frightened her nigh to death to hear t they was a case o* measels in town, or mumps, an' when somebody dropped in an' up 'n' told her Cornelia Higgin's boarder's little girl had the scarlet fever, you ought to've J; seen Dorcas Tripp's face! Before that caller dropped out all the little c .Tripps had the scarlet fever and the twins was dead an' buried. "Well," Aunt Roxy took ?. reminiscent sip cr two, "I heard how scairt ? she was an' I went right over. 'Aunt J Koxy,' says sne, as paie as a gnost, i : wish you'd button the children up, I've got to finish packing.' " 'Packing,' I says, took all in a heap. Then I saw she was cramming things into valises like one possessed. She never looked up but kep' right on talking. 'I'm going to Cousin Fiavilla's,' she says. 'The children's got their best dresses on for traveling?if you'll button 'em up. An' I wish you'd hurry, Aunt Ttoxy,' says she, hurrying like everything herself, 'I'm not going to stay in this plague-ridden town a minute longer than I can help. Do you suppose I want to bury my innocent little children! The twins are delicate ?none o' the children could ever 1 stan* the scarlct fever. What I say t is'?kind cf screaming it out?'that people no business taking summer , Doaruers an perilling u:e lives oi their innocent neighbors! Cornelia 1 Higgin ought to be ashamed of her- t self! First she knows she'll have ( blood on hor soul:' " J Aunt Rpxy rockcd creakily. Yes, j she didn't Jtnow but she'd have an- J otber cup ?' tea. Rosemary got it 1 with alacrity, its fragrant steam fill- ] ing the little kitchen pleasantly. < "Well, my dear (a mite more su- 5 gar, if you please), Dorcas went. In less'n four hours after she heard the news she was on her way to her Cousin Flavilla's. You know where Fia- i villa Cross lives, don't you? A < dreadful manufacturingplace,swarm- 1 i 14- V? n T f MCA/1 t A K A rno ] 1 Willi lliiUUCld. 11, UOwU vw iw.Ui aristocratic up where Flavilla's house '< is, but it's all built up with them flat < houses now. Dorcas stayed there till < somebody wrote from the Bridge that 1 Cornelia Higgin's boarder's little ' girl's scarlet fever had turned out to s be the teething rash. Then Dorcas < packed up an' come flying home with all the little Tripps a-tripping. My < dear" (Aunt Roxy stopped rocking, i stopped sipping tea; the teaspoon 1 marked off her words solemnly), < "thy dear, in?just?seven?days? ! all?those?children?were?down!" < k "Down?" ejaculated gentle Rose- i mary, excitedly. It seemed the cru- i tha ctrtrv A nnt- 1 CIcll iUVlUCUt Vi V.*A. ~ ? ^ < Roxv's stories had crucial moments. "'Yes, on the flats o' their poor lit* tie backs with the scarlet fever. They'd caught it playing with some o' those little furriners." The dramatic pause that followed proved Aunt Rosy a true story teller. Rosemary waited with kindly solicitude to hear the fate of the little Tripps. "No." Aunt Roxy said, as if answering her thought, "they didn't nary one of 'em die. I nussed 'em all," with unconscious egotism, "an' they all come out of it without being leef or blind or anyways afflicted. But they set the fever agoing all over the Bridge, that's what they did. We ap an' had a regular epidemic o' scarlet fever. Only the Lord's mercy kep' a lot of us from dying." "And your nursing, Aunt Roxy," :ried Rosemary, lovingly. "Didn't that make Mrs. Tripp feel ashamed Df herself, 'perilling the lives of innocent neighbors?' " "Dorcas feel ashamed? Well, she was a'most too scairt for that. She didn't have a chance to feel anything but scairt for one spell. But I was over there last night, an' I must say there was something sort of chastened about Dorcas?sort of chastened. No, my dear?no, no?I don't never take more'n two cups at a time."?me uountry uenueman. UNUNIFORM MEDICINES. Wide Geographical Distribution and Age Make Drugs Unreliable. So, because any mail, however igttorant, with any motive, however ignoble, may manufacture and sell any of the 50,000 compounds known to organic chemistry and may allege for them what curative powers he will; and because, too, of this unlimited opportunity for fraud among the old2r drugs, it becomes a matter of no surprise to learn that at the present time among the great number of Brms manufacturing remedial agencies there is the greatest conceivable iiversity of science, sincerity and wisdom. These drugs come from the uttermost parts of the earth?from the lank forests of Brazil, from the frozen Siberian steppes, from the banks >f the "gray green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees," or from "silken Samarkand," but alnost everywhere they are gathered jy barbarous peoples, the lowest of jarth's denizens. It is small wonder, :hen, that with any one plant there should be a variation among its individual specimens in the proportion )f the active medicinal agent it conains. But when we add to this the fact :hat, in general terms, the per cent. )f the active ingredient depends on ;he amount of sunshine it enjoys, on .he time of the year it is gathered, sven on the time of tne day, on the imount of moisture, the elevation, he character of the soil and a dozen )ther factors, it becomes almost a lecessity of thought that the amount >f "medicine" in that plant must -arv from a maximum to nothing at ill. A man's wife goes bravely down o the gates of death to pass through, >r, if it may hap, to com?' slowly >ack, bearing radiantly with her the laming torch of another life. Ergot s required. Now, ergot is a fungus growing upon rye, where it destroys ind displaces the ovary of the plant, t comes from Russia, Austria, Spain, Jweden, and where not; its chemical maiysis aoes not seem 10 yieia run* ible information, for its active conitituents are not definitely undertood. Finally, the physiological acivity of the drug may be good, or ittle, or zero, just as it may chance, vhile after the lapse of a year it beomes unfit for use. Yet it is to this ubstance, so utterly variable, that he physician must trust the life of he woman and the child.?Harper's. Evolution of the Apple. From Professor L. H. Bailey's vallable book on "Plant Breeding," we ake the .following extract from the :hapter on the "Evolution of the ^.pple:" The original apple is not definitely mown, but it was certainly a very imall and inferior, crabbed fruit, lome mostly in clusters. When we irst find it described by historians t was still of small value. Pliny said hat some kinds were so sour as to ? ?J ~? ? i.?:p-. T> attti Liitr eu&t; uii a kuilc. dui ucuri iud better seedlings continued to :orae up about habitations, until, vhen printed descriptions of fruits )egau to be made, three or four hunIreds years ago, there were many lamed kinds in existence. The size lad vastly improved, and with this ncrease came the reduction of the lumber of fruits in the cluster, so hat, at the present time apple flow?rs are borne in clusters, the fruits ire generally borne singly. That is, nost of the flowers fail to set fruit, md they complete their mission when hey have shed their pollen for the jenefit of the one which persists. The American colonists brought vlth them the staple varieties of the iiother countries. But the needs of ;he new country are unlike those of he old, and the tastes and fashions )f the people were changing. So, as seedlings came up about the buildngs and along the fences, where the seeds had been scattered, the ones which promised to satisfy the new leeds best were saved, and many of ;he old varieties were allowed to pass lway. Fruits of Reclamation Service. Figures are now available coverng the work of reclamation carried >n from the organization of that service pursuant to the act of Congress n 1902 to the first of this year. As 1 result of the operations, which are conducted under authority of the Geological Survey, eight new towns iiave been established, 100 miles of branch railroads have been constructed and 10.000 people have tak?n up their residence in the desert.j ro pave the way for these homeseek?rs the Government has dug 12 67 miles of canals?nearly the distance Fr?r\rt-? Wochincrtnn tn O m o Vi o Qnmo of these canals carry whole rivers, like the Truckee River in Nevada and the North Platte River in Wyoming. Forty-seven tunnels with an aggregate length of nine and onebalf miles have been excavated. I lUOTHED RtllRHAn F miUlllLll IlillLlIUnu 1 Only About One Hundred and Twe the Isthmus of Tehuante For Big 5 On the isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the country through which runs the aew railroad from Salina Cruz on the Pacific to Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico, the rapid growth of vegetation is said to be one of the most serious problems in the maintenance *\ /&";& 5:/: "v.:?.?/, !.'. " J..VA . pf-.'L*; JHEX . ?%*!.? rM Miw * f 'vV-V^TE "\W V?.V/- / v'i-i ! .* ? : v:.-: : : ? . . : : MAP 6F TH of the road. The engineers found, in fact, that the tropical vegetation grew faster than the force of men at their disposal could cut it down. After a number of experiments it was found that boiling water was most effective in eradicating this too-willing vegetation, and now, just as the roadbeds of northern roads are sprinkled with oil to lay the dust, the line of the Tehuantepec road is liberally scalded at frequent intervals to keep cocoanut groves and sugar plantations from springing up over night between the ties and blockading the road. Writing Table. A Chicago man has devised and patented an exceedingly useful combination writing&iesk and table, an ? Table and Writing Desk, illustration of which is shown below. Although at all times convenient, Individual writing desks are not used THE CAT OUT Chatty Old Gentleman (as they 1 lent view of the asylum from the rail\ Escaped Lunatic?"Ah, but you c asylum!" Pencil Sharpener. Every large manufacturing plant long since recognized the value of a La.ff? I I ~ I Grinds Pencil to a Point. good pencil sharpener?one that would do the trick a f?w seconda. l rr ROM OCEAN TO OCEAN. -i.. II! I no I nnn Qui It PcnppAf* niy-nvc mucd tung, uui h uiudoco pec?Harbors at Each End Steamships. t At least until the Panama Canal la f completed, many expect that the greater burden of traffic between the Atlantic and the Pacific will be handled by the Tehuantepec National, qn account of geographical advantages, as it affords the shorter Msisal I r k( * *'-:'A - I?, > tr ;/n <;:bV^ m Uity'immm SB**, miSSMm - Pi E ISTHMUS. pi route between the chief commercial ( ports of the world. The isthmus of Tehuantepec is situated in the southern portion of ? Mexico, in the States of Oaxaca and ^ Vera Cruz. From ocean to ocean the distance is 125 miles. Considering w the fact that the Sierra Madre Mountain range' crosses the isthmus, the aJ territory is comparatively level. From the Atlantic, or Gulf of Mexico side, the rise is gradual, culminating p in Chivela Pass at a height of only rg 730 feet. From that point to the Pacific or to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, ? the descent is abrupt. 1 to any great extent at the present jt time. The ordinary table usually serves the purpose, paper and pencils j0 being placed in a nearby drawer. Wi How much more useful the table w, i shown here would be. This table has an open top, fitting into which is the so triangular drawer. The latter is di- ,ja vlded into small compartments for j holding pens, pencils," paper and ai other writing accessories. When not used as a writing desk, the drawer is a lowered and the top of the table m pushed back in guide ways, com- iepletely hiding the drawer from view. The table can then be used as the w] ordinary small table for reading, etc. he ?Philadelphia Record. UI qi Country Doctors Dying Out. *n rs The country doctor is rapidly becoming extinct as a species. The men ^ one meets at their societies look, ^ dress, talk and act as the men do at ^ any meeting of city physicians. The fir papers presented are quite up to thfe city standard, the discussions markedly above those of the city men. The surgical experiences related would tQ astonish some men who think the t city clinics and clinicians do all of this work, or at least all ihat is well done.?Kansas City Star. . wc V'v ' of * :.' 1>'' .,-- ' .\ '.'. l '- . *: :** *. ' v ' "' \\*'< (10 ha ' 1 1 * .I. i n i OP THE BAG. pj?( )ass the asylum)?"We get an excel- an vay." shi >ught to see the railway from the jij] |C01 Take, for instance, a telephone ex- 57 change, where each operator is sup- | t nlied with a counle of freshly sham- pit ened pencils about five or six times a mi day in exchange for her old ones. A frc hundred operators keep one boy busy jU! putting points on pencils. Some of ra< the pencil sharpeners now in use will rei slice off the wood, but the lead must be sharpened by hand. The pencil wi sharpener shown here wiil trim off foi both the wood and the lead at the same time. The illustration shows "s clearly the method of operation. The tei end of the pencil to be sharpened is qu forced by a guide against the emery re wheel. The latter is operated by cog- tic wheels and a handle. A few quick qu turns of the latter will put a fine ha point on the pencil. th A professor in Copenhagen University is said to chloroform plants. After severe* days they bud in great profusion. French shipping bounties have in- to creased the number of vessels re- et gar disss of demand for them. CONFIDENCES OF A C *****?$*?**?*** * *$ When I sit down with pencil and iper and jot down the amounts I've the ade during the past year in my pro- w^e (ssion as a confidence man, the total "Yo aggers me. What have I done with >"?u ? T have snuandpred mrmpv like a rince and borrowed it a week later T ke a beggar. I have missed my a reakfast in order to "skin" a greenorn of $700 and lost it all before I to v 3t my lunch. I have helped a stran2r unload $10,000 in a "framed- me? p" poker game and then gone to 0 *ound the corner and lost the whole B >11 bucking another poker game, side here is one thing I'm sure of?I'm Yell nart enough to get another man's I w oney, but I'm not smart enough to proi =ep it. at t I saw in a paper the other day a race 3t of the salaries they pay to Con- ^ ressmen, members of the Cabinet, ?Pei upreme Court Justices, Governors bett id a lot of those big guns. I make aton ore than any of them, and I haven't and cent when the notice comes up the om the office to pay the room rent mon move. It's always so with bunko It en. While he is framing up a game the 1 lat will "skin" other "suckers," was >mebody else has a game waiting leng iat will "skin" him. as i <10 It." tjauu Our intended was properly imessed, and we made a date for the aske Mowing morning, when I was to "< ,ve the electric boot in evidence. Wht I had to borrow $25 from the own- "1 of the poker game where I usually wen 3t my money to buy the boot the gam st thing in the morning. nigh I was up bright and early and and ught the boot and spurs. Inside high is as pretty a little battery as you ular er saw. It seemed a shame that and e boot was not to be used. Thei My man showed up, prompt to the and ;nute, and I proceeded to show him hind iw the contrivance worked. He time is delighted. Then I told him that coul would have to give me his money in a bet, as I didn't intend to trust any- I bo dy with the secret of the horse's left me until post time, and he was me. out to demur. . aces, "Look here," said I, "I'll write the just me of the horse on a sheet of pa- bluff r, put it in an envelope addressed the : you and leave it at a messenger He s ice with instructions for them to low liver Jt to you at post time. You kind e to give me your money now to like ke over with me. If that doesn't he s it you everything i? off as far as him. u are concerned." and He hesitated a minute, but we had mon< sured him that my horse would be "1 good as fifteen to one, and the read ought of the amount he'eould win it, b ercame his scruples. He handed hous er $700 in gold to me to bet. I the f is to keep a third of the amount ing j in to give to the "jockey." ' W In this sort of business the money, "L course, is not bet at all. I wrote mom wn the name of a horse that didn't At ve a chance and put it in an envel- ent e and pocketed the $700 as a clear pal s ofit. The "sucker" came to me for Our explanation that night, and I "tipr owed him a fake ticket shoeing mere m that I had bet the money-^ Of I coi urse he had no redress. "fret But to return to the fate of the "sucl 00 after it dropped into my pocket, ings lad been in such a hurry to get the ?th :ctric boot in time that I missed tips r breakfast. When I separated mon< the "greeny" it was after 12? not st time to take the boat for the clien :e track. I went from my room di- it on ?.tly to our rendezvous, where I thize ?t my pal and divided the money only th him. Then I jumped on a car tome r the ferry and was oif to the races. Th In my pocket I had $350 of the best ucker's" money a#d a lonely quar- luck of my own. Five cents of the adve arter went for carfare and with the near! mainder I bought a round-trip steer ket across the bay. In conse- game ence when I boarded the boat I next d nothing but gold in my pockets. Jose 1 had intended to get my lunch on recei e boat, as I was hungry by that twen ne, but on the after deck I met an Tt ftotnnt Inoi* in r>nA nf thp hie Ktn- vmrli js at the track. I als "What's good to-day?" I asked the i m after we had chatted a while. 000 "Got any money?" was his answer was my question. I jingled my pock- was full of gold. J p.Qth ; vV: ' ' . "'V-'-A ONFIDENCE MAN. " There is something coming off in first race," he hastened to say n he heard the clinking twenties, u'll do the right thing if I put wise?" You know me," I said. hen he went on to tell me about' frame-up" in the first race by ch a horse called Yellowstone wasrin. tt is all cut and dried," he assured "and you will get ten or twelve ne for your money." e'fore the boat reached the other I had agreed to bet |200 on owstone in the first race. Also as still without my lunch, but I nised myself that I would get it ;he track immediately after the i. fhen the odds went up for the ling eventkI went round the ring ing $20 at a crack on Yellowe. Others were doing the same, before post time every book in ring was loaded with Yellowstone ,ey. wa3 a mile race, and the minute barrier went up I knew my money burned up. Yellowstone got off :ths behind the field?might just it V 1 Kfi iU M Why, back in Chicago, where we 1 jed to work the crooked faro dodge isbe 1 every stranger we caught loitering my ound a hotel, there was an Oregon pocl imbler who ran a faro game on Wa- gna1 ish avenue exclusively for bunko my en. That's a fact. He had a big whe ay. too, and went to Europe on his kne1 oflts. Every night you'd see the igan :on" men line up around his faro $10* ble and go against the same game favc which they had trimmed the yok- "] s earlier in the evening. It was a said ivate game and none but '"con" I en and crooks had the entree. No- elbo >dy seemed to think it strange, and and e lost our money about as regularly The : we made it. Of course, we didn't furii ways lose the first night, but it was boy ily a matter of time. coni There are no faro games in San fere rancisco, but craps, poker and the bad .ces do just as well, and keep the aboi ing hunting fresh marks without A ly let-up. Not very long ago I ting ade half of $700 and lost it before I sa had the price of a lunch out of it. nice happened this way: taur My partner and I picked up a fel- lunc w in a place on O'Farrell street who didn as anxious to beat the races. We coffc ere ready to help him. My pal told race m he knew a horseman who had incli J ? -* - * f/N V meming guou coming uu in a lew ^ ? iys, and introduced me as the man. even was offish and didn't want to have out lything to do with outsiders, but A lally, after the stranger had bought ring dinner for all of us, I warmed a hors ;tle to him and agreed that I would dow t him in on the deal. - was "We'll make no mistakes," said I, and hen it had been agreed that our the >st was to be a party to the clean- coul ). "My horse worked the three- of b larters in thirteen flat this morn- whil g, and there isn't a thing in the I ce that ever did better than four- that en and a half. But I'm taking no but ances." Here I leaned over toward the em, looking around cautiously, as wou afraid of being overheard and low- wou ed my voice. mini "I've got an electric boot," I whis- offred, "and I'll win that race if I His ,ve to turn my nag into a dynamo in t ^ -V wen navo oeeu i?n aw tue yuoi.. rail a cracking good race and find fourth, but that did not save $200. I still had $150 in my cet and was standing in the ring wing my mustache and snapping fingernails in my disappointment n a man-about town whom I w came up and told me that Mich? i Smith, the plunger, had sent 00 into the ring to be bet on the irite, which was then two to one. [t looks like a cinch," my friend as he drifted away. didn't hesitate a moment, but wed my way to the nearest book handed over my remaining $150. horse was beaten a nose after a 3us drive. Everybody said the tossed the race away by overidence. It didn't make any difnce to me anyway. The books that $350, which was all I cared it. s I turned back toward the betring cursing myself for a fool, w a fellow being served with a , thick porterhouse in the resant. Then I remembered my h." Gee, I was hungry, and I ,'t have the price of a cup of 5e about me. On the first two s I had lost all my money, even iding the $25 I had borrowed >uy the boot. I hadn't bought i a shave or a shine or a lunch of the money. s I "mosied" gloomily ?.round the the rest of the day and saw the es I would have bet on win right a the line I tried to figure what the difference between myself the "sucker" who had given up $700. The only difference I d see was that I had the privilege etting my money before losing it, e he had not. had to walk up from the ferry night for the lack of carfare, I was comforted somewhat by thought that Mitky, my pal, Id lend $50 or even $100, and I Id be on my feet again. The ute I saw him I knew it was all -that his money was gone, too. face was longer than anybody's own. Before a word was said i knew the other was "broke." iVhat did you lose yours on?" he id. jood things in the first two races, sre did you drop yours?" Poker game," he answered. "I t up to where there was a big e going. They had been at it all ,t. I lamped around for a while saw that they were playing them and loose. One fellow in particwas bluffing on every other hand , standing 'pat' if anybody stayed. i he'd shove in his whole pile make 'em lay down. I stood be. him and he did that a couple of i without a pair in his hand, as I d see. So I thought that I'd sit nd wait for him to try it again, ught checks for a hundred and the rest of the $350 in front of The first hand I picked up three Somebody opened the pot. I stayed to draw them on and the er raised us $50. We both saw raise and drew two card^s apiece, itood pat. Knowing how the felhad been bluffing on the same of a play my three aces looked : a cinch. We both passed and hoved in all he had in front of The other fellow laid down j I called him, putting in all the j ey I had. ?hree aces here," I said, and was < tiing for the pot, I was so sure of j ut he showed down a small full ' e and took the money. I left ? ;^me minus my $350 after play- < ust one hand." e were silent for a while. ,et's go out and rustle up dinner i ay," I said at last, and we went, i . the commencement of the pres- ? racing meeting at Oakland my f ind I opened a "tipping" bureau. 1 idea was that he would run the < >ing" game and I would pose f sly as a customer. In this way i aid hang around the office and ize" on to any likely looking kers" who appeared. His dealwere to be strictly on the square at is, he would sell a couple of J a day and refund the buyer's ^ jy. as per agreement, if they did win. If I landed any of the ts for a bunch of money I did t the outside and my pal sympad with them, but told them he , knew me as an occasional cus- ^ **' * c le business prospered beyond our hopes. Micky had all kinds of j in picking the winners and by f rtising we soon had an income of . [y $200 a day. In addition I t ed one of our clients into a poker > ; where he lost 53500, and the 1 day I caught a boy from San for $5 000, which he had just ved from his guardian on his ty-first birthday. ? iese "killings" set us un in the i d, and we lived like millionaires. I o had luck at the track, and in t middle of December I had $18.- r in a safe deposit vauit. That i the heyday of our prosperity. It r a common thing for us to have t ins but a tip for the waiter left I I ' ' - " , . , .. v... ; ; ' ; " '' " jm tmm*out of a $100 bill after we had had dinner. But we didn't care nor even think about it. It's easy to be prodigal when you have ?18,000 in a box waiting to be spent and more coming in every day. V~ But it wasn't long before the tide turned. In the first place we struck a losing streak with our tips and the $200 a day dropped off until we scarcely paid office rent. Meanwhile I was dropping big wads of coin at the track. I couldn't seem to pick them right. One day I lost $4500. On another $2800. My roll couldn't stand that long, and on New Year's ' Day I took our last thousand over to the track. I intended to bet on two horses?Firestone, which I knew, was likely to prove the best two-yearold on the Coast, and Proper, in the New Year's Handicap. A horseman persuaded me to stay off Firestone, which he said was not ready to race, and at the last moment I switched from Proper to Logistilla. The latter was left at the post and Proper won. On the way back that night I felt natural. I was hroke. I've been broke ever since, and the way things look now I am likely to stay that way, for the easy marks are staying out of my path, If there are any In town. Now, I am an old hind at all kinds of gambling. I make my living b# VI knowing more about that sort of' thing than the man whose money I want, and yet I squander all I make in going against games in which my, money isn't worth ten cents on the dollar the moment I sit in. Years ago I was talking with John Condon, the blind racetrack magnate ' of Chicago. We were discussing gambling and the chances a man has to win. ' h| "Well," said Condon, "there's only; -39 one way to beat a gambling game. \ Make the. other fellow go against your game. With me any time a man didn't want to go against my; game there was no play." ..<] Shrewd old John Condon hit the nail on the head. As long as the " suckers" play my game I get the money. The moment I begin to gamble in any other game where another man has the percentage I lose my money the same as any other "sucker." I know ttys and yet 1 go right on losing my money. Why?, . f| TVioro'a a rrmnnririim. Tf T had 110. 000 I'd give it all to know the answer.?San Francisco Chronicle. ' J Although South America has about twice the area of the United States, - . V: it has only half the population. i 7^ Life insurance companies in Japan are paying sixteen (per cent, dlvi- < dends. In one of them the directors ' got only ?3100 fees for their year's work. Lancaster County, Pa., has twentyone Presbyterian churches, and at least three of the congregations are almost 200 years old. wounaea HiiK, a iuu-oiooaea oiuux. missionary, Is organizing a revival movement in New Tork City. He has a wonderful flow of simple oratory, besides a majestic presenoe. 1 The consensus of opinion among , jj| historians is to the effect, that the most ancient city is Damascus. There is no doubt about the fact that Damascus has the longest continuous history of any city in the world. Lord Breadalbane has more deer on his estates than any landowner in the United Kingdom, and yet, when he was Lord Steward, among his perquisites was a present of six bucks and six does every year from the royal herd. . The Tower of Babel, at Babylon, was composed of eight square towers, one upon the other, the pile being 660 feet high. Babylon was a, square, fifteen miles on each side, the walls being eighty-seven feet thick ahd 370 feet high. The English occupation of India * began with the administration of Clive, in 1763. The present population of India is 240,000,000. The English residents in India, civil and military, number less than 100,000. Porson was a great talker and a man of immense learning, and Caryle was not far behind him, but both svere handicapped by temperamental lifficulties. Perhaps the greatest and most admirable all-round conversa;ionalist was Lord Macaulay, with Dliver Wendell Holmes as a close soc>nd. Horseshoeing is very ancient. It, s represented on a coin of Tarentum, 5outh Italy, about 300 B. C. Iron md bronze horseshoes have been ound in tumuli in France, Germany, j 3elgium and England. It is, o? :ourse, impossible to designate the irst instance in which a bronze or ron horseshoe was used. To Encourage Thrift. A New York man has just patented i device for the encouragement of hrift. It consists of a toy savings >ank with a clock attachment. The ilock is set in the face of the bank md cannot be wound unless a dime s dropped in the slot. As winding ' :auses the dime to fall into the vault ind the clock will run but twenty'our hours without rewinding the :ontrivance assures an accumulation >f seventy cents a week. The theory s that the necessity of deDositins: a lime every day will lead to slicing n other coins at odd moments and1 hus establish a habit of saving.? sew York Sun. Automobiles and Coaching. James Martin, at whose North' Side stables the "Blue Dog" coach \hich was used to make trips to lighland Park was kept, says that he arrival of the automobile has iractically killed the sport of coach-J USJ 1U ^Uicagu. iutric 10 uu?y ix\j u.vruand for drags and brakes, alhough they used to be most iiopuar.?Chicago Evening PQ3t,._ J