Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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THOS. J. ADAMS, PROPRIETOR. EDGEFIELD, S.- C.. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1897. VOL. LXII. NO 33. THC LITTLE World ain't like it used to be-ci Summer aia't so sweet to me: T Wish the birds a-singing e<mld i Wish the sweet bells ringing coi Sit here ia the suushine, solemn Morning-glories peeping in whe They loved her littlo window, w Gave her glad good mornings, !? Sit here in the darkness, when n< And hear the Silence singing a s I know tho lilies dream of her, v And sunflowers shine like stars i World ain't what it used to be Summer ain't as sweet to me: T Wish the sweet birds sloging co Wish the glad bells ringing coul S *IRHOD"Y == T THINK fate must have decreed it. One day I wrote thus: PO LET-A frame cottage, cont-iiu ing nine rooms, subdi vided into parlor, re ception, aad dining room, library, kitchen and tour bed chambers, with broad halls. The house is encircled by a verauda and situa ted in a grove of about three acres ex tent. Well and cistern on the premises; stable and outhouses. Three squares to station and about half a milo to electric oar line, now in course of con-^ruction, and which will pass place. Itont 655 per month. Apply on the premises, Clover syde, St. Louis County. I am not a college-bred man, just a plain "readiu' writin', rithmetic"' sort of a mortal, not given to beat ing about the bush, but trying with all my heart to speak aud write so as to be plainly understood. Aud so, when, after writiug this advertise ment, I looked it over, it seemed to express in a fairly intelligent way the desire that moved me to its composi tion and the subsequent expenditure of coin necessary to secure its publi cation in the Republic. I desired to secure a tenant for my property. The premises and the location were de scribed with sufficient attention to de tail and accuracy to enable the reader to arrive ..t a decision as to whether that was such a place as he or she might have in view for residential purposes. The rental was set out as distinctly as my knowledge of the English language would permit me co state in words or ligures. These pre liminaries disposed of, there remained for me nothing to do but reflect upon ! the bereavement by which I, a cou-1 firmed bachelor, found myself in pos session of something for which I had j no earthly usc, and to trust to the-? power of the press for a measure of j assistance in the preservation of that ! possession or its disposition in a man ner satisfactory from a financial and personal standpoint. It was plain -that -city raised as 11 had been 1 como not resuie UJUWJI edly in such a place. I was ignorant of the management of a house or the control and guidance of a corps of servants. The location was against ? my taking up my abode there. It was j too retired and quiet, decidedly. The ten days I ha l spent there Avhile thc Carpenters, painters and decorators I were putting the place in shipshape, | were the most lonesome and dismal in j all my experience. The nearest neigh- j bor was about two blocks distant, but ; had he been next door it would nor j have relieved the isolation, for he and ! his family extinguished the lights and j retired at 9 o'clock, "leaving the world j to darkness and to me." In an old-fashioned rocker I would sit for hours, my reverie only dis turbed hythe rattle and roar of a pass ing train and the accompanying bark . of every dog on the circuit, these dy ing away and intensifying the solitude aud loneliness. I have said that I was a plain speaking man and a plain-writing one. Perhaps, in the interest of truth, I should qualify that statement by add ing that I thought I was until thc re sults of my rushing into the want col umns of a metropolitan newspaper disabused my mind of thc idea. My appeal to house hunters met with a generous response. They came singly, in pairc and quartets, in crowds. Every train bore a delegation of them. Not all house-hunters are demented, not by any manner of means. Bat a goodly percentage of those who fav ored Cloversyde with their presence on that beautiful Sunday just a year ago to-day were, I am bound to think, weak mentally. Either this, or there was a gigantic conspiracy among the guild to harass aud annoy me, and thus add to the embarrassment of the predicament in which I found myself through this sudden acquisition of landed property. To particularize: The first person to call was a pudgy, red-faced gentleman, who, after he had toiled up the hill and relieved himself of a snort or two, requested to be shown over the place. When we had returned from the inspection my caller protested that there was no ?ewer connection. How under the shining sun there should be such a thing with the near est sewer five miles away is beyond my feeble comprehension, but that he did expect it and came out there pur posely to realize his expectations, the manner in which he mopped his bald head and grunted left no margin for doubt. As he bade me good day and waddled down the hill to take the next train cityward I fancied I could detect phantom sever connections in the heated atmosphere above his head. The next-? *';ain landed half a dozen crank,* s*^ jostled each other in their anxiety ro..\ ach me. As they wedged their way through the gate and along the gravel walk there was fire in their eyes. Another tour of inspection and then the jargon commenced. An old fellow in glasses expressed his astonishment of the discovery that the house was a frame and nota brick structure; a man who snapped his words with a metallic rattle was startled because there was no city water; another, with a blood red scarf and green shoes (I would not have had him for a tenant under a:ij oircuinstanoes), mourned the absence of gas; still another wa? sorely disap pointed because there was no street car line within easy walking distance During that and the succeeding foni daya they came out, trotted lui through the inspection racket an: then completed th? torment by firint ONE AWAY. older skies in May; he little one's away! reuchtho ones that roam; lld ring my darling home! ?like, and see re once sho used to be; Ith the blossoms and the lights; dissed her sweet good nights. o wind j the maples stir, ad, sweet song of her; rlth her the roses roam, Di gold and lean to light her homo. skies are cold and gray; lie little one's away! uki reach the ones that roam; d rlug my darling home! F. L. Stanton, in Atlanta Constitution. i * & * * * ? & & MC X & ' KIRBY.!* J ;K ? & * ??i ?'i T ^ ??? *f ^ *? \t? s /is /is 7\ /is /is /<? /rs TR /Is ?R 7,s /!s/?\ their alarming discover es and objec tions at me. Summarized, I learned that the place was decidedly objectionable, be I cause the rent was too high; there , wore no speaking tubes in the house; j the cellar was not cemented; the house ! had been built to be heated by fur ' nace, aud was therefore beyond the reach of those of moderate means; there was not room enough; there was too much room; the rooms were too large aud would require acres of car pet to cover the floors; the grounds were so extensive that the employment of a man to care for them would be necessary; there was no sidewalk; trains were not sufficiently numerous; it would all be nice enough for sum mer, but when winter comes what's a body to doV-and so forth. Of course the advertisement expressly described this as a frame house of nine rooms, the grounds of about three acres in extent, the water supply as coming ! from a well and cistern, the railway j station as three blocks away, and the ; rental as $55 a mouth. And vet scores of men and women who were iu search ! of a brick house of six rooms, with city water, sewer connections, speaking ; tubes, gas and bath, on the line of a I street railway, came oat to inspect my j property and annihilate mc with their j objections to it. I thought I was a : plain-speaking, plain-writing mau. I ' am not. The week passed and the house was still on my hands. It was Saturday, aud I had reached the conclusion that I would lock up tho place that even? jug, return to my bachelor apartments in the city, and let some agent sell the property to the first bidder and re lieve me from a st raiu that was fast putting gray hairs into my head. I had disposed myself in the rocker on the veranda when I noticed that the early afternoon train deposited three per sons on the station platform, who im mediately took the path leading up to the stretch of grassy hillside and ter minating atony gate. " A^thevj drew one was au elderly gentlemen with snowy hair and mustache, another a man in middle life with a sandy beard and mustache and the third a lady of about twenty. They came direct to the gate, passel through it, and were mov ing slowly up the walk when I ad vanced to meet them. Tho young lady was the spokesman. At least she oponed the interview by referring to the advertisement as the moving cause of their visit I cannot for the life of aie explain why I thought so, but instantly it lixed itself in my mind that my tenants stood before me. I was just a bit nervous, but I gathered myself together, and in five minutes' time we were walking together through tlie house and talking pleasantly about it- arrangement, conveniences aud such like, and then male a tour of the grounds. When we returned to the veranda I tendered the rocker to the young woman, while the gentlemen one, as I learned, her father, the other lier brother-and myself sat on the steps. There would be no train to the city for an hour, and we had am ple time to discuss tbs object of their visit and, incidental ly, such personal affairs as are wont to develop under such circumstances. It was thus that I learned that the old gentlemen was a Virginian, upon whom the results of the war had fallen rather disastrously, and whose troubles from this source had been augmented by the death of his wife. His son was a member of one of the professions and amply j equipped mentally and financially to provide for the family, while the daughter, reared in true Virginia fash ion, was to be housekeeper or general charge d'affaires. We agreed upon terms, and it was arranged that Colonel Kirby was to assume possession on the following Monday. T accompanied the party to the station, gave them a cor dial goodby (I confess it was a reluc tant goodby I gave tho young lady), ? the train sped away toward the smoke-, ! wreathed spires of the city, and left j me to my rocker and my reflections. Bright aud early Monday morning a procession of vans invaded Clover syde and while the sturdy help was bus ily engaged in the work of transferring the contents to the house the Colonel and his daughter reached the place by train. Au exchange of a few compli ments pertinent to such au occasion ensued when I abdicated and left the quiet country cottage to resume life in town. At the end of a month I made my debut as a landlord. There was a noticeable improvement in the appearance of the place. The grounds looked clean, and flower beds at odd places aud bordering the walk, gave evidence of womanly attention. The house wore a home-like, hospitable air, and just where I had left it sat the old rocker. These things I noticed at that first call, a brief one. Subse quent visits gave opportunity for more extended observations, which only em phasized my lirst impression that a model housekeeper was directing mat ters in a certain habitation in Clover* syde. Gradually I became conscious that a change had taken place in my self. Town life was fast losing its attrac tiveness; my thoughts turned with au indefinable longing to woods crowning the uplands through whoso leafj branches the Southern breezes played, to rivulets springing from groves, play ing along the slopes awhile, prattling into groves again and dancing away ir I the shaded distance. And I philoso ; phized, too. No man is a bachelor j from choice. Either his lonely coudi I tion is a case nf it.-inipht-hove-been, III he has not yet looked into eyes that have answered his heart. Lovjj is magnetism. The eyes have it. When the ordained eyes meet, then aud there the bachelor ceases to exist and one more township is added to Paradise. I made this discovery when my eyes met those of Ehody Kirby, and though I havo looked into those same dear eyes thousands of times, and though they have been my inspiration, my very life, yet to save me from perdi tion I cannot describe them. I know the regal rose, the modest violet the loyal sunflower, but to attempt a de scription of either would be a task en tirely beyond rae. And so with Rhody's eyes. I only know they are the most beautiful this side the shining stars, that she herself fills up the gracious mold of modesty and that I am desper ately-. But I anticipate a little. I developed an extraordinary inter est in my property in Cloversyde, so that it was not unusual for me to drive out there every week. My pretext was that the place needed looking after, the fences and buildings requiring a deal of attention to save them from falling iuto decay. Miss Rhody was my companion over the grounds, mak iug suggestions here and there and filliug me with a fear that I should one day drop dead at her feet from an at tack of heart palpitation. But all things must have an end, and I re solved to^talk seriously with Rhody when next I put foot on the place. It was the first day of June aud early morning. The budding roses were bathed in dew, the birds twitted tune fully in the trees, the air was soft and deliciously fragrant, and Miss Rhody was as delightfully sweet aud captivate iug as it is given to any mortal to be. "We walked about the place, our con versation confined to matters common place, and my stay had been prolonged toa length where I could find no propriety in longer detaining her. As 1 I was about to take my leave I said: "I am not going to call any more for the rent." Theie was an enormous lump in my throat. "Have you placed the property in an agent's hands?" she inquired. "No. Rho-Miss Kirby." "Then you have disposed of it?" "Not exactly; I thiuk Jam on tho point of doing so, however." "We shall feel very grateful," she said, "if it passes into the possession of so kindly and considerate an owner as yourself." "I am satisfied," I said slowly, j "that the new owner will prove my ; superior iu that regard. In fact, j Rhody, that person is to be no other than your own sweet self. Since I ? first saw you every dajr has iucreased my admiration, until I find love takes the place of admiration. I have dis- I covered that it is possible for a woman to possess sense without vanity, and beauty without affectation." I had taken her.hand in mine while I spoke. "May I ask you to take this place and with it me into your dear keoping for life?" .iShe was n sensible - womanV .Obser idea, and my numerous visits con firmed that impression. "I cannot pretend to indifference," she said, "and therefore own that what you have told me makes me ex tremely happy." That settled it. I was in an ecstasy j of jo}-. Did I kiss her? I am a man j given to plain speaking, plain writing. I did. Could I have done otherwise? She said other things; so did T, but it is not necessary to repeat them here. She is to-day the owner of thc place in Cloversyde, with all the appnrteu- ; auces thereunto belonging, including myself, and as I sit in the old rocker on the veranda and write these lines, ! I am the happiest man on this whiz zing ball."-St. Louis Republic. SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL. Germany now has electric light in j over 1000 postal cars, and Austria is ? about to adopt the same system. A Frenchman has patented a device whereby passengers may bo lauded in ; safety from railway trains running at fall speed. Coal tar, when used for dyes, yiolds sixteen shades of blue, the same nura- ; ber of yellow tints, twelve of orange, nine of violet, and numerous other colors and shades. A method of transporting grain through iron pipes, by means of suc tion, from distant farms to the sea board, has been devised by an inven tor in Orlaudo, Fla. ? tThere are snails actually resembling thorns. This species remained for a j long time undiscovered, until a close observer saw one of these thorns walk ing around the branch. The American University, at Wash ington, is celebrating the completion of the largest reflecting telescope lens in the world. It is wholly American 1 work, and the first of the kind cast in j this country. A Germau medical paper has re ceived a report from South Africa, ? saying that experiments have proved ; that if cattle are inoculated iu timo with Koch's serum, ninety to ninety seven per cent, of the animals can bo ; saved from the plague. Scarlet seems to bo the color most ] conspicuous in bright sunshine, and scarlet flowers are commonest in dry and sunny climates, where their color gives them an advantage in their strug gle with other flowers for the atten tions of butterflies and other pollen bearers. A microscopic examination of moth er of pearl shows thc shell to be made up of very fine lines so closely put to gether that the white light is broken up into its prismatic colors, and we get the so-called "play of colors." Taking n careful cast of such a shell the wax cast will yield the same prismatic ei fects. A new electric invention is a simple device by which an electrical current of high potential can be uniformly de creased in volume or strength, or both, at the will of the operator. Tho in strument or apparatus is in the nature of a rheostat, and can be used wher ever a graded current is desired. Electricity. An eminent physician states that ty phoid fever can be washed out of the system by water. He gives his pa tients what would amount to eight or ten ounces an hour of sterlized water. In cases of cholera, where the system secrets a large amount of fluid, enor mous quantities of hot water aro of Ri-eat benefit. BILLIONS OF STAMPS. UNCLE SAM PRINTS AN ENORMOUS NUMBER EACH YEAR. Al ['Kinds and Colors/From tho Pink Two Center to tho Lordly One Hnndred Dollar Stump-How They Are Turned Out by the Washington Bureau. Uncle Sam makes and issues in the course of a year postage and other stamps to the number of more than four billions. The exact number for the last year of which record is ob tainable, says the New York "World, was 4,243,289,261. It is hard for the human mind to realize the magnitude ] of a sum as great as four billions. A batter idea, probably, can be obtained of the size of the stamp output for a year by the statement that if they were pasted together, end for end, the strip thus obtained would encircle the earth seven times around at the equator. There were all sorts and conditions of stamps in this aggregate of four bil lions. There were postage stamps, from the humble little one-ceuter and the familiar pink two-center that every ono sees to ??the lordly one hundred dollar stamp that lives au exclusive life and uever shows itself to the vul gar herd. The latter is called a peri odical stamp. It is sold to the pub lishers of periodicals, who prpsent it to the postmaster with so many pounds of mail matter, and the stamp is then cancelled and kept in a book. Over ten thousand of these were pointed last year. There were about one hundred mil lion of the longgreeu beer stamps used in the internal revenue service, that you see the barkeeper remove from the bunghole when he taps a fresh keg. There were about four hundred mil lion of the little green stamps that, seal the end of a cigarette box. There were more than half a billion of tobacco strip stamps, with countless millions of other kinds. The everyday two-cent stamp, with its cheerful pink color and mucilaginous back, was^ printed to the number of a little more* than two billions. If the magnitude of this number is difficult to grasp, it is easy enough to measure a two-cent stamp and figure -for one's self how many thousand miles those HUNTING INTERNAL two billions would stretch if pasted end to end. All of the stamps used by the United States are printed afc Washington in the Bureau of Engraving and Print ing, the same institution that turns out the paper money of the Govern ment. Formerly they were made by the baulc note companies in New York, but in 1893 Uncle Sam concluded that as he wus going into tho printing business very extensively at his capital he might as well save the profits on the stamp making. Tho Bureau makes the plates from which the stamps are printed, does the press work and manufactures the mucilage. Only the paper and tho ink are purchased in open market. This preparation of the mucilage is an art in itself, and is con ducted upon purely hygienic prin ciples, for the benefit of the several billions of people who annually lick postage stamps. The operation of the manufacture of postage stamps through the several branches is an exceedingly interesting one to follow. A small army of men and young women, skilled artisans, are employed in the work, and the great red brick building on the banks of the Potomac under the shadow of the Washington monument is a busy bee hive for eight hours in the day. The first step in the manufacture of postage and revenue stamps is the making of the plates from which they are to be printed. The plate for the ordinary two-cent stamp of everyday use is a sheet of steel twenty-one inches by about thirteen inches. The engraver uses a sheet of soft steel upon which he engraves the design of four hundred stamps. The custody of these plates, together with others, is confided to one man. Every afternoon the plates must be A STAMP ENGRAVER. i accounted for and locked in a vault, i Until the last plate is in no employe j of the division is allowed to leave the building. The plate now being finished, it is sent to the pressroom. Some of the stamps are printed upon hand presses and others upon revolving steam I presses. The day I visited the Bureau the hand pressmen were working upon beer stamps. There were twenty o? these upon a sheet, and the printer and his assistant were enabled to turn out from 700 to SOO sheets a da}'. Thc pressman's assistant is alway-! a young girl, as a woman's deft touch is re quired to handle the thin sheets of paper and place them accurately under the ipress. purpose, and every sheet of it is counted. In fact, from the time the papeyv enters the press until it emerges a shjiet of stamps in the Btorage rooms it passes through fourteen divisions, everjr one of which registers the sheet, and these must tally as to totals at the cIose>jof the day before an employe is permitted to leave the building. Ey?ry time the pressman runs a plate;through his machine he removes it aild-reinks it. Upon this largely depends the perfection of the impres sion^-.After inking the plate he rubs the surplus ink from the surface with a brush. Then he passes his hands over .? cake of chalk and rubs the plate briskly with his bare paling. This cleans the exposed parts of the plate thoroughly and leaves the ink in the line? which are to convey the impres sion-^ the paper. The printer soon becomes a mass of ink from his hands to his elbows, aud sooner or later com municates it to his face, as well as daubing it over his apron. A carmine colored ink is used in printing the two cent stamps, and the pressroom has a decidedly sanguinary appearance. The young lady assistants average about $1.25 a day, while tho pressmen run REVENUE STAMPS. from ? I to $G a day in earning capacity. "Where the steam presses are used four steel plates, each one printing 100 stamps, work upon an endless chain passing in front of the pressman. In this operation his duties are con fined to cleaning the plates with his hands, as described abose, the ma chinery doing the inking and press ing. He can press about seven sheets every sixty seconds, and has twoyouug women to assist him, ono to feed the press and the other to remove the sheets. The sheets of stamps are now ready to be gummed, perforated and divided. After the ink has been dried aiu^he sheets pressed llat they ave 'M^L another room, where another handle them. The gumming maehimw is a simple apparatus which distributes an even flow of mucilage upon the re verse side of the stamp. It is done automatically, so that there is no waste and no surplus of mucilage upou any part of the sheet. The mucilage is composed of glucose and dexterine, mixed in stipulated quantities and ab solutely harmless. When the sheets are coated with mucilage they pass upon an endless chain through a steam chest about sixty feet lo-g, where they are sub jected to a temperature of about 135 degrees, eoming out after several min utes thoroughly dried. Then they go to a hydraulic press to be pressed flat, having become warped iu the steam chest. The sheets are are laid between stiff cardboards and a stack of them puf; into the machine, where they are subjected to a pressure of 5000 pounds to the square inch. There are no wrinkles left when they emerge from this gentle squeezing. Their next journey is to the perfora ting machiues, operated by skillful young women. This is apparently a simple piece of work, but it requires close attention to feed the machine, so that the perforating wheels run straight down the spaces between the stamps. Even with the utmost care slips occur, and a row of stamps is perforated down the middle. Every spoiled sheet is preserved, however, to be accounted for, and if so much as a corner of a stamp is torn oft' it must be patched on again, so as to present a whole sheet to the next checker. One of the most interesting places in the building is the room where the stamps are examined and counted. This is an immense apartment, filled with loug tables, at which several scores of young women are working. Piled upon the tables in front of them are stacks of ten dollar, fifty dollar or one hundred dollar bills, government bonds and sheets of stamps. A rus tling sound like the whisper of thc wind through a thousand trees fills the room, as the counters rapidly turn the bills and sheets, keeping a mental tab lipon the number, while their eyes, trained to the utmost vigilance, seek out imperfections in the printing. I' Raw one young woman at work counting and examining the stamps whose record was from ten thousand tn twelve thousand sheets a day. Her lingers seemed to fairly fly as she lifted the sheets, and although it waa but a fraction of a second during which tho stamps passed under her gaze, her quick eye would detect the least imperfection, passing over two hundred stamps in that time. For this skillful and exacting work theso young women are paid from $1.50 to $2 per day. When the perfect sheets are thns as? sorted and counted, they pass to the storage vault, a fireproof and airtight structure. The Bureau keeps a sto ck of about six hundred million stamps on hand constantly. They are fur nished to the Postoffice Department at the rate of about twelve millions a day, upon requisition by the Third Assist ant Postmaster General. A steel wagon, with padlocked doors and ac companied by a guard of armed men, conveys the stamps to the Postoffice Department. This wagon is also used to transport currency and bank notes to the Treasury Department, and goes trundling along the street with mill ions of money inside of it. KLONDIKE PALACE CARS. First Effort to Put Reindeer to Use in America. The rush to the Klondike has been the means of establishing a novel transportation line at Cirole City, Alaska. Twenty sturdy bucks have been selected from the United States Government reindeer herd at'Teller's Station and are now on their way to the mining districts. This is the first effort to press the reindeer into the ALL ABOARD FOB THE KLONDIKE. practical commercial service of the civilized American ; heretofore the Eski mo dog has been used in all expedi tions through the Klondike country. That the reindeer possesses tremend ous advantages over the Eskimo dog is illustrated in the matter of their re spective food. That of the dog must be carried, while the reindeer paws the snow from the roots on which he sub sists.-New York World. Willing to Do Her Best. Several years ago when the famous old siren whistle was blown so fre quently at the river mouth-no, not by the river mouth-a certain East End family owned a cow. She was just an ordinary cow in all respects, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer, save one. The ?iren whistle had a remarkable effect upon her. Every blessed time the whistle started iu to wail and moan that cow started np a vigorous series, of moos. And the most curious fea ture about it was that the cow's vocal ^tf-Qt??^vr?a -^^^f w^ c*res complished-could hope to rival. And i this cow-being a sensible and rather j phlegmatic animal-didn't attempt to. j But her efforts within reasonable limits never failed to arouse the hilarious at- i tentions of thc neighbors, and fre fluently caused strangers to pause by the fence and listen open-mouthed to j the astonishing performance. Houses Without Chimneys. It is curious, though true, that of all the houses, dwellings, stores, hotels and other buildings that dot the isl and of Key West, Fla., from one shore to the other, not one of them has a chimney or anything that will answer the purpose of a chimney. Handsome residences and lowly hovels are alike in this respect, and from an eminence gazing ont over acres of roofs on all sides one is struck with the want of something to complete the symmetry of the picture. Wood and coal or fuel of any kind arc unknown quantities, as the tropical atmosphere furnishes all the heat required, and for cooking purposes sticks of carbon are used, which are sold by peddlers, who hawk their wares about the streets.-Atlan ta Constitution. *"." A Woman Colonel. Miss Lewis Butt is a colonel on the staff of Governor Atkinson, of Georgia, There is only one other woman colonel in the United States, and that is Col onel Nellie Ely, of Tennessee. Dur ing the Civil War the dashing Confed erate cavalry leader appointed more than one fair Virginian aide-de-camp" on his staff, and it is recorded that the prettiest of them, a Fairfax girl, re paid Stuart by marrying a Union offi cer.-New York Journal.. PRINCE OF PICEONS. Ile Few 1000 Miles In Seventy-Are Hours and Holds the World's Record. ? Pedro, the great homing pigeon which broke the world's record for 1000 miles in his swift journey in the air from New Orleans to Mishawaka, Ind., is tho pride of the Mishawaka Homing Club. Pedro's superb race was made in seventy-five hours total, or less than fifty hours of actual fly ing. Carrier pigeons never work after T-EDRO, rnrxcE or CARRIERS. dark. Pedro is a pretty red pigeon, is three years old, and is owned bj Secretary Tallens, of tho club. Pedrc is a brother of Lulu, the winner o? the 500-mile race in Mississippi. Bot! are imported birds. When Pedro ar rived at Mishawaka he flew straight t< his loft, seeming none the worse foi the journey. During the year 1896 dead dogs t< the number of 10,002 were taken ou of Chicago. .. A HIGH WATER TOWER. ts 103 Feet Hitch and Has a Capacity of ; 2000 dillons. The towns of the plain districts are forced to resort to various expedienta ' to obtain a suitable pressure for the ' distribution of their water supply. At I WARREN (ILL.) WATER TOWER. ^"Warren, UL, the water supply is dis tributed according to the Engineering j News, fronx-a water tower of masonry j.102 feet high from the water table to the bottom of the tank. The masonry l-istfounded on solid rock about twelve ( or thirteen feet below the water table. At the level/of the water table the , walls are four feet thick, and from this i they decrease with a uniform taper to \ a thickness of two feet at the top. The ; masonry is of limestone kid in cement ' mortar. The tank is made of red .Louisiana cypress and is twenty-fou , f?et high and twenty-one feet in dia : meter, with a capacity of 2000 gallons. The standpipe which supplies the -water to the mains is ten inches in diameter and -is connected with the bottom of the tank with an expansion joint and a balance float valve. This valve automatically shuts off the water when the tank is full. "Water is pumped to the tower from a deep well located in the brick power house about sixty feet away. This well is about 800 feet deep. The water is lifted from the well to tho top of the tower without rehandling. Eventually the water will be discharged into a reservoir, where it will be handled by another pump "for fire service, but in the meantime a very fair pressure is had direct from the tank, which is elevated some forty or fifty feet-above the larger part of the town. . "Out of Sortfl..'^ Many common . expressions are of .although most cjozn^oaitiofl-] arintiirg. ?office ^he? .wprdj.L 'i?pi^>. .m?Y^wMck jafo^ i case, but which are ircquTnt'rVTnTSB-^ ing. A man who, in the days before the coming of linotype machines, found his "e" box barren or his com- | ma box desolate and bankrupt was ; said to be out of those particular sorts. : By his profanity the calamity was i made known, and by his impatient re marks to this day is the man who is out of sorts known, whether he is a ' ! banker or a policeman.-Chicago Rec- [ j ord. i A COUNTESS CREATES A STIR, i - She Declares That Dancing Has Decen era ted Into a Graceless Komp. i The Countess of Ancaster, who has ? created a great stir iu the fashionable I world of London by her d?claration ! that dancing has degenerated into a graceless romp, is tho wife of Lord , Willoughby de Eresby, the Baron of Aveland. The Countess' daughter, Evelyn Clementina, is married to Ma- j COUNTESS OP ANCASTER. Henry jor-General Sir Henry Ewart, the Queen's equerry. This fact and the very high social position of the Coun tess herself, give more than ordinary importance to her opinions upon mat ters concerning society, aud dancing is certainly oue of these. Wales Licensed to Give Fills. : The Prince of Wales, at the last meeting of the Royal College of Phy sicians, having been solemnly elected a member of that august body, from now on has the right to commence medical practice in the United King dom without any iuterference on the part of the authorities. It is hardly necessary to jay that England's future king understands little or nothing about medicine, and that his doctorship of medicine as well as his brevat as a physician is only of an honorary char acter.-Chicago Record. Chattel Slavery in Missouri. According to an old law in St. Louis, a mau may be sold at auction to the highest bidder for a term of six .months' service for deserting his wife and failing to support her. The law is to be applied in the case of a con firmed loafer, and an announcement of his sale is posted on the front door of the City Court House.-Chicago Jour nal. Crude petroleum is an excellent remedy for rheumatism. Quinine and other fe ver medicines take from S to 10 days to cure fever. Johnson's Chill and Fever Tonic cures in ONE DAY. NEW CAVE IN INDIANA. Exploring Party Has Cone More Than a Mile Into lt From New Middleton,Harrison Co., Ind., comes the story of a new cave of wonderful beauty which has just been discovered. The first explorers re port that they could hear voices in the cave, but were unable to locate the direction from which they came, and this story has revived the tradition that pigmies once inhabited the Mar engo cave, about twenty miles dis tant. The country under which the cave lies is full of basin-like depressions, as if the land had sunk, but immense forest trees growing in these basins show that the terrestrial disturbance* took place h long time ago. Men clearing away a fallen tree on the farm of Henry Fleiss, near New Mid dleton, discovered the new cave en trance at the foot of a low hill. A current' of' air came from the cavern, and this suggested to them that there was probably water in it, but an ex ploration of the first apartment of the cave showed it to be perfectly dry, with a brisk current of air flowing through it. In one side was an open ing about two feet wide. Passing through this the exploring party found themselves at the head of a flight of thirty-two well worn steps, which had th? appearance of having been cut by man. From this room a second flight of thirty-two steps led to a still lower level. These steps were so worn as to be almost perpen dicular', and the descent had to be made with the aid of a rope. The exploring party traveled on o descending grade of about fifty de grees for more than a mile, when they came to an abrupt precipice. Up to this point the cavern had been as dry as an ordinary cellar, but at the top of the precipice a noise like the roaring of a ca***ract could be heard. Plummets were let down over the pre cipice at varions points, and the bot tom was found to be forty feet down. The ceiling was low at this point, bnt there was room enough to rig a tackle, ? so the party descended. On this next level the cave was found to widen and played beautiful stalactites, which re flected the colors of the rainbow as they glowed in the light of the torches. Every word uttered was re-echoed many times. A pretty little stream ran through the stalagmites with a faint ripple. A water snake, several kinds of eyeless fish and a toad were , the only life found. ^^^^ImfOTfl brr u- ex Johnson's Chill and Fe* ver Tonic is a ONE-DAY Cure. It cures the most stubborn case of Fever ia 24 Hours. Rubber Trees. . - Eubber trees are often seen growing ip to one very tall, spindling shoot, ?Vithout any disposition to branch; this ihonld be altered by pinching ont the ;op bud in the fall, causing the plant " form other shoots. As a rule, the 'lbber plant does not branch without pinching out, under our system of cul ture, though one well-known florist ip familiar in the trade as the producer sf naturally branching rubbers, with out the pinching process. We ahonld hardly advise putting the variegated r?bber plant outside during summer, because it is so very susceptible to leaf injury; indeed, we should not recommend it as n house plant, either. When in perfect condition, the foliage is very handsome, but it is extremely subject to a species of leaf blight which, beginning in the creamy varie gation, gradually extends over the re mainder of the leaf. This trouble at tacks the plant even under the most favorable conditions, though it is natu rally intensified by any check to growth. No doubt it is the result of constitutional weakness, of which var iegation is often au evidence. Some of the large wholesale florists have al most given up growing the variegated rubb?r for commercial purposes, OH account of this trouble.-Bural New Tor ker. Johnson's Chill and Fe var Tonic is a ONE-DAY Cure. It cures the most stubborn case of Fever in 24 Hours. A CHANGE. "My wife is very considerate of me," said the young married man. "She was afraid my rest was being in terrupted too much, and last week she bought a burglar alarm." "Does it make a difference?" "Yes. Instead of getting up to see whicher there are burglars in the house I get up to see whether the alarm is set." yon PRACTICALLY APPLIED. Farmer Clovertop-Wot did that there boy o' yourn learn at college ? Farmer Hayrick-Well, he learned Greek an* Latin an' football an* fencin' an' a lot o' things. Farmer Clovertop-Fenoin', hey? Wall, I don't see as how your fences looks any better nor mine. Why take Johnson's Chill & Fever Tonic? Because it cures the most stubborn case > of Fever in ONE DAY.