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5pringffeTd (STaSCT) Union saja the beat and finest^ ailk water proofs are made in Rhode Island, but on account of the foolishness of American consumers they have to be sent to London and stumped with an English trademark and rcshipped to this country as English goods. The per capita consumption of iron in the United States is estimated at 300 pounds. In 1860 we used scarcely 75 pounds per capita. lu 1860 we produced less than a million tons of pig iron; in 1890 our production will exceed 10,000,000 tons. In 1856 an thracite foundry iron was listed at $27.50 in Philadelphia; in 1889 in the same city the price was $17.75 a ton. The French are surely a peculiar people, exclaims the 'Washington Star. The native population grows less than any other European nation, but the party of the righ now proposes to tax all foreigners. At such a rate of progress the historian of civilization in the twenty-fourth century will write at tlih beginning of one of Ins chapters relating to Southern Europe: Fr.iiico was. It is a curious fact, revealed by the figures of the recent census, that while there are in the United States three cities of more than 1,000,000 inhabi tants each, one cf between 800,000 and 900,000, three of between 400,000 and 500,000 each, and nine of between 200,000 and, 300,000 each, there is not a single one having between 300,000 and 400,000 inhabitants. In- 1860 we had but nine cities with a population of over 100,000 each. New York City’tas now no less"than 128 hotels, and yet, declares the New Orleans Times-Democrat, these are ut terly insufficient to meet the demands of the traveling public that seeks shel ter within its gates. In the near future at least a dozen more will be constructed. This condition of tluag* exists notwithstanding the fact that the metropolis duting the past ten years has doubled its hotel accommo dations. Berlin news from a well-informed quarter gives indications that William II. entertains the feeling of great irri tation against Russia, which frequent ly insists on the presence of 450,000 men out of a nominal 850,000 of the Russian peace standard in a perpetual ly mobilized condition on the Polish frontiers of Germany and Austria and thus a standard menace to European tranquility. But for this attitude of Russia it is believed that France would disarm and Germany and Austria fol low suit. Says the Boston Cultivator-“There is perhaps one good reason for not shortening the terms of United States Sena'ors. The secure position of an office for six years gives the per son who holds it a quietude and peace in mind that greatly promote his happiness and longevity. It is not ac cidental that there are more United States Senators over seventy years old than there are congressmen in the popular branch. The venerable J. S. Morrill of Vermont, who has passed bis eighty-first year, has just been chosen for a new term of six years, and is apparently as vigorous as most men at seventy, and may live out his term if no accident terminates his career.” One of the most extensive and im portant organizations in England is now in full working order. It is called the General Railway Workers’ anion, and is absorbing the various local and other societies all over the “The rush of people and capital to the new State of Washington, and es pecially to Seattle and Tacoma, has been appreciably felt in British Co lumbia as well,” said a fine-looking Englishman in the Hoflfman House to a New York Star man. “There is practically no difterence be tween that State and the British pos sessions on the north side of the Straits of Fuca, except the difference in government. Climate, soil, mineraU and productions are virtually the same. I live at Victoria, just across the Straits from Washington, and in three or four years we have had an in crease of seven to ten thousand popu lation as the overflow from the United States.” The gentleman who gave this information is Mr. Francis Bourchier, a prosperous business man of Victoria, whose avowed mission to New York is to get acquainted with New Yorkers, and to acquaint them with “the existence of British Co lumbia.” 1. Short hours. 2. Higher wages. 3. Removal of grievances and improve ment of conditions. That shorter hours are in many cases of paramount necessity, declares the Chicago Times is evident to all familiar with the un- t necessarily long hours often worked pn the railways. The parliamentary returns show that in one month there were 252,209 cases of men being em ployed for thirteen hours, 160,123 for fourteen hours, 110,190 for fifteen hours, 57,835 for sixteen hours, 27,066 for seventeen hours, and 25,525 for eighteen hours and upward. Nearly all the great railroad systems have hospitals for the benefit of their railroad employes, which are partially supported by monthly deductions from the pay of employes. Some of the railroads which do not have the hos pital system carry what is known as a voluntary relief fund. The Wabash railway system has perfected a system which is almost perfect. The funds necessary to support the hospitals are acquired by deducting a certain amount monthly for the pay of each employe. From $50 or less 35 cents is deducted, and over $50 a deduction, of 50 cents is made. Every employe of the road from the office boy and sectionman up to the supetiutendent is assessed, and the order is imperative. The funds are carefully' looked after, and so successful has the management been that two fine hospitals are kept in fine condition. The various movements that have been made in the direction of irriga tion of the great wilderness of the West have been inspired, states the Philadelphia Record, by the lifelong belief in the existence of a great un derflow to the plains. The Depart ment of Agriculture is now satisfied from official investigations that from the foothills of the Rockies for 450 miles eastward the uplands, or plains region, is everywhere underlaid by a great stratum of gravel, sand and small bowlders, at depths below the alluvial of from 15 to 100 feet, and that sufficient water can be struck in this drift stratum and lifted to the su.face by simple me chanical power to insure the arable reclamation of at least one-half of the entire area. Should the expec tations of the experts engaged in the work of irriguous research be even measurably realized it would be diffi cult to set bounds to the magnitude of the results. Nor will the theory of a plains underflow be long left to con jecture, since the investigation which the department has entered on must be completed before July 1, 1891, un der a proviso of the bill making ai. appropriation for the work. The Washington Star notes that “architecture is receiving more and more attention in the United States. Time was when the private buildings of much comfort and ornamental value were rare, and this time was not so very remote from our own. With the exception of a few public edifices, not to be compared with those of the present in size or architectural grace, we had no imposing structures, in the last cenlury, and it was far into the nineteenth before the builders’ art had made much headway. All that has been changed during the last fifty years. A grand Capitol, various new department buildings and other notable ■oflifiees have befea ereotetHn Washing ■ ton, and hardly an American state but has from one to a dozen magnificent public buildings, some of them more costly than the palaces of Europe. This growth of architectural art is due to the increasing wealth and taste and refinement of the people. It has called for architects of a higher order than those who designed the buildings of our ancestors.” The Gennsn-Emperor anc Within the self-same ye Beneath the self-same sky, Upon the self-same morn; A. kaiser he, of high estate, And I the usual chance of fate. nis father was a prince; and mine— Why, just a farmer—tlrat. L» alj.^ Stars still are stars, although some sEtne, And some roil hid in midnight’s pall; But argue, cavil all you can, My sire was just as good a man. The German Emperor and I Eat, drink, and.sleep the self-same way; For bread is bread, and pie Is pie And kings can eat but thrice a day, And sleep will only come to those Whose mouths and stomachs are not foes* I rise at six and go to work, And be at five, and does the same. We both have cares we cannot shirk; Mine are for loved ones; his for fame. He may live best, I cannot tell; I’m sure I wish the Kaiser well. I have a wife, and so has he; And yet, if pictures do not err, At far as human sight can see, Mine is by long odds twice as fair. Say, would I trade those eyes dark brown? Not for an empress aud her crown. And so the emperor and I On this one point could ne’er agree; Moreover, we will never try. His frau suits him and mine suits me. And though his sous one day may rule, Mine stands Al in the public school. So let the Kaiser have his sway, Bid kings and nations tumble down, I have my freedom and my say, And fear no ruler and his crown; For 1, unknown to fame or war, Live where each man is emperor. —[Fred W. Shirley in Boston Globe. THE CRATER CITY. The Louisville Courier-Journal says: “Underlying all other public questions, pressing, persistent, commanding, is the subject of education. Important in every civilized nation, it is in America of paramount interest. In America we have 12,000,000 children enrolled in the public schools alone; how to increase this attendance, how to lower absenteeism, how to waste no money, no energy, no time, but to make every effort tell; what methods are best; what studies are essential; what influences are to be stimulated; how to reach the hearts, the minds, the consciences of these children; what ideals to put before them—these are matters of most pro found concern. Our public schools require 347,292 teachers and cost an nually $122,455,252—or did two years ago. These figures simply show the magnitude of the system, and are daggering even to the imagination. The future of the Republic is com mitted to these 12,000,000 children aud to the hundreds of thousands in private and sectarian schools, to these and not to one or the other of the po litical parties, to these and not to any church, not to any organization whatever.” The First Steam Fire Engine. At the suggestion of the fire insur ance companies of New York city, a machinist named Paul Dodge, a resi dent of Gotham also, construcied a steam fn-e engine, which was first pub" licly tested in front of the New York city hall m March, 1841. It was a total failure. Then the board of di rectors offered a gold medal for the best method of applying steam to the propulsion of water for fire purposes. This prize was won by John Ericsson, the maker of the “Monitor,” recently deceased and more recently removed to his native country. The official re port has the following paragraph in regard to Ericsson’s engine: “The points of excellence, as thus narrowed down, were found to belong to an en gine weighing less than two and one- half tons, which has the power of 108 men, and will throw 3000 pounds of water per minute to a height of 105 feet through a nozzle of one and one- half inches in diameter. The model in question was submitted by one John Eriesson.'* *'-[Chicago Tribune. “There’s a great many curious things in this world,” said my friend, Andrew Johns, as he removed his cigar and looked meditatively into space. “And you look as though you were seeing some of them,” I answered, smiliug at his abstraction. “So I am—in my mind. I see a sand crater facing a river in India. Inside of this dismal hole is a miser able village, peopled by miserable in habitants,” he went on, soberly. “There is no escape, no hope for them —they are dead! But wait; you shall hear the story. I have a notion for telling it to-night” He threw away his cigar and was silent for some moments, while his wife, a slight, dark woman, moved to a seat by his side and laid one hand caressingly on his. Andrew had married her abroad and had never revealed her nationality. “I will tell you of a strange adven ture which befell a—a friend of mine —Hal Andrews. It happened while he was stopping at Benares, the sacred city of the Hindoos and the stronghol of idolatry and superstition, w making a lazy pleasure tour of Asia. “Benares had a peculiar fascination for him, as the oldest known habita tion of man on* the globe, and the Ganges, the sacred river, was espe cially attractive. “More than once he watched the burning of bodies upon the funeral pyres along the river. These pyres are of logs—the bottom ones five feet long, witu shorter ones across until they roach the height of three feet, then the naked body is placed thereon, more logs are added, and all is set on fire. When burned the ashes are care fully collected and thrown into the Ganges. “Widows were formerly burned alive with their dead husbands, but it Is now a matter of choice, and— strange as it may seem—many of them choose that horrible death to the living death of being without caste or friends, as a widow must. “One morning as he was watching funeral preparations, the corpse sud denly showed signs of life. Instantly there was a startled commotion among the howling relatives. “Mud was hastily thrust into nose and mouth, but still the ungrateful maiden would not die. “At last she sat upright, and the relatives fled, the spectators shrugged their shoulders and turned away, and four native police advanced and bound the maiden, in spite of her cries and entreaties. “ ‘Will they kill her?’ Hal asked, indiguan'ly, cf a bystander. “‘Oh, no!’ was the indifferent an swer. ‘She is already dead, and must go to the Crater City.’ “ ‘Is there, then, a city of the dead where unfortunates who escape the pyre are kept until death really claims them?’ asked Hal again. “ ‘There is.’ “The answer was given reluctantly- “ ‘Where is it?’ persisted Hal. “ ‘No one can tell.’ “The answer was significant and decisive. “‘You mean no one will tell me; but I will find out!’ cried Hal, hotly. ‘It is a shame—an outrage!’ “ ‘Very likely.* “And with another shrug of the shoulders the man turned away, after giving Hal a few last words of ad. vice : “ ‘Don’t say too much about it while you stay in India.’ “But the scene haunted Hal. Tha maiden was young and beautiful, for Hindoo women are among the most beautiful on earth. “‘What a horrible death in life!’ he mused, as he mounted his horse and rode out into the surrounding country, followed closely by Baba, his native who was devotedly at- m. wed along the course of and his thoughts were ely maiden, who had re covered fiom the semblance of death to meet avorse fate than the funeral pyre. - “SadaSnly his horse shied and dashed madly ahead, regardless of all efforts which Hal made to control him. “Baba uttered a cry.of dismay, and dashing along as fast as possible, tried to keep him in sight. “On rushed the frightened horse, while Hal tried In vain to check him— up a sloaping, sandy ridge, then along the rise, until—Hal gave a low cry of incredulous surprise—the horse snort ed, and turned to flee, the sand gave way under his feet, and Hal knew no more after the fall. “ “Wkua.he recovered consciousness enough to feel an interest in his sur roundings, he saw a wretched village surrounded by a natural barrier of sand on three sides, and by the river in front. “A number of half-naked people crowded curiously around him, and among them was the maiden of the funeral pyre. He was in the city of the dead! “The day passed slowly enough, and night came. “As Hal was meditating upon the chances of escape, a soft voice near him said, in broken English and Hin. doo, of which he knew enough to un derstand the meaning: “‘Do you wish to escape? It is useless. This is the city from which none ever return.’ “ ‘There is—there must be some way of escape!’ cried Hal, impatient ly. “ ‘The sand barrier prevents all es. cape by land; aud see, continued, leading him to bank. ‘ ‘The river was filled with number, less crocodiles—great, wicked-looking creatures—waiting viciously for any attempt at escape; aud, besides these hideous sentinels, a boat filled with native soldiers was anchored near by ^ “ ‘You understand?’ said the maiden, significantly, as Hal sank back with a groan. “Two days passed. Hal made des perate attempts to scale the sandy wall, but in vain, as the maiden watched him with sympathy, and the rest of the miserable creatures viewed his struggles with the calm indifference born Of the despair resulting from similar trials. “The third night came, and as Hal paced the circuit of the inclosure, he heard a low whistle. . ’ the 'maiden the river “Looking TIJfi lie "saw Baba T s eager face peering over the sandy bank, while a coil of rope fell at his feet. “A soft sigh near by told him that bis companion in despair had seen his chance of escape, also. “Gently with swift, eager fingers Hal fastened the rope around her waist, whispered a few directions, and gave Baba the signal to draw her up. “She reached the top safely, again the rope fell, and Hal took his own turn, not a moment too soon, for from all points of the miserable village, eager, howling wretches came hurry ing to take the chauce of escape from him. “‘Hurry, master!’ said Baba, ex citedly. ‘Tomorrow’s sun must see you far from Benares, for dead peo ple must never return to mingle with the living, and yon have seen the mysterious city.’ “Faithful Baba! He had diso beyed the laws to save his master, and no wonder that he wished to leave the place. ‘‘There Is little more to tell. He reached—they reached the frontier in safety, for the maiden accompanied him. If she bad remained, she would have been returned to the dreaded Crater City, or else doomed to a living death upon the funeral pyre.” “What more?” I demanded, as he stopped, with a significant glance at his wife. “Nothing—except this,” he an swered, emphatically. “My name is Henry Andrew Johns. Sometimes I have passed under the name of Haj Andrews, and my wife was a Hindoo maiden, before an English education changed her views of life.”—[Satur day Night. * A Singular Canal. The most remarkable canal in the world is the one between Worsley and St. Helen’s in the north of England. It is sixteen miles long, and under ground from end to end. In Lancashire the coal mines are very extensive, half the country being undermined, and many years ago the Duke of Bridgewater’s managers thought they could save money by transporting the coal underground in stead of on the surface. So the canal was constructed aud the mines drained at the same time. Ordinary canal boats are used, but the power is furnished by men, and the method of propulsion is unique. On the roof of the tunnel are placed cross hieces at regular intervals. The men lie on their backs upon the loads of coal and push with their feet against the cross-bars on the roof, and thus move forward the boats. Fenced by night—The, pigs. * Japanese as Metal Workers. The Japanese are past masters in the trea’ment of alloys, both in texture and color, and no better guides exist, says the Jewelers’ Review. They achieve their grand results by the simplest means—a judicious blending of various metals, inlaying and pick ing. Copper is the basis of their chief alloys, and by incorporating with it certain proportions of gold and silver they obtain remarkable results in color through the pr‘ ’'ling process. But not only do they get striking effects from their alloys and picking, their mode of working up the metals is a thing to be studied. For instance, they will take six or seven plates of different metals and alloys, weld them together, and then, by drilling, punch ing up and filling, get a surface in which all the metals show in a manner which is truly wonderful. By the range of tints at their com mand they can work out on a metal surface scenes of animal life, land scapes, etc., with effect never dreamt of by metal workers in the western world. Among some examples re cently shown in England was a knife handle, on which was a representation of a duck dipping its head under the water of a stream on which it was swimming, the arrangement of the different alloys by which it was com posed and the picking being so well arranged that tho neck of the duck was seen as under the water when the handle was held in a certain light. Another example was a sword hilt on which some minnows not more than one-sixteenth of an inch in length,aud each having a pair of gold eyes, were swimming upon a gray stream, the effect of their being actually below the surface of the water being suggested with marvelous skill. Imitations of wood grain and marbles were also shown. Evolution of a Farm Hand. Eben D. Jordan, the famous dry- goods merchant of Boston, is like so many prosperous people in Massachu setts, a native of Maine. Left very poor and fatherless in an obscure vil lage while a boy, he was bound out to a farmer in the neighborhood and got a rudimentary education at an adjacent district school. At 14 he went to Bos ton to seek his fortune and eventually found it. Getting nothing to do there at first ho went to work on a farm in the vicinity at $4 a month, and, three years later, was employed in a mer cantile house in the city at $275 a year, which he considered affluence. Before twenty, he had awakened a strong interest in Joshua Stetson, then a leading drygoods merchant, by his industry, energy and intelligence, and Stetson backed him in setting up in a qui Grain is now A kangaroo small business for uimself at Hanover and Mechanic streets. The steamers from Maine and the provinces then ar rived at Boston very early in the morn ing, and young Jordan, in order to secure the trade of the incoming pas sengers, opened his shop by 4 o’clock, and thus did considerable business be fore breakfast. As a result it became popular and made money. He ad vanced step by step until his present firm was formed and housed in liilk street. Ten years later the present big es tablishment in Washington street was occupied, and has gained a national reputation. Jordan, now 67, has made up for his lack of early advan tages by reading, association, expe rience and travel, and has shown great public enterprise and large pri vate benevolence. He is descended from Robert Jordan, a clergyman of the Church of England, who emigrated two and a half centuries ago.—[New York Commercial Advertiser. stored in steel tanks, farm is about to bo started in Pennsylvania. The people of this country consume 600,000 bags of peanuts annually. Two soft-shelled eggs connected by a ligament of the same material as the shell were laid the other day by a hen in Paw Paw, Mich. In a contest between cowboys at San Antonio, Texas, a few days ago, i man named Capes broke the world’s record by lassoing a wild steer in 43 1-2 seconds. The highest price ever paid for a book, it is said, was $50,000. It was for a vellum missal which was pre sented to King Henry VIH. by Pope Leo A. It has been calculated that it would be possible to take from a section of :he River Negro lakes, occupying ibout nine square leagues, upward of ;wo millions of tons of salt. Daiuty white-feathered ptarmigans’ feet decorated with jewels and silver, for scarf-pins, and purple tufts of heather are among the pretty souvenirs tourists bring from Scotland. Speaker Reed has a double in a Washington photograph, whose strik- ng resemblance to the new Man from Maine has been the cause of several lingular blunders on the part of Con gressmen. Coffee is a good barometer. Always in the eve of a rainstorm it is very aard to grind, but when there is a mre prospect of dry weather it grinds :asily. This is because coffee is a first- ;lass absorbent. The latest fact, brought to light re garding Nero, the infamous Emperor )f Rome, is that he wore a monocle, tt is stated that the tyrant was never without his eyeglasbes when watching :he gladiatorial games. The French Minister of Marine has >rdered the immediate construction of i submarine vessel which will be larger ban any hitherto attempted in any country. This vessel is to be called die Sirene. Its length is to be 181 feet. It is asserted that the Pennsylvania Railroad’s new train shed in Jersey City, N. J., will have the largest span in the world. It will be 256 feet long, 17 feet longer than the celebrated St. Pancras station in London. The building will be 90 feet high in the niddle. Fraulein Marie Essipoff has received is a wedding present from her father, i wealthy Viennese merchant, a book, which is said to be the costliest volume in existence. The binding is of the richest tooled morocco, aud each of leaves is a bond for The Lions of India. The lions of India appear to be going the way of the great bustard anjl the dodo, and the reason is found in the extension of railroads, for the monarch of the forest shares with Mr. Ruskin a mortal antipathy to the smoke and screams of locomotives, says the Lon don News. Within the memory of many persons lions were common enough in Rajputana, and even now tho roar of one may be heard occa sionally in the wildest parts of Central India; but the new railway from Nagpur is now being constructed through this country, aud this is prac tically a notice to quit served upon the few remaining lions in the central provinces. Practically the only lions now re maining that are worth mentioning seem to be the race existing at Katty- war, which was visited by Prince Albert \ ictor. Their numbers remain, it is believed, pretty stationery. It is strictly forbidden to shoot them save by way of the grand spoi't, but many conditions are unfavorable to their multiplication, and even the Kattywar lions are clearly doomed ere long to disappear. She Was Talkative. Sanso—Mrs. Cumso always uses the right word in the right place. Rodd—She could hardly help doing so, seeing that she uses every word in the language in every place.—[New York Herald. the one hundred >ne thousand gulden. A remarkable case of faithfulness in duty occurred in Hanover, Germany. A switchman, who was about to attend to the switches for an approaching train, saw his little daughter running to him with her clothes on fire. He did not leave his post, but set his switch first, and then ran to her assist ance. The child died of hei wounds, but the train passed safely. The Unexpected Sometimes Happens. “Here, Bobbett. Here’s that ten dollars I owe you.” “What? Well, I declare—you are a genius. You’re always surprising your friends.”—[Epoch. Strong Men in Arctic Circles. Among the Tchouktchis, in Siberia, I found a great many strong men, says R. W. Gilder in the New York Sun. Like the Eskimo, when making sn extraordinary effort, they would mpplement their hands by seizing whatever they had to hold between their short, strong teeth. One day I saw an exhibition of this peculiar kind of strength among these people that 1 never saw equalled, though Richard J. Bush, in the story of hi s experience among the Gillaks of Sibe ria, a very similar race, records having witnessed the same feat. I had a box of crackers on one side of my sleds, wd the lid being nailed on tightly aud no hatchet handy, I said to my driver: “I guess we won’t have any bread to night, luaidlin. We cau’t open the box.” But luaidlin did not propose to be deprived of his bread on account of a trifle like that, so stooping down he gnawed the wood immediately sur rounding each nail, so that he could get a good hold with his teeth and ac tually pulled out sufficient of them in that way to remove the lid. That his teeth were not damaged thereby was clearly shown by the way in which he crunched and devoured an extra allowance of hard tack which the box contained, that I gave him as a reward for his extraordinary ser vices. English Farms Tacant. An enormous number of farms have become vacant this Michaelmas, aud all over Englaud it appears to be ex. tremely probable that land owners will have them thrown upon their hands, as in most counties there are half a dozen vacant holdings fot every eligible applicant. In Hamp- shire, Kent, Sussex, and othei counties, where the principal land owners already have thousands ol acres unoccupied, the prospect is really very serious. It is nearly impossible to let arable farms on any terms, and even good grazing farms will only find tenants at reduced rentals. Tht Kent hop farms are reported to lx difficult to let even at the pressn* rents.—[London World. Gran’pa’s locks are white as snow. Those be still possesses, Ghosts of curls of long ago. Wraiths of boyhood’s tresses. Wrinkles o’er his features thin Zigzag without pity. Like the streets and alleys In Famous Boston city. Time has bent his form with years, And his legs are thinner And less comely than the shears Used by any tinner. Lusty was be once and gay. Full of manhood’s graces. But of that long vanished day There are now few traces. Yet he in his youthful pride Pleased the fair sex greatly; Many lassies for him sighed, Many ladies stately. Hearts once throbbed amd ached for him. Tears wet silken lashes, But those eyes in death are dim And those hearts are ashes. Gran’pa has one sweetheart yet. Daintiest of creatures, Whose two eyes of deepest jet Still approve his features. Nellie is her name, you see, Aud if I remember What her age is, she was three Some time last December! Oft her hand, so chubby fair, O’er bis face she passes Tenderly, and with great care Not to touch his glasses. Oft his form I’ve seen her scan And I’ve caught her saying: “Gran’pa’s such a handsome man’’— Thus her love betraying. —[George Horton in Chicago Herald. HUMOROUS. How to get some large bills fora small one—Go to law. It is a habit of saints and pugilists to be strong in tho right The trouble about room-mates is that each mate wishes to be captain. Families are a good deal like clocks. Too much regulation may make them go wrong all the time. ! It is useless for people to lead a cat- and-dog life. Poor old Towser oustht to realize that Tabby has nine chanfieV to his one. He tried at whiskers, then at beard— Dead failures did they droop. He’s only now a lone mustache, v And e’en that’s “in the soup!” , Landlady — “That new boarder needn’t try to make me think he is a bachelor. He’s either married or is a widower.” Millings—“How can you tell?” Landlady—“He always turns his back to me when he opens his pocketbook to pay his board” ' I met a poet once, a worthy man, . ’; Who after years had won tha fame he sought. { I wished him joy. He blushed and wrung my hand And borrowed dollars from me on the spot. American and English Girls in Germany The Gq^raan girls are beginning to complain with coifrmdeMftTe bitternessr ' “—— notes Eugene Field in the Chicago News, that American and English' girls are encroaching upon their pre serves. Very many Americans and] Englifji send their daughters to Ger-^ many to be educated; the pretty dears not only master the language short-time—quite as quickly and a£ easily they make a conquest of 'the hearts of the susceptible German offi cer. The number of army officers in Germany with American aud ^nglisu wives is very l£rge, and the fad ap pears to be increasing. In Dresden? particularly, the English and Ameri£ cans are ifi great demand; the nativjj madchen (be she ever so pretty) seei to have no chance at all. In Berl there is a fancy for a peculiar style qJE feminine beauty; the Berliner admirM brown eyes and hair and a dark, clear complexion; these features argue amiability, fidelity and gentle breed^ ing, they claim. The German girls complain that the American girls aro natural adepts iu affairs of the hearts— that they seem endowed by nature with all the arts, the audacity and the confidence of the average ‘ younjf widow. ' f Ripening Lemons in Florida. English Industries states thpt'a novej: business, resting strictly bn chemical principles aud needing nothing but a little capital to develop it, is said to*be practised in Florida. It consists in avoiding dependence upon the slow and imperfect ripehtffig^ of lemons by the sun’s rays by picking the fruit while green and exposing it to the fumes of burning sulphur? whereby its color is changed to a rich golden yellow, infinitely more attract ive than the natural hue. ^ “It is true that the interior of the lemon is practically free from juice, a fact which the hypercritical might reckon a slight drawback; but this is,' after all, a trivial matter, affecting only the consumer,” is the salve applied! to the conscience. A Frozen Corpse. In the doorway of a furniture store „ on Howard street, in Baltimore, Md.^ in plain view of passers-by, stands an ordinary-looking refrigerator that con tains, and since Aug. 21st has con tained, the dead body of an infant.* Although nothing has been done in the way of embalming or otherwise preserving the body, the flesh is jusC as solid and odorless as if death had taken place a few hoars before. On this ‘act the inventor bases his claims to a most valuable discovery. By a very simple arrangement he has ob-| tained this startling result at little ex pense. He expects io apply it to n /' coffin.—[dan Francisco Chronicle. '