Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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f A / ^ Here ia another evidence that “there •were giants in those days.” Chevalier Bc og, wliile exploring a cavern in the Peak of Teneriffe, found a skull which must have belonged to a man at least fifteen feet high. It contained sixty perfect teetli of monstrous size. The son recently born to Prince Frederick Leopold of Prussia is the twenty-fif'h living prince of the royal and imperial house of Hohenzollern. There is little danger that Prussia or G -rmany will ever be in want of an heir. Samuel Kimberly, United States Consul General at Guiuemaln, says the labor question in Guatemala is in a serious condition. The natives do not care to work, except for their present needs. They are honest in one sense, and not in another; they will not steal, but if they make a bar gain with a man to work a week, and they can make enough in three days to cover their needs, they will drop the job. This is one reason why wages are so low. They do not care to work a moment longer than is nec essary to supply their daily wants. The Engineering and Mining Jour nal says: “Nothing more forcibly dcmonstrales the absurdity of our barbarous system of weights and measures than the compilation of statistics. We have tons of 2240 pounds, of 2000 pounds and the metric ton of 2204 1-2 pounds, or 1000 kilos, to say nothing of the other special tons used in certain industries. We have ounces troy and avoirdupois, and grains and grams, with innumer able other weights. It is indeed h 5 gh time that all civilized countries adopt the single metric standard of weights and measures—in which case the statistics compiled in one country will he available for comparison elsewhere without necessitating the laborious recalculation from one system into the other. One who visited the neighborhood of Oneida, III., twenty-five years ago, says that he then found the farm ten ant an unknown factor in the life of the community; but now more than one-half the owners of land there abouts live in the villages or cities and rent their farms to immigrants, mostly Swedes. “The results of this landlord and tenant system are beginning to show themselves,” remarks the Spring- field (Mass.) Republican, “in dying orchards, falling fences, shabby build ings and the conversion of dooryards into barnyards. This case seems to be ^■^bresentative of the situation in many ..arming sections in Illinois, and no doubi. all over the West. It was in tended that the last census should re veal the extent to which the insidious evil of landlordism in small and large degree has gained a hold in the United States, and the figures will no doubt be made public soon.” The farmer finds it necessary to he something of a veterinarian, to care for his animals when sick or well, an entomologist, to know his friends and his foes among the insects, a chemist, to understand the nature of his soil and of the fertilizers he needs to use, a horticulturist, to know how to care for his numerous varieties of fruits, an artist, to establish in his mind the ideal of perfection which he desires to attain in the mating and breeding of his stock, and a mechanic, that he may learn how to judge of the merits and handle intelligently all the labor-sav ing machines that are offered for his use, and a good salesman that he may dispose of his products to the best ad vantage. Is it any wonder, asks the Boston Cultivator, that there are hut few first-class farmers, capable in all directions ? But there are a great many good one, who fail in but little of the above requirements. It is not thought now that “the fool of the family” should be made a farmer. Queer Mourning Observances. The cutting of hair as a mourning observance is of very great antiquity, and among the ancients whole cities and countries were shaved when a great man died. The Persians not only shave themselves on such occa sions, but extend the same process to their domes:ic animals. Up to within a very few years the Indians of Alaska were accustomed to express their grief for the death of any im portant personage by human sacrifices, and the same practice is largely fol lowed in some parts of Africa. At the fuuera s of chiefs of the Florida and Carolina Indians in former times all the wives of the defunct and his male relatives also weie slain. In former times nearly every tribe of Indians east of the Mississippi river was accustomed at regular 'periods to collect and clean the bones of those persons who had died during the intervening time, interring them in a common sepulchre, lined with choice furs and marked with a mound of wood, stone or earth. Such is the origin of the immense tumuli filled with the mortal remains of nations, which the antiquary finds in all parts of this country and is so fond of digging into with irreverent curiosity. According to a law enforced among tome American aborigines a widow is always compelled to carry about with her for four years the bones ot her dead husband, inclosed in a casket.— •■Washington Star. Ode to Spring. I wakened to the singing of a bird; ( heard the bird of spring. And lo! At his sweet note The flowers began to grow. Grass, leaves and everything, As if the green world heard Toe trumpet of his tiny throat From end to end, and winter and despair Fled at his melody, and passed in air. I heard at dawn the music of a voice. O my beloved, then I said, the spring Can visit only once the waiting year; The bird can bring Only liae season's song, nor bis the choice To xaken smiles or the remembering tear! But thou dost bring Springtime to every day, and at thy call The flowers of life unfold, though leayes of autumn fall. —[Mrs. James T. Fields, in the Century. A BOX OF DIAMONDS. In the year 1867 I found myself at Rio Janeiro, Brazil, just out of hos pital, not a dollar in my pocket, and ready to ask the American Consul to send me to the United States in the name of charity. I had been out with an American whaler, and had been left there so broken in health that no one supposed that I could live two weeks. As the ship had taken no oil there was nothing coming to me. In deed, I was in debt to her, and but for the few dollars raised among the men I should have been a pauper on land ing. One afternoon, while I was on my way to the Consulate to see what help I could obtain, I encountered an Eng lishman, whom I at once identified as a sailor—captain or mate. He stopped and inquired my name, nativity and occupation and when I had given him the information he slapped me on the back and exclaimed: • It’s a bit of luck that I met you! I’ve got a place for you, and we’ll drop in somewhere and have a talk.” He was a blunt-spoken man, hut a cautious one. He did not unfold his plans until he had pumped me pretty dry and apparently satisfied himself that I was a man he wanted. Even then I only got a part of the story, and am still in the dark as to many particulars. The stranger’s name was Captain Roberts, and he had given up the command of an English brig on purpose to enter upon a hunt for treasure. Two years before, as he informed me, a coasting schooner, which was carrying half a million dollars’ worth of diamonds, besides a large sum in rough gold, between Rio and Montevideo, had been wrecked about sc.enty miles below Porto Ale gre. Why this treasure had been in trusted to a sailing vessel and wheth er it belonged to church or state or some individual I never learned. The captain hrd nothing to say about that, and I boutsd myself to secrecy regard ing the whole affair. How Captain Roberts had located the wreck was a matter I did not ask about, hut I did hear it said that all the crew were lost. I was a sailor and a diver ami he offered to stand all the expense of the search and give me $10,000 in gold if we recovered the diamonds only. If we got the gold as well I was to have a larger share. He had chartered a coasting schooner for three months, and was then getting aboard whatever he thought would be needed. I signed with him that after noon as mate, and three days after we had picked up all our crew. For tunately for us a ship came in with twelve seaman rescued from a burn ing bark at sea, and we took eight of them and a cook. This gave us eleven hands all told on the little craft, but wrecking is a thing demanding plenty of muscle at the cranks, windlasses and tail ropes. The crew proper were not let into the secret, hut signed for a voyage to Buenos Ayres and return. There was a Rio hanker behind the expedition,as I accidentlly discovered, but he did not come near the schooner, and Captain Roberts visited him only by night. We were so well provis ioned and provided that it must have taken a snug sum of money to fit us out. This the hanker no doubt ad vanced and took his chances. At the Custom House we cleared for the La Plata in ballast, hut some of that bal last had been taken aboard under cover of darkness. We had a diver's outfit, limbers, planks, spare casks, extra ropes and chains, and about the last package received contained a dozen muskets and a lot of fixed am munition. We slipped out quietly one night with the tide, and before day light came we were far away. Captain R berts had a pretty fair chart of the neighborhood of the wreck, and after a speedy run down the coast we reached it one afternoon about 4 o’clock. When we came to work in shore we got sight of the mountain peaks laid down on the chart, and in a couple of hours were satisfied that the wreck was within a mile of us north or s >uth. Just there was a reef about four miles otl shore and extend ing up and down the coast for thirty- miles. Behind this reef in many places was deep water np to tHfe shore line. It being summer weather, with the winds light but holding steady, we anchored otf the reef, and then the men were told that we had come to search for a wreck. It was all right with them, and after dinner two boats were lowered to begin the search. Taking the schooner as the centre, we pulled Woth ways, running close to the reef. The treasure craft had been dismasted in a squall and driven shoreward, and we confidently ex pected to find her hull, if it had not gone to pieces, on or near the reef. Before sundown we had made care ful search for three miles away, but without finding the slightest trace of her. Next morning we tried it again, but nothing was brought to light. In some places the reef showed above the surface at low tide, in others there was plenty of water to carry us over at any time. The treasure craft might have hit the reef at a favorable spot and been driven almost to the beach; hut before accepting this theory we got out the drag and ex plored the deeper waters seaward from the reef. W'e spent three days at this work, grappling only the rocks hidden away from 30 to 60 feet be low, and using up the men with the hard work. The schooner was tbeu sailed over the reef and anchored in a snug berth in 30 feet of water, and we began the seavch of the shore waters. The shore was a rocky bluff crowned with a dense forest, with a few yards of shingly beach at long intervals. We had searched this bay for four days without luck when I had the good fortune to discover the wreck with my own eyes. She lay within half a mile of the beach in 22 feet of water, and was bottom side up against a big rock. She had probably passed the reef in safety, hut had struck this rock, which thrust its head within three feet of the surface, and in going down had turned turtle. It seemed now that not a soul of her crew had escaped, and how anybody h sd after ward located the wreck and made a chart of the locality was a greater mystery than ever. Our first move was to bring the schooner as near as possible, and then we began prepara tions to lift the wreck. She must be turned over, so as to float on her keel, if nothing more. Lying boitom up, there was uo possible way to get into her cabin. Next day after the discovery, I went down in my diving dress and attached chains to her starboard side. These were spliced out with stout ropes leading aboard our schooner, and after half a day’s work we were ready to haul. We could lift her a bit, but not more than a foot, and after working one day we gave up that method for another. Casks were sent down to me and attached wher ever possible, and hut for the presence of sharks we would have had her over in a day. As if one monster had communicated with another for miles up and down the coast, they gathered about the schooner and the wreck, and I had the closest kind of a call from being seized by a man-eater that was fully 15 feet long. Standing on our decks 1 counted 86 dorsal fins moving about us at one time, and I don’t believe that was half the num ber of sharks within a circle of a quarter of a mile. There could be no more diving while they were hanging about, and we set to work to get clear of their company. Captain Roberts had foreseen such an emergency and had come provided. I doubt if a ship’s crew ever had deeper revenge on Sailor Jack’s impla cable enemy. The muskets were brought up and four of the meo told off to use them. A fifth man was given charge of a whale lance, and the rest of us were kept busy admin istering a punishment which might he called barbarous by humanitarians. We heated bricks red hot on the galley stove, swiftly wrapped them up in cloths, and they no sooner touched the water than they were gulped down. As soon as a shark was wounded by ball or lance so as to leave a trail of blood he was at once eagerly attacked by others, and our hot bricks soon turned a dozen or more big fellows on their backs. It was a regular circus for about three hours, during which at least fifty of the monsters were slaughtered, and then those that were left alive suddenly drew off to the last one, and we did not sight another shark during our stay. I did not go down again for twenty-four hours, however, not feeling certain that some big fellow was not lying in wait behind the wreck. When I did descend I found the schooner lifting to the casks, and after attaching three or four more she slowly rose to the surface. We then got the boats out and towed her into a depth of fourteen 1’cet and then swayed her over until she righted. She went to the bottom again, of course, as the casks no longer buoyed her, hut we expected that. When I came to go down in my suit l found almost a clear deck. She had been schooner-rigged and both masts had been carried away at the deck. Beginning at the heel of the bowsprit and running along the port side about twenty-five feet of her bulwarks were left standing. Capstan, windlass, hatch covers and the skylight of the cabin had been swept away. This latter fact was greatly in my favor, as I could drop directly into the cabin. I was told to look for the treasure in the captain’s stateroom, but my feet had no sooner touched the cabin floor than my outstretched hands encouu- terod something which I knew by the feel to he a dead mao. My finding him in the situation I did still further deepened the mystery of the whole expedition. He was tied fast and I had to cat him loose with my knife. As soon as released the body floated upward, and the men told me that it floated out to aaa with the tide, riding on the surface like a cork. Evening was now drawing near,and further search was abandoned until another day. After breakfast next morning I descended again, and with in two hours had the treasure out of the wreck. I found it, not in the captain’s stateroom, but on the floor of the main cabin—the diamonds were in a cast-iron box about as large as a child’s savings hank, and the gold ia stout wooden boxe>, and I left nothing behind. From the treasure being found where it was I argued that there had been a mutiny before the storm, and that the captain had been tied in the cabin and the crew was making ready to divide up the spoils. Perhaps after driving over the reef and striking the rock one had been cast ashore to tell the story, and it was on his informa tion we acted. If so, however, the fact was not admitted. I learned no more than I have told you. Net one of the crew knew the value of our find, and, sailorlike, asked but few questions. When the treasure was safe aboard we returned to Rio. For four days not a man was permitted to leave the vessel. Then I received the sum agreed upon, with a considerable in crease, the men were made happy with a snug sum of money counted down to each, and we were all bundled aboard a steamer hound for Cuba, each giving his promise to say nothing of the wrecking expedition to anyone. I learned later on that Government vessels searched for weeks for the wreck, and that the Rio hanker had to flee to England for safety, but that only added to the strangeness of the adventure instead of clearing up the many mysteries.—[M. Quad, iu St. Louis Republic. Devil’s Lake. Few people outside ot the Ozark wilderness in Southwestern Missouri have ever heard of Devil’s Lake, one of the strangest of natural phenomena. A traveller thus describes it: “Fancy a lake perched on the top of a moun tain, its surface from fifty to one hun dred feet below the level of the earth surrounding it, fed by no surface streams, untouched by the wind, dead as the Sea of Sodom. There is no point of equal altitude from which water could flow within hundreds of miles, and yet it has a periodical rise of thirty feet oy over, which is in no way affected lA tl|e atmospheric con ditions iu thelcountry adjacent. It may rain for weeks in Webster coun ty, and the return of fair weather will find Devil’s Lake at its lowest point, while it may reach its highest point during a protracted drought.” Jrhn Lee, who lives within a mile or two of the lake, says that a sound ing of 100 feet has failed to reach bottom. Owing to the steepness of the sides of the howl in which the water lies, it is very difficult to meas ure the depth. He believes that the lake is fed by a subterranean stream, and that the water so supplied flows out by a passage many hundreds of feet below the lake’s surface. A Mr. Crabbe, who has lived in the neigh borhood for years, says that he always knows when the rise is coming by re ports in the papers from the Upper Missouri River in Montana. His theory is that the Devil’s Lake is a part of an underground river, whose entrance is larger than its exit, and whose source is somewhere in the ex treme Northwest Devil’s Lake is 1500 feet above the sea. It is situated a few miles north of Fordlaud on the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad. Coin Bangles are Unlawful. The stringing of small coins to form bangles or bracelets has been decided to he a fraudulent mutilation of law ful money, and even the piercing of a coin for use as a watch-chain pendant is held to be an oftence. It is well to hear this in mind, because it is in op position to the old country maxim that there is no ottence in cutting a coin unless it is subsequently ottered as money, and a prima facie case of fraud thus established, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. It is not very likely the government officers will go around arresting all ladies found wearing ornaments w r ith pierced coins in them, for, even if there were no other risk, there would he great danger of arresting some one who was wearing a string of foreign coins closely re sembling ours at first glance. But the law is so inconvenient and unreason able that it will more thau likely he repealed. A New Use for Gas. A field iu which gas is likely to play an important part is to heat boil ers and raise steam. The system has been at w r ork in a large establishment in London, England, and the results obtained arc simply astounding. Burning about 300 cubic feet of gas per hour under a 30-foot boiler, steam is said to have been raised to 50 pounds pressure in 40 minutes. Gas and air are supplied under pressure to pipes that runjparrallel with and un der the boiler Jand furnaces and chim neys are dispensed with. —[Gas World. QUEER ANGLING. Some Ingenious Oriental Ruses to Catch Wary Fish. The Chinese Have Trained Cormorants to Assist Them. “The Chinese have many very cu rious ways of catching fish,” said a piscicultural sharp. “In winter they dive for them. A certain species de manded in the market seeks shelter during the cold season under rocks at a considerable depth. They cannot be got with a hook and line, and so the fishermen go down into the water after them, plunging from a boat. Three dives are made each hour, and a fi:e is kept ud on board the boat for the purpose of warming those at work between whiles. Not infrequently they come up bleeding from the lungs, and rheumatism and skin diseases render them disabled by the time they are forty years old. “It was the Chinese who invented the well-known plan of capturing ducks and other water fowl by wading toward them with a basket over the head and dragging them under water before they knew what had caught them by the legs. Theirs is the idea of employing cormorants to aid them in fishing. You have heard, doubt less, how the birds used for this pur pose have collars around their necks to prevent them from swallowing the food they capture. At a signal given by their owner they plunge into the water after the prey. Whatever they get is taken from them, and they are rewarded for every success with a bit of fish small enough for them to eat. They are forced to work very hard all day long, but great care is taken of them and they are nursed most atten tively when they are sick. A bird is usually good for service until it is ten years old. The cormorant fishermen are organized into societies, the birds belonging to each association having a peculiar mark. “In India also the natives employ many methods of fishing which seem odd to us. There is in the district of Oude a species of so-called ‘walking fish’ with snake-like heads, which are often seen floating on the water as if asleep. The people shoot them with cross bows. Usually they sink when they are killed, so that they have to be dived for afterward. In the Indus, the Ganges and other streams are nu merous fish-eating crocodiles which attain a length of more than 20 feet. Except when near their nest and anxious to defend their eggs they run away from human beings. Of fish they catch an enormous number, and it has been thought very strange that the fishermen should not destroy such rivals in their own business. But they regard the mere suggestion of such an idea with horror, saying that the croc odiles are brothers in trade. “The man-eating crocodiles of those rivars are regarded as sacred and are never harmed. Of late years they have destroyed more lives than form erly, owing to the prohibition by law of the ancient practice of consigning corpses to the streams. It was the good old way to fill the mouth of the defunct respectfully with mud and leave the cadaver to be swept away by the current. Upon such supplies of food the great saurians depended largely, and, being deprived of them, they lie in wait to snap up living peo ple and cattle. Five persons have been known to be carried off in one year at a single pool. However, the country is over-populated, but one would not think it an agreeable death to die. “The Buddhists in India have a horror of eating the flesh of animals, believing them to he incarnations of human beings' souls; but they permit themselves the luxury of fish, usually getting around the difficulty by saying that the fishermen take away the fishes’ lives and are responsible. On the walls of their temples are numer ous frescoes vividly depicting the ter rible tortures which fishermen will have to endure in a future state. In these paintings fires are represented stirred by imps, who are dragging the fishermen into the flames in nets, hauling them by hooks and lines and prodding them from behind with fish spears. “There is a story of a Buddhist priest who lodged for some time at the house of a fisherman. The latter had recently reformed and was pursu ing another occupation. After two days the guest asked why no fish were served upon the table, and, being in formed that his host was withheld by conscientious scruples from catching them, he expressed his approval in high terms. At the end of a week, however, he felt a craving for fish strong upon him, and inquired how’ far the fisherman’s net stretched across the neighboring stream. He was told that it extended oue-third of the way across. “ ‘If that is the case,’ said the priest, ‘the fish have their choice as to whether they will be caught or not. So,if they choose to be taken nobody else is responsible. Therefore, you will do right to try to catch some.’ “Accordingly the priest was served therewith with fish, of which delicacy he would have been deprived had it not been for the wisdom which sacred books had taught him.” To Make Tea. The tea question seems to have many phases. Articles are written for and against its baneful qualities, anf women who preside at 5 o’clocks are as tenacious of the superiority of tha particular sort they offer as they are of the virtues of their family physicians. Oolong, Formosa, Or ange Pekoe and the rest of them all have their zealous advocates. One of the best of teas is undoubtedly a choice and mild English breakfast. This tea has many grades, the best being as delicate and delicious as the poorest is rank and undesirable. When it comes to the matter of brewing, theories again clash. How much to each cup and to the pot, how long to stand, to stir or not to stir—these are some of tne rocks upon which the ignorant go to pieces. C. P. Huntington, who is considered a connoisseur in tea, and who frequent ly offers a cup to a business friend in his office, believes in the stirring clause. He ladles out the precious leaves, a teaspoonful to the cup and one to the pot, pours on a very little water, stirs it well, pours on a little more water, lets it stand for a little less than a minute, then pours off this first decoction, which he asserts is not acceptable to the educated tea palate. After this he fills the measure with water, of course, freshly boiled, and in three minutes ofters a cup of amber liquid, fragrant, smooth and deliciuus, to his favored guests. Real tea lovers take it unsugared and uncreamed; few, indeed, nowa days are such vandals as to take the latter “trimming,” though many still incline to the sweetening part. As a somewhat romantic man puts it: “Part of the poetry of tea drinking is the fascinating moment when the pret ty woman, clad iu her dainty tea gown, pauses, cup in one hand, and tongs daintily poised over it with the other, and, looking up into your face with a most engaging expression, murmurs softly,‘One or two lumps?’” — [Phil adelphia Record. How They Came by Their Names. The study of philology develops such curious derivations as those be low, and proves a most interesting— even fascinating—study. Blankets, it is said, were named after their first makers, three brothers of Bristol, England, named Edward, Edmund and Thomas Blanket, who established a large trade iu this article of woolen goods, and were the earliest manufacturers of it in the middle of the fourteenth century. Cambrics, we are told, came from Cambray, a town in French Flanders famous for its fine linens, and damask originated in Damascus. Calico is derived from Calicut, on the Malabar coast, and muslin from Moussoul, a city of Asiatic Turkey, giving evidence that, though these goods are now sent to India and the East, they were originally imported thence. Few persons have ever troubled themselves to think of the derivation of the word dollar. It is from the German thal (valley), and came into use in this way some three hundred years ago. There was a little silver mining city or district in Northern Bohemia called Joachimsthal, or Joachim’s Valley. The reigning duke of the region authorized this city in the sixteenth century to coin a silver piece which was called “joachims- thaler.” The werd “joachim” was soon dropped and the name “thaler” only retained. The piece went into general use in Germany and also in Denmark, where the orthography was changed to “dealer,” whence it came into English, and was adopted by our forefathers with some alteratu ns in the spelling. The Five Kinds of Caverns. Geologists divide caves and caverns into five distinct classes. First, the caverns in limestone rock excavated by streams, which find their way be neath the surface. Second, the chan nels and chambers hollowed out by the waters of hot springs on their way from the earth to the surface. Third, the sea caves and grottos, which are formed where tiie battering surges have worn away into the shore cliffs along the line of some softer part of the rocks. Fourth, the cavities curi ously formed whore a lava stream has solidified upon the surface. Fifth and lastly, we have the rifts formed in the rocks which have been rent by the mountain-building foices, where the walls ou either side of the break have been pulled apart from each other, leaving a very deep and long but un isually narrow fissure. In one or another of these groups may he placed all the known cavities which occur beneath the earth's surface. These, of course, may be subdivided into many sub-classes. — [St. Louis Republic. The Most Durable Voices. All other things being equal, a bari tone voice in a man, and a contralto voice in a woman will wear better and last longer than any of the others. It Is, however, impossible to lay down any absolute rule as to the voices of individual singers, because so much depends on the method of life, tem perance in food—solid as well as liquid—and the care of the voice ex ercised by each individual. — [Detroit Free Press. The Keturu. Now home again comes Love who long Has absent been, and Joy once more From sleep awakes and, with a song, Hastens to meet him at the door. He sees in each familiar spot The friends who sorrowed when he went. And all his exile is forgot,— ’Tis they who tell of banishment. For. like that wayward son of old Who left his kindred, far to roam, Love knew but half the grief they told Who long had exiled been at home. — fF. De Shermon, in Youth’s Companion HUMOROUS. ‘There goes a man to be trusted,” said Jagson, as Dudeson entered the tailor shop. The depth of misery lies at the bottom of a mud-puddle if you happen to step in it. “Did you ever write any ‘Beautiful Snow’ poetry?” “I tried it once, but tho editor pronounced it beautiful slush.” A school j mnial advices: “Make the school interesting.” That’s what the small hoy tries to do to the best of his ability. To the chiropodist frankness is the most admirable of human character istics; he delights in hearing men acknowledge the corn. Harry—So she refused you, did she? Jack—Yes, and I shall remem ber what she said ns long as I live. Harry—What did she say? Jack —She said No. James—I understand a new motor has been adopted for increasing the speed of horse cars in this place. Brown—So? What is it? Jones—A whip for the mules. Hunker—Ever since I can remem ber, Miss Fiypp, I have searched for the beautiful, the true and the good. Miss Fiypp—Oh, Mr. Hunker, this is so sudden. But you may speak to papa. Bingo (at the table)—Seems to me we have less and less to eat all the time. What’s the matter? Mrs. Bingo (sweetly)—You can’t expect us to have as much as usual, my dear, when I am paying for my sealskin on the installment plan. Teacher—Now, Willie Wilkins, I want you to tell me the truth—did Harry Thomas draw that picture on the board? Willie Wilkins—Teache I firmly refuse to answer that-^qm tion. Teacher—You do? Willie Wil kins—Because I gave Harry my word of honor I would not tell qn him. “I have an idea!” she suddenly said. Her lover was sitting near; He gazed at her fondly f “I see that you have, And au awful bright eye, dear.” A Population of Smugglers and Thieves. The population of the Manchurian provinces of China is largely composed of bands of people who live by smug gling opium and ginseng and of horse thieves, who are so numerons that they alone form gangs of hundreds of mounted banditti. This class . of people lias been outlawed by the Chinese Government, and it forms tho nucleus about which discontented leaders may organize a rebellion against tho imperial authority at any time. It is a junction of these vari ous hands of outlaws which has brought the present insurrection to its formidable proportions, and which bids fair to shake tho ruling dynasty to its foundations. In case this re bellion should extend to the adjoining provinces, tho number of resolute men engaged in it would very prob ably be enabled to accomplish that cherished object of every thorough Chinaman’s heart—tho overthrow of the ruling Mancltu Hue of Emperors and the establishment of the ancient Chinese house of Mings upon the throne of which the Tartars deprived them in the 16th century. — [New York Times. Superstitions of German Miners. German miners have many extra ordinary superstitions, which are hatuled down by tradition aud firmly believed in. They imagine that the subterranean domains are ruled by good-natured and benevolent gods. There are chiefly two, one being good and the other had. The former is called Nickel and the other Kobold. To propitiate them their names have been given to the metals nickel and cobalt, which were originally discov ered in the mines of Saxony. They are the gnomes who fill or empty the lodes, and who reproduce tho ore as fast as it is removed. They prowl about the old galleries or abandoned working places; they blow upon tTT?^ lamps in order to put them out, and drag by the nose or hair the miner whom they encounter alone. When he has greatly displeased them they cast spells upon him, throw him down the ladders or crush him under a fragment of rock. Provisioni are made in thi mines for these formidable goblins, bread,cake and pieces of money being placed in niches where they can get them. —[Washington Star. Reparation. Jones—I say, colonel, your dog hit my child, and you’ve got to make reparation. Colonel Brown—All right, Jones, I’ll make suitable reparation. You (sadly) may have the dog. — fYankee Blade.