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On«—third of the [topuiaUoii ui Calf a<U are adherent# of the Meibodiat EpUcopal Ctmrch. More murder* take place ia the United State* than in any other coun try, conferee* the New York Journal. Matty cotfee planter* in Mexico make a profit of two hundred and fifty per cent, on the amount of money iu- Yeeted. The Military Weekly of Berlin iaya that there have been 194 Minister* of War in Spain during the century, the average time of service being six month*. In most states, according to the Chicago Herald, the Governor’s chair is a stepping-stone, so to speak, to the United Stales Senate, but no Missouri executive lias ever thus utilized his op portunity. The tenth census bulletin recently issued by the Dominion of Canada shows an increase of about $160,000,- 000 in the value of industrial products, under the national policy, during the last ten years. The capital invested in the new provinces of British Colum bia and Manitoba has increased by $15,600,000, in Ontario by $95,000,- 000, in Quebec by $57,000,000, and in the Maritime provinces by $18,000,- 000. In the opinion of the New York News “the world is learning a great deal without acquiring much wisdom in the matter of strikes. Foreign countries have suffered even more than our own. Germany, for in stance, has a record of 1131 strikes in a single year, of which 420 were utter failures, 468 were compromised and in 187 the workmen obtained their de mands. The individual losses that followed were necessarily great, and ihey will continue to be so until there is a better understanding between the great forces of capital and labor.” The necessity for good roads are apparent everywhere, except in a few localites already enjoying them. When a siate like Tennessee finds that bad roads are costing annually more than $7,000,000, the Washington Star feels it is lime for action. This is an estimate of the Memphis board of trade pre sented to the Legislature, but Pro fessor Corson of the University of Ten nessee has discovered by investigation that the average cost of hauling by wagon to the Knoxville market is a million and a quarter on the total amount hauled. Half that sum, he says, could be saved by good dirt roads and five-sixths over good ma cadam roads. It is estimated by the Tennessee commissioner of agricul ture that the average loss to the state by poorly constructed roads is $15 a horse, and it is not probable that this is in excess of the true amount. It is reported that Benjamin Talbot, an iron worker of Chattanooga,Tenn., has, after many months of study and experiment, hit upon a process of eliminating the silicon and phosphorus from low grade southern iron and converting it into nearly pure metal, suitable for the manufacture of basic or Bessemer steel. Mr. Talbot's process consists in pouring the molten iron into a liquid basic slag, consist ing of oxide of iron and lime. The iron being heavier than the slag, it precipitates,and while passing through ‘he slag is desiliconized and a large percentugo of the phosphorus and car bon is eliminated. Basic slag contains from fifteen to eighteen per cent, of pure iron absorbed by it while being used iu converting iron ore into pig iron. By Mr. Talbott’s process the liquid pig iron, in passing through the slag, causes the metallic iron to be collected and saved, whereas it was formerly lost. In passing the low grade iron through this process it in creases fully fifteen per cent, instead of diminishing. When the metal is purified it is transferred to a basic open hearth furnace and there con verted into steel. If it is desired to desilieonize the low grade iron with out materially diminishing the carbon or phosphorus, the quantity of oxide of iron i» dec eased so that it will be exhausted by the time Lite silicon is eliminated. The Description Tallied. A stranger, when dining at a for eign hotel, was accosted by a de tective, who said to him: “Beg your pardon, wo are in search of an es caped convict, and, as a matter of form, you will oblige us with your passport.” “Do 1 look like a convict?” “Possibly not. In any ease I shall re quire to see your passport.” The stranger, feeling annoyed, presented the officer wiih a bill of fare, ami the latter commencd to read: “Sheep’s bead, neck of mutton, pig’s feet.” ‘•Very good,” he observed, “the de scription tallies. You will plesse come along with us.”—("Dundee Weekly News. Papa knew His Girl. She (anxiously)—Have you asked papa, Regina.d? He—Ye*. Site—What did he say? lie—He didn’t say anything, but I know he gave his consent, for he looked at me in a sort of pitying way, don’t, you know. — ("Life. A Song of M/steriea. Who shall say what snowflakes light Fatlinv on the lambs at night. Clothed them in their coats of whit*? Who shall say what veins of sun Through the rose’s petals run, ’Till they crimson one by one? This, O Love, is ad our knowing: Lambs are clad and flowers are blowing. When the win! birds are a-wing In the blue and bloom of spring, Who shall say what makes them sing? Who shall tell this heart of mine Why in thunder and in shine Still the mossed-oak lures the vine? We but know the wild bird singeth And the lured vine cliugetb, clingeth. Who shall say why rosiest dawn Gleameth, streameth, dreameth on, To the breast of Darkr*ss drawn? And why thou, by eartn caressed. Still hath sought me—loved me best, Crept like sunlight to my breast? D iv and Dark may love and sever, But thou lovest me forever! -[Frank L. Stanton, in Atlanta Constitu tion. What the Kettle Sang, IJY HEI.KN M. WHITNEY. The Widow Rubble was brushing her smootli black hair, and giving her niece, Dolly Hedges, a piece of her mind at the same time. “I wonder you ain’t ashamed of it, and you a church member, tool’ she cried. “But, Aunt Tabitha, what is it? What have I done?” pleaded Dolly, raising a pair of clear blue eyes to her aunt’s snapping black ones. “What have you done I You haven’t primped and puckered, and set your cap to catch Deacon Holly—oh, no!” In her wrath Tabitha twisted her back hair till it was the size of a hick ory nut. “Oh, aunt! how can you say such a dreadful thing?” Shy, sweet tem pered Dolly flashed out the words with a spirit akin to her aunt’s. “You know it’s not true.” “I know ’tis true.” The black eyes snapped again, and the widow brushed and scolded with equal energy. “Didn’t I see you run down to the gate only this morning in your bltto merino dreas, and your best hat, and ask the deacon to take you to town in his spring wagon? And ’(ain’t the first time, cither.” “Why, Aunt Tabitha!” Dolly’s blue eyes opened very wide, as she looked at her aunt in surprise. “You know it was too snowy for me to walk to town today, and we were obliged to have that trimming to finish the fluting on Mrs. Gi ecu’s cashmere dress. I had been watching all the morning for a chance to ride down.” “I don’t doubt it.” “I didn’t know the deacon would pass—how could I? and it would have been all the same if Farmer Dob- sou, or old Uncle Peter Jones, had come along.” ■•Oh, yes, that’ll do to tell,” retorted tlie widow. “And of course it was absolutely necessary for you to run back and get a piece of bread and jam, or something, for that spoiled young one that’s always stuck along with his father I” Dolly laughed, in spite of her vexa tion. “I went back for my muff,” she explained, “and Freddie said he was hungry, so, of course, I brought him the bread.” “Oh, you needn’t make excuses, and think I’ll believe ’em. I know well enough ’twould be a good match for a poor girl like you, that nas to make your own living. But Deacon Holly’s too smart to be caught like that; and it’s for your own good I'm a-waruing you, Dolly Hedges. But I shall come over and speak to Sister Dorcas about it after a while, for I see there’s no use talking reason to you.” “You may spare yourself the trou ble, Aunt Tabitha, for my mother knows all you can tell her, already,” retorted Dolly, aa she drew the hood of her waterproof over her head, and walked proudly away. But there was a troubled look in her downcast eyes, and the envenomed words still rankled in her bosom. Deacon Holly felt weary and worn as he entered his louelv dwelling. The large, handsome rooms, with their costly furniture, had a dreary, deso late look that made him shiver. The dining-room' looked snug and cheerful. A bright fire blazed in the ample fire-place, and the sun streamed through the west window, lighting up a pot of vivid chrysanthemums which stood on the wide sill. Aunt Patty, the presiding genius of the housekeeping arrangements, had taken her knitting and gone out to have a chat with the next neighbor, having, however, with commendable prudence, first replenished the fire with a fresh back-log and front stick, and hung the iron tea-kettle over it to save building a fire iu the kitchen. Aunt Patty’s other preparations for tea were already made. The cold beef was sliced and set away in the safe. The apple butter was already dished in the cut-glass bowl; a mince pie was cut, and a pitcher of sweet cream stood ready for the tabic, which was already set, and covered with an extra cloth to protect it from the dusL The gingerbread was sliced, and a plate of houey stood in close proximity to a loaf of brownbread and a pot of yellow butter. Deacou Holly was tired, and throw ing himself into an easy-chair by the fire, he fell to meditatihgou his lonely lot. It was three years since little Fred die’s mother had been laid to rest un der the daisies on the hill-side, and the deacou had never ceased to miss her. Somehow, the more he thought of her the more attractive seemed his latest day-dream, of giving the sub stantial old huusc another mistress, and his boy a new mother. He looked down with a smile at Freddie, who had fallen asleep before the fire, with his head on a crimson ottoman. The smile was followed by a look of perplexity as Deacon Holly leaned back iu the cushioned chair, and set to work on a problem that had recently begun to puzzle him sadly. And while he puzzled, a pair of black eyes seemed to claim his attention iu the fore ground, while two bewildering blue ones cast shy glances at him from a distance, as if too timid to approach nearer. The black eyes looked very attract ive, the blue ones very entrancing, and the frown over the deacon’s nose deepened perceptibly. Presently a most wonderful thing occurred. An amazing thing, such as the deacon had never heard of in all his life before. The iron tea-kettle, which had for some time been singing away quite merrily, suddenly puffed out a cloud of steam, lifted its lid, tilted itself on one side, and leere 1 at the deacon in the most ludicrous and unaccountable manner. The deacon could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses. He put on his spectacles and stared at the kettle in amazement. To his intense surprise, the erratic kettle blew out another cloud of steam, tilted still farther to one side, and gave a broader stare than ever. It then began to sing, in a boister ous tone: “Double, double, toil and trouble, The deacon’s married the Widow Rubble.” At this Deacon Holly drew himself up with an air of quiet dignity. “I beg your pardon, Mrs. Kettle,” he said, mildly. “You are laboring under a mistake. 1 am not married to anybody.” “Oh, yes, you are, old chap,” re turned the tea-kettle, saucily. “You are married to the Widow’ Rubble that was, and she’s out in the kitchen this minute, jawing Aunt Patty for putting so much wood on the fire, and for having both honey and apple but ter for supper.” “Dear me,” sighed the deacon. “I really had no idea of such a thing. I think you are mistaken, ma’am, in deed.” “No, no, deacon, no mistake about it, I do assure you. Such things fre quently happen, my dear sir, take my word for it,” persisted the kettle. “But—but it certainly cannot be a a legal marriage, when it occurred without my knowledge.” “Oh, bless your heart, that makes no difference—no difference at all. my dear sir! You arc in for it now, and will have to face the music. Rubble rhymes to trouble, you know. The worst of it is, the poor little boy will come in for his share of the trouble. I tell you, it made my blood boil to see her or der that poor child around before you came home today. No won der he’s asleep o u the rug this minute, and when she made him shovel off all the snow from around the house, and then finish getting that load of coal into the cellar—abitterlyjcold day like this, too. The deacon groaned. “I should think you’d a known bet ter, deacon. I really should,” went on the tea-kettle. “Didn’t your common sense tell you that Rubble rhymes to trouble, and Dolly rhymes to Holly? What could be plainer than that? However, it’s too late now, and here’s the new madam at her tricks already. Look at her now, a-grabbing that poor child by the scruff of the neck, and hustling him into the kitchen, just be cause he went to sleep ou the floor.” “I won’t stand it,” cried the deacon jumping up. “I’m so glad you’re awake, deacon,” said Auut Patty’s mild voice. “I’ve waited half an hour for you to wake up, and I’m dreadful afraid the tea is spoiled, standing so long.” The deacon rubbed his eyes and stared at Auut Patty, at the cozy table, at the merry blazing fire, and then at the iron tea-kettle. It hung demurely from its hook over the ruddy blaze, singing in low, sub- | dued tones, unlike the boisterous way in which it bad so recently been in dulging. A weight seemed taken f^om the deacon’s heart, his spirits rose. He was not married, after all! “Where’s Freddie?” he asked, as ne took his scat at the table and sipped bis tea. “Oh, the poor child was so hungrr | I gave him his supper long ago, and i he’s gone off som’ers, I don’t know where.” The deacon finished his supper with a good appetite and a light heart. naiure n Hi as biaclcveB “Muou ■ ■?"’ ’ a7 Vi '. W - •he was ingj - ”' ^ .. and croi MD who had run t'Jm Ha half-hour’s gossip. “Oh, Ho. I must go at face,’’ returned tu Hisitor. “But I ni .ust say,” she added, as her hostes^ accompanied her to the door, “I slfioaU think that boy would be an obje/ctiou” “Oh, >Jot at all.” The door was open, noKr, attl' the widow’s voice was highland sirill. “Freddie is old enough ti> be ot some assistance now, and I shJuld put him to work at once. He has rbeeti sioiled all his life, I know, bifit I woild soon put a stop to all that.”| “Good! evenin', ladies.” The >\»ords poceeded from a tall form wl/ich looned up in the dark ness, uniperceivei before. Both ladies utfered little shrieks of |r me, D<acon Holly! 1 did you in !he dark. Do walk in.’" Mis. Riubble gat? her friend a terri fied pinVu, whiu the conscience- stricken Jii-iss Peel returned with in terest. “Do coniie in, deacon,” persisted the widow, deeteririnod to bridge mat ters over, if poasvJ e. “Not tonight, ' hanks, Mrs. Rub ble,” returned the deacon, politely, but coldly. , “My »jov, Freddie, has run off, and I called to sec if he was here.” “The dear chil deacon; but come i out to look for him. away.” “Oh, I couldn’t tl you. He has pro see his friend, Mi T ! He isn’t here, , and I will send He cau’t be far nk of troubling ably run over to s Dolly Hedges. I’ll just run over ant look him up my self. Don’t let mcl detain you, la dies.” • And the deacou w Dolly’s blue eyes and the color deepen checks as the deacon covered Freddie si ed off. dropped a little, d on her rounded entered and dis- in her lap, making himself quitclat home, pulling her curls and her him When, a short pretty Dolly Hedge Deacou Holly, the informed her friem confidence, that it al making so much of t one. Unconscious Mrs. Rubble! She never suspected that 1: ir fate had been influenced by what th • old iron tea kettle sang. — [New Y ru' Weekly. ribbon bow. hue thereafter, became Mrs. isgusted widow Miss Peek, iu came of Dolly’s it spoiled young A Painful Decoration. A good anecdote is told ot M. Carnot, the president of France, who is about to visit Savoy. As usual, be will take with him a collection of decorations and other distinctions for distribution among the notables of the towns he will pass through. The president of the Republic, in order to enhance the value of the decorathn, is accustomed to pin it himself ou the breast of the happy recipient. On Ins last provincial tour it appears that he made a mess of the operation. A statue had just been unveiled aud and the customary speeches delivered, when the persons to be decorated were invited to get ou to the platform. Among them was a fat farmer to whom the Academic Palms were al lotted. M. Carnot approached him and proceeded to pin the blue ribbou ou his breast, but wheiher the pin was blunt or the cloth of the farmer’s coat hard, he found the task difficult. However, at length he succeeded. But judge of his surprise on seeing the farmer trembling and as pale as a ghost. He at first thought it was simply emotion, but the farmer get ting worse, General Brugere advanced aud found that the pin had stuck in his breast, and that he was bleeding freely. To extract it was of course the work of a second, and the farmer recovered, but it will be a long time before he forgets the first day he wore Ids decoration. — [London Globe. Harvesting Hay. Now, it is a wonder somebody hadn’t thought of this before. Of what? Why, of harvesting hay just as grain is harvested. Judge Davis lias tried it ou his farm near Mineral Point. The reaper and binder intro duced into a field of timothy gra^s worked splendidly. The sheaves of grass cured rapidly in shock, the hay was free from sand aud dirt that is usually collected from raking the ground, retained much more of its sweetness, tenderness, and aroma than if treated by the old scattering and bleaching process, and J udge Davis says the hay is not only worth $2 per ton more than if harvested in the usual way, but that both expense and labor were saved. Now, why didn’t somebody think of all this years ago?—[Columbus (Ohio} State Journal. The Widow Rubble made quite an attractive appearance in her wine- colored merino dress, with her black hair smooth and shining, and her chp«tks a little, iuat a little redder ’ban An Experienced Agent. House Agent—Rush around to 126 Bank street, quick, aud get last month’s rent. Bookkeeper—What’s up? Agent—As I passed th^re this morn ing I heard a baby. There won’t bo any spare cash around that house for six weeks at least, 1’vc had ’em my. self. — [New York Weekly. BETTER BEES A Proposed New Departure in Bee Culture. An Expert Says the Insect can Be Improved by Breeding- 000 acres held iu cuumioii and their farms aud stock. “They are becoming highly civilized. When I first went among the Ocigos they numbered 2300, but an epidemic of small-pox and measles cut them down to aboat 1500, but they have since increased to about 1700. — [Col orado Sun. J. Edward Giles, in writing on the desirability of producing a larger race of bees, proposes to cross our present race of bees with the giant bees of India, and obtain a race with long proboscis and perhaps increased size (if ihat should be found to be of any advantage). This improved race should be crossed with the South American stingless bee, and thus a race would be secured with all the good points of the Italian bee, with lengthened proboscis and slinglt«s; such a bee, in fact, as it would be difficult to improve. It might be found desirable to breed out the swarming instinct, for there appears to be no icasou why it cannot be bred out of bees as thoroughly as the sil ting instinct has been bred out of cer tain races of domestic fowls. But now that swarming can be so com pletely controlled by the use of queen traps and automatic hivers, this is a point of minor importance. Mr. Giles is of opinion that the im provement of our bees is of sufficient importance, aud the prospect of suc cess sufficiently great, to justify the Agticultural Department of the United States iu undertaking the cost of the necessary experiments. The cost to the Government would bo trifliug in comparison with the benefits that would accrue if the experiments were successful. Few individuals who are competent to do the work would have the means to carry it out at their own expense, because the study of the habits of the stingless races in their native country would necessarily* en tail a residence of a few years in South America. Mr. Giles quotes the honey crop for 1879 as twenty-five million pounds, or about half a pound for the y*ear to each inhabitant of the United States. At an average of ten cents per pound the value of the honey crop for that year would be about $2,500,000, not reckoning the value of 2,220,000 pounds of wax, the amount that would be secreted in the production of ‘he quantity of honey named. If we had a race of stingless bees there is good reason to believe that the value of the crop would soon be doubled, for many wonki bo induced to go into the business of bee keeping who are now deterred by fear of the sting?, or who live in thickly settled villages and hesitate to keep bees for fear their neighbors will consider their pets a nuisance. Even in the oldest and most thickly settled states the number of bees could easily be doubled without exhausting the honey supply, aud there is practi cally no limit to the amount of honey which could be produced by plauting special crops in suitable places. Mr. Giles differs from those who think that an increased supply of honey would lower the prices and glut the market, as experience shows that as the supply of any article of food increases,the demand always grows. As an illustration, he quotes the case of a farmer with whom he compared ■notes ou the price of farm produce. The farmer was at the time preparing a load of tomatoes for market, and lie remarked that it was easier to sell a wagon load of tomatoes now than it was to sell a peck when lie first began to raise them. The reason it is difficult to sell honey is that people have not learned to use it. When its many wholesome qualities are tinders.ood it will take a prominent place as a daily food, and nothing will bring this about m*ic quickly than the proposed new de parture in bee cull tire. The American Soldier. To know the American soldier well you must toil with him over the desert trail wheu the sun heals hotly down ou the dry and verdureles* earth, and the dust rises in white clouds that hide the column from view, and fill the eyes, the mustaches, the ears, the mouth, with profanity and vexation. Here is where his songs and jokes pro claim the stuff that he is made of. Then, when you arc sent out with him in the dead of winter over twenty inches of snow, your equipment* and supplies on bob-sleds, he it is that dismounts lime and again without a murmur, pushing, to help the mules up hill, and re-packing the overturned sleds a dozen times in a day; then, after it all, digging his hole in the snow, and putting up his tent at night, all the time joking with his “Bunkie,” and ready as ever to steal a wisp of hay or a handful of oats for his shivering horse. He it is that jumped into a boiling hot spring to save the life of the daughter of a private citizen—a deed for which the citizen, who was a rich man, proffered the astounding sura of five dollars,and the government the gold medal of honor; he that took a fiat-bottomed boat out of the heavy seain New York Harbor to rescue a drowning boy; that lost his life for his fidelity while attempting to swim an icy stream with dispatches; who, single-handed,served a field gun through an action, with a bullet in his leg, to hold a position; he that you believe incapable of anything but “bucking faro” and drinking strong liquors. — [Harper’s Weekly. The Wealth of the Osage Indians. L. A. Wisineyer and wife of Gray Horse and Dr. R. Bird of Puwhuska, I. T., are at the Windsor. Mr. Wts- meyer and Dr. Bird are both post traders, this part of the nation being known as the Osage agency, repre senting the big and little Osage and the Kansas or Kaw Indians. Mr.Wis- meyer has been among the Osages for fifteen years, the first seven of which he was Government clerk, and since that time he has been a post trader. “The Osages,” he said, “are the richest per capita, I think, of any tribe of Indians in the Indian Terri tory. They have a reservation of 1,500,000 and receive about $216 each a year fnoin the Government. The Osages at one time owned the most of Southern Kansas, but made a treaty with the government about 1865, and received a large sum from the sale of their lands, which were opened up for set tlement. The National Government now holds in trust for the Osages about $800,000, and pays them 7 per cent, per annum on the amounts. This makes about $400,000 a year that is divided among about 1700, the present number of Osage Indians. They were shrewd iu their early treaties with the Government and are now a wealthy people, having $8,000,000 in cash, with an income of $400,000, in addition to their reservation of 1,000,- The Pitcher Plant. Among the many vegetable wonders, the pitcher plant, or huntsman cup, is the most interesting. The plant grows wild in peat bogs in Northern Ohio, and is much valued as a vegetable curiosity. The plant grows in clumps; leaves all radial and hollow, hence the name pitcher. The hollow leaves are most generally tilled with water for the purpose of drowning insects; the inner face of the shield is beset with still’ bristles pointing down, ward, allowing the insects to enter, i but by no means allowing them to es- i ' cape. I have found as many as a dozen species of insects entrapped in one of these vegeiabie magazines. The victims that fall prey to this plant soon decay and become a liquid form, which is imbibed through the inner coating of the leaf and assimi lated. The proof that this plant does feed on insects is that the liquid never becomes very offensive. The plant di inks up the organic matter as fast as it dissolves. There is an insect that is a little too much for this plant. It enters into the pitchers or hollow leaves and feeds upon its relatives as they happen to fall victims to this plant. When he becomes tired of this iite he makes a dart to the bottom of the water, drills a hole through the cup and escapes, allowing the water to pass away after his departure.— (Ohio Practical Farmer. Date Palms in Arizona. Hall Hanlon,six miles below Yuma, has twenty date palm trees in his gar den, the largest of which is fifteen years old. It is thirty feet high. Six of the oldest trees are iu bearing. By actual count one bunch contains 2500 dates. It weighs forty pounds. There are several much larger bunches, so thick that the fruit on them cannot be counted correctly, but it is estimated that there are 3000 dates in each bunch, and that they will weigh at least fifty pounds.—[Tombstone Epitaph. • R? That face of thine. And all thy lovely self. dearTH!^ When flrst thy dear eyes answered mine. Seemed perfect. “Oh! what have I done”— I asked God humbly—“that to me Thou gavest this human blessing rare?” ‘•My perfect flower !” I breathed o’er thee, “God never made a flower so fair.” Then, when between thy dear lips stole Thy voice in song—like lark’s on wing— I whispered to my happy soul, “It is as though a rose should sing.” —[Kate Yannab, in Kate Field’s Washing ton. HUMOROUS. Erudite Cowboys. “I had an experience with a lot of cowboys some years ago that I did not enjoy even a little bit,” said Alfred M. Dirkcs to the writer. “1 had just left college, my health was bad, and I concluded to go out West aud rough it for a few months. 1 engaged to help drive a herd of cat tle from northern Texas into Kansas, and made the usual mistake of suppos- posing that I was the only man in the party who knew a syllogism from a personal pronoun. For three succes sive evenings I aired my college learning while my companions sat in a circle around me and chewed lough beef or smoked plug tobacco. Then they concluded that they had about enough of Aristophanea, Pythagoras, and the philosophy of the Peripatetics, and they proceeded to wiud me up. The next morning the boss gave me my orders in Greek, the cook asked me iu choice Latin whether I would take ‘sap’ or syrup on my slapjacks, and a cow-puncher with a big revolver sticking out of his bootleg besought me in Persian to reserve my kinder garten learning for the babes of civil ization. One had been a professor in Yale and the others were Oxonians. I have not since attempted to dazzle the simple children of the frontier with a display of my learning.”— [St. Louis Globe-Democrat. A frog is always iu the spring of life. Tourists go from mountain to maintain, seeking other climbs. Tl»e “Hammock Song” is the latest. It’s bound to bo popular. It has such a swing to it. Country Child (who sees no novelty in a week)—What is all this grass for? City Child—That’* to keep ott of. First Broker: That man Juyguller is as bright us a streak of lightniug. Second Broker: Yes, and just as crooked. Wheu the market report* read, “Butter growing weak,” the presump tion is that the reporter has kept shy of the boarding houses. “Decline a man,” the teacher cried. The maiden colored red. “Decline a man?” the pupil sighed, “I can’t—I won’t!” she said. “That man can stand aud shoulder 600 pounds dead weight.” “Humph! I sat down the other day and shoul dered u $33,000 mortgage.” He—A woman can’t conceal her feelings. She—Can’t, eh? She can kiss a women she hams. He—Yes; but she doesn’t fool the woman any. She—Why do you toy so nervously with that fan—are you afraid of it? He (gallantly) — I am afraid of any thing that could produce a coolness between us. Caustic: Hello, Bagley, old boy, let me shake your hand. I hear you are engaged. Bagley: Don’t be in a hurry, old man. I’m not married yet. Caustic: That’s the very reason I congratulate you. Customer (to waiter who has brought him a beefsteak very much underdone)—Waiter, just send for the butcher, will you? Waiter—What, sir? Customer—This steak doesn’t ' seem to be quite dead yet! A Popular Russian Toy. In an article in Scribner, on the Nevsky Prospekt, St Petcrburg’s great street, through which she takes the reader entertainingly, and^vUhThe^^ result of giving a very vivid impres sion of the picturesque and human sides of the Czar’s chief city and thor oughfare, Miss Isabel F. Hapgood tells the following story: “There is always a popular toy of the hour. One year it consisted of highly colored, beautifully made bot tle-imps, which were loudly cried a* Amerikanskiya zhiteli—inhabitants of America. We inquired the reason for their name. ‘“They are made in the exact image of iho Americans,’ explained the peas ant vendor, offering a pale blu£ imp, with a long red tongue aud a phenom enal tail, for our admiration. “ ‘We are inhabitants of America. Is the likeness very strong?’ we asked. “The crowd tittered softly; the man looked frightened; but finding that no dire fate threatened, he was soon vo« eiferating again, with a roguish grin.” A Blind Hymn Writer. The oldest and best known hymn writer now living is a blind woman, Fanny Crosby of Park avenue, this city. Her hymns, “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour,” “Rescue the Perish ing,” “Saviour, More Than Life to Me” and “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” are known and sung where- ever the English language is spoken, and, although blind from infancy, she has composed more than 3000 others. She is now sixty-five years of age, and before she made hymn writing her life work was for many years a teacher of the blind. All of her poetical efforts- are dictated to a secretary, and so fathful is her mem ory that she often composes a dozen or more hymns before she dictates them to her assistant. Her disposi tion is a sunny, hopeful one, and her coscy home is the abiding place of cheerfulness and contentment.—[New York Herald. It Was No Go. In a hall iu Gia-gow a few weeks ago there was a lecture on “Marriage ami After.” The lecturer said that men should kis^ their wives as they did when they were a year or two married. When the lecture was over an old man went home, put his arms around] his wife’s neck and kissed her. Meet ug the lecturer next day he said: “It’s no go.” “What isn’t?” said the lecturer. “Weel,” said the man, “when kissed my wife she said, •’What’s got wrang wi’ ye, ye auld fool, ye?”'- IBoston Globe. Europe consumes about $30,000,00 worth of gold and ailver yearly f^ plate, jewelry and ornaments.