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SETTING DIAMONDS. Great Skill Required in Fastening Valuable Gems. ' Vh? Art Is Simple, But So DeUcato M to Take Tears of Practice to Make Perfect?Tho Clamp Set? ting Described. Few people outside the*jewelry trade have any idea how the bril? liants they buy and wear are fast? ened into their settings, and a great many retail jewelers, who have sold jewelry for years, are equally igno? rant. The art of setting jewels is comparatively simple, the skill of a setter depending upon his knowl? edge of the strength of the material and the delicate touch required! {Which can only be gained by years of practice. There are only four distinct methods of setting a dia (mond, though mountings are made which involve two or more of these methods. The most common is the damp or claw setting. This comes to the setter with every clamp as straight and square as a fence picket. He imbeds this mounting, whatever it may be, in warm shellac on the end of a stick (six inches of broom handle is generally used) leaving the .setting exposed. This cools and holds the delicate pieces of jewelry firm in all parts. He then, with a thin file, sharpens all 'the clamps, bringing them up to sharp points. Then, with a scraper or graver shaped like a chisel (all of his cutting tools are miniature chis? els of different shapes), he digs out a bearing or Bhoulder for the edge of the stone on the inside of each ^clampj he now, with a pair of sharp pointed pliers, bends the clamps in? ward or outward, as they happen to. irequire, until the stone will just' nqueozo into the circle of clamps. jThen the stone is pressed firmly down until1 the edge rests squarely on the bearing of each clamp. This leaves the ends of the clamps stick? ing up past the edges of the stone. The next step is to push all these ends over the edge and burnish them ti?;ht. A piushing tool is used for ,thii8, a piece of soft steel about three Inches long, filed to a small square end and fitted in a round handle. When the clamps are all firm in tiaetr places they are bright-cut, as .the term is. The clamps are trimmed to a point with three Cuts, two on the sides and one on the top. The setter outs away from the stone, and must be careful not to dig too d x p into the gold or he will push the whole clamp away from the stone; then, to make a good job, the stone must come out and the clamp be bent forward again. Some who manufac? ture the finest goods do not believe In bright cutting clampn on rings, as the sharp edges left are very severe pn gloves worn over them. A set? ter employed by these firms merely sets the clamps to a point, and the polisher buffs it round on top, when the work gets its last finish. Racing Railway Trains, ! TJie "bridge junction" is a point above East St. Louis where the Wabash, Big Four and Alton roads strike the terminal tretcks. From the junction to the Belay depot, all trains of the three roads run on the same track, and as the roads named run parallel and close together for several miles north, exciting races sometimes occur, as two or more trains occasionally approach the junction at about the same time.. The early morning incoming trains' on each road are scheduled to arrive at the junction within a few minutes of each other*. , It often happens that two of them pass the merchants' bridge close to-, get her and then there is a race to; the junction as the first one to reach; it gets the track to the Belay depot' It is said that the rivalry between] the engineers sometimes prompts, them to put on a full head of steam 'and carry their trains along at the! rate of seventy miles an hour. Very] few accidents occur at the junction, but it is claimed that nearly all that do happen there are caused by the racing of trains.?St. Louis Post-1 Dispatch, A Singular French Timepiece. The latest among these curious timepieces is constructed as follows: ? sunflower of silver protrudes from a white crystal vase, graceful in shape and soberly decorated. The' 8talk is of brown gilt, the leaves, green, the petals yellow, and the heart of the flower oxidized. Hour and minute marks are engraved around the heart of this sunflower^ which faces the looker-on. A lady-! bird of spotted red enameled gold, apparently rests on the flower, on the line djyiug the heart from the1 petals. This, pretty insect, which moves imperceptibly by means of* a mechanism hidden within the! flower, shows the time. By only, close inspection can one detectj the time divisions on this original; .dial, which is granulated all over ami is bluish-black. As to the hollow circular line on which the ladybird j .travels, it is completely iavisibleH JeweW Circular. 1 , j A CURIOUS PLANT. It' Entraps Certain Moths Which Perish Miserably. A New Zealand correspondent suggests that the ravages of certain larvae, in some countries, might be greatly restricted by the introduce tion of the New Zealand moth* catching plant, "Araugia albens.'1 This plant, which is a native of south" era Africa, was introduced to New Zealand quite accidentally about seven years ago, and since then it has been extensively propagated there, on account of its effective 'service as a killer of destructive moths. Whenever the climate is mild the plant is an exceedingly free grower; it twines and climbs with great luxuriance, and produces immense numbers of white or pinkish flowers* which have a very agreeable scent. These flowers attract innumerable moths, and in the morning there will not be a single flower that does not imprison one or two, and some? times as many as four, insects of various sizes' and genera. The action of the "araugia" is purely mechanical. The calyx of the flower is rather deep, and the receptacle for its sweot juices is placed at its base. Attracted by the powerful scent and ,tho prospect of honey, the moth dives down the calyx and protrudes its proboscis to reach the tempting food. But before it can do so the ^proboscis is. nipped between two strong, hard, black pincers, which guard the passage, and once nipped there is no escapo for the moth, which is held as in a vise, by tho ex? treme end of the proboscis, and dies miserably. The "rationale" of the process is not yet explained. The proboscis is so very slightly inserted between ?the pincers (only a minute fraction of an inoh) that it apparently can* not affect the generative organs of the plant, unless these may be the pincers themselves, whose actual contact may be neceasary for repro** Ruction. Upofi*dissection, thepino-' era, even in their ordinary position, j are invariably found to be almost ia: contact, the separating interval be? ing apparent under a strong lens., It is, therefore, bard to understand why such a process as the destruc? tion of a moth should be necessary to close this already minute gap. But, at all events, the thing is done, and effectively, and a plant of araugia covering a space of tea yards in length will destroy as many hundred moths every night? and, consequently, prevent-tbe rav? ages of fifty times as ' many larvae. *It is, however, a slnglar fact that in 'New Zealand, where the plant has often been cultivated for the ex? press purpose of destroying the de? tested codlin moth ("Carpocapsa pomenalla,") that wily insect de? clines to enter the trap. SARDOU'S FATHER. j He Wanted His Son to Be a Doctor Rather Than a Dramatist. Ji Sardou's father had prevailed with his son the latter would, it seems, never have been the illustri? ous dramatist of France. The father was a doctor, and he induced his son,, after listening to his dramatic pro? clivities, to enter the medical college and ardently pursue tho study ol /dissecting the human being's flesh. Sardou, the son, preferred, after a ?time, to depict the character of man? and woman. He wrote a play, read jt to bis father, who declared it to be .detestable stuff. It was .called ."Amis Imaginaires." The second play was entitled "Premieres Arme3 de Figaro." It was a great success. All the world then congratulated the father on having such a clever young son. Upon this hoDest old Sardou. wrote to Le Figaro relating the f acts,i and begged the world would in future compliment the son, who had more to do with himself than, he, the* father, had had.?Philadelphia Rec? ord. Shot the Wrong Bird. The other day a gentleman entered' a restaurant and ordered a chicken. The chicken was evidently tough, for, when the waiter came in, he be? held the gentleman with his coat off and in a great state of perspiration. "Waiter," he said, "this chicken is very tough." "Verysorry, sir, but 1 you see, that chicken always was a peculiar bird. Why, when we came to kill it, we couldn't catch it, so at last we had to shoot it. It flew on J the housetop, and?" "Then you j must have shot tho weathercock by j mistake."?Indianapolis Sentinel. Stocking Darning Made Easy. Mothers who are confronted week? ly with tremendous holes in almost new stockings, and it Is remarkable what two days' wear by an active child oan accomplish in this respect, will do well to follow the lead of one home darner who has worked out her own salvation in the matter very cleverly. She takes a piece of strong net, bastes it over the hole, and then darns over it, thus accomplishing a neater and stronger dam than in the old way, and in a shorter time. The same method is successful i? J^Qn^'\ fag woven underwear, ?> Jimes.! BABE WOODS. South America Is Bloh In Lumbetf of the Choicest Kinds. \no*t of There Aro Bat Little Known to* I Manufacturers ? Ballroad* W1U De? velop a Wonderful Industry In the Southern .Republics. ! Many of the finest woods in exist-, fence are yet unknown, or onlyslight jly known, to the manufacturers of jwood in the civilized world. The woods, lof Central and South America areper jhaps the most remarkable as well as. 'the least known. In the yet untouched, iforests of this continent are many twoods far finer than any of those* inow in use. These woods range from. pure white to jet black in color, and. imany of them are most beautifully .marked and veined. Some of them are so hard that they turn the edges, of axes, chisels and other tools, . ?while the band-saw tuts them only slowly. In the Columbian exposition 'there were many displays of little {known woods, and the finest of them were those from Argentine Republic,, Brazil and other South American) .countries. I Some of these southern woods yielded to the teeth of the band-saw,, not tho ordinary sawdust, but fines Ipowder, fine as the finest flour, so1 (hard were the woods. Some of them Iburned very slowly. Others possess, '.qualities that keep them free from, insects. Some of them seem to be practically indestructible by air andi [water. All along the eastern slopes; ?of the Andes up to the snow line oni those great elevations, throughout all the great river valleys and in; [some of the wild areas of level coun? try in South America, are great for jests of fine woods that are specially jfltforthe finest cabinet and furni? ture work and also for shipbuilding,, .carpentry and other industrial arts Jin which wood is the "raw material."' THeso great forests are now an un? known quantity in tho commercial! '.world, but they will oome rapidly into the knowledge of men and 'into industrial use when once the railroad has reached them. Before many years, it is safe to predict, the South American and Central American republics-will be threaded by railroads, and then those wonder? ful woods will-be drawn upon to sup* ply the demand for new and fine ?woods in all the civilized countries. ?Lumber World. Neither One Nor the Other. An elderly Irish woman who was tin a Madison avenue cap wished to iget out at Forty-second street. The conductor was on the front platform, jso the woman, addressing a gentle imanly looking young man opposite her, said: . ! "Shtopthecar." The young man looked over her (head. 1 'Shtop the car, I say," she repeat? ed, glaring at him savagely. . Still no response. "Didn't I tell ye to shtop this car,'" ,s!he shouted, gripping her umbrella. ' "I am not the conductor," re? marked the young man with sarcasm, while the young women in the car 'tittered.' "Faix, an' you're not," replied the jlrish woman scornfully; "an' you're no gentleman, nayther. Moreover, ou're no blessin' to your mother, [you're not. If you were you wouldn't let a respectable woman get carried, itwo blocks out of her way without any askin' from her either."?-N. Y., .Herald. _ Ancient Japanese Order. Sir George Tyler, lord mayor of London, has been decorated with ithe Japaneso order of the Sacred Treasures. These treasures aro of jdivine origin, and were given as heirlooms by the sun goddess to her grandson, the first mikado. They are three in number?a mirror of metal, a stone sword and a stone 'necklace. The last has disappeared, or perhaps the legend of its exist 'ence may have arisen out of a con? fusion with the material of which the sword is made. The treasures were at first kept in the mikado's palace, but are now preserved in separate temples. Tho mirror has |been at Itso for 1,898 years; the sword is at Atsuta. How Chinese Burglars Work. The Chinese burglar takes an in? gredient of his own, burns it and .blows the smoke through the key? hole of the bedroom where the mas? ter of the house is asleep. The fumes dull the senses of tho victim ;just enough to make him helpless, while at the samo time permitting ?liim to hear and see everything that goes on in the room. The only anti? dote against the charm is pure wa? ter, and most of the wealthy Chinese 'Chinese folk Bleep with a basin of :this near their heads. The Cause of Education. . Yale made nearly twenty thousand, dollars at football last summer and ^fifteen hundred dollars at baseball. Who shall say, in face of this show? ing, that the cause of education is pot in a flourishing condition in ^America??Boatcm Transcript, \pa& LET THEM SLEEP. Don't Wake- tho Little Tota Too Early in the Morning. Cj?)Od Reasons for Getting Children About* i Bat Better Beacons for Letting Them * Have a Good Beat?Sluggards Need More tlerolo Treatment. f Various remnants of tho old, p?uritanic way of thinking and doing I?tili survive among us, aud notable iiamong them, says Harper's Bazar, jfIs the heroic method of dealing with ! uchildren, and of trying to make their jjlives conform to the standard which j j:in its day eliminated all but the ^soundest and strongest from any 'sort of lifo. This is seen, as often i 'as in any other form, In tho way j the mother will have all her chll dren out of bed at a given early ' Jhour, regardless of eyes still full of nsleep, of little limbs not yet quite -over their weariness, of the faint j;answers and long lingerings after a , second call, either because she likes ;to have her family breakfast to? gether, or wants to mako one piece "of work of It, or has a notion that ^early rising is good for tho health. :;Each of these reasons is a good [ireason. Certainly it is pleasant, I ^conducive to good cheer and family ?illfe to have all the household break 'fast at once; and quite as oertalnly ! it adds to the heaviness of the house pwork very materially if there are ^stragglers at the morningjmeal, and >|One breakfast has to be served after lanother, while of course early to ibed and early to rise is a saying not !|without truth in relation to making jjone healthy, wealthy and wise. But there are always theciroum '.stancea whloh alter cases. The ijstout and hearty child who went to asleep with the birds can afford to jjget up with the birds; his body, his Ibrain, his nerves, have had all the irest they need in long sweet hours lot slumber, and if he does not re? spond to the call he is possibly a ?sluggard whose fault must be ,;amended. But the mother will do i well to make sure of the fact that he jhas in reality had all the sleep he meeds before she wakes him with an ;iImperative summons. If he is not a ;stout and healthy child it is not ^certain that he has slept well, for Iboth restless nerves and Indigestion jhave a part to play in the night, if jthere is no other more patent jtrouble. And if he is an excitable Ichild, precocious or studious, then, jthe hours of sleep being the only ?ones in which the brain repairs its floss and hurt, it is a matter of vital (moment that those hours should (have their full number. What We Are Coming To, : A master of statistics has made a (prediction of what the world will be at the end of another hundred years. 1 First, the climate will not have jchanged sensibly. Secondly, In population Europe [will have 780,000,0CO of inhabitants; 'Asia, 1,000,000,000, while America (will have reached 685,000,000; Aus? tralia 30,000,000.and Africa 100,000, 000. The chief Increase will bo in Amer? ica first and Europe next. In the former Spanish-America will have jthe heaviest increase. The diminu? tion of increase in population, which is already noticed in France, will ifollow in Germany, Italy and Eng? land. : As for tho different nations of the time, Russia will have 340,000,000 of population, Germany 115,000,000 land France only 56,000,000. China 'will have passed 550,000,000, and in all probability will still remain 'outside of modern civilization. In America these figures have the greatest meaning. Tho United States will have 400,000,000, Mexico 'and Brazil 150,000,000, Canada 40, 000,000, tho Argentine Republic and Chili 30,000,000. The two civilized nations which will bavo the greatest power will bo the United States and Russia, hav? ing together over 700,000,000 inhab? itants. _ Quick Repentance. Eight divorces were granted in this state in 1893 to persons who bad been married less than six months and to seventeen persons who had been married more than six months, but less than a year. Ono hundred and ninety-six persons had been married moro ?than twenty years, and forty-nine persons had been married more than thirty years beforo applying for a dlrorco. Tho whole number of divorces granted last year was 1,045.?Boston Herald. He Could Be Trusted. A small colored boy who stole some zinc from in- front of a new building was arrested and taken be? fore a magistrate for a hearing. Ho was severely reprimanded by the magistrate, who instructed him to take back the stolen zinc, and, turn? ing to the officer, requested that he should seo that the boy did it. "Dat's all right, boss," said the prisoner, 4 'Ise gwine to take it back, and yo' peedn't send no cop wid me,, IV Ise hones'."-Philadelphia Call,1 r PROSPECT OF FLYING. An Inventor's Ideas on the Probabil? ity of Human Flight. Lord Rayleigb, in speaking of my experiments at the Oxford meeting of the British association, said ho considered that of the five great 'problems to be solved before flight could be accomplished I bad already Solved three. I presume he referred to the motive power, the propelling power and the lifting power. What 'remains to be done is to learn to, steer and maneuver the machine,1 and when once free flight is accom? plished to practice landing until the navigator is able to brin g the ma chine slowly to the earth and land without injury or shcck. Of course it would be necessary to approach' the earth slowly in a vertical direc? tion while running at a very high speed and to shut off steam the in? stant the machine touches the earth. The machine will then run forward over the earth and bo brought to a state of rest in about one hundred ?feet Now that it has been shown that a machine may be mode which will actually lift Itself and travel through tho air at a very high velocity, I bo lleve that some of the military pow? ers who have so long been experi? menting in this direction will tako advantage of what I have accom? plished, that they, will obtain suffi? cient appropriation, and that an actual flying machine for military purposes will soon be evolved, wheth? er I continue my experiments or not. As for the commercial value of flying machines I do not think it is likely that they will be employed for freight or passengers. Perhaps they might be used for sporting pur? poses, and it is not altogether un? likely that in tho daily journals of twenty years hence wo shall find il? lustrations of sorao popular prince of the realm on a flying machine pursuing a flock of wild geese through the air and firing on them with a Maxim gun.?Hiram S. Maxim, in National Review. ITS DOOM PRONOUNCED. The Black Scale No Longer Infests California Orchards. The black ladybird of Australia, which was introudced into California two years ago to exterminate the black scale and like orchard para? sites, has not belied its reputation. To these pests it has proved so re? lentless an enemy that in some parts* of the state, notably Saata Barbara ^ounty, scarcely any insect life re? mains for the sustenance of the lady? bird. Trees which, two years ago, were covered with the secretions of tho scale, which, in faot, seemed irremediably ruined, are now clean, bright and vigorous. "It is diffi? cult," says an expert, "to place a pecuniary estimate on the value of the enemy of the black scale. In one respect, however, the saving in spraying and fdmlgating will prob? ably represent one hundred thou? sand dollars a year to the horticult? urists of California. One i'ruit . grower alone has of late years been compelled to expend from three to five thousand dollars per annum for this purpose, while there are four or five growers in L03 Angeles county alone who each pay out on average of ten thousand dollars annually in battling against the black scale. All this will be saved, for the little beetle costs nothing. Then, in ad? dition to the economy, tho trees will be more healthful and consequently will bear more plentifully and a bet? ter quality of fruit. The officers of the board of horticulture ore satisfied that tho black scale is doomed, as was the cotton cushion, and are now turning their attention to tho dis? covery of a parasite that will war on the red scale, which is causing much annoyance and loss to tho orango-' growers of tho south." According to His Light. A teacher of a Virginia district school recently asked one of her lit? tle colored pupils to go to tho black? board and write a sentenco thereon containing tho word "delight." George Washington Jackson went pompously to the front'of the room and wrote In a large, scrawling hand these lines: "Do wind blowed so hard dat it-put out de light."?Har? per's Young People. When Too Wakeful. For sleeplessness, tiro one of tho special senses, gay sight or hearing, by letting tho eyes wander, or by listening to somo monotonous sound, without fixing attention. It may succeed or it may not, but cannot do worso than the rest of tho thou? sand and ono proscriptions for the same purpose. A dull reader or, better, hum-drum preacher, is tho only infallible soporific?Sanitary Era. _ The Professor Was Interested. "And you say he was defeated by one vote?" said tho professor. "Yes," said his wife, who had been reading from the paper. "That's interesting, very inter? esting," he mused. "It's a positive paradox. It's what might be termed a singular plurality!"?, Washington Stars 1 HOLMES IN REAL LIFE. Interesting Story of an Incident In Sir Astley Cooper's Life. The marvelous qualities of dissec? tion and analysis with which Dr. A. Conan Doyle invosts his mythical character, Sherlock Holmes, are manifested at times by Individuals ?in real life. Probably it is due to the possibilities of the occurrences that make Dr. Doyle's stories so at* tractive. An actual case of accurate analysis (and judgment is reported in an old time medical journal of Sir Astley Cooper, the famous London surgeon of fifty years ago, between whom and our own Dr. Valentine Mott there existed a warm personal friendship and somo slight professional rivalry, each having performed for his time wonders in surgery. It is related of Sir Astley that he ? was once called to perform an almost hopeless operation upon a Mr. Blight, who had been shot by an unknown* assassin. The prominence of the man and tho mystery surrounding the shooting rendered the case cele-' brated at the time of the occurrence, Mr. Blight was unconscious at the time of the examination, and nothing could be obtained from him. The. moment Sir Astley examined the wound ho turned to his assistant and said: "A pistol has been fired at him with the left hand." Then he ex plained the reasons for his conclu? sions. While he was still engaged In this Mr. Blight's partner, a Air. Patch, a man esteemed as reputable, entered the house and was shown to the room. Something about his manner and his countenance attracted the attention of Sir Astley, and he whispered to his colleague: "If that gentleman were left-handed I should suspect him of the crime." Tho next instant ho turned to Patch and said: "Will you kindly hand me that lint?" Patch did so, utilizing his left hand. Mr. Blight died. Patch was accused of the murder, and upon being tried and condemned on circumstantial evi? dence confessed his guilt. He was duly executed.?Chicago Tribune. A WELCOME FRIEND. Something About the Golden-Crested. Wren a* Seen In England? He was a little person whom I ba<3 not seen in my grounds for four long years, when with his wee wife he used to hop around the "arbores Vita" that grew in my wigwam win? dows, says tho Liverpool Mercury. But I never expected to see them again, for In our district bird-catch? ers are ever busy, and the law which forbade the destruction of birds in season but permitted the seizure of eggs was the most foolish in exist? ence. The consequence is that many of our most beautiful birds are seldom seen. Bullfinches and goldfinches no longer enchant us with their melody In copse and grove; blackcaps and whitethroa-is are rare; kingfish? ers are killed whenever seen, just as are Innocent mice-eating owls and hawks, while away along the old ro mantio seashore the slaughter of gulls Is dreadful to contemplate. Well, the little person in question rejoices in the name of "Sylvia Regulus," or golden-crested wren. A very tiny individual, indeed, but charmingly pretty and hardy to a degree. These birds are to be found amid tho pine-clad mountains of .Scotland and Norway, and even cheer tho exiles of far Siberia with .their presence and sweet but simple song. They mostly all leave England in winter, but many remain. They build as early as March a dome shaped structure and lay a large number of their tiny red-spotted eggs. They generally build in a bush, but some years ago a pair buil t under the cork bark of my Persian cat's bouse, of all the places in the world. There is one thing tho "Sylvia Reg? ulus" never knew, and that is fear. I sincerely hope my tiny friend has como to stay._ Flexible Stone. It may bo safely said that no specimen In a geological collection is more curious than the bar of flexiblo sandstone, which can bo bent with leas pressure than that required to bend a piece of wet leather of the same size. In an articlo upon the subject in the Mineral Collector, wo are told that "when a thin slice of the stone is looked at under a lens by transmitted light, the fragments' are seen to be locked together like the parts of a sectional puzzlo toy, fixed, but only loosely. The simplest way of explaining how this stone was formed is to say that the grains of sand were once cemented firmly together by another material, which has been partly dissolved, leaving countless natural ball-and-socket joints of jagged shape behind." Largs Farm. Louisiana has the largest farm in the United States. It is 100 miles one way and 25 the other. The fenc? ing alone cost $50,000. The Difference. Tho great difference between an ad and a cat is that an ad has nine lives while a cat hasn't.?Printers'