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p * voL.%xmx. camden, s. c., Thursday, November 20, isoo. no. 21. TIS ALIA MYTH. j Tis all a myth that autumn grieves. For watch the rain amid the leaves, With silver fiugers dimly seen It makes each leaf a tambourine, And swings and leaps with clfm mirth To kiss the brow ot mother earth; Or laughing 'mid Ihc trembling grass It nods a greeting as you pass. Oh! bear the rain amid the leaves? :Tis all a myth that autumn grieves. 'Tis all a ny th that autumn grieves. For list t??e winds among the sheaves; Far sweeter than the breath o' -lay Or storied scents of old Cathay, It blends the perfume rare and good Of spicy pine and hickory wood; And with a voire as gay as rhymo It prates of sifted mint and thyme. Oh! scent the wind among the sheaves? 'lis all a myth that aututnn grieves! "Tis all a myth thai autumn grieves? Behold the wondrous web she weaves! By viewless hands her thread is spuu Of evening vapors shyly won. Across the grass from side to side A myriad unseen shuttles glide Ti roughout the night, till on the height Aurora leads the haggard light. Behold the wondrous weo sno weave?, :Tis all a m} tii that autumn grieves! ?Samuel Minium Peel:, in Aye-Herald. A TALE OF ADVENTURE. The railroad line from Lucknow to Lahore, India, runs through a country where the tiger and panther yet crouch w ithiu sound of the car wheels, and where almost every tn.in passing up and down cuts serpents in two as they crawl over the tracks from cover to cover. I heard it stated over and again that three surveyors lost their lives for every ruilc of the road, and if this had not been true the company wouid not have employed me in the capacity it did. When the grading began at Lucknow, or, rather, after it had progressed a few miles to the west, I took the advance with a party of fourteen natives. 3Iv title should have been, '*The Honorable Tiger Slayer and Serpent Killer to the Honorable Lucknow and Western Rail road Company.'' I was employed to protect the railroad hands, and the position was far from being a sinecure. It is as well to state how we were outfitted. We had two horses and carts and an elephant. The latter had been used very often for hunting, aud was a wary and intelligent beast. He was my personal property, and when I rode atall it was ou his back. I had a rifle carrying an explosive ball, aud my men were aruied with double-barrelled shotguns. We had a supply of Chinese bombs and several hundred sheet-iron cylinders, which could be charged for shells. % In j addition to the nbove I bad a cars of j Congreve rockets, the chambers of which were filled with swan shot, and when we took our station ou the line no party could have been better prepared. Fiist on ti.t. i.ne came the pioneers, who cleared tb<- tr ek of trees aud brush, j Within niue miles of Lucknow two of i these were bitten by cobras, and died be- I fore help cculd reach them. We were j to beat tiie route ahead of the pioneers ; for at least five miles, and ou the very j first day we killed two cobras aud rau off i a panther. Fiom that day for almost | two yeais there was scarcely a day with- j out its advcuturc. One morning, after we ind made our i camp about two miles ahead of the pioneers, I started to ride back on my cle? 1 * *1, flirt fnrnmui nf ! JMUliJl IU tUUMUl una VlCv Wivmuu W. | the gang. About the same time lie; started to walk to the caiup. Ten miu- I utes before I saw him my beast, whom I j bad christened "Zeb," announced in his j own peculiar way that he scented tiger, j He liung his trunk from side to side and breathed in an excited way. I had passed out of a thicket to an open spot when I saw Mr. Williams about half a mile away. He was iu the clear ground on the edge of a dense thicket. I held up and he soon saw me. He was waving his hat in silent salutation, when a magnificent spcciman of tigerhood bounded from the thicket, struck the ground once, afid then made a leap of about twenty feet and bore Williams to the earth. Two or three seconds later he Hung the unfortunate man over his shoulder and started off. He did not make for the thicket, but for a ravine to the west. I urged Zeb after him as fast as he could go, and hearing the crash of his footsteps the tiger halted and wheeled around and stood looking us in the face. I was so near before my beast halted that I could see that Williams was gripped by the right shoulder. He lay almost on his back diagonally across the tiger's body. At a distance of not over fifty feet the elephant halted. He saw that the ground was broken and that he stood no show of pursuit. I had my rifle ready, and though I lelt almost certain that I would kill William if I fired, I raised the weapon to my face and fired at the white spot on the tiger's breast. I believe he leaped three feet high with his burden, and he had touched the earth again when the ball exploded. It made an awlul wreck of him, and as 1 rode forward I had no hope whatever for the man. I found hiin covered with blood and hair and flesh and his coat sleeve tern off, but I had scarcely taken hi;n by the heels to draw liiru aside when he roused up and was soon able to converse. The tiger had given him a severe bite in the shoulder, aud he had been considerably shaken up by the explosion, but in tw o weeks he was at the head of his gang agam. The tiger must not oulv have hern a man-eater, but in the full vigor of life and strength. An old tiger would have continued to ruu for cover. This fellow bad lost no teeth and had lots of piuck. We were heating a thicket, in which was a large mass of out-cropping rock. The route run rjgnt mrougn me uucki-i, and within forty feet of the eastern edge of this outcrop. We knew it to be a good place for serpents, and we were not long in finding them. With a shotgun we killed three large specimens of the cobramsnilla and one of the men hit oil two jftndtnakes, which are fouud in tlit thickets as often as in the sands. Others rail to cover, and tiieu we brought up our ammunition train, and made ready for business. We had sheet-iron cylinders from the diameter of a candle to that of a tea canister. We selected a size to fit any hoie we found, and they were loaded with powder and buckshot and a fuse inserted. The cylinders dropped down after the snakes, aud the explosion settled the fate of anything in that hole. I thiuk we killed sixty or seventy serpents cu an acre of ground. The first Chinese bomb I used on the railway line was at a point eighty miles west of Lucknow. One morning a native came to me from a small village on our right flank and said that a panther had carried off his two-year-old child the evcuing before. Just after sunset, while the family were sitting about the door of the hut, the child, which was just beginning to walk, toddled off around the corner of the hut, and was seized by a panther lying in wait. Its screams roused the whole village, and everybody saw the beast golloping away with the child in i - - a! i.^ US mom I!. 1IJ1S JKUIUICI \>;IN MIIUMI IU have two cubs, and her retreat was iu a rocky ravine, a mile from the village. I took five men and the elephant, and, accompanied by about thirty of the villagers, went to the ravine. It wasu't exactly a raviue, but a basin of thicket and rock, with a J # 7 i spring at the bottom of it. My men soon ! beat up the ground, aud found a wellj worn path leading to the den. It was j about twenty feet below the crest of the . sink, aud the opening was nearly as large j as a barrel. There was no question but 1 that the panthers would be at home at ! that hour of the day, and after arranging my men with their shot guns I dropped j the bomb iuto the den myself. It wasu't I a bomb for a mortar, but a heavy glass j bulb tilled with chemical6 and exploded j by a fuse. When the chemicals were reI leased they created such a smell as no . human nose could endure. I heard a growl as I retreated, and all i i O ' i of us caught the sound of the explosion, j Indeed, we felt the jar of it. A few sec- I < ouds later there was a rush aud a roar, | | au.l one panther was hardly out when a ! : second followed. They were cut and i bleeding and seemed to be on fire. We fired as they canie into sight, and both rolled to the bottom of the sink, dead. It was a full hour before a native could enter the den, and then he found two dead cubs and some of the bones of the villager's child. We gave them the scalps of the panthers, That they might /"1~.? 1. .?. ?A fhn Clilim UJU uuvvniuiiuu mnaiu, auu tut father of the child at once forgot his loss. I had had ray elephant seven months before I learned his real value. He had been warranted a nervy beast, butitofteu happens that if an elephant is transferred to new scenes he undergoes a change of heart. One afternoou I rode down the route about five miles to a village to procure medicine for a sick man in ray party. The route was through forest and thicket and over stretches of open covered with tall grass. Before goiug I exchanged my rifle for one of the shotguns, knowing that it would he a more effective weapon from the back of an elephant. There had been a murder committed in the village that forenoon, and this aud other matters detained me until about an hour before sunset. As I made ready to start back a native hunter said to mc: ''The sahib will need sharp eyes and a steady hand. A wolf has just appeared in the village." I thanked him for his interest and rode away. The wolves of India do not pack in such numbers as elsewhere, seldom more than five or six being found together. We had killed a few along the line, aud they had showed no fight at all. As Zeb shambled along I thought far less i of wolves than of bigger game. I wasn't a mile out of the village when j Zeb began to swing his trunk as a sign j that he scented danger. A-- we letf tiie cover of the woods to cross one of the open spaces, lie trumpeted in excitement, and increased his pace. I could see : nothing at first to alarm him, but two or j three minutes later I caught sight of five wolves on our trail and this number 1 increased to twenty aimos; in a twinkj ling. We were uot yet half way across i the open when the pack spread out in a half circle and closed in on us. As soon a> they were near enough I opened fire, and a wolf dropped at every report. The living didn't stop, however, but closed in more eagerly than before, and Zeb was j now under such motion that I could no j longer use the gun. I had scarcely laid ; it down and picked up a hatchet which I was in the howdah by chauce, when a j wolf sprang fairly fiom the ground and j caught the edge of the box-like arrauge| ment with his forepaws. I used the I hatchet to sever his paws, and both j dropped iuside as he rolled off to the. j ground. j Zeb was now speeding .along like a : runawav horse, and I had all I could do j to retain my seat. He used his trunk- j ! right and left, and more than once I . j heard a wolf howl out as he was knocked [ 1 over. I had no mahout, always acting ! i as my own, and Zeb had always been | wonderfully obedient to my voice. 1 ! had no orders to give him now,however, I and only knew in a vague way that he j was heading for our camp. lie finally | reached the far edge of the open, and 1 now I expected to be swept off his back j as he ran under the trees. Instead of : going into the woods he skirted them to ! the westward, and after a run of five miuutes he reached a small lake,of whose presence I had not the slightest knowlj edge, as it was walled in by thickets. lie ran straight into the water, which was i about four feet deep and alive with | alligators. It was about an acre in ex! tent, and Zeb waded out about 200 feet j from shore before he stopped. The pack followed us. each wolf obliged to swim, and I counted eleven of them. They j probably reasoned tiiat we were going ij straight across. i When the elephant halted I had my ' shotgun ready to open tire, hut there ! [ was no need of it. Zeb iet the wolves come ou, only to their destruction. The i first one he got hold of was tiuug thirty tj feet high, ur.d the blows of his trunk broke a back whenever it could get a fair blow. I believe lie would have cleaned out the whole pack without help, but I killed two, and then aid came from au unexpected quarter. The alligators, disturbed by the row, were quick to catch on to the fact that food was at hand, and they came up by the dozeu. Three or four wolves made for the shore after a bit, but not one reached it. When the last one had becu pulled down Zeb waded ashore and headed for cauip, which he reached without further incident. When I came to look him over I found that he had received several bites on the trunk, and a sharp stone had severely cut his right hind foot. After that night the sight of a wolf instantly aroused his ire. I had him in the town of Sundella one day a year later, when a native wearing a wolf-skin shoulder ca[:c happened to pass near. Zeb at once charged him, and seizing the poor fellow in his trunk flung him clear over tiio telegraph wires ana on to tnc roof of a bungalow. The man had a leg broken, and, of course, I had to settle the damages. After two days of palaver he named his figures, lie wanted a sum equivalent to $25 in American money, aud his friends thought it a fortunate speculation on his part.?Neic York Sun. The Oat in Antiquity. Was the cat, as a fireside pet, known to the aucients? If it was, was it as the domestic animal familiar to ourselves, or was it simply as a domesticated savage, like the monkey or the gazelle? Professor Virchow iuclincs to the latter opiniou. Having examined the mummies of Egyptian cats, he fouud they had nothing in common with our feline friend. The cats of antiquity, according to other archaeologists, were slenderer than ours, aud approached the weasel in appearance. But Sig. Saglio, the distinguished Italiau scholar who is engaged on the magnificent "Dictionary of Greek and lloman Antiquities" now in course of publicatkn at Paris, under the editorship of Darcmberg, read the other day before the Academy of Inscriptions a memoir on the subject, in which he holds a contrary opinion t) that of Virchow. The cat iu ancient times was, lie maintains, the identical domestic animal known to modern Europe. On Etruscan tombs he has found paintings which represent the cat ns a regular inmate of the house of the deceased, one of these pictures showing us a company at dinner, and the cat toying under the tabic with bones of chicken or partridge. Sig. Saglio further refers Professor Virchow to the British museum, where on two jars belonging to the fifth century B. C., domestic cats are depicted in a "Scula Musical' Of these cats one is held by a string and another stands upright on a footstool while n boy offers it a dainty. There are other pictorial representations, according to the accomplished Italian archaeologist, which prove that the cat was cherished in antiquity as ouc of the most useful, as well as graceful, domestic animals, inspiring the affection bestowed on it by eminent persons of all times?from Mohammed to Petrarch, from Montaigne to Hoffman and Dumas. ?London Lancet. A House Fly Parasite. State Entomologist Linttier, recently received from a Gouvevneur lady an interesting parasite on the common house fly. "it is not uncommou to find half a dozen on a sinsrle fiv," the sender writes. Th'-y are exceedingly small, being no larger thau the puncture in a piece of paper by a small-sized pin poiut, yet they arc seen readily because of their light vermilion color. Their favorite spot is on the body of the fly underneath the bases of the wings. The parasite is a mite of the group known as "harvest mites," bearing the scientific name of Trombidium inuscarum,and is similar to another species that attacks flies in Europe. The mite does not multiply, unfortunately, with sufficient rapidity to do much toward the reduction of the number of house flies. While infesting the fly it is in the larval stage, and only after leaving it docs it become mature and begtn to propagate. For this rrasou it rarely comes uuder observation accl has seldom been recorded by eutomologists. Another species of mite sometimes met with produces its young upou the house fly with such rapidity that in a few days the body, head, and limbs become completely covered with the parasite. The fact has been spoke i of often that the usual number of flies were not seen this season. The reason for this would be interesting, whether an undiscovered parasite or some new form of disease has destroyed them.?New York Times. Played a Waltz at Her Grave. Tney tell a story of Strauss, the coinposer, which he claimed was true. It is to the effect that an old lady admirer of the Strauss music, a Viennese, ordered in her last will and testament that a Strauss waltz should be played at her funeral, for which each member of the orchestra was to receive a dueat. The heirs objected at first on religiou grounds to carry out this plan, but the provisions of the will were distinct and could not be violated without endangering their own claims; so Strauss and his musicians were engaged and placed in a circle around the grave, and while the coffin was being lowered they played thn favorite waltz of their late lamented admirer. i Russia's Rich Coal Deposits. Tf the calculations of Professor Meudelejetl are to be trusted Russia possesses , the riches coal deposits in the world. | The superiicial area of the coal fields in the Denetz. basin alone amounts to about 30,000 square kilometres. If the capnc: ityof these deposits is put at 50,000,000 pounds per square kilometre (one pound bcius about thirty-six averdupois), the total supply of coal is stated to be equal to the world's present cousmuptiou for fifty years. Moreover, this only referto the superficial beds and not to tin deeper deposits, which have uot yet beer: ' exploited, but which promises still great ! er riches.?Times-Democrat. SUNFLOWER FARM. AN ACRE OP FLAMING GOLD IN NEW YORK. Raising t7ie Flowers to Feed the Seeds to Hens?The Biggest Hennery in the World? Keeping Hens Warm. Tt is a grand estate that Cyrus W. Field owns among the glorious "Westchester hills. You cau travel for miles after leaving Broadway and never get off his property. The homes of Mr. Field' and of his son and married daughter lie on the top of a commanding hill about a mile and a half above the Hudson and hurk- of the nrettv little villanre of Hobbs , - I J o I Ferry. When yon have climbed the long bills j on which stands the noble mansion of the j great promoter and the villas of Dr. j Lindsay, his son-in-law, and the younger j Field, bis son, you conn: to an abrupt ravine, Behind this is the spring house, containing a liquid crystal of great . worth, and the conservatories, wheru hothouse grapes and rare flowers grow j the year around. Dogs, big and little, : savage and affectionate, bound along beside your carriage and make you ache for the lonely pedestrian who should pass this way after dark. Then ' comes a magnificent hill of woodland, cut by a road which winds and twists, no v up hill and now down, until it crosses the divide and reaches the valley of the Sawmill River. it is in this valley, beside a pretty but j dangerous pond, that Mr. Field raises chickens, sunflowers and malaria, and of which of the crops were most successful I this summer it would he hard to say. I But ail did well, and there was never a i wishbone light in the valiaut'housc of ! Field. The hennery is snid to be tbo 1 largest in the world maintained for a j gentlemau's table?fifteen huudred chicks to be divided among three families. All summer long passers on the Savrmill River road have drawn rein just ! above the great hen houses, and, with j exclamations of wonder and delight, I wondered what all that was for. "That" ! was a great field of sunflowers?mam- ; .t? .L- l-- 4 i.: a ?n 1 mollis, iiie uiggesi iviuu niai. giuwo?an . planted in soriied columns. It was a wonderful sight, this acre of green anil gold. When the morning sun shone upon thcrn on the same side as the road a thousand great circles of yellowest gold would all point that way. It was almost dazzling, and the man who could pass it without reining up was either devoid of . NO USE FOll THESE. sight or of imagination. So many asked the meaning of that field that young E. Ellison, who planted it, grew very weary and thought to paint a sign to this effect: : "These sunllowcrs are to feed chickens. ' All other questions answered at one dol- 1 lar each." The worst of it was that people were rot satisfied with the information contained above. They wanted to know what part of the sunflower he fed to chickens, and why he did it, aud whose ; chickens they were, and if Mr. Field . could not. afford to buy chickcu feed, j and what effect the sunflower seed had on chickens, and if they would cure the pip?-and all manner of questions, pertinent, impertinent and otherwise. At times E. Ellison's head whirled round j and he was tempted to resign his place j or plow up the sunflowers. But he stuck ! it out to the end, and now he has a va- ! cant house full of suuflowcr blooms, and i is the happiest chicken man this side of i ! Elvsiuui. I always thought a big poultry house ' j must be a bad smelling place until I enI tercd Mr. Field's and found how much T was mistaken. Of course the keeper has to do much iu the way of cleaning, v^3j! i Sip I i' j ^u^UL^m | ?.?V* /x?rrnc nHT k \V k V TO HTIV. * v * ? " " * """ ' for eighteen hundred fowl of chicken size and five hundred ducks and several dozen gecsc and turkeys, to say nothing oi a couple hundred pigeons nnd squabs, can make considerable trouble if left alone. But there was very little suggestion of evil in the three great tenements were l he Field inn stock is at home. Three houses five hundred feet in length are the tenements for the chickens. Two have expensive arrangements for steamheating in winter, arrangements at which E. Ellison sticks tip the nose i in scorn. It is not natural, he says, i Tiio chickens, unless very young, want j nothing but the shelter and such heat as j the winter sun pours in at the glazed ; windows. All else is a nuisance. It is f apt to give them bronchitis, and tho whooping cough, and I do not know but a touch of the grip. There is also an ex- ' pensive brooding arrangement, built by a famous architect named Clark, who evidently had built for human beings more than chickens. Mr. Clark had the idea that it was the little tootsy wootsies of the chickens that should be kept warm, ' and so he put the heat underneath. E. 1 Ellison, who studies nature's methods, I noticed that it was the backs of the little I chicks that, the mother hens keep warm, | and so he docs not use the patent foot- j warmers, and saves many a chickeu's life , by not doing so. There are many different kinds of socalled perfect breeders which have been . tried and tossed one side as useless, and | if you uish to buy a chicken hatcher j cheap I have no doubt that E. Ellison i can give you a bargain. The incubator ( which lie uses is a self-acting, lazy man*! , ...!.L - r.i\ I annir, wim h cajmfii^ 01 ojj j Three settings of this giant hen are all that is needed to keep the vow of Cyrus, | nnd as maternity ou the part of hens is strictly tabooed in the Field establish- i mcnt, this one machine does all the work of turning eggs into little peeps on legs. : It is worth a peck of minted money to go through these long lieu houses and see the gtorienn variety that the Field family have to diet on. The aristocracy , of the barnyard is here sure enough, as j well as those more common liens wiio are . not above the drudgery of laying an egg ; a day; aud when it comes to cake and j A PEEP INTO A HEN HOUSE. puacnng me nen 01 me ycuow uog variety, the hen who lays and lays and never goes on strike, is found to be just as serviceable as the more aristocratic j eggs of the high caste Brahmins and I Cochins, which have come all the way from India and China to show the American chicken what is what in the poultry i line. E. Ellison encourages tfoth and ) you can tnke your choice of the cultured i blue blood caged in cxclusivencss, each ' kind by itself, or in vhe happier but more ! plebiau fowl who have the run of the chicken yard and even do some of their scratching for worms -ad chasing of grasshoppers on the public highway. Some of the big boarding houses for chickens were supposed to be rat proof. . Such was the intention of the builder, : but like all men in this world of fallibility he forgoi to put his wire screens in the one 'place needed, and the rats got in and made trouble in the chicken family. There were wishbones?very tender and little ones?which did not get to the house of Field. For a time tho chicken guardian was at his wits' end what to do, 1>nf of Incf Vie hnilfrVif-. n. few livftlv little fox terriers, and their bright eyes had not been long about the place when the plague of rats was no more. Rats do not rccm to flea vis b on the saoic soil as fox terriers. " CUTTING SCNFLOWEH9. The suuflower farm was a scheme of the chicken man. He knew that the seeds of that delicate flower were excellent dessert for chickens. Too rich for a steady diet, there was something in their oily richness which put an extra gloss on feathers and was very fattening to the bird itself. Why not, he argued, in a farm of (570 acres, backed up by auother farm still farther to the eastward and by the big estate on the Hudson, why not devote an acre to the cultivation of the big sunflower nnd give his chickeus au occasional taste of luxury such as few other chickens enjoy. So the sunflowers were planted and flourished amazingly. But the glory of the sunflowers has departed. Three days of a recent week were devoted to harvesting them. The chicken man and a small hoy assistaut went into the field nnd the giants bowed their heads before his sharp-edged corn hook. Some of the plants were twice as tail as he. Many had been rifled of their blooms by passersby who were anxious to start sunflower farms of their own and who thought the mammoth variety good enough for them. But there were hundreds left and he went at them like a very prince of decapitators. The big suulike discs were lopped oil at the neck, so to speak, and the yellow blossoms rubbed olf. Then they were tossed into a dump cart and when the latter was tun they were trundled to an empy cottage and stacked up on the floors to dry. Every room was needed to furnish floor space for the big circles?some of thein a foot in diameter. When all the harvesting was doue, the common chick were turned loose in the denuded field, aud among the lesser blossoms which it was not thought worth while to house found many a store of fowl delight. Next year when the famo of this sunflower farm has gone abroad we may expect to hear of sunflower farms throughout the country, and the chickens of Thanksgiving, 1891, will wear a gloss and bear a flavor such as chickens never wore before. "Does Mr. Field raise any chickens for market?" I asked. "No," said E. Ellison. "This is not a commercial enterprise in any kind. Of course if I have more eggs or chickens than arc wanted at home I nm privileged to sell them, but I am not trying to run opposition to tho men of Hammonton or any other market raisers." The first setting of eggs usually takes place about the first of January, and there are young chickens on the Fieldiun tables at a time when the average man takc3 his from the icebox or goes without. A little box, which looks much like the market gardener's hotbed, but which has lamp and furnace within to temper the chills of winter to the new born chick, is the place where he spends his infancy at a time when chicks are supposed to be sold by the dozen in the original packnges. There is a slide in front, so that on warm, suushiny days the infant may stroll a little ways abroad and taste the fresh air of Westchester, but for the most part he prefers the society of the brooder which follows Dame Nature's methods and warms his infant back instead of his infant toes.?New York Ilerald. Hie Deadly Boomerang. The boomerang, used by the black natives of Australia, is ouo of the most extraordinary weapons ever invented. It is a curved, flat piece of very hard wood, and has sharp edges. The curve is uot the segment of a circle, but it is in the form of a parabola; and the weapon has the property, when skilfully thrown, of returning to the feet of the thrower. It is, however, very difficult NATIVE THROWING THE BOtolEIUNG. for those Dot accustomed to it to throw it with any effect, whilst a "black fellow" can hurl it with tremendous force round a tree or a house and hit the mark he intended. A friend of mine who traveled in Australia and spent some time among the natives, says a writer, told me that one day "a black fellow," flourishing his boomerang,pointed laughingly to a pretty little green and red parrot that was sitting on a branch some distance away. The weapon was hurled apparently very wide of the mark; but it went whirling round and round through the air, and catching poor little Polly in its flight, knocked her off her perch, and leaving her dead on the ground came circling back again almost to the very feet of the thrower. It is remarkable that so singular a weapon should have been discovered or invented by people so savage as the natives of Australia. It is used solely by them, for though the ancient Egyptians had a throw-stick, aud something similar is iu use nmoug some of the tribes of India, the curve of those weapons differs from that of the boomerang, nor do we know that they had the property of returnicg to the thrower. In illustration of the difficulty of using the boomerang, I may mention that none of my friends could do any execution with a very fine specimen of the weapon in my possession, though they were good enough marksmen with other missiles.?New York Journal. One Way to Break a String. | IVe often see our mothers running obout the house hunting for a knife or pair of scissors with which to cut tho i string just lied arouud a bundle. Even 1 nur baker's wife keeps a pair of shears to cut the cotton cord used in tying up bread, and sometimes the grocer's wifo will press the string over the counter corner and saw it until it wcar3 off by friction. Now a little practice with a grocer's loop will enable the most tenderlingered young lady to break even heavy I twine without pain or inconvenience. 1 (Vfter tying the bundle hook the first | linger of the left hand over the string, 1 giving the finger a twist, or rather bringing the palm upwards, as shown in the illustration. Then roll the finger over backward until it is tight against the bundle, drawing tight the cord, which ; is held in the right hand all the time. | Press the thumb hard against the loop; j then jcrd the cord suddenly with the ' right hand and the string cuts itself. ! With a little practice this can be done : quicker than one could slash the string ! with a knife. Many grocers even do not ' know this.?American Agriculturist. A box of Italian rabbits has been received in Palatka, Fla. The animals are noted for the length of their cars, some of them measuring cighteeu inches from tip to tip. I.OVE'S OPPORTUNITY. Two lovers by the old front gate, So young and all alone! The village clock tolls: Late! Late! Late! Twelve times in solemn tone. -No! No!" A deep voice says aloud, -Sweetheart, don't go Till the moon goes under a cloud." / "' The Queen of Night rides high in space Serenely bright and fair. Her kisses zild the young swain's faca, The mr' en's glossy hair. '. is late, And all ir vows are vowed: hy wait, and wait. Till the mo:>:< goes under a cloud? The fair girl's dewy lips repeat: "Good night is not good-bye." But love in youth is very sweet, And village maids are shy. Dear one, "With head so sweetly bowed. Don't run, don't ruu, j Till the moon goes under a cloud. ?George Horton, in Chicago Herald. PITH AND_ POINT. A close call?The whisper. Down in the mouth?The palate. A smoke house?The opium joint. Large checks are always fashionable for lawyers' suits. A.?"Accidents will happen." B.? "Not when you have a policy." It must have been a wagon wheel that first complained of "that tired feeling." ?Texas Si/tings. Teacher (in the Indian school at Hampj ton)?"What is the masculine of Hawk?" Small Indian?"Tomahawk, mum." "That man has a good position." "What is it?" "Head up, chest will out and legs straight."?West Shore. Druggist?"If you take this preparation of mine, you will never use any other." Customer?"Is it aa fatal as that?" A caterpillar dropped upon Her neck?yet she kept mum; Let none with doubt this statement con, For she was deaf and dumb. ?Washington Post. It would seem proper to seek for a thing where you lost it, yet men continually lose their health in thignountay and go to Europe -to find it.?DanniUe Breeze. ' * .h ' Dyspepsia and disappointment in love seem to produce the same outward effect. The difference between them is that ^ ;? dyspepsia is jrcry "hard "to cure,?Somer- ,v ville Journal.' . ' M-v 1 1/nnw StUggltlS ^HDgTliyy XJU jvu nuvo that your chickens dome over ia my yard?- $iv>oks?"J supposed ?h*t they did, for they never come back again?'? Ne>M York Herald. "How do you like keeping home in the West?" "It's very difficult." "Servants and provisions hard to get?" "No. So hard to keep the house itself when the wind gets lively."?Harper's Bazar. It cheers the old maids to ba taken for girls, They like it to last all their lives, But there's something that pleases them batter, Is just to be taken for wives. ?Philadelphia Times. Country Resident (to pcdler)?"Get J away from here, now, or if you don't I'll whistle for my dog." Pedler?"All right, sir; but first won't you allow me to sell you a good whistle?"?Fliejends Biaetter. Guest?"You call this hotel 'The American Eagle,' but 'The American : Toucan' would be a more appropriate name." Landlady?"Why so, sir?" Guest?"Because the toucan has the largest bill of known birds."?Light. Sergeant (in the instruction hour)? "You see, toe barrel is the most irapor1 *"*C tlin innor rv> rf". Iiaiit p3Tb U1 LL1C i4|uuj ii/i vuv iuuvi of it gives the direction to the ball, wb lo , the outer part of it gives the weapon tue requisite length."?Fliegende BlaetUr. There's nothing lost; the little grains of sand Oft make up mountain's girt with dread and awe, And the weo babe there sleeping on its cot I May soino day be, perhaps, a mother-inlaw. ?Philadelphia Times. I Fauntleroy on the Birth of the Diaj mond.?L. L. Fauntleroy?"Dearest, I don't jewelers set big diamonds?" Mrs. j Fauntleroy ? "Yes, Cedric." L. L. ! Fauntleroy?"Well, dearest, do the big ; diamonds hatch out little ones?"?Jewel! en' Weekly. Minnie?' 'Even though it was my last , chance, I never would mirry a man who ; was devoted to a fad." Mamie?"No? j Yet that is just what I expect to do ! shortly." Minnie?"And what is his I particular hobby, please?" Mamie? "Me."?Indianapolis Journal. Physiciau?"You have caught this cold, youug man, by carelessness. If j you will soak your head and be careful I to wear your overcoat when you go out you will be all right." Young Spendthrift?"No use trying that prescription, i doctor. I've soaked the overcoat."? Chicago Tribune. Summerman?"Why, this is unusual! Why, you are putting all the big apples in the bottoms of the barrels and the little ones on top." Uncle Hiram?"Yes. i Those fellers in the city are gettin' so I all-fired cute; they open the barrels from ! the bottom to see whether we farmers be | tryin' to cheat them."?Racket. i There is a precocious six-year-old boy j who is wonderful in spelling and defini| tion. The other day his teacher asked j him to spell "matrimony." "M-a-t-r-i1 m-o-n-y," said the youngster, promptly. : "Now define it," said the teacher. , "Well," replied the boy, "I don't know exactly what it means, but I know j mother's got enough of it."?Picayune. "Wo had more fun at the party the other night than [ ever saw in my life," said a little St. Anthony Hill girl to her ! mother. "What was the cause of your hilarity?" inquired the interested pareut. ~ * .L- r_n Q "Une 01 me gins icu u^uv m.uu,u .. chair, aud everybody laughed but me." "Why didu't you laugh?" "I?I?I was the little girl who fell through the chair." ?tit. Paul Pioneer Prea,