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I "JACK FROST AS GOOD FRiEND His Beneficial Effect Upon the Soil l?v calculable, and He Perfcrirs Other Services. Let. those who will growl wftpn icicles hang ou the wall. To millions Jack Frost conies as a friend, and not ** 1 *???? ? *-* i f rv*iit?A j"ki+V\cN?* o? >> ?vi i? ?u utoguiov;, cimti. His influence on soil is wonderful, says London Tit-Bits. Besides reducing it to a much tiner state of tillage than can be produced by any i.Mipltments known to uian. it improves its fertility and adds to its quantity. The highest counts of bacteria la soil- -and there may he lOO.OW.WO in a grain?have been obtained in l:ar?i winters, and it is during such seasons that tt?e disintegration of roc', which nrnHin-oe frovli njirti?*It>S of Soil CUSS on most rapidly. As water passes from the liquid tc the solid state its expansive power is about 150 tons to a square foot, which is equal to the weight of a column of rock about one-third of a mile in height. Then comes the thaw, and as the water contracts away crumbles the surface of the rock, to go to make the soil from which we draw our sustenance. Out in the Cotswolds, when winter Is coming on, they turn blocks of stone grain upwards, so that the rain sh:?il soak Into the layers. A thaw succeed-: a frost, and then the blocks are tapped with a hammer, whereupon they fall Into flakes, ready, after a little trimming for rooting houses. So, too, you may see the slaters working at Collyweston, near Stamford. When there is a likelihood of frost, the men dash water on the edges of the masses of slate which have been brought up from the pits or quarries If there are two frosts In rapid suer^ssion. with a auick thaw between. all is well, as the slate splits into layers. Hut a spell of mild weather means that the material becomes useless for anything except conversion Into rubble. BIRD'S NESTS IN ODD PLACES Remarkable Boldness Shown by Many Species When They Are Engaged in rearing r?*mnjr. Every year some fresh discovery la made by naturalists respecting the , curious habits of birds. The boldness shown by even shy birds when domestic duties are concerned is surprising. Robins are especially noted for their boldness, and a pair have been known to build their nest and rear their ; family on a beam in a school. enh'riiii; j by the w'ndow which was left open, j Swallows seldom build in odd pluces, | but a pair y :ve been known to Viil-i | their nest against a pane of wi?ui??u 1 glass. A swallow's nest In m f?:i'i.?-i ; is an exceptionally queer p!;:c v ' a bird of this species to choose. >\rens are vei;v lugiujuu;?, . . ? dome-shaped nests, which :sre ?o ' beautifully woven, are ol'ten fouiu! id j old kettles and tins, and even in the pockets of old coats which have been left hanging about. A hedge sparrow's nest in a kettle was found in a hunch j of nettles close to a public footpath, j where school children passed every I day, but the faithful bird, with no! thought of danger, reared a family j quite unmolested. Circuiting the Earth. A person making a circuit of the earth will lo*e one day by going westward, and gain a day by going east ward. In going eastward rhe sun is met before a complete rotation of the earth has been made. Thus the period from noon until the sun is again met i& the meridian is shorter than from noon to noon in on locality. Going westward requires a little more than twenty-four hours far the sun "to catch up," so that from noon to noon by sun observation covers a period C more than twentyfour hours. In order to keep dates right, a day is dropped out of reckon* onilinry AOOtU'Q U'hof IDS " crossing the one hundred and eightieth meridian?that Is, they live tlif same day twice; and a day is adder when they cross the same meridinr going westward?for instance, arriving at the one hundred and eightierl meridian, -Saturday immediately he comes noon Sunday. The Human Gyroscope. When you are dizzy things appeato go round in a circle. However, tin fault is not with the eyes hut in o near the ear?an organ which parently has nothing to do with sigh or feeling. Close to tne ear is tocaie< the little organ which gives us nu po^er of balance, permits us to wall upright without tottering, and. whei properly trained, to assume posture; which are distinctly outside the ra?ii lar routine of our daily lives. Kecen trie dancers, acrobats, athletes an< others have unconsciously trained thi "balnnce wheel" until they can <i? Strang* :mngs wmioui, ing their balance. When we spi; around rapidly, this delicate median ism is disturbed or thrown slightly on of g<?ar. causing the eyes to move in dependently of each other and to sen? different impressions ?<> the braii This causes tlie spinning riiVei we dizziness. f Sarcastic Charles. ^Charley, dear," said young Mr* I Torklns. "the cook who ?-;iiue day b? fore yesterday has left u<." "TaLo nnvthinfr with her?'' **S ne few artiH^s." MVTo5!. I suppose ih" i-'.jvoii Hie !of Us whs thut she <li<ln'i i:::vt? :my tiw for us." j BF0 Daddy's j EpdEveimfti Fairy Tale j ayr\ary graham bonner ; ' CQTTBiOwl |t VI1TUN N|VWm ONlOW LIZARDS "It's so nice," said the Australian Monitor, "to sound rather important j at first. 1 believe - -> they liave monitors in schools sand that they are things that are immay think I sound j important at nrst, they may not be , disappointed when they find out I'm "* a curious creature even if I'm not * ? ?? important in any "A Curious Crea- school way. ture n "I've never been to school. No one ever asked me to go, and no one ever sent me. They didn't care if I didn't go to school and by 'they' I mean my family. "For an Australian Monitor learns nil hp hns fr> Ip.qrn out of school YiiSt as well as he would in school. Perhaps he learns his lessons out 'of school better and what he should do and eat and so forth. "An Australian Monitor might be in school filling ink-wells when he could be making himself a stronger and a better animal or reptile by being out of doors and catching a small rabbit or something like that. "An Australian Monitor, of course, is a lizard?and a good strong lizard, too. We can eat small animais whole. We are very large and very big and grow to be eight feet long. "We can run very fast and we live in the dark jungles. We are fond of meats in the way of food, or rather, we don't care about vegetables. "We are from India and we have relatives in Africa and in Australia. "But one of the most important ! things about us Is that we can eat j eggs whole and that the sells dissolve J themselves just like capsules or pills j do. "Yes, eggshells ore alright for us, and ni tell you the reason. "We have fine digestions. We don't have our tummies getting upset the j way so many creatures do. "Gracious, we don't have to go to ! ..Oil and take bad medicines and say. "'(>h dear, oh dear, why did I eat I that!' "Yes, we have superior digestions ; and they are important." "We are beautiful," said the Green Lizard. "And our family came over j from Europe. That is, we didn't com? S of our own accord. You know what 1 j mean." "We didn't go down to the pier with : our luggage and put our r>ames on the j passenger list and then come across , in cabins on the big boat or anything , like that. "But we were brought over. "And when you speak about digestions we agree with you. "It Is most important and very pleasant to have a good digestion. It j makes a creature feel better and hap pier and all of such things. I always j enjoy my meals and I always feel j happy. I feel so pleased with myself j rhat I show off and folks coming to the zoo quite enjoy seeing me." i "And I," said the Chameleon, "have been brought over here to join the lizard family, for I have such a lot of i interesting colors which I show at dlf- ! ferent times." "I am a curious creature," said the ; Gila Monster, "and I am really stupid. I I came from the desert and I move j slowly and awkwardly along, for my J body is fat and brown. "I look as though I were covered j wftli black and brown and tan and j yellow beads, but I'm not. It's just be- j cause of the kind of a suit I wear that J I look that way. "I give a good hard bite and I make ' anyone suffer whom I bite, but I don't i kill them. No, I'm not mean enough "T" 7 jTy j tsfied to make > inem suffer, that's j j ^ "Well," said the | would like to have I'm really a lizard and should talk -yj(*3r- ! with all <>f you, though I look so i much like a snake ?r"U iluit creatures call ?II*7 ?.l X* u.. j , mist a k e \ ery " ; often and my "Really a Lizard." i n a m e, as you know, is Snake. "I'm a real lizard, but I look like a I snake. That's pretty interesting. Now ! that is more than any child I ever saw, j could do. I've seen a lot of them at [ the zoo. too. 'Tm sure none could look like pussy j rats iud yet he children, or could 1 he pussy cats nnd Iook ilk*1 chiidreju I'm an interesting creaiure, I ami" SHED LIGHT ON OLD TIMES Interesting Official Documents Recently Found in the State House at Philadelphia. Incrusted with dust, yellow with i *ge, some nibbled by mice, a real treasure trove of documents has been discovered by'workmen restoring the old state house, the last of the group of Independence ball buildings to receive the city's attention, says a press dispatch from Philadelphia. The building was the seat of the city government until 1S.">3. One of the official papers relates that Robert Wharton, once mayor of Philadelphia, addressing the select council on December 19, 1314, deplored the increase of "tippling houses," especially those that sold "ardent spirits" to minors in one and two cent quantities. Another record ? - i r c\ 1 Ol showed mat as iare us iuay v, ioiu, a resident of that city paid $23.50 as a tax for being allowed to carry & watch. In the "tippling house" address of Mayor Wharton he called the old-time saloons "vile sinks." (?!...ling houses also came in for his attack. He declared that many such houses were being operated in the city openly for the destruction of the unwary, and lamented that there were no laws against them. A reference to a fine of 10 shilling for the unlawful discharge of firearms was mentioned by Mayor Wharton. lie criticized the filthy condition of "certain footways" and recommended fixing the pavements on many city gtreets. A police flyer was also found near where the old rogues' gallery used to be, and in those days this was an actual frail cry around the police court. The flyer was d?ted about the middle of the last century, and with it were photographs or a prominent i>ew jlwia merchant and society man who had run away with another man's wife. The names might surprise their descendants, now numbered among New York's "four hundred." The documents date from 1775 to 1fir>3 tiio mnioritv belonging to the years of the last decade of the Eighteenth century and the first two decades of the Nineteenth. John Home Tooke. A renegade priest, who openly scoffed at his calling and who led a life, to say the least, which could not be called respectable, would not be well esteemed as a private citizen, notwithstanding his learning and the ingenuity of his own generally admiredwork, "The Diversions of Purley." John Ilorne Tooke was born on June 25. 173G, and it was not so many years after that he was looked upon as one of the political pests of the era. It is rather startling that all tlie public questions on which his opinions were d<*med mischievous have since been settled in his favor. 1 Tooke was fined and imprisoned for his opposition to England's war with ber colonies. Twenty-three years after h?s doarh reforms in the house of coin mons which he strongly advocated were brought about. He was the tirsr prominent Englishman to proclaim the advantages of free trade, and his biography may well be kept in view aa a monument to the futility of intolerance.?Chicago Journal. Rock Has Great History. A report on the Dome of the Rock of Jerusalem is shortly to be published and will be of great interest to the Mohammedan world. It may not be generally known that this place is the third in sanctity of all the sanctuaries of Islam, and indeed for a short period it actually formed the Kibla toward which all Moslems prostrated themselves in prayer. Among the m?.re important religious associations of this rock we may mention that it was here that David and Solomon were called to repentanc.?, and on account of a vision David chose this site for his temple. From this same spot Mohammed ascended to the Seventh Heaven after his night journey from Mecca, and lastly it is to he the scene of the Great Judgment. The historical associations are not less striking, and such famous names as Omar. Akwmaieic. ?>am<iiu and Suleiman are all connected with the rock.?Zanzibar Gazette. Wireiess Triumphs Over Mountains. The Point Grey and Victoria wireless stations were in communication with the High River (Alberta) air station on a recent ni?ht. This is the first time that Canadian wireless plants have made connection across *v~ A./mrfoinc *5ovt>rnl covornment liltr niuiuiuuu.i. - reports were kicked across the peaks during the night and when improved receiving sets are provided the coast stations and more power given High River tbe service will be regular, it 13 said.?Vancouver Pioneer. May Make Use of Volcano. Tnree expeditions have h^en sent from this country to Kilauea. The flaming firepit of the island of Hawaii, to investigate the practicability of tapping the earth's interior for heat ro furnish power to ail the Hawaiian islands. It is proposed to bore at the volcano on "safe ground" some distance away, transforming subterranean heat into electrical energy.? -- - * ? if,. 1 ^ ^ Popular iuecJianic.s Use Up Valueless Trees. The fuel value of wood ought to induce any one to cut down detriment.*] trees. They vary a great deal In iLho fuel value for heating purposes. Hirhter woods?cotton-wood, l>ox eldor, soft maple?have less value than the hard woods such a? oak, ash, and hickory. GEM LONGJRIZED | Emerald Figures Largely in History and Legend. 5r\/'c I o\y#? Atrm* Wac in. I I " I I O W J w -W? V WV..V ..vw ... spired Both Saints and Poets?Referred To in Scriptures. Emeralds will he set in the most fashionable engagement ring* of the future, for Princess .Mary had an emerald engagement ring. The emerald of average quality is ^nuch more valuable than the diamond of equal- quality, observes the London Tit-Bits. The tinest emeralds are worth .?12.."00 a carat, while a good-sized gem might l 1.:? f weign au\ uuug iiwm iwui iu oii carats; ?.T>0 to $400 a carat is a minimum price. The output of emeralds is very small. j The emerald is given a place of honor in history and literature. The beautiful gem was most praised among the ancients, not only fur its beauty, ! but also on account of its rarity. It ! was a favorite stone with the Roman emperors and, later, with high (lignij taries of the church. It is named ! twice in the book of Exodus as one of the 12 jewels in the high priest's j hrenst plate of judgment, ranking in j the second row with the sapphire an^ j the diamond. The best-known scriptural references are in Jtevelarion, where the rainbow 11 round the throne is compared in its vivid greenness to an emerald; while I the same jewel forms one of the 12 | foundations of the new Jerusalem. i (Jeorge Eliot. in "Middlemarch," refers to the singular beauty of thes<J passages. "It is strange," she says, "how deeply colors seem to penetrate one. like scent. I suppose that is the reason why gems are used us spiritual emblems in the Revelation of St. John. They look like fragments of heaven." In Tennyson's poem, "Columbus," the discoverer used the passage in I r>r,i t-lio Snn Snlva dor as he first descried it. In contrast we may mention the "emerald monocle" through which Nero, whom the latest commentators regard as the "Beast" of the Revelation. gazed at the agonies of his vic| tims in the arena. i A more pleasant lpjjend may be ! quoted from Montalembert, the famous ! French author. He describes how in i the early ages of monasficism a cerI fnln I.inniiitorr vcn C tpfl nsfni'llipd bV I IUU1 iinuiuoivi,' ?? _ ^ Its founder into a hospital for lepers and cripples. "Behold." said he, in showing the ladies of Alexandria the upper floor, which was reserved for women, "behold, my jacinths"; then, in conducting them to the floor below, where the men were placed, "See my I emeralds." The most celebrated medieval gem was the so-called "emerald" of Genoa, known as the Sacro Catino. It was presented early in the Twelfth cenfurv to the cathedral tey the crusader < Embriaco, having oeen orougni uy nuu from the siege of Caesarea. The relic, a huge single stone, was ; said to be the dish from which our i Lord ate the Last Supper. It was I believed by some to have been givei I by Solomon to the queen of Sheba. j The Sacro Catino was removed to J Paris during Napoleon's wars, and was I discovered to be only an ancient piece of Venetian glass. It is still shown, murh mended, in the cathedral of Genoa, to which place It was restored by the French. In the Fifteenth and Sixteenth ceni - i-r 1 I j runes tne emeraia is ineuiiuueu ne! qnently among inventories of crown j jewels. Mary Queen of Scots pos! sessed at one time many specimens of | this regal gem. Causes Deep Depression in Plateau. When the railway was oppned from j a point near Luxor into the Libyan ] desert there was rendered easy the approach of the oasis of Khargeh. which is regarded as a typical example of these isolated centers of lifp. For some years a British scientist and explorer made a study of tills oasis, observing the phenomena of springs, moving sands, wells, etc. i tlP i.lDvail ojisp.n are ort*[> ur! presslons in a lofty plateau which has i fi maximum elevation of nearly 2.000 feet, hut the bottoms of the oases are only from 100 to 300 fecV above sea level. They are underlain by beds of sandstone, whlcu are the sources of the water supply. Artesian well? 400 foot deep form practically inexhaustible means of irrigation and such deep wells have been used from ancient tinier. The depressions were once the beds of lakes, and the water In the sandstone probably h.is its sources in the Abyssinian highlands. Amusing the Natives. The marine recruit had just arrived ' in Haiti and the serjreant was giving I him s:>nie instruction in outpost duty, i As they walked over r high ridge, i there were two sharp r ports of a j rifle and little clouds of <lust spurted i:;> that, to the recruit seemed unconi! fortahlv ''lose. "What's that, sergeant?" asked the newcomer. "()ii, only a couple of those spicks trying to hump us off," returned the srrcreant. as he trudged calmly ahead. "They take pot shots at me every time 1 pass this spot." "It's a bit dangerous, isn't It, sergeant?" "Well, it might be dangerous." explained the non-com, "if those birds could come within twenty feet or'so of hit tin' a guy. Rut as long as they're such rotten shot*, 1 figure they might as well mmise themselves that wav, as not. It he-ips to keep them out of jaiscliifcf." t ; l! A ffcw The one I Country, V Absolutely ' Cor It is f ?? It is a Posit: i fir v<or?Amm^ (i.y l^VVJLAAl&A^ cians, Boarc dents of Pi I Exclusiv( 104 T*I ? O This 5/ mmmmrnmMmmmmmmmamammammmmammmmmmmmmmBam Invention Th ?u?Mamg^iMi)jiiiiaiLiji> bmmia ? BMtg?WMWacfWT*rwmnHi iumiliating Probl illage and Surbu Odorless, Sanitary ivenient and Prac i/fnrfl Than a Cmv film \j & i&uafl u vvn ? gg5gaaas8^aasa?aapH^^ ive Economical He *nded and endors< Is of Health and sblic Schools Wb See > liVniiu m ; Agents for Soutl sgga?i??g^ 1V1 UAU Times a Ye i n ' . jeciai rnce M> !I MiWWilflMIWt A ^ i w ai ouivw ggggggggjggjg em of the 1 u [roan nome. g , Germ-proof I ticaL I emencc i salth Necessi. I sd by Physic- I Superinten- I erever Used. I fj , ' J i Carolina | ? ? ??? 0* ar for I j ? '39 Expires