Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A PIANO TUNER TABLKS. SOME OF THE STRANGE THINGS EN COUNTERED IN HIS TRADE. Rata Play Eavoo with the Felts-Children Poke Canes Under the Strings-Finding a Lost Pocketbook-esults of a Man's Careleaness. "Look out for that rat!" was the excla mation of a piano tuner to a reporter, a few days ago, as he stood watching him take a piano to pieces. The words had barely been said when a large, lean rat jumped out of the instrument and scam pered across the room and out of an open oor. While he was dexterously remov ing the rat's nest from inside the piano the reporter asked if rats were usually part and parcel of pianos. The tuner re marked that while probably two-thirds of the instruments in residences were free from the rodents, the other third were in fested with them, at least that had been his pence during twenty years of his life. Those in the country, especially in well to do farmers' houses, were gener ally inhabited by rats, and in dozens of eases fully half a bushel of small scraps of paper that had been carried there by the pests had been discovered. The paper and the nests were not so bad, but rats very frequently did the instrument much damage. Bats play havoc with the felts in the action, and he had repaired pianos where the felts had all been eaten away. Occasionally a hungry rat ii discovered that shows fight, and the wielding of a broomstick, with the accompanying screaming by the women folk, is neces sary to get rid of the animal Children oftentimes cause pianos to get out of order, but while the trouble caused by them is usually quickly repaired there are times when they do more damage than rats. Left alone in the room with an open instrument the spirit of mischief comes over them, and a cane or a book is poked in under or among the strings. The owner returns to play on the piano, and then finds it at sixes and sevens. As everything was all right but a few min utes before the cause of the trouble can not be understood, and then there is bluster about the house. Should the piano be anew one the maker is blamed, the instrument is condemned, and a sharp letter is forwarded to the seller. The re pairer with fear and trembling hastens to the scene, the trouble is found, and after apologies, the whipping of the small boy who did the mischief, and the payment of the bill for repairs, the piano is left to its fate. WEERE THE MOKEY GOES. Picking up a five cent piece lying on the action, thetunersaid: "Here is something, too, I find as well as rats' nests and the work of children. To be sure money is not found frequently, especially in any consideiable amount, but the finding of two fat pocketbooks and a ten dollar gold piece I will never forget. The gold had been placed-in the piano for safe keeping by a young lady, and its hiding place for gotten, and my finding it, of course, made the owner happy. The bringing to light of one of the pocketbooks made me $50 richer, that being a present from its lose; It had been missing for a year, and contained $600. Detectives had been huntig for thieves who, it was supposed, had s the money. The discovery of the pocketbook brought back the recol lection that it had been laid on the top lid of an upright piano, and that it had no doubt fallen in the inside, where I had found it. "Instead of getting a reward I came near being arrested, and perhaps sen tenced to a term of imprisonment' for finding the prse. Its contents were over $200, and like the other one, h.ciag been carelessly left on top of the instrument, it fell inside. Being missed w'.ile I was in the house, and the owner of the money, a country justice, remembering where he had laid it, spicion rested on me as the one who had tae. it. When 1 remarked the mysteriouas actions of the justice, his wife and two daughters, he told me of his loss z..d uihaie susected, audthreatened my arrest nless the money was immedi ately produced. It was abad prediament to bein, and what.to do puzzled mn. The finding of the other pocketbook flashed across my mind. I suggested a search in the interior of the piano, and there it was found to my joy. The old man took it without.,as much as saying 'Thank you,' and tethis day I think he holds the opno 'that I hid it away in the piano." ...higoJournal Bimarek's weighing acme. Close by the side of Prince Bismarck's bath is a weighing chair, covered with red velvet, of the most modern construe tion, and the great German miniseter never fails to "try his weight" at least once aday or torecord the result of his trial in the small diary he keeps attached by '~trn to the arm of the weighing chair for te purpose. There was a time when the prince scaled the somewhat. Gargantuan weight of 247 pounds; but "much has happened since then," as his late friend Lord Beaconsfield once re ma'rked. And, among other things, the prince has taken not to "Banting," but to a more recent system of dealing with one's "too, too solid desh." Thanks to deter mined perseverance in the system, the German chancellor was last Friday able to announce at the breakfat table, in a tone of triumpl, that he that morning only weighed 190 pounds. Europe, which has sonh a deen interest in Prince Bismarck's cdined life and good health, would do v-eU, if possible, to secure for informa tion a daily return of the weighs re aoded in the chanellor's little dir. i~ondozt Figsfo. . Coffee as a Disnfectant. Coffee is a handy and harmless isinfec tant. Experiments have been made in Paris to prove this. A quantity of mes) was hung upina closed room until de comjfosed, adthen a chafing dish was introduced and 500 grammes of coffee thrown on the fire. In a few minutes the room was completely disinfected. In an other room sulphuretted hydroe and ammonia were developed, and ninety grmms of coffee destroyed the smell in aothalf a minute. It is also stated *that coffee destroys the mell of musk, easterum and asafentids. A a proof -that the noxious smells are really decom posed by the fumes of coffee and not merely overpowered by them, it is stated that the first vapors of thecoffee were not smelled at all, and are therefore chem ically absorbed, while the ether smells gradually diminish as the fumigation con tinues. The best way to effect this fumi gation is to pound the coffee in a mortar and then strew it on a hot Iron plates which, however, must not be red hot. Globe-Democrat. Owing, as itis supposed, to the systei matic robbery of their nests, mocking birds are heard less this year in Florida than ever before. The plumber never complains to his cus tomers, "We have piped unto you and ye have not danced." They are "bleeged" to dance. Horses and the public suffer alike in this country from a superfluity of jockey clubs someof which would not exist over night if there were laws against turf gambling. We are all dissatisfied. The only differ ence is that some of us sit down in the squalor of ourgsstisfaction, wh ile others make a ladder o! it. All those heating and itching humors of the scalp, so troublesome to many persons, are effectually cured by the use of Ayer's Hair Vigor. .If not attended to in time, these diseases are very liable to result in laoa of the hair. INVENTION'S LATEST FRUIT. A Marvelous Instrument for Writing at Great Distances. From his workshop in Highland Park, Chicago, Professor Elisba Gray is at last able to lay on the desk of his correspondent in Milwaukee a fac simile of whatever he puts on paper at this ends of the wire. The finishing touches to the tel-autograph will be made within the next two weeks A head company has been formed in New York, and subordinate companies are -1 nizing over the country t put the inveu.tion in use. "The instrument now reproduces each stroke of the pen or p-ucil with almost ex act fidelity," said Professor Gray to a Chi cago Tribune reporter yesterday. "TLe reproduction is just up to the point of not being original. The difference is enough to prevent long-distance forgery. At the same time the copy at the other end is so nearly like what you write, that for all ordinary purposes it is your handwriting." Several specimen:; of copy, when com pared with the origiial, showed a slight waviness of line as the only distinction. One could come much nearer telling the reproduction of a friend's voice by the per fected phonograph from the voice itself than he could a tel-autographic copy of the same friend's handwriting from his true fist. "'I expect theinvention," continued Prof. Gray, "at once to supersede the telephone where accuracy is required and over long distances. It will also be taken up imme diately as an adjunct to the telegraph in the transmission of messages involving mone tary transactions. It can make no mistakes. It tells at the other end just what you write, word for word and line for line. No operators or third parties intervene as in terpreters be:ween the two pieces of paper. They stand as fac simile records, in the hands of'transmitter and receiver, of what has passed between the parties." The machine is an artist as well as pen man. It will reproduce any line drawing. A girl's head, the picture of a representa tive mugwump. a bunch of daisies. and a sunfliower were only limited in faithfulness by the execution of the draughtsman. An illustrated telegram will not be one of the least novelties of the future. When Professor Gray's company gets its lines established, the business man will be able to impress on his dispatches the au thenticity of his autographs. A resident of Jacksonville during the fever, can, at a moment's notice, show his anxious wife in the North that his hand is still steady. The lover can put into the swiftest message all the dots and crosses and flourishes his sweetheart has learned to love In short, the tel-autograph is designed to do the work of the postotfice over the wires. SCENES AT CASTLE GARDEN. A F.w rits of :nrormatio-t About Imni. -,tmts--Ilkein Children. On tho morning of my visit the possible taakers of millions were not prepossessing in personal appear-':.ce. but fine clothes have so :muct to do with the making of bine lirds that there could be no limit to r hat the imagination pictured for these at prescnt undistinguished foreigners. h Egit. boats generally bring English speakh: p;:ople. and the day of their ar rival t books are fall of names such as O'lIaira, Donnelly and Duffy, and on other days they contain the unpronounceable ones of the r atives of Poland, Hungary, Italy and Germany. There are two mat roas installed within a little inclosure in the center of the great rotunda. Their duties, after their general supervision over all the womnen. are first to care for the children un. z-r 17 years of age who are not under the protection of any one, and second to detect if possible the women who have been, or are likely to be, led astray. The chief matron. Mrs. Stucklein, has held her position four years. She told me that at first the tales she h~n-d brought her man~y a sleepless night and caused her to shed many tears of sympathy and pity. but the constant association with wretched specimens of humanity and hearing the d'aily and hourly recitals of the women and children, had accustomed her more or less to her task "The children." she said, "-are often as happy and contented as they can be. They have generally been sent for to ymin their frienas' here wvho are waamng for their arrival. Sometimres they are obhrged to go from here to frnd their friene in some distant strate, and in that cas - - .r tickets are procured for them. and i il' out a label as to their names and destina tion. The label is tied to a buv'.onhole in their dresses or coats, and in that wvay they are harnded first to one person and thean to another-the passenger agents and conductors on the railways-until they arrive at their destination. They get ou far 'etter than thoso who have the ro sponsibilay c f looking after themselves. It sometimee oocurs that the chilren' have not a penny in their pocket when they land. If po- ible we communmcate with their friends and obtain the price of their railway f.t-e in caso they are going, out of New York. If they are to take a very long journey and have no monev, we' generally give them fifty cents or il mn order that they may buy a cup of coffee or tea or be prepared for an emergency, out if they are not to travel very far we pro vide thtem only with food" Two or three women were seated within the inclosur'e, and I asked the matron why they were there. "They are here because they are de tained for some reason or other," she an swered. "That old lady is to join her husband in a western city. When she arrived here she expected to find a letter from him with money for traveling ex pcnses. The letter had not arrived, and so .we have telegraphed .to him. That ticket pinned on her dress is an indication that she is waiting for a telegram. That little girl by the side of her is her grand child, who came from Germany with her." When the matron had finished speaking she looked toward andither woman, and then said: "That yanng woman is a Swede, and has also been sent for by her husband."~ The girl was hatless, and had hair that had been bleached by the rays of the sun. She was not pretty to look at. but was probably endowed with vir' tues enough to lead her husband to pay her passage across the sea at any rate. She too was having to wait for the re mittance that would take her beyond Cas tle Garden. "Sometimes the reason for the delay," explained Mrs. Stucklein, "is the miscal culation in time. The person sent for often leaves the other side sooner than is expected, or the steamer arrives earlier than it is looked for. The newcomer is allowed to remain here for a time, but there are only those rough benches to aleep upon at night."-Florence C. Ives in New York Press. Pope Leo's Abstenlous Life. Like Napolean. Leo XIII. does a great deal of work and takes very little sleep. He rises at five in summier ar-d six in win ter: His toi et occupies a half hour, after which he r-'sses an hour in prayer and me diation ea a preparation for Mass, which he says every day in one of the private chapels of the Vatican. He officiates at the altar with exemplary devotion and there is an exceeding grace in all his move ments, whether in the sanctuary, in his garden, in his library or when holding a public audience. At eight o'clock the Pope takes his cafe au it and a roll. Leo XIII. is one of the most abstemious of men, and the entire expenses of his table do not average more than $1 a day the whole year round. It must be remembered that the Pope always takes his meals alone.--Pitts TRAINING BALLET DANCERS. A Premiere Danseuse Recanls Her Own ]Bitter Experience. Mlle. Dorst, the premiere, sat in the parlor of the Laclede the other day recall ing the trials she had to undergo as an unfledged ballet dancer and prospective premiere. "People little know," she said "how much labor and misery go to max. up the pirouette of a dancing girl. d child should not begin to study dancing after she is 10: 7 is the best age. The limbs then are at the right degree of sup plenes ;o take a pupil over the first dif ficuhis and help her on to the lower 'quadrille,' which she may not hope t4 win before she is 16. The form then has gained the roundness and the flesh and muscles the firmness requisite to the artistic poses which create such fu rore. In my case the daily torture com menced at 8 o'clock. Every morning my feet were imprisoned in a groove box, hee' against heel and knees turned outwards. By this process my feet accustomed them selves naturally at last to fall into a par allel line. This is what is called se tourner. After half an hour of the groove I was subjected to another variety of torment. This time I had to raise my foot and place it on a bar level with my head, which bar I was obliged to hold in a horizontal line with the hand opposite the foot. I was exercising. This they term se casser. After these preliminary labutr; we were obliged to go through a : of steps and movements. "Th teaching is necessarily long and painful, the primary object being to bring by slicer exercise extreme agility ano strength to the joints of the limbs and feet. Even in the education of the two Brent toes, so as to make us capable of aui ng and pirouetting on them, a vast amount of care and time is expended. A.d not only must the power be acquired, but it rmust be kept up. for which pur rese constant exercise is required. Other wise the joints become stiff and relapse to an ordinary degree of strength. A week of repose must be redeemed by two months of redoubled, incessant toil. On this condition only can the dancer pre servo her suppleness and lightness. To acouire, later, skill and grace in the movements of the dance is a subordinate object. One of the most difficult parts of a dancing girl's education is, for in stance, to make her smile with the rest of her companions and look gracefully at the public. --There is no rest for a great dancer at any time of her career. I have seen the ti.ke when, after a four hour's lesson, I have fallen exhausted on the carpet of my room, where I was undressed, sponged and resuscitated, totally unconscious of my situation. The agility and marvel ous bounds of the evening were obtained only at a price like this. But there are, nevertheless, some dancers who, having by nature greater difficulties to surmount, martyrize themselves with a willingness scarcely credible. Nathalie Fitzjames was an example of this. She invented a new method. de se tourner et de se casser. at one and the same time. The art of danc ing has two branches-en balloune and en tacqaette. The ballonne is the school of Taglioni: it is the lightness combined with grace. the dance which seems to de light in and float in the air. The tac quette is vivacity and rapidity; it is the little sparkling steps and measures on the point of the feet; in a word, it is what Fanny Ellsler made it."-St. Louis Re public. ________ Tenants of a Scotch Laird. The highlands and Hebrides are the home of romance. There is a legend for almost every step you take. But the cruel est of these are not so cruel as, and none have the pathos of, the tales of their own and their father's wrongs and wretched ness v.-hich the people tell today. The old stories of the battle field, and of clan meeting clan in deadly duel, have given way to stories of the clearing of the iand that the laird or the stranger might have his shooting and fishin;; as well as his crops. At first the people could not understand it. The evicted went to the Taird, as they would have gone of cold, and asked for . a new-home And what was his answer? "I am not the father of your famnily." And then, when frightened women rer and hid themselves at his coming, s broke the kettle's they left by the well, 0: tore into sh-'eds the clothes bleaching on the heather. And, as the people them selves have it, "In these and similar ways he"- s* -eded too well in clearing the islana of its3 once numerous inhabitants, scattering t'aem over the face of the globe." T re must have been cruelty indeed ':efire the Western Islander, who once loved his chief better than his owr. life, cozdd tell such tales as these, even ir, his hunage- and despair.-Elizabeth Robins Pennell in Harper's Magazine. The Kindlier Country Way. Novw it is inevitable that the kindliest people living in citics should fall into * greater reserve of manner toward stran gers than that developed in the country, where people know all about their neigh bors. In a city you cannot nod to every body you meet on the street; there is not tie for it. You cannot even call on those who live in the same block with you. You may be living in the next house to a pofessional gambler and have no meant of ascertaining the fact. All these things produce in people from cities a habit of more guarded intercourse, which is cer tainly less. pleasant than the kindlier' country way, but is not easy to lay aside. Again. the mere possession of a new ac quaintance, as such, is a privilege to one who habitually lives an isolated life, but is not a thing so eagerly desired by those who live in a crowd all the time, and have rather to acquire the habit of defending themselves against numbers. Indeed a great deal of what is called hospitality in thinly settled regions and new communi ties lhas no especial unselfishniess about it, where neighbors and guests are few it is really the visitor who confers the favor To give the pleasure of *his company be comes in that case a phrase of some mean ing.-Hlarper's Bazar. Social LIfe in Early Days. Mr. Hlunnawe~i gives some interestinC glimpses of social life in Charlestown, Mass., in "2o history of that town. He says: "Drinking habits, in varying de gree, continued some time into the pres ent century, so that it was hardly civil to receive a call even from a minister with out an offer of a glass of something-tc the minister it would be wine. As late as 1818, a church council of eighty-four persons had at their dinner 9 decanters of brandy. 40 bottles of wine, and 144 cigars, besides pipes." Concerning dress, he sav's: 'The fashion followed these of town'life in Europe. A few of the earlier pom-irent men must have had an impos ing' look. * * * Thomas Russell, n~erly six feet high, appeared on 'Change in hair powdered and tied, a cocked hat. and 'sable lined silk great coat from Rlus sia,' while ho carried 'a gold headed India cane.' "-Magazine of Amnerican History. Charlotte, N. C..- is moving for an expo sition of the two Carolinas in that City next fal. To keep varnished wood looking fresh and bright, rub it thoroughly with oil from time to time Clean oilcloth with a wet towel pinned over a stif broom, and rub with long, sweeping strokes. Of course you associate a plumber with a pipe. but when he smokes it during work irg hours your job does not progress very rapidly. There is no change in thefashion of wed ding cake. It is as black and heavy as usual, and guaranteed to produice the same isresting- dams, A TRAINING HOTEL. A SCHOOL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRUSTY "KITCHEN HELP." How Clean Lodgings and Wholesome Board at Reasonable Prices May Be Furnished Guests of Limited Means and Good Moral Character-Outline Plan. The cry for clean lodgings, wholesome board, moderate and reasonable prices goes up on every hand. Thousands of clerks, both male and female, in our stcres and offices. thrown upon their own re sources, find themselves in a large city without a home. Students, apprentices, young men just starting either in their professions or in business must live as well as people better off. How infinitely better for many a young man and young woman if they could marry when but a few years older relatively than their par ents when they married-providing the aforesaid young man can support himself and family. Commercial drummers, tour ists and - others, commonly known as "transients," an army ever on the in crease, are continually seeking clean and respectable places whereon to lay their heads and whereat to be filled, with the reasonable assurance of having enough money left after paying their hotel bills in the morning with which to get out of town. A practical solution of these much mooted questions-the condition of the "city slave girl" and of the "hired girl," and the betterment thereof-to a limited extent at least, would seem to lie in a proper recognition and a skillful combi nation of these two great public demands: (1) The demand, on the one hand, for ex perienced and trustworthy help; (2) the demand, on the other hand, for clean lodgings, wholesome food, moderate prices. Now as to the "modus operandi." Se cure a suitable location, probably near one of the large railroad stations in the city. Erect there a plain, fireproof, commodious hotel, with the modern improvements, capable of comfortably accommodating 1,000 guests, both as "transients" and as "regulars." Furnish an ordinary 50 cent meal or bed for 25 cents, or board and lodging at $1 per day or $5 per week. Such hotel would necessarily be fur nished very plainly throughout. Per haps no carpets would deck the oiled hard pine floors. But, notwith standing, everything could be kept scru pulously clean; the food could be whole some, well cooked, and plenty of it, even if the delicacies of the season were want ing. And under proper management such institution could be made to pay for itself in time. Prices would be so reasonable, the service so excellent, that people would naturally flock to such places of refuge without the expense of advertising. In other words, it would advertise itself. The two chief conditions for admission into such hotel home would be good moral character and weekly payment in ad vance. To run such a hotel properly would prob ably require no more servants than are today required to minister to the wants of an equal number of guests in any ordinary hotel. Although the domestics would be novices, still the hotel would make little pretensions at anything but cleanliness. Everything would be con structed to save work wherever possible. Such hotel to accommodate 1,000 guests would require probably anywhere from 150 to 200 domestics all the time. These servants v.'uld be under experienced in structors, the best that money could com mand. For instance, dinner would be prepared by a class of fifty, if necessary, each at her own range, arranged in semi circles, with the chief cook in the center, much as instruction in chemistry and other sciences in our colleges is now im parted. There would be regular courses of instruction in cuisine, in laundering, etc. The primary object would be to give each graduate adequate knowledge of how to go into any well regulated kitchen or laundry~ and take entire charge thereof. The 'immediate consideration for such service would be none other than board, lodging, necessary clothes, aforesaid in struction, and the promise that so soon as competent the institution would do all in its power to find its graduates acceptable situations in respectable families or other hotels at remunerative wages. The sur plus in the receipts of this hotel--for in stance. 1.000 regular boarders at $5 per week or $:350.000 yearly-left after paying all running expenses, salaries of the vari ous necessary instructors and assistants, besides possibly 4 per cent. interest on the origirnal investment, would form a fund fro-n which prizes would be given those girls who had completed a systematic course of training, possibly averaging $50 to $753 cash per year for each graduate during preparation. This would be better than paying them weekly wages, however small, for the incentive to complete the course, not only for the knowledge but for the pecuniary reward awaiting the faithful, would be so strong as to prac tically prevent their working a few weeks, getting a respectable outfit of cloth. ing, and then quitting. Then, again, re ceiving upon completing the course (in stead of weekly) whatever pecuniary in ducement such institution might be able to extend them would prevent their fool ing away upon trifies their earnings, thus quietly reducing to a minimum their in. ordinate desire to "run," which discipline they would find when in service in pri vate families not to be their least recom mendation. All their necessary wants would be supplied and they would have no occasion for pocket money. - After a year's faithful service in such institution a sergeant could command from one-third to two-thirds more wages than before, and after two years such service she would receive double, or, in exceptional cases, triple her present wares, besides being forever insured a goo~d home in some well to do and re spectable family. Should she afterward conclude to marry-for with such a wo man it would no longer be a question whether or not a man could be found to ask her-her husband would find her to be a veritable treasure.-E, H. Sanford in Chicago Times. The Printer's Systematic Punctuation In a Boston newspaper oficee not long ago the chief proof reader had been greatly annoyed by an extraordinary use of com mas that cropped out in occasional "takes" on his proofs, and, finding that they oc curr-ed regularly under a certain " slug," hc went to "slug fifteen's" frame to ex postulate with him. He found that h man was a rnew "sub" who sa-id lhe had come latelv from Nova Scotia, and 1:Z' learned his trade in a first class office in THaifrax. "For pity's sake," exclaimed the~ proof reader, "what sort of a system of punctuation do they employ in Halifer" "The rule in our office," replied the co: - ositor. with a patronizing air, " was t r:t in about three commas to a line." U' or. Transcript. Shot While on a Hunt. ANDERSON, Dec., 11.-Near Starr, on the Savannah Valley Railroad, Tobe Sher rard, colored, was out bunting last Thurs day afternoon with several friends. A rab bit was started and ran into a hollow tree. Tobe & ot to the tree first and set his gun down by the tree to get the rabbit out. One f the dogs ran against the aun and knock d it down. The fall discharged the load nto Tolt abdomen. He lived long o tell his friends how It happened. Coro er Nance held an inquest over his body n Friday. "A tinker's dam" is a wall of dough aised around a place which a plumber de MANAGING CHILDREN. Why They Should at Al Times Be Givea Something to Do. An important point in managing children is to always have ready some thing for the little hands to do at those times which come quite often on rainy and other days when, tired of play, they listlessly gaze through the window or wander aimlessly about, not knowing what to do with them selves. Children at such times are a great trial to the busy and often nerv ous people of the house, and are quite likely to be scolded, though such a course is so unwise and unjust that it can lead only to the worst results in the child's future. Calm and reprov ing words, kindly spoken, are neces sary with all bright children and are usually very effective, but words ut tered in a sharp, scolding tone must in most cases work an injury to the child's disposition. It is all the more sad, be cause the matter could be so easily managed by a very little attention on the mother's part. How often we hear mothers or older sisters say to some little child who is full of desire to do right if it only knew how: "Do get something to do; how lazy you are; I never saw such a good-for-nothing child. I am sure I don't know whit is to become of you," and a great deal more of such talk, which, alas, most people have heard too often. The child at such times is not in fault. It is the mother's duty to see that suitable work is always ready. and she should require the child to do a moderate task for which she should not be afraid to give a due measure of praise after it is done. Always be care ful to see that the child is not kept too long at one task as such a course would be worse than idleness. It is worthy of note that the work given to a child has a great influence in molding the mind and taste. A child kept always at knitting stockings or cutting carpet-rags will be very prac tical, perhaps too much so. A wise mother will have a variety of work, both useful and ornamental. Some parents think it useless to teach boys to sew or knit. It is not, however, for there are many times in a boy's life when such knowledge may be useful. I have often observed that many col lege boys could mend their own clothes while they were quite up in their classes. I think the subject should be thoughtfully considered by parents. seeing to it that time should never hang on their children's hands for want of something to do.-American agricuUurist. LAWYER AND JUDGE. An Old-Time Missouri Attorney Who Was Not Easily Put Down. Mr. Peyton B. Hayden was in his time one of the prominent lawyers of Missouri; but he seldom read any thing outside of his profession, and was laughably ignorant of history and geography. Once, in cross-examining a witness, he said: "State, if you please, to what nationality you be long." "I am a Dane, sir," answered the witness. "You are a Dane, are you? Now, wlllyou be so kind as totell us when you left Dane?" "I never left Dane, sir; I left Den mark." Every one In the room laughed, and the cross-examination came to a sud den end. Mr. Hayden was not always som easily put down, however. He seldom used the terms plaintiff and defendant, but spoke of the parties by name. One day he was pleading the ease of a Mr. Jones, and as he went on repeated the name again and again. Finally the judge interrupted him. "Mr. Hayden, will you do me a. La vorr" "Certainly, your Honor, with pleas ure." "I thought," said the judge, hesi tatingly, "if you have no objection, you might be willing to tell me the naame of your client.". A general roar greeted this sally, but Mr. Hayden at once replied: "Of course, sir; my client's name is William Jones, sir. He lives down on the Moro, sir, just below Jefferson City, sir. His name is William Jones, sir." "I thank you," said the judge; "pro ceed with your argument." Mr. Hayden proceeded, and takring up a certain point, went over it and over it, till the judge again grew Im patient. "I wish to know, Mr. Hayden, if you will do me another favor." "Certainly, sir." "Then I wish to know whether you don't think that when a lawyer has said the same thing one Irundred a.nd fifty times it would be well for him to move onP" "No, sir." said Mr. Hayden; "Idon't think any such thing, and~ I will tell you why. I suppose, sir, that if I had mentioned the name of my client once, I had done soa bundred and fifty times;, but after all, your Honor, sir, forgot~ his name, and was obliged to ask me what it was. So, now, my plan is not only to say a thing, but to rub it in if I can."-Youth's Companion. Debtor and Creditor. Bobley (as his friend rushes past) Good gwacious, Tom! What's your hurry? Wiggins-Don't stop me, please. Im going down town to settl~e a bill. Bobley (stupefied)-En~nning to settle a bill? Impossible! Wiggins-Yaas, dear boy; I owe Charley Grafton five dollars and he owes me ten, y' know. 1 want to settle! -,/.udge.. Nobody has been able yet to convince the coal dealer of the error of his weighs. This is the season when a young man wishes he only had one "bst girl. Birds are not so fashionabla on ladies~' hats now as they have been, but hushands still associate winter hats with large bills. Goncourt, the French novelist, suggests as a definition for pride, That form of vani ty which prevents one from doing mean things. Nature uses a good many quills with which tomake a goose, but a ma'a can ne'ake a oe of himself with only ne. ..:ale andi H is Trousers. "Lagging at the knees is a matter, I confess, which has caused me more un c.:siness than I can tell you. It has done more to turn my hair gray than anything else. But I do not have so much trouble now as I used to have. You know they are v.caring trousers larger now than a couple of years ago. In fact today a well made pair has hardly a legitimate excuse for bagging unless they are worn con stantiy I myself never wear a pair two days in succession. A little while ago, wc:hen we wore trousers almost skin tight, I thog;ht I should have to go into an asylum. A pair worn half a day showed a decided inclination to expansion at that most critical point. I found myself at tempting to ward off the evil. I tried every method I could hear of and every one '1 could invent. but they did little good. Finally I invented one of my own. I used to hang the trousers up by the bot toms, being particular to have them hang straight, and then I dampened the incipi ent b:s After that I attached aweight of some sort to the waist band, so as to bring the strain over the knees. The cloth in drying came back into shape and remained so. "Your tailor or your furnisher has no doubt it ied to sell you t': device ku-n.a as 'pants stretcher.' Lo't waste your money I have t:ied every kind known, and they don't give satisfaction. They don't st i-etch the cloth evenly enough, not is the c::re permanent. That little scheme of mnv own is the best I ever found. Oh, yes: you may try it. I haven't patented it aut if you really want to know the 'cst and most satisfactory way of remov ig bags from the face of your trousers lit t:e whisper it to you. Go to your 1:iior For 15 cents or a quarter he will press them. and nothing works so well. L>:. whe: you are on the top of Mount :i::'ton the tailor is not there. Al :ays hang your pantaloons up carefully. I have known fellows who would go home, tai:e or their coat and waistcoat, throw them into a chair, remove their trousers, dump them in a heap on top of the coat and vest, and then pile the shirt and underclothing on top of the trousers. This is all wrong. A man's underclothing is always a little damp, even in winter. 'he ceat and cvaistcoast at, the bottom, the trousers between them and the under clothing, the pantaloons are certainly ina regular sweat box. There they are, all crumpled, creased and in a heap, and, of course, when the wearer comes to put them on in the morning he wonders what the deuce makes his trousers look so out of shape. "-Boston Cor. New York World. Profit in Public Enterprises. E. R. Brady. who has been connected with Various public enterprises in elec tricity. pungently remarked: "The aver ' e Amceican citizen will let you rob him cail-- and hourly of a small amount of moen:, and permit you to rob all his fjlio' citizens in a great community at the sa=._e time, so that in the aggregate von have an enormous plunder, when, if you were to take even a tithe of the -.onut out of his pocket annually or out of the public treasury he would want you hanged to the first lamp post. The street car lines take a penny more from every passenger than they are justly entitled to. F'erry boats are in the same class. The price per thousand for gas might be reduced. "Every telephone subscriber could pay less for his telephone and leave still a largo profit to the companies. Telegraph -~as'es ceuld be reduced, but in this husling aud active country no one wants td stop and, consider those things. You pay your nickel of fare on the street car without ever so much as a thought that three cents fare would pay a good divi h ::d on the origina1 investment of most of the roads. You pay $1.25 a thousand for gas, although you know in your in r.ost soul that $1 is a big price. It is in racidly mnade, and since the people are alI willing-to pay these small larcenies, 1 don't know but that my original lan guage, terming it robbery, is a little too strong. Perhaps the fact is that the American citizen is willing to pay pretty well for good accommodations of any krind."-New York Tribune. Falbility of Human Judgment. Yet, after all, isn't it rather a curious weakness in human beings to care for one another's opinions? Why should Jones mind what you or I think of him or say of him, when you and I are almost certain to be wrotng? Nay, why should he mind what the majority think of him, when the majority are usually wrong? what the cultured minority think of him, when the culured minority arc seldom right? what an entire generation think of him, when the next generation may reverse the ver An accurate history of critihi'nm, for ex nmple, wouild be a delightful burlesque upon the fallibility of human judgmenh; ony the historian should owe no fealty tc wht was current; he should stand so far apart from p resent human thought that all its most cherished conclusions should apear to him only shifting waves in an ocean of folly-should recognize that oul moralities may be -vices, our vices virtues, our orthodoxies follies, our. rascals heroes, our masterpieces daubs, our Shakespeares and Goethes and Virgils and Dantes the puerile intelligences that their contem porarics mostly believed them to be. Lippincot's Magazine. An Artfal Little Dodger. A lady came out on the steps of a house on Duield street and called aloud in swe~et, persuasive tones: "Georgie, dear?" There was no answer, and she looked anxiously up and down the street and again called, but in a firmer voice: "George!'" Not a word. Taking in the entire hori zn with one sweeping, comprehensive glance, she made a trumpet of her han4 and called shrill and sharp: "Georgie!" Then a little pair of seurrying feet came around the corner of the house, ac compaid by a round, innocent face, auh sained with watermelon juice, and a sweet voice inquired: Didl von call me, mamma?"-Detroit Free Press. I4Ife in Paris Studios. In no place more than agtudio is it true that the early bird gets the worm; but im a studio that bird must be prepared to defend 1:er spoils. Thus it is a great thing to be among the first to pose the model at 8 on Mcuday morning; but unless you arc prepared to fight for the continuance of your pose, you will find that each comer' will want to alter it to suit her particular aste. Unfortunately, malcontents have the right to put the pose to the vote, and t not unfrequently happens that after ruhave pat iently blocked in the figure daring the lirst hour, at 9 o'clock, when the crowd arrives, a fresh and totally dif feret position is voted for and carried by an oxsperating majority, and all your la'or is .lost.-Demnorest's Monthly A Little Girl Badly Injured. ANDERsON. Dec. 13.-On Tuesday a se rious accident befell a little daughter of Mr. Gadden Farmer, of York tewnship he approached too near a cotton gin in operation and her clothing became entan gled in the gin, causing considerable inju ries to her head and parts of her body. At last accounts she was still alive. Fatal Fire in Edgefield Connty. COLD SPRING, Edgefield Co., Dec. 12. Mr. Lemnel Harlin had his house and con tnts consumed by tire last week. H~e lost $.50 in cash in the flames. There was also a ittle negro about 5 years old caught on fre and so badly burned before its parents could get to it from the cotton field that it died that day. HANDLING OF FREIGHT. SOME POINTS WHICH ARE OF IN TEREST TO THE PEOPLE. How Merchandise Is Handled by the Rail roads-Their Methods of Raising Bates and Settling Claims Described in Brief. Sending a "Tracer." The manner of making up through rates, that is, rates between points neces sitating transportation over two or more roads, is now comparatively simple. Prior to the passage of the interstate commerce act. certain agreed rates prevailed at all junction or common points (prevailed until some one road felt inclined to cut), and points local to one road were fixed at as high rates as were considered necessary by the road reaching them. Now, how ever, the majority of the roads have thrown their local territory open by tak ing common points as basing points. and making the rates to intermediate local territory the same as those in effect at the next farthest basing point. In other words, dividing the road into groups, each group, ding certain Gxed rates. The th:ougl rates are divided between the roads forming tire line, on a mileage basis -; hat is. each road receives a percentage of the through rate as great as the dis tance traversed over its rails bears to the e:ire distance from point of shipment to destination. The numerous cases of delays and loss of property in transit are in a large meas ure due to careless or improper marking of merchandise by the consignor. If all packages were properly and .plainly marked these annoying occurrences would be reduced to a minimum. As it is, how ever, the systematic methods of handling freight in practice by all roads render it almost impossible for anything to be car ried to a wrong destination, although some errors in routing occur which, in the case of perishable freight, are equiva lent to actual loss. When a shipment falls to arrive on time a "tracer" is sent after it. These '--racers" are in the shape of a request upon forwarding agent to follow up the shipment by means of his way bill, car number, train number, date and seals, all of which are kept in his station rec or :ls. The "tracer" is sent along the line traversed by the shipment, and each agent in turn notes thereon date of arrival and departure, whether transferred into an other car, and seal record, and forwards to next junction point. In this manner freight is always ultimately discovered, though sometimes it takes considerable time. In urgent cases this is done by telegraph. The great bone of contention between shippers and railroads is the time con sumed in adjusting claims. When a claim is paid the mass of correspondence that has accumulated is usually detached from the claimant's original papers, and he cannot, therefore, understand jwhy it could not have been paid sooner. Claims are never purposely delayed, and if shippers but knew the amount of labor involved, even in the simplest cases, com plaints on this score would be less fre qiuent. The larger business houses are gifted "ith more patience in this respect than the country merchants. It is also true, as claimed by these smaller dealers, that the large shipper has his claim "put through" in much less time. There are soveral reasons for this; the constant shipper, in presenting a claim, accompa nies it with all necessary documents, and gives a clear and concise statement of the case, whereas the country merchant wr 's a rambling sort of letter, threatening to i.e all his shipments to the A., B. and .. road, and to do various other terrible things in the event of non-payment of his claim. and studiously avoids 'giving par tienp, thna in soma e. r + iLaihdl to make out a case against itlf. A mistake the country merchant fre quently makes is to send his claim to the shippers, asking them to push it through for him. This course of procedure always causes delay. A claim presented by the owner of the property-if bill of lading orreceipt, and paid freight bill, together with a letter of explanation, is submitted to the delivering road-will be handled with dispatch, be the claimant a large or small shipper. As a general rule overcharge claims are the most quickly disposed of. If occa sioned by an er-ror of one road in a line such roa usually stands the amount, and if the claim be based on arate in force by a competing route all roads interested willingly reduce to that figure upon pre sentation of proof. The loss and damage claims are more difficult to handle. In the investigation of these matters, particularly amage claims, each road attempts to disprove any liability, and endeavors to shift the responsibility upon another, and it is this discussion between the roads which causes the delays complained of moat frequently. The method of investigating claims of this nature is simple enough. The shipment is traced through from point of shipment, and the road on whose line shipment cheeks damaged or short pays the damage. It often happens, however, that the loss or damage cannot be located. It is then that correspond ence accumulates, and the claimant's hair turns gray while waiting for his voucher. In cases where it is utterly impossible to locate the damage or less it is the custom for all roads participating in the haul to join it payment of the amages. Several roads have recently adopted the plan of paing just claims as soon as presented,. looking to their connections to "chip in" afterward.-Chicago Journal. Improvement in Our Schools. The schools should be an aid to the im p rovement of man's estate. In no way has so much been accomplished in this direction as by new inventions, by me chanics or artisans. The improvement of our material surroundings places human ity on a higher plane, and enahlee who care for. .rot~arrt ~eduction in classics, etc., which they may desire. The tendency in the public schools should be to educate youths so that man may be better able to deal with his material surroundings. That can Le done in connection 'with the mere book ..ducation now gi7en. But it is not done, A small departure in that direction has been made mn the normal training. This needs to be carried fur ther. The expensive higher branches should be lopped off and more aid given to those who need it. Th old methods must give way to modern ideas. Improve ment in the school syst'em Is badly needed. -New York News. An Originial Young Xiss. A little miss of this city, 8 or 4 years old, was in one of our shoe stores the other day, and after she had been fitted she was~ asked by the salesman If she wanted them put on. She replied: "I dess I will wear 'em home. In the box." Burlington Free Press. As the boy is' the father of the mpan, it follows that the girl is the mother of the wmaz.: and together they are not slow in honoring their father and their mother. Help somebody worse off than yourself, and you will find that you are better off than you fancied. No a man is not apt to get much religion but he needs to keep a lookout for counter felts. The statement that whiskey is being mnufactured in Ireland from old rags sugests the theory of the transmigation of spirs. A good deal of whiskey goes into the production of old rags. "George, dear, what kind of fruit is borne by an electric-light plant?" "Elec setriccurnts, of course."