Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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FLAG-STAFFS. AN INDUSTRY ABOUT WHICH L'TTLE IS KNOWN. The Woods Used and Their Prepa ration-.Soaked a Year in Water-Al Poles Lean to the North. ONSIDERED in the abstract a flag pole seems to be a very ordinary sort of an affair, but looked at through the eyes of a man on Centre street, who has been for many years engaged in the busi ness of manufacturing them, the flag staff becomes endowed with the same importance that a Worth gown has in the eyes of a modiste, or a fine per fect itting suit of clothes presents to the vision of an artist tailor. Any way this man can talk as entertain ingly abour flagstaffs as Robert Bon ner can about trotting horses. This man says that you can buy a modest flag-staff, such a one as you would want to put on your residence to display the stars and stripes on the Fourth of July, or when your candi date wins at election time, for from $10 to $15. The big, pretentiouspoles though that you see on top of the pub lic buildings cost as high as $130. It costs the manufacturer about $2 to make the cheap poles and from $10 to $20 to turn out the more expensive ones. This would seem to indicate that the maker of the poles has an enormous profit, but these figures on their face are very deceptive. The sticks used for a flag-pole must be ab solutely flawless, and of many hun dreds purchased by the manufacturer, he can only use a very small per cent. in his business. The work of putting a flag-staff into position also devolves on the manufac turer, and this is frequently a difficult and dangerous job, particularly when the pole is a heavy one, designed to go on top of a high building. Flag-poles are used much more ex tensively now than in days gone. It seems that almost every business man thinks that he must fly his name on a strip of bunting from the top of the building where he carries on his enter prises. When a builder furnishes an - estimate for a house now, particularly if it is to be used for business purposes, or even if it is a private residence located on a corner, he would no more think of leaving out the flag-staff than he would of failing to put in the cost of the brick to be used in the chimneys. Most of the flag-staffs in this city are made of wood which comes from Virginia, North Carolina, the northern part of this State. Nova Scotia and Norway: For short sticks spruce is used, but for high poles, of say seventy five feet in length, white or yellow pine is preferred. Before the wood is brought to this city it is allowed to stay under water for twelve months or more, an-1 after it has been thoroughly seasoned in that manner it is sawed into square pieces, preparatory to re ceiving the finishing touches from the hands of the pole snaker. The seasoning which the flag-staff receives by being soaked in the water for twelve months is not suffcient to prevent it- from warping and cracking when exposed to New York's erratic climate. So when the pole has been planed until it is straight, it is ex posed to the sun until it is filled with long cracks. The smallest of these cracks are stuffed with putty, and the ,larger ones with a preparation of oak umn, siruilar to that used in caulking ships. In spite of every precaution to pre vent them from doing so wooden flag poles will warp. This has led to the use .of -iron poles in some cases, but they are generally objected to because of their weight. A famous old pole, which nearly everybody in the city has seen at one time or another, was the pole which used to be on top of the Western Union Building, and on which the time-ball used to glide up and down. It was badly warped by the heat when the building was par' tially destroyed by fire a few years ago, and was disposed of to a junk dealer. The new pole is similar to the old one. Your manufacturer of flag-poles says that when a flag-staff warps it always bends north. It is said that a stick will always lean the way it inclined when a tree in the forest, but the fact that all poles lean to the north would seem to contradict this. One explan ation of the tendency of the pole to lean to the north is that the sun first strikes the pole on the northeast side when it is wet with the dew. After all sorts of explanations had been of fered to account for: the bending of a pole to the north people who are not conversant with the lore of flag-poles will content themselves with the re flection that - the wind and the sun do it. With proper care a flag-pole ought to last a great many years in spite of the incessant exposure to the ele ments. Of course the best preserva tive of wood is paint, and a man who has a flag-staff which has cost him a good sum of money shogid see that it is painted at least every twelve months. Flag-poles generally rot at the bottom first, and then have to be taken down to prevent them from falling of their own weight. The usual length of a pole on top of a high building is from fifty to seventy-five feet. It is not difficult to get a pole in one piece fifty feet long, but when a man wants to add twenty-five feet to that he has to do it by means of splicing. Anything like a complete list of the very tall flag poles in New York wvould fill a column. Both Madison and Union Squares have a large collection of poles. There is a flag-pole ninety feet high on the landing station at Ellis Island. St. Bartholomnew's Church, at Forty-fourth street and Madison avenue, is blessed with some thing odd in the shape of a p~ole. It is aneadjustable affair that sticks out of a tower at an angle of fortyfve de grees when in use, but when noisneeded it is hauled down by m~eans of mae inerv and stored inside of the tower. There are two fiity feet and one sixtv ieot pole 0:1 the~ Ciso-u H{ouse. One of these pokCs ha; beenu ini use for twenty-Sve years. but d:ss not show any- sigzns o: decay yet. Th~e Grand Central De'not is des-orate I with five flag poles. On the taller of these is an unmense gilded ('-:le. Perhaps the most expensive pole in the city is aven.e and 721,t street. It is only seventy-thre' feet tall, but is said to have cost 275.-New York News. Matchmaking Among Indians. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. Browning, is determined to prove to the Indians that marriage is not a failure. He has discovered twat most of the red men under the bureau at the present time have been induced to believe that it is not the proper thing to get married, and for this reason, in the mind of the Commissioner, the numbers of the red men are decreasing fast. It is not certain but that the Commissioner, in the interest of pre serving his bureau, was forced to give some study and attention to the mat ter of matchmaking among the people. The Commissioner has labored over this matter very industriously, and he has evolved a scheme. He proposes to prove to them that they can get in fa vor with the Great Father if they will join in the holy bonds of matrimony. The scheme is a novel one, and it is the opinion of the Commissioner that very soon the leading duties of the Indian agent will be to act as marry ing agent for his colony. The reward for getting married is a striking marriage certificate. It starts with a heavy sheet of paper with a red border. Then the "United States of America" is in blue, while the "Our Glorious Eagle" has not the savage look, but a sort of wedding-day smile, and the "E pluribus unum" and the American flag are displayed with an intensity that would be cheap at any price. The eagle presides over a mar riage certificate in the usual form. The agents are to be instructed to make an exhibit of the scheme, and to use their influence in getting the In dians to come to the conclusion that they will be out of luck if they refuse to get married. The agents are to show the certificates, which have been pre pared with the hole that they would have the "catchy" appearance, and to possess one would be the ambition of the average Indian; and this would last him until after the ceremony was performed. By the flash of the cer tificate it is hoped to prove that mar riage is a success.-Eansas City Jour nal. An Indian Grandmother. From an educated Sioux Indian's recollections of his childhood, pub lished in St. Nicholas, the following is taken: This grandmother, whose name meant Sweet Wild Singer, was a patient woman; and also remarkably industrious and active; although she had already lived through fifty years of hardship, she was still a wonder to the young maidens in the art of em broidering with beads and porcupine quills. She showed no less enthusiasm over Hakada than she had felt when she held her first-born, the boy's father, in her arms. Every little at tention that is due to a loved child she performed with much concern and devotion. She made all my little and scanty garments and my tiny moccasins with a great deal of taste. It was said by all that I could not have had more attention had my mother been living. She was a great singer. Sometimes, when Hakada wakened too early in the morning, she would sing to him something like the follow m ig: "Sleep. sleep, my boy : the Chippewas Are tar away-are tar away. Sleep, sleep, my boy ; prepare to meet The foo by day-the foe by day! The cowardls will not dare to fight Till morning break-till morning break. Sleep. sleep, my child, while still 'tis night ; Then bravely wake-then bravely wake !' The Dakota women were wont to cu and bring their fuel from the woodst and, in fact, to do most of the work, This of necessity fell to their lot be. cause the men must follow the game| during the day. Very often my grand mother carried me with her, always engaged in -a pretended dialogue with me. While she worked it was her habit to suspend my cradle from a bough or wild grape vine, so that the least breeze would swing it to and fro -St Nicholas. The American Buffalo. When the first white settlers landed in Virginia the bison ranged east of the Alleghenies almost to the sea coast, westward to the dry deserts ly ing beyond the Rocky Mountains, northward to the Great Slave Lake and southward to Chihuahua. It was the beast of the forest and mountains, in the Alleghenies no less than in the Rockies, but its true home was on the prairies and the high plains. IAeross these it roamed hither and thither, in herds of enormous, of in creditable magnitude ; herds so large that they covered the waving grass land for hundreds of square leagues, and when on the march occupied days and days in passing a given point. But seething myriads of shaggy maned wild cattle vanished with re markable and melancholy rapidity be fore the inroads of the white hunters and the steady march of the oncoming settlers. Now they are on the point of extinction. Two or three hundred are left in that great National game preserve, the ellowstone Park, and it is said that others still remain in the wintry desolation of Athabasca. Elsewhere only a few individuals exist-probably considerably less than half a hundred all told-scattered in small parties in tewildest and most romantic and in accessible portions of the Rocky Mountains. A bison bull is the largest American animal. His huge bulk, his short, curved black horns, his shaggy mane clothing his great neck and shoulders, giving him a look of ferocity which his conduct belies. Yet he is truly a grand and noble beast, and his loss from our prairies and forests is as keenly re greged by the lover of Nature and of wiT life as by the hunter. --Forum. I Spanish Slowness. The departure of a train from a Spanish station is generally a very le'ure~y p'roceeding. The Eirst bell is tan o incan that th. por :rs must eve off borrowing eigars from the passngerse, the secnd is a hint to the engine dlriver to finishi his lunch, and at the third the guards be.gin to siam doors as a warning to the stragglers to et inside. Ten minutes afterward the head guard sounds his whistle, and five minutes later the engine re sponds with a shriek, which signifies that the excuses for delay are ex THE MASKED MAN. AWFtL DISFIGUREMENT OF A FIENCII SOLDIER. His Face Was Shot Away by a Can non Hall-ie SurvIves and, tads a Kappy Existence Wears a Mask. SSMLALL town in the north of France contains a man un like any other man in Europe, America, or, indeed, this en tire world. He is vigorous in body, tall and erect and of muscular build. He has no face, no eves, no mouth nor nose. He has the lower jaw only and the upper part of the forehead. This man's name is Moreau, and he is known through all the country round about as the man with the wooden head. Not that his head is really made of wood, but because it has that ap pearance. Really the man's head, or the front part of it, is made of pla tinum, shaped into the form of the features and painted so as to resemble human flesh. It must not be supposed that this man is a freak of nature. He was born perfectly formed, and grew up to robust manhood with his senses unim paired. In fact, he was a good look ing young fellow when at the age of twenty, he shouldered his gun and started out to fight for his native laad. And he fought bravely through sev eral battles, distinguishing himself, in fact, in an engagement with the Prus sians by saving a piece of artillery which the enemy were on the point of capturing. For this act of bravely his name was to have been proposed for the cross. But the very next day there came upon him the terrible dis . aster which left him disfigured as he is to-day. It was in the midst of a fiercely fought battle and Moreau was one of the gunners at a point in the line where the fire was particularly deadly. Four of his comrades had fallen at his side, and he himself had been iighily wounded. Suddenly, with a crash and great roaring in his head he felt himself spun round eight or ten times like a top, but so curiously poised on his feet that he did not fall. He felt no pain and did not realized that he was seriously injured. It seemed to him that a ball had struek him on the head and glanced off. He thought to himself that he would have a few days to spend in the hos pital and that would be all. Feeling the blood flowing from his face he stuffed his handkerchief into the wound and waited for help. After waiting an hour he saw that night was coming on, and, gathering up his strength, walked to a neighbor ing village; for by this time the battle had ceased. When taken to the mili taryhospital, the surgeon who received him, accustomed as he was to horrible sights, started back with an exclama tion of horror. The man's entire face had been shot away, and in place of a head there seemed to remain only a misshapen mass of red, raw flesh. The man's case was considered hope less, and it was believed that he would die within twenty-four hours. It was hoped that he would die. Curiously enough, in spite of the shell's terrible mutilation, one eye had been left in the shattered socket, so that Moreau was able to see at first, but the hemorrhage was so great that this eye was torn away, and on the second day the man was entirely blind. Very much to every one's surprise the poor fellow continued to live, and on the fourth day it was decided to operate upon his head. Thirty-five Ipieces of shattered bone were taken from the gaping wound, some of them very large pieces. After the head had been thus treated and the cavity cleaned out it was found that Morean's head looked like an immense hollow cup with crimson inside, and from this Ihis voice sounded in strange intona tions, somewhat like the voice of a phonograph. It did not seem to be a man at all who was talking, but some grotesque machine. Owing to the man's marvelous con stitution he recovered entirely from his wounds, which, in course of time, healed up, leaving him with such a mutilated face as was never seen. In fact, he had no face, not even a fore head, and only a portion of his chin. All the rest-eyes, nose, teeth, cheek bones and flesh-had been cut away as if some one had scooped a cocoanut into the shape of a half moon. And yet the man was apparently in perfect health, could speak, hear and feel, and showed every inclination to eat, with a good appetite, if only some way of masticating his food could be found. Here was a difficult case for the sur geons, and yet they made the best of it, and in a few months they had ac complished wonders. The lower jaw bone being intact, an artificial set of teeth was attached to it, raised on a bridge-like platform, and these were made to work against another set of teeth fastened across one of the ribs of a mask fashioned so as to cover the cavity. This mask was furnished with eyes, nose and lips, so as to give a cer tain ghastly resemblance to the human face. It was made of wax. For ten years Moreau wore this mask constantly, even at night, let in1l863, while visiting some friends at Valen ciennes, he had a severe attaak of brain fever, and in one of his delirious -noments he tore off the mask and broke it in pieces. Being very poor, in fact, entirely dependent upon his scanty pension, Moreau could ill af ford to have another wax mask made to replace the old one, and for a long time he suffered agonies of humilia tion because he had no way of con *ealing his hideous disfigurement. Finally, however, a petition was made to the French Government, and an ar tist was sent to make a platinum mask, and instructions were given that this mask be kept in repair and painted whenever it became necessary, so as to imitate as nearly as possible the human appearance. ISince then, about once a year,.a artist from Paris visits the littie vil lage where Morea lives, and with~ brush and pencil mahes such change in the exterior of the platinum mask as are needed, restoring eyebrows and complexion, coloring the eyes ard 'lips, and in general making the old soldier look a little more like an ani mated doll, and a little less like some' horrible spectre. nspt of hais rat aiiction& Morean. lives happiy enough and .3 mu ch liei by his neighbors. Strange as it may seem, he was able some years ago to persuade a comely maiden to become his wife, and she has borne hin sev erel healthy children. As is usuiliy the case, the man's remaining senses have become much quickened since his misfortune, and he manages to earn quite a sum every year by weaving baskets and doing odd jobs with his hands in the way of mending and re pairing, which people who are aware of his need send to him. His great delight is fishing, and he spends hours along the brooks and streams of Brit tany. waiting for the fish to bite and is more successful in his efforts than are many sportsmen who have all their senses. Altogether there is not a happier man in all France, so the people who know him say, than this man with a mask, whose sole ambition at present is to become the proprietor of one of the Government tobacco shops, in which position he would make a snug little income in addition to his pen sion, and would be able to smoke the livelong day without paying for his pleasure,-New York Recorder. The Behemoth. The mammoth, or Behemoth, is not vet universally regarded as extinct. According to Siberian and Chinese be lief the race is merely banished under ground, its "blind life" being in stantly exterminated by a glimpse of the sun's, or even of the moon's, rays. The inference might almost be called a logical one from the state of the una earthed, remains. In several cases the great beast has emerged from his millennial retire ment as completely arrayed as if death had only just overtaken him, his hide densely clothed with fulvous wool, and that again covered by long black hair ; his mane falling from his shaggy shoulders, his antediluvian eyes actually staring from their sockets. Contemporary dogs and wolves find mammoth flesh appetizing, in spite of its semi-fossil character ; mammoth bones have been proved to 'contain a remunerative amount of gelatine, and in Kamchatka to 'this day mammoth fat is largely used for fuel. The first mammoth tusk seen in Western Europe was brought to Lon don in 1611 by one James Logan, who had purchased it from the Samoyedes, and Father Avril, a Jesuit who crossed Siberia in 1685, wrote that "the Rus sians had discoverea a sort of ivory whiter and smoother than that which comes from India." The substance was prized, too, as a styptic, and was said to be derived from a powerful amphibious creature, "as big and as dangerous as a croco dile," living chiefly at the mout:h of the Lena. Fossil ivory, toward the close of the eighteenth century, be, came an object of general commerce, and incredible quantities were ex ported from its arctic reposil;ory. Middendorf, about fifty years aga, es timated the annual sale at 110,000 pounds weight, and upward of 1600 tusks are known to have reached Lon don in 1872. Yet the supply remains unexhaust ed, and may, indeed, be called inex haustible. It is the demand which has of late fallen off or failed. In Russia and China, it is true, almost exclusive use is made of the excavated material, but its brittleness and ten dency to discoloration practically ex clude it from Western .makets. -Ed inburgh Review. How Hale Got to Camp. During the war Edward Everett Hale went to the front to visit one of the generals in command. TIhe last part of his journey to headquarters was on a steamboat, where Hale met an officer, a major, who was also going to headquarters. At first the major was very friendly, but when he learned that Hale was also going to head quarters he began to fight shy of him. Evidently he did not want a "civilian" on his hands on the long night ride from the boat landing. When they reached the landing Hale found a horse,. and after a hard ride through mund and brush he reached headquarters. After he had had his supper, and as he was sitting talking with the general, the major rode up. He had lost his way more than once, his horse had fallen with him, he was covered with mud and in the worst possible temper. "Why, major," said the general, "where have you been? Mr. Hale has been here two hours." The major glared at Hale and grunted: "How did you get here ?" "Oh," said Hale quietly, "I fol lowed the telegraph wire." Nobody fought shy of him after that. -Philadelphia Record. The " Second Sampson." Richard Joy, who died May 18th, 1742, at the age of sixty-seven, and is buried in the St. Peter's churchyard, Isle of Thanet, Kent, Englaid, was known throughout Europe as the "Kentish Hercules," or the "Second Sampson." When but a youth of sev enteen years he was invited to London by the King to give an exhibition in remarkable feats of strength. Among the feats of his mature years was that of breaking, with his hands and feet, a rope with a tensile strength of thity-five hundredweight and the lift ing of 2200 pounds. The following is a copy of his epitaph: Herculean hero!i Famed for streneth. At last lies here, his breadth and length, See how the mighty man is fallen!i To death the strong and wealk are all one ; The same judgment doth befall Goliath Great and David Smali. -St. Louis Rlepublic A Sindio Trick, In the corner of an artist's studio in this city is an ingenions arrangd ment of screens, upon one of which, over an aperture about the size of a face, is an inscription: "Likenesses taken instantaneously." The innocen~t visitor peeks through the hole, and is astonished to behold an ex:aet likeness of himself as a Imp-backed jailer, in a scarlet coat. ope~ning a pr-ison door. The secret of this efect is simple- The jailer is a life-size painting strongly rendered. The place for the face is cut out and a mirror inserte J, refieeting the features of the spectator. The conception of this amusing fantasy is not entirely original. It wras imported from the studio of Wiertz, the Belgian B3ILLINGSGATE A V. W OF LONDoN'S GIIEAT FISH MARK:Er. An Enormous Annual Outpl of Marine Food-Tors'ermonzers' Work of Distribution-V ri eties of Fish Sold. TN London the annual consumption~ of fish does not fall far short of that of meat, being nearly 160, 009 tons. Evern this amount, large as it is, would be much in creased had London the wharfage and storage conveniences of this city, but that great metropolis is sixty miles from the sea, with her sole dis tributive market situated upon a nar row and crowded river, with street approaches equally cramped and choked. Thousands of tons of fish are an nually wasted at this market-the famous Bilingsgate that has existed upon its present site since the time of the Normans. It is the largest fish market in the world, and, like our Fulton Market, supplies a wide extent of exterior territory, shipping fresh as well as salted fish to Germany, France, and other foreign countries. This pre-eminence is largely due to Great Britain's immensely-productive fisheries, that it amount greatly ex ceed those of any other country. Her eastern boundary is the North Sea, by far the richest portion of the globe in edible fish, its annual product being valued at $125,000,000. Under careful and thorough culti vation an acre of land may be induced once a year to yield a ton of wheat, but there are hundreds of thousands of acres in the North Sea capable of yield ing more than that weight of edible fish every week. Its average depth is only ninety feet, one-fifth of its area being occupied by banks which are the resort of the fish. It is from this wonderfully prodnc tive quarter that three-fourths of Lon don's annual supply is derived, the waters of the Channel and of the At lantic furnishing the remainder. The shipments of fish to the metropolis are maintained throughout the year in tolerably even volume. Different fish are present at different seasons, and the presence of some is almost constant upon some point or another of the coast. The larger portion of the supply of Billingsgate arrives by rail and is brought to the market in vans, which choke the narrow streets and greatly embarrass as well as limit the traffic. The increase of the metropolitan sup ply by the railroads would not have attained its present proportions but for the efforts of the humble coster mongers, to whose industry and enter prise the general distribution of the fish is largely due. The market opens at 5 a. in., and the various auction sales at once be gin. The larger costers often divide their purchases with their humbler brethren, some of whose stock is so limited that itis carried in large baskets upon their backs ; others rise to the dignity of barrows, and still others to the affugn-e of a donkey cart. The skate, dogfish, and other so calleid offal i-n this country find at Bill-' ingsgate a ready market. Some of the choice but to us un familiar fish at Billingsgate are turbot, brill, soles, dories, and mult-the last is a summer fish from the Chan nel, the others from the North Sca. The sprat, a winter fish, is most abun dant in December and January, when Bilingsgate is besieged by an army of frantic costers, who handle nine-tenths of the supply, and who in the disposi tion of this as well as all other fish ma-V terially undersell the shops. The sole, another winter fish, is very popular, from 12,000 to 15,000 'tons being sold annually. Of fresh salmon, London takes every year about 20003 tons, all of which, save about 150 tone from Norway, is the yield of British waters. tn addition, nearly one-half of our product of canned salmon is exported to England, where this royal. fish meets with its fullest measure of appreciation. Eels, ranking equally high in food value as salmon, and for the same reason, are also largely con sumed, the supply coming mainly from Holland, although the best a-e from Ireland. Mackerel, another oily fish, is brought from Devon and Cornwall, o5 whose shores enormous shoals an nually appear. Lobsters are furnished chiefiy by Norway and Scotland. As with ourselves, the supply has much abated of late years, and the English public are large consumers of our canned lobster. Tlhe English edible rab is much larger than our far more common and abundant blue crab, and is mast frequent off Cornwall and Scotland. Oysters arc rmuch dearer than here, and are mainly the produet of the Channel waters. Shrimp are aught in immense quantities in the estuary of the Thames, and are peddled by the costers the year through, oftan as low as four cents a pint. The tooth some and succulent clam is a stranger to British waters, and Dillingsgate knows him not. Herring is the tish of iargesl con mmption, plaice, cod, soles. and ackerel following in their respective order. At Fulton Market (New York), od stands at the head of the list, bluefish, macke-re!, weakflsh, and Lhl but following successively.-Ne w York Iimes. An Interesting~ Auver~senment. The following is from a ve-ry r.ld opy of the Philadelpbla Wekai EIercury: Philafelphin STAkGE-WAGGON. arNew Yrk STAGE LOAT periords uier S:ag-= twice a weei:. JOHN BUTTLER.. writh bis v.argon, sets o'pt n Mondays froin his House. at the Sign of :he Death of the Fo::. in Strawberry Ahey.1 nd driven the same day to Trenton F.erry, when Francis Holman meets himr. and pro eeds to Brunswiek. andl the pssengers and oos being shifted into the wsaggor of Mac ~'itzrandolph. he takes them to the Newr .Pi: ag-Star to Jacob Fitzranolph's. t i. st': lay, u-here Rubin Fitzrandolpfl. with a boa:t t c Nw York that ,i::ht. .Pi'n Lutlr re unig to P'hilade-ipoin on Tuesda:y uwih the' >esenrs and g.oo's delivered by Fr.: e-:s i amai 'et ou1t for Tre nton on TXhutrd::y, nd Fr:ancis Holman. .-te..- will .:arry his p-.' engers and~ goods. withl tiiesame~ exp~editnJi' 5 abo.- New York. Decon William Brown. of Nev ampshre, has distributedi 123, 000 3ibles since 1823. T iOEDS OF WIlDU'. Culture never made a A stingy manis never contente1. He that sips of many arts drinks of none. True faith will live and grow in any climate. Preaching aimed at the head seldom strikes the heart. Benevolence without love has no more heart in it than an auction block. A lie always has a dagger in its hand, no matter how well meaning it may look. A guilty conscience is like a whirl pool. drawing in all to itself which would otherwise pass by. Tenderiess of affection toward the most abandoned sinners is the highest instance of a' godlike soul. Trust him little who praises all, him less who censures all, and him least of all who is'indifferent to all. He who is false to a present duty breaks a thread in the loom, and will find a flaw when he may have forgotten its cause. Some men have an idea they will some day walk in the streets of glory because they now and then give away an old coat. When one kas light enough to per ceive that one is mistaken, and too much vanity to own it, and instead of turning back one goes still deeper into one's errors, it is the progress and the consolation of pride. When what you read elevates your mind and inspires you with high and noble feelings, do not seek for any other rule by which to judge the com position ; it is good, made by the hand of an experienced werkman.. How Snakes Swallow. The formation of a snake's jaws is also peenliar and thus enables it to swallow bodies much larger than it self, or than it seems to be. A small snake, found in Africa, where this tribe of animals abounds, is known as the egg eater, and one of them, less than twenty inches long and only half an inch in apparent diameter, can easily take into its stomach a hen's egg. This is done by the formation of the head, and especially of the jaws. The bones of the head are not sutured together, but are loosely articulated by elastic bands. Thus the jaws can be extended to an amazing extent, considering the apparent size of the head. A snake less than two inches in diameter at the neck can swallow a rabbit, and by taking plenty of time smaller ones will manage to get out side of a large frog. And to hold the prey during the process of slow deglu tition-a time of horror, probably, to the unhappy victim-the teeth of the snake are hooked. In this process of swallowing, the snake secretes a glary saliva, and by gradually drawing the jaws and neck over the prey, as one would draw a glove on the hand, and by the help of the hooked teeth holding all it gains by each effort, in time the prey is finally swallowed. The writer has watched this process in the swallowing of a large frog by a small snake dur ing more than an hour, and when the frog had disappeared down to its last quarter, the animal kicked continually wih its hind legs in struggles to get free. Snakes always take in their prey by the head, just as the hunter, and, doubtless, for the same reason, draws a deer to camp by the fore legs and never by the hind ones, so that the hair may not cause intractablr friction. -New York Times. Boiling Water N~ot Always Hot. "Cold boiling water, indeed ! Boil ing water is the hottest kind of thing. Don't I know? Haven't I scalded my fingers more than once with water from the teakettle?" James is right, and yet he is wrong. Boiling water is not always very hot water, in spite of his painful experi ence. This is the way it happens: -When water boils ordinarily it is be cause great heat has separated the tiny particles of the water, forcing upward and outward in lively bubbles the air which is contained in them. This is done in spite of the downward pres sure of the atmosphere. After the water has become hot enough to boil it can get no hotter, because the air escapes as fast as it is sufficiently heat ed to do so. There are places on the earth where the pressure of the atmosphere upon the water is so slight that it requires but little heat to push apart the parti les and set free the air bubbles which are confined in the water, so it begins to boil before it becomes very hot. It ought hardly to be called cold water, perhaps, but it is certainly far from being as hot as ordinary boiling water. This state of things is found on all high mountain tops, as the atmosphere grows weaker and its pressure less as one ascends. A gentleinian traveling at a great el vation in the Andes Mountains put some potatoes in a pot of water over a hot fire. The water began to boil al nost immediately, but the potatoes lid not cook. All the afternoon and ill night the water bubbled and boiled but still the potat'>es were not cooked. lhe boiling water was not hot enough. -New Orleans Times-Democrat. Extracting Gold From its Ores. In this process molten lead is used er extracting gold from its ores in ~tead of mercury. The lead is melted >n a shallow hearth and the powdered re is fed in at one end and carried orward as a film over the surface of ;he lead by means of an agitator mov ng over 'that surface. It is thus rought to the other end, where it es. apes through a hopper. In order to revent oxidation of the lead, the hamber is kept filled with carbonic xide from a gas producer.-Scien ifi American. Hlighi Mountains in America. It mar surnrise the reader of th:s 'note" who is a little rusty on geog aphy to be informed that there are ver 300 mountains on the North merican continent that are over 0,00 feet in height, but such is the ase. In Alaska alone there are scores f them, and not less than five in that oreal region exceed 15.000 feet. --St. AS THE LIGHT -D T:-H. EYZ. I know n t wht The eye to:es t :r rut I k::ow tha: t!:: As nsu;ht were itsg: I know not whe: - The) rook oThev r.o. But I k-ow th nt withoe. i: Its babblin:: we're vain. As the light to th: eye. To the blossom the dew, And the rain to the Lrool-, To my heart-life are yot.. And should destiny say z. That I must forge~, I might bow and obey it Submissive-and ye:. As the eye ever closei, And the brook without ni-. And the ear inthe silcace. So my heart-life were vain. --Nannie Maclean, in Lippinco t. PITH AND POINT. A Change of Base-Passing co nter feit money. One way to "hang up a drink" is to suspend drinking.-Hello. The man who workshimself to death finds that his money is onlva ":uneral pile." The ladies' tailor has a ;yard lot. He has to reform so many of his cus tomers.-Binghamton Republic. The professional photographer and the amateur hold entirely different views of the same thing.-Statesman. Mollie-"That old man Hattie is go ing to marry isn't worth a dollar." Sarah-"Of course not; he's only a remnant. "-Detroit F:ee Press. "What did ye 'ave the coop.y widened out at the top like a funnel for?" The misses 'ave got their new cloaks."- Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It's funny about bridal pairs. They're not like other pears at all." "Why not?" "They're softest when they're green."-Retailer and Jobber. The man who pay the printer's debt His life is always merry. And, dying. he is sure to get A free obituary ! Atlanta Constitution. Charles-"There's the doorbellring ing. I wonder who it is?" Edward "A man. I just saw sister Nellie run to the looking-glass."-Chicago Rec ord. "How is Johnny getting along with his writing?" asked the fond parent. "Rapidly," replied the teacher. "I think he is already competent to write his own excuses."-Indianapolis Jour nal. - Hicks-"What do you suppose is meant by 'writing for posterity'?" Wicks-"Sending to magazines arti cles which seldom appear during the life of the writer. "-Boston Tr: n script. "My friend," began the solemn man with the red nose, "we are all dust." "Gowan!" replied the new policeman, "or I'll soak you, an' then your name will be mud. See?"-Indianapolis Journal. "Did you hear about Dick propos ing to Millie by postal card?" "No the brute. How did she punish him?" "Accepted him through the personal columns of the dailies." - Detroit ribune. Beak (who has a nose that is painful y prominent)-"I am so blind that I an't see any further than the end of my ose." Fogg-"Griat Scott, man! ou have eyes like a telescope. "-Bos on Transcript. "I'm agin this labor agitation, "said ~eandering Mike. "So'm I," said Plodding Pete. "Every time I run p agin a piece of work I git so agita ted I purty near have heart disease. " merican Industries. "How do you know, then, the young rtist has an income outside of his rofession?" asked the landlady's aughter. "Because," was the con fident reply, "he pays his rent re gu larly. "-Washington Star. Junior Partner - "Our traveler ught to be discharged. He told one f our customers that I am an ignorant ool." Senior Partner-'"I shall peak to him and insist that no more office secrets be divulged. -Tu-Bits. Reggie Quarterback-"One of the girls told me that I looked xike a uman chrysanthemum. Rather clever. h?" Miss Figg-"I had noticed the hrysanthemum part of the resem blace myself. "-Indianapolis Journal. "What an inconsistent creature wo an is, to be sure !" the young man xclaimed. "What's the matter now?" Miss Ritter has just sent me a note signed 'in haste' and delivered by a district messenger boy. "-Washington Star. Maude-"What do you suppose Gas De Goodle said when 1 told him I anted to speak to him a moment last night?" Beatrice- "I don't know. What?" Maude-"R~eplied that he was al ears." Beatrice-"'Ehe donkey?! -Buffalo Courier. Judge Duffy-"What indu~ced you o commit this theft ?" Prisoner Your Honor, I have been accus tomed all my life to have a place for everything and everything in ite place. I can't bear to see anything ying around loose. "-Texas Siftings. "My daughter gets S20,0003 as a wedding present ; but she has an 'm >ediment in her speech, "said a wealthy father-in-law to a would-be son-in law, who was poor. "I know; but I do not regard that as an impedimnt to our marriage," rer lied the imi:e cunious one. -Texas Siftings. The lady had given the small boy an pple and he had said nothing in ree ognition. "What does a little boy say when he gets anything?" asked the lady insinuatingly. He hesitated ai oment. "Some little boys,"' he said, "says 'thank you'; some says 'mc obliged,' and some just keeps think~n' ow much better an orange isthn apple. "-Detroit Frce Press. Bacteria in Animal Sali a. The saliva of dogs and cats is se ciallv rich in bacterie, that of the lat ter cnta::inig a for~u wh'ihi :-el s ,bserved aind so faital that rab ' umn pig. inoeutlate.l wvt toa-l w ent-fou:- flours. Tedg a-' ~ontains an even greater n'imrer.o aeteria. ias oeca-tioal em "a testinal worms and sO o'. Thjs- fon i and lovmng wo-r.en whoe re pr.'e: t->