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m florcncc Dniln Cimc Published Enrr Day Excpt Sunday. Terms of Snbscriptiou, 10 ceuts p« r week;^l for three months, ia ad vance; ptpcr delivered promptly. Bates for Advertising furnish<'<( on ap plication at the oflhfe of The Daily Times, 104 and 100 W. Evans St. SCIENTIFIC SC BAPS. H. L. DARK, H. Manager. A. BRUNSON, Editor. SAILORS’ SUPERSTITIONS. \ iThejr Have Lucky and Unlucky Shipa, Days and Halnta. ' The old superstition ns to luck and I unlucky days has largely passed away, j Foreign mails start and arrive on Fri day without any regard for the beliefs ^vhlch were accepted at one time be yond argument by moAt sailors. Some thought otherwise, as will appear later. Generally speaking, all saints’ days and church holidays were regarded as un lucky and certain days in each month jivas regarded distrustfully. In an old J almanac of ItllS we find that July 10, 120, 24, and »1 wore noted as "no good anchorage.” Sunday was always look- led upon as lucky, presumably In reli ance on the maxim, “The better the day |the better the deed,” and the fact of our Lord’s resurrection having taken Iplaco on that day. Monday had no particular reputation |for good or evil; Tuesday was the same, except among Spaniards, who said, “Don’t marry or go to sen or leave your iwife” on that day. Wednesday was the day of Odin, the Norse god, and lucky; Thursday was named after Thor, the 'Norse god of war, ami was auspicious. Friday was the day dedicated to Freya, Norse goddess of love, and having ref erence to women was not liked on this ground. The true reason for avoiding Friday was, of course, the fact of the crucifixion ha. Ing taken place on that day, and sentiments of special venera tion for the day converted Into a feel ing of fear for the results which would follow its violation. The Spaniards, on the other hand, had a considerable ,■veneration for Friday, and believed that some occult Influence enabled Co lumbus to successfully clear out of port and discover new land on that day. Saturday was generally considered aus picious. The origin of the phrase, "a capful of wind,’’ can be traced to a Norse king, Eric VI., who died In 1*70 A. 1). He was credited with the useful power of Greeting the wind to blpw him where he wished by the simple method of 'turning his cap to that point of the compass. His powers were much ai»- preclated and trusted, and resulted In jhis being known ns “windy cap.” There is no evidence as to whether he could regulate the force of the wind ns well as the direction; pres :m&bly he could, «r bis faithful believers would not have ■been so mnny. # “A bagful of wind” Is another common expression and indi cates something like a gale. This has been traced down to the classical legend of Kolus and liht captive winds confined in bags. l’i The domestic pets of the world carry 30 per cent of the common con tagious diseases from house to house. Nearly every moderate sized village in Switzerland is now supplied with electric light, the motive power boiug supplied by the mountain streams. There’s one single paper pulp mill in this state that uses up seventy car loads of logs and shortwood daily. Its annual food is 30,000,000 feet of waste lumber. The Boston firemen claim that they have been poisoned by tho black uni form shirts which they have been com pelled to wear by order of Commis sioner Russell. The fish commission has sont an ex pedition to Crater Lake, Oregon, to jlecide whether it be feasible to stock it with fish. It is tho deepest body of fresh water in America, its greater depth being 2,000 feet. Some of the Berlin professors, in cluding Du Rois-Raymond and Gruu- much, have succeeded in applying the Roentgen rays in such a way as to get clear intimations of disouse spots in the lungs, heart, and other internal organs. An acute musical ear will detect so •light a difference in «oae between two notes as tho ono-sixty-fourth of a semitone. This means that iu the eleven octaves that the human ear com passes there would bo at least souio sight thousand or nine thousaud con sciously different notes. The surface of the sea is estimated at 150,000,000 mpiare miles, taking the whole surface of the globe nt 197- 000,000, and its greatest depth sup posedly equals the height of the high est mountain, or four miles. The Pacific Ocean covers 78,000,000 square miles, tho Atlantic 25,000,000, the Mediterranean 1,00,000- In temperate regions the conditions under which ponds uud lakes freeze over at tho beginning of winter uro all favorable to tho forming of smooth ice. Tho cold is most intense iu the perfectly still nights of that season when ice is first formed. Again, the water freezes at a higher temperature when smooth thVi when disturbed. The consequence is that the iao on our lakes is smooth. 8uch is everywhere the ease, la Siberia first freezing cold often comes tended by violent winds. DERVISH_VAL( Reckless Courage of the Maoist* Followers in the Soudar Standing Steadily for He Against Fearful Odds.] not tho at- One la ft Million. ! Dr. Abernothy, the famous Scotch «urgeou, was a mad of few words, but hie once met bis match—in a woman. iShe called at his office In Edinburgh one day and showed a hand, badly In- {flamed and swollen, when tho following dialogue, opened by tho doctor, took Iplace: ‘•■Burn?” “Bruise.” I “Poultice.” The next day the woman railed again, stud the dialogue was ns follows: “Better?” “Worse.” “More poultice.” Two days later the woman made an- other call, and this conversation oc curred: “Better?” “Well. Fee?” “Nothing,” exclaimed the doctor. “Most sensible woman I ever met,”— JKew York Mall and Express. Rnrprlsea PI*. Little Pete never Intends to mlsstats things, but his very figurative Imagina tion sometimes gets the better of his fhets. He starts out to tell something which Is perfectly true, but before ho Is done be has generally drifted off Into some picturesque exaggeration. Tho other day he exclaimed to a compan- jton: “Just think. Billy! Out In Chicago •they aren’t going to be cruel to the pigs inny more when they kill them. They're r >lng to chloroform them.” “How do they do It?” asked Billy. P “Way, they Just put a sponge In front Wf the pig’s nose, and he goes right to sleep, anu when he comes to himself ho «ays, ‘Why, my ham’s gone!’ And by and by he says, ‘Goodness! Somebody’s sawed my log off!’ and then be finds out ithat he's all cut up!” Ambitious Philadelphia Royn. All of a sudden the bright, small boy In a part of West Philadelphia has de veloped a wonderful desire to run er rands for the neighbors “free for noih- Ing,” and generous housekeepers have been marveling at the solicitation of contracts for the privilege of running after purchases. Numbers of the youngsters have made compacts that they shall be the privileged ones for a certain period. The mystery Is ex plained by a scheme of some of the •torekeepers, w ho give each boy a card Indicating the amount of tho purchase, and when the boy becomes the posses- 8 orof the tickets aggregating a certain amount he is made the recipient of a percentage o{ all that has been bought tbrongh bis agency. A corps of am bitious young drug and grocery brok* i« thus being developed. _ . Violet Perfume. Millions of violets, “sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes,” nestle nt Grasse and Nice under the gray shadow of the orange groves, yet the 200,000 pounds of the flower sacrificed every year to the flower pres* are not Miflicent for the toilet. The per fumer is glad to fall buck on the in tense violet odor of “Cassie, sweet to smell,” for sickly as its scout is when used alouej it gives tho indispensable uote to many bouquets, and is longer available than the violet, the blos soms of Acscia Furuesinna being suc cessive, while thoseof its better-kuown floral ally are quickly over- There cannot be a greater contrast than existing between the lowly tufts of the Parma violet, and the tree fif teen feet high, with its stem thick as a man’s wrist, and its branches six Icet long. Yet the blossoms have the same characteristic odor- Cassie, too, the flower fanner's latest crop forms a fitting introduction to the violet harvest, occurring as the for mer does iu November and December, while the purple shadow of the latter is not seen under 'the olives till the beginning of February. Both odors are obtained by tho characteristic enfleurage system; pure, inodorous lard being placed on sheets of glass and covered with flower petals. Forty or fifty of the trays are then piled on one another, till the lard is charged with their perfume, tho flowers beiug changed from thirty to forty times before the pomade is considered sufficiently scented—Chambers's Jour uul. Bogs an 1 Diplomacy. Dogs and diplomacy do not seem to harmonize. Tho Italian agent at Sofia took n walk with his dog one evening recently and whistled for him. He was at once arrested by the ponce, taken to tho station-house, and de taiued for nearly an hour, till he was able to prove who he was. Bulgaria has had to apologize for this. Almost at the same time Spaiu was begging the pardon of the Russian legation at Madrid for a similar act. Baroa Wrangle, first secretary of the lega tion, had strolled out with an unmuz zled lapdog in his arms, when the police, to enforce the city ordinance against unmuzzled dog«,fell upon him and tore tho dog awry by force, Of all the numerous British o who have taken part iu former paigns against the Mahdists, all that tho Dervishes have lost no of their old valor- They heed as little as ever. I saw them ^aud undismayed in tho open and tight Xvith dogged determination in tho fnOe ol our deadly volley fire; they fought on with rifle and spear and knife when charged by tho cavulay ; each wounded Dervish, us ho lay bleeding to death on tho ground, was a dangerous and treacherous foe until ho had breathed his last; they even did what some authorities have denied that any troops, however brave, would ever do —they stood iu groups firing steadily into our ranks while our Maxim guns poured their streams of bullets on them, mowing them down like grass. I doubt whether any other men in tho world would have stood, as these meu stood, for nearly two hours against such fearful odds as were op posed to them. But, if one may judge from this fight,the Dervishes have changed their old tactics; they have to a great ex tent abandoned tho recklesi rush of spearmen which used to distinguish Sudanese warfare, and rely more on rifle fire, iu which their practice has considerably improved. If trained and disciplined (but it is very doubt ful whether that savage beast of prey tho Baggara ever could be tamed), these men would make magnificent infantry. They display now as much amazing coolness when acting on the defensive as they did wild elan in their furious charges of form er campaigns. During one part of the fight I was with tho men ol tho Ninth Sudanese Battalion who were clearing the hills to the east ol Forkoh, and I saw a handful of twen ty-five of the enemy’s riflemen stand firm and fire into us until we were twenty yards from them, when they in vain sought safety in flight The majority of these riflemen were blacks of tho same stock as the men of our. Sudanese battalions; it is therefore possible to form some idea of how the latter will fight if caught in a “right corner.” ’ Tim Khalifa’s black rifle men, or Jehadia, for tho most part fight unwillingly in the cause of tho tyrant who has mined their country and would gladly desert to ns; but once in the thick of a fight they for get all this, their blood is up, and they set to as if imbued with fanatical frenzy. In my last letter I recorded an in cident I witnessed—that of one of our' Sudanese soldiers rushing from the ranks to embraco a prisouer who had just been taken and whom ho recog nized ns a relation. Similar strange meetings occurred over tho whole field. A man of the Ninth Battalion found his father dead among tbe enemy. Again, when the men of the Tenth Bittalion wore attacking the enemy’s riverside position, they were set to clear a hut held by a number of desperate men, who flirod on them from tho loopholes with considerable eff ct. At last nearly oil tho defenders were killed and the few survivors surrendered and came out, among them a big black who, no doubt, up to that moment had been doing his best to kill ns many of our men as possible; but as soon as ho ap peared a soldier laughingly ran for ward and put his anus around his neck; then several others, recogniz ing iu him an old friend whom they had not seen for years, welcomed him, their faces beaming with pleasure,and there was a general embracing a!l round. No fewer than 103 of the black prisoners whom wo took during the tight of tho 7th have already been enlisted in the Sudanese battalions. — London Times. L lifting. Row nice It is W drift along, While resting on your oars: To hear your sweetheart's dreamy song Ite-echoed from the shores. Each ripple forms a melody, Each splash a gladsome uot% Which seems to intermingle With the music from her throat. !>ut when you drift upon the sand, Farewell to songs of love ; You hear your sweetheart's stern command, “Now, dear, get out and shove.” —Philadelphia Times. HUMOROUS. Hospital Physician — You are bruised, too, 1 see. Patient—Yes. 1 came in an ambulance. “Jennie See returned Wallio El more’s love, ^-ou sur? ” “Yes, she had no further use for it” “My boy,it is high time a check was was placed on your performances. ” “Thank you, father. Please make it payable on sight.” “There is a report that Buzbee ha* a large floating debt,’’ announced the cashier to the teller. “Yes, sir; an $80,000 steam yacht.” “Oh, Mr. Kohlspring, how do you babies ?” excuimed a gushing like west side matron. “In repose, ma’am” replied the crusty bachelor. •• “Sell that cow? ” exclaimed Brimb- aley, “why, man, that cow has been a Btep-mother to me.” “How do you make that oat? ” “I was raised on the bottle.” Paterfamilias (out of patience)— See here, young man! it’s half-past twelve I — haven’t you got any home to go to? Lover (badly rattled)—N-no, sir—not yet! “This is a great baseball town, isn’t it?’ “I should say so. A fellow can’t even get off to go to his grand mother’s funeral without showing a doctor’s certificate.” “Beverly isn’t like any other mnn I know.” “In what way does he differ from the rest?’’ “He is courteous to people who couldn’t possibly bo of any service to him.” “How did you and mamma com#1o get married, anyhow?” asked Johnio Chaffie of his father. “Ask yout mamma; she knows more about it than I do,” was tho reply. “Billy, I don’t think I’ll stay nt this summer hotel much longer.” “What’s np? Bates too high?” “No, I don’t mind the high rates, but the clerk is alwav^jiagging mo for money. ” . Teacher—Willie, ySlTTlTe to stay in after school and do three extra exam ples. Willie—What! And git put out of the Scholar’s Union for workin’ overtime? I will, 1 don’t think! Patron—See here, landlord, look at this sirloin steak your waiter has brought me, just when I wanted a steak in the worst way. Landlord— Then I think, sir, that that steak ex actly fills the bill. Edith—So you’ve gone and engaged yourself no Tom Sewter, and you told mo only last week that yon wouldn’t have him if there wasn’t another man in tho world. Bertha—Well, whal could I do? Ho asked me for my heart, and I hadn’t the heart to refuse him. Amateur “Minimus Poet” (who has c died at the office twice a week foi throe months)—Could yon nse a little poem of mine ? Editor (ruthlessly de termined that this shall be his final visit)—Ob, I think so. There arc two or three broken panes of glass and a hole in the skylight How large ii it? A Man Attacked by Cranes. Allen Newman of Decker, lud., was attacked by a flock of cranes. They were probably sandhill cranes. New man was hunting when he wounded one of tho birds. Thinking to cap ture it alive ho went to it, whereupon the bird started for him, screaming loudly and fighting fast. The screams recalled the rest of the flock, which had taken to their wings at the shot, and they surrounded Newman and went for him with bills and wings. Newman grabbed his gun and using it as n club managed to kill several of the birds and put the rest to flight. The sandhill crane is a stubborn fighter, and their fights among watching and ll:u«iiig ti# secretary, them8elve8 are °* ,cn wid result in severe injnriei. Hunting Diamonds in tbe Dark. “Hunting diamonds in the dark is a new experience with me,” said Col onel Frank Myers of the pension office, “but it proved to be successful. A few eveuiugs niuce some of the lad ies of my faimly indulged in a spin on their cycles in the circle on the White House lot During their ride one of them lost a diamond collar button. Of course they did not know nt what point they lost it, though they did know that tho wearer had the but ton on when the ride began and did not have it when she stopped. As the circle is a half mile around it seemed to be almost an impossible task to find it, but the ladies persisted in the search. They secured tho as sistance of several other riders in the search, and later on three or font more. The party then started out in single file to make the circuit, and afterward in files of fonr^ In the the third trip I was the lacky finder”. —Washington Star. The Account Settled. “Our agreement was that you were to have half if we won the suit,” de clared the client. “Exactly,” responded the lawyer, BLUE AXD OKAY EYES. Blue Eyes is a lazy girl. Who loves to lie abed, 8he climbed a tree to get green pears. Fell out of it instead. When asked if there’s another such, She gravely shakes her head. A careless boy has stubbed his too. And he cries, he cries, and he cries. Then with hush-money uncle gives A William goat he buys. A bold, bad buccaneer— This I see in Oray Eyes. Heigho! I'll have to punish them; My patience is quite past. Within a small and dark, dark room I'll make them prisoners fast. Sh—bye O—go to sleop-bye-e— Ah, ha! They're caught at last! — Francis Fare Lester. noun CONUNDRUMS. Why does a duck put its head un der tho water? For divera reasons. Why does it take its head out of the water ? For sun-dry reasons. Why does it come out altogether? To make a little run up on the bank. THE OLD horse’s MEMORY. The introduction of trolley cars all over the country has turned thous ands of strcct-car horses into other service. That these animals do not forget their long employment drawing cars is often shown. Only the other day in Portland, Me., a former street car horse stood nt the curb when a trolley came along and stopped very near him. The horse was blind in both eyes and could not see the car, but in a minute he heard tho familiar double ring which for years hud meant go ahead to him. In an instunt he re sponded to the call and started blindly forward with so much zeal that he could not be stopped until ho had put his neck and shonlders through a pinto glass window across tho street. *,**$;* ~sa -IfcV* WAITING FOIt THE BIRD. A small boy who had a great dislike far school returned home for dinner a little earlier than usual. “Tommy, you naughty boy, you have been playing truant,” said his mother; a little dicky bird came ia at the' window and told mo so.” Tho next morning Tommy sot out for school as usual. During the morn ing his mother heard a noise from the far end of the kitchen, and looking round there, saw Tommy crouched nnder the table. “Tommy, yon rascal, what are you doing there?” Seeing that be was discovered ho crawled out, and, holding up s brick which he had by him, said: “I was waitin' to croak that dicky bird.” H A HORNLESS DUCK. A curious aud exceedingly unusual freak is reported by a deer hunter to Forest and Stream. The hunter was up in Wexford county, Michigan, and got on a deer trail that had hoof marks plainly made by a buck. Al most sll hunters of deer can tell a buck from a doe track. After trailing the deer, and getting within a rod of it, the buck leaped out of a clump of brush and got knocked down with a bullet through tho head. The deer did not have any horns, although a two-year-old, and weighing 150 pounds. Further, it never had had any horns. Does with horns, books with three horns, dozens of spikes and mal formed horns, have often been repor ted of Michigan aud other American deer, but this is tho first hornless American buck reported, although some European deer sometimes lack such weapons,but yet uro able to whip the horned ones. STANLEY AND THE CAT. According to a writer in the Ladies’ Kennel Journal, there is a cat story connected with the name of Ur. Stan ley. When the African traveler was writing his “Through the Dark Conti nent,” in Sackville street, he used often, from want of a flat surface, to rpread his maps and charts upon the floor; and one day the cat of the passed most of her time iu his rooms went to sleep on a chart that was spread out on the hearth rug. By and by the chart was wanted, and one of Stanley’s assistants was going to turn puss off it, when “the man who found Livingstone” stopped him. “Don’t disturb the cat,” he said; “wo cun get on without tho chart until she wakes up. If you only knew how good the sight of that Eng lish cot, cozily curled up in front ol that fire, is to me, you would never let her move from where she is.” He had justMome back from a weary and trying time among uncivilized tribes, and the sleeping cat was to him the symbol of comfortable secur’ty, peace and home. THE LITTLE KINO OF SPAIN- The little King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, has just instituted the first Ar bor Day in his kingdom. Like the forests of our own country, those of Spain are being rapidly used up, and tho necessity for making up the loss of trees was seen. Recently the young King went a few miles out of Madrid and planted a tree, and after ward 2,000 saplings were planted by as many school children of the Span ish capital. Medals were distributed among them bearing the inscription : “First Arbor Day Instituted in the Reign of Alfonso XIII., 1896.” These tree-planting festivals are to be hold yearly in different places. The mother of the boy King, tho Queen Regent, Maria Christina, is a very progressive and intelligent woman, and uses her influence and authority on the side of every good thing for Spain’s prosperity that she can. She never forgets that, though her son is only a little boy, ho is also a future King, and she tries to make him feel tho responsibility which that position brings to him. Since Alfonso passed his tenth birthday last May, he has had a separate establishment, though he still lives under tho same roof with his mother and sisters.—New York Times. •'but joa onlj got b.U wb.t you iu«4 ^ whjch h , d uke0 for and that u just my share. —De-1 troit Free Frees. I uary liking for ihe great explorer,and A BEAR WHO PHOTOGRAPHED HIMSELF- The desire to obtain photographs pf wild animals in natural and char acteristic attitudes has suggested to an amateur photographer, Mr. George Sbiras, an apparatus which he has made use of during a trip to the west. It is described by the Chicago Inter- Ocean; The device is very simple, iujt in genious. A camera is so prepared that the pulling of a string operates the shutter which exposes the plate, and at tho same time strikes a match which sets off a magnesium flashlight cartridge. Behind this light is placed a mirror which throws the full glare of the flash upon a certain spot in front of the camera. In the woods are paths that are fol lowed by bear, oik and deer going to the water courses to drink before, day break, and again in the evening. By one of these paths Mr. Sbiras set up his' camera, and stretched across the path a string connected with the spring-shutter discharge. Then he Jeft it^forjthe night. - —s****^^ It was not long before a bear, pass ing that way,stumbled over the string, and upon the instant was astonished to find himself apparently iu the cen tre of a flash of lightning. And the next morning, when the amateur pho tographer came to his camera, with quite as much interest as a trapper could visit his traps, he was delighted to find that it had been sprung, and. afterward to find a bear on the plate. good image of a. A Gentlemanly Brigands. The two French ladies who wore captured by Greek brigands near Con stantinople have been released, $30,- 000 being paid for their ransom. The. brigands captured three women, took two to the mountains and sent the other back with a demand for $125,- 000. This amount was refused and the bandits accepted tho smaller snm. During the fortnight m which tho two ladies were in captivity they were treated with tho utmost deference. A lodge was constructed for them and beds were made of leaves and frrfis. Two of the brigands remained near to wait on tho captives and the others retired to a distance. The brigands were well dressed aud tho chief ap peared to bo a man of considerable! education. One of tho brigands was captured several days after the ladies were re leased while he was sleeping off the effects of a carouse. He surrendered without a ctruggle. About $3,000 was. found on him.