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1 Japan is getting there is wonderful shape. Her foreign trade has quad rupled* since 1886. The Yankees of the Occident must look to their laurels, lest the Yankees of the Orient surpass them. German professors are beginning to exercise a little common sense. In one of the universities of Berlin a pro lessor declined to accept a challenge to fight a duel from a student who had been turned down. The students, generally, denounced the professor as a coward, but the papers and people sustain his action, and predict from it a long-needed reform in university customs. The Scottish piper who piped never so merrily as when wounded he piped • Highland regiment on to the charge at Dargai, finds himself the blushing hero of an offer of marriage from a lady who proposes settling upon him, if accepted, $25,000 a year. For years societies have been organized, satirists have written and laws have been passed to discourage the bagpipe, and all the good done is upset by this one offer of marriage. The soul of the reformer must need bo of stern stuff and his patience abounding. Many are the hobbies of the adult princes of Europe, and science has claimed several as her disciples. The prince of Naples has chosen electricity as his favorite study. For many years he has been interested in the applies, tion of electricity to light, sound, motive power and offshoots of such studies, such as electric rays iu con nection with photography. Since the discovery of the X rays he has been most fully occupied in experiments, and has been a most successful opera tor in this direction. His homo in the Quirinal was more like a scientific laboratory than a royal residence in his bachelor days, but doubtless this has been altered recently. ■fritf i / I(< rn 11K story of j L r | Cuba Is a | JL tragedy, a tragedy so black * 's' ^ tragedy »o black that the pages of history, not ex cepting those up on which is writ ten the diabolical doings of the Spanish Inquisi tion, contain no counterpart. ' It is a nar rative which had its beginning in the dis covery of America; it was rooted In Span ish tyranny, transplanted into centuries of treachery and oppression, reared in in- ternieine strife, and matured iu this re volting war and its attendant horrors, which have wrested from Cuba the proud title, “I’earl of the Antilles,” and earned for her the name of “Isle of Blood.” The contest which over three years ago was begun by the Cuban patriots as a strike for freedom, afterwards became, on the part of Spain, a game of death to the help less old men, the women and the children who, comisdled by the Spanish to leave their homes in the country, were huddled in the cities and towns where starvation and disease made such inrsads on their numbers that the graveyards are congest- The mode of procedure in briuging about the disposition of a prize vessel is to bring an action iu a prize court. This proceeding commences when the captured vessel is brought to port by an officer of the vessel that made the seizure. In this country he puts in a libel—that is, a petition iu the Dis trict Court that an inquiry be made— and with thpt libel he forwards the enemy, of course, cannot put in a claim. If the court find that the ves sel is a legitimate prize, it is ap praised, condemned, and then sold at •notion by the United States Marshall If she is taken by the Government, then the court takes notice of her value as shown by the inventory. Ac cording to the act of 1884, all the prize goes to the captors when the vessel making the capture is of equal or in ferior force to'the prize. If the cap- tor is superior, only half the value goes to the captors and the other half goes to the Treasury. The prize money is divided between the ofliccrs and crew of the vessel making the capture. The commander of the squadron is entitled to one twentieth of all prizes made by a ship of war at tached to bis command, and the Fleet Captain is entitled to receive a one hundredth part of the prize value. ed with their Istdies, and flocks of raven ous vultures have fed on their half-cover ed corpses. As for the war, the insur gents have commanded four-fifths of the island. The Spaniards held the cities and principal towns, but no battles of impor tance have been fought for six months. On the part of the insurgents it became a game at waiting. With the Spaniards it has been a contest of extermination among the women and children—the wives and offspring of the men who comprise the in surgent armies. Spain acquired the island of Cuba, by money then in the safes of the afterward famous Junta and their funds were soon exhausted by an unsuccessful attempt to start an expedition from the South. But Marti had obtained the co-operation of j Gen. Maximo Gome* and Gen. Antonio Macro, two veteran* of the last war. He knew that the discontent against Spain was deep throughout the island. He had important connections with conspirators in all the provinces. He gave without hes itation the orders for the uprising and went to Santo Domingo to join Gen. Go mez and take, with him, the field. At that grave and decisive moment the total funds of the patriots amounted to not more than $70,000. It is wonderful that with a sum, comparatively speaking, so paltry for so great a purpose, a war should have been raised which cost Spain up to February, 1N98, besides the sacrifice of so many of her soldiers, $lio0,000,000 and caused to the United States a net loss in trade and business of $.‘{00,000,000, On May 10, IhOn, Marti was killed in the engagement at Dos Itios, but his work had already Ik-cii done. He had landed on April 11 with Gen. Gome* at Sabnna la Mar, on the southern coast of Cuba, after issuing at Monte Cristi a revolutionary manifesto, and bad bad time before his | death to convoke the representatives of all the Cuban provinces to a general assem bly to elect a provisional government and frame a constitution. If this was not done until later, in September of the same year, at the town of Jimaguayu, it was not the less true that from the first days of the revolution the desire of -Marti, as of all the patriots, was to organize a republic with popular institutions. Two months before Marti’s death Gen, Antonio Maceo had landed at Duava, near Baracoa, Santiago de Cuba province. With a handful of men and a few rifles and cartridges, a small open boat brought him to Cul>a from Jamaica. But his name and his presence were enough to make Spain tremble. He and his heroic broth er, Jose Maceo, were surrounded by su perior Spanish forces on the day of their landing. They broke through the Span ish lines and made their way into the country. In a few days, as soon as the news spread of their arrival, the province of Santiago de Cuba rose in arms and Antonio Maceo had around him more than 10,000 Cuban soldiers. The revolution was saved. The few patHots who took up arm* on Feb. 24 at Bairo and Manzanillo had courageously resisted under Gen. Burtolome Maso, now Cuba's president, the attacks of the col umns of the Spanish Gen. I.achnmhre, a* in great danger of at- ts. While Martinez way to Bay a mo, Ma- near Peralejo. was a pitched battle, i, not numbering 0,000, car- Gcn. Stantocildes fell dead Campos. The Span- ir ammunition and their ly routed, a body of iselres of the darkness fled to Bayamo, carrying a on a stretcher borne by He was exhausted by fa- with despair. More than soldier* were left dead on the the splendid booty secured aceo completed the arming of l. to October Gomez sueeess- lApril .-o' ItttostftU i | si autujrinE OF icxico •v v - - A" C0 ?w4* i %?j|.**S*l' ^ V* $TB* ,T V V// * ttfeA’s GEOGRAPHICAL. HKI.ATION TO THE UNITED STATES. itht of discovery and was fipe ot the bodiei Dbuk, uquest, in 1511. j&f u ceu- t«ry afterward. During the first three] centuries Cuba was condemned by Spain to isolation and neglect. In consequence 2(X> years after the conquest her popula tion did not exceed 50,000 souls, and 100 yearn later it had scarcely reached 200,- 000. Cut off from all communication with the rest_of the world, the Cubans only knew of Us existence by the rejiented at tacks of the pirates which infested the const of the island and despoiled their villages and slew the natives. During her rule of 400 years the mother country has trodden in its incipiency every reform thnt has dared rear its head. As soon as private effort and perseverance succeeded iu bringing Into life a new industry or in developing those which have l>een lan guishing and decaying, the omnipresent hand of tbe Government has demanded a new tax or an increase of the existing one. The fourth century's history of Cuba is a record of conspiracies, uprisings and rev olution-. provoked by the gulling yoke of I 'v.. The local tradition in New York that the Scandinavian inhabitants of the city are to be found generally 4 *along the water front” is not sup ported by the facts. The truth of the matter is that the total transient river and river front population of New York—sailors, canalboat men, steam ship stokers, ship cooks and nian-o’- war’s men—does not amount collec tively to more than 6000 or 7000 per sons, all told. In the mouth of Feb ruary, 1895, an accurate census was made of these resideuts iu what are now the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx and they were shown to amount collectively at the time to 4323, in a total population of nearly 2,000,000. The water front popula tion of the Borough of Brooklyn, never large, has not increased since consolidation, and the present tota ia all the boroughs is probably not far from 6500. But there are in the whole of New York more than 35,000 Scan dinavians, and in New York borough the Scandinavians are chiefly to be found in the district of the town be tween Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth streets on tha East side. There are two Swedish churches in this neigh borhood, a Swedish branch of the Sal vation army, and five intelligence offices, making a specialty of supplj- ing to employers Scandinavian domes tic servants or gardeners or coach men. The Scandinavian iababitauts of New York are tranquil aad unob trusive, and two-thirdi of their num ber are to be found on the Brook.'yu aide of the bridge. . ». K * zmm ° IV u- “BUTITIIR” weyueh. WATCHING IIKU DYING HADE. the mother country. There was a revolu tion in 1823. another in 1S26, nunther in 1828, another in 1830, another iu 184S, another in 1850, another in 1851, another in 1855, then the famous ten years' war of 18t!8-7S, an uprising in 1870, another in 1885—and the war which begun iu Feb ruary. 181*5. During three years of this war the Chilians endured more sufferings and displayed more heroism than any oth er people have ever done in a struggle for liberty. In the face of tremendous odds— without the help of a friendly power abroad, without oven military training, their army being composed principally of enthusiastic volunteers, without a regu lar supply of arms and ammunition, with very little money, and. what is a disad vantage even graver, with the otfleial hos tility of every Government, including the nations nearest their shores--they nearly exterminated 2**0.01*0 Spanish soldiers, the most powerful European army ever sent to the Amerienn continent; and neith er tire nor sword nor bribe* nor fair prom ises of better government wore powerful enough to make them agree to a peace not based on their absolute freedom from the bated yoke of Spain. Jose Marti** Work. The revolution was organized by Jos- Marti, a Cuban exile in this country and a man of genius and courage. He organ ized here what is called the Cuban Kevo- lutionary Party, an association of clubs of Cuban political exiles, for the purpose of raising money to free their country. Poor as were tbe majority of the few Cu bans who lived in the United States be fore the beginning of the revolution, they listened to the eloquent appeals of Marti and gave him all they had on earth to lib erate Cuba from Spain. Marti was ap pointed delegate of the party, and his .faithful friend, Benjamin J. Guerra, was ^tnade treasurer. There was not much well ns the proposals of peace from the captain general of the island, Don Emilio Calleja. The envoys of the captain gen eral told Maso that the revolution was a failure. The provinces of Pinar del Rio and IP vann wore entirely quiet. A few unimportant bauds iu Mntnuzas nnd San ta Clara bad been dispersed or had sur rendered. Puerto Principe was unani- mously in favor of peace. But Maso, knowing well how to receive such reisirts, refused to yield. He had confidence in the landing of Maceo, Marti and Gomez. He knew the great moral effect that the presence of those leaders in the field was going to have on the Cuban people; and Spain knew it a'so. The news that Maceo was in Cuba reached Madrid shortly after the overthrow of the Sagasta cabinet. Canovas, then in power, resolved tc fight the revolution with the first of the Spanish generals and with all the resources of the nation. Gen. Calleja \vas recalled and * Jen. Martinez Campos was sent to Cuba with 25.****** soldiers. Martinez Campos lauded in Guantano- tna. Santiago de Cuba, on April 16, 1895. 11 s lirst impression was pessimistic and the long chain of defeats inflicted upon his command until December of the same year proved how right he was in believing from tbe first day of his arrival that this war was to be more important than the previous one of 18C8. He wasted a great deal of time in useless trips by sea to Ha vana and again to the East. Maceo was preparing in the meantime his men and Gomez was formulating the plan of the f®y carried the war through Puerto ISncipe province and laid his plans for tf invasion of the west. On Oct. 22 Ma- having received orders from Gomez, io was appointed commander-in-chief of f army, iu September, by the assembly representatives, started for the east vtlth 2,000 of his men. On Oct. 30 Gomez :i adcd Las Villas. Maceo joined him on iv. 29 near a place called Los Guayos. <m there they began their triumphant rch. On Dec. 3 the Spanish Col. Se- a was defeated by the insurgents at ara and had to leave his dead on the dtd. together with a great supply of arms and ammunition. On Dec. 15 the Spanish battalions of Canarias and Trevino were routed by Maceo at Mai Tiempo, after the most gallant charge with machetes of the Cuban cavalry, led by Maceo himself, that has ever been seen in the Cuban wars. On De«. 21 the victory of El Desquite cleared the way for the invaders to the province of Matanzas. Martinez Campos then made a desperate effort to check the two Cuban leaders. Until that moment he had been recoiling before the invaders with his columns, hoping that they would stop. But he saw that each step of the patriots to the west was a decisive triumph for their cause. The enthusiasm of the revo lution was growing day by day through- ,e countrj—^riie Cuban ranks were Rallied hi* ed men and preletitHT IdUI'fHi't El Co- ilsfo on Dec. 23. he action was sharp and decisive. Mnr- tihez Campos behaved bravely, leading one of his wings in a charge against Go mes, but Mqceo, falling on the Spanish, won the day for Cuba and compelled Mar tinez Campos to retire. The captain gen eral hurriedly entered Havana, making preparations to defend the city, and he confessed his defeat to the astonished Spanish volunteers and residents of tbe capital. Spain Sends Weylcr. On the night of Dee. 27 the captain general made that avowal. A few days later the rabid Spaniards of the city com pelled him to tender his resignation to .Madrid. They demanded from Canovas a captain general framed in the old iron cast of the Spanish conquerors, not to tight battles and risk his life on the field. his sanguinary spirit and plans of mur der. Prisoners of war and innocent tier- sons unjustly charged with aiding the re bellion were shot every day in Havana. The most summary court martial preceded the executions as a mere formality. In other cases the victims were murdered in cold blood in their dungeons or thrown alive into the sea during the night at the entrance to the harbor to feed the sharks. The horrors of the Council of Blood under Alva look pale when compared to tbe crimes of Weyler. In the country his troops had orders to kill every non-com- batant without regard to age. In the cities he appointed as inspectors of police the most infamous murderers and thieves ffom the Spanish penal colonies in Africa. In a short time more than 100,000 persons emigrated from Cuba panic-stricken. But Weyler was not satisfied. He in tended to destroy the country and to ex terminate the natives. Seeing that the executions in the forts were too slow a method and that the destruction wrought by his columns was not enough to ruin the island, he conceived one of the most mon strous crimes ever committed against hu manity. On Feb. 16, 1896, he Issued his two famous decrees of concentration. By them every human being in the country districts was compelled to leave his home, after It had been destroyed by the Span ish columns, and go to one of the fortified towns under the vigilance of the Spanish soldiery. With the homes of the reeon- centrados their cultivated lands were to be devastated and around the towns where they had to live pot a piece of bread was to be given to them. In this manner, under pretext of a military opera tion, half a million people, most of them women and children, were condemned to die from hunger. Wholesale Slaughter. From the date of those decrees until November, 1890, 300,000 people were mur dered thus in Cuba. Since November, as a result of Weyler's sanguinary orders, the number has been increased to 400,000. What monster in history ever did so much against humanity and civilization? Nero, Caligula, Tamerlane, Torquemada, Alva, when compared with Weyler, appear mild nnd humane,. A poltroon, besides being an assassin, he never offered battle to the Cubans or took the field to fight. In his time Spain sent 200,000 soldiers to Cuba. He kept them inactive guarding the troeha from Mariel to Majana in Dinar del Rio AGRICULTURAL TOPICS, (.rowing Carrots. It is better not to sow carrots or any other crop on the same ground succes sively for several years, but if the ground is in good condition and gets i liberal manuring each year, carrots may be grown successfully for tvfo years in succession, as we know from personal experience. ! Success with carrots depends principally on the car* and cultivation they get from the start. —American Agriculturist. Renewing Uhl Orchard*. There are many old orchards that have not borne a crop in may years, which, with some care and manuring and praning, might be made again productive. These old orchards, so long as the trees are still sound and healthy, are well worth caring for. In most cases only mineral fertilizers will be needed. But these should be ap plied abundantly. The pruning re quired will mostly be on the inside of the tree, to let in sunlight and air. Do not try to cut out the large limbs. This will either weaken the tree too mnch, or it will so divert the sap to the rest of the tree as to induce too large wood growth to the neglect of fruit. Swallow* on ilar«c Rum*. The swallows which usually come from their unknown homes iu spring to build their nests under the eaves of barns and horse stables will soon bo with us again. But we advise that under no conditions should these birds be allowed to build nests attached to buildings where horses or other ani mals are kept. Beautiful as the swal low is, he is an abomination and a nuisance, because no bird is so sure to be infested with lice, which he will leave on the nests, and some of which will find their way all through the building. If you do not believe this, get a ladder nnd look in the fall in any nest where a pair of swallows have reared their young. FLAG OF FREE CUBA. DEAD WAGON ON ITS ROUNDS. great invasion of the West in order to carry the revolution to all tbe provinces and establish in each one a regular body the Cuban army. July 13, 1895, is the memorable date of the battle of Peralejo. The war had been until then confined almost to the province of Santiago de Cuba, with some small, bands of patriots roaming through Puerto , Priucipe and keeping up only an unimpor-' tant ~ but to exterminate the native population. In their belief, women, children, every one lK>rn in Cuba, should Ik? held responsible for the situation. They did not like a soldier with a gallant career and persona! courage. They wanted an executioner. Canovas satisfied them and appointed Don Vnloriano Weyler y Nicolau to succeed Martinez Campos. The question may be nsked why the pat riots, after so many victories, did not in vest the city of Havana and end there with the Spanish dominion. The answer is very clear. After the battle of Coliseo Gen. Gomez reviewed his troops and found that each soldier had only three cartridges. The Cubans in the United States were making vain efforts to send a big expedition to the patriots. But if the Spanish army was defeated in the fields of Cuba. Spanish diplomacy was triumphant at Washington. At Guira de Helena on Jan. 4,1896, the patriots had to tight with their machetes to enter the province of Havana. For such a state of affairs Gen. Gomez considered his best plan to be to organize armies in all f^e provinces invad ed, so far as his resources permitted him to do, and try to raise the war in Pinar del Rio province. At Garro Jan. 8 the patriots routed a Spanish column and en tered Pinar del Rio. Gen. Gomez then withdrew to the cast while Maceo proceed ed to the west. On Jan. 17 he obtained another victory at the very gates of Dinar del Rio city nnd on Jan. 22 he took the town of Bancs at the western extremity of the island, three months after his de parture from Baragua in . Santiago de Cuba. On Feb. 12 Maceo returned to Ha- Gen. Weyler publicly dc- enerrlllV w«rf«rn h V w province. Gen. Weyler pnDHciy rie- ,tv I JL, l **' 1 r*lared Pinar del Rio pacified, and the gal- alrcady obtained some notable triumphs; and Martinez Campos decided to carry re- enforgemenu to the SpanUh towns ia U>« iant Cuban leader returned to that prov- ice on March 15. Bafore- this Weyler had alr«Al tke+n V GEN. MAXIMO GOMEZ. province or from Jucaro to Moron ill Puerto Principe. At other times from his palace iu Havana, following on a map the imaginary positions of hi* enemies, he or dered his columns to make combined move ments that always resulted in defeats. One instance of the stupidity and cow ardice of Weyler occurred on May 1,1896. He ordered one of his favorite combina tions of columns against Maceo at a place called Cacarajicara in the province of Pinar del Uio. The result was thnt the forces of the Spanish Colonels Inclan and Gclnbert were shattered by the Cuban leader, and the havoc made in the Span ish lines was so great that the Spanish soldiers, panic-stricken, threw themselves into the sea to esoni>e the Cuban machete. Weyler, as in all other cases, accused his subordinates of not having obeyed his or ders exactly. On Dec. 7, 1896, Maceo, after having crossed Weyler's famous troeha and en tered Havana province, was assassinated in an ambush near Punta Brava. The rev olution lost in him a great patriot and a heroic soldier. But Weylcr soon under stood thnt the murder of Maceo was not the death of Cuba’s cause. In March, 189G, Gen. Calixto Garcia landed in San tiago de Cuba. He soon replaced Maceo as a dashing tighter and a brilliant com mander. At the same time Gomez in Santa Clara had won the important battle of Saratoga and controlled the whole province. The battle of Juan Criollo in February, 1897, was another of Gomez’s important victories, and in Santiago de Cuba the latter part of the year was made conspicuous by the triumph of Geu. Gar- < ia at Victoria de las Tunas. Weyler was recalled * in November, when, after the death of Canovas and the fall of the short-lived Azcarrnga cabinet, Scnor Sagasta was selected as prime min ister by the queen regent. It is a well- known fact that Weyler’s recall was im posed upon Spain by this country. Gen. Don Ramon Blanco, who was to change the sanguinary methods of war fare of his predecessor, entered Havana Nov. 29, 1897. Spain granted to Cuba an autonomist system, which has been de clared a mockery by all impartial judges. The Cubans rejected it, and the new regime inaugurated in Havana on the first day of this year by Gen. Blanco was as a complete failure. The patriots declared the acceptance of autonomy an act of treachery to their flag. They hanged as spies nil the Spanish agents sent to them to propose such a scheme. They rejected with scorn the offers of money made to them by Blanco. The death of the Cuban Gen. Arangurcn, near Havana, did not discourage the patriots in the least. They kept up the war as enthusiastically ns ever, adopting as their motto "Indepen dence or Death.” When a boy gets hurt, it can never lie told how badly he Is bruised iiatfl after lie has been given his Saturday bath. Railways employ ticket scalpers when they get to cutting ntteo. Al*lke Clover. There was a time some fifteen years ago or ^more when the common red clover seemed doomed to destruction by a worm which bred in it, and so ato leaves and blossoms that the plant could neither grow vigorously nor pro duce seed. But wo hear little of this clover worm now, as it has generally been destroyed by a parasite that preys upon it. Alsike clover was not injured by this enemy. Therefore for a few years Alsike clover became quite popu lar. But it dies out entirely after blossoming and seeding in June of the second year after it was sown in early spring. Alsike clover is probably the best accompaniment of timothy. If both are sown togeth°r the first year, only the Alsike can be' mowed. But after this clover is off the timothy will make a strong growth, and a cutting of a ton of timothy per acre may be got in the fall from land that had JijBady borne njf ^^*-, tfoi 0 f to make Making a Lawn. It is not nearly so difficult a lawn as is often supposed, and the old-time practice of cutting sods from the roadside and transplanting them is neither economical nor expeditions. Unless the bed for the sod has been very carefully prepared, and is, be sides, made pretty rich, the roots from the old sod will not catch hold of the soil in time to save them from taming brown when the heat of summer comes on. If water in plenty can bo had, the sod may be saved from browning by liberal use of water distributed in tine spray through some sprinkling machine. But the better way on level land is to make the fine seed bed and sow seed on it, sprinkling it with water at nightfall whenever it is needed. On a side hill, however, it may pay to use the sod, as the tine tilth required to secure a good catch of grass will cause the soil to gully badly. If heavy rains come there will be washing of the soil between the sods, unless they are cut in long strips and laid so that there are no gaps up and down the hill between the sod. When a steep side hill has once been well seeded it may be kept as a perfect lawn by sprinkling over it in winter or early spring son.o mineral fertilizer with a little nitrate in it. A phosphate dressing is as beneficial to grass laud as to graia crop, as all the grains belong to kL* grass family. A Good Old iS1iop;». we kept sheep, we never When found it pay to keep those above live years old. Then they could be fat tened easily and their carcass was worth more than it would ever be again. But there are exceptional cases, when ewes valuable for breed ing are a large part of the stock. We know a fine wool ewe, American merino, which was kept by her owner for breeding until she was thirteen years old, but the last winter she could only eat soft food, as her teeth were gone, and the owner did not trust to keeping her through anot her winter. But she dropped a valuable lamb every year. The Maine Farmer tells of Mrs. Addison Bean, of Mason, a woman farmer of Maine, who has a ewe eight years old that in its life has dropped eleven lambs. The lirst was a single lamb, dropped when two years old. The past live years the ewe has dropped twins. It is probable that this ewe is of some coarse wool breed, as these often drop twins, while the American Merino very rarely does so. Every year, however, this sheep has sheared a fleece that has never fallen below nine pounds, and for several years she sheared twelve pounds. With lambs and wool this sheep has been a source of profit to her owner. It is probable that many of the lambs from this ewe would continue the habit of twin bearing, and ought to be therefore worth more than sheep that drop only one at a time.—American Cttltivitor.