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jsng 1R" .M»C: “After tlio wl'int?” asks Gloucester. torpedo boat {leetrorer a Loudou paper. The With a few battleships as interpre ters Admiral Dewey can make himself understood in any language. It is perfectly safe to assume that the dag of the United States looks remarkably handsome floating over Santiago. The chief imports into China from the United States are cotton goods, cigars and cigarettes, flour, ginseng, machinery, medicines, kerosene oil and timber. I? Heroes are pers in the as thick as grasshop- army and the navy. If the hand of authority is laid upon any common-place fellow unknown to fame, he responds with some start ling deed of valor. The aggregate of subscription for the war bonds was $1,305,000,000. It is interesting to compare this flne largo sum of available cash with the scanty coins which were fished out of stock ings and old teapots by the people of Spain. The spectacle of Captain Glass bo ing obliged to courteously inform the Governor of the Ladrone Islands that Spain and the United States were at war before demanding his surrender imparts that tonch of humor which is rarely lacking in even the most tragic occurrences. A little girl in Kansas City found a pockethook containing $150 in cash and $f>00 in promissory notes, a returned it to the owner. Instead ol 1 sending her away with the usua thanks, accompanied with good ad vice, the owner presented her with a flne bicycle. This action was a tan gible acknowledgment of honesty. General Miles ordered veterinary surgeons to accompany troops into action, so that the sufferings of the horses and mules injured in battle might be ended. That may seem like a small matter, but it shows that small thiugs, as in great, Americans are kind hearted, and it helps to mako the world understand that we are really capable of carrying on a war of hu manity. HOUSEHOLD AFFAIR Past* to Kond China. China and porcelain may be neatly and easily mended with a paste com- josed of oxide of zinc and chloride of sine. The paste is pare white, and mrdens quickly, but nntil it is quite set it is better to fasten the parts to gether by binding round with twine. Preserving RIbbona and Silks. To preserve ribbons and silks put them away in brown paper, for white mper contains chloride of lime, and reqnently produces discoloration. A white satin dress should be pinned in bine paper, with brown paper on the outside, sewed together on the edges. 'Door Drapery. An effective door drapery for a door way leading to a room or hall furnished in dark tones is composed of a series of wronght-iron chains of graduated engths, those at the sides reaching lalf way to the floor and shortening toward the centre to form an arch overhead. The chains are slender and the effect is far richer than that of the now so common bead portieres. How to Clean a Straw Hat. Scrub the rim of the bat first with the ]atce of one lemon. Cut out an oval piece of cardboard the size of the crown. Scrub the straw aud rinse in cold water. Put the piece of card board inside the crown and lay the hat upside down aud pr^ss the card board firmly into the crown. Turn the hat down on a piece of wrapping paper, cover the rim with paper and place heavy weights on the rim and leave ovet night to dry. AGRICULTURAL TOPICS' PEARLS OF THOUGHT. Cara mt Lata Chicken*. J Clothe falsehood with argument, aud Late hatched chicks in the fail it will take issne with truth. weather can often be safely steered over the first weakly days of prema ture incubation by equal warmth and a longer period of rest in artifleially warmed nests on frosty mornings. These late chickens if properly cared for bring high prices for fries in January. Time to Bad. I The best time to bnd young stock is usually daring its growth in sum mer. Bads which are set too early often pash into growth, and not hav ing sufficient time to mature their wood before winter are killed by cold. Then again the operation of budding may often be euccessfally performed in the spring, when vegetation is just starting into growth, or when the sap has begun to flow freely. Thlnnlnc Early Apple*. Most of the early apples are abundant bearers, and are apt to be small. Those that are sweet are not good for much until ripe. But Early Harvest aud the Twenty Ounce apple will bear picking when two-thirds grown, and make excellent pies. If this is done in all parts of the tree, plucking a few apples where they are fullest on the bongh, it will make what apples remain much larger and better, besides supplying early apples for household use. According to conservative estimates, nearly one-third of the native popula tion of Cuba perished during tho three years that bgve elapsed since the in surrection was born. What does this mean to the Cnbans? It means pre cisely what the loss of 20,000,000 ton wc It is a blo\ fling as it of figures. lean to the Republic rjequal in proportion, tri- may appear by comparison Tho Sew York Tribune observes: Some German missionaries went to China and got killed by a mob; where upon Germany, by way of indemnity, seized a Chinese port and the adja cent territory. And now a German Consul-General, in an official report, dwells upon the desirability of getting still more Chinese territory, aud says the easiest way to do so is to send more missionaries! Talk about cold bloodedness! That suggestion is enough to send cold shivers down tho spine of the most heartless cynic in the world. According to the revised report of the Census Board of the Russian In terior Office, the Empire of the Czar has a population of 129,000,000 in habitants, of whom 94,000,000 are in European provinces. China alone sur passes this number, haviug from 350,- 000,000 to 400,000,000 of population. According to area, the provinces which have tho greater populations are Caucasia, with 9,000,000, and Poland, with 9,500,000. Since 1885 the population of the Russian Empire has increased from 108,000,000 to 129,000,000, or at the rate of over 1,500,000 a year. Learned men have been discussing the question for ages whether any thing in the way of hospitals was known to the ancients. Now it is an nounced that one has actually beeu discovered at Baden, Germany, con taining fourteen rooms, supplied with many kinds of medical, pharmaceuti cal and surgical apparatus, probes, tubes, pincers, cauterizing instru ments and even a collection of safety pins for bandaging woneds. There are also medicine spoons in bone and silver, measuring vessels, jars and pots for ointment, some still contain ing traces of the ointment used. The latest date of the coins found appears to be the reign of Hadrian, who was Emperor A. D. 117-138, from which it is inferred that it was a military hos pital. Verily there is nothing new under the tun. (Craping MnaU Warm. When it is necessary to keep a meal hot for a belated comer, do not set the plate holding the food in a hot oven, thus discoloring the chiua as well as drying the food; instead, place the plato upon the fire over a pan of boil ing water, covering the plate with a pan that will just fit over the edge of the plate. The food will keep hot, and there will be enough steaip from the boiling water in tbo lower pan to keep the plate moist aud prevent the con tents becoming dried. Washing Quilt*. During tho warm months the thin qnilt takes the place of heavier bed covering. They require frequent wash ing to keep them clean, but this is not a difficult task when one has a good washing machine and wringer. Put oue or two quilts (owiug to the size) in the machine, heat enough soft water to cover them until it is almost boil ing hot, and when yon have made good suds, pour the water over the quilts aud wash them. Pass them through the wringer, empty the water out of tho machine, and replace it with a clean suds prepared like the first. Wash through this and rinse through two waters, adding a little bluing to the second. Hang them on a strong line, folding one edge over just enough to hold it, aud put a clothes pin every ten or twelve inches. A bright day should be chosen for this work, and if a gentle breeze is blowing, they will look nicer when they are dry. Table Decoration*. a . c**ifc» r «4 -no long#®’ newest things certainly, but they are still much used and are made of all kinds of material. The soft cream silk, fluffed into billows, edged and crossed with trails of smilax, with sprays of roses, either all of one color (though varying in shape) or harmon izing in tint, laid on it, wonld look exquisite with the silver lamps, es pecially if you had a rather high bas ket filled with roses loosely arranged as if falling', out of it, a trail being wreathed around the handle and kept in place with a deftly tied bow of satin ribbon for the centre piece. Decorations appear to vary now be tween extreme height and extreme lowness, so that the guests may either see each other uninterruptedly over or under the decorations. The epergne, if really a handsome one, might very well be used, if artistical ly decorated either with fruit or trails of roses aud smilax. The fact is, there is not any very definite fashion (beyond tho question of height men tioned above) in table decorations just now, but every one uses what seems best and most artistic in their own eyes and most convenient for their resources. Olutha glass, Aller Vale Rhodian pottery, Delft, Rouen ware, etc., are all used; and, in fact, the great point is variety, aud, if possi ble, originality. Granted this latter, especially if combined with beauty, any style is permissible and admired. —Philadelphia Times. Barkirheat to Clean Land. The midsummer plowing which is required to fit laud to seed with back- wheat kills many of thq weeds plowed under at this time, and after the grain is up its broad leaf prevents most of the annual weeds from starting. The buckwheat root and stalk are not eaten, so far as we know, by any kind of worm or insect. The crop is some times sown three years in succession to starve out cut worms and wire worms, where the land is so infested with them that no other crop can be grown. Midsummer Vegetable Gardening. Nearly the entire list of garden veg etables may be sown in midsummer, around July and August, with a fair chance of producing excellent crops all during autumn, bat no time should bo lost in plautihg if one desires to raise such late crops, and the ground must be worked deep and thorough. Beans, beets, carrots, sweet corn, cucumbers, kohl, rabi, lettuce, okra, peas, rad ishes, spinach, squash, turnips and some other kinds will all do well if sown daring the above time, and to matoes, cabbages and cauliflower plants should produce crops. In case of protracted drouth it may become necessary to water the yonng plants aud the ground should be kept light and loose daring the entire seasou.— American Agriculturist. » Marketing Early Potatoes. To tbose who are unfamiliar with potato growing, the high prices which early potatoes command might seem to make it an object to dig a large part of the crop and market it while the prioe is up. But there are several drawbacks in marketing potatoes early. The weather is hot, m skins of potatoes are haroff iheir jack* freely, aud the potatoes are almost then sure to rot. Hence they are never sent far or in large quantities. In digging potatoes early there is great waste, as only a few of the largest are marketable size, and those that will sell would grow still larger if left a few days longer in the hill. We have seen growers put their hand into a potato hill and pull off those pota toes that they found large enough, leaving the small ones. But this is only practicable on a small scale. An emotional nature is often mis taken for a sympathetic one. Some people eat green apples and then sigh abont their crosses. The character that is positive has no difficulty in speaking a negative. The cry of “wolf” as often emanates from the wolfs companion as from the shepherd. A fool is always smart enough to find a by-path from the highway of truth to the bog of error. The scholar sits, like Matthew, at the receipt of custom, demanding of each passer-by his toll of truth. Yon cannot stop being educated, if you stop going to school. The most you can do is to select your teachers. The infant’s first gesture is interrog atory. The perpetual question of the child is “why.” The characteris tic remark of the Yankee is, “I want to know.”—Ram’s Horn. Kcciim-*. Pineapple Jelly Sauce—Pick into (lakes one ripo pineapple aud strew with sugar. Cover tablespoon ol gelatine with two of cold water. Add a gill of boiling water, aud tho juice of four oranges. Pour over the pine apple and set in refrigerator. It should be used iu an hour, or the sauce will lose the jelly quality. Mock Crab Sandwiches—Cream two tablespoons butter, add quarter cup grated cheese, seasou with, one-quar ter teaspoon each of salt, paprika and mustard—a little anchovy paste is an addition—add one teaspoou vinegar I beat well; spread between thin slices 1 of good bread. Cut short slices across lengthwise, after the sandwich is made. Olive Sandwiches—Cut thin slices of whole wheat bread and butter. Trim them neatly. Boil two eggs twenty minutes, lay in cold water s moment, then mash with silver fork and mix them with one dozen l&rgt olives, finely chopped, add the juics of half a lemou aud season to taste. Spread the mixtare on the bread and batter and roll, or cover with anothei slice and cut in any desired shape. This sandwich is one of the dainties for afternoon teas. H0W CYCL0Ngs F0RM - Started by the Heated Air of the Tropic* and Spinning Like a Top. Lieutenant John M. Ellicott, U. S. N., contributes to the St. Nicholas an article on “The Cradle of Cyclones.” Lieutenant Ellicott says : To get an idea of a cyclone’s formation, imagine a large circular pan or tub with quite a large bole in the middle of its bot tom. With this hole plugged, fill the vessel with water, then draw out the plug, and watch. There is first a rush of water from all directions toward the hole, aud a turbulent effort to get through. Then the water surface above begins to sink and swirl, the particles gradually circling around and around, and rushing ever faster, toward the centre. At last there is actually a hollow space through the centre, around which all the water in the tub is whirling, sluggishly near the rim, but with more and more vio lent rapidity towards the middle, until it rushes downward through the bottom. Now, if that water were air, you would be watching a little cyclone turned upside down, for the air rushes upward instead of downward. In the cyclones during the summer months, when the land and the water grow hotter and hotter because of the longer days than nights, a layer of air, hot, light, and full of vapor, is for a time held down by denser air above it. Bestless, expanding, tumul tuous, it moves about like a beast at bay until a thinner place in the air above is found. Then up it madly rushes, and into the vacuum left be hind the lower atmosphere hastens from all directions, pushing and twist ing and pouring upward until it has fallen into a regular spinning around a common centre. The cyclone, once formed, rushes away from the tropics toward the pole, and begins its career of destruction, bruising, wrecking, and sinking the luckless ships which happen to be in its. path. More and more of tho surroandiug atmosphere is drawn into the whirl, until the storm often covers an area nearly a thousand miles in diameter. Some- it flings itself upon on** Atlantic coast, and tears fiercely through for eats, fields, and cities. Then again it sweeps away across the broad ocean, and dashes itself upon the coasts ol 1 Europe. Once in a while it so adroitly avoids the land that we never know it has passed until ships cetne in torn and broken. Poultry on the Range. Bear iu mind that poultry on tho range during the summer are subsist ing on products that the farmer caunot utilize, and at the same time are en riching the ground. If wire netting cost four times its present price it would still pay to fence in a liberal area of ground for a range every two , years. Intelligence should be used in , caring for poultry during the summer, as well as in the winter, aud instead of allowing them to practically run wild on the farm they should be con fined to ranges where the ground may be afterward put into some crop. They will pick up insects, destroy weeds by eating the seed, scratch for worms of various kinds and add fertility to the soil with their droppings. Furnish plenty of pure fresh water, green foods of the kinds they do not got on the range, some grain at night, occa sionally or regularly as required, aud the fowls will go into winter quarters iu the fall ready for a winter’s work in egg production, having cost yon comparatively little for food during the summer. This sort of care means nrofit. Practical Turkey (ceding. During tho first two or three weeks I feed them as often as three times a day, the food being a few bread crumbs, a little corn meal, mixed with a curd made from thick sour milk. Nearly every morning I mix a little black pepper with the food. After a few weeks I add some wheat,and when the iowls are about three months old, I begin feeding them clear grain, giv ing them wheat in the morning and corn at night. The last two or three weeks befors marketing I feed them all they will eat. My turkeys are always ready for the Thanksgiving market, as they ara hatched early, well fed, get their growth, and are ready to be fattened by the first of October. A turkey will not fatten until fully grown. Last year our flock was said to be the finest in these parts. They averaged nearly fifteen pounds apiece and were half hen turkeys. They brought a half cent per pound above the market price.—M. J. Rice, in Orange Judd Farmer. A Cuban Milkman. “How many cows there are abont the streets!” somebody exclaims, am then he is calmly informed that the morning’s milk is simply being deliv ered. A bunch of cattle and their driver stop before a honse, and the portero comes out with a cup for the morning’s supply. It is seen then that t)re cows are being milked from door to door by the dairymen, for this is the way the acute Cuban house wives have taken to assure for their tables a lacteal supply which is entire ly fresh aud absolutely pure. Other wise the guile-loving vender might di late the milk before delivering it to his customers, and craftily stir into the watery fluid the juice of the sweei potato to color it up to a duly rich am creamy cast Even with the cows milked before the door one mast con tinue to watch the milkman, for I have even heard of their having a rubber bag of water concealed under their loose frocks and connected with a rub ber tube running down the inside o:! the sleeve, its tip being concealed in the hollow of the milking-haud. Only a gentle pressure upon the bag of water within is needed to thus cause both milk and water to flow into the the cap at the same time. The milk venders of Italy and India have also learned their trade to perfection, for they practise this identical trick.—Ed ward Page Gaston in the Woman’s Home Companion. Saved Himself. The foreman of a jury which lately sat in a New England courtroom has a ready wit which served him well in a recent enconnter with one of the bril liant lights of the legal world. The judge is a man of abrupt speech and manner, but with a quick oeuse of humor. The foreman of the jury was late one day; only a few moments, to be sure, but It was one of the judge’s most ir ritable days,as he afterward owned. “I ov«relept,your honor,” said the foreman, with due meek ness, as he took his seat. “Fine him,” said the judge, testily. “May it please your honor,” said the foreman, quickly, “I did not dream of thatl" “Remit the flne,” said the judge, hiding his month with his hand for a moment; but his eyes betrayed him for all that—Youth’s Companion. CURIOUS FACTS. Only one person in a thousand dies of old age. The British Empire embraces 10,- 000 islands. j Some of the string beans which grow in Peru are as long as a man’s arm. A resident of Hamilton, N. Y., re- ' cently captured a white robin with pink eyes: Chinese streets are supposed to be , ;he narrowest in the world. Some of 1 them are only eight feet wide. { The earliest complete clock of which an accurate record exists was made in the thirteenth century by a Saracen mechanic. Electricity is used to illuminate some of the catacombs of Rome, and i t will soon he intro laced in all the ! catacombs of that city. Nearly all lions are left handed. A famous explorer says that when one desires to strike a fierce blow the animal always uses the left paw. The shovel-fish is so called because it uses its nose to turn over the mud at the bottom of the sea, in quest of the worms aud small shell-fish on which it feed?. When army mules are transported by rail, it is customary to first remove the shoes from their hind feet. This is to prevent them from kicking tho sides out of the cars. In a mass of amber, about five inches in diameter, recently dredged out of the Baltic Sea, there was dis tinctly visible in its interior a little squirrel. Fur, teeth and claws could be clearly seen. It is not an uncommon sight in a laboratory where experiments with liquefied air are being conducted, to see drops of air falling on a lecture table and running about, exactly like drops of water on a hot stove. Natural gas has been flowing for ages in several sections of the Cau casian provinces bordering the Cas pian Sea. Many of these gas wells have constantly emitted flames for a period beyond the memory of living men, aud are saperstitiously spoken of as the “eternal tires.” Municipal Baths In London. Municipal baths have existed in London since 1847, but it is only within the last decade or two that many of the local authorities have taken steps in this direction, writes Milo Roy Maltbie in Municipal Af fairs. At present there are abont twenty boards, representing a population of 2,000,000, that maintain public baths, and in some instances two or more buildings in different parts of the par ish have been built aud equipped in order that they may be more access ible. They seem to be very popular and thoroughly appreciated. In one case the number of bathers last year exceeded 625,000 and the total for all the baths was about 3,000,000. The charges vary from two cents to a quar ter, depending upon the kind of bath and the service rendered. In most in stances five cent will secure excellent accommodations, and in a few cases a swimming bath, including soap,towel, etc., can be had for two cents. The largest public bath is located iu Lam beth, and occupies an acre of ground. Quite frequently public washhouses are maintained in connection with the baths. The usual rate is three cents an hoar, but precautions are taken to prevent those operating private laun dries from taking advantage of this low rate. The wife of the laboring man can leave home in the morning with a basket of dirty clothes and re turn early in the day, having washed, dried and ironed them at the munici pal washhouse at an expense of but a few pence. Increasing use is being made of these accommodations, for the ample facilities are far superior to those usually possessed by the poorer classes. Coming Up to the Scratch. The enlistment of “Shorty” Ballard, at Marysville, Mo., was au interesting event. He is a member of Company E, and when it came to examination for enlistment in the army grave doubts were entertained by “Shorty" and his friends as to his ability to pass muster in regard to height. Something had to be done to lengthen him. He was very popular with the officers and members of Company E, and it would be a great disappointment to them if he failed to pass. So a scheme was put on foot to hoodwink the examining board. Lawyers, doctors and several other experts were consulted as to the best means til overcoming “Shorty’s” deficiency of stature. A physiological theory was put into practical use by a smart doctor which caused “Shorty” to grow a half inch. He was put to bed and made to lie stretched at full length for twelve or fifteen hours just before- the examination. When he appeared before the board he was a half-inch taller than when he went to bed. And this is how “Shorty” came to get in by the “skin of bis teeth,” as it were.—New York World. POPULAR SCIENCE. The diameter of the mooi niles, and its distance from 1 138,650. Pendulums are affected by v >f density of tne air, as w< shanging temperature. Taking the average depth >cean to be three miles, ther oe a layer of salt 230 feet dee water should evaporate. M. R. Blondlot, of Paris, !ias recently devised a new surrent meter for electricity, ii the current is measured in magnetic units. The vapor \jf pure niootin< volatilized by heat is so opp that breathing becomes difficu room in which a single drop of has been spilt. After a study of more than years, Dr. C. Braun, a Huugar tronomer, has completed a new mination of the mean de asity earth, which he fiuds to be 5 times that of pure water. Evidences of glacial action discovered in Australia iu 1859 English geologist, bat as the spe not definitely located, it was n discovered till a few months age is the only spot of the kind knoT that continent. It has been found by experir that at low temperatures (fifty-t to fifty-nine degrees) dry air is p anter than moist; between seventy degrees and eighty-four degrees air seems cooler than moist when change is made from oue to the ot aud temperatures are more ei borne if the air is dry. Recent researches have gone fa render possible the assertion of 1 denskjold and others that a large ] tion of the earth’s ccnstituents maj of cosmic origin—that, in other woi in the course of ages the distant si and other heavenly bodies may hi contributed of their substance thicken the crust of our world. A Froien Flag. A simple mountaineering anecdote from the top of Mt. Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand: A party of climbers ascended the topmost peak of the sleeping giant, planted thereon a nine- foot pole and hanled aloft the union jack. A fortnight later another party pre pared to ship up the pole and so claim a six-foot higher record than the first, ascended, and there found that the flag had frozen while blowing to the breezes; there it was imbeded iu four inches of icicle, the colors standing out as in a looking-glass. Not only this, bat that icicle extended right down to the ground. Doubters must not snigger, for the party photo graphed the phenomenon. — Sydney (Australia) Bulletin. American l’u*h Win*. From St. Michael’s, Alaska, via fc Francisco, comes the gratifying infi mation that the American whalers i prisoned in the arctic ice near Poi Barrow are safe from the dangers starvation until they can be releas from their icy prison. The overlai relief expedition under Lientena Jarvis, which started from Cape Va oouver December 17, reached its de tination March 20, after travelir 1500 miles over the trackless regioi of the frozen north, with the mercur far below zero and at the height of th long arctio winter night season. . herd of 400 reindeer was driven alonj by the expedition, and with a loss o sixty-one animals reached the whalen in good condition, thus furnishing abundant food to last until the Unitec States re vent) e cutter Bear can react them in August. When the Jarvis relief expedition reached Point Barrow the imprisoned whalers were found in good condition to withstand the ravages of hunger for some time. It had been feared that all must perish unless food supplies could be hurried overland in time to prevent so dire a calamity. Th*. whalers, however, having foreseen •» shortage of food, hdd devoted a large part of their time to hunting, aud for tune had favored them with abundant catches of game. The fact that the relief measures in trusted to Lieutenant Jarvis by the Government authorities prove to have been not absolutely necessary does not detract at all from the glory ,of this achievement. It was one of the most notable relief expeditions ever under taken, and tho determined manner in which it was pushed forward to a suc cessful conclusion reflects great credit upon all who participated in the en terprise. It was a typical American movement, and was carried out by American push aud bravery and en ergy, qualities which always win.— Chicago Times-Herald. The Astute Lion. A toothless lion, whose muscles were unstrung by age, lay in a shady place by the streamlet side. He set up a dismal groaning, which soon drew a crowd of hyenas around him. •‘What is the matter?" they asked. He explained to tbem that the days of his kingship was over, and with tears ponring down his face protested that he was unable to defend himseli against even the weakest of his ene mies. On learning this the hypocritical sympathy before shown by the hyeun t changed at once to open malice. They threw themselves upon the prostrate monarch, and worried him with thei; teeth. Inside of five minntes they all lay rigid in death. “Golly!” chuckled the lion, “I’m glad that 1 took the precaution to dust my hide with strychnine before I tested the kindness of these good friends. A fellow learns something by having been in politics. ” So saying, he calmly went to sleep. —Criterion. Prickly Heat. The mother whose children snffer in hot weather from prickly heat will be glad to know that if she will put baking-soda into the water in which her children are bathed she may do mnch towards preventing the arrival of the irritating malady. She should not wait until the rash appears before she adopts this simple means to stop its progress, but may all through the summer have soda added to the little ones’ bvh water. In one family where this precaution was taken none of the children was troubled with prickly heat daring thtf entire season, al though every preceding year the small boys and girls had been liberally pep pered with the distressing eruption.— Harper’s Bazar.