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t V ■f ?$xm Metal-working, sboe-unking, eleo- tiiculnul other maehinery exported from this country during March, 1898, had h value of more than teu per cent, in excess of similar exports last year at the same time. An American firm, Russell & Stur gis, opened the Philippines to foreign trade over sixty years ago, and an American admiral has now released the commerce of those islands from the throttling grasp of Spain. The total output of coal in the United States for 1897 was 198,250,000 short tons, the largest ever known. Its average value was a fraction less thau 81 per ton, a slight decrease as compared with the previous year. When Americans beg for a private’s place in the army, and for an oppor tunity to face almost certain death in the navy, we have little fear from all Europe. We have an abundance of Hobsons, and we may have many Deweys. * The Canadians had practically de termined to put an export duty on nickel, of which metal they are the largest producers iu the world, when Mr. Chamberlain made his famous speech about un Anglo-Saxon alliance. Now they are afraid to do so,and wish t.iut Mr. Chamberlain had waited a few weeks longer. The United States is a great buyer of uu-kel, and can profit by this bappy chance. Russia is constructing the largest and most expensive railroad in the world. It is complete now from Ht. Petersburg to Nijni-Udinsk, a dis tance of 3000 miles, and is to be pushed forward to Vladivostok, which is 5912 miles from St. Petersburg. This railroa l will open up to trade a ter ritory as large us the whole of Europe, and will increase very greatly the com mercial and political power of Russia. Though this project was discussed as far hack as 18’>1, it was not actually undertaken until 1890. A wonderful era of prosperity seems to have opened for the Ameri- van manufacturer. The orders for battleships given us by Russia, in ad dition to those from China and Japan, the demand for American rails and locomotives from China, Australia and South Africa, the increased popu larity of the American bicycle, sewing machine, knitting machine,agricultur al implements, printing presses and linotypes, in every civilized land, are but a few of the causes, the effects of which are to be enlarged industries and a greatly augmented foreign com merce. From the ((hips which, carried Jthe HftitfNfiSfr- '’f H ug cruise. TJio oKl'V'* 11 and a greater or less number of simple smooth-bore gnus. The modern battleship has more thau a hundred distinct and sep arate engines, and gnus of complicated, deMcatd mocha istn. No man is per fectly qualified to command a modern warship who does not thoroughly com prehend all the minute details of the oolnplicated instrument placed in his charge. The conmaud of a fleet of these ponderous war-engines is a men tal burden of no small magnitude; and, other things being equal, that man is best lifted to such command whose mentality is strong enough to enable him easily to grasp all the mi nute details making up his force. Last year, says the Railway Age,the railways of the United Stares carried over 18,000,000,000 passengers one mile. They also carried 95,000,000,- 000 tons of freight one mile. The total amonnt put in dividends on stock was $87,633,371—call it 000,000. Of the total earnings of the railways about seventy per cent, came from freight service and thirty per cent, from passenger service. Let us assume then, that of the $88,000,000 paid in dividends, seventy per cent, or $61,000,000, was profit on freight service and $26,400,000 was on passenger service. Let us drop frac tions and call it $62,000,000 from , .freight and $26,000,000 from pas sengers. Bv dividing the passen ger profit into the number of passen gers carried (13,000,000,000) we find that the railways had to carry a pas senger 500 miles in order to earn $1 of profit, or five miles to earn one cent. The average profit, therefore, was less thau two-tenths of one cent for carrying a passenger (and his bag gage) one mile. By dividing the freight profit into the freight mileage (95,000,000,000) we find that the railways had to carry one ton of,freight 1530 miles in order to earn $1 or over fifteen miles to earn one cent. The average profit, therefore, was less than one-fifteenth of a cent for carry- ing a ton of freight (besides loading it) one mile. A CHANCE OF AMBITION. /loraMusat thu briUtr#*, an<t he Who fought at Old Thertnopyhe; > treat Bamson and his potent hone By which the Phlllstiucs were stone; Bn-all David with his wondrous aim That did for him ot giant frame; J. Ciesar In his Gallic seraps That made him Lord of other chaps; .tweet William, called the Conqueror, Who made the Driton sick of war; • Klag Hal the Fifth, who nobly fought And thrashed the foe at Aglncourt; Old Bonaparte, and Washington, And Frederick, and Wellington, .Decatur, Nelson, Fighting Joe, And Farragut, and Grant, and oh, A thousand other heroes I Have wished I were In days gone by- Can take their laurels from my door. For I don’t want ’em any more. The truth will out; It can’t be hid; The doughty deed that Dewey did, In that far distant Spanish sea. Is really good enough for me. The grammar’s had, but, oh my son, I wish I’d did what Dewey done! —John K. Bungs, In Harper’s Weekly. BEN BRAHIM’S SMARTNESS. OLD MobammedBen Brahim was a pri vate of the Third Regiment of Turcos, Arab infantry in the French service. He was tall and raw- boned, fearing noth ing, believing but little in Mohammed the Prophet, and not at all in Allah. He drank wine and ate pork, two things held in abomina tion by tbo Mohammedans, he swore in had Arab and worse French; iu fact, he was the most perfect black guard in the whole body of Turcos, which were 16,000 strong, and that is saying a great deal. Ben Brahim lived happy and contented until one day, while passing before the bric-a-brac pawn office and dry goods shop of Yus- euff, the richest Hebrew of Oran, he saw, hanging ic the window, some gold watches. Then his happiness was gone, for one thought invaded his mind so completely that, twenty times a day, he exclaimed loudly: “By the Prophet’s beard, I must have one!” And by the Prophet’s beard he got one too, and this is how it came about. Mohammed Ben Braham had a cousin, a lieutenant in the same regi ment, and he went to him and told him a story about his mother being sick and needy, and the lieutenant, who loved his aunt, gave him twelve francs, with the recommendation to use them well, a thing that the Tnrco did, much to the sorrow of Yussuff, in whose shop he appeared five minutes later. Yussuff was alone, and seeing the Tnrco entering his store, he arose to meet him, not through deference for the caller, but from a knowledge that the Turcos are the greatest prowlers of Africa. “I salute you, Rabbi Yussuff,” said Mohammed, touching his fez. “I salute you, Tnrco, iff, politoly^^jyU^j^Jl want? re to pay you tWelve francs aetrcn'you loaned me a ago,” answered the Turoo. “Did I loan you money? I do not recollect to have seen you before.” ‘You dou t? Well, then, yon were more drunk than I was when I bor rowed the money from yon. But, no matter, I owe yon twelve francs, and there they are.” Then the Tnrco put twelve francs in the other’s hand. Yussuff took it just as an Arab priest entered the shop. Yussuff saluted the new-comer with the greatest respect, as he was on f, °f k* 8 customers, and said: ‘‘Will yon allow me to present this Tnrco to you as one of the few hon est men we have in this town?” The Arab looked with astonish ment on the pair, “Well, well!” thought be, “what are we coming to, if a Tnrco turns to be as honest to be praised by Yas- surt?” Then he asked: “May I in quire what this Turoo has done to deserve your commendations, Yus suff?” ’ ‘‘I loaned him twelve francs, and I forgot all about it. Many would have taken advantage of my lack of mem- ory, but he did not, for he has paid me like an honest man that he is.” “My friend,” said the Arab to the Tnrco, “will you favor me with your company to my house?” Mohammed Ben Brahim answered that as soon as Rabbi Yussuff had re turned his pledge, he would follow him. “A pledge!” cried Yussuff, turning pale, “iou have given me none.” hat!” replied the Turco indig nantly, “that gold watch there is mine.” And Mohammed pointed to a watch worth about sixty dollars. “That watch was bought by me from a chief now dead,” yelled Yussuff. “Yussuff,” interposed the Turco, “it seems to me that this chief died very conveniently for you. Will you give me my watch?” “No,” answered Yussuff. All right, sir. I will have you ar rested on the spot,” and opening the door Mohammed went into the street calling for the police. In a minute two of these worthies made their appearance and inquired the cause of the uproar. “Arrest that man,” said the Turco, pointing to Yussuff, “he has robbed mo.” The police took Yussuff by the throat, and the whole party left the store to go to the judge. In Africa, the judge's courthouse consists of a piece of carpet, two yards square, thrown on the pavement, in the market place, fortnight Laired tho the police who make nn W and bas tinado the culprits at thedrlge’s com mand. It is justice in » primitive state administered on thdf'apid tran sit plan. . “What is the mot Arab magistrate. “Your Wisdom, this matlias robbed that Turco,” replied the <|icer. “Turco, how did the thing hap- | pen?” inquired the judge. “ “Your Wisdom, this abn loaned me seven francs on my gold watch. I returned him his money, together with five francs as interest, and now he refuses to give me my watch.” “How did you get a gold watch?” “Yonr Wisdom, it is a pre«eut from my dying father.” “Did anyone see you ptving the money?” “Your Wisdom, this holy Arab was present.” “Arab, is it true what the Turco is saying?” “Your Wisdom, he has spoken the truth,” replied the Arab. ‘‘Yussuff iqtrodnced the complainant to me with the remark that he was one of the few honest men we have in this town.” “Yussuff, do you deny the* accusa tion made against you?” “Your Wisdom, I do deny it.” “Did you take twelve frames from the complainant?” “Your Wisdom, I did.” ? “For what?” “Because I loaned it to him.” “Without any pledge?” ' “Yes, your Wisdom, without any pledge.” “Officers, go to Yussuff’a house, and bring here all the gold watches he has,” said the judge. The officers went and soon re turned, bringing about thirty gold watches, which they spread * before the judge. “Look and see if your timepiece is there,” said the magistrate to the Turco. k The cunning Turoo advanced, and without any hesitation took, not the best, but the third from the best. The judge, who had eyed sharply the action of the Turco, seeing him discarding the costliest watch to take another inferior in value, felt con vinced of the justice of his claim to the object of his selection. He said to him: “Take it and go. Remember that a present from a dying father is n sacred thing, not to be polluted by the hands of this money lender, who is a thief, a’nsurer and a liar. Oo!” Mohammed Ben Brahim did not wait for a second invitation to take what did not belong to him; he bowed low to the judge, kissed the Arab on the shoulder and departed. Then the judge said to Yussuff: “For lying to me, for exacting usurious rates of interest, for hying to rob a poor soldier of a sacred me mento from a beloved father, you shall get fifty strokes on the soles of your feet, and if in two hours you have not paid five hundred dollars fixe, you shall get one hundred more. Officers, execute the sentence.” Everybody applauded the justice of judge’s decision. No, I am mis- en, not all. There was one hho not. Can you guess, who? Wl .. mSip- where the judge sits surrounded by An ancient industry' in the pine Islands which, by the way, been nearly destroyed by Spanish tyranny and greed, is the gathering of various kinds of mother-of-pearl. In the warm waters of those seas animal life is very prolific and many kinds of shells grow to great size. Some oys ters, for example, are as large as punsh bowls, and scollops grow two or three feet in diameter. Natives catch the animals when they are alive and throw them into pots of boiling water. They then extract the fleshy part of the body, of which some varieties they nse as food, and others as provenders for their domestic animals. The live shell, as ie is called, is stronger, hand somer and more durable than the dead shell; that is, the shell of an animal which has died a natural death. | The rough mother-of-pearl is sent to China, chiefly to Canton, where there is a famous artistic guild which employs it in many ways. One variety, which is flat, a half inch thick and several inches in diameter, is carved in intaglio and in relief and makes a very beautiful ornament for the wall or the window or for insetting in the panels of a door or a cabinet. When hang in the window the light pene trates it and gives prismatic tints to all the figures of the carver. Small pieces are split into layers and con verted into inlaid work, for chairs, tables, picture frames, altars and the decoration of wealthy homes. The way they killed this industry il lustrates their theories of government. They sell to the highest bidder what they call the piscary concessions. No one can take any fish from the water without a license from the concession aire. The poor natives, who make bat ten or eleven cents a day, are un able to obtain a license and can only pursue their calling underhandedly. If caught they are treated as common thieves, and if found in the overt act they may be and often are shot by the armed police. In this manner the fishing industries of the Philippines bare steadily diminished wherever there are Spanish settlements, so that the people of the large cities import quantities of sea food from other and freer countries.—New York Mail and Express. . Great Wrecks and Loss of Life. Among the most serions steamship wrecks of the last twenty years and their attendant losses of life are the Eurydice and Princess Alice (300 and 650) in 1878; Victoria (700), 1881; Oimbria (400) 1883; Serpent (270), 1890; Utopia (574), 1891; Reina Re- ! gente (400), 1895; Elbe (852), 1895; j Salier (280), 1896; Kuang-Pin (500), 11896. FOR FAR! AND GARDEN. ▼WWW A Care tor Chicken Tapeworm. It may surprise the general reader to kuow that four different species of tapeworm attack chickens, four other kinds attack geese, seven attack ducks and five attack pigeons. The remedy for tapeworms is one spoonful of ab sinthe to fifty fowls, mixed in warm bran mash once a day for three or four days. Clean up and sprinkle premises with four fluid ounces of sulphuric acid mixed in one gallon of water. \For other intestinal worms give one teaspoonful of turpentine to twenty-five birds, mixed in bran mush. To Grow Lima Keans. There are two methods of growing Limas. One is to grow them on poles and the other on wires. Where the largest crop is desired and poles are easily obtained it is the best plan. When poles are not at hand, and one cares for the ornamental appearance of the garden, a very good crop can be grown by using wires to support the vines. When grown in this way one row forty or fifty feet long will supply a family. Limas, like all the good things from the garden, require a rich soil. My experience is that I grow the best crop with stable ure.—American Gardening. keeps the bottom of the pail free from particles of manure, which are sure to adhere to a pail when set directly on the floor, but raises the pail, so if the cow occasionally kicks she is not so liable to place her foot in the pail, up setting it, and one’s temper, too. But what is the little box for? Every dairyman knows the necessity of brushing the udder before milking, especially in the morning when cows are kept in the stable or in yards. A small woolen cloth can be kept in this box, and when the milker sits down to his work all he has to do is to place the pail on his knee,reach under the seat of the stool and get the cloth, clean the udder, put back the cloth and go to work. The cloth is always at hand and there is not half the dust set in motion as when the cloth is used separately ou the cows and thrown from one to the other.—Agri- cultural Epitomist. can man- to see anythi inthe jJsrd* the rhubarb. Keep the Chickens Growing. Now that the hatching season has ended more time can be devoted, to keeping the chicks constantly grow ing. The first few months of a chick’s existence determines its value at ma turity. If allowed to get stunted no amount of care ever after will remove the trouble. See to it that they are regularly fed and watered, at least three times daily, and do not allow the coops and yards to become foul. After a few weeks old give them plenty of good sound grain, such as wheat and cracked corn and be sure not to overlook a plentiful supply of good sharp grit. Examine the mother hens at least once a week to see that no lice are on them. Should there be any, an ap plication of grease under the wings and on top of the head will suffice to rid both her and the chicks of them. After the chicks are weaned watch them carefully at night and gee that they return to their coops. If allowed to roost on perches their breastbones will become crooked and they will not do so well as they would if roostiug in the coop. Burdock as • Vegetable. What is even regarded as a vile weed can, with a little stretch of imagina tion, be turned into an ornamental plant or delicious vegetable. This is especially the case with the common burdock, Lappa major. Schoolboys all know it from gathering the burs and compressing them into a ball, they being held together by the curved points of the floral involucre. This is all they hnow about it It is difficult to see anything more to be despised rdoelr leaf thtifl*lff the leaf of* It appears that it is largely used in China for food. But it is stated that, if the stalks be cut down before the flowers expand and then be boiled, the taste is relished equally with asparagus. The leaves, when young, are boiled and eaten as w^eat spinach. In Japan it is in universal use. Thousands of acres are devoted to its culture. But in this case the root is the object. It requires deep soil to get the roots to the best advantage. The common name in China is gobbo—a name, however, which need not replace onr common one of burdock.—Meehan’s Monthly. Marketing the Cherry Crop. In almost every neighborhood many farmers have a greater supply of cher ries than are needed for home use, and as the fruit is regarded as too small to pay for the trouble of picking and marketing it, much of it is left to be rotted or eaten by birds. The fact is that small as the cherry is, it is one of the most profitable fruit crops that can be grown. Cherries need to be picked with their stems, must not be bruised, and must be placed in clean baskets holding fifteen to twenty pounds each. They are usually sold by the pound and are marketed in all (he cities where this frnit is to be found in its season on fruit stands. The sour cherries of the Morello stock are mostly used for canning and for making pies. The Montmorency is a comparatively new sour cherry, and we know it to be a valuable variety where found. It is not best to have many varieties when cherries are grown for market. The black Tar tarian is a large, dark red sort, that is nearly black when at its best. It is the standard sort and is more largely sold and better liked by the fruit dealers than any other.—American Cultivator. A Practical Milking Stool. The observing farm student is sure to oomfrin contact with ne w ways and new implements when traveling through the country, no matter whether he i« on business or pleasure. Some of the best methods and most simple homemade implements are lying side by sidq in onr farm homes waiting for someone to “happen along” to make known to the world these hidden treasures. One of these simple devices is found in the milking stool. It is made with three or four short legs, just as the milkef thinks most convenient. Di rectly on top of this short-legged stool is a small box, the top of which forms the seat of the stool. The lower part or under board of the box extends out under the cow to support the milk pail when milking. This not only t i im ■ . v-.-USSsaP Tarred Paper for Cabbage Maggot. We have often suffered a good deal of loss on account of maggots destroy ing a large proportion of our early cabbages. If we believe what some of the experiment stations tell us, then the collars of tarred felt (roofing felt) put around the stems of plants near the surface of the ground are a very effective means qf protecting cab bage and similar plants from the mag gots’ ravages. The reports show that the loss in treated fields has been very small. The labor adjusting the collars also is considerable. The only trouble seems to be to get the collars. They are not kept on' sale so far as I know. So the only thing that I could see was left for me to do was to make them myself. A certain professor long since devised a tool to cut the collars out of sheets of roofing-felt with neatness and dispatch. I gave my blacksmith orders with full in structions to make one of the cutters after his pattern and expected to set a man at it to make the collars in rather large quantities, so as to be able not only to have my own snpply in readi ness, but also to furnish them at a slight advance on cost to any of my neighbors and friends that might de- sfre to try them. But it has taken my blncKsmith much longer to get the tool made than I expected, and. finally thdtime for using the collars has ar rived and I have just received this “cellar cutter.” This sets the matter rigljt so far as my own planting is conherned but I cannot help out my friends)as promptly as I would have liked. Neither have I as yet been able to figure out the price at which the collars can be put on the market. I believe that they should be kept by seedsmen and plapt dealers, and that many could be sold at a good profit. Local plantsmen might procure a cut ter and furnish the collars to their customers.—T. Greiner in Farm and Fireside. Suniinrrlng Cattle on Gra**. I don’t knov? of any subject more timely than how cattle of all kinds should be treated while living on grass. The fcommon method with most farmers isl to let 'them all run toget her—cal vets that are. tod-W head etcepted—mait* or few,Hf^ge or small, just one pasture and generally too small for the number that must get a good living or tfe half starved. Then close grazing aid often long dry spells and a good.nuuxber of cattle following each other day' after day, reaching through feucesiand in the hot weather the field lookiig so bare that the grass roots are often killed out en tirely. This is no overdrawn picture. How can a cow give a good yield of milk,or young cattle take on much growth or fiesh under such conditions? Unless they get • satisfactory feed and in reasonable time they cannot spare the time needed for rest and to chew their cud. i , Every farmer should have two or more pastures. Milk cows do better alone, but if that cannot be had there should be at least two pastures, so that one of them could be rested a while, and if favorable weather pre vails two or three weeks will start the grass, so that when you turn on it again yon just watch the difference in the growth and yield and see the grass start up in the one vacated. This is a better way than if the number of acres were ail in one lot. I hope those interested will try it. Where cattle are compelled to eat off the blades of grass scarcely an inch high, and probably destroy others just peeping out, ten days, if left grow, would furnish twenty times as much feed and no injury occur to the roots. People tell of leaks and losses on the farm, but too close grazing is the biggest one I know of. Then there is a big talk about calves dying from scours, etc., but it is generally those that feed their cows such a big lot of stimulating nostrums of different kinds that makes the milk rank poison to their offspring. Calves from such pampered matrons are as good as sick at birth. Cows should be fed almost entirely on what you can raise on your own farm, and then,like common farmers, losses would disappear. It is risky to bay cows of some men. If calves get the scours we stir flour in their warm milk, and an egg too until we get it checked. We teach them to eat oats and ground feed and keep hay before them all the time un til turned onto grass. When cows scour badly on tame hay and mill feed make a real hard boiled dumpling of flour and water only,boil it until hard and when cool ent into pieces and feed it to them; it will quickly stop the scours. This recipe is worth dollars if it works for others like it has for us. I may tell yon what pastures are like in England, and how they keep them good all the time. They have a more moist climate than we have, but we could greatly improve ours by follow ing their methods.—William Oxlev in Farm, Field and Fireside. * TOLD BY THE OLD CIRCl A Little Trick of the Clown’s That to Plenso the People Mightily, “Some of the feats and tricks ol sort and another performed in si that look so wonderful,” said ^ the circus man, “are really as simph rolling off a log, if you only know they are done. We need to hav clown at one time who was a v good acrobat, and he washumorou his antics as well as in his speech,: everybody liked him. He alw wore a black mustache, with the ei neatly waxed and corkscrewed, | one of the funniest things he did i pended for its success on these wai ends of his mustache. “After an uuusaally intricate pit of foolery that called for a good d< of exertion, he would pause, pantin in the ring, and turn to the ringms ter. ' “ ‘Well, I’d give a dollar and quarter,’ he would say to the rin( master, ‘for a bottle of soda water. ’ “ ‘Why, you shall have a bottle fc nothing, ’ the ringmaster says, and h sends a groom for a bottle of sod water, who comes back in a minut with a bottle and a glass on a tray. t “ ‘But where’s the corkscrew?’ th< clown asks, picking up the bottle anc holding it up clear of the tray and looking all arodnd on it. ‘There’s no corkscrew. ’ “‘What’s* the matter with your mustache for a corkscrew?’ says the ringmaster, the audience looking on perfectly still. And before you could think, th£ clown would swing the bot tle up with the cork against the point of one end of his mustache—he’d practised that so that he never missed it—and drive it on to the point, and then in almost the same motion— there was never any halt in the action from the beginning to the end of the whole thing—he’d begin, turning the bottle on to his mustache until the point was buried in the cork, and then he’d give the bottle a yank and pull it free and carry it to his lips and drink, leaving the cork impaled' on the end of his mnstache. He’d drink half the soda water, toss the bottle at the ringmaster, have the cork off his mustache in a jiffy, and toss that at the groom standing there waiting with the tray, and then tnrn a cartwheel while the whole audience doubled np with laughter. Why, it used to tickle ’em half to death. ‘ ‘And it was all done in the simplest, easiest way in the world. The two waxed ends were really two corkscrew tips projecting out beyond his mns tache and joing under it in a good stont holder firmly held between the teeth. ” Peculiar Villages. Scattered throughout the area of Great Britain are numerous towns and villages of a curious character. One large village actually consists of old railway carriages, even the little mission chapel being bnilt out of four large horse trucks. Another village, with a population of liOO and a ratable value of $8000, has neither church, chapel nor school, the only pnblie edifice being aiiillar IfilrtlMihriii — Villages witb' a single inhabitant are not unknown. At Skiddaw, in Cumberland, there is a solitary house holder, who cannot vote because there is no overseer to prepare a voters’ list, and no church or other public building on which to publish one; while the only ratepayer in a certain rural Northumberland parish has re cently declined to bear the expense of repairing a road because he considered it quite good enough for himself. In the Isle of Ely is a little parish which has been somewhat contemptu ously described as “a portion of land with three or four houses, and per haps twelve inhabitants.” This place has no roads at all and is consequently put to no expense for keeping them in repair. As a matter of fact there are no expenses* of any kind and no rates. One of the most remarkable villages in this country is ^empton, near Bed ford, which is seven miles long and extremely straggling. To walk from one end of the village to the other occupies two hours. Sometimes whole villages will prac tically disappear. A little Shropshire village has gradually sunk, and now it is almost out of sight. It is built on a disused coal pit, and the sinking goes on steadily every year. Now and then a tottering house is propped up to keep it standing, but in spite of all precautions buildings are constantly falling to the ground, and in course of time doubtless nothing will be left but a few bricks to mark the spot where a village once stood.—Tit-Bits. In the Boll Creek HliU. There is a boy in Taney county, ac cording to a story which is makini the rounds, who has a record whicl perhaps few, if any, old hunters cai match. He killed a deer with a mar ble. True, the marble was shot fron a gun, but still the occurrence may b< ranked among the most nnusnal o hunting events. The lad was out ii the woods shooting, and he had ex hausted his supply of shot. He hac put into his muzzle-loader, a single barrel gun of the old pattern, a charg< of powder, when he discovered thal his shot pouch was empty. The boi had in his pocket a marble which he used as a “taw” in playing the com mon game. The marble exactly fitted the muzzle of the gun, and hardly thinking what might result from ex- penment, the young hunter dropped the taw down on the wadding cover ing the powder. Strange things hap. pened down in the Bull Creek hills and on his way home the boy came upon a deer which, at close range, stood and challenged his aim. The adventurous scion of good hunting stock leveled lus gun, pulled the trig- ger and brought down the game, the marble boring a hole in the vitals ol tho deer.—Kansas City Journal