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^MBglusnrssscESKgg * " | The Sweetest S I Song of | ; All Si gBBBBBBBflBBBBBBSSBB'S At last she Lad returned to her childhood hopie, which years before she had leTt at the call of ambition, and now that success had crowned her efforts, she came, one of the world's greatest singers, to sing again on the old Town Hall stage, ~vhich had been the scene of her girl"**? triumphs. Jhe had been able to secure accommodations at her own old home, and ag Bhe sat In the familiar room, a host of memories came to her. She looked down the long vista of years and saw herself as a hanpy child In this same house with father, *nothei and friends. Again she heard the near old songs sung In happy chorus, so much sweeter than the operas that had brought Ler fame, and last of all ehe saw uerself with parents gone, preparing to leave her home to go out and battle with the world, to wrest victory from It If she could, with her one gift, a glorious vo'ce, and resolutely turning away from the earnest boy who pleaded with her to remain in that (julet village sheltered by his love, safe from the trials and temptations of the world. True, she had loved hlin, but why had her voice been given her If not to make the most of it, ana lured by the glitter of fame and wealth she had left him and gone out to prove her ltrength. Both wealth and fame had come to her, but the way had been very, very hard, many of the dear lllus ons of youth had been destroyed, and true happiness had been elusive, for rtcheH und .glory mean but little when there is no one to share them and no one to rejoice when they are won. Since she had left the town no word had coino to her. Occasionally she received a home paper, and from that she knew he had prospered, was a successful man, and she also knew that he had never married, and oftentimes she wondered If happiness had come to him, or had passed him oy as it naa nerseir As she sat there she wondered If he would come that night to hear h? r, and slowly realized how Intensely she desired to bee him even though they might not apeak. Absorbed In her recollections the minutes went quickly, and soon it wua time to go to the hull Driving slowly through familiar scenes, seeing now and then a well remembered lace, the old fee ngs and the old Icve seemed to jrow stronger, and she iwiiew then that she would gladly throw her success aside to hear once more that dear voice tell her ihe old, old story, and to oe given again the name chance of happiness, but, alas, she had lot it go, and she could not ask for what sho had so easily thrown aside. As she reached the hall and took her seat on the stage, eagerly she scanned the fast filling house for that one face, hut found no one that bora any resemblance to him, and '' seemed that In the bitterness of her disappointment that it would not be possible to sing at all. Still, as her place on tho programme was reached, the training of years enabled het to control Her emotions, and she renuered her aria in her most faultless manner, receiving the loud applause with the finished grace of the prima donna accustomed to much praise. Stepping forward to grant the requests for an eueore, a face waj down In th^ audience arrested her attention, and once acre sho raw the old lov.i Hght (n h's eyes and his pride In her success In his face. Obllv 'cms 10 ner surroundings she stretch. *d out her hands to him aud sang, for him and him nlono. a song of other lays, a song they had often sung together when they were all In all to each other, and I'fe and love were young. "Just a Song at Twilight." As she gnng the loneliness and sorrow of the lost years'melted away, and when as of old his voice Joined hers, she knew that fate had been kind and the chance of nappiness was hurt, again, and that beforo h was a lifetime filled with love, "the sweetest song of all." Curious FIhIips of the Italian inn. Tho fish found In Nassau waterj are of never ending Interest to the stranger. With the aid of a nat ve waier-g'.asfl, which is a common wooden bucket with the bottom knocked out and a glnss bottom put In. It Is possible to watch the finny creatures swimming about, apparently regardless of prying eyes. The parrot-fish, with a body the shape and co.or of a gold-fish, on'y ten times larger; tho cow-fish, with a comical faco curiously like a carlca- , ture of ltB bov'.re sponsor; hog-fish, I ? in anuuia; grouper, tune, amberJnek, and turbot, whose exquisitely tinted akin is dried and used by the na'lves as scrubbing brushes, are ull there, but the most beautiful of all Is the angel-fish. with Its hhie and ye'.low wlng-Hke 11ns. Angel-ft b ^re so numerous In Nassau, and their fle n la so delicate In flavor, that they are a irequent Item on the menu of the large tourist hotels. ? Leslie's A'cekly. A wonderful thing about so many people la how they can manage their mind without having any. _ * j . *' ' . . v < " HER BOY. The long-looked-for end much dreaded day had come at last I Willie Knight w&g going to see his moth, er for the first time in five years, and he was but nine now. Colonel and Mrs. Knight lived In India at the time of Willie's birth. She was the acknowledged beauty of the station, and could give no time from the whirl and excitement of army life to care about the baby boy who had come to her, and It was a great relief when a sister had offered to take the baby and his a/ah back to England with her. When he was 6 years old Willie was sent to boarding school, only leaving it occasionally to I ay a visit to his aunt. Mrs. Knight had met with a very serious accident while out rldln& one day. and as she lay for weekn on her sick bed her thoughts turned to her long rorgotten boy, and an Intense ?tes:re to see him r?me over her. As she grev stronger the doctors advised her husband to take her home. Willie knew very little of his mother except that she was ver> beautiful and a great Boclety leader, and in his heart he worshipped this unknown mother with something ukln to awe. She was coming on the day that was the great event in the school life. Besides 'elng the last dny of the school term, prizes for the yenr's work were to be awarded, and parents and friends of the boys were Invited to attend the exercises. After the prize-giving the affair would become purely social, buildings and grounds would bo inspected, chums ould be Introduced and feasts and fun ad Infinitum. For the first time ir his life Willie displayed some anxiety as to his personal appearance, and as he gazed into his mirror he came to the pitiful cc ncluslon that even an ordinary mother could not possibly fool proud of h.m. His hair had a knack of standing up In little tufts, hlg nose was a very funny little affair, his ci eekB wore smothered with freckles, and ho never had noticed before that hts feet and hands were altogether out of pioportlon to the rest of his body. "I wish she was Just an ordinary mother and not such a great lady," ho thought, and the tears were pretty hard to keep hack. But tho gong had sounded and the hoys gathered ready to march Into the great hall. Her? the visitors ?-ere assembled und the eyes of the boys eagerly sought out t!iclr loved I ones. "That beautiful tall lady must be mother,"' thought Willie, but no! B1 ? was smiling at a hoy the other slae of the room. The opening exr.cisos had started, and *tlll Willie's eyes were searching the throng of l.appy tares, and his heart began to sink as he realized that after all Bhe waa not there. "She ooesn't care," he thnmrht- whll* the t-?nr? i?f ritaun toln'rient welled up into his eyes, "and she never 1 as cared." Hu. ho wan suddenly brought back to the present by a vigorous nudge lroui his neighbor. "See that tall man. S-foot-4 sure," he whispered. " and soldier, too, 1 bet." "Isn't ho a danny?" replied WMlie with B<Miuine admiration. "1 wonder who he belongs to; wish he was my dad." raid the neighbor. "So do I." cair.e the answer, and with a curious thrill NVlhle began to realise that he had a father, too, a soldier, and ho wondered how he would look. At last the exercises were over, the ranks broken and tho boys eagerly greeting their friends. Willie observed now that the tall iran had his hand on an invalid chair in which sat i sweet-faced lady. "I'll Just wait and see who they belong to " he thought, with an envious grip at his heart, "then I'll go of." and hide somewhere. I can't bear to see them all so happy. It is harder to have a mother that doesn't care than to have none at all." "Well, Mary, it looks as though we shall have to get some one to help us find our boy," the tall man was saying. "Can I find anyone for you, sir?" said Willie, stepping forward. "Yes, I want?why, surely this 13?" But before he could tiulsb his words Willie felt himself drawn Gown into the arms of lady In the Ci>alr, and he was locked in such an embrace as made up to hltn for all the motherless years gone by. it seemed too good to be true! How jroud he was to Introduce the soldier father to his admiring friends, and to hold the hand of his lovely mother as she told him of her plans for tho future, in which she meant to hold tight onto the little lad so sadly neglected. If the.e was one *hl" more which could bo added to his hap. piness it was supplied when. In answer to h!s father's question to his mother as to how she knew Willie,. Bbo replied: "He looks Just as you must have looked at his ago." O.nmonds Burn I.ike Coal. The jeweler, at clos'ng tlmo, was potting his diamonds In 41 huge safe. "Hut why do you bother to do ttiat when two watchmen wu.k the chop all night long?" "On account of fire." the Jeweler replied. ' Diamonds are nothing but coal carbon ? thoy burn beaut.(u y. Their hardnes, makes us tiiink tbom indestructible, but. as a matter of fact, a tire of diamonds wauli be the briskest, .rottiest thing in the wood. Put a handful of diamonds 011 a plate and set a light to them They will burn with v barn. gemliko flame till nothing la left. There will be no smoke. no soot, and at the end the plate wlil be as clean aa though Just washed?not the slighter part cl* rven of ash will remain. My THE CURIOUS IXK PISH. ? rhe Veracious Seaman Relates Some of its Wonderful Doings. "You talk about fights with sharks and sighting sea serpents," said Third Officer Carl Ducks, of the German steamship Alleghany, as he leaned over the chart cable. "Do jou see that spot on the map In the ll,.v nf II?n>r..1t "'..II .... *-*ti J v* m-t CU5111 . ?? CM, V> Xf WVI C UUcalmed there for a week when I was worWng before the mast on the full rigged ship Arethusa ten years ago. There had not beeh as much as a breath of air stirring for a week and all of us lay around despondent and uopoless, for the Hay of Bengal la not the happiest place in the world to bo becalmed in. "The skipper had no orders to give, so didn't give any, and 110 one of us in the fo'cs'le know what to do with himself. On the seventh day when this idleness got on our nerves and we were lazily drifting"with the currents, the man at tho wheel suddenly discovered that the Arethusa was being pushed over to port, notwithstanding that he had his wheel hard over endeavoring to keep the vessel In a straight course. * "None of us could understand it, for there did not seem to be an.much as a small current In the sea . and there surely was not a pufT of wind In the (lapping canvas. * "Suddenly Metzger, the bos'un, leaned over the starboard rail forward and pointeu excitedly to the water below. All of us ran to hlin and there dimly visible and almost entirely submerged, was a huge iukflsh close to our starboard side. CARYTNO TIIR IN'vFlSH. "Because the tnKriiPi had spread her i>?eullar coloring on the water about her we co-aid hardly make her out. It Is a peculiarity of the Inkfish, this spreading: of a haze around her. I think here you call the inkflsh an octopus. Whichever It Is, ours was actually pushing our 3,000 ton ship over out of the course to which tbo helmsman was trying to keep the Arethusa. "Tb^ captain ordered a harpoon brougnr out and the hook was dropped right on top of the Inkflsh, catching the monster amidships, and she was, with the aid of a block and tackle, rigged to the foreyard, soon high and dry on the fo'c'sle deck. '"One of tht boys was Investigating the monster which weighed every ounce of seven hundred pounds when suddenly out shot one of the dozen tentacles from the lnkfi^h. When that was withdrawn another would shoot out, and in this way the Inkflsh bent our foward stanchions, twisted the raf: Into a shapeless mass and ' spread ruin and damage all over the forward section. "Daruisadt, tho carpenter, had a bright suggestion. None of us could 1 get near to the Inkflsh whose arms j were about twenty or twenty-live leer. iu jengiu, ana which were mnv swaying all around, keeping the crew at a safe distance. The carpenter brought an axe and when the tlrst arm reached his vicinity off came five feet of tentacle. He kept this up with each tentacle in succession until the dozen arms of the inkfish had been shortened by five feet. Then he got nearer and again made the "rounds' as the arms were shot forward toward him. "Finally, when the inkflsh had only a dozen stumps left and Darmstadt could get close enough to the monster, he gave it one blow between the little doorknob like eyes and that was the end of tho lnkttsh on the A roth usa. As the final blow was struck homo that.inkfish gave forth a squeal Just like a rabbit. I never knew a fi? h to be able to uiter a sound. Hut the death squal of that octopus inkflsih will npuur Ifnvo rnu . Surprise for an Oyster Shuckcr. As George Sehuck .was opening oysters in the Susquehanna House, Catnwlssa, he opened one that gave him a surprise. It was apparently as solid and as sound as any he hud opened, but when ho removed the shell he found therein u small fi*h about two inches in length and a small hard-shell crab, the top of which was three-fourths of an Inch In width. The fish was plump and life-like, though dead, but the crab was as lively as a cricket. There was no sil?n of an oyster In the shell, which was 2^x4 inches.?Philadelphia ltecord. The Pot l>ogs of Paris. In Paris dogs are treated as well is human beings are. They wear automobile togs when they go mooring, they lit ve a hospital, and they even havo a good-sized cemetery, with monuments and headstones, and Inscriptions and mortuary wreaths. l.y ^ CURVATURE OP THE EARTH. Conclusive Testimony Which Gar* Rise to a Uawsuit. A recent discussion in "Science,'* of ways to demonstrate the curva ture of the earth, called out an Interesting reminiscence from a correspondent. Less than forty years ago. an Englishman, John Hampden, wag. erod $2,500 that the convexity of any Inland water surface could not be proved. The challenge was accepted by a distinguished man of science. Alfred Russet Wallace. He selected for his experiment a six-mile stretch of canal. On one side of a bridge he fastened a sheet, six feet long and three feet high. In the middle was a horizontal black tripe. The general arraugemeut Wb though not the exact proportions Is shown in the accompanying drawing. On another bridge (six miles away) was mounted a small telescope for sighting. This was placed at exactly the same height as the stripe. Half way between the two was a pole on which were two red disks, Tour feet apart. The uppermost was adjusted at the same height above the water as the telescope and black etripo. Viewed through the teleBcope tho disks appeared as they do In the drawing. Well, Mr. Hampden refused to look through the Instrument at all, and his referee had the audacity to declare that all three of the po'nts Involved In the test were in line! Mr. Wallace's referee reported that the disks were both above the stripe. An umpire chosen to settle the dispute, awarded the money to Mr. Wallace. Thereupon followed a bitter controversy. Mr. Hampden called Mr. Wallace all kinds of names, and remarked that "no one but a degraded swindler has dared to make a fraudulent attempt to support the globular theory." Mr. Wallace was unquestionably In the right, and yet the lawsuits which he Instituted to protect him from libel proved futile. He spent more than $2,500 in legal expenses, besides the cost of the experiment. itself. The abuse to which he was subjected extended over a period of fifteen or twenty years. England Tins largest Eggs. "Egg cups are bigger in New York than anywhere else In tho world except England," said a globe trotter. "I can't say the same for the eggs, although the hens In this part of the country perform their duty of helping to feed the human race pretty creditably. Still, they cannot come up to the English hens. Their contribution to the food products are extraordinary in size, hence, tho corresponding capaciousness of the egg cups. The further south you go on the Connecticut, the smaller the egg cups grow. In Egypt they dwindle away to tho size of the average thimble. Their diminutive proportions are commensurate with the size ol the eggs, however, which #re smallest laid by self-respecting nous any place on earth. Place an ordinary Egyptian egg in the Llrltish cup and it is absolutely lost. In order thai eggs may be decapitated gracefully im; aumoriues hi Aiexanara nave given orders for tho importation oi several thousand extra cups to fit the native eggs." The Story Tellers of Naples. The story teller thrives in Naples as there are so many Idlers there He collects a little crowd around hire and proceeds in the most dramath tvay, gesticulating wildly and work Ing his face Into tho most excruciat Ing expressions, says the Delineator to relate stories of adventure o other events, much to the ediflcatioi of his hearers, who, to show thei appreciation, are often betrayed Inti giving a sou, which might have beei better spent for bread or polenta Tho public letter writer Is anotho street dignitary of importance, am In great demand, especially with tlm Id and buxom maids of all work, win have themselves neglected to lean the art of writing. What is "Candle Power?'* In speaking of tho brightness o an electric lamp or a particular ga flame Is customary to say that it ha four or six or e ight or sixteen "can die power." As candles vary si much in size, material and brilliancy one might think that they could no be adopted as a standard of com parison for other lights. However, i a uniform style is employed, the mat ter becomes more simple. In th< United States and Great Britain com parison is made with spermacet candle, burning at tno rate of 12' grains an hour and having a flam 1.76 Inches high. France uses i stearlne candle, and Germany one o parafilne. rl he Unanswered query. What the average newspape reader would like to know is how tv can build one of those $1,G00 bunga lows for about $2,500. ' - * ' ' .. - ' % V ESTIMATING OUR COAL SUPPLY. At Present Rate Pennsylvania Fields Will Last 400 Years. M. R. Campbell of the United Stntea Geological Survey estimates the amount of coul originally In the anthracite llelds of Pennsylvania at 21,000.000,000 short tons; and that in the bituminous tle'ds at 112.574,000.,000 short tons. It Is said that by the methods of mining anthracite coal In former years, for etery ton of coal mined and marketed 1 1-2 tons were either wasted or left In the ground as pillars for the protection of the workings, so that the actual yields of the hods was only about 40 per cent of the contents. This percentage of wa to has now been materially reduced, hut the exhaustion to the close of 1007 has probably amounted to about double the production, or 4,000.000,000 short tons. I This would leave still In the ground approximately 17.000,000,000 short tons, which would be capable of yielding at the rate oT one ton of coal for each ton mined, 8.500,000,000 tons, or approximately 100 tiniea the amount of anthracite produced in 1907. If we estimated for the bituminous production one ton of coal lost for every two tons mined, the exhaustion to the close of 1907 has been 2.700,000,000 tons, which would leave still In the ground iu Pennsylvania a little less than 110.000,000,000 short tons of bituminous coal, 'lhe annual consumption and production of coal will no doubt continue to increase, but at the rate of production reached In 1907 the available supply in Pennsylvania would last about 4 90 years.?New York livening Post. Japan's Population. The population of Japan to-day Is Just about 50,000,000. t'he exact figures for 1907 are not yet Available, but the estimates Just published are based on the average growth of the last thirty years and may be taken as fairly accurate. In each of the live year periods for which figures are shown? over the past twentylive years, the population has Increased roughly speaking, by 2.000,000. To-day the entlir.ate is that there are 49,267,744 native born Japanese in the territory ruled over by the Mikado. Mucliine Counts Money. A machine that will count money has been produced by an Austrian inventor. The coins are thrown intc a funnel at the top of ihe machine and slide downward, lighting on a spiral track. This track has a raised border containing slits corresponding 1 to the size of the various coins. As each coin slides on the track It passes through the slit corresponding to its denomination and dropped into a basket. Children's Sleep. As a general rule the lad at school ; bet%veen the ap"s of 13 and 1G requires nine to ten hours sleep. Crowing boys need a large amount of ' sleep and when this Is denied them, neither their bodies nor their minds can develop properly. An English 1 authorl'.y points out that this lnck of hours of rest falls most heavily on the clever boys. The Overfed Husband. Prof. Carl von Noordon, addressing a number of prominent scientists 1 at Vienna on the subject of "Food and Nourishment," ared that the reason so many men begin to get r fat immediately after they have been r married is because their wives give I them their favorite dishes on every t possible occasion. < Germany's llnniers. Consul Ifft of Annaberg reports * that 600,000 hunting penults ar" issued every year In Germany. The government receives in fees some iiuiik liKt' fi.auv.uuu. rue annual > kill by the hunte-g is estimated at . 65,000,000 pounds, having a market i value of |6,500,000. Tin* Way to Man's Heart. "It's all right to talk about art, . but give us the woman who can tak^ ' a peck of appl. =, sonio flour and a * rolling pin and make a bunch of pies r that put a man In love w th even his a next door neighbor," suys the Loa i Angeles Express. r Where Ivy is lleneflchil. ^ Ivy growing over the walls of a - house renders tin structure cool In a summer an^ warm In winter. It 3 also keeps the walls dry. It is. however, very destructive to woolwork, forcing tho Joints upart. f The Untidiness ??f Suicide. 3 I always dress elaborately when ] 3 am contemplating sufeide; then bj - j the time the last carl is in Its ptac< j u seems a pity to do any thing un , tidy.?Anna McClue Sholl, "Th? t Greater Love." f Dangerous Employment. On the various car lines of Nev 9 York city. Including the .team sur - fare, subway and elevated roads I there Is an averago of 20 employe; ft Injured each day. 9 Somewhere. ' A man may be absolutely Jmpos slble but somewhere there Is sonn woman who doe.->u't think so. r He Knew. 3 "Are you In pain, my little man?* asked the kind old gentleman. "Mo,' answered tho boy, "the pain's li me.'?Indianapolis Journal. f ' ' ( ! USES LIMESTONE FOR FEEL. St. Louis Man Mixes It With Coal and Obtains Intense Hc.xt. Alexander Marshall of 8.t Loiris to'd recently how he bae solved an Important problem that may greatly reduce the world's consumption of coal. He claims to have discovered a method whereby the cost of coal by the use of limestone. In furnaces of any kind may be reduced to onehalf. The limestone exists In sufficient quantities In the IMasa BlutTs | along the Mississippi River to supply ( Alton with fuel for centuries to come. Marshall's scheme proves generally j successful. "You see. 1 throw In plenty of coal i t e\ unt n vml hnt flea In tlt?? fnrnono The former dark, black 8tuoke from the stacks began to be transformed Into a light, airy gas?carbonic acid gas released from the carbonate of lime. The heat was Intense and In a few minutes seemed as If the seams of the boilers would melt. "Coal alone never gave such a heat," remarked Mr. Marshall. "In a few weeks I will have a testing apparatus here for the purpose of Hading out exnetly the amount of coal and then the number of units in coal and limestone.* After the test the residue left was exhibited in the grate. There were no clinkers; the coal had evidently all been consumed. "The residue makes a good fertlllrer," Mr. Marshall said. "Of course the asnes are not so good as the limestone before burning, for that contains forty per cent more of carbon. The advantage lies in thj fact that use has already been ninilo of the coal. L>eft in the ground for a longer time, tue burned limestone will bring about exaotly the same effect us the pure limestone; that is, in correcting the acidity of the soil." The KternnI Feminine. "I'll tell you how 1 am saving money so that 1 can entertain my r.ends at dinner, Marie," said a New York stenograpuer to her chum ns they soared upward In the oillce elevator. "Whenever 1 am invited to dine out and do not have to pay for my own dinner, 1 put the amount 1 save in ray little iron bank. "However," she continued, with the particularly pleasant purr that sometimes precedes a scratch, "that pl*n > on't do you any good, will it dear, for you are never Invited out, are you?" Swiss School Wisdom. Whenever the natural temperature reaches a certain point In Switzerland the school^ are dismissed. This is on the theory that after a certain point of suffering has been reached by both teachers and pupils, the one cannot Impart nor the oilier absorb W instruction that would be of any value, and so the time spent in attempting it is wasted. First "Dress Suit" In Kansae. ^ The first dress suit thnt tuer came V to Kansas came with the "aid" from B I'.oston during the dry summer of i860. Home rich man in the east contributed It, having outgrown it, and a farmer named Paswell, in Kaploma township In this county, ploughed corn lu it all summer.? Atchison Globe. Friendship. A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions not words, are the true criterion ot the attachment of friends; and that the most liberal professions ol good will are very far from being: 1 the surest marks of it.?George Washington. What. Hurts Most. "I tell you,' said Siunlck, "men are 1 getting so deceitful theso days that you can't trust your best friends?" 1 "And whr*'s worse," interrupted Rorroughs, gloomily, "you can't get your best lriends to trust you.'?Philadelphia Pfess. Itivers and .Men. Mtt'.o rivers seem to have the lndollnablo quality that belongs to certain people In the world?the power ' of drawing attention without court 1 | ing It, the faculty of exciting Interest by their very presence and way of 1 ! doing .tiling .?Henry Van Dyke. .Straight Ilusiness OlVcr. An advertisement in an lOnRllab paper r- ads as fo.'.ows: "Stolen, a i watch worth 110. If the thief will i return it. he shall ho informed gratis, ? * where he nmy steal one worth two of It, and no questions asked." neyoiid Mans Ilruli/ation. Men 'make fun of the fashions, but even tho wisest of them do not [ realize that the style change In tho r Invisible clothes, with qua.sl-vistble s ribbons, just as often as they do for - | the more apparent ones. Sweetness by the Ton. Perfume manufacturers of Italy every year consume 1.S60 tons of f orange niossoms, ?s<i tons or roses, I 160 tons enoh or jasmine and violets and 15 tons of Jonquils, I j - City's Ilenefactors. No greater good can befall a city than when several educated men, thinking In the snmo way as to what Ik good and right, live together in ' It.?Goethe. In Manchuria, Siberia and North j China much uso is made of Chinese : brick tea, not as a beverage, but as a vegetable, boiled with rice and 1 I mutton.