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?? MY OLD HOME. It stands upon a sunny slope, ( And fronts the beechy hollow Where glossy vines have ample scope The wanton brook to follow; Witch-hazels drop thoir ruagio wands In search of golden treasure; And, lying in the silent ponds, Tbe trout find quiot pleasure. The oson torn thoir patient eves Upon me; the bay Ally Neighs softly in her glad surprise; The tender lambs are chilly, And nestle in my apron wide; The apple blooms are sifting In eddies on the laughing tide, To yonder river drifting. The snowy dogwood stars the copBe, FernB nod in froDded beauty, The violet has modest hopes To pay her fragrant duty, The arum darts a mottled tongue To Indian-pipe, and vying "With every flower the muse has sung Arbutus pale is sighing. Mna. Rich LIFE AT WEST POINT. ClnM Standing No Criterion by which to J U(l|(t' VI iTftllkltll J AUII1IJ* "It is impossible to judge of a person's military ability by bis standing at West Point," said an old cadet yesterday. "If a young fellow is a trifle careless and forgets to invert his wash bowl a few dozen times a year, and go to parade with a spOt on bis trousers, or with his boots unblacked, be may pile up demerits that will give him a poor place in his class, though he may have a good standing in his studies. The boys who avoid any kind of fun that might lead to black marks are far from favorites at West point. "One cadet, who spent the last two months of his cadet life in light prison, was found at graduation to have more than 100 demerits for the proceeding six months. He passed his examination in studies, but his deficiencies in discipline caused his discharge. Had it not been for them he would have stood second in a class of sixty. He managed to get an appointment in the army from civil life, and is now a Lieutenant of infantry. "The opportunities for being reported for breaches of discipline at West Point are very numerous. There are a dozen chances during the day for him to get a bad mark for being late. At the inspection of quarters the cadets gets demerits if he is found in his room coatless, if the floor is dirty, if his overcoat hnngs on the second nail in the alcove, or if the shell jacket has changed places with the night shirt. The wash bowl must be bottom up, the soap dish clean, the water pail full, and towels immaculate. "My roommate and I once smuggled into the barracks a basket of fruit which a friend had sent us. We placed the basket upon a board wedged far up the chimney, where it was to remain until we had a chance to invite a few friends to the feast. My chum was at the section room and I working at my mathematics, when a little flaxen-haired Lieutenant of cavalry came in and I stood at attention during his inspection. He found nothing out of the way and started to leave, when suddenly he stopped, 8niiTed a little, and said: " 44 'There is fruit in this room is there not?' <<4I decline to answer, sir,' said I. My refusal to criminate myself, a right that I was at perfect liberty to exercise, made him angry. He turned everything in the room upside down, until his attention was directed to the chimney, where the fruit was found. He ordered if +><*.? swl ! ? i ~ J1 1 i.1.. IV 1111 utu 1ULU 111C ^uuiuiiuuac, 11I1U IIIU next day, being called to the Commandant's office on business, I saw the last of the fruit, disappearing down the throat of the officer in charge." The Steeple Jack. DOW AN EXPERT MEMBER OF THE CRAFT TAKES DOWN A CHURCH SPIRE. [From the Chicago Tribune.] To a reporter Mr. Aubin confided a few of the mysteries attending his ascent to the top of St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal steeple, which explains pretty much how his work in general is accomplished. The total height of the steeple from the ground was 200 feet, the spiral portion which rose from the tower being 125 feet. Placing his block and tackle and his Bwing stage in a convenient position on the ledge of the tower, he climbed to the highest possible point in the inside of the spire from which he could gain an exit to the open air. Emerging from the interior, he winds a rope three times around the spire in a mysterious and unexplained manner, and fastens the two ends together. He then winds another rope once around the spire, fastens its ends together, and attaches thereto a belt which is bound around his body. This pari 01 me apparatus is designed to keep his body from falling back and afford general steadiness in the ascent. He then grasps the lower coil of the triple rope with one bund and the higher with the other, and walks along the centre rope, changing at every step his hand grasps on the other ropes. He thus winds his way around the spire, getting higher at every step, steadied meanwhile and kept in position by the rope to which the waist belt is attached. As he gradually gets higher the support rope tends to get loose, and this is remedied Vy_ drawing on it by the Kl.nb'l/.a """ uut,mvs ui uic wnuib-i>uii. vv nen a height is reached where the spire is sufficiently narrow to permit the climber to grasp it around with his arms he lets go his hold on the ropes and clambers to the top. Once there, by means of a small clothes-line he lets down a hammer, the claws of which seize the block and tackle on the tower below, and both are then raised to the top. A descent ia then made for the swing-stage, which ia attached to a hook of the block, and the steeple-jack is now ready to begin work. He starts in to remove the boards of the wooden spire about eight or ten feet from the top. and then saws off in sections the posts above The same process is carried on in the descent by block and tackle, until after e week's work the steeple is a thing ol the past.. !?&& t*-' '_/ - '*}. "V -.' ?*{' -j* V 1 r'- -V- ' t MlKSiWai:** -v.? T&lmage in the Pulpit. NO CIIAUCE IN TIIE NEXT WORLD. "If the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in tho place whore the tree falleth there it shall be." This was the text of Rev. Dr. Talmage Sunday morning, and he preached to a crowded congregation a sermon about the question whether the wicked will have another chance in the next world. In the course of his sermon he said:? "There is a notion in the minds of a vast number of people that there may be an opportunity in the next world jto ; correct ine misraKes 01 uns. i nat, nowovcr complete a shipwreck we may make of our earthly life, the shipwreck will be on a beach, so that we may walk thereon to a palacc. "The object of my sermon is to show that common sense declares that by a review of the past such expectation is chimerical. There are those who say that if an impenitent and unforgiven man enters the next world he will see the terrible disaster of his sinfulness and will refrain from any further sinfulness. There are ten thousand instances around us of disaster coming upon sinners of this world, but still they go on sinning. This is true of drunkenness. What is true of one sensual indulgence is true of all. Then the prospect of reform.in the next world is more improbable tbr.n here. Don't you recognize the fact that a man starts in this world with the innocence of infancy? In the other world he starts with the bad habits of a life time. If a man starts with comparative innocence and does not become good, is it possible that he can start with a load of sin and from that a seraph can be cvolutcd? There arc people who believe that a man can start in the next world with a dead failure and make a success of it. "But some people say we ought to have another chance because of the brevity of this life. My friend, do you know what made the ancient deluge a necessity? It was the longevity of the antediluvians. Those men were worse at the second century than they were at the first, and still more at the eighth than the first. They got so bad that the whole world had to be sunk into the tfiifnr fa Kn enrnnnrl nuvvi) *. v Iiv ov>! U| (L.V4 unvt V'lVUHVAl J UC" fore it was made fit for decent people to live on. (A murmur of suppressed laughter.) "I wish further to notice that another chance in the next world means the ruin of this. Now, suppose a wicked man was assured that after a lifetime o^ wickedncss he could fix it all right in the future; that would be to demoralize all society and the whole human race. There are many men who are kept within the limits of sin by their fears. A wickcd man with such a hope says, 'I'll overtake the righteous before long; I'll only be in heaven a little late; I'll come into heaven via Gehenna or via sheol!' Another chance in the next world means license and demoralization in this. My friends, why should you have another chance in the next world when you have declined innumerable chances in this? All heaven has been offered to us for a lifetime, and yet we importune God for another chance. There ought not to be another chance, and there can be no such thing as a posthumous opportunity." A Pretty Story. A very tough story which is vouched for, after a fashion, is going the rounds and given for whut it is worth. It is related that a Mr. S M was sitting in his backyard talking to some friends, when his attention was called to a hen with a brood of young chickens and a large rat that hud emerged from its hole, and was quietly regarding the young chickens with the prospect of a meal in view. As the rat came from its hole the house cat awoke from her afternoon nap and caught sight of the rat. Crouching low, she waited develojiements, and stood prepared to spring upon his ratship. At the appearance of his ancient enemy, the cat, the Scotch terrier, which had been sunning itself in the woodshed, pricked up its ears and quietly made for the place where the cat stood. At this moment a boy came upon the scene. The chickens were not cognizant of beinar watched by the rat, nor did the rat see the cat, nor the feline the dog, who had not noticed the coming of the boy. A little chick wandered too nigh and he was seized by the rat, which was in turn pounced upon by tho cat. and the cat was caught in the mouth by the dog. The rat would not cease his hold upon on the chicken, and the cat, in spite of the shaking she was getting from the dog, did not let go the rat. It was fun for the boy, and in high glee he watched the contest and the struggle of the victims. It seemed to him that the rat was about to escape after a time, and getting h stone he hurled it at the rodant. The aim was not good, and the stone struck the dog right between the eyes. .?.i ? ?a ? liic lUlliLl 1 t'lCilMJU UP ^Il|i Ull IIIU Ull and fell over dead. It had breathed its last before the cat in turn let go the rat, and turned over and died. The rat did not long survive the enemy, and beside the already dead chicken he laid himself down and gave up the ghost. The owner of the dog was so angry at his death that he is said to have come near making the story complete by killing the boy that killed the dog that shook the cat that caught the rat that bit the chicken in the y?rd on street.?San Francisco Pout. Great (!un?! It has just beea ?tit?roverid that in a number of lK.ir"' -nora'S ht Woolwich, j ....n?,i UU^iaUU) IliC *"? T.ltt l wcrii I ' 1IUVI UUiJ to h depth of three 01 'our inches, leaving a barrier of solid metal about-eight inches- deep between the friction tube and the powder charge. It has therefore been concluded?probajjly with sufficient reason?that they are not 4'fit for'service." But it is, nevertheless, the fact that they were received, inspected and parsed into aiore as "thoroughly < serviceable." An explanation is duo from the man who says that "they always do these things better abroad." "And how does Charlie like going to school?" kindly inquired n good man of a six-year-old boy. "I like gom' well enough," replied the embryo statesman, F ingenuously; "but I don't like stayin' after I get there." ' fifty1* ^ntr " v ' ' " THE WHITE INDIANS. White Aim Acqnlrins Indian UUihu by .Marrying Rod Women. [From the Milwaukee Sentinel.] An intelligent Indian recently, in reporting the marriage of an Indian octoroon to a white man, said: "If this process goes on, we will ?oon have the whitest race of Indiaus you ever did see." The accomplished daughter ol the old missionary, Dr. Robertson, married a full blood Creek. Her sister lias sccurcd money at the East to establish a seminary among tnc iun bloods, :m<l it has been a question where the seminary could be located to meet the object aimed at. Parties stepping from t lie train at Vanita, within the Cherokee nation, the only railroad crossing tlu Indian Territory, commonly ask, "Where are the Indians V On being tolel that those about them are Indians, they reply, "No. They are not Indians. These are white men.'' By marrying an Indian maiden, the white man secures all the rights of Indian citizenship. The "hcadright*1 o! the girl helps the matrimonial contract. To hunters for land, those looking l'oi wide ranges for cattle or agriculture, the temptation is very strong to take this short cut to obtain an extent of soil they could never hope to secure in any otliei way. The encouragement, given to the whites on the part of marriageable Indian females is quite observable. They think that by marrying white men they gain socially, and have a prospect of an easier and bcttcr-carcd-lor life. And they think rightly. In all depressed civilizations women have a hard time of it. The Indian men do not like, this constant raiding through their land and capturing the most attractive of tlieii race, whom they would woo and wed, but they cannot help themselves, ami retaliate by stealing the affections ol white girls anel marrying them. White gins entering nil Indian reservation arc very soon picked up; not so often by full blooded Indians, but after the process ol intermarriage has commenced, not so seldom by half-breeds, quadroons and octorooDB. White persons who marry into Indian blood almost invariably remain on Indian soil. The white man, in defense of Indian ideas of communal interests and Indian questions as relat ed to the whites, becomes more intensely an Indian than the Indians themselves. I think the fiercest defenders of the tribal systems are white men who by marriage have be come Indian citizens and arc making money out of it. The large crops oil Indian lands are invariably raised by white men. Four-fifths of the mechanics are white men, brothers-in-law tc the Indians. So on both sides the process of dilution of Indian blood goes on until it becomes very thin, white Indian habits and Indian characteristics still remain. The common notion among Indians if that Indian blood never runs out, and that wherever the slightest trace of il can be found, there the fullest rights ol land and privilege follow. For a mai: who has one-sixeeenth or one thirtysecond part of Indian blood, the clain for his right as an Indian is assured a^ strongly as for the full blood. A white man has married an Indian girl, a light blonde, of one-thirty-second Indiar blood. Ilis children will be one-sixtyfourth Indian. The family consists ol five members. On account of that one thirty-second Indian blood, that fatnil] of five, living on the border of the In dian land, is entitled, by equal divisior of the tribal land, to five times 90f acres, or 2,975 acres. Justice in Russia. During my four months' inquiry, says a visitor in Russia, it was revealed to nu hpw our Judges trample the laws undci i<>ot; how cynical ana wanton is the be havior of our police; how savagely brut? force is brought to bear upon the weal and friendless. I lived in an atmosphere of appalling groans and heart-breaking sighs. I liberated innocent persons wlu had been kept in prison by the executiv< several years after they had been publicl] acquitted in open court, and who hat been secretly tortured. * * * I con vinced myself that there was absolutely nothing in common between myself ant] the local authorities. A black and bottomless gulf lay between us. Theji trafficked wantonly with our laws, converting them into instruments of extortion. "Words lail to describe the impressions made upon me by my first visit tc the State prisons. Hundreds of humai: beings find a premature grave in thest loathsome dens. They die lingering deaths therein, . or emerge from then crippled for life. It was horrible to b< compelled to acknowledge that thcs< semi-animate, wasted, filthy, and dun colored objects, draped in a few rottei rags, were, after all, men and women The confined atmosphere, poisoned b] exhalations from every sort of abomina tion, absolutely stopped iny breath, s< rank and fetid was it. A Maine Character, The Lewiston, Jit., Journal say Miss Prcscott. a llallowell is maiden probably the most pronounced advocat of "woman's righto1' in Maine, aw dresses most like a man, and her od< costume forms a figure familiar to Ken ncbcc county people, and they long ag< were done staring at her, but she make the eyes of strangers open. She ha worn the "Bloomer" rig i01 a quarter o a century. When I saw her, a few day ago, she had on cranberry-'olored calic< trousers that reached to her ankles, i frock of the same stuff, that reached t< her knees, and over this a short sack o the same material which came down a far as her waist and was full of pockets On her head she had a broad-brimmet straw hat, which she took off as shi came into the car, showing that he short hair was parted a little to one side Her only ornament was a short woolei scarf, which was attached to the back o her ncck and hung down in two straigh ends. In the winter she wears mon'i woolen trousers and a man's hat. Shi is Very keen in business transactions, am has a pleasant face, indicative of mucl intellectual strength. She c oesn't asl odds of anybody. Ax untried friend is like an nncracked nnt -; - v ? "v"r> . . r "7 . " ? % STI"->Y OF TORNADO US. KRCIONH IN WHICH THESE I>ESTIMJCTIVE.8TOKMS PREVAIL. Thr Sisnnl Hervice Moon to bo Able Ifl (tivC TrilHt WOrt liv Wn?t.l.<~? ?? ?? ('(fining?How Tltey are Formed In the Upper Air. The phenomena of tornadoes, to the ( scientific study of which Lieutenant [ John P. Finley, of the Signal Corps, ( has devoted about eight years, ure now so well understood as to warrant the belief that trustworthy warnings may , soon be sent out to the inhabitants of | localities which may be threatened with disastrous visitations. Daily predictions are, in fact, being made at present, having begun lust year and continued ' during the tornado season, and resumed recently upon the return of Lieutenant Finley from an inspection tour in the , West. The percentage of verification is already gratifying, though the predictions arc as yet largely experimental, and are embodied in the daily published . bulletins of the Signal Ottice only when the conditions favorable to the creation | of tornadoes are very pronounced. In such cases "severe local storms" are noted as probable. To a reporter of the Asssociated Press Lieut. Finley recently described the known phenomena of tornadoes and the ends toward which present researches are directed. These storms have distinctly marked characteristics, and a?e bj- no means to be confounded with hurricanes, blizzards, cyclones, or nortli eastcrs. Their tracks are never more than a few hundred yards wide, and their forces arc generally exhausted by the time they have travelled a course of forty or fifty miles, though in this latter respect thev arc quite variable, some t having been traced by their lines of devastation more than 100 miles. Their rotary motion, which is greatest toward j the centre, sometimes reaches the enormous rate of 2,000 miles an hour, while tliliir forward ninvmnont nlwiii-o southwest to northeast, ordinarily does not exceed forty or fifty mile1. They are usually unaccompanied by electrical disturbances, and are believed to be uninfluenced by electrical conditions, though violent thunder storms sometimes follow them a few miles away. There is a distinct and curious relationship between the tornado and the general storm centre which is always apparent in their uniform relative positions, the tornado always occurring southcastwardly from the centre of low barometric pressure and at a distance of from one to six hundred miles. The shape of the general storm centre, the direction in which its longest diameter lies, and the appearance of the upper and lower clouds, enter as minor elements into the problem out of which the weather experts hope to work a complete system of tornado warning. ! The visits of the tornado are com' monly between the hours of 2 and G in t the afternoon. Its home is an area 1 which includes the whole of Iowa, all of ' Missouri except the southeastern corner, the northern corner of Askansas, the 1 northeastern part of Indian Territory, 1 eastern Kansas eastern Nebraska, ; I southern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin - und western Illinois. Here its season 1 extends from April to August inclusive. It is u frequent visitor to two other re' gions. One is a strip along the Gulf and south Atlantic coast, which takes ' in the central portions of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, with ' termini in Mississippi and North Caro' lina, over which its devastations arc confined to the months of January, February and March. The other includes a portion of southern and central Ohio, a large part of Pennsylvania, a small area ? in Maryland, a strip across New York, > and a corner each of Massachusetts and r Connecticut, where it is in season only . during the months of August and September. ; Tlie conditions which are favorable to i the creation of tornadoes are present ; when a cooj dry current of air meets a ) warm moist current, bringing wide exj tremcs both of temperature and humidity j into close proximity. The cold dry curl rents come from the north, but such as flow over the great lakes pick up in j their course both moisture and heat, und I ! their destructive forces are thus neu | trali/.ed. Those blowing from the far ' j northwest down over the dry plains of Manitoba and Dakota carry something - of their arctic characteristics far south, and if in their course they meet one of > the heat and vapor laden breezes comi ing up from the Gulf, the war of the eles mcnts begins at the point of contact. r The storm always has its birth in the 1 upper air, its I rst visible manifestation i being the ominous funnel-shape cloud, j whose pendant trunk is in form not un like that of an elephant. Within it the i furies are continod, and when and where its point touches the earth the path of f destruction begins. When the isotherms of the morning 3 signal map thow the advancing colums of air with their wide contrasts of temperature in proximity ; when the general storm centre is in that relative position which seems necessary to the cxer eise of its mysterious influence; when the pressure is iow toward the earth, ? disclosing a vacuum into which the de? fleeted currents may advance without * obstructions; when all these conditions * combine it should beoome but a simple " problem for the experts to determine 5 with reasonable probability from the s wind velocities whether the threatening 8 line of contact will have advanced to or * beyond the tornado's accustomed haunts 8 by the time of day when the powers of 0 mischief shall be loosed. ? The chief remaining unknown quanti0 ties in the problem consist of duta oi * time and place, a great store of which i* s already in hand, and only awaits diges* tion and tabulation, while fifteen liun* dred special tornado observers are gathB ering additional facts respecting current r storms, and from all available sources the stories of long-past tornadoes known 1 to the earlier settlers as windfalls. Thus, f while a host of interesting scientific fc questions respecting the origin of tor8 nadoes, the laws which govern them, J and their relationship to other meteor* ological phenomena remain to be an1 swered, the more practical questions at z to when and where they are likely tc appear seem to be advancing rapidly toward solution. The interests which are subject to <lis- ] aster from tornadoes are alive to the i importance of the work in progress. In- j tending purchasers of farms apply to ; I the Signal Office for information respect- i ? ing the liability ol their selected locality t 1 , to disaster. To such are sent the records < > of the past, as far as they are known. ! i i Whenever Lieut. Finley travels in pur- \ i suit of his studies, farmers and villagers J I press for information. To these he sa\s j i t hat nothing raised by the hand of man j ' above the surface of the earth can with- |! Muinu inc snock or the tornado. lit' ad- ! < vises them to seek thcr. dugouts upon 1 the appearance of the portontous signs i of disaster, and there await the passage j I of tlie storm. For their property he ad- . vises insurance, so that the losses of the 1 individual may be shared by his more j fortunate neighbors. The insurance i companies, which last year "wrote" | forty millions in tornado policies, are j eagerly awaiting the completion of a j map now in progress of making, which will, it is expected, greatly narrow the so-called tornado regions, and perhaps show that large portions of them have never experienced a disastrous storm, i Upon this map Lieut. Fin ley proposes to show from the complete records of sev! eral years, and the data as far as obtainable for many previous years, the average number of tornadoes for each locality per annum. Already, he thinks, the ; study of the material in hand has shown ' that there are comparatively narrow ' ! belts of country which are the habitual | paths of tornadoes. THOSE EVIL INFLUENCES. IIo>v IJ nd Com jinny NIiivh 1(n TIkiiinuikIh. [From the Youth's Companion. J Bad company slays its thousands; possibly wc must confess that bad literature ; slays its tens of thousands, as the more ; modern, secret and easiest means, but ; the following story of a young mini's tin- j timely end dates back a quarter of a I pentury, when very few bad books had i found their way to the quiet town in | northern New England where the victim had his home, but where the influences of evil thoughts, in a more primitive form, were the same. The boy, whom for the present we will call John Davis, grew up in good habits, in a good famiiy, cheerfully aiding his Ijarents in laboring for an honest livelilood, and attending school at least one term in the year, and church regularly. One would think there could have been nothing in the surroundings of his country home to mislead his imagination, but as in so many other "safe and sheltered" places, the evils that breed discontent were there. Living sufficiently near to be almost daily acquaintances were several men and bojs of loose morals, who were ready to corrupt him with evil stories, and put lawless desires into his mind. From hearing their stories of sin, at first witn dislike,- he became, before j he fairly grew to man's stature, an eager j listener. I Tlicvn niiiiiipintm nmcniwul liiu *" ??? made him dissatisfied with his home, and filled him with useless ambitions. Every little disappointment or privation or unpleasant incident at home was taken advantage of by those pretended friends to weaken his loyalty and nntural affections, and make him unhappy and ungrateful. Every occasion was seized to infatuate him with notions of 'his own smartness, and the possibilities of a forbidden freedom. The result was what too commonly follows when boys listen to bad advisers j ?a desire for adventure became a ruling j passion. At the age of seventeen John Davis ran away. j It must have been a sort of insanity that ; possessed him. What plan or plans the youth had in his mind, no one can know. ' It was in the d<*ad of winter wheii he i secretly packed a bundle of clothes, and | stole away one cold afternoon on snow- j shoes. Traveling across the lields, lie | escaped observation, ami a fresh snow, , that was already falling, covered his i tracks. That evening, at the supper-iable, his | absence excited concern, and when it was found that lie had taken away his clothes, the concern deepened into real alarm. Messengers were sent in every direction to make inquiries, and parties searched the surrounding country, but 1 the winter passed, and no hint came of the young man's whereabouts, or his fate. Why he should have left, and in such a way, a pleasant home, was the wonder of the town?until it was fully i known what wicked influences had been | at work upon him. Six months after his disappearance, some' hunters in a piece of woods not four miles from his father's house, found the disjointed bones of a human skeleton. Searching further, they picked up a snow-shoe, a boot, a jack-knife, and some shreds of clothing. The relics were easily identified. John Davis had met his death there alone. Pity tried in vain to hide the tragic particulars from the stricken father and mother. The cry of their hearts went up like the wail of old; their son was j "without doubt t:>rn in pieces." "He that walkcth with wise men shall I be wise, but a companion of fools shall | be destroyed." "Little foxes spoil the j vines," and it is not great crimes alone, \ but often the results of evil influences, j that mislead the imagination and ruin | 1 the soul, and the ways of such in- | 1 flucnce3 are often dark and mysterious, j j ! A Marseilles merchant who started : ! in business with $5,000 and became a j ' millionaire, left his property to a friend ; l with tli?> rnnrlitinn tViut lin oliAiild I buried with the sum of $5,000 in his | coffin. The executor bewailed the reek- i ; j less wftste of money, and was at his wits I end to know how to defeat the whimsi- ! ! cal clause in the will. At length a hap- | I py thought came. 4tI will put a check," he said. uinto the coffin for $5,000. It* will be duly honored when he presents it." A Gkeat Gun.?The immense gun constructed at Elswick for the British Government has a total weight of 200 tons, being considerably in excess of previous undertakings. Its length is stated at some forty-four feet, though with an extreme diameter at the breech of. but five feet six inches, a very elongated | chase or barrel tapering down to twenty- ; eight inches, with a slight swelling at' the muzzle. ? ' <V " ! ^?a??? Great Salt Lake. Great Suit Lake is in fact not a branch of the sen at all, but a mere shrunken remnant of a very large fresh water lake system, like that of the still 3xisting St. Lawrence, chain. Onco^ ;ipon a time, American geologists, say, i huge sheet of water, for which they have even invented a definite name, Lake Bonneville, occupied a far larger valley among the outliers of the Rocky Mountains, measuring IJOO miles in one direction by 1?0 in the other. Besidethis primitive Superior lay a great second shed?an early Huron?(Lake Laliontan the geologists call it) almost as l>id and equally of fresh water. By and by?the precise dates are necessarily indefinite ?some change in the rainfall, unregistered by any contemporary, made the waters of these big lakes shrink and evaporate. Lake Lahontan shrank away like Alice in Wonderland, and there was absolutely nothing left of it; Lake Bonneville shrank till it attained the diminished size of the existing Great Salt Lake. Terrace after tormf-o rnnnimr in long parallel lines on the sides of tlie Walisatch Mountain? around, mark the various levels at which it rested for a while on its gradual downward course. It is still falling indeed, and the plain around is being gradually uncovered, forming the white, salt-encrusted shore with which all visitors to the Mormon city are so familiar. Hut why should the *vater have become briny ? Why should the evaporation of an old Superior produce at last a (2rent Salt Lake ? Well, there is a small quantity of salt in solution even in the freshest of lakes and ponds, brought down to them by the streams or rivers, and, as the water of the hypothetical Lake Bonneville slowly evaporated, the salt and other mineral constituents remained behind. Thus the solution grew constantly more and more concentrated, till at the present day it is extremely saline. Prof. Geikie (to whose works the "present paper is much indebted) found that lie floated on the water in spite of himself; and the under sides of the steps at the bathing places are all encrusted with short stalactites of salt, produced from the drip of the bathers as they leave the water. The mineral constituents, however, differ considerably in their proportions from those found 111 trim, lakes of marine origin, and the point at which the salt is thrown down is still far from having been reached. Great Salt Lake must simmer in the sun for many centuries yet before the point arrives at which (as cooks say) it begins to settle. London Horse Car Drivers. Men who know a little about horses, fc and of intelligence and integrity sufficient to act as tramway guards, must be a good deal more plentiful in the labor market than domestic servants are, or they would not be called upon to slave through such terribly long hours. It seems to be a perfectly well authenticated fact that the London tramcai drivers are often compelled, week in, and week out, to be on duty for sixteen hours a day, with no interruption of the toil on Sundays, exposed to all sorts of weather, and allowed no regular hours for their meals. This is white slavery, indeed, and it is hardly wonderful that 1 an agitation has sprung up on the subject, which, it may be hoped, will tnnpli tl\P nrmcoi??nr?/?e if it rlnoc n?-\f mnlf the hearts of the directors of the tramway companies. As to the neglect of any provision for meal hours, the truth of the charge is obvious to every passen- J gcr. A car will stop a moment at u I street corner, where no passenger is to 1 be set down or taken up. A bright child who has been waiting will dart from the pavement, needling her way ' through the s'reet traffic, and, with a smile of recognition, hand a little bundleto the driver or guard. During the rest of the journey the poor man will be seen munching the food thus provided foi him. The tram-car drivers are a remarkably patient and, considering all they have to bear, a wonderfully goodtempered class of men. It is a pity that the market for their labor should be so PAtll al/tf AV/nvt Arlrn/1 tliof tlin ff ?? * \* n which hiis been recommended would be absolute folly. Domestic servants, on. the other hand, seem to be difficult to procure. One of tlio agencies advertises a reward of a jrolrt watch to every girl: hired through their office who can be induced to stay in her place for two years. A Hindu Funeral. fl A bed of straw was spread close by I the bank, ar.d the corpse laid, upon it. I The body was wrapped from head tc fl foot in a red cotton cloth. Then mot* straw was piled upon the body and c ^ very little ?vooci upon tint, alter wincfe one of the relatives touchel a lighted match to the straw. The mout i sat down upon their heels in a gmup to windward of the pile, and chatted sociably while they watch to it burn. The wind was strong, and it burned fiercely for about three min 'Its, and then very moderately for about ten more, by the end of which time the fuel was all consumed. Then the mourner* arose, dipped water from the river, and drowned out the fire; the corpse lay tLore ?1most intact, ana we all eaw that t was a. woman. The limbs were dm?ru ??o and the face contorted, the liair wa? burned away, and the entire remains were black uiiu juueous, yet onty me skid aaa nair was burned. Preafn'ly -i.o mourner. put n stou*. atlrk under the neck, another put another stick under the hips, and at the word the carcass was tumbled . over the edge of the bank, and fell into* H| the water with a loud splash. A few HI yards further down it reappeared at thesurface for a moment; upon which one of the cremators, rcached out with his. stick and pushed it under, after which we saw it .no more. Not more than teifc yards below that we saw the heads of two large gavials that floated at the surface, watching the proceedings With evident interest. * 'My love," said a wife, fondly; "an* I not to have that beautiful dress pattern I spoke of ?" "Be patient, my*' dear, "he replied; "I will only say there isk surprise in store for you." 4'In store for me!" she snapped; "that's where it will stay. A real surprise would omething at home." >