The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, July 27, 1886, Image 2
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IP*?
"Tmexican meal
?ats?bles and Drinkables at a
Wayside Inn.
Bread Like Oannon Sails, and Native
Traits Washed Down with "Pulque,"
p ' ?
At an Indian village of unpronounceable
name, says a letter from Mexico to
the Philadelphia Record, we stopped for
luncheon, in its only public resting-place
?a typical faudita, which is Spanish for
'little restaurant." The earth floor of
this wayside inn was neatly swept, and
its whitewashed inner walls hung with
pictured saints wreathed with gaudy paper
roses. Rickety-legged benches
were ranged (immovably) around the table;
and the only two chairs the establishment
afforded?which were kept as
articles of vcrtu, of little actual use to
their owners--were brought for the accommodation
of I03 Americana8, who
> \ V
; ' ? were suspected of not wishing to conform
to the rural custom of squatting upon
a petate (straw mat) spread on the
floor. The windows, of course, were
guiltless of glass, and had the usual iron
bars before them, but I observed that the
rude baru-door-likc shutters were of solid
Si* '
mahogany?a woo3, by the way, which
Ik cheaper in many parts of Mexico (because
less rare) than common pine. The
great oaken door, with its enormous
hinges and lock like the breastplate of a
mediaeval warrior, was quaintly carved?
probably not less than a century ago by ^
some long-forgotten artist. There are J
many thing* in this wonderful country
which are calculated to arouse the spirit ^
of highway robbery in the breast of the
most honorable tourist. I longed to tear
that door from its hinges and run off with ^
it, or to seize from the shoulders of the
master of the mansion his zarape?a native
blanket of softly-blended oriental j
hues, with the national cscutchcon in
the centre (a big eagle perched upon a 1
cactus bush, with a serpent in his beak)
?which would make a most ravishing
portiere.
Our refreshments were speedily served 1
upon a well-scoured table to which the ^
addition of a cloth would have been an
incongruous superfluity, and the menu
Was as follows: Stewed frejolea (red ]
beans), with our choice as to *'seasoning"?whether
we would pour rancid
goat's milk over them or molasses from '
the Chinese sugar-cane ;small black loaves i
cf Mexican broad that would have made 1
excellent cannon bails, of course without I
butter, which does not "grow" in this <
country; watercresses and fresh olive oil, I
from which we compounded a salad fit i
fbr an emperor's table; wild honey and i
tewed apricots and a basket of ripe tarn- ]
rinds, pomegranates, figs and mangoes, j
arranged in their own green leaves, as i
Che poorest of these people have a taste- i
ful habit of doing. The inevitable 1
pulque was at hand in a pig-skin "bot- i
He" which retains the perfect shape of ]
the animal, minus head and tail, and i
gurgled an approving note, alarmingly j
, like life, while its contents were being \
emptied into our mugs. These so-called i
"pig-skins" arc really the undressed hides '
of sheep, with the woolly side turned in. ,
Nothing else is considered so good for ]
holding the popular beverage, though ,
t we are told that a skin of small size costs
lot less than $2.50, and lasts little more ,
than a month, as the constant fermentation
going on insido soon cats the wool
off. In this volcanic country the traveler
must eschew water, or suffer serious \
consequences, and one must drink some- ,
tiling besides the bitter Mexican coffee;
therefore we long ago made up our minds
to pulque?the cheap drink of the na- ]
tives?-and pulque it is, every day of our (
fives at dinner. I confess, how ver, that <
it required considerable effort to educate (
ourselves to it, and it was only accom- :
plished by resolutely fixing our thoughts ,
Upon that glorious product of the year? ,
the century plant?from whence it came,
and by repeatedly assuring one another
that the thick, white, nasty liquid resembles
home buttermilk, though we
know it to be an outrageom libel on j
northern dairies. But, even now, 1
Betsy and I sometimes amuse ourselves 1
I? ..... '
iu tcisuro moments striving to computc '
the quantity of sheep's wool which wc
must have absorbed in the course of the
last two years, since the contents of each 1
alleged pig-skin coutains a good deal of
it?"in solution," so to speak. 1
Immediately following this dainty repast
the mistress of the fondita produced
her private cigarette holder and tendered
OA the customary courtesy with the air of
a princess, an act of kindly hospitality
which we would not for the world have
wounded her feelings by refusing.
ss ? =
Changed His Mind.
' Don't you tliink we had better send
dear Clara abroad to complete her musical
education?1' asked Mrs. Mullcthead of
her lord.
"And have me go to the poorhouso?
Hot by any means," ho growled in rep'y
An hour later?Clara vainly trying to
yeach the attic of the scale to piano nceompaniment.
? '. "I do think dear Clara should be sent
abroad to develop her musical talent,"
ventured Mrs. Mullethead again.
"Send her away by all means,", was
the still more ungracious response; <fbet
ter that I should become a pauper than a
lunatic.?Tut Bit*."
>ivv j :' ' > >. ,
mm'
' -v. < v^fea
Types of the Cowboys.
The steadfast, most reliable, and hardest-working
cow-boys are those who aro
bom in tho cattle regions, or the oldtimers,
who have lived there so long that
they have forgotten tho manners and
customs of a better civilization. There
are cowboys following tho trails who aro
uot yet in their teens, and there are many !
who are crowding on to seventy. Some of |
these old boys are as erect in the saddle :
and throw their lassoes as unerringly as
any of the younger ones, but others aro
bent and wrinkled, and should never go
on a range. It would kill them to leave
tho camp, though, and many of these
old-timers will dio in the saddle. I
know boys not yet fifteen, who aro expert
in running a steer on a round-up, or
in manipulating stampeded cattle, as any
Mexican that ever threw a lasso. Tho
Mexican cowboy, you know, is generally
regarded as the master of the horse and
lasso, and it is the custom for people to
say, "Ho is as smart with the rope as a
Mexican."
Taking it all in all, I think the white
cowboy is superior to the Mexican. The
white man is cool, patient, and of better
judgement. If a Mexican runs a steer
for any length of time lie gets wild, and
soon uses up his horse. He is apt to injure
the cattle in his hot mood.
Besides that, the Mexican is superstitious
and when his religious fears come upon
him the cattle in charge are a secondary
consideration. I have known a herd of
3,000 cattle in charge of Mexicans to bo
stampeded in a thunder-storm because
the Mexicans were afraid of the thunder
und lightning, and threw themselves
From their horses, stripped themselves
ind lashed their naked bodies with cacI
bus as a penance for some sin, while the
herd rushed wildly away in all dircc- j
tions, and hundreds were lost. It is not
an uncommon thing for Mexican cowboys
to stop on the tiail to punish themselves
for their sins. Frequently their
wild cries cause a disastrous stampede
if the cattle in their charge. I have
seen these Mexicans walk barefooted for
rods over patches of prickly cuctus,
while a companion followed them and
lashed their naked backs with the same
thorny plant.?New York Sun.
How Stanton "Tapped" the Telegraph.
Major Johnson, of Washington, who
was Secretary Stanton's confidential clerk,
?aid the other day: 4 'About one of the
3rst acts of great importance which
3tanton did was to establish the headquarters
of the telegraph of the United
States in the War Department. This
meant that all the telegraphic communications
with relation to the war should
pass directly into the hands of this amazing
Secretary. At his orders I made a
record of every telegram from and to
the President) from and to all the Secretaries,
from all the generals in the field,
to any and everybody. A record was
kept of all the dispatches sent by General-in-chief
Halleck, by General Grant,
and all the commanders of the army of
the Potomac, and by General Sherman
and all the generals of the army of the
West. The dispatches of the Secretary
of the Navy and all the movements of
tlis gunboats were put on record, and all
cipher dispatches received at the War
Department deciphered by General Eckr?rt.
and rprnrrlml Kir mn "Pir/ifrr nti?n !?
the country was tapped and its contents ?
run into the War Department and made
a mattei of record if it in any way related
to the war or was in cipher. The telegraph
operators of the department, under
this censorship, became the most expert,
probably, in the world, and they
now hold high positions in their profession.
They were Bates, Tinker and
Chandler. Some of the dispatches in
cipher intercepted were from corps commanders
in the field relating to gold
speculations in New York."?Washington
Star.
Disastrous Somnambulism.
A rather amusing incident occurred
recently in Hog: mountain district. A
gentleman who is in the habit of walking
in his sleep had a dream. He dreamed
that he saw a fine covey of partridges
running along toward an old house and
then go in. Thinking this a good opportunity
to capture them, he quietly
slipped along until he got to the door,
when he suddenly jumped inside and
closed the door. What was his astonishment
to discover a mad dog in there,
which rushed at him at once. His only
chance of escape was to jump through a
window, and through he went with a
bound. When he awoke he was lying
outside the house on the ground, having
jumped through a window iu his bedroom
and carried the sash with him. He
was badly bimised and his leg severely
cut bv the class ns hn thprtnrrii ?
* O
Gwinnett* (Georgia) Tier all.
Insect Sense of Smell*
In an extensive series of experiments
by Prof. Graber, insects and many other
invertebrates perceived odors much more
quickly and acutely than the vertebrates
tested (birds and reptiles). The antennae
proved to be not the only organs of
smell in insects, although these appear to
be essential to the perception of some
fine odors. In some cases the palpi of tho
mouth organs are more sensitive than the |
antennae, but perception of smell through
the stigmata or respiratory organs is not |
rapid nor important,
. -
" v;> ' ' ' > y- :kvs
In the Eagle's Caere.
A crowd was gathered around the cage
in which the eaglosare confined inCentrat ,
Park, the other day watching a few dar- |
ing English sparrows that wore picking J
up tho leavings of the eagles' dinner, j
The engles sat majcstic and silent upon !
the make-believe trees, as though lost in |
deep reveries. Suddenly a vulture dart- |
od like a flash of lightning from one of ,
...mi- U, A J -1 !
lug |IUILUU0 UUU SWUUJJl'U UUWI1
upon one of our own bald-heads with
fiendish screams. The bald head answered
with screams of terror and hastily
retreated into a dark corner of the cage.
The women and children drew back from
the cagc in fear, and even the men exhibited
a desire to bo beyond tho reach
of Sir Vulture's sharp talons.
The vulture stood silent on the bottom
of the cage for a moment, while the
other eagles moved uneasily on their
perches. Then the condor, who had
been sitting on the highest branch of all,
gave vent to a shriek almost as deafening
as the whistle of a locomotive, and
dropped down upon the vulture. In a
moment feathers flew in every direction.
All the eagles screamed in unison, and i
the little birds in the other cages crouclicd
mute and trembling in the corners.
The gray-coated park policeman who
came rushing to the cagc shouted to the
keeper,and in a moment the man who had
charge of the eagles came running up.
lie seized a pail of water from behind
tho cage, and, getting as close as possible
to the fighting birds, he doused
them with it. The cffect was instantaneous.
The fight was all gone out of
them, and they crawled away to different
corners dripping and dejected. The
condor had had much the best of tho
fight. He was bleeding in only a few
places, while his opponent was covered
with the sanguinary fluid.
"The eagles fight very hard sometimes,"
said the keeper to the reporter.
4'Water is the only thing that will stop
them, and even that doesn't always work.
If they are very hot wo separate them
with poles, and then yank them into a
tank of water, where we duck them until
all the fight is gone out of them.
"The condor is boss of the roost, and
none of the others care to dispute his
supremacy. The vultures come next as
fighters, and the bald head is at the tail
of the list. Tho vultures can't stand
cold water, though. In winter we liavo
to take them inside, while the other eagles
rather enjoy the cold.
"When we want to have some fun
with the eagles we throw live rats at
them. Ordinarily they are fed with raw
meat, but live rats are a delicacy to them.
You never know how terrible their talona
are until you sec them tear a rat to
pieces. They pounce upon rats like cats
and in a jifTy they have been torn into
shreds. ? The rats go into the other bird
cages of their own accord and steal thi
eggs, but they give the eagles' cage a
wide berth."
"Do the eagles hurt one another in
their.fight0''" inquired the reporter.
"Oh, yua. If they were not separated
they would fight until one or the otbei
was killed."?Nets York Sun.
Notriment in Food.
Fat pork contains a large amount of
nutriment.
Fish is less nutritive than meats, but
five pounds of nutriment being obtained
from 100 pounds of material. It usually
contains about 5 per cent. Salt mackerel
is among the most nutritive and
flounder 5s one of the poorest.
In a pint of milk aud a pint of oysters
there is the same amount of nutriment,
although the oysters contain more protein
and the milk more fat. Cheese
contains a large amount of nutrition.
Butter has 87 1-2 per cent, of nutritive
matter. The pseudo-butter, oleomargine,
has about the same value in food
properties.
The breads representing the carbohydrates
contain about 33 or 35 per cent,
of water, flour from 9 to 13 per cent.,
corn and maize meal still more water.
They have less protein and more fat;
oatmeal has, on the contrary, more protein
and less fat. In general, this clas9
contains most all nutritive material and
but little water.
Wanted to Change Places.
The Washington Capital tells this
story of a little fellow who wanted to
change placcs, notwithstanding the cxaltcred
inducements offered to remain.
During the terrific thunder storm that
came over the city last week a little
eight-year-old boy living in the northern
part of the town was awakened, and
called his mother, who was sitting in the
drawing-room down stairs. She sat
with him a while, and told him ho need
have no fear, because God took care oi
little boys, and would not let the lightning
hurt thom. "But God is away up
in heaven," said tho child. "Yes," re?
plied the mother, "but he is here, too.
He is staying right in tho room with you.
Ho can protect you, but I cannot. As
long as God is here you need not be
j afraid." The child was quieted, and
I the mother left him and went back tc
the drawing-room. Pretty soon then
came another deafening clap of thunder,
when the boy, crawling out of bed, came
to the head of the stairs and called again;
"What do you want George?" asked hii
mothtr. "You come up here and staj
with God a whilo, and let me go dowi
itairs," was the reply.
'511 :;vy' "T: *"' ' '
. - - ? A
Theory of Soap. ;
A new theory has been started with
regard to the use of soap on the face,
j Women who for years have been careful
I of their complexions would never, under
| any circumstances, wash the face in soap,
as it was said to roughen aud coarsen
the skin. Now, this idea is exploded,
und a well-known physician in the metropolitan
profession recommends his women
patients to use it freely uvcry flay, lathering
the skin well. Of course, a fine,
oily and pure soap is hiost desirous. This
being secured he states that none but tho
most beneficial results will be affected
by his method of improving the skin. J
IIo holds?with considerable plausibility *
?that the pores of the face become as *
much clogged by grease and drrt as the
hands or any other portion of the body, i
And if soap is considered a necessary pu- <
rilier in the bath, its n-cds must bo felt i
equally on the face. By an abundant 1
and regular lathering the facial pores, he '
claims, arc kept open, free from the clogging
matter that produces unsightly (
black heads, acne, pimples, and a pure, <
healthy, fresh and brighter complexion ?
is the resultant. Not mincing matters, j
he says that the trouble with most women
who have sallow, pasty skins is that
from year's end to year's end they never
have a really clean face.
An ar.iclc published in Good Housekeeping
says: "Hands kept dirty arc
never smooth and white. Absolute
cleanliness is necessary. Many people
who do not work seldom wash their
hands. The day's accumulation of dirt
is allowed to remain on the hands all
night. Upon rising the hands arc washed
in cold water; then the possessor wonders
why when she docs no work her
hands do not look any better. The
hands and face should always be washed
in warm soap suds before going to bed.
White soaps are safest. Highly scentcd
and colored soaps are almost invariably
made from rancid and ill-smellinc: fats.
After drying them thoroughly use a few J
drops of mixed glycerine and camphor,
which the druggist can prepare for you. (
Drop into the palm of your hands and ]
rub well, and this will be all that will be 1
necessary to show decided improvement." ]
When you rise in the morning do not use '
soap on your face, but bathe it well in *
warm water. Do the soap-scrubbing 1
only at bedtime. ? Brooklyn Eagle.
The Carious Young Lobster,
The young lobster when first hatched
measures about a third of an inch in
length and looks like a small shrimp. <
The eyes are bright blue, and upon its i
body appear marks of orange and pink, (
making them very conspicuous. They ]
are good swimmers during the first stage? i
of their growth, before their claws and (
other awkward appendages are devel- 1
oped, and indulge in the most extrava- <
gant antics in the water, turning somer- <
I saults and going through other acrobatic 1
feats near tho surface. Nature docs not
provide them with any yelk-sac, and the <
little ones begin feeding voraciously as i
soon as hatched, If they are not fur- i
nished with proper food they attack one another
with cannibalistic intent. Th< '
young lobsters in the aquaria at Woodi 1
Holl are fed upon their mothers, who
are chopped up line for the purpose. In
nature it is supposed that myriads o!
the little lobsters upon rising to tho surface
after leaving the eggs are consumed
by predaceous fishes. Dr. Ryder, whe
is investigating the little lobsters at
Woods Holl, writes that he has found
among them some curious monstrosities,
such as twins with their heads fused, a
central cyclopean eye and tails separate.
The lobster grows by stages or "molt."
The first molting, as observed at W oods
Holl, takes place about five days after
leaving the egg.?New York Herald.
From the West Indies.
In olden times George Smith was 8
well-known trader in the village ol
Wayne. All storekeepers sold rum at j
that day, and Smith peddled a lot of it. j
lie drew it from a hogshead, in which o t
plug took the place of a modern faucet. .
A piece of leather under the plug
6haped the course of the stream. Some
of Smith's customers occasionally bantered
him about watering his rum, but g
Smith always good-naturedly replied a
that he never put water enough in it to
hurt 'em. 3
One morning a customer came iri very
early and nsked for a quart of the liquor, j
It happened that the rum was low in the f
hogshead. Smith canted it up, drew I
out the plug and only a few drops came, t
but a frog jumped through the hole and 1
hopped around as lively as ever. c
"Gosh 1" said Smith, "that's the first r
West India frog I ever saw."?Leioiatan 1
(Me.) Journal. i
Exciting a Cow. 1
"Never under any circumstances do any- 4
thing to excite a cow while milking her,"
sagely remarks an agricultural paper.
L^uito ngnt, quite rignt?we never ao.
It never really seemed to bo necessary
to do anything to excite a cow while we 8
were milking her. When a cow begins
to kick with both feet hard enough to
knock the hoops off a tin pail and then
puts her tail up in the air and goes racing
around the edge of a ten acre field
with a cloud of dust following her we
don't see how any sano person could
think for a momeut of shooting off fire
works or doing anything elaa to excite
ier.?EtUUine {Dak.) EM.
CLIPPINGS FOB THE CUIilOUS.
A large number of women work in the
nines in England, and it is a curious b?
act that as a class tlicy seem to bo ir<
tronjrer and healthier than the avnr.iom k.
W ? ? O voman.
lu
Remains of wheat seeds aro found in tl:
he ruins of the houses of the lake dwelors.
The Chinese have records of its V(
ailturc as early as 2700 n. c. Compared b
vith wheat, rye is a modern plant. w
A young man is living in Nebraska
vho is twenty-six years old, thirty-seven Ul
nelies high, and weighs but fifty pounds,
lie has lived at his present home for y<
wenty years unbeknown to more than b;
ifty people. ?1
The driving-wheels of the first loco- ^
notive engine of New York and the third R*
)ne constructed in America are interest- 11
r
ng relics. Each wheel measures fiv?
"eet in diameter and weighs 850 pounds.
The workmanship is very crude. ?]
During the later periods of Roman his. ^
;ory the men and women rcclincd at
-heir repasts; but the Greeks considered
such a posture indecorous for females; a
,heir women, therefore, either sat at aseiv
ri
irate table or upon one end of the couch
in which the men only reclined. ^
in tne Santa Paula Valley, Ventura
bounty, Cal., many wild animals arc
:aught and killed by getting into small ^
itreams of thick mineral oil or pitch,
.vhich flow from the mountains during
ihc summer down ravines and river beds
.vhich are water courses in the wet sea- ?
c
ion.
g
In Italy a living scorpion is often jj
Iroppcd into a wide-necked glass bottle
containing a few drops of olive oil of the v
iucst quality. More oil is pourad on initantly
until the bottle is filled and the
icorpion dead. In its struggles to free
tself it ejects all its poison into the oil, ^
ind this poisoned oil then becomes a ^
sovereign remedy for the sting of a
scorpion. ^
The ancient'Britons had a great rcver- Q
;ncc for running streams, trees and serpents.
The tree they most honored was
;ho oak, and, still more than the oak,the I *
11
nistletoe which grew on it. Whenever
i plant of it was found on an oak tree
;here was a grand ceremony. A solemn ^
procession was formed, two white bulls
tverc sacrificed and the sacred plant cut ^
with a gold knife. ^
Tho Alaska Islands.
Alaska is a great idand region. One
>f its archipelagoes is three hundred
niles from north to south and about J
jighty miles wide. It contains from s
1,000 to 5,000 separate islands, and tho a
iggregate area of these is more than 14,- o
)00 square miles. Six hundred miles u
further west there is another group which t
contains over 5,000 square miles, and the c
;otal area of tho islands of Alaska is cl
argor than the State of Maine. li
Alaska has the highest mountain peaks t
Df the United States. It has volcanoes c
and glaciers, and many of these volca- n
iocs are in active order. The glaciers of s
tVlaska arc finer than those of the Alps, t
There is one that extends fifty miles to e
;hc sea, and there ends abruptly in a r
perpendicular ice wall three hundred a
feet high and eight miles broad. Thir- s
ty-five miles above Wrangell, on the Sit- t
tine River, between two mountains n
3,000 feet high, their is a glacier forty a
miles long and four or five miles across i
it the base. It is from 500 to 1,000 feet t
aigh, and there are other glaciers through- c
iut the territory from which great blocks
containing hundreds of tons of ice are t
constantly breaking off and falling into n
ihc sea. v
The rivers of Alaska are among the a
inest of America. The Yukon is seven- i
:y miles wide across its five mouths, and o
it some points along its lower course one p
bank cannot be seen from the other, a
For the first thousand miles it is from a
>no to five miles wide, and in some t
places it is twenty miles from bank to j
sank. It is navigable for 2,000 miles, I
ind is computed to be 3,000 miles long, d
? Cletelaiul Leader. t
n
Getting a Quarter's Worth.
This is the time of the year when the
imall boy tears around to tho grocery
itorc and says to the grocer:
"llcv. Mister, can't I carry narmls fur O
' - J X
rer fur a while?" tl
And if the grocer gives the small boy a d
ob, the small boy yanks the parcels n
iround at a very lively gait until he a
thinks he has earned a quarter. Then tl
he grocer pays the quarter, and the small b
)oy hastens to the circus, filled with a b
lesire to learn the chestnut while it is tl
ipe. And having arrived at the circus, tl
le puts the quarter in his pocket, steals st
n under the canvas, and pays the quar- 01
er to stay for the bad minstrel show af- ^
,er the circus.?Puck vc
? hi
The Beo Clock; C
A new French clock contains a novel !N
ipplication of the magnet. The clock ai
ippoars like a tambourine with a circle w
>f flowers painted on its parchment y?
lead. Around tho circlo crawls two tl
>ees, the largest requiring twelve hours 01
;o completo tho circuit, while the smaller H
nnkcs it every hour. Tho flowers rep- w
esent hour divisions, and the bees, tc
which are of iron, are moved by two g<
nagnots carried, just under the mem- in
>rane, by the clockwork inside the tam- tl
Murine. ?
CIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
The thickness of tlio earth's crust is
jlieved by Monsieur Fnye, the French
^ologist to bo greater under oceans than
incatli continents, because ihe earth's
;at has always radiated more freely
lere.
Salts of copper?usually regarded as
jry poisonous?have been administered
y a French chemist to dogs and rabbits
ithont serious elTccts, either from large
dscs or from a long continued regular
30 of the substances.
Surveys made during the past two
sars have shown that the river Rhone
as cut for itself a channel in the bottom
[ Lake Geneva, through which it flows,
etween parallel banks, like an ordinary
,ream on the earth's surfaco. The Ilhine
lakes a similar passage through Lake
onstance.
An instructive display at the newlypened
colonial exhibition in London is
lat of the rice of India, which includes
m thousand different varieties, all be nging
to a single species. All colors
re represented, from black to pale yel>w
and white. Two species of wild
ice are known, only one of which closel
resembles the cultivatad varieties.
On the Trans-Caspian railroad in Rusia,
now approaching Merv, it is claimed
>??- a>nc\c\ ?:i- i- ' "
mi a.uKju.u .j>oyj\j units is ueiug saveo
y the use of ozokerite, or mineral wax,
5i" ties. "NVhen purified, melted and
lixed with limestone and gravel, the
zokerite, which is abundant in the viinity
of the railroad, produces a very
ood asphalt. This is pressed into shape
1 boxes, and gives ties which retain
tieir form and hardness in the hottest
feather.
The botanic gnrdens of the world,most
f them scientific in character, arc reortcd
to number 197, of which Gerlany
has 34, Italy 23, France 20, Great
tritain and Ireland 12, West Indies six
nd the United States five. More than
alf arc supported by government and
nly five per cent, by private enterprise.
A novel locomotive is to be built for
rial on one of the French railroads. See:ig
that big driving wheels were good
or speed, the inventor proposes to build
locomotive with six coupled wheels
1-4 feet in diameter. The tender and
oaclics are to have wheels of the same
[intensions, and the calculation is that
with such a train a speed of from 72 to
8 miles an hour can be obtained.
Quickness of Perception!
The following story from the P.nn
![?nthly is related of Agassiz, and it is
ufficiently characteristic of this remarkbly
accurate observer to have the merit
f probability. We are told that once
ipon a time the professor had occasion
? select an assistant from one of his
lasses. There were a number of candi
ijites for the post of honor, and finding
limself in a quandary as to which one
ic should choose, the happy thought ocurred
to him of subjecting thrco of the
lore promising students in turn to the
implc test of describing the view from
he laboratory window, which overlookd
the the side yard of the cottage. One
aid that he saw merely a board lence
nd a brick pavement; another added n
tream of soapy water; a third detected
he color of the paint on the fence, noted
. green mould or fungus on the bricks,
nd evidences of "bluing" in the water,
tesides other details. It is needless to
ell to which candidate was awarded the
oveted position.
Houdin, the celebrated prestidigitaor,
attributed his success in his position
nainly to his quickness of perception,
k'liich, he tells us in his entertaining
lifnhmrrronliir lio ooAiiirn/l Kir
0 l"'J ) "V UV(JUlll.U 'JJ liUUtlll,ng
his eyo to detcct a large number ol / *
objects at a single glance. His simple
>lan was to select a shop window full of
miscellaneous assortment of articles,
nd walk rapidly past it a number ol
imcs every day, writing down cach obect
which impressoi itself on his mind.
n this way he was able, after a time, to
[elect instantaneously all the articles in
he window, even though they might be
umbered by scores. ?Scientific American.
A Washington Character.
general Joe McKibben is a character
rho is a frequent sight upon the streets
f Washington. The general is one of
ie few men who can truthfully say that .
uring the two years of his service as a
lembcr of the house he never made or /
btcmpted to make a speech. This is all
10 more surprising as years ago McKiben
was acknowledged to bo one of the
??j. i
uat pvjui/iuai opL-iiK.ura uiui cvor graccci
le stump in California. Speaking upon
lis topic tho other evening, the general
lid: "I never knew any good to como
nt of speech-making but once, and that
as when tho governor ordered me to retain
and take part in the campaign. I
ad bought a ticket upon tho steamer
entral America, intending to go to '
ew York. The steamer was wrecked
id 600 lives were lost. Among them .
as Lockwood, one of the brightest law?rs
that ever graced tho bar. While
io steamer was sinking Lockwood was
-dercd to tako his place at tho pumps,
e replied: 'Those who aro afraid can
ork the pumps, but I shan't.' Then he
>ok of! his money bag which was full of
>ld and threw it into tho sea, exclaim- C
g: *i came to California without any- - i
ling, and I leave it equally wealthy,"?
otton Traveller.
' ' V