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THE DARLINGTON HERALD. VOL. I. DARLINGTON, S. C., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1891. NO. 24. 2! An English penny-In-the-slot machine company has been mulcted in damage! by the victim of a machine that didn’t Work. t The high schools in Germany seem to be regarded as superficial. A paper been signed by 407 German university professors declaring that the education now given in high schools affords a poor foundation for scientiflo medical studies. | The Philadelphia Record suggests a fruitful subject for speculation in an {article in which it gives the names and 'addresses of more than 200 women of E hiladclphia, most of them young, who ysteriously disappeared last ^year. Mexico's tariff of $2.50 per hog has failed to suppress the American imports Af that article of food, remarks the Boehm Cultivator, but it has sent up the price in the City of Mexico from eight to twelve cents per pound. The New York Independent remarks: Political observers in Europe hail the year upon which we hare just entered as destined iu all probability to be a year of peace throughout Europe. There are ^o war clouds in the sky that can now bo discovered. Major-General O. O. Howard has un dertaken mission work in New York since he was stationed at Governor’s Island in command of the United States troops, according to the Chicago Timm. He and his son have been teaching Bible classes in a miserable room over a stable In Elizabeth street. He is now trying to buy a deserted church in Chrystie street for thp use of the school and for services for adults. The General contributes $1000, and asks the Christian public to help him raise the balance, about $17,- 000. The new Anti-Kidnaping League’s National Committee recently issued in New York an address to the public stating that many sane persons have been proved in court lately to be illegally im prisoned in lunatio asylums, and that such imprisonment is easily inflicted without trial and hard to escape from. They say that rich people whose property is coveted and persons whose spouses wish to get rid of them, are specially liable to kidnaping. The committee asks all who know of such cases and all who feel themselves in danger of such incarceration to write to the Secretary, Miss C. C. Lathrop. Says a writer in the New York Prtu: Annuities on the English plan are be coming quite a feature of insurance now. 1 believe there is no large corporation in this country which makes a specialty of annuities, but several of the leading old line insurance companies have taken up that line of business also, and by the pay ment of certain lump sums they will guar antee you ccrttun yearly payments, which will give you a fixed income for life. I hear men of considerable means talking about applying for annuities to make {them easy for the remainder of their Jives. Bachelors, who have no one de- pendent upon them for means of living, are well disposed toward the annuity plan, but men of family prefer to insure their lives for the benefit of those who . will survive them. f Collector Phelps, of San Franoisco, Cal., in testifying before the Con gressional Committee, spoke of the opium smoking of the Chinese and of bow they had introduced the habit among white people. He would have a stringent law against the sale or use of the drug. A new law would be useless, declares the Report. The old law and public opinion have already greatly reduced the wse of opium. We mean that the habit Is not spreading nearly as fast as it wu. It is a vice that cannot be practiced in secret. The fumes of the drug are too penetrating for that, while the apparatus Is clumsy and not easily carried about at concealed. So morphine and the syringe have succeeded opium and the pipe. The morphine habit is frightfully prevalent and will spread. No con gressional committees or laws will stop ft. It seems destined to be the national vice. In the record of railroad accidents it is apparent, observes the New Orleans Picayune, that several have been due to the inefficiency of some at the telegraph operators employed. At its Imt session the Georgia Legislature took the matter up, mainly at the request of the Macon Division Order of Railway Telegraphers, passed a law providing that in the future all railway telegraph operators must be not less than eighteen years of age before they can accept such positions, and, furthermore, they must paasaa examina tion as to capability before the chief train dispatcher of the road upon which em ployment U sought. A delegation of Ten nessee operators will present and pash a similar measure before the Legislature of. that State. They claim that the passage, of these bills means the disappearance of! the boy operator and a eorrsspondiag decrease in the number of eookUuta re sulting from the employing of tnefficlaot, immature and inexperienced telegraphers. It would be well, H is contended by the promoters, if not only Tennessee, but every State should adopt such a law. THE BROOK’S BOWCV Through all the drifted mows That fill the woodland nook. In lisping music flow* The dark, unlilied brook. While winding swift along Upon Its ioy way. Its song is but the song It sang in rosy May. , Ah, happy brook, to ting, # While winter days depark The melody of spring That ripples in iteheartl S. K. Mnnkittrick, in Harper’e Weekly. THE LOST DIME. BT JENNIE P. ARNOLD. I was sitting in the parlor of a New York friend,indulging in an after-dinner chat, when the subject of horse car ytrikea was mentioned and my friend re marked; "I believe I understood both, sides of the story pretty well, for I was conductor on the — a venae line for near ly a year.” “You a conductor t” I mid in surprise,' “I never knew that before, but then,” l added, “as eur acquaintance extends] only over a little more than two years you might have been a highwayman be-, lore that for all I know to the contrary.’’. “I hardly think a car conductor can be classed with that fraternity, though perhaps some of the bosses think they ere little better, when they abuse them of having so much of the company’s money stick to their fingers; but I never speculated in Wall street or bought a. brown stone front with my accumula tions in that line. I came to New York about four years ago with the promise of a situation in the office of the — Avenue Horse Railroad Company, but there waa no vacancy at that time, and, as nothing better offered, I accepted a place as con ductor while waiting; but nearly a year passed before they were ready for me in the office, and in the meantime I had an opportunity of learning considerable of the ins and oute of the business. 1 added something to my knowledge of human nature if not to my bank account.” His oldest child, a bright-eyed, mis chievous little sprite of eight years, came up at that moment and laid her cheek against his shoulder, while her hands tightly clasped his arm. “Ah, Puss!” he said, catching her up and giving her a toss in the air, then setting her on his knee ss he resumed: “You’d be surprised at all the ingenious devices to beat a conductor out of a fare, from the well-dressed gentlemen who have left their pocket books in the other trousers’ pockets, to the half- drunken bummer who never has another pair of trousers to leave a nickel in, but who rides as far as he can and when put off for non-payment of fare, hails the next car and so keeps on until he reaches his destination. But the toughest of all is when a woman claims to have lost her purse, or something of the kind, and her helplessness appeals to a fellow’s gal lantry. I used to ring in a fare out of my own pocket at such times until I caught some of the schemers laughing at my softness, then 1 decided I wasn't so green as to get sold that way again. The company was very strict, it wu all a fellow’s place was worth to let any one ride without paying fare, no matter what the oircum- staaces; our orders were to compel women, as well as men, to leave the car unless they paid. If we felt in the least lenient in enforcing this order we could never tell which passenger might be a “spotter,” or how soon we might get called into the office and discharged. I’ll never forget one case of the kind. It was a cold day in December, and the President of the road was in the car; what he was there for I never knew, but he occasionally rode up and down, for inspection, I suppose. At Grand street two nicely-dressed ladies got on, who paid their fare out of well-filled purses; not a very common occurrence where ladies are returning from shopping at the Grand street bargain stores, eh Fannyt” with a laughing glance at his wife, who was rocking in an easy chair with the bab", a fine plump little fellow a year old, in her lap. “You ought to know best,” was the response, “seeing you had a year to study up the subject.” “1 shouldn’t have noticed these so particlarly only for what followed. At the next crossing a woman wu waiting. I saw that she was young, wu dressed in black, and had a very ud expression. She bad a large bundle and fceble-look- ing baby in her arms, while holding to her dress wu a thiee-jear-old toddler with round rosy cheeks and bright blue eyu. I stopped off to help the woman on and took the little girl in my arms. I always had a soft spot in my heart for children of the genuine sort, not little old men and women. My fnenda used to chaff mo on liking pretty little girls bettor than I did the big ones, and I think they were shout right. This one wu so bright and pretty I wanted to give her e hug end Mu, but 1 bed learned that it isn’t always wise to try it with the little girls any more than with the older “•I yikes to wide I” the little puu ■aid, looking up into my face all smiles and dimples, and showing her pretty white teeth between her rosy lips, ’ll makes my tootsies told to walk,’ holding up her plump little foot poorly protected from the cold pavement by n well-worn “ ‘Well, you shall get them all idea end warm,' I said, making room for her beside the stove. The mother dropped into a seat with a sigh of weariness, and placing her bundle on the floor shifted the baby to her lap to relieve her tired arms. I wu called away to attend to other pasungers, and returning held out my hand for the mother’s fare. The little girl wu holding out her poor worn little shoes to the fire. “ ‘It’s dood and warm here,’she uid, with a face all smiles and dimples, u I stopped beside her. ' * ‘That’s right, get all warmed through,’ I said, patting her on the head, then turned to the mother again. She had shifted the baby to her left knee and was carefully searching her pocket) a troubled, anxious expression came over her face, then one of alarm fol lowed. “ ‘I had a ten cent^iiece in my pocket- book,’ she said, looking up, ‘but I can’t find it; I’m sure I put it here; I’m ifraid,’ and her lips trembled and her eyes began to fill with tears, ‘I’m afraid t’ve lost it.’ “Her distress wu so evidently genuine ( could not believe she wu playing off is so many had done before, and I uid pleasantly: ‘Look again, madam, you •rill probably find it somewhere,’ and I turned, catching the eyes of the presi dent watching me sharply. “The woman turned her pocket in- fide out, got up and shook her dress, (hen looked carefully over the floor, u lid several who sat near her. I stopped ihe car to help ou and off several pasungers, then came back to the voman. She looked greatly troubled,! md I could see only restrained tears by {reat effort. “ ‘I cannot find it,’ she said looking pp at me with trembling lips, 'I saved jt out on purpose for this ride, aud putJ t in my pocket-book just u I started, tut it’s gone, and I must have lost it.’ ” “What was I to do! The woman teemed honest enough, yet I had seen fibers equally so who proved to be im posters; then there were the sharp eyes pf the President upon me, and if I altered in my duty off would go my lead, with no chance of the promotion l wu hoping for. •“The rules are to put off all who do lot pay,’ I managed to say with assumed irmness, while all the time I felt u if I would like to pitch the Presideut off necc md heels instead of the woman. 'I’m wrry, madam, but the rules must be >be;ed.’ 'I know it, I know it,’ she laid piteously, 'but if you would let me ride up I could pay you when I come tack; I shall have thq money then,’ pointing to her bundle of work to prove ter statement; 'It’s such a long way, and I’m so tired,’ she pleaded, and there wu the chubby, dimpled face of the little girl smiling up at me all the time. “I felt u if I would like to kick my- telf as I turned away; if I only dared ap peal to the President, but not none of ihe men were supposed to know him, md I felt as if his cold eyes were pierc ing me through and through u if he de lighted iu tho test I wu passing through. “ ‘Hang the old rascal,’ I said to my- telf, ‘I’ll have to put the woman off, but [’ll slip a quarter into Puss’s hand so they can pay their fare on the next car.’ “ ‘I’m sorry, madam,’ I tried to say Irmly, but the sad, pleading look almost broke me down, ‘the rules must be cbeyed,' and I reached up to pull tho bell rope; but in an instant the younger of the two women, of whom I have be fore spoken, caught my arm. “‘No, nol’ she cried with flushed cheeks aud indignant eyes, and before I knew what she intended she emptied her pane into the woman’s lap and passed quickly out of the car. A perfect shower of coin—several dollars, at leut, fell rat tling down, a part falling on the floor, i stooped to pick it up, when the elder lady dropped several more pieces into the woman’s lap and followed her eom- panion. The poor woman looked up, lumb with amazement, then covering the money with one hand, dropped her face on the baby’s head and sobbed so she ihook from head to foot. The little girl, teeing her mother’s distreu, crept up close beside her, and with her little arms ibout her neck and her cheek nestled igainst hers tried to comfort her. “ 'Don’t kwy, mamma,’ she pleaded, ‘I’ll be so dood, don’t kwy.’ “I don’t believe there wu a dry eye In the car; tha women didn’t hesi tate to carry their handkerchiefs to their •yes, but the men looked out of the win- lows, drew their hats down over their lyes, and soma blew their noses vigor- »usly, the President giving the strongest blut of ail. As for myself, I just rung In a fare out of my own pocket,and went cut on the platform, thankful that it wu i cold day I could use my handkerchief freely. “At the next street the President got tut, and u he pused the little girl he •topped and patted her rosy cheeks, with ■ome pleasant word, and slipped some thing into her hand. A moment later, vhen I had occuion to pus through the sar again, the little puu held out her shabby hand: ‘Bee!’ she cned, with her pretty face radiant with delight i ‘O see my bright, now penny I’ I looked, it n» • five dollar gold piece. “The mother noticed it for the first time. “ ‘Where did you get it?' she asked, in astonishment. “ ‘ ’E big man dlv it to me,’ the little cue answered. r ‘ 'Oh, sir, do you know who It wait’ the mother said, appealing to me. 'It must be a mistake.’ “ ‘Not a bit of it,’ I answered, almost u delighted u the child, herself, 'it wu the President of this iced; heeould give ber a thousand such pieces and never feel it.”’ My friend’s little Elsie had been sit ting very quietly in his lap Ustoning at tentively to his story, and noer u he paused eagerly. “ ‘And the little girl—did you ever see her again, papal’ “ ‘Yes, Pussie, 1 think I’ve seen her several times since then,’ he uid, with a merry twinkle in his eyes and a peculiar smile under bis heavy moustache. 'I think I see her now,’ catching up Elsie aud giving her a hug and a kiss, 'yon’re the little girl, yourself, Pout’ “ ‘Me, papa!' she cried, bounding to her feet and catching ber father by the ihoulders, ‘and wu the lady my mamma!’ “ ‘Just your mamma and no one else,’ wu tho reply, with a smile at the child’s unazoment. ‘She used to ride fre quently on my car after that, and I al ways carried a pocket full of bonbons tor you, Pussie; we soon got to be the best of friends and of course ms mini had to get acquainted a little with me on your account. Then I learned she had been a widow for a year and wu trying to support herself and two chil dren by doing plain sewing, which hardly gave her enough to keep soul and body together. At lut the baby died and mamma had a long illness from the grief and over-work: just then I received my appointment to the office with twice my old salary, and I finally persuaded mam ma to let me take care of both of you; though mamma says I courted you In stead of her, and married her so u to get you.” I caught the quick interchange of glances, the look of pride and affection which took in wife and baby, and the the happy content in the faoe of the wife, and felt sure there wu room in my friend’s heart for all his treuures. “Well, now that’s a nice little story,” Elsie cried delightedly, putting her plump bauds on either cheek and draw ing her father’s fact down until aha could kiss it, “and you’re the darlingaal old papain the whole world!”—Ifeu York Pott. A Remarkable Checker Player. James P. Reed, now in thia city, la one of the most brilliant checker playere n the world, having vanquished, among others, Charles Barker and the famous “Ajeeb,” one of the attractions at the ixposition held herein 1889. Of course It is always interesting to read of such men u Professor Anderson, Paul Murphy, fames Wylie, Dr. Richard Yates, Bteinita, Junsberg and others noted in the “chess md checker literature” of Europe and America, and besides these two games of sheas and checkers are purely games of mental skill. However, it wu not our purpose to write a dissertation on the mental discipline of this highly intellec tual recreation, but more particularly to call attention to the peculiar character of mind displayed by Mr. Reed iu play ing ten games at once without ever see ing the boards. He sits with his faoe to the wall and he knows the boards u “one, two, three, and so on.” If he is to play irst he calls his play on board number “one, two, three,” and so forth, in their regular numerical order. After a play is called he simply holds that play and position in his mind, and the same is true of all other plays. At any stage in the game he can stop and tell just how the men are placed on any one board or he can go back and trace all the games through from tha beginning, or if any ona of his opponents has made a different play be will give the proper reply. These things are referred to because of the belief that in some way they are con nected with the mystorlout arithmetical power displayed by Zerah Colburn and George Bidder, prodigies in their day. [n reading the accounts of their wonder ful handling of figures they explained that the number* they wanted appeared to come instantly into consciousness, or, as they expressed it, they just “saw the results.” One of the boys was asked if a certain large number is “prime or composite” and if “compoaite” what were the factors. Almost instantly he told the factors, and it required a long time for the able mathematicians to tost the truth or falsity of his reply and they found the result he gave as being the only correct one.—Kantat City Timet. Indian Dncorative Art. When the Sioux go on the warpath,in anything like reasonable weather, they exercise great economy in dress. They paint their ponies with red and black paint in crosses. They also wear their hair loose and flowing and put a li'nral allowance of red and black paint on their faces. Decerative art prevails largely in their make-up. Bugs, reptiles and animals, as nearly at the rndely artistic mind of the Sioux can contrive, are painted on their foreheads and chins, while a cross of red tad biaok paint adorns each cheek—Btnttr Republican. CHILDREN’S COLUMN. THE SNOW-BIRD. When all the grouud with snow Is white, The merry snow-bird comes, And hops about with great delight To find the scattered crumbs. How g lad he seems to get to eat A piece of cake or bread! He wears no shoes upon his feet. Nor hat upon his head. But happiest ia he, I know, Because no cage with bara Keeps him from walking ou the snow, And printing it with stars. — [Harper’s Young People. «r —— . HORSE SENSE. A great many horses are fed on the streets from “cat-bags” drawn up over their noaee, and wabbling about in a manner which must make it very un comfortable to eat one’s dinner in that way. A bright horse down in “Pie alley” the other day had nearly reached the bottom of hia bag. It Wabbled awfully, bat the oats were sweet and he was hpngry. In front of him stood a wagon, and tho wagon had a wheel. Happy thought. He walked up to the wheel, rested his canvas bur ket ou the top of it, and finished hi* dinner to the last oat in a comfortab’.e, leis urely manner, and with a tw; inkle in his eye. If that was not a trinmph of mind over matter, what is't—[Bos ton Herald. THE SPIDER MONKEIf. The spider monkey is remarkable for its long and prehensile tail which moves abont among the b ranches of the trees as if there wore ai n eye in the tip of it. Should tho monkey dis cover some prize, sucli as a nest of t iggs, or any little dainty which lies in a crevice too small for the band to enU r, it inserts the end pf this extremely useful tail into the cranny and books out the de sired object. Spider mon key is cer tainly a very appropriate m ime for this animal, for it* head is so small, its body so short (measuring less than a foot), its limbs so slender, and its tail so limb-like, that anyone .seeing it is immediately reminded of .the long- legged spiders that Seattle so awkward ly over the ground.—[Detroit Free Press. AN INSECT GOLIATH. The bird spider of tropical America grows to be three inches in breucRb and as much as four and a half in length, being the largest of the sever al hundred species of spiders known to naturalists. Its nests resemble those of the large caterpillars of France aud Spain, and consist of a white silken tissue of several thick layors ( and strengthened by very strong threads capable of arresting the flight of any small bird. In the centre of this nest are placed the eggs, 1500 to 2000 in number. The creature is very powerful and is provided with for midabio instruments of attack, en abling it not only to destroy small birds and tho young of larger species, a* some writers have maintained, but large lizards aud reptile*.—[St- Louis Republic. A LITTLE GIRL WITH TWO FACES' I heard a strange thing the othor day. It was of a little girl who had two faces. When she is dressed up in her best clothes, when some friends are expected to come to tea, or when the is going out with her mother to- call on some neighbors, she looks so bright and sweet and good that you ! would like to kiss her. With a nice 1 white dresa on, and perhaps a blue sash, and pretty little shoes, she exr pects her mother’s friends will say: “What a little darling 1” or, “What a sweet face, let me kiss it I” And so •he always has a nice smile ou her face, and when she is spoken to shti says “Yea, ma’am,” “No, ma’am,” when she oqght, and “Thank you," very sweetly, when anything la given her. But, do you know, when she is alone with her mother, aud no com pany it expected, she does not look at all the same little girl. If she cannot have what she would like, or do just what she wishes, she will pout, and scream, and cry, and no one would ever think of killing her then. I also know a little girl who has only one face, which is always as sweet aa a peach, and never sweeter than when she ia at home, and her mother wants her to be as useful as she can and help her. I think I need scarcely aak you which of these little girls you like best, or which of thorn you would like to resemble.—[New York Wit ness. THE TORPEDO BOAT. A MODERN ENGINE OF NAVAL WARFARE. Torpedoes are Divided Into Three Classes—The Boats That Carry Torpedoes and Thetr Equip ments—The Speedy Cashing. An Men for Yonr Feet. Shoeman at Field’s: We have many complaints about tender feet and sore ankles. If people who suffer in this respect will take a flat sheet of rubber and cut out two pieces largo enough to fit inside of the shoe solos they will find immediate relief.— [Chicago Tri bune. A man was recently sent to prison in New York City because he could not famish $600 bonds to keep the peace. As there was no one to furnish it for him this was practically imprisonment for life, so after a couple of months the man wu called up and discharged. There is no part of the naval equip ment of nations that is more interesting to the people than the torpedo boat, and its peculiar duty. ’ Yet, with the excep- tion of some slight use on the Danube, thirteen yeara ago, the torpedo in it* present form hss never been in action. On that one occasion, moreover, ths effect was chiefly upon the minds of the combatants. Each was in such terror of the torpedo boats of its adversary, that the result was achieved through feat rather than fighting. Yet we may safely assume that the torpedo boat may be re lied upon as a practicable weapon of war. The boat at present in use, whose main duty is coast and harbor defence, requires an auto-mobile or self-propelling tor pedo, which shall run for half a mile under water, and be exploded by con tact with the enemy’s ship. Torpedoes themselves may be divided into three classes. In the first are the fixed torpedoes, which are planted at the bottom of the water near harbor en trances, and exploded by electricity. The second includes movable topedocs, which are dependent upon connection with a fixed base. A coil of fine wire concealed upon the torpedo unwinds as it advances, and by means of electric in fluence the operator can make it stop, start, turn to right or left, and finally ex plode at will. The third class embraces the strictly auto-mobile torpedoes, of which there are two kinds, the White head and the Howell. The Whitehead torpedo has been adopted by all the naval powers of Eu rope. Its body, which is cigar-shapcd, is of polished steel plate, about eighteen feet long and fifteen inches in diameter midway. Near the atern is a diaphragm and a small screw propeller. The body of the Whitehead torpedo is divided into three sections. The front portion is devoted to the storage of fifty pounds or more of dynamite, which is dis charged by contact with the hull of tho vessel destined for destination. In the central section is a very compact engine, which has nearly 100 he,rse-power, and is usually marlo-of phosphor bronze. In the last sectictn lies tlie stored power, which is air compressed to a pressure of 1500 pounds to thfa square inch. Ex periments made in Portsmouth,England, have established 'for the Whitehead tor- pedo a speed o{ about thirty-five miles an hour when ittf s set for a 500-yard flight. The torped or a used by the English Gov ernment am made at the Arsenal qt Woolwich,, on the Thames, and cost about JEf/lCi each. The Hc>weU torpedo is au American math Aie. It resembles the Whitehead, but /differs’from it in its means of pro- F Jition. Its motive power is furnished ’t>j a fly-wheel, to which rapid motion is given just before it is to be used. The amouut of power stored in the wheel is astonishing, and, by its force, the tor pedo can be made to perform a flight of; nearly two miles. Great nicety-of finish is necessary in order perfectly to balance the machine, which would otherwise be torn to pieces by the vibration of tho wheel, enclosed as it is in the torpedo, and running at the rate of 1200bturns a minute. The Howell torpedo leores no visible trace of its flight through the water, and is, in this respect, superior to the Whitehead, whose course is plain ly discernible by the bubbles of exhaust air which rise to the surface. But, on the other hand, the spinning of the fly wheel in the Howell torpedo it accom panied by a tremendous noise, caused by the exhaust steam which is used to give it the requisite speed. The mode of using the two machines is the same. Iu the side or bow of the vessel is fixed a tube contalning:the tor pedo, which, when it is on a line with the object to be destroyed, is projected by a charge of slowly buringqpowder, or the release of a quantity of compressed air. The boats used for carrying torpedoes are more complex in cowtruction than the instruments themselves, and have .re ceived much attention from naval de signers. They are divided into two chases. A boat which can bwcarried by a ship belongs to tho smaller clJm, and is limited in length and displacement by the capability o( the ship which is to launch it. Such torpedo boats are from seventy feet to fifty-five feet in length, from seven to eight feet wide, and dis place ten to'fourteen tons. They are ex pected to work only a tew hours, and carry a crew of not more than six men. The engines and other equipments of the second-claes boat are more simple than those of the larger, and up to the present time they have always been fur nished with single screws which give n speed of seventeen or eighteen knots an hour. They are used as adjuncts to larger ships, and in an engagement are expected to harass the enemy by attack ing from several points at once. The battleships Maine and Texas are to be furnished with two of these second class torpedo boats. L Boon after the saqqndidoM boat emg) raw use, fuimu Twenty-live yean ago, K was seen that a larger boat for harbor de fence was desirable, and to meet the de mand the British Admiralty built the Lightning, the first of her class. Bhe was eighty-five feet long. Since then these sea-going torpedo boats, as they are often called, have been increased in length to one hundred and fifty-five feet, and in displacement to one hundred and sixty tons, while their range has been increased from harbor to coast de fence. They are also fitted with twin screws. Since the success of the torpedo ser vice depends on “dash,” it is clear that the highest possible speed is desirable. This has been developed with such suc cess that, in a recent trial of first class torpedo boats built upon the Baltic for the Italian Government, a speed of nearly twenty-seven knots an hour was ob tained. The sea-going torpedo boat No. 1, named tho Cushing, recently built in Bristol, R. I., for the United State* Government, affords the best example of vessels of her class. Although she is the first ever built iu America, all the ex perience of foreign builders has been utilized; and it is thought that some im provements over all others have been in troduced. The Cushing is 198 feet long, and fif teen feet wide, is furnished with twin screws driven by quadruple expansion engines of 1800 home power combined, and shows a speed of twenty-three and a half knots light, and twenty-two and a half knots loaded. The hull is of the best quality of plate steel, and it is all galvanized to prevent damage by sea water. The Cushing is heavier by sever al tons than her foreign predecessors, and does not for that reason show such high speed. It was thought best to sacrifice something of speed to durability aud strength. Bhe is about one knot less fast than the best record of foreign boats of her class, while her accommo dations for officers and crew and her manceuvreing powers are far superior to theirs. The Cushing is required to carry four Howell torpedoes, to hare space for two tubes used in discharging them, and for a crane of a capacity of 1500 pounds' lift- used in hoisting them out of tho water after experiments. She must carry three machine guns on deck, and a magazb ^ in which ammunition for the torpt and the guns may be safely stored. _ engine for hauling up the anchor ^ properly placed, aud she mus‘ ^ csrr y ft full electric plant, that is ^ m dynamo with its engine and con'_ |Cctiou% wUh which to light the vess'^ and form9e ^ two electric search The propelling power must develop force enough drive the boat teventy- two knots hour, aud maifataia a roa- souabl.u rate of speed for a distance of 301)0 miles, which means room for a large stock-of coal, and all othen engine- room equipments. Besides all this, she must have quarters for four officers aud a crew of sixteen men, who mOKI bo pro, perly fed and supplied with water, which is distilled on board the vessel at . thq. rate of ten gallons an hour. Space there must be, too, for clothing, provisions and medicines, in fact, everythin that is found on a ship of five thousand tons, though in reduced form.—/Youth't Com panion. The Czar’s,Interview With a Nihilist. Btepniak, the famous Russian Nihilist snd novelist, now in the United State*, is one of the most Interesting personal ities in London, where he resides, and has done much by his writings to show us the seamy side of life in Russia. In his career as a Nihilist he has had many hair-breadth escapes, and when you look at his pate, impassive, Slavonic face, you caamce that the risk of death has bad •* terrors for him. On & recent occaaioa he waa asked his opinion of the preeeat Csar, and replied: “I believe Alexander 1H. to ba an honest and good man, but ” and he paused signifi cantly. A few yeara ago, a* many will remember, the banquet ball of one of the Imperial palaces was blown up by dyna mite. The ornamental work in the ceil ing required.*ome alight repairs. The workman who came to do these brought [ with him,* small infernal machine which was timed to explode shortly after the $URI0US FA8T8’ A beggars’ journal has been started at Paris. Canes have gone out of fashion hi 1 London. A new map of Chins has been ordered by the Emperor and the surveys have al ready begun. An enterprising New York undertaker has made a hit with tennis burial suits for small boys. Flute* found in the pyramids of Egypt, played 9000 yean after burial, show that the Egyptians had our teals. Long coats came into fashion daring the reign of CharlesVil. of Fiance be cause His Majesty had a pair of iU-ehaped legs. It is stated that while foiMgnera in France number three per cent, of the population they are eleven per cent, of tho convict class. Mention is made of beets of the *89 crop lately proved by table use to be fresh as ever. They weie kept buried in dry sand in the cellar. San Francisco ia ia a snowless region. The snow that fell there in January, 1883, was the first that the people had seen there for seventeen years. j A defaulting broker in Cincinnati, Ohio, who escaped from a conatable, had the impudence to telephone 4iat fact tc the authorities and then left for parti unknown. A crap was caught in the harbor of Victoria, British Columbia, that was three feet six inches around tho waist. It was presented to the ftuaeum of Natural Scince. A jeweler says that it ia a rare thing for him to sell a solid gold watch-chain. Everybody buys the plated article nowar days, even these people who are well able to afford the solid. An interesting sight in some of the cemeteries of Kansas is the pine-board advertisements of undertakers and tomb- one manufacturers tacked up on trees b- entc/prising advertisers. .A botttq 'thrown into Njveir.’Der 24, 1887 ^ ft £ m thfl ^ •°niG, ^out 40^ ^ out ^ l neatly hashed ashore on a little islet in the Oarribean Sea, 6300 miles away. Some yean ago Lady Assington phil- knthropicaliy sent twenty-four British families to the Cape Colony in South Africa, to found an improved colony. She bought land for them, but the result was a failure. The men would not Work. 1 A New Jersey inventor has perfected an ice locomotive to be used on icefields.' It is hung on runners, and ito driving 1 wheels arc cogged. Its inventor hopes to get it into service with the ice cutters; aud to live to see it pulling traina of ice-ladeu can over the frozen surface of the Hudson. Stanley says that certain portions of Africa will always be worthless on to- count of the ravages of the grasshoppers. In one instance he saw a column of young grasshoppers ten miles broad by thirty long marching down a valley, aud when the grass was fired agaiast them they were thick enough to smother the flames. Sixty the Average Age er senaters. More than half of the constitutional convention of 1787 were men who had not reached the age of forty-five, while there are only seven men who are not past forty-five among the eighty-eight members of too United States Senate to day, and four of these come from the younger States of tho West, where there are fewer old men than in the East, Maine and Vermont having, according to the census returns of age, m>re than six times as many males past the age of •ixty proportionally as Colorado and the Dakotas. No less than thirty-seven of the eighty- eight Senators, or nearly half of ail, are past sixty, and nine of them beyond •evenly, as three others will be within a few months. Mr. Morrill has a colleague from Ohio who, like him, waa born in 1810; two who were born in 1816, and three in 1818. Three of theee have, like him, sought and obtained re-elactions commsoeement of a large family dinner- | 8fter the y were P*’* seventy. The aver- party to be held there that evening. This he intended to place in a small niche which he made for the purpose in the-ceiling. He was standing upon the ladder with the bomb in his hand, when in walked the Cxar himself. He began to talk, and asked the mechanic about his life, whether ha was married, if he had children, and convened with him kindly for some time. It was a terrible lituacion for the Nihilist, who was quite charmed by the manner of the terrible White Czar, whom he had come to as- laasinate. His impulse waa to confess ill, but his oath of allegiance to his cause deterred him, and when the Czar de parted, having given him some money, no adjuated the bomb and left tho palace. That night was one of great anxiety to »U the Nihilist* in the plot, and when the explosion was heard at the right time it was thought that all the guests lad perished. But it happened that the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at the palace half an hour Ute for dinner, and tho bomb exploding belore dinner had com- tnenccd, a chance unpunctuality pre vented a fearful Xn^dj^—Onee-a. Wttk. age age of all the Senators falls only about a year short of sixty. In the Supreme Court the change has been equally remarkable. Since Pierce a day but one roan has been placed upon this bench who had not passed tho sge ol forty-five, while of the twelve appointees during the past two decades no less than four were more than sixty when they took their scats. Of the eight judge* left after Mr. Miller's death one is seventy years old, one is seventy-four and one is von ty-seven —Century. r Man s Face. The two sides of the humau face are not exactly alike, and a German biologist asserts that the lack of symmetry is, as a rule, confined to the upper parts of tho face. In two cases out uf five the eyes are out of line, and seven persons out of every ten have stronger sight in one eye than in the other. Another singular fact is that tho right ear is almost univer sally shorter than the left, not only a little shorter, but enough to show even in inexact measurement.—tif. Louit Re public, THIS PAGE CONTAINS FLAWS AND OTHER