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?I Lady's Strange Girdle By L?GT 0LEYELA5D, ECopyrisrht. 1S9?. by the Author.l "What do yon tbiiik is in it?*' I ask the question again of my companion we paced np and down the deck of B Peninsular and Oriental steamer. We were plowing our way through 9 bay of Biscay. Ocr destination was fcstta Tia the Suez canal. * The first ip was Gibraltar, and the captain had >ured us at luncheon that we should ar the bulldog menace of its sunset glin that night The steamer was to iroc?24 hours t^ce?i There bad induyj&?in frantic sea and plans of asce??|g" the rock Gibraltar on appropriate donkeys, I ard of seeing possibly a famous after- > aeon boor when the "thin red line" of made np of men who are va? riously scarred fixmi warsin the Sudan, .,. 17 1 ;1Tnd, tbe Crimea and India, parade 9 Aiim^a, regiments'who came 8 r Hill and the Kew York Battery western objective points of con The steamer's passengers were inter? ing, for each member of ocr compa waa abroad with a special intent, tbe usuel aimless loitering, as along A iantic liners. Here were -FVgifoh offi? cers destined: for Egypt, fathers of fam ?ies;who were raising ostriches on in South Australia, traders from Egypt who had unloaded their in London and were now return i Alea^driatoSiaat on the Kile; fcgrman. fe?Tow, %/.professor, ns could make ont; ont ho was in teresting, who wore a seien mi and kept below three-ana? the time; myself, six feet of Washington's acres; tall and [frykiag IPV^f Tiy^are, wfK* hid been at Chicago's "White City'r in ti ie year of the great exhibition, and a of Turks from whom the ^?^MBr among ns fled, -remembering th a ^ fcaxnortal flea. K "She's one of the prettiest womeii f ^r^B^?^'KJ aaid to my companion, an H^rEnglish mlitary officer, as we 'turned ^Bpftar ?ke?twentiethtime in our pace along |||^ ?4^ she register?" "Humph! A French name. Bot she's English-English coloring, complexion ??V ??k? a peach and the brilliant, high bred B| ax cf your great ladies. Traveling 'fy a! one with a maid, is she not?" "Yes; and joins the old man at Malta, |v.V. *%s-deeoT1' I laughed, and lifted :my ? Hp^'emaawg. "But her gowns are crea ' ti ana? her ma nners charming, her bean Ify-yesy inusual/ You've noticed that i We raised our hats. > heit she wears, no matter what the < f& gown. She is a silent woman. I have sb xted any number of topics from Nan- I . sen and the north pole to the Derby and tb 3 Roentgen rays. She smiles sweetly, ? |l bc t seems to avoid conversation.' ' ; ''Silence in a woman is the great dis? co very awaiting the twentieth centery. " 'M |?W Hie officer smiled and relit his pipe. "I dcubt if they'll get rt" < "Come.; that's unfair, ? I -saidj join-? v - in g, however, in the laugh. /; "Kow, here'a this woman you're < ta Iking of, "the English officer resumed. "Pve seen ber often in animated con- ' . "By Jove! I wonder if she avoids me because I always inevitably keep my eyes on that strange girdle she wears, there's beginning to be a little breath a boot it on board. Everybody is talking aboutit The captain thinks it's myste? rious too. There is no fashion at present among the fair sex of knotting a belt or girdle around the waist. It must be 2% 3 ards lang. Fm good at staccato meas I rein en ts. The woman has a fashion cf beeping ber hand on is whether she'-6 talking or walking. I've, watched her itt table. She twists the belt in her lap und ia perpetually staring away from tier plate at it There's one portion of it, I've noticed, that won't twist It Hes stiff and'strong, an immovable out Jine. It's a queer outline. I can't tell yon why, but it's queer. I don't like it 'Che other day the girdle caine unfas? tened and fell to the deck as the woman iteadied herself in the ship's lurch in that big blow off the Channel islands. Lady Jcmappes was. for the moment ?whiter tiran the foam tipped wave off lhere. I jumped forward and restored it 1o her. There's scmaething inside it. I could feel that the moment it was in my hands. As I gave it to her ladyship i he gave me a look which I can't for? get Perhaps it contains her will or ti rjee to an* estate or Bank of England jiotes or love fetters. There is something inside it. I could feel that " "Hold np, Dillons. You are getting in? curious as a woman. But I'll find lint the secret, I bet you. How much Vhall I put up on it?" The officer raised jjjg fieldglass and swept tbe sea where ?j?e winter sun hung low .for a glimpse of the dark lion couchant-impregna? ble Gibraltar. "Look cut, man; she'll hear you. There she comes!" Accompanied by ber maid, who carried the wraps and lings, steamer chair, etc., a beautiful woman came slowly forward with the IPfgfgj? high bred carriage of one long 3,<?P?"8?S^;^.cc?t8ot,.witli the world's best. We raised our hats, Caithness and I, and went forward to proffer cor as? sistance. "Thank yon," a gentle, beautifully modulated voice answered, and my Lady Jemappes lifted upon ns the gaze of the two great, deep bine eyes, bine as that sea of azure glory ont there. "I will sit here for a little while. I hear that we shall sight Gibraltar in an hour.'* "Does your ladyship purpose joining the excursionists np the rock?" I began 'to feel a throb around my heart as those blue eyes dwelt upon me. Caithness had warned me yesterday that I was in for it. "No, I think not," she answered quietly. "I have 4one that several times. " "Oh, hoi" I said to myself.- "What docs that mean?" And then aloud: "I wonder-, if the old lady with the wig will attempt it I hearne is one of the most ardent in the plan. " x \ "We all laughed. Unconsciously again my eyes traveled toward that mysteri? ous belt It was gone. ?/shudder went through the woman, Whose eyes followed my own. A.spot .of color burned on her beautiful face, telegraphing to lip and eye her startled pulses. I ?aw her jaw tremble, and the hand that grasped now the arm of the steamer chair shook with some great emotion. She turned to her maid. One glance was enough. I was more than ever convinced that the belt was of some tremendous importance in the woman's destiny. ; ' * You will bring me m y girdle, I ' she sadd, biting her under lip nervously and a^oidinginy eyes. The m aid disappear? ed " ?ps* faacy? " Lady Jemappes went on, toying with the heavy'gold chain bracelet on he; fair little wrist, "fancy coming on deck without one's accouter? ments." Her eyes again met mine. Anxiety and terror strove in those beautiful eyes with tibe dawn of divine feeling. I held those eyes a moment But the maid appeared up the companionway, in her hand the belt The peeress could not speak. It was a long girdle, made of some dress material stuff,.I should say. I can't describe these things as a woman does? with all the adjectives two hands high. The" belt was lined with pale blue velvet It was7about a quarter of an inch thick. She knotted it around her slim waist Bett, as she had never done before, she took a small key from her pocket and fitted it into a little gold lock that clasped the belt together. And I heard the lock snap. She restored the key to her pocketbook. Then, with the old, graceful ^ breeding and composure, she drew our' attention to the sunset light on a distant sail at the entrance to the bay that rounds into Gibraltar. "We shall spend Christmas on the Mediterranean, my lady, " said Caith? ness, 4'and the captain has promised us an English plum padding, etc., and a Sanee afterward on deck if the weather be favorable. The band we're taking to Efeypt istolerably good. I have con? cocted some dancing cards. May I have the honor of the first two waltzes, my lady? It is asking a great deal, but England is forever impudent as regards ber own interests. ' ' He laughed and Ehowed us the pretty dancing cards he bad made, with Britannia, of course, Lionized through the world (in black ink). '.'That's my plan," said Caithness to me an hour later, when my lady had gone below. "As my arm encircles her gentle waist 'On the -Beautiful Blue Danube,' I can tell from the feel of the belt (she'll be sure, to wear it) what's in it, I bet" "Better still, tap the maid: " "Dcesa-'t know any more' than we, I hear." "Did you see the woman stop and speak to the Turkish chap for full ten minutes ;ts she left us? I have never seen her so animated. Their eyes met more than once. And she glanced at her girdle." "Tap the Turk.*' t "In vain. Wasn't it Carlyle who called him 'the unspeakable Turk?' " Caithness laughed. "His silent chess play has got Europe in a fix. That's tue reason I'm going to Egypt1,1 "There comes my lady again! Rest? less creature today, for some unexplained reason. -'I l?Heve she retires below to read the love letters in that belt There comes the silent German prof essor ! Why do you suppose he's always in his stater room? He is seldom in the saloon. He registered 'Dr. Sch m a lens topf er,' " I began. > "Hohl np!" laughs Caithness. "The name would knock you down. But if you sneeze you'll gefc?it The captain's cabin boy says he has in his ?large state? room a huge apparatus" "By Joye! I have it . Sure as you're born, itV ii cathode ray photo appara? tus." "I wouldn't wonder," says Caith? ness, "but what is he af ter with Xrays? Where is the man going? Do you know?' ' "Yes; Alexandria first. I heard him say; later, Constantinople. " "Hello!" laughs Caithness again. * 'It would be a good, joke to play t he Crookes tubes on the sultan and get the shadow? graph of hi? inner meaning for Armenia and Crete. Don't laugh so. It will come to that-this stupendous discovery of Roentgen's. We shall get the psychic man presently." "God. forbid! The divine right of privacy is no more then. " "No,"*' laughs Caithness and turns to the professor. "We hear, doctor, that you are spending these hours when the most of us loiter and smoke and flirt on deck in the depths of scientific analyp.es. You are interested in the Roentgen rays?" goes on sly Caithness, offering a cigar. "Yes, gentlemen," answered Schma lenstopfer, with strong foreigu accent. "It is the marvelous already. I have seen the inside of many thiugs. " Lady Jemappes' hand that was lean? ing on the rail as she stood and gazed out eagerly over the ocean closed tightly upon the long girdle. A sudden idea came to me. I would get that belt and subject it to the X rays. Get that belt? [ laughed to myself. I might as well tey to photograph the depth of the sea. "You go to Egypt, doctor?" says Caithness again. >;Yes. gentlemen. Through English influence I have secured a fine post in the Egyptian army. I hope to accom? pany it on its projected campaign for the relief of Kassala. I have been much in Egypt and have had an audience with the kh?dive. ' ? What induced me to lift my eyes upon the Lady Jemappes? Those beauti? ful eyes had sought my own with the beseeching, hungry, doglike pain of a wounded animai And the man's soul "We shall have a good twenty-four hours in Gibraltar, my lady." within me stormed upward for her beautiful sake alone. But Schmalen Btopfer went on, adjusting his glasses: "X have interested myself so much in this marvelous discovery of the Vater? land that I have managed to bring my cathode ray photo apparatus with me into Egypt." "I should like to see you play it on the dervishes," says Caithness. We all laughed Lady Jemappes did not speak. The restless, round spark of red was moving in her cheek. But a great moment was approaching -the entrance to tbe strait of Gibral? tar. The passengers were coming up on deck, and a commotion of questions and exclamations put a stop to X rays. The sea was a burnished amethystine violet, a palpitating shimmer and shade like the sheen on a pigeon's throat The sky was a poem in its chromatic ascensions of sunset The low, dark line off there nine miles beyond was the mysterious line of Africa's centuries of silence, the land of the great past and the greater possible. And suddenly from out the ocean, above the throb and obeisance of waters at its feet rises and rises-a shadow is it, in gigantic gloom of death -the shadow that will fall upon him who menaces its might-the rock of ages, Britain's peaked cap that crowns her in the face of four continents whose chipping she surveys from her impreg? nable outpost-Gibraltar! The word burst ?com everyone's lips. I could not speak, but a thrill of no mean pride surged through my soul as ? felt myself a man of that nation who had climbed a mightier rock that is eyrie for the eagle, the rock of impreg? nable freedom, from whose gigantic shadow Britain has twice withdrawn with her lion, wiser, to her own zoo to restudy the habits of western easies.. * The dying ?onset took ?i? Gibraltar's citadel. The stern stone was suffused with crimson. The sails of the world's shipping at the entrance to the strait caught the pink dazzle of light The glow burned upon the faces of the pas? sengers. I- turned and saw Lady Je? mappes standing silent and alone, upon her face a throb of mingled sorrow and yearning, a womanhood on her lips that stirred all the man 's pulses within me, but a something within her eyes that made my veins crawl. The sun's red took the strange girdle. A distinct but yet unintelligible hieroglyph was be? ginning to write itself on my brain. Were those love letters in her belt? No. I believed it was her will and testa? ment. She was vastly wealthy, one could see. Did I believe it was her will, etc.? | "We shall have a good 24 hours in Gibraltar, my lady," I said, drawing nearer the beautiful figure. "How do you propose spending it? If I might have the pleasure cf showing you about a little" The woman turned very pale. It was a strange pallor seen under th? flash of the sinking sun. "I want to see the rock galleries and their guns, " she said quickly, not rais? ing her eyes. "There will be a grand salute given tomorrow, they tell me. The German emperor's yacht will be off Gibraltar. " "Oh, ho!" thought L "What are the rock galleries to you, you mysterious witching womanhood? Do you contem? plate suicide?" But for the moment conversation and soliloquies shattered in the sunset, for the mouth of Gibraltar spoke. Across to Africa the thunderous chal? lenge rolled. The gun fire from the lion's throat bellowed its belief in one lady alone-Britannia. Its white breath curdled in clouds around the mount, an incense to Victoria by the grace of God. I suppose, or something rise. I turned to my beautiful lady. .Tove! How those eyes took my breath ! Those eyes were misted with tears. Worse and worse. What did it mean? "The devil! I'll risk it," I said to my? self. Then aloud, "Lord Jemappes is listening to Britain's gunfire at Malta, my lady." Again that ghastly pallor creeping down and across her face. Was it psy? chic, or was it certain? The pallor was creeping on to the girdle, and-I'm no fool, you know-did that girdle move? I thought I would move away. And yet I was chained to the spot by her strange and overwhelming beauty. "Yes, Lord Jemappes," she said. "How glorious that last rim flash of sun! There, it is gone! I am chilly. I think I must go below. " Well, I was left alone on deck, for what were all the other creatures worth, and I was no nearer the myst erv of the girdle. "Yes. 'Lord Jemappes' might mean anything, 'Lord Jemappes' in his cups or his cofifii:. Confound it all. why did I take passage on this particular steamer of the Peninsular and Oriental line?" . ...... No, my lady did not commit suicide m the rock galleries of Gibraltar. Yes, we did have the salute. And again we were plowiDg our way through the Mediterranean. Night had shut dowL in a sndden fog one memorable night. ] shall not soon forget that night. 1 couldn't- sleep. The ship was rolling, and the old china in the pantry was promenading with cracked voice. 1 was restless and alert for every new sound that might intrude itself. What was that? I sprang from my bunk and listened. A low, rustling sonad which I can only compare to the slow oozing ont o? some creature through a lush thicket growth. The sound formed again and faded, and again rustled forward. To spring to the saloon was the first thought. But I could not move. I am a man every inch of me, but I could not budge. I believe I waited three good minutes. ?.Hello, Caithness, is that you?" } called. Only the silence answered and the heavy swash of water against the roll? ing of the ship. I threw on my clothes and was in the saloon in a moment. Far along in the dim light the Lady Jemappes was stand? ing at the door of her stateroom, dress ed as we had left her at the late supper. Her glittering eyes held me through the dark. Her hands clasped the girdle. It was not around her waist. * 'Is it to be a storm?" she said. "This must not go down." She held opto me the long, long belt. Her eyes glit? tered again. "I think not, Lady Jemappes," I stammered as I reached her side. Ah, how beautiful she was! The flush was upon her cheek ; her ripe lips were part? ed; her bosom heaved. "I think not, my lady. It is only a small blow." "Thank you," she said and was gone. I heard her stateroom Lev turn in the lock. I could not sleep the rest of the night What was that noise which I had heard? Her step? But no one was moving save the watch before the compass on deck and the sea of china in the pantry. Again through the black I seemed to hear that strange rustle oozing out on the silence. The darkness was but framework for, it The night was its track. It ringed itself in a spiral of shaking color. The great night held its breath before the jewel dazzle of bad eyes. I sprang, lest that cone of gathering power whose apex shot upward in a thin streaked tongue of flame should reach me. I sprang, and found it was a dream, and I went on deck and stamp? ed ont the dream along :he cool caress of the early morning air, and saw it fade and trail away and thin and van? ish in the great fresh leap of waters and the measureless brilliance of the blue. Caithness and I agreed we would solve this mystery, however, or-the gods take us. . . . . 41 * . * TO BB CONTINUED Conflict of Nature find Art. A young man here in town who is studying drawing-I won't say just how or where-went out to a Welsh rabbit supper at a friend's studio one evening. The supper was given to cele? brate an examination in light and shad? ow which several of the young art stu? dents had just undergone with success. The young man I speak of was full of the subject. His mind was still dwell? ing on it when he started, home. Half an hour later a fellow art student came up with him. He was standing before an equestrian statue in one of the little parks and was intently studding the shadow of the bronze rider cast by the moon. / "Say," said he to the other student, "look at that shadow. I've cast lots of shadows and I've studied 'em. That ain't a bit like it I know shadows. That ain't an angle of 45 degrees." Here he took his friend's arm. "Old boy, "he said solemnly, "that shadow's all out of drawing."-Wash? ington Post The Letter D. The Semitic people called D Daleth, a door or opening, whence the Greek delta. To ns in its present form it is not much like a door, as we know, but if the orientals lived in tents shaped like the letter B it is not wonderful they should have doors, the shape of a D. Our form of the letter is greatly changed from the ancient D, but a glance at the Greek delta, which is a right angle triangle, shows it identical in shape with the triangular tent door closed by flaps of canvas, and when one of these was drawn back a shape was represented which must have been fa? miliar to all orientals. Getting: Even. "I notice, " remarked the literary ed? itor, casually turning over the leaves of the book the struggling author had brought in, "you have given your hero six fingers on his right hand, and there is nothing in the story, so far as I can see, to explain why. May I ask what the extra is for?" "To snap at the critics," vociferated the struggling author, with a gleam of vengeance in his eye. The worm had turned.-London Fun. Reasons Fer Road Improvement? The three most important reasons for toad improvement are, first, the desir? ability of reducing the cost of hauling; second, the importance of making most of our roads fit for pleasure driving, thereby attracting to the rural districts in summer thousands of people who create a local market for various farm products; third, the economic principle of preventing the great waste of labor which now is fruitlessly expended in making bad roads.-Professor F. J. H. Merrill. All the suitors for a girl's hand in j Borneo are expected to be generous in ! their presents to her. These presents are never returned. Therefore the wily young lady defers as long as possible a positive selection of the happy man. GOLD IN THE GOOSE. CLEAN FOWLS ALWAYS ON DRESS PARADE. Plenty of Pure Water and the Best of Food-Healthy Ge ene Fatten Rapidly anti Are Easily Marketed-An Ideal Goos? Farm. There is a growing impression that American poultry raisers have been neglecting the goose. Of the seven standard breeds the gray wild variety is extensively raised. These geese have a rather small head, small bill, sharp at the point and long, slender neck, snaky in appearance. The back is long and rather narrow, and is arched from neck to tail; breast, full and deep, and body long and somewhat slender. The wings are long, large and powerful, and the thighs are rather short. The head of tho wild goose is black with a white stripe nearly covering the side of the face. The breast is light gr?y, which grows darker as it approaches the legs; the plumage of the underpart? of the body from the legs to the tail ie white. The wings are dark gray ; primaries dusky black, showing only a dark gray color when the wing is folded; secondaries are brown, but of a lighter shade than the primaries. The tail feathers are glossy black, and the thighs are gray. The shanks, roes and webs are black. The eyes are black. A goose farm of unusual interest is that of Sol Renaker of Cynthia, Ky., on the Licking river, says a correspondent of the New Tcrk Sun. Mr. ftenaker has erected a large wooden building about 80 feet wide and 150 feet long. 16 is two stories high. The floors slant grad? ually to the center so that they can be flooded and thus kept clean. There are troughs placed at convenient points to hold the food for the geese. At present there are 5,200 geese in this building in different stages of the fattening process. They are gathered from all parts of the state, and when they arrive their aver? age weight is from four to eight pounds. They are first placed in the large yard G BAY WILD GOOSE. in which the building is situated, and there they find abundance of water Bo that they can clean themselves. After a few days they are placed in the house in the fattening pens. It requires four or five weeks of careful feeding to fatten the geese. The establishment has a steam corn mill and corn sheller. The corn is purchased from the farmers in the neigh? borhood and is shelled and ground into meal. The cobs run down a shoot to the furnace and make enough fuel to run the machinery. The meal is mixed into a dough and in that form fed to the geese. *'A goose is the cleanest fowl alive," says Mr. Ben a ker. "I have been in the poultry business since 1871, have han? dled all kinds cf domestic fowl and hav* studied their habits closely and have never seen anything which equals the goose in cleanliness. They are constant? ly at work keeping their leathers clean, and if they have plenty of water they are never seen except when fit for dress parade. They are equally careful re? garding their food. On one occasion we bought a lot of corn which had musted, and the geese would not eat the dough made from it, nor will they eat dough after it has soured. On this account we have to be very careful to mix up no more dough than the geese will eat in a day. . ''Another peculiar thing about geese is that they eat a great deal more some days than they do on others. For in? stance, it frequently requires 30 or 40 buckets of dough a day to a given pen of geese. Then for a few days they will probably not eat more than a dozen buckets. When they have plenty of wa? ter and wholesome food, geese fatten rapidly and have no disease, but unless they have an opportunity to keep clean and have pure food they die rapidly. "They are sold by the brace and aver? age when fat from 14 to ?58 pounds a brace. We sell our geese in only one market-New York city. They are shipped in poultry cars and are furnish? ed with an abundance of water and cornmeal dough while they are on the way. The reason they are shipped alive is that Hebrews may not purchase them after they are killed. Last year we ship? ped about 12,000 geese to New York city, and this year we will handle 18, 000. The capacity of our house is be? tween 5,000 and 6,000. It requires three men to attend the corn sheller and the mill and to feed the geese. We have waterworks connections and keep the house nice and clean by flooding the floors, and we keep the geese supplied with all the fresh water they need." It Depends. Teacher-At what age does a man usually get bald? Bright Pupil-What kind of a man married or single?-Chicago News. Suiting Both Parties. Poor Wife (to husband, whose loud snoring keeps her awake)-Charlie, Charlie, do stop snoring. Turn over on your side. (Nudges him). Husband, only half awake, grunts, turns on his side and continues to snore. Wife has a happy idea. RememT-era a line from an article called "How to Prevent Snoring. " Gives her husband a second nudge, which elicits another grunt "Oh, Charlie, if you'd keep your mouth shut, you'd be all right." Charlie (semiconscious)-So would you.-sLocdon Answers. ICE CREAM WITHOUT EGGS. ; How to Make and Freeze Several Vari? eties of This Delectable Compound. j An excellent vanilla icecream "with ; ont eggs or thickening of flour" of any kind may be made of a qnart of rich cream, a cup of milk, a large table? spoonful of English gelatin, a libera. cup of sugar and a tablespoonful of vanilla. Soak the gelatin in four table? spoonfuls of cold "water for two hours. Bring the milk to the boiling point and stir the gelatin into the boiling milk and continue stirring until it is melted. Strain the preparation through a fine wire strainer into the cream, add the vanilla and the sugar and freeze the mixture at once. An excellent chocolate ice cream may be made of a quart of cream, a pint of milk, a large tablespoonful of English gelatin, a cap and a half of sager, two ounces of unsweetened chocolate scraped i fine and a .tablespoonful of vanilla ex? tract Soak the gelatin as before, stir into a cup of the milk and strain it in the cream. Stir the scraped chocolate into the remainder of the milk, which must also be heated to the boiling point Stir the preparation of chocolate over the fire until the chocolate is all melted and the whole is a smooth, dark mase. Add the sugar and stir all into ! the cream. Add the vanilla and freeze ! carefully. I The success of an ice cream depends considerably on the freezing. Do not nse too much salt Three pints is enough for a large pailful of cracked or pounded ice. The ice should be pounded fine, and the freezer should be packed firmly. Use an ordinary freezer of standard quality. If the cream is frozen too rap? idly, it will be coarse. After packing the freezer turn the crank for five min? utes. Then open the freezer, remove the beater and scrape on* with a thin bladed knife the frozen ernst of thin cream that covers the sides of the can and mix it thoroughly with a wooden spoon or spatula with the softer cream in the center. Replace the beater and cover the can and turn the crank again for . three or four minutes; then repeat the operation of scraping the sides of the freezing can and mixing the unfrozen cream with the frozen. Work the cream thoroughly to make it light and cover the can again and turn the crank again, now as rapidly as possible. In a few minutes the cream should be ready to pack. It should remain packed in salt and ice for at least two hours. It is better if kept four or even six hours before it is eaten.-Philadelphia Press. FATTENING CHICKENS. How to Secare the Best Results With th* Least Expense. The return to the producer for fatten? ing his stock, writes H. S. Babcock in The Country Gentleman, comes in two forms - first, , by an increase in the weight of the chickens, and, second, by an increase in the price per pound. Sap pose, for example, the poultry man has 200 chickens to sell, which, unfattened, would avex&ge four pounds each and bring 15 cents per pound-that is, he would receive for 800 pounds, at 15 cents per pound, $120. Now, suppose by fattening them he makes them weigh but one pound more each-a small gain -and he gets but 2 cents per pound in? crease in price (a sum frequently greatly exceeded), his chickens will bring him, 1,000 pounds at 17 cents, $170, an-ad? vance of $50-a very convenient little sum'. Should he add two pounds per chicken and get ? cents additional per pound-by r .< means an extravaganc hypothesis-he will raise his $120 to $240, exactly double what he would have received in the unfattened condi? tion. In this country, as the popular taste demands as yellow a chicken as can be bad, the food should be chosen accord? ingly. For grain, I think nothing is bet? ter than sound, yellow corn, either whole, cracked or ground. For rapid fattening, I prefer it ground and made into dough by being slightly moistened with milk. If to the cornmeal is added about 10 to 15 per cent of ground beef scraps, the fattening will proceed more rapidly. For drink, nothing is better than sweet milk, except sweet milk sweetened with sugar, about a heaping tablespoonful to each gill of milk. 1/ the droppings show a tendency toward diarrhea, the milk should be boiled. Cost of production consists of three elements-the price of 'the food used, the labor employed in feeding and the effects upon the fowls. By feeding masfces in the morning more time is consumed in preparing the food and the cost of production is thereby increased. We feed our hens dry food, and thus save the labor of mixing the mashes. It is also a more cleanly way of feeding. Our experience has been that fowls fed on dry grain keep in better health than when they have a warm mash given to them. Inasmuch as ailing fowls seldom lay well and requireonore time for their care, ihe system of dry feeding possesses an advantage over the other system. Hood's Cure aH liver ills, bilious- ?MSK BBS ness, headache, sour stom- E3 ? I I Mt ach. indigestion, constipa- ap RIB jS tion. They act easily, vrith- ?? ? ? ? *W0 out jain or frripe. Sold by all druggists. SS cents. Toe only Klis to take with Hood's Sarsaparilla. PATENT: Caveats, and Trade-Marks obtained and all Pitt |ent business conducts? for MODERATE FEES. OUR Ornee ts OPPOSITE u. s. PATEN FOFTICE and wc can secure pater t in less time than those remote from Washington, . _ ._ Send modei, drawing or photo*, \rith descrip? tion. We advise, if patentable or not, free of charge. Our fee not due till patent is secured. \ A PAMPHLET ** How to Obtain Patents," with cost of same in the U. S. and foreign countries sent free. Address, C.A.SNOW&CO. OPP. PATENT OFFICE, WASHINGTON. D. C.