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KILLING A LION: A Sit?t at Short Range Upon Which. Ma eli Depended. : An Englishman who lived many years ia Africa relates a thrilling expe? rience which befell his family there. ^ . Sis home at the time was in the edge j" of . the Transvaal -wilderness, and it ** isas there that the event occurred. ?0 .? One evening about dusk my wife and child were sitting on the veranda of -the bungalow. I was engaged a few, rods away putting the finishing touches to a bit of wagon repairing. The serv g* -ants were at the rear of the house. It Tras one of those peculiarly quiet even? ings when nothing seems to break the ?III -stillness. . Suddenly I felt rather than saw,, something moving near the veranda. I looked more closely and to my horror perceived an enormous lion stealing along the ground in the direction of my wife and child. My wife saw. the crea? ture at the same instant ; and, despite her terror? fortunately remained per? fectly motionless and silent Scarcely knowing what to do, I has? tily crept toward the side of the bun? galow to the open window of my room, where T knew a loaded rifle was lean? ing against the wall: I climbed in at the window, seized the rifie and leaped - oy another window upon the veranda- 1 There was no time to think. The I f- lion was within .a few feet of my dear ones and, crouching for a spring. ? called softly to my wife not to move and thenv fired. The ball passed directly over my Ijoy's head and lodged in the forehead of the lion immediately above tte eyes and stretched him on the ground. There was an instant of fearful" sus? pense. Then I fired again, but the sec? ond bullet was not necessary, for the lion bad been killed at the-first shot Hg Do Ton KnoTs- Your Letters? Any man who' can read would prob? ably resent such an imputation of ig? norance as this question conveys. "Do life you- know your .letters?" is what is . asked the little tot when he or she first f - sets foot in school. But grownup men :> - and women may be pardoned for be . Sieving they are speaking the truth wheo they answer "'yes" to the ques? tion. The chances are, however, .that lfe> liney don't know their letters. Why ?y ? ? nas "A** its present shape? Stumped the first timel Every A-merican ought to know that. A takes its shape from a { ??Vi; picture of an eagle. B was once the ?r picture of an Egyptian bird. D repre? sented a man's hand. F was the horned Tiper. The two upper strokes are the remains cf the horns und tne'perpen :'? ??cular line the upright body, of the viper. H was once the semblance of a sieve. P?rr:""-* We got our letters from the Phoeni? cian alphabet which in turn came from the hieroglyphic picture writing ? V of Egypt- So don't be so sure of your ^-7 knowledge next time you are asked a simple question. . " Aa Ancient Billiard Table. There is a billiard table in London that can boast of a lifetime of two cen |f^v tnries and a long acquaintance with men who have made history. It be? longed originally to Louis XIV., passed into the possession of Napoleon I. and "cow in its old ag;e is on exhibition in Soho square. This celebrated table is smaller than an English table. The body of the table is a block of oak weighing ten hundredweight covered with a cloth of electric blue. The-frame of the table is of rosewood, and the six pockets-perhaps the most striking fea \ . i "tere of the table-are reproductions in bronze of queer, hideous old gargoyles. .Whea- the ban falls into the. pocket .the lower jaw of the gargoyle drops, and the ball is found in its mouth, it is a clever piece of old mechanism. liverpool Post - An Indignant Poet. . Beranger, the famous French .poet whose greatest gift lay in writing little poems which he called songs, was par? ticularly dependent upon the chance Tisits of the muse. He was once visited by the author i and academician Viennet who said' to hi nim: 5 *'YA must have written . several songs since I saw you last.'* " **I have only begun one," answered -'-"Ueranger. "Only one! I am astonished!" ex? claimed Tiennet Beranger became indignant "Humph!" he shouted. "Do you think one can turn oSf a song as one turns off 2. tragedy?" Keepiajc Him IE. Toae. Herr. Meyer Lutz tells the following little story in Mainly About People: ^Conducting once in Bradford. I no? ticed that the clarinet player, a young but clever and steady lad. jumped up a. good deal during the progress of the opera. I found that his father, who played the trombone, sat just behind ?iim. and every now and then he* gave Ins son a kick, with the remark: 'Look out Sammy! There be a fiat a-com iaV" She Vetoed the Plan. "Shall we take in Yellowstone park on our bridal tour?" asl^ed the mascu? line half of the proposed combination. "No; we'll cut that ont." replied the fair bride in prospective. "Yellow is so awfully trying on my complexion." ?Chicago News. ' A Dentists Epttapb. Epitaphs are often grim, but seldom grimmer than the following humorous couplet on a dentists grave: Stranger, approach this tomb with grav? ity: -John Brown is Slling his last cavity. > -London Globe. The pessimist calls attention to the tact that the man whose credit is the ?&est really needs no credit at all He fan pay cash.-Saturday Evening Post. The first baby makes a man crazy ?*witb joy; the others make him crazy -3Rritnoot it-New York Press. RAILWAY MAPS. j A. Disgrmii tied Pas s ender's Comments on the Straight Line Variety. "Look at that," said an ill natured passenger, pointing to a large map on the wall of the railway station. "Isn't that an abominable fraud?" "What's the matter with it?" asked his mild companion. "Look how it is distorted," said the other. . "There is a map of a railway system from Chicago to New York. It is made to appear as following a straight line between these two cities, and yet on the map it appears to pass through every large town within 500 miles of that line. "Just notice that towns like Cincin? nati and Cleveland are so misplaced as to appear only a few miles apart and Nashville. Tenn., is pulled 500 miles from its real location. I wonder they have not transported New Orleans a thousand miles northeast, so as to bring it on the line of their railway fraud. ?* " 4 "Congress ought to take hold of this falter he continued, "and punish heav? ily every railroad that issues a dis? torted map."-Chicago Inter Ocean. Sir Boyle Roche's Balls. Sir Boyle Roche was the father of "bulls." It was he that asserted that "the best way to avoid danger-is to meet it plump." At another time in conveying a warm invitation to~~a friend he remarked. "I hope, my lord, if ever you. come within a mile of my house that you'll stay there all night." He may have- been the fool of the Grattan parliament but there was a [ great deal of native shrewdness hidden away behind all his foolishness. To Curran when the latter once exclaimed in the midst of a debate that he need? ed aid from no one and could be "guardian of his own honor" Sir Boyle instantly interjected his sarcastic con? gratulations to tbe% honorable member on his possession of a sinecure. But possibly the gem, of his rhetoric was the picture which he conjured. up on one occasion to bring home to his hear? ers the excesses of the French revolu? tionary mob:' "Here perhaps, sir, the murderous marshal law men CMarseilleise? would break in. cut us to mincemeat and tlirow our bleeding heads ou that table to ? stare us in the face."-London Ex? press. Foods to Avoid. It is well to refuse the sausage brought tb your breakfast table if it is stale and to refrain from using thc cream in your coffee* if it is the least bit sour. Otherwise you run the risk of becoming blind. Some foods, it is said, are most inju* rious to the sight. "A case was brought under the notice of an eye specialist" says The Dioptic Review, "in which the eyes of a whole family were af? fected by eating rabbit pie. In each in? stance the patient had become afflicted with a peculiar defect of vision that is technically known as failure cf accom? modation.* Stale sausage and sour cream cause a weakening cf the sight known as "amblobia/ Blindness result-' tog from eating tainted fish has been found almost impossible to cure, and -quinine is often responsible for some persons' half blind condition. This drug affects the optic nerve in a man? ner that sometimes ends in blindness." It might be added that alcohol occa? sionally makes people ..blind." "Water and the Kidneys. As the waste in animal food in those who lead indolent lives is carried off by the kidneys it is very desirable that they should be kept well flushed wit!) plenty of water, fer pure water is to the kidneys what fresh air is to the lungs, and taken in the" early morning, preferably as hot as it can he sipped, it washes away the unhealthy secre? tions that have accumulated in the stomach during the night and stimu? lates it to healthy action, and then, passing on through the system till lt reaches the kidneys, carries away by their aid the uric acid, gout poison and other impurities that should hnve no fixed habitation in the body at all and would not have if the sufferer were properly dieted for even two or three weeks each year. The 3?ark of the Hand. When the hand touches anything, it leaves upon the object touched, a rep? resentation of that part which came in contact with the object. This impres? sion is not visible to the eye. It is made by the acid of moisture exuded from the skin. If you place the palm of your hand flat cn a sheet of blank paper, you may not see the faintest trace of the hand, and many people will be angry at the suggestion that there is any exudation-their hands are perfectly dry. they do not suffer from perspiration. Nevertheless if a metal plate covered with a certain chemical preparation be passed over the paper the representation of the hand becomes visible in great detail. A Little ?iow. 'One clay." says cu exchange clerk in a Philadelphia department st.cr?. **un j old follow frons the country came u]i to my desk a laying dews n pack? age; said: '?"Yoi::::.' man. here's a sui: of under? wear thal i bought here sr vc-:; yours aro. lt i? too small fer me. and 1 would like tc i:::ve i? exchanged:.' "? was thunderstruck at the nerve of the man. but ? managed to say some? thing about the ;imo limit on such transactions. .'.Well.' said he. *I know that bur i've never Lad 'ern on, and this is the first lime i've been in town since the day I bought 'em.' " He Coald Prove lt. 'My wife." he said proudly, "can keep a secret as well as any woman on earth." "Why, man." exclaimed the other fellow, "you know she tells everything she knows!" "Well, isn't that what I said?* HOW THE CHINESE GET RAIN Some Peculiar Practices In Vos"oe 1? tlze Celestial liinsrdom. It is one of thc peculiarities of the Chinese that, while they have develop? ed elaborate philosophers, none of them has led to any confidence in the uni? formity of nature. Neither the people nor their rulers have any fixed opinion .as to the cause of rainfall- The plan in some provinces when the need of rain is felt is to borrow a god from a neigh? boring district and petition him for the desired result. If his answer is satis? factory, he is returned to his home with every mark of honor; otherwise he may be put out in the sun as a hint to wake up and do his duty. A bunch of willow is usually thrust into his hand, as willow is sensitive to smois ture. Another plan in extensive use is the building of special temples in which are wells containing several iron ta? bles. Tv hen there is a scarcity of rain, a messenger starts out with a tablet marked with the date of the journey and the name cf the district making the petition. Arriving at another city, he pays a sum of money and is allowed to draw another tablet from the well., throwing in his own by way of ex? change. On the return journey he is supposed to eat only bran and travel at top speed day and night. Sometimes he passes through districts as greatly in j need of rain as his own. Then the peo? ple in these places waylay him and. temporarily borrowing- bis tablet, gel the rain intended for another place. Prayers are usually made in the fifth and sixth months, when the rainfall is always due. and a limit of ten days is set for their effective operation. Under such conditions rain usually falls dur? ing the prescribed time. When the prayers are in progress, the umbrella, among other objects, comes under the ban. In some provinces foreigners have been mobbed for carrying this harm? less article at that time.-New York Commercial Advertiser. A THIEF AMONG THE ANGELS Spurgeon Corrected His Opinion o? W2j=t ne misrht Do. One day the mayer of Cambridge, who had tried to curb Mr. Spurgeons tendencies to sensationalism, inquired of him if be had really told his ccngre I gation that if a tbief got into heaven he . would begin picking the angels ^pockets. ?"Yes. sir." the young preacher re? plied, "I told' them that if it w.ere pos? sible for an ungodly man to go to heaven without having his nature changed he would be none the better' for being there, and then, by way cf illustration, i said that were a thief to get in among the glorified he would remain a thief stilt and he would go around the place picking the angels' pockets." "But my dear young friend," asked the mayor seriously, "don't you know that the angels haven't any pockets?" "No, sir," replied young Spurgeon, with equal gravity. "I did not know that, but I am glad to be assured of th? fact from a gentleman who does know. I will take care to put it all right the first opportunity I get." The next Monday morning Spurgeon walked into the mayor's place of busi? ness and said to him cheerfully, "/. set that matter right yesterday, sir." "What matter:" he inquired. "Why, about the angels* pockets." "What did you say:" "Oh, sir. I just toid the people I was sorry to say that I had made a mis? take the last time I preached to them, but that I had met a gentleman, the mayor of Cambridge, who bad assured me that thc- angels had no pockets, so I must correct what I had said, as I did not want anybody to go away with a. false notion about heaven. I wouid therefore say that if a thief got among the angels without.having his nature changed he would try to steal the feathers out o: their vrii^s!"-Horai jet::: r.cView. TTalnrt Grain. In order to imitate walnut grain rub down the article to be stained without oil. then charge a sponge with potas? sium permanganate and squeeze it out again until nearly dry- With this dab the wood, using something to protect the hands while doing it to prevent their being dyed brown. Next saturate with alkanna root oil and polish light? ly. Follow with another cabbing with a well squeezed out sponge previously saturated with a filtered solution of best bismarck brown in spirit. When this has dried for a short time, con? tinue the polishing, sprinkling on a lit? tle pumice stone and dabbing where necessary with the sponges? as ex? plained above. The process will pro? duce a handsome graining. ""EVTiy Eye? Are Lischt anti Dr.ric. An interesting point is the cause of the different shades of color wo ?se in the eyes. On a certain membrane iii the interior are numerous colls called "pigment" cells. When these are pres? ent in very great numbers, they pro dace that deep black color of some eyes and in proportion to their hum hers decrease als > the depth of coier tili filially a light blue is reached. In certain eyes these pigment cells do not cxis: at ali. being wanting, indeed, ali through the svstcm. hair and skin. A p/c rson of. this description is called aa ?:bino, anti among animals wc find a parallel in the case of the white rub bit.-' 'ham' -. rs' Journal. Life IZ'.rlcry In nair. A single bair is :>. ?ort of history of the physical conJi;iou <>f an individual during the time it h.is been growing, if one could read closely enough. Take a hair from the beard cr from the head and scrutinize it. and you will see that it shows some attenuated places, indicating that at some period of its growth the blood supply was de? ficient from overw-rk, anxiety or un? derfeeding. SHROVE TUESDAY JOKES. Peculiar Ideas cf- Hnrcor Possessed bv Two Frenen Kin^s.' In all countries where Lent is kept except in Russia, where Ash Wednes? day is net observed-Shrov*. Tuesday, the last day before the beginning of the penitential season, has been given over to mnmmings, sports and practical jokes. In both England and Scotland, in which latter place the day is known as Fastens een, it was in times past a great holiday for the apprentices SULO working classes generally. A grewsome joke was played by Louis XL one Shrove Tuesday when nt night he ordered h's guards to reuse the sleeping villagers near n:m bring them to the castle. From almost ev? ery tree in the surrounding wood, it is said, a dead body dangled, and tr; the music of his fiddlers Louis compelled the villagers to take a gibbeted corpse for partner and dance before it till morning. Those who had husbands, sweethearts or relatives among the dead were forced to have them for partners. Later Charles IX. enjoyed a practical joke at Shrovetide that was less grim in its character, secretly giving ten cf the most skillful pickpockets in Paris full leave to steal whatever they could without being found out at the carni? val ball. Louis himself enjoyed their dexterity and the ,dismay of those who missed their jewels, swords, gir? dles and other valuables. An Early Press A erect. Though absurd wagers, often incon? veniencing other people, are nov/ sometimes made, they are not so prev? alent as in the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries. The absurdity of a wager made by some persons in 1749 is only equaled by the credulity of the multitude. On Jan. 1G of that year, according to wide? spread announcements, a person would play on a walking cane at the Hay? market theater the music of every in? strument, get into a quart bottle and while there sing several songs, at the same time permitting any spectator to handle the bottle. Thc theater could hold but a' small proportion of the im? mense crowd, but the performer did not appear. Some person behind the curtain announced that if the audience would remain there until the next morning instead of going into a quart bottle he would get into a pint one. But, though the multitude had faith in the quart, the pint bettie was tco much. A riot ensued, and the interior ,of the theater was destroyed.-London Chronicle. Save Tour Eyes. If your eyesight is good, take care of it Look away off yonder every time you get to the bottom of a page in reading. If it is defective, let no fool? ish pride prevent you from wearing the proper glasses. There is no Sense in handicapping yourself in life when a piece of glass before each eye will make your vision as good as it possibly can be. The ocu? list will not advise you to wear glasses if you do not need them any more than he will prescribe a drug you do net need. Plenty of people, though, do not know that they have defective sight because they have never really'seen at all. They have headaches, inflamed eyes, sties., even much graver troubles, from the strain of trying to see with eyes that were put up wrong. There are cases ..where homicidal insanity has been completely cured when im? paired vision has been corrected. Harvey Sutherland in Ainslee s Maga? zine. A Scriptural 3In!e. "I'll be ready fpr you in a minute/' said the old colored farmer to the sheri fl; "dez ez soon ez I feeds Solo? mon." '.Who's Solomon?" -, "He's' my mule. sub. Dat what he name is." "Why did you give him that name?" "Kaze he de wises" mule in de coun? ty, sub, en he finks dat fast travelin* is all wanity en wexation er sperrit, thus fnlfillirf de book er Proverbs!" Atlanta Constitution. Failed to Catch t-ie Tune. A professor in an old Pennsylvania college was conducting a review in Latin. Of a sleepy looking youth he asked the question. "What construc? tion is that at the top of page twelve?" "I don't know." was the prompt re? ply "Why not?" thundered the professor. "I have been harping on that construc? tion all term." "I know you have, professor," was the soft reply, "but 1 haven't caught the tune yet." ?<"olo<2 Postmen. The native runner postmen of Natal are strikingly picturesque when cn business bent. With their sandaled feet and. headdress of dried leaves, which rattle as they run. and a mili? tary greatcoat, underneath which is a garment called the mucetu. they travel for miles at a jog trot at four miles an hour and receive as payment io e. j month. Won the Crorrt!. - Charley Burley! the abolitionist, in j the midst of an antislavery speech was i struck hy a decayed egg full in the I face. Pausing to wipe away the con- i lents of the missile, he said calmly, "i j have always contended that proslavcry j arguments were very unsound." The ? crowd vov.yr-d. and he was no longer i molested. It may be better to be born lucky than rieh, but no one cnn be sure about ? it for the reason that he who is born | rich is liieb.y. -Snturday Evenhur Post, j Mr. Fntley-Yes: I'm a self made man. Professor Studiosis-Er-um-get the material at a bargain sale?-Chicago News. PARAGONS CF DUTY. Droll "Legends cf Filial Piety as. PruciZced In Japsn. The Japanese make much of the duty cf children to parents. In some of their popular stories they exaggerate ! the wholesome virtue until it becomes absurd. There is a group of such tales called "The Four and Twenty Para? gons of Filial Piety." some of which "Mr. Basil Hall Chamberlain collects in "Things Japanese." i One is the story of the paragon whose cruel stepmother was very fond of fish. In spite of her harsh treatment he lay naked on a frozen lake until his body melted a hole in the ice. He. caught two fish that came up to breathe and set them before his stepmother. An? other paragon lay uncovered at night in order that the mosquitoes should fasten on him alone and allow bis parents to slumber undisturbed. Still another, who was extremely poor, determined to sacrifice his own child in order to save food to support his aged "mother. He was rewarded by heaven with the discovery of a ves? sel filled with gold, on which the whole family lived happily ever after. A fourth gave her father a chance to es? cape while she clung to the jaws of the tiger which was about to devour him. The drollest story of all is of Rovai shL This paragon, although seventy years old, used to dress in baby's clothes and sprawl about the floor. His object was piously to delude his par? ents, who were more than ninety years of age. into the idea that they could not be so very old after all, seeing that they had an infant son. Bander In C?j?ar Critters. The large man had just bought a so I pcrific black cigar and was inserting it ! in the cutter. "Don't do that!" exclaimed the tall man of cadaverous feature. "Good gracious, why not?" demand? ed the large fellow. "You wait here with me for five min? utes, and you'll see why not" A man came up and bought a cigar. He wetted the mouth end slightly, put I it in the cutter, lighted it and walked off. "Did you see that?" asked the ca? daverous man. "Did you see his color and hollow cheeks? If he isn't in the last stages of consumption. I don't want a cent Can't you just imagine the tubercle bugs in that cigar cutter?" he said triumphantly. The large man didn't say anything, but he looked anxious. In the course of five minutes as ?many customers bought cigars, and three of them wetted the mouth end before they used the cutter. "Guess 1*11 buy an individual cut? ter." said the large man as the pair at last moved out of the shop.-New York Mail and Express. Animals as Tier Sleep. "In mild weather." says a gentleman farmer quoted by the Philadelphia Record, "'my horses and cattle sleep afield, and sometimes I wander softly among .them in the moonlight It is strange to see how they lie. with every head pointed in the same direction, the direction from which the wind is blow? ing. Do you know why that is? It is because they have in them an instinct cf fear, and they front the wind so that their keen noses, may catch in? stantly the first breath of an approach? ing danger. Poor things! All you have to do is to approach softly from behind, and you can be right in among them before they are aware of it My horses are even more cautious than my cattle, for they, in addition to fac? ing the wind, sleep also -witlx one ear cocked backward. Then I have a dog that sleeps not only facing the wind and with one ear cocked, but with one eye open also. He is. for sure, a cow? ard." Tae TTfcite Pine. The white pine is distinctively a northern tree. The native distribution cf the tree was frcm Newfoundland on the east to'Lake Winnipeg on the west and thence to the southern bound? aries cf Wisconsin. Michigan. Penn? sylvania. New Jersey and Connecticut The white pine belt also followed the Appalachian range as far to the south as Georgia. The best growth of the tree was in Maine and the British ter? ritory east of the state, along the St Lawrence river, in New Hampshire, Vermont northern New York, Michi? gan. Wisconsin, Minnesota and cen? tral Pennsylvania. Classifying a Mummy. The story is told of a French savant returned from Egypt bringing a royal mummy with him, and the case was opened at Marseilles. Being told that it contained a pharaoh, the officer looked up pharaoh in the tariff, but no mention could he find of such an arti? cle. Then it occurred to him that a mee. high duty was on dried fish, and the savant had to pay as if for that commodity. "T*he I,ighi Tiat Failed.'* A wealthy Riverina squatter, now de? parted, as he used to phrase it. "to the great Muster." was noted almost as much Tor his Attic reit as for his parsimony. Ile also stuttered very badly and helped along his halting utterance with a frequent ejaculation cf "D'ye seer D'ye see?*' His nig? gardly traits gained him widespread local unpopularity and the bitter en? mity of sundowners, who were always rigorously refused rations at his sta? tions. Smarting under this unusual inhos? pitality, some disappointed swaggles on occasion set fire to one cf the squat? ter's wool sheds and then wrote upon a gate: "We've well burnt down your wool shed. D'ye see? D'ye see?" Of course, it caught the big man's eye when next he passed through. For a moment he contemph.-cd the an? nouncement and then with a sardonic grin took the stump of a blue pencil from his pocket and scribbled under? neath: "It was well insured. D'ye see? D'ye see?"-Household Words. i VAGARIES OF THE TIDES. i Curious Currents In the Ocean and Its OSshoots. There are as -many vagaries in the waters as in the winds. Why, for in? stance, should three 'great ocean cur? rents send their warm waters across the wide Pacific, Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope? There have been many theories-advanced to solve the problem of their origin, but all have proved fallacious. Other and' equally mysterious currents exist in well nigh all parts of the world. The tides are so erratic in different parts of the world that one hesitates to accept the theory that the moon controls them in all cases. It is on record that the sea has run for weeks out of the Java sea through ' the strait^ of Sunda and thence back again for a like period without any per? ceptible rise or fall during those times. Then there is the equatorial current that flows into the Caribbean sea, the ever flowing carrent to the eastward around Cape Horn, the cold stream flowing from the icy regions of the north past Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and along the American coast to the extr?me end of Florida, the con tinual current running with a velocity of from four to five knots an hour through the strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean sea, the swift cur? rent running across the Tocks and shoals off the' end of Billiton island, which apparently starts from nowhere and ends somewhere in the vicinity of the same place, and the carrent which, starting half way up the China sea, runs from two to three knots an hoar to the northeast and finally ends ab-, raptly off the north end of Luzon. Then we have those tidal vagaries known the world over as bores. Resi? dents cn Severn side are familiar with, them, and those that run up the Hu- ii gli and Irawaddy rivers from side__ to side in a zigzag shape till they reach their limit, often tearing ships ' from their anchorage, originate nobody ... knows where or why. The rush of wa? ters in the bay of Fundy is nothing: but a huge bore sweeping all before it up to the head of the bay till the waters have risen to the height of fifty.or six? ty feet. Off Southampton we have the double tides, while at Singapore it has been observed fer days at a time that there has been but the .one rise and fall in the twenty-four hours. The tides . may be and very often appear as though they were "moonstruck/* but they certainly are not controlled witb hard and fast rules by that pr any oth? er body.-London Shipping World. Private Gambling In Kassia. There is a 'good deal of gambling in> society in England, but it is nothing to what goes cn in Russia, says the Lon- . don Candid Friend. Vint, preference and roulette are the principal games. The second is the most popular in army circles, while many ladies of the high? est rank keep roulette tables and have regular ."evenings," on which play goes^ on for very high stakes. As is usually the case at roulette, the* bank mostly wins, and the hostess takes good care to keep the bank. One of the most notorious of these private dens is -nm by two ladies of. the highest rank and connections. Only the. fine fleur of the society bf St. Pe- '? tersburg are admitted, and thc entree is eagerly sought. The stakes are high, the plunging often desperate, and 'men, have been known to leave these salons in a financial condition which ap-- ,'*^ proaches ruin. The princesses, howev? er, make a handsome income out of the- f g bank, and no one thinks thc worse of / .: : them. MEMORY DOES NOT FAIL. . It Simply Gets Weak an? Lanjrnid For' T?ant cf Usc. Memory does not "fail'* (except in toss cf all the faculties) ; it simply gets weak and languid for want to use. just as the physical organs do. People of-, ten say. ~*?.?y memory is failing,*' *yvben* it is really as good as ever if they* would give it a chance. A word, a date. ? name, an incident, comes up. er rather. fails to come up? when yen want it. There seems to te no possible way cf remembering it. You make two or three efforts, give up and say. '"There's no use: it's gene from me." Nonsense] It hasn't, lt is there just as much as it ever was. only there are a lot' cf things ever it. Keep at work, bring your will to bear upon it. try. and. try and try. and after awbile you can get it And. better, you will find that the ex? ercise required in remembering it will help yen next time, and that a little toil and determination put together will accomplish wonders in the whole range ot' the faculties. Look ever your memory, see where ycu ure most deficient and exercise it in taut respect. You can do it at any edd time; wliile you are walking, rid? ing, resting after a day's work, listen? ing perforce to ? dull speaker. Don't let a few failures discourage you. The long corridor cf recollection hued upon:, beth si.'ks with valuable material will ce emmed for ron because ol" your :m p-ortumty if y ru iise it.--Everywhere. The ea*'I.* of rleidelber;.; is the iar ges? hi Germany^ lt s?ai;:ds '>J0 feet a have the Wvaur "ivor a::J was occu? pied ns n eu's?le as early as A. D. 121)4. Lu a cellar i:j ca:' corner cf the rulas is tho fa um us "tun"* or monster cask. Citable cr he* cling 4Q.O00 gallons. This was fer the storage of wine used by the nobility who dwelt in this castle. His Idea of Success. "What is your idea of success?" "Success." answered the man who has realized a few ambitions, "'is mere? ly the attainment of a condition which causes people who knew you years ago to look at you and smile and say, *A fool for luck!* "-Washington Star. Reputation is a bubble hard to blow cut, but easily burst-Chicago News. m ? 1 },?: gi rt: 'Si m