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About The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 1885)
THE FAEM kM FIRESIDE. j Notes for the Housekeeper. N. M. Writes to the N. Y. Tribune: "Where one has to manage with a small income and has good health, it is a good plan to dispense with help, and by economizing in other ways, buy such articles as will contribute to the comfort of the family and especially such as will make the work easy a Dover egg-beater, a carpet-sweeper, a washer, a meat-chooper, a kerosene stove with fixtures, a combination baby high chair with rocker, a little carriage, an adjustable gate that will fit anv door or window, so that you can keep the babies very near you, and yet not" in the same room where the work is going on. A great saver of time is to have a place for each thing and each thing m place wnen not in use. It is surprising how the little two-hear-olds will remember where each thing belongs, and how soon they will learn that it is the right way to pick up the 'blocks' be fore asking for the 'animals,' and how the younger ones will teach the older ones, 'this is our drawer,' and 'that is mamma's; we musn't open mamma's drawer.' It is rather hard at first to leave all your important duties to show the babies how to pick up the playthings, right away, when they are through playing with them; but have patience, they will learn and will know no other way, and the first you know they will do it of their own accord and give you no more trouble. My two oldest babies now pick up their blocks and pile them in the boxes without be ing told. At 10:3Qeverymorningthey have each a glass of warm milk and go to bed for their nap, where they stay until 1 o'clock. Sometimes they sleep all the time, sometemes only part of it, but they don't know any better than to stay there, and they need the rest. How much work can be crowded in while they are asleep I need not men tion here, as any one can try for her self. At 5:30 the babies go to bed and sleep from 6 p. m. to 6 a. m. The evenings we spend very pleasantly. Two Cheap Medicines. One of the cheapest medicines that mortals can use is sleep. It is a sov ereign remedy for weakness; it cure3 restlessness, uneasiness and irritabili ty; it will remedy headache; it also cures nervousness. When weary we should rest; when'exhausted we should sleep. To resort to stimulants is sui cidal. What weary men need is sleep. The lack of sleep causes neuralgia, paralasis and insanity. Many a per son dies for want of sleep, and the point where many a sufferer turns his feet from the very gates of death to the open path of life is when he sinks to sleep. Of almost every sick man it may be said, as of Lazarus, "If he sleeps he will do well." Another ex cellent medicine is sunshine. The world requires more of it morally and physically. It is more soothing than morphine, more potent than poppies. It is good for liver complaint, neural gia, for rheumatism, for melancholy for everything. Make your rooms sunny and cheerful; build your houses so as to command the sunshine all day long. Princess Beatrice's Trosseau. From the London Truth. Have you any curiosity about the trosseau a princess has? I have seen the sketches and materials of some of Princess Beatrice's trosseau frocks, which are being made by Kedfern. One is a very pretty brown and blue shot tweed, with silk to match. The shirt is of the latter and is arranged in wide perpendicular pleats. The bodice and tunic are of the tweed, the front of the bodice being trimmed with folds of the silk, arranged fichu-fashion. A pretty little jacket to go with this gown is made of the tweed, lined with peacock colored satin and trimmed with the shot-silk down the fronts, which are straight, though the back fits tightly to the figure. Another nice frock is of grenat blank et cloth, the long wide pleats on the skirt being separated by folds of Otto man silk in the same color. There is also a vest of the Ottoman, the bodice and scarf drapery being of the cloth. A jacket is made to accompany this frock, the material being the blanket cloth. It fastens from the left shoul der and is trimmed round all the out lines with fine sable. A gown of navy-blue cloth is cut out in scallops, which fall over a trimming of interlaced cardinal red braid. A simi lar but narrower trimming edges the tunic, which is quite short. The fronts of the bodice are scalloped over a vest of interlaced red braid and the sleeves are finished at the cuffs to match. The jacket corresponding with this is of navy cloth, edged with one row of cardinal braid. A revers, turnedback at the side or the chest, is lined with red silk and a smaller revers, turned back at the right side of the basque, shows a similar lining. This is a very effective little arrangement and one quite new to my experience. A cream-colored cloth is made over a skirt of pale blue veiling, being quite plain except for a narrow pleating round the edge. The bodice of this fastens diagonally from the left shoulder by means of carved mother-of-pearl buttons. The vest and cuffs are pale blue. Another cream-colored dress is of Cairo cloth, with pleated skirt and scarf-like tunic, made of cream-colored satin. The bodice of this gown is pleated and worn with a belt. Seasonable Fashion Notes. Ottoman ribbons are largely used for trimming dresses. Parasols match the costumes with which they are worn. White cloth dresses are trimmed with embroidery or braid. Black and white striped silk and sat in are very popular in Paris. Black, gray and shades of brownare the leading colors in hosiery. Dividing the honors with Spanish lace, we find the Marquise, which is ex tremely popular, and comes in various and attractive patterns. Evening gloves are made with the hand, as far as the wrist, of kid, while the long arm consists of silk net, em broidered with gold, silver or silk. Morning dresses and elegant house toilets are made dressy with profuse use of ribbons in bows, knots, cas cades, panels and floating loops and ends. Matinees are still trimmed down the front with full jabot of lace, or open over a brocaded plastron, and are edged on either side with full frills of lace. Red silk crepe is a favorite material for trimming dark blue alpaca, and is introduced in tiers of fans placed over lapping each other down the left side. White nuns' veiling is the favorite for nice dresses for younggirls. Itismade up with a jersey bodice, laced or but toned behind. The skirt is trimmed with rows of satin ribbon, and has a tablier in front and sash ends behind for slender figures, while those inclined to stoutness need no overdress, but wear a sash. Better Crops From Sheltered Belts. Last winter in Southern Ohio, and indeed over a much larger section of country, furnished an illustration of the value of timber as a protection to small grain, which the dullest farmer or most casual observer could not fail to notice. The only fields of wheat showing life were those which felt the protection of timber. Rich land, thor ough preparation of soil and early seeding which gave a start to the crop so that it covered the ground in the fall, and even top-dressing with fine rich manure, all counted for nothing during the terrible winter, for thou sands of acres which had some or all of these favorable conditions were to tally killed. I rode during the last week of April twenty miles through as good a wheat-producing locality as can be found in the Union, and did not see a single field that promised five bushels of wheat to the acre, except in the protection of timber. Here and there was a green velvety field, and in every case, without exception, was the border of timber on one or more sides of it. Even neglected hedges, allowed to grow to the height of ten feet, saved a belt of wheat several rods in width. Professor Townsend, of the Ohio uni versity, states that in the prairie coun tries it has been found that with one sixth of the land devoted to timber the remainder produced as much grain as the whole did before the trees were planted. I have raised timber belts of soft maple and of locust on my farm, and found that a double row, occupy ing less than a rod in width of land, can be grown from seed to furnish good protection in five years, andlhavecut a cord of wood from thirty-five maple trees; ten years old, and occupying but four or five square rods of land. There can be no question of the profit of these timber belts; they pay in the protec tion they afford to grain, grass and stock, and the timber when utilized will pay again and often largely. When ar ranged to protect the permanent pas tures it is safe to estimate that the stock can be turned out a week earlier in spring than in an unprotected field, and a week of pasture at this season is worth much more than a week later. I would urge every farmer whose land is unprotected te start a shelter belt of trees. Waldo F. Brown. A Word of Advice. Why are girls so injudicious in their toleration of dissipated young men? It is very often the "case that a thoroughly good girl will deliberately marry a man who makes no secret of his bad habits. What can she expect but misery to ensue? A life-partnership should not be entered into with out at least as much caution as men display in making business combina tions for limited periods. No man selects his business partner from among men who drink much liquor or have other bad habits. As for mere man ners and the ability to make one's self agreeable, they have not of themselves influence enough among men to secure a dollar's worth of credit or to justify any one in believing their possessor on oath. A girl who is not old enough or shrewd enough to have learned what are the standards by which men are tested, would be far surer of a happy life if she were to let her parents select a husband in the prosiest manner im aginable, than if she were to make her own selection in the manner peculiar to girls. A life-partnership is not easily dissolved. Home Companion. What a Baby Can Bo. Babies are often called "helpless little things," "powerless little crea tures." and all that sort of nonsense. In a few words we will prove to our unprejudiced readers that babies are neither "helpless" or "powerless," by informing them of a few things that a baby can do. It can wear out a dollar pair of kid shoes in twenty-four hours. It can keep its father busy advertis ing in the newspapers for a nurse. It can occupy both sides of the larg est size bed manufactured simultane ously. It can make the author of its be ing's wash bills foot up to $5 a week and not be feeling at all well. It can crowd to suffocation the smoking car of a railroad train with indignant passengers between two stations. It can cause its father to be insulted by every second-class boarding-house keeper in the city who "never takes children," which in nine eases out of ten is very fortunate for the children. It can make itself look like a fiend just at the moment when mamma wants to show "what a pretty baby she has." It can look its father innocently in the lace and five seconds later spoil the only good coat that he has got in the world. It can make an old bachelor in the room adjoining use language that, if uttered on the street, would get him into the penitentiary for two years. It can go from the farthest end of the room to the foot of the stairs in the hall adjoining quicker than its mother can just step into the closet and out again. It can go to sleep "likealittle angel," and just as mamma and papa are starting for the theater it can wake up, and stay awake until the beginning of the last act. It can, in ten minutes, drive a man frantically from his home and cause him to seek the companionship of a locomotive blowing off steam in order that he may obtain the rest ana qui etude which his weary frame demands. These are some of the few things that a baby can do. But there are other things as well. A baby can make the commonest home thebrightestspoton earth. It can lighten the burden of a loving mother s life by addingtotnem; it can flatten its dirtv little face against a window pane in such a way that the tired father can see it, as a picture, be fore he rounds the corner. Yes, babies are great institutions, particularly one s own. J rlome Companion. Manners of Hired Help. H. P. writes to the N. Y. Tribune: "Will you not give us a little talk up on the relations of the employer and the employed, especially those exist ing in the household and on the farm, where one is associated personally with those in his or her employ Please tell us what you would con sider the proper form of address due the employer in such cases. The Tribune answers: Our house hold consists of two brothers past thirty, one sister and myself past t wenty-five,and I think that a more for mal title than the given name used by t he family is due us trom our hired help. Now is it unkind to insist upon having Miss used before my sister's name and my own, and Mr. before that of my brothers? JNo well-bred person met socially expects to use any other style of address unless they are intimate friends, and whyshouditbe considered a degrading thing tor one in service to place the suitable title belore his em plorer's name when addressing him or her? Surely the utmost kindness should be shown to those we employ, and certainly no true-hearted person wishes to make any one leel a degraa ing sense of inferiority because of the necessity of gaining a livelihood by manual laDor, dus isn t it iar easier to keep their relations pleasant when due respect is given to these outward forms? Undue familiarity is never a promoter oi kindly feeling. A Maine Farmer on Fences. If I had my way, I wouldn't have a fence on the farm. In the first place, there are over 64,000 farmers in Maine. Now, their farms have in the aggregate over 42,000,000 rods offence, orrising 131,000 miles. This is outside of or namental fences, and does not include some 2,000 miles or more of railroad fencing. There are 11,000 rods of highway fences, 16,000,000 rods of partition fences and some 15,UUU, UUU rods of division fences. Estimating the cost of these fences at $1 per rod, and that would, I think, be a fair es timate, and the total cost of fences in Maine is over $42,000,000. This is nearly as much as all the farms and their buildings are worth. It is more than twice and a half the value of all our live stock, and nearly as much as the entire capital of the state invested in manufactures. Why, what with changes and repairs, the loss from yearly decay, the cost of breaking roads through snow-drifts caused by road fences, and the interest on the first cost, taxes, and you'll find that our fences cost us annally $6,000,000. My idea is that fences ought to be con fined exclusively to pastures. I would abolish the rest. Road fences do more damage than good,by causing the roads to drift in the winter time. The only possible use fencing a mowing field can be is to enable the farmer to feed his stock in it during the spring and fall. Cistern Water- B. writes: "If A. L. S. will use the common chain pump in his cistern he will have good water the year round. I use rain-water from a tin roof, and fill in early spring enough to last till fall. I use a chain pump and the wa ter is nice enough, for a king. Water needs air and the chain pump sup plies." C. W. H. writes: After consid erable experience in using well and cis tern water, myself and family prefer the cistern water though we have a splendid well. My cistern is built on the north side of the house, 18 feet deep, bricked up and cemented. In the bottom is built a chamber about 2 feet square and four feet high of one thickness of brick laid in cement, into which the pump pipe passes so that all water must pass through the brick before using. I never allow any water to go into the cistern till it has rained hard for some time and until I have proved it to be clear by taking a glass full of it and holding it up to the light. I turn the water off while it still runs a good stream, as the water that has dripped over the shingles is liable to taste of pine. The smoky look and taste in rain water comes from the smoke in the atmosphere and from the shingles. It takes quite a rain fall to clear both. The water from my cistern is clear as well water, very cool and almost tasteless. After one week's use no one would think of using even spring water in preference to it. A cistern properly managed will dis count the doctor's bill 50 per cent." Strawberrl es. After a bed of strawberries has fruit ed, the space between the rows should be spaded up and raked off so as to furnish a place for the rooting of the runners, from which a new bed may be formed. By turning the runners, which grow freely after fruiting is over, into this mellow, clean space, a large num ber of new plants will be secured, which can be removed to a new bed and planted out to replace the old one. This way of forming a new bed every second year, as soon as the old rows are mated, is decidedly preferable to keeping the old beds in a half-productive state. The old beds are spaded up next year when the new one will have filled the rows; the ruuners on the new rows should be directed to fill up the vacant spaces, when the next.year there will be a full crop. The year after the same process is gone through to form a new bed. New York Times. The Nude In Art. From a Letter in the San Francisco Chronicle. The exposition of the French Acad emy at the Villa Medici this season has caused quite a scandal. Doucet, one of the pensioners, a quiet, gentle manlike artist, a perfectly reputable and excellent person, has painted for this exposition, strange to say, a very coarse picture, not lascivious, but coarse. It is called the "Interior of a Harem." The light is dim; three or four indistinct forms of naked women are seen sitting about in awkard posi tions. There are no fine stuffs, no gor geous decorations, no dazzling colors; the whole attention is directed to the entirely nude body of a robust woman of the Rubens type, who lies sleeping apparently on the front plane of the picture. Her face cannot be seen, as her back is toward the speccator. As a study of flesh, mere human flesh, the picture is truly a marvelousswork of art , but in every other respect is not only unattractive, but absolutely repulsive. After all that may be said in defense of nudity in art by artists, most of us shrink from the sight of it in modern art; we accept it with pleas ure only in sculpture, especially an cient sculpture. The Venus of Milo, the Venus of the Capitol, the Apoxyo menos of the Vatican, the Apollo Sau roktonos, the Hermes of Olympia, are such divine perfection of human devel opment that the beholder forgets all modern artificial rules of decorum when looking at them. They are be ings of a far-off age; exquisite forms manifested in a strange marble exist ence. But in painting the nude almost always gives a shock to a sensitive and refined nature. Titian's Venus, Rubens' huge ruddy woman, with all their exquisite execut ion and the beau ty given them by their creators, they are to say the least, most unattractive. Incongruous. Many years ago, when Mr. Marcy was Secretary of State, Mr. Buchanan was sent to represent the United States at the Court of St. James. It was, as it still is, the custom for foreign minis ters to appear at court receptions in court dress. But Mr. Marcy, thinking such a dress unbecoming the repre sentatives of the Republic, had .issued a circular forbidding our ministers to wear anything save a plain suit of black. This order led to rather queer consequences at the Court of the then youthful Queen Victoria for this was in 1853. Mr. Buchanan was warned by the Lord Chamberlain that he would, not be received in that costume, and at the same time, that an invitation of Her Majesty was considered equivalent to a command. Mr. Buchanan must have felt himself in the dilema of the Scottish chieftain: 'There is n o fly ing hence nor tarrying there. 1 ' He could not obey both the Queen and Mr. Marcy. If he went in no other dress than the conventional swallow tail, he would not only offend Her Majesty, but it would be impossible to distinguish him by his dress from the lackeys and caterers in attendance. The inventive genius of Mr. Buch anan was equal to the emergency. He dressed himself in the conventional swallow-tail, but beneath it he buckled on a sword. The lackeys were not al lowed to wear swords, and so it con stituted a mark of distinction. The young queen received him in her gracious way, but without being able to repress a broad smile. After that he was a decided court favorite, as a well-bred and well-behaved bacheloi deserved to be An Obliging Piece of Furniture. From the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer. In a family residing on Woodland avenue a little girl was playing not long ago with aplaymatefrom a neigh bor's family. They were playing at a small centre table, and the little girls noticed presently that when one ol them putherhandonthe table it would lift up and down, and they finally called others of the family to witness the strange behavior of the table. After experimenting some time the little girl climbed upon the table, say ing, "Now, let's see if you can move." To their astonishment the table be gan to move along the floor with the little girl on it. She jumped off, saying, "Now, move yourself if you can." The table started off, moving across the floor, no one touching it. "If you can move so well," said the little girl's mother, "move into the next room and kiss the baby in the crib there." To their amazement the table started off, moved across the floor, through the door into the room where the babe was sleeping in the crib, and tipped up with its edge as close to the babe s face as it could get. Now, upon what philosophy can this behavior of the table be explained without going any further into the phenomena of spiritualism, or discussing what are Eut forward as higher manifestations, ow are these elementary raps and movements to De satisiactomy ac counted for? At all events there is a field here for honest investigation. A Boston man suffering from indi gestion tried various kinds of exercise to no purpose, but being at last pre vailed upon to allow himself to be tossed in a blanket every other morn ing for a fortnight, recovered his health . There used to be a report that old John Jacob Astor, when too feeble to stir around, was regularly subjected to this treatment. Current Notes. Malaria is not confined to low lying districts. In Italy it rises to the height of four to five hundred feet, in California 1,000 feet, along the Appa lachain chain 3,000 feet, in the West Indies fourteen to eighteen hundred 1 feet, in India 2,000 feet. On the Andes it is sometimes found at the height of 11,000 feet. Under ordinary circum- ' stances a moderate altitude will be ' found comparatively free from ma- : laria. What would some of our good old forefathers say if they were able to step down to the station along about 10 o'clock in the morning, and see the two Boston expresses whizzing by at not much more than a mile a minute, or between 4 and 5 in the afternoon; or more startlingly surprising still, could catch a glimpse of the evening expresses into New York. At night there is a terrible whirl and rush, a lightning-like flashing of light, and in an instant the train is out of the cut and away out of sight. It seems a frightful rate of speed, but the people in the car do not appear to realize how fast they are going, so perfectly do the trains run. A yank around the curve however, in the rear car must slightly strain the equilibrium. Greenwich (Conn.) Graphic. The strong coffees, Rio and Santos, are mostly grown in Brazil. The West and South are the principal consum ers of Rio. A very small amount of Mocha is brought into this country, that sold under the name not being Mocha at all. The most important of all mild coffees is Java. It is raised on the islands of Java and Sumatra, and ranks first in the estimation of the coffee-drinkers in the United States. Ceylon is the rival of Java, but Ave sel dom.get any plantation Ceylon coffee here, as it is sent to England. Mexico raises some coffee, and there has been a wonderful improvement in the varie ty grown there in the last five years. Between 500,000,000 and 700,000, 000 pounds of coffee is consumed in the United States yearly. The camphor sold in this market ;omes chiefly from Japan. Formosa and Borneo furnish some. It is ob tained by cutting up the camphor plant, leaves and all, and distilling them. There is another kind, found in the heart of an enormous tree which grows in the mountains of Borneo. The trees are cut down and split open, and the gum is picked from the centre. Sometimes lumps a yard long and three inches thick are found, but 20 pounds is a good quantity for the average tree. The Chinese have a great liking for this quality, and have been known to pay as high as $30 a pound for it though the difference be tween it and common camphor is mostly imaginary. The crude cam phor has to be redistilled before it can be used. The Charleston News and Courierre cites the following as reasons why the people of South Carolina should be contented with their State and not seek homes elsewhere: "Several black bears have been seen in North Carolina recently. There was a shower of tur tles as large as silver dollars in Raleigh a, few days ago. A bolt of lightning struck a pond near Asheville and kill ed a number of fish the week before last. One hundred and sixty-seven snakes were killed in an old fort near Beaufort in one day, and a ghost has been seen near Rockingham. In Georgia a man living near Athens dropped a spool of thread into a hole from which a locust had ju'it emerged, and the en tire spool unwound without reaching the bottom of the hole." According to the London Times the price of diamonds has steadily fallen from $15 to $3.75 per carat. Of old, the world received each year new dia monds of about $250,000 in value on the average. But suddenly from South Africa comes a new supply, exceeding $20,000,000 worth each year for ten years. It is true that recently in Aus tralia, North America, and other extra European centers of European civil ization, a new population has come in being, numbering over 70,000,000, the upper ten thousand of which are es pecially prone to diamond ornaments, and no doubt at the first there was a great void to be supplied. But now the limit has been reached, and the world thus supplied seems hardly likely to take more than $10,000,000 per annum. Mary Hewitt's Father and Mother. When my father was employed as a surveyor in 1795 on the Talbot es tate, at Margaro be attended the First day meet ing of Friends at Neath and met, at the hospitable table of Evan Bees, Ann Wood, a convinced Friend,on avisit to Evan's wife Elizabeth. They saw each other frequently and became well acquainted. On one occasion at dinner she suddenly learned his re gard for her by the peculiar manner m "which he asked: "Wilt ihou take some nuts, Ann Wood?" She took them, saying: "I am fond of nuts." "That is extraordinary," he replied, "for so am I." There was in those parts an aged ministering Friend of so saintly a character as to be regarded in the light of a prophet. One First day morning after they had both been present at meeting, this minister drew her aside and said, "If Samuel Botham make thee an offer of marriage thou must by no means refuse him." Ac cordingly he was before long her ac cepted suitor. In the year 1796, on the sixth day of the twelfth month, they took each other for man and wife after the prescribed simple form,' "in the fear of God and in the presence of that assembly." They were mar ried in the Friend's meeting house at Swansea, where the bride's mother then resided. In the marriage certifi cate my father is stated to be an iron master of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. He must therefore have considered the iron works with which he was then connected as the established businesf of his life. Mary Howitt, in Good Works. A RUSSIAN REVIEW. a Grand Military Display Ending with Peculiar Rendition of a Prayer. We rode at least a mile and a half, says Gen. Higginson in Blackwood's, past the line of tents, and must have seen 50,000 men. The ground is prettily accidente, and altogether well suited for camp purposes. At the end we came upon the guard regiments and the Preobrajensky regiment, with whom finished the inspection; and here were assembled all the bands and drums, to the number oi 800, in one compact mass facing the empiess' pavilion or tent, at the door of which she and her ladies alighted, and were joined by the emperor and grand dukes. We all dismounted and came inside the square, of which the royalty and staff formed one side, the musicians the opposite side, the other two sides being composed of officers ol the various corps who had hurried to the spot. In the center, on a mound, stood the condutor of the united bands of music, and near him one drummer-boy, or perhaps a lad of 20. We, the foreign missions, stood in line, and the emperor came down from the pavilion and spoke to each of the generals. He was very gracious to me, and inquired about my service and the commands I had brld. This over, he stood alone in the center, and a detachment of sergeants in full marching order passed "5vim one by one, each sergeant giving tne evening report of his picket and of the usual "watch-setting" in a loud voice, the czar thus fulfilling for the moment the role of camp commandant. We (generals only) were then taken up, one by one, to theempress, who talked to me about the princess of Wales, Cowes, Osborne, etc., and was alto gether gracious and charming. Then tea was handed round, and the crowd of officers and of the troops generally kept closing round the square as the hour for "the retreat," or zaria drew nigh. Meanwhile heavy clouds had gathered in the horizon, and a storm seemed to threaten us, though the view down the slope and over the valley to Krasnoe, distant about a mile, was not rendered less beautiful by the com bination of waning sunlight and threat ening clouds. Eight o'clock sounds; each field battery fires an evening gun, three rockets shoot into the air, and the drums and bands roll out, with a solemnity and volume of sound not easily forgotten, theeveninghymn. As the last notes die off the drummer boy steps forward, the bandmaster de scends, and the little drummer, sole occupant of the square, repeats slowly but with perfect distinctness the Lord's prayer. Every head is uncovered and bows, from the furthermost spectator; and I should in my heart pity the man who, as the little lad's "Amen" went up in its solitary simplicity, could scofl at or even be unimpressed by the silence which followed. There was a total ab sence of all exaggeration or straining for increased effect. The bands then burst forth with t he Russian national air, so well known to all of us, and the scene closed as night fell. MRS.BELLE BURGESS'S PETS. Perch, Eels, Shiners, and Turtle Come at her CaU and Eat from her Hand. Almost in the heart of Sandwich, Mass., is a sheet of water covering a dozen acres. Along its shores are many residences, among them that of Mrs. Belle Burgess, not two rods from the water's edge. "Would you like to see me feed my fish?" she asked a reporter. The hos tess and guest walked out upon the ten-foot plank walk about a foot above the water's surface. Mrs. Burgess car ried in her hands some cake and bread, and two large river herring. She splashed the water gently, and in stantly there came from all directions scores of fish of the shiners and perch variety, and eels of all sizes. "Come, come," said Mrs. Burgess, and the command was followed by a 3plash, splash, as two good-sized tur tles tumbled off a log, while four others arrived from other directions. Fish, 3els, and turtles would swim up aud take their food from the lady's hand, and give no evidence of fear. One large white perch, that would tip the scales at a pound and over, seemed to de light in having its sides rubbed, while the shiners would allow any amount of fondling, so long as they were not taken from the water. Several of the eels were honored with names, there being "Quinn," who is over four feet in length, and is named in honor of a policeman; "Jumbo," a three-footer; "Beauty," a beauty in shape, com plexion, and deportment; "Eliza," who was christened by W. J. Leavitt of Boston in honor of "All on Account of Eliza." These slippery specimens would take their food from the hand, and, thrusting their heads just above the surface of the water, seemed to de light in having them gently scratched by Mrs. Burgess, who could tell which eel was which, though to the stranger all except "Quinn" and "Jumbo" looked alike. Henry and Julia. A day or two ago she stopped in to talk to a young apothecary whom she knew very well, and casually asked if he could conceal a dose of castor oil so that one could take it without knowing it. He said "of course," and engaged her in affable converse till she said: "O, Henry, it is late don't for- fet your promise." "Oh, no, Julia," ie laughed; "but won't you have a, glass of soda before you go?" Julia didn't mind, and after the last bit of foam had disappeared said: Well, how about the oil? "But you have taken it already in the soda?" answered Henry, with a smirk of triumph. "Oh, how could you? It was for Jane!" gig gled the blushing Julia, as she fled to conceal her emotions. An exchange states that if a castor oil plant is kept growing in a room, mosquitoes, flies and other pests will not enter, or if they should they are soon found dead beneath the leaves. (