Under-nutrition.
A Htl of I 111" Ky.liin I i riin litly I'loilum!
y On-r-l' ullng.
Itshbnld be' carefully borne in mlnn
tlmt no food citn possibly nourish the
body which in not dicstrl, turned to
blood, then to the tissues of this body.
Tho dlgcstlvri powers, like any organ,
or tlin body hn a whole, may become ho
debilituUul, ihftir vitality ho exhausted,
ho crippled, an not to bo able to per
form their usual functions, their labor
being but partly performed, often not
morn than one-tenth done. In such a
ciihc. of necessity, the system can be
but om:-l('Dth nourished, an a legiti
mate ri'Hiilt. Under such circumstances
thi! foolish, or tiii! uninstructcd in such
matters, resort to various projects to
sharpen the flagging appetite, t:i kis all
. sorts of hwiuhug nostrums, tho uj
poscd "Ionic"' mid "invigorators," all
of wbich, wav excite, stimulate, whip
the power into a seeming activity,
producing a false, apparent appetite,
tlm gratification of which adds no real
noiiriHhnient to the system, hut exhaust
its vitality, to bo followed by debility,
aggravated dyspepsia, or, in popular
parlance, ' "nervous prostration," an
other name for the "piggishness" of
an dicentric author. Such victims of
the (piackH aru told that they
are ( starving-practically true and
that while taking their nostrum
they "may eat what they please,"
well -knowing that there are
many who demand just thi license,
those to whom eating i the great busi
ncsH of life, their most important en
joyment. (Some all'ect to believe that
itherfl in no bmli, no physical laws, with
no digestive powers to be outraged by
gluttony. A very pleasing doctrine to
this class, f noring sensualism, but
they Will find that there, is a stomach to
assert its rights, soon to torture them
with tho pangs of dyspepsia.) Such
will learn, in due lime, tlmt the stom
ach demands rest, that it can not, will
not, toil all of the time, will not long
attempt to dispose of the most indi
gestible foods, will not allow itself to
be forced by excitants and "appe
tizers" at will, but that it will cease to
perform its reipiired toils, compelling
its oppressor to subsist on a very small
allowance, on tlm, little which can be
digested under such circumstances, the
rest fermenting, decaying in the stom
ach, causing no little disturbance and
sniveling. Such will be compelled to
learn that the stomach has u given
capacity, that it is subject to the gen
eral laws of the body, and that to be
long nourished Uiii most successfully 1
moderate amount of food must be
taken, that adapted to the circum
stances. They must, learn that a small
amount of food, thoroughly digester),
will belter sustain the body than live
times the quantity but" one-liflh
digested, the piilrihing mass, unap
propriated, causing "blood-poisoning."
It is indeed fori incite that dyspeptics
anil general invalids can be nourished
by the extracts of' food, such as do not
demand digestion, do not tax the stom
ach, still affording nil needed nourish
incut, at least for this class, instead
of the fruits, the juices may be ex
pressed, containing their nutrition,
l'ho aiimn is true of the grains, the
clear part of u thin gruel, such as is
made of oatmeal, etc., containing a
good share of noui ishmcnt, yet demand
ing no more labor of the stomach than
the disposition of the same quantity of
water, the same principle applying to
most forms of food, the solids, such ar
ticles as milk being an exception, since
that must be first changed to a solid, to
"curd," as a preparatory step in tho
digcHtivo process. A part of the nour
ishment of the day, or all of It, may be
taken in this pure liquid state, contain
ing no solids, and in this wav so rest
ing the stomach that it may lie able to
resume its usual duties in due time,
waiting till it lias a fair share of vital
ity. One need not fear starvation
while tints nourished by liquids, though
It is not best too long to suspend the
digestive process. Dr. Jlanafml, in
UohUn link
FASHION NOTES.
Til l.ntut Novell ! fur I'roinc unit nml
' Kvi-iilng TollntH.
Red mittens go with red felt hats.
Little folks wear big, rod felt hats.
The Fedora la the popular plastron
Very lit Ae while neck lingerie is
worn.
American silks are growing in popu
lar favor.
Plain white linen collars must be two
inches wide.
Rod is the color for sleighing suits
and wraps.
Nasturtium red-brown shades are
crowing in popular favor.
Hed cockades look well on hats of
anv color worn in slc'nrhimr.
The newest jackets and newmarkets
have- the sleeves larger below the elbow
than formerly.
Long waistcoats ornament the front
of ninny dressy morning gowns, dress,
inir aacuiie and matinees.
The velveteens lately produced in
nasturtium shades of red-brown bid
fair to be in greater demand than sup
ply.
A hundred years ago ladies used
ntutVs live or ten times as large as the
little lulls of fur or pouches of plush
ami lace enclosing the hands this win
ter. .
Large buttons or large clasps instead
of buttons ornament the side panels on
the skirts of homespun dresses, as well
as fasten the basqne or jacket.
Long Fedora plastrons of lace, col
ored, white, cream and black, are
much worn with plain silk or wool
frocks to give the dressy effect for even
ing wear,
i'ho latest novelties for forties dt but
l.ro large, long pelisses of velvet
oroche and ciscle in evening colors,
lined with fur. One rich clasp of sil
ver or gold fastens the garment at the
neck.
Tho very latest fancy work craze is
tho scorching of artistic designs on
wood. The work is done w ilh a platina
pencil attached by a rubber tube to a
fouut of benzine worked by a rubber
ball, the bomiue being first heated by
a spirit lamp. The process was tiist
practiced in Munich. Havana, but is
now quite generally known among art
ists, and wood-scorching apparatus,
with benzine, can bo bought in almost
all large art repositories. X. Y. Sun.
IN A GALLOP.
Tlmt la tin- nil at wlili-h I'M rsly
In IfunifiiiiiK t llm I'lior-lloinn.
, Coming down from Northern Miehi-
jini. one morning, tint train wan crowd
eil with lumbermen going to a new
cHinp. The men were all stout, healthy
locking fellows, quite rough in their up.
peiusnce and talk, with long hair and
mixiiHven face. About daylight they
began to cat their breakfast from all
sons of food they had with them, and
the united si l ength of the mixed odors
suddenly lil crated from cheese, onions,
codlish, dried herring and so on was
nearly strong enough to stop the train,
About seven o'clock tho breakfast sta
tion was reached, ami one of the linn-
he i men went into the hotel along with
the other passengers, and did his ut
most in the limited time at his, com.
iminil to bankrupt the keeper of the es
tablishment.
When the train was again in motion
a savage looking fellow, with a jaw
strong enough to grind glass, who was
devouring great strips of codlish and
wining his mouth on his coat sleeve
after every bite, peered out from the
wilderness of hair that surrounded his
back eyes, upon the man across the
way, who was picking his teeth with a
jack-knife, anil saiil: ,
"How is this, bill? You hain't been
sqiiniuleriu' your substance on a store
breakfast, hev yer
"Well, I reckon I jest hev, Pete,
said Hill, with a look of importance that
could not be expressed in print.
"What do they tax a feller for warm
bill grub in these parts now, Bill?" con
tinued 1'ete, ns he tore of!' a strip of cod
lish big enough to make a meal for a
small family.
"A half a dollar's what they lifted mu
for, Pcle."
"Did you say a half dollar, Bill?"
"Thai's what 1 said, Pete."
! "Do yon mean to tell me that you hed
to pay a half a dollar jest for eaten',
Bill:1'
"Thai's what I'm a savin', Pete
That's jest what I hed to do'."
"All that money throwud away jest
for a little grub! Didn't you have any
bitters. Hill?-'
"Not a smell, Pete."
"Nor no sc-hir?"
'; "No, Pcte.,
"Didn't vou make no bargain for the
trash beforehand. Hill?''
' "Of course I did."
. "It wasn't a gouge game they come
on vou, then.''
"No, I knowed what 1 was a-doin'
afore I bullercd a biscuit."
"And you knowed you'd hev to fork
over a half dollar jest for eatin', did
you It'll:"
"Whv. certainly, Pete."
"Well, in y goodness. Bill! What on
this a rth do vou mean? A half a dol
lar jest for eatin'! Jest for calin', mind
ye; no scgar nor no bitters! All throwed
away in one lump, and nothin' to show
for it ten minutes afterwards! Bill
Brady do you know what you're a
doin?"
"I'm a doin' well enough, Pete."
"No you hain't, Bill. You're a iral
lupin' toward the poor-house jest as
tight as you kin jump, and if sonic of
your friends don't interfere and git a
gardeen applntcd for you, goodness
only knows wliat II liccoine of vou. A
half a dollar jest for eatin', ami that
too, all at one grab! Bill, yer brains is
a tin nil) to water; 1 m act Ik fraul
they be. Look at that codlish, will
you?" holding it up by the tail. "I
only naiil a omii'ter for it a week mm.
am) it'll stand me another week or so
yit jest like nothin', and yit you'll
inrow wav lour lilts all at one whack
ior a icw ones in n tavern as unconcern
ed as though money crowed on trees
Bill, you're a darned sight bigger fool'n
1 ever took vou to lie, and that s a
saying heaps." Ugt' Brown, in Chi
cmjo l.filijtr.
CURIOUS NAMES.
A Ctrrirt man' I'li'.t Coni'milng Krmnrk
Hill llv-n Nnliira.
"What a name that young man has,'
Kaid a clerginian yesterday to a Nar.i
gatherer, as the person indicated left
)us presence.
"What is it?"
"K. P. Baxter, he writes It. Nothing
remarkable about that, hut what amount
of hard thought is concealed in those in
itials. Tho man w a horn on January
II. lHii:l, and his parents named hiiii
Kniaucipation Proclamation Baxter in
honor of the occasion."
That's pretty bad."
"Ye. but there are some parents with
cranky ideas on the subject of naniin
children. One boy I christened Persia
verance Jones, I endeavored to dis
suade the father, but he said the mother
was called patience, and he saw no rea
son why the boy should not be called
Perseverance, because ihe two always
went together. Within a few paces of
the grave of Ben jamin and Deborah
Franklin, in the old cemetery at Fifth
and Arch streets, there is a headstone
bearing the inscription; 'Sacred to the
memory of S. L. U. Lloyd.' if the owner
of that name were living now his friends
would probably call hiin 'Celuloid.' 1
had a colored man named Alexander
doing some work around here once. I
used to hear the other workmen call
him 'Trili and Hole,' and it struck me
one day to ask hint what his name was.
" Tribulation Wholesome Alexander,
sah.' he replied.
"It may have been .some i-elniiv-n
of
his who came to mo with twins to hav
bapli.ed.
"What name will you call them?" 1
a-sked.
" Cherubim' and Seraphim,' replied
the mother.
Why?" I asked. In astonishment.
Because," she replied, "do pra'r
book says -de cherubim and seraphim
continually do cry,' and dese yere
chd'en do nolin' else."
The Ai M ji-gatherer edged toward the
door, and. when he had got iu the lob
by, shouted "chestnut." and skipped
down stairs. VhtlmUlphia AV.
Perhaps as startling an account of
a funeral as ever was penned appears
iu a London society journal's dosorii
tion of the grave of a recently deceased
peeress. The grave was .fined with
porcelain tile, and "preseutod a most
charming appearance. '
A MYSTERY.
The HI Dry (he llrllj lry Vrlftr IVImt
llerumn of ll"r (Yew.
A writer reviews a mysteiy of th" sea,
which, us ho say, furnishes a thcnio
suited to the analytical genius of I'oe
and worthy of it. It is the story of the
brig Mary Celeste as told in the archives
of the .State Department. Thirteen
years ago she sailed from New York
for (icnoa with a cargo of alcohol in
barrels. Her captain, B. S. Briggs it
man bearing the highest reputation for
seamanship and correctness, and who
was a part owner -had with him his
wife and u young child, and a crew of
ten men, some at least of whom were
known as peaceable and lirst-class
sailors. The vessel was picked up at
sea December 4, l7i, with no one on
board. She was sailing wi'h two ap
propriate sails set, as if pursuing her
voyage. The weather was calm and
tin! sea smooth; and not only was the
vessel entirely sound and seaworthy,
but she had not even experienced
rough weather, for a vial of medicine
stood upright on a table in the
cabin. The cargo was well stored tinil
in good condition. There was no evi
dence of it struggle on board. Tho
brig's papers, chronometer and boat
were gone, but every thing else was in
shipshape order, even to tho sailors'
chests. The last record in the log had
been made November 2", but the judi
cial ollicers who investigated the case
held it almost impossible that the brig
could have sailed from her position No
vember '2 to tho point at which she
was picked up upon the same tack with
no one at the wheel, and they inferred
that tlie abandonment must have taken
place some days after the last entry was
made in the "log. Admiral Slmfeldt,
who investigated the mystery at the re
quest of the Consul at (iibraftar, reject
ed tho idea of a mutiny from the ab
sence of any signs of violence, and con
cluded tlmt the vessel was abandoned
in a moment of panic. But nothing
was ever heard of the ship's company,
and no clew to the till air has ever been
found. The failure of the log to bear
any record for the last few davs the
crew was probably on boani only
highlens the mystery. A'. Y. Cumnu r-
THE GREAT WALL.
China ns Seen from One of I ho Town rnf
This Am lent Knrtllli-iitliiii.
Of the ancient (ireat Wall, only a low
rampart remains, with square tower:,
diminishing towards the top. These
towers are generally placed on the
summits of the mountain across which
thi! wall winds. I ascended one of
them, the better to contemplate the
view, but had no one with whom to
share nil the admiration that I felt at
this moment. It is quite impossible to
describe all that the eye took in
mountains, valleys, gorges, grass-covered
slopes, pastures, farms, lakes.
The presence of man is to befell; not
of Ihe local villages of town life, but tho
li'c of a great State. To the east a su
perb val.cy dotted over with Chin, so
villages, surrounded with bushes and
trees; farther oil', on several levels,
chains of innuuta'ns, tho tops of
which were on a level with my
eyes. To the west the ground undulates
gradually towards the plain, beyond
which are more mountains. On" the
south, inagniliccnt pasture-land, inter
sected by the (ireat Wall with its ruined
towers. On our right the (ireat Wall.'
cracked and destroy ed by centuries, and
covered with plants; on our left, a slope
towards the plain, laid out in artificial
terraces with tiehls of millet, oats, po
tatoes and hemp. As to the Chinese,
they are to be seen everywhere, with
long plaits and bare-hcailcd. attired in a
white shirt and blue trousers. The
women are scantily clothed, and the
children, whose heads are decked with
flowers, are naked or nearly so. What
strikes one most is the sudden transition
from the barreneM desert of yesterday to
the fertile and populous 'country of' to
day. It seems like a never-ending
village of small houses, covered with
verdure, gardens and flowers, the whole
extremely tidy and pleasant to the eye.
This, then, is that .swarming human
ant-hill, China Vhicno Inli hor,
VALUABLE SOCIETIES.
Why Kvery ('oniiiiinilly Should Have a
IIUtiii-lp-deiH-aliiKleitl Sm-lely.
The president of the New Kngland
Historic-Ocncalogieal Society, in his an
nual address, declared it "a sacred duty
to preserve and hand down to future
gent rations not only the lineage and
history of our families, but to recoid
the names ami virtues of those men and
women who have been benefactors of
our race." lie said it was the design of
the society over which he presided to
perpetuate the events of the lives of
those w ho have benefited their race on
a large or a small scale, and "to em
balm their virtues in cndearinir words.
so that their trials, industry, persever
ance and success may strciiirthen the
characters and cheer and encourage
those who come after them." A society
with such an aim as that of this organi
zation should be established in cverc
portion of the country where geograph
ical lines and commercial enterprises in
common tend to develop peculiar local
interest in the men and women who
have proved of especial worth. Cur
rent. Mr. Nordenfelt. of con f-im. I..,.
, . r- . -.
invented A safi! iimciws for iii.itiiif.u.iii..
ing gunpowder. Instead of grinding
sulplrir, charcoal and saltpetre together
in thoir solid state, snliibnr is nut i
solution as sulphate of carbon. This in
mixed with en! fun ir i-i-llnhw., lil,-..
ground to an impalpable powder.
.1 . .1...! ... . .1... ... ...
s;tiiii;iu-u soiuiuui oi sau pei re is adileit
to this niivttiiv 'fln.ii it is .iv.i.,.,.-.,,...!
- 1 ('.-. .in u
under disturbed crystallization. Almost
a liquid gunpowder is thus obtained.
"Did vou interview .fo.li-,. It.,,,,.),.
back last niirht?"' asked the "manai-in.
editor. "Bless me. no!" said thi-" r,
ii uter. "I ni iile -i niist.-iLe n.I !
viewed ( tcncr-i! S.'.n f i-. slhatl I .
the interview?" "No; it's too good t,t
change. Let it stand as it is. Just
chancre the name to.Judn Bench hark "
"But he'll kick like a steer! 1 Li,.-
hilll." "Never mind- run run im..
view him for the (ieneral to-morrow."
buruelte, in Brookiyn hajit.
THE ADDING MACHINt.
.ulrlvanro r,t u Uook-Kei-pir Alter
Twelve Vi'Bm' Work.
I.' (1. Cpalding, who keeps books for
I iay & Johnson, .has perfected a tint
chin i that is designed to aid brother
book-keepers or accountants in running
up long lines of figures. Ho has been
at work on tho invention since 1H73, and
had the thing patented something like
a year ago. The machine is encased
in a wooden box about eight inches
square and three inches deep, and, lift
ing the cover, the interior is seen to
hold an enameled white surface, on
which are two dials, and which shows
the brass keyboard in the lower left
hand corner. The larger dial of the
two is on the left of the machine, and is
divided into one hundred sections. Tho
rim of tho smaller dial is likewise cut
into twenty sections. The hand which
moves the smaller is called the hun
dreds, about the first dial is called tho
unit pointer. A little finger play on
the brass keyboard makes tho object of
the dials ami the reason of the pointers'
names quickly understood.
The nine keys on the board are num
bered from 1 to i) and arc placed
in regular order, but also in two rows,
2. 4, 0 and H being above and the odd
numbers below. The kev is a bras up
right, and ns the linger liraws on it, a
spring allows it to slip back toward tho
lower end of tho box. The pulling of
each key on tho board sends the unit
pointer along on its journey around the
dial as many points as there nre units
iu the number of the key. Pull the !)
key and tho dial set nt 0 goes to 9. Pull
the same key again and the unit pointer
moves to 18. Pull the 1, 2 anil 3 kevs
now and tho pointer goes consecutively
with a hop, skip and jump to 24. When
the unit pointer, keeping up its agile
athletics has reached it.s starling point
again, there is a quick little motion on
the right hand dial. Tho pointer then
has "dotted and gone one. ' The ma
chine's internal clockwork is more ac
curate than a human head can hope to
be. It isn't troubled with malaria, nor
is it ever larger in the morning
than it was the night before. All
the accountant has to do is to run his
eye up and down the columns, pulling
each respective key as he reaches the
corresponding figure. A day is suf
ficient in which to learn the key-board,
and the motion of the hand quickly be
comes almost involuntary. The expert
can run the ligures in his head and on
the key-board simultaneously, thus
"proving" his work by one trip up or
down the column. Carrying is per
formed by setting the pointer at the
number to be carried. To set the unit
pointer all that is necessary is to hold
down key 1 and turn the pointer for
ward to a number one less than the one
carried. On releasing key 1 tho pointer
is on tlie desired number. The hun
dred pointer can he moved in either di
rection. Tlie hand easily operates the
nine keys thus: Nos. 1, 2 and 3 with
the lirst linger, 4 and it with tlie second,
(i and 7 with the third. M and It with the
fourth. The inventor claims for the
machine unerring accuracy and surpris
ing rapidity, lie says an expert can
add 210 ligun.s a minute with it.
!$lrinticlil (Mum.) UniiMkan.
KNIFE HANDLES.
A Ci'lilrrtl-.tnurliilil tVouil I'seil Chiefly
for I'lii ket Cutlery.
"Did you ever wonder what knifo
handles are made of?'' asked a dealer
in fancy woods of a reporter, as he
handed out a shapeless block from his
store of spoils from many trophical for
ests. "Outside of bone and tortoise
shell nnd pearl, so-called, which every
one recognizes, the majority of knife
handles nre made out of a close, line
grained wood, about the name and ped
igree of which 9, Kill) out of every 10,(KH)
persons are ignorant. It is known in
the trade as cocobola wood, and it
conies in large quantities, millions of
pounds a t ear, from Panama.
"It is of special value for knife-handles,
because of its close texture;
freedom from knots and flaws,
and consequent disinclination to
split. Many well-known kinds
of wood reouire varnishing and polish
ing and tilling up of crevices before
they attain the luauty for which they
are famous. Of course that sort (if
thing can't be done in the case of knife
handles, and something must be used
which doesn't require lixing up. Coco
bola is rarely used for cabinet-making,
because, being a gum my wood, il doesn't
glue well. The same qualities that
make it of use iu the. manufacture of
knife-handles render it valuable for the
making of wind instruments, like the
Uute. It conies to us in chunks, not in
strips and planks, like other woods.
Sometimes these pieces will weigh live
and six hundred pounds, but generally
much less than that. It costs 2 1-2 cents
a pound now, but before freights went
down and the isthmus was opened up so
thoroughly it used to cost double that
price. A. '. Tribum:
APPROPRIATE POETRY.
A ChlrKo Malilrii'n Version of Tennyton-
illll Itll.HlU-H.
Binks, who has a tendency never to
leave, when he makes a call, was down
on Indiana avenue the other night, and
when every other subject had been
talked out, asked the young woman if
she liked poetry. She said she did and
that Tennyson'wa-s her favorite.
"Ah," smiled Binks, "and what is
your favorite passage?"
"Why that one reading
At eleven o'clock the voumr mnn' fancy,
SiiKhtty turns to thmithts of heme.
rui-uni" hesitated Binks, looking
pale clear down below his knees, anil
taking out his watch, "I'll go right
away and look it up; 1 don't remember
having seen it."
"Yes" she said., "its so appropriate,
jon know."
Binks swears he will never return
until he finds that miserable passage.
Merchant TrnrcU r.
The completeness of the work done
by the earlier astronomers is shown by
the fact, recently stated, that out of the
six thousand or more nebul now
known the llerschels discovered live
thousand. -X. '. Sun.
A FLY IN WINTER.
The Plemlnir bhiI Kxlillnrstlng Amies ol
tlm Sullliiry Iinnrt,
Nature is full of the milk of human
kindness. This may scein a strange as
sertion, but it is true, nnd its correct
ness can be demonstrated with mathe
matical precision by any one who
cares to undertakes tho job frco of ex
pense. I, alas! am not that man.
I am prepared to assort, however,
that tho laws of Nature, like human
laws, have their exceptions. Behold,
then, the sad fato of tho fly in winter.
Cut off from all that made life one de
lirious dream of joy in tho sweet sum-incr-timu
long ago, ho wanders a lorn
and blighted being on tho face of .the
earth.
See hint on th dinner-tablo one fly
all by himself. Ho looks on every side
of hiin with his hundred eyes, and sees
no other of his species, llo is alone
n his age. No sweet-faced Sunday
ifirl lly peeps at him from behind the
Migar-bowl, or blushes when she turns
the corner of the butter-dish and acci
dentally meets him face to face, with a
sort of liow-caine-you-thero expression
li her large, thoughtful eyes.
No sister greets him when ho goes
homo at night, and asks him whether
he has brought her any New Orleans
molasses from down town. No brother
meets him in tlie hallway and says:
"Well, Charley, did you go long of
mince-pie to-day?"
No mother stands ready to comfort
him and soothe his soul after his daily
struggle for bread ami butter nnd sugar
nnd collco asid milk and things. No
father comes forward to pat him on the
back and say:
"Go on, my son, as you hnvo begun,
and you will become an eminent mem
ber of fly society perhaps greater than
'a horse-fly."
No creditors but then I suppose
that, as ttics are supported nt tho ex
pense of the community, they have no
creditors.
This is a sad state of existence this
.slate of tlie lly in winter. But Nature
is full of compensations. Woman's
work is never done; neither is a tly's.
He gets up just ns early and goes to
bed just as late in the winter as ho docs
in the slimmer. And he is inlinitcly
more industrious, lie has to lly around
and scramble to keep warm.
O, the wild, unspeakable joy of a fly
who linds a man's nose in tlm tender
dawn of a winter morning! The only
nose in tlie room and tho only lly!
Does the fly rise to the occasion?
lie does. And ho risas to tho nose,
too.
Ho sits upon il and walks around it,
nnd flies away nnd comes back to it.
and otherwise expresses his joy.
Man's soul may weary of the lly, but
the lly never tires. In the summer tho
fly soint'times gels disgusted wild the
man's antics and goes awuy. Then tho
man gels a small rest until another lly
comes along.
But iu winter tiio man wakes up and
sees tho 11 v. Ill makes a dab at the in
sect, am it shoots madly away into
spaco for about six inches and then
careers back and clings onco more to
tho man's nose. The man sees that
there is but one lly. Ho watches that
fly. His eyes beeomo fascinated by Us
movements. When it wings it.s way off
into space, tho man strains his eyes
after it; and when it comes back and
Bits on his nose, he looks cross-eyed at it.
After a time he gets up and stealth
ily procures a towel with a wet end.
Murderous thoughts course through
his brain. He looks for the lly.
The lly is on tho gas-globe.
The man lies down and pretends to
be asleep. Then the lly comes and sits
on his nose. Tho man hauls off and
smites. Ho knocks his false teeth down
his throat and splatters waU'.r into both
his eyes. When he dries them, ho sees
tho fly sitting on tlie bed-post smooth
ing his spit-curls with his spare legs.
The man rises slowly. He strains
every muscle in his back' trying to get
uii so slowly as not to frighten the lly.
He draws near to the motionless insect.
Once more he smites. But before tho
towel touches lh bed-post the lly has
whim-d off and pitched on the man's
wife's nose.
Then the man smiles a horrid smilo
and rolls back into bed. And tho next
moment the man feels tho lly trying to
crawl into his ear.
Desperation seizes him. Ilo jumps
up and dresses himself. Ilo goes out
and tries to buy some fly-paper. It is
useless. The storekeepers laugh at him.
"Why, sir," they say: "wo have no
fly-paper this time of year,"
Then lie tries to buy a fly-trap; but
they are all packed 'away until next
summer.
Ho goes home. Despair is rising in
his soul, when suddenly a brilliant
idea strikes him. Ho goes out and
borrows a neighbor's son, aged ten.
He takes tho boy to his room and shows
him the fly. He promises the hoy half-a-dollar
if he catches the insect.
Tho boy enters upon the task with
all the enthusiasm of youth. He climbs
over the furnituro recklessly, smashes
a tifly-dollar mirror and a four-hundred-day
clock, and finally kicks over tho
lamp and seU the carpet on lire. After
tho conflagration is over, tho boy ap
pears with a smile on his face.
"I've caught him," ho says, holding
out a lightly-clenched list.
"Oivo him to me," says the man.
The boy opens his hand.
Tho man grabs.
But the fly escapes, just the same.
The reader may now go back to the
place where the man first saw the fly,
and just keep reading to the end ami
going back till he geU tired. He will
thus learn just what happens to the
man who tries to catch the solitary but
experienced winter fly, and he will not
be half as tired as tlio'man will. IK. .
Ikiitlcrson in 1'nck.
Our mixed population is beginning
to tell in tho names of men who find
their way into Congress. The reading
clerk of the House is represented ns
being in despair at tho prospect of
having to rattlo off such jaw-crackers
as these: Lehlback, La Follettc, Lautill,
Romeis, Stahlnecker, Vansehaieh and'
Outhwaite. These are only French and
Gorman, but wait till the Russian names
begin to roll in. M'asMnqton Post.
. rT" ,n,;,n "''uno7"renn)love t ic
a Pmsbunrh fonn Iry. went off the other
day loaded to the mule, and on hi!
S"3Jcr"pt,3rdiwhM-'i-
MISTAKES IN MEDICINE.
Ciirt'les l'liynlrtnm Who Mnkn firt
rr In Tliolr I'recrliii,i ,'"
"That was a hard run of it," r(s
marked a down-town clerk to a t(
porter for tho Sun, who dropped
drugstore late tho other night. "Pv.0Dt
talk about mistakes of pharmacists, C
notono mistake is made iu adrui,tor
to twenty by doctors who write prescri
tions. I hitvo just had a caso which
might have- caused a death if I had not
discovered an error by a physician in
time to prevent it. Two hours ao
man enmo in hero with a proscription
Ho was in a hurry for it, because the
person for whom it was intended wM
suffering greatly, nnd somethinir niU
to bo done. Tho physician who attend,
cd tiio caso wrote out a prescription
The medicines 'm intended to giTj
were to relievo the suffering, hut in
romnonndiny the nrcscriDtion f f,, i
, , , , , vuiin
that ho had included enough of a power
ful drug to have killed twenty persons
in the closes he intended to give. (
was not a case where I could make n
alteration, as druggists frequently have
to do. I could not niako up the pre.
seription, because I knew it would
cause death. Tho only thing to he done
was to-hunt up the doctor. I had to
hunt him up myself, because he would
have been very angry if I had sent the
man after him, and wo would have lost
It's custom. I took a cab and drove to
his house. There- I found he had
moved away, and I had to go a mile
farther before I found him. It was an
hour nnd a half before I got back and
filled the prescription."
"Do such things frequently occur?''
"They happen every day. In most
cases they are detected by the druggist
before harm results. A pharmacist
must know the nature of a drug, for
what purpose it is used and the amount
given in ordinary doses. This is espe
cially true of poisons or potent reme
dies. By this means if errors are made
we can delect them. The mere acci
dental addition of a small angle to the
sign used for a 'dram' will make it an
'ounce' and multiplies tlie quantity
.eighty limes. That little mark is easily
made and it frequently is. Just yester
day a perscription came lo me from a
physician who wauled to give a patient
a medicine, so potent that three drops
would have killed hiin. In order to
prevent overdoses the medicine was to
be mixed with four ounces of some
harmless liquid, which is known to the
trade as the 'vehicle;' that is, tho harm
less drug used to dilute tho potent
remedy. In this prescription tho phy
sician had simply reversed tlie two
drugs, giving four ounces of the poison
ous medicine and a few drops of the
'vehicle.' Of course that wasi mistake
on its face, and I simply reversed tlie
quantities."
"Do these errors arise from the care
lessness of the physician?"
"1 can't say it is carelessness, hut
something is wrong. I can see that
some errors arise from tho fact that
members of a family talk to a physician
when ho is writing tho prescription,
and he inadvertently writes tho wrong
medicine. If, however, physicians
would carefully read their prescription
before sending them out there would be
less trouble, tint more than half rifl
doctors write out the prescription, tor
it oil' the tab and give it to tho palVoA.
or his friends without looking at it
again. If physicians would read their
prescriptions some very common errors
would be avoided. For example, it not
infrequently happens that morphine is
written for quinine. Physicians in good
standing m Chicago have written on
prescriptions calling for six-grain mor
phine capsules. Now anybody would
know that was not tlie thing that
was wanted. Such prescriptions
would never get into a drug
store if the doctors were only morn
careful in their work, or if they frfnild
read their prescriptions before sending
them out. But the greatest trouble is
in illegible writing. Doctors as a rule
nro careless writers. Their prescrip
tions are difficult to read. Many a time
I have been compelled to go to a doc
tor's ollieo and get him to decipher a
proscription, and every druggist has
had the same experience. Now, if there
is anything that should be written in
a clear, bold hand it is a proscription.
Think how much depends upon its cor
rect composition by tho druggist. If
lie should make a mistake no' excuse
would be made for hint. Scores of doc
tors never think of this. They write
proscriptions in bad penmanship and
the druggist has to trust to luck.
It seems to mo that good penmanship
should be made one of the requisites of
a physician's right to practice. Medi
cal colleges should have a penmanship
department and require its students to
tako a full course before graduating.
In that way many mistakes of physi
cians now attributed to druggists might
be avoided." Chicago Sun.
MONSTER CANALS.
Tiro Knlfrprlnej of Antuuihlng MAgnl
tuile anil Iiiiiiirtniiie.
The proposed German canal which is
to conucct tlie North Sea and tho Baltic,
seems ' to have directed attention in
France to various schemes for connect
ing by canal the great Mediterranean
seaport Marseilles' with the mouth of
tho Hhone, thus completing inland
communication with Lyons, Paris,
Houon and Havre. In 1881 the Gen
eral Council of the Department of the
Bouches du Rhone adopted a resolution
expressing approval of a scheme for a
canal which was to be carried through
a tunnel eight kilometres long. The
plan was, however, shown to be at
tended with many practical difficulties.
A proposal is now made by Dr. Louis
Coin'oot. deputy mayor of Lyons, to
carry the canaf froin'thc port of Mar
seilles along the shore of the Mediter
ranean to the mouth of the Rhone, it
is asserted that the whole expense will
not exceed .Vl, 000, 000 francs, and that
the new waterway will very materially
diminish the expense of sending goods
by inland navigation from the Mediter
ranean to the English channel. A. T.
A hint to theatrical managers: Mi"
Clara "Are you familiar with Dante's
"Divine Comedy.' Mr. Fcatherly '"
Keatherly "No;" I've never seen it
The fact is, Miss Clara, I think this
comedy business is being overdoii
The sooner the stage returns to te
legitimate drama tho better it will l"1
for the profession." Ilnrpcr'i frc?"-
. s