THE RETREAT FROM MUKDEN.
To save the annoyance of foul-smell
ing chicken boxes In which you have
live poultry, slip two or three sheet
of thick paper In the bottom; when
empty throw these away.
t r s 'i.fiii:.,... a.vAio,'x.. J y.'Tr.rrvkt,
MOTHERHOOD.
I wonder so that mothers ever fret
At little children clinging at their
gown;
Or that the footsteps, when the dnys are
wet,
Are ever black enough to make them
frown.
If I could find a little muddy boot,
A cap or jacket on my chamber floor,
If I could kiss a rosy, restless foot,
And hear It patter in my home once
more;
If I could mend a broken cart to-day,
To-morrow make a kite to reach the
sky,
There Is no woman in God's' world could
say
She was more blissfully content than I.
Dut ah! the dainty pillow next my own
Is never rumpled by a shining head;
My singing birdling from Its nest has
flown!
The little boy I used to love is dead.
But now it seems surpassing strange to
me
That while I bore the badge of mother
hood I did not kiss more oft and tenderly
My little child, who brought me only
good.
Mary Clemmer Ames.
ELL, May darling, what is to
bo done? Uncle Jim hns pome
to life again. He Is appar
ently married, and is the proud father
of twin boys. So my chances of In
heriting are "
And Eric Strachan gave a half
choke, and looked at Malsle, and the
girl looked first nt him and then awnv
from him, uud her beautiful eyes were
ciouuea.
"And next week we were going to
BSk the courts to to be allowed to pre
sume your uncle's death, and you
would have slipped Into title and es
tates, and oh, Eric! What a man
Lord Ilardcastle Is, dead one minute
and alive the next!"
"What you might call unreliable,"
Bald Eric dryly.
In early youth Lord Hardcastle had
had a disappointment In love, and,
though anyone who knew him would
have thought hi in the last man In the
world to have taken such a matter se
riously to heart, he did, for he shut up
his house and wandered literally all
over the face of creation for many
years.
He had no relative living but Erie,
and not only was he a bad corre
spondent, but when his rnre and la
conic epistles from Canada, Australia
or South America did arrive only an
average of one word In three was de
cipherable, for his handwriting was
simply abominable.
He had been shot, stabbed, had fall
On down a disused shaft or two at the
diggings, and been shipwrecked twice,
and seemed to thrive upon It; and once
he wrote he was suffering from what
looked like "galloping consumption,"
but the consumption either failed to
gallop, or the ulr of the Blue Moun
tains bad cured him, or the bad writ
ing may not have been "consumption"
at all; the symbols may have stood for
a pain almost anywhere. Seven years
before when In England, he had made
the acquaintance of his nephew Eric,
who was 18; he took a huge fancy to
the bright young fellow, gave him a
very handsome check, Indeed, told him
to look upon himself as heir to the
Ilardcastle estates, and promised he
would write to his solicitors to see that
Eric had a decent allowance worthy of
the heir to thousands, and he had bet
ter try for the army, and live well.
When old Ilardcastle, leaving a very
grateful lad behind him, returned to
his hotel, he met a very old crony who
was sailing on the following day for
tha Argentine. Buenos Ayres wu one
of the few places Jack Ilardcastle had
not visited, so, forgetting all about his
plans for Eric, he said he would come,
too. There was no bother about pack
ing, for he had only arrived the day
before from Sydney, aud hud not un
packed yet; so at dawn the next morn
ing this globe-trotter and his crony
started ..or Buenos Ayres, and poor
Eric was forgotten. The young fel
low was practically alone In the world,
and If it had not been for little Malsle,
his boyhood's sweetheart, would have
refused the fairly good clerkship In
the city which had been offered him,
and lived the life of an Idle man on
the very slender Income his parents
had left him, and the prospects of help
from his rich, eccentric uncle.
They had been married nearly a
year now, and two happier peoeple
never lived out of paradise; but their
Income was only a small one, and there
were prospects of another little mouth
to feed. They had never quite given
up hope that in the nick of time the
eccentric uncle would turn up like the
godmother In the fairy story, and now
had come this awful, ill-written letter,
saying he had twin boys, and no men
tion of his wife he probably forgot
to mention she was dead. Malsie
spread It out upon the table, and once
more deciphered as much as she could,
practically spelling out each symbol.
" 'I'm bringing over my two lovely
twin boys; you will be delighted with
them; they're the Image of Rose' (I
suppose that Is his wife). "They yell
a good deal at night nil boys do, but
you can rig them up out of the way
where they will disturb no one.'
"Oh, Erie, how can we find room for
them all?"
"Twin boys? It looks to me like
'twin frogs.' I never saw such writ
ing, aesar and Brutus! Did you
ever hear such names for children?
They're heathen names, too. Awful!"
And then Malsle gave a faint shriek
as she looked at the envelope, for It
had been posted, not In Sydney, but
In London! True to his eccentric In
stincts, Ilardcastle had thought, as he
Intended to come over, and as the next
vessel would carry the malls, Includ
ing his letter, he might Just as well
bring the letter over In his pocket and
post It In town. ,
"We must prepare a room for a pos
sible wife and nurse, and we shall
want a wee bed for the twins, Eric."
And, quite unconsciously, the little
womnn glanced toward a wee bed
which was being prepared for another
little tenant, and there was an ex
pression on her face which made Eric
bend over her and kiss her.
They turned out of their own room
to make room for Lord and Lady
Ilardcastle, hired a wee bed, and placed
it with a bed for the nurse In the
dressing-room. Eric flew out and or
dered unheard-of luxuries, and had
scarcely returned when a carriage
drove up.
Malsle was sitting In the drawing
room, eight feet by eight, trying to
look dignified, and Erie himself went
to the door. He hesitated for a mo
ment to open It he had preceded their
little servant and, ere turning the
handle, heard:
"You can go back to town, John, or
whatever your name Is, and take the
twins why, where the devil are the
stnbles?"
Now, there are no stables In Pal
myra Villa far from it.
Aud then Eric opened the door. A
little man as brown as a berry, as
hard as nails all over, with gray hair
and eyes, and an alert look, was Jack
Ilardcastle. He did not attempt to
shake hands. Small as he was, he
seemed to nil the narrow hall.
"Well, young man, what have you
to say for yourself?"
"I am glad to see you, uncle."
"Of course, of course only natural;
but do you mean to say that on five
hundred a year you can't occupy a
larger dog-kennel than this?"
"I am only earning two-fifty, un
cle." "Do you mean to say Spooner &
Co. are not paying you five hundred a
year?"
"No, blr why should they?"
"Because I told them to, of course
they're my solicitors. I own I forgot
I had arranged to grease your wheels
a bit for you before I left England last
dear me, that's seven years ago
and when I did think of It let me see,
I was In the Andamans then I wrote
myself and in my own handwriting,
to make sure and told them to pay
you five hundred a year as long as
you behaved yourself, and I got a ca
ble back months afterward I was In
Mexico then: 'Five hundred bunches
of bananas not arrived. I couldn't un
derstand what they meant I suppose
there was something the matter with
my handwriting."
Malsle could stand this no longer.
She had stopped looking dignified, and
was crumpled up with undignified
laughter. So she came out and Intro
duced herself, and the little gray man
kissed her.
"But you are not alone, uncle?"
"There's only me and the twins."
"But where are Lady Ilardcastle
and the nnrse? I have made all prepa
rations, and am dying to see the
twins."
They were in the eight foot by eight
now, and Hardenstle seated, looked
blankly at his hosts.
"Do you know, my dear," he said,
"I'm bothered if I know what you're
talking about. I was never married,
and never shall be, and I do not re
quire the services of a nurse."
"But your twin boys?" And she
produced his letter.
"Twin boys!" he gasped. "Twin
dogs! Poor old Rosle only had two,
so we called them the twins, nnd
they've taken every prize down un
der"; and he was purple.
And then he went to the front door,
and In stalked two huge British bull
dogs. '
They had been settled at Hardcastle
House for some little time, for Eric
had been ordered to throw up his
clerkship, which he did with alacrity
when Malsle heard sounds of mirth
proceeding from the day nursery, and
quietly went upstairs.
She found her first-born on the knee
of Lord Hardcastle, and Lord Hard
castle was giving the first-born a writ
ing lesson! The, Gentlewoman.
He Wasn't a Legislator.
A traveling man who "makes" Kan
sas City frequently was dining in the
cafe of one of the large hotels when he
thought he'd play a trick on his waiter.
"See that man at the next table,
George?" he said.
The waiter nodded assent "That's
Dr. Alonzo 'Tubbs, the Missouri Legis
lator, who Is trying to stop all tipping."
The waiter grew Interested at once.
"Well, ain't dat too bad," he said. "Ah'g
been waltin' on him, too. "Well, you
won't get any tip there," said the trav
eling man. "Ah suttlngly treated him
right," replied the waiter.
"A few minutes later the man at the
other table left and the waiter return
ed to the traveling man. "Well," said
the drummer, "what did I tell you?"
" 'Xcuse me, sah, but ah thinks you
tole me er fabrication," said the waiter,
grinning. "Dat man ain't a leglslatah
he's a gentleman." The man had
given him a quarter.
- Slightly Paradoxical.
He I see that that man Atkinson
now says a woman can live on $223
a year."
She Did he? Well, perhaps she
can If she's willing to kill herself do
ing it" Cleveland Flaln Dealer.
Big Fruit Cannery in California.
A new fruit cannery is about to be
established in Santa Clara, Cal., which
will put up 8,000,000 cans a year. This
season It expects to put up 2,000,000.
Tks Egg-Laying Hea.
Since poultrymen have begun to aim
at a high standard In egg production
aud to strive for the two-hundred-egg
hen (the type not the Individual),
much advance bag been made, al
though the White Leghorn stlllheads
the list. Of course, there are hens
and hens even of this egg-laying
breed, and some of them fall far be
',w the standard. It Is interesting to
note the formation of the real egg pro
ducer, and the Illustration, which has
been drawn from a photograph of a
prize egg producer, will show this for
mation very clearly, as compared with
TYPE OF BEST LAYER.
the average hen of this or any other
breed.
The egg producer has a long back,
which Is easily noted when she Is seen
with ordinary fowls. The breast Is
also low, and there Is a heaviness of
the body behind. In one word, the
carcass may be called plump. The
comb and wattles are fiery red, the
eyes bright, and the bird has an alert
ness which does not seem to be promi
nent In other Individuals not so good
layers. It pays to look over the birds
very carefully, and If one has a stand
ard to go by it will be seen that nine
cases out of ten the bird which looks
like a layer of few eggs will be found
to be so. Indianapolis News.
Rest Cure for Lameness.
A roomy yard or large box stall is a
better place for a horse requiring rest
on account of lameness than a grass
field. Very often the rest may be ren
dered more complete by Judicious sur
gical shoeing, which throws the part
actually involved into a state of rest
Many make the mistake of turning
horses out during the day and bring
ing them In at night. Generally speak
ing, the animal would be better off out
at night than during the day, the ex
ception being when there Is a great
variation between the day and night
temperature. The horse Is nocturnal
In his habits; he can graze 'and get
about comfortably in a low medium
of light If he cannot actualy "see In
the dark," as he Is popularly sup
posed to be able to do, and he can get
food, moderate exercise and the bene
ficial effect of night dews and damp
grass to his feet, and is subject to no
disturbance. American Cultivator.
Ponltry Pickings.
There Is less profit In half-starved
hens than In those too fat
.The crocodile,- the chicken and the
ostrich take pebbles with their food to
aid In grinding It
The qualifications for a successful
poultryman are patience, perseverance,
pluck, enterprise and capital.
If you do not love your poultry well
enough to gWe them the proper care,
you had better go out of business.
If there Is any tendency to looseness
of the bowels among the poultry, give
them coal ashes to pick over. This
will correct Jt
Milk may soil the old hen's feath
ers, but there Is nothing better for her
In the way of food and drink.
A good way to clean ducks, after
picking is. to rub them well with a
cloth that has been dampened and
dipped In corn meal.
When bumblefoot appears, lance the
bottom of the foot and poultice it with
bread crumbs soaked in milk, or a
scraped raw potato.
To cure feather pulling, wash the
feathers of the victim birds with a
mixture made by dissolving powdered
aloea In alcohol
8 Vim Milk for Pitts.
On any farm where pigs are raised,
and skim milk Is available. It mar
be fed with profit In connection with
grains of various kinds. To use the
skim milk without the grain Is not
getting the best out of It The usual
plan of feeding skim milk to pigs from
two to three months old Is to make a
mixture of middlings or ground corn
with five times the quantity of skim
milk. This ration furnishes about the
same nutriment that does the milk of
the sow, and the pigs will thrive on it
Some pig raisers try a ration consist
ing of one part of middlings, one part
of oil meal and four parts of ground
corn mixed with water in lieu of skim
milk, and find it fairly satisfactory.
Considerable care must be used In the
feeding of young pigs, and it pays to
try and arrange a ration which will
keep them growing as sturdily as pos
sible. Pasture for Hogs.
For early pasture for hoes sow bar.
ley or a combination of barlev and
oats. A little lated sow rape in fact
rape may be sown almost as earlv as
barley on a well-prenared seed bed.
and by having two fields of rape the
nogs may be supplied with pasture the
whole season as soon as the rape
reaches a sufficient growth to pasture
It This Is accomplished by turning
from one pasture to another, allow
ing the rape to grow In one field while
It Is being pastured off in the other.
for late summer or fall cownens makA
an excellent pasture for hogs, lue
same lajid which Is sown to barley
early in the spring may be planted to
cowpeas after the first of June, and
this will furnish pasture In August
and September. Cor. Farmers' Advo
cate. Simple Garden Marker.
A marker is one of .the hanijy tools
of the farm, and Is readily made by
taking a strip of inch material of the
desired length, and, at the proper dis
tance from the ends, making holes in
which to Insert poles to form a shaft
to which a horse may be fastened. At
Intervals on this strip make holes so
that the teeth may be moved as de
sired. These teeth may be made of
wood and of varying thicknesses and
lengths to suit the various seeds. A
few bolts will do the fastening per
fectly. For general use the necessary num
ber of teeth may be made triangular
in shape, the upper end containing two
bolt holes, so as to lengthen If desired.
(See Fig. 1.) A neat adjustment of a
tooth is shown at Fig. 2. Heavy board
MARKER FOR THE GARDEN.
teeth may be used where coarse seed
is to be used If one desires, the teeth
being attached to the bar in the same
manner as the others. Fles. 8 snd 4
show such a tooth and its attachment
to the bar. Exchange.
Uncle Sam's Big; Farm.
It is estimated that the total area
for farming purposes in the United
States is 841,000,000 acres an area
larger than England, Scotland, Ire
land, Wales, France, Germany, Aus
tria, Spain, Japan and the
There are 14,439,000 persons engaged
in agricultural pursuits, while all oth
er Industries employ but 18,845,000.
Baltimore American.
Garden Hints.
The California poppy is the most
brilliant red annual. Do not trans
plant Early plants of marigold flower in
pots before replanting, and never stop
until frost
Zinnia is gorgeous and always in
flower. It is well to get selected
strains for pure colors.
Morning glory Is the best vine for
the trellis. Soak the seed In warm wa
ter before planting. It self-sows. Tha
first frost kills It