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ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON, AUGUST 18, 1882.
NO. 2.
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COLUMBIAN. - -
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FKVtU I) ELI UK.
BY A GRANDMOTHER.
"So Ticy Loring's come borne ruther
feeble, has she?" queried Aunt Susy
Clarke, an octogenarian, who at her four
score was as bright and saucy as a girl
of sixteen. As she made the inquiry of
her neighbor, Mrs. Ray, she set her
silver-bowed spectacles a little closer to
her bright blue eyes, and elevated her
chin, giving her investigation quite a
judicial air, as though the anuonncement
had something criminal in itself.
"Yes, Aunt Susy,that is what I heard,"
fiairt Mrs. Rav. ''The doctors call it
!fyspepsia, I believe, and they say she is
white as chalk, and her fingers look as
thin and delicate as though she had
never washed a dish, or turned a spin-
ning wheel in her life. I s'pose her
mother'll wait on her like baby."
! Aunt Susy made an indescribable
j ejaculation, pursing up her mouth as
though it had been crimped with a
French fluting-iron. '"Spepsy, is it? I
can 'nostricate better'n that. I'll wager
my gold beads agin your silver spoons,
that it's nothing in the world but the old
fashioned fever delirk. It's a gettin'
dreadful prevailin' in theso days."
"Fever delirk, Aunt Susy! what in
the name of disease is that?" asked Mrs.
Kay.
"Yes, fever delirk two stomachs to
eat and none to work. That's what my
granny Chapin used to tell me was the
matter when I grumbled at spinnin' two
run and a half a day, and I 'spicion
Ticy's got it in the worst way. I learn
as how, after that factory failed in which
her husband was pardner, he got a
chance to work for big wages,, and they
brake up keepin' house, and went to
boardin' at a swell boardin' house, coz
he said the firm owed him so much they
never could pay up, and they might as
well live in style as to work hard and
pour their money into a chist without
any bottom."
"That was the best thing they could
do, I suppose, when they gave up their
beautiful home. They say Mr. Loring
acted most honorably; never kept even
what the law allowed him, but gave
everything that could bo sold to his
creditors," returned Mrs. Ray.
...... "Oh yes, Fred Loring is a proper,
good hearted fellow, but that isn't sayin'
that he is wise where Ticy's concerned.
He just worships the ground she treads
.- on. They might better have gone to
, house keepin', if it had been like that
old feller that lived in his tub a big
holler log, T spose, like our leach tub.
You see, Ticy needed to twork. She'd
been brung up to it, and jist sittin' down
in a cushioned chair, with a carpet un
der her feet, and plenty of good victuals
and strong tea and coffee, and lots of
stories to read tell me it wont make a
woman sick! I tell you it's what ails
half the wimmin that's complainin' these
days, and they aggravate it by takin'
patent medicine, and then callin' in the
doctor. And the doctor he must find out
Bomethin' that's the matter, and he
brings his telescope, and listens to hear
how the poor patient's heart beats; and
then he sounds the lights to find out
whether the air can git in when you're
; laced up like a drum, and he'll keep on
his pryin' and spyin till he's gone
- through a woman, thread by thread the
ondecentist thing I ever herad tell about,
and by this time, if her heart don't go
" pit pat, it's coz she haint. pot a mite o'
- shame in her. 'Spepsy! I should think
so! You jist set that woman to spin
' thirty knots o' yarn a forenoon, and
; shell be able to eat a good dinner of
' ' biled pork and garden sass, I'll be bound,
and afore night she'll sly into the pantry
and eat cold baked beans, and nobody'll
hear anymore about 'spepsy."
v But they say she looks real feeble,
" and I daro say she will scarcely be able
to make her own bed. Dr. Glucose said
it was a very peculiar case, and he
' thought most likely if she didn't get
help by fall, she would go into a de
cline," says Mrs. Ray. I
"I've seen lots o' sich in my time
I - remember Miss Nancy Tryon she
that was Nancy Whiting. ! Well, she
used to set m her rockin chair
with her quart camphire bottle, and
every five mimts she'd take a sniff
at it, till bless. you, she went into kind
o' spasms like jist as easy as nothin . and
the poor fool never thought it was the
camphire that was a doin' ont till one
day her poodle dog went into fits, and
she sent for the doctor. He found out
then about the camphire, and he told
her that blessed dog would die in spasms
if he aot five whiffs from that bottle, and
she hadn't better have it anywhere about
the room where he was. And over and
above all, he charged her to take that
! doer out walkin" every davj and four
i times a day, and not to stop till he could
walk a quarter of a mile and back, or
he d likely die of apoplexy Ion see
apoplexyJ
some doctors nse gumption on the sly.
Well, the dog got well, and the woman
got well, ana bv and by she h:id a baby
and nursed it herself, and she got to be
a strong woman, and in time she came
to have real pood sense. Now I make
no doubt that hundreds of women are
just about off the same pattern of stuff."
' lint, Aunt Susy, I don t suppose Le
titia Loring is after that sort. She is
. most lineiy really sick, and needs nurs-
) ing and care right along." !
t "We shall see," replied Aunt Susy,
shaking her head. j
One month from this time a: bankrupt
law was passed, and Fred and j his part-
. ners settled off their old scores as best
they might, and were ready to: begin the
world anew. Now there was a chance
to make a home, and the spur of hope
j and ambition began to rouse the ener
gies of the drooping young woman. Rag
I carpets for common rooms began to be
j all the rage among the neighbors, some
one having woven one said to oe alto
gether lovely; and then stair carpets
woven out of yarn spun and dyed at
home were pronounced all thei style in a
little city whither their new hopes
tended; and the drooping Letitia became
alert and active, forgetting her troubles
and only counting on the comforts and
elegancies of her future home Before
autumn came, her cheek3 were rosy with
the new-found health, and her I step was
as elastic at the spinning wheel as in her
girlish days. One day, Mrs.j Ray, re
turning from a call on Mrs. Loring,
dropped in to see Aunt Susy, i
"Well, well, Mrs. Clarke,,' said she.
"I quite believe in your doctrine. Mrs.
Loring never said 'dyspepsia' while I
made my call, but showed me her nice
rag carpets, and the beautiful colors her
mother has dyed for her stair carpets,
and she has grown as plump and ro9y as
a girl of eighteen." !
"Just what I told you; half the women
git sick for want of business enough
to give them a good digestion. You
see I was right, it was nothing but fever
delirk.1'
"A motive for work, even if it is only
a childish vanity, I begin to think is of
more value than we generally believe. I
have seen rich women, who, as girls or
young wives, kept house and had plenty
of spare time for pleasure, kind of crum
ple down as they got rich, and you'd
think they needed somebody to breathe
for them. A little dose of poverty often
restores them to a good measure of
health," added Mrs. Ray. j
"Yes, if they haven't gotj so selfish
that they break down and whine and
grow down hill to just nothing at all,
kind o' crumble like burnt bone. To my
mind, it takes some good sense and a
deal of self-denial to git on comfortably
through thick and thin in this world,"
and Aunt Susy took out her snuffbox
and hit it a rap to emphasize her opin
ion. "But, bless you, I don't s'pose the
Lord made wimmin jist to sit in the
rockin chair and read stories, and eat
candy, any mor'n he made men to set
round on nail kegs at the stored and whit
tle sticks and drink rum and cider
brandy. Land sakes! It wouldn't be
worth the taller candle we've burned a
puttin' on their fust foot blanket, and if
nothin' is made in vain, I dare vow and
declare to goodness, tbe mark seems to
be dreadful near it for some folks."
To account for such opinions, be it
known that Aunt Susy lived some years
before this century began. I
Waiting to S e him off.
A country schoolmaster had two pu
pils, to one of whom he was x?artial and
to the other severe. One morning it
hajipened that theso two boys! were late,
and they were called up to account
for it. !
"You must have heard the bell, boys;
why did you not come?" !
"Please, sir; said the favorite, "I was
dreaming that I was going to Margate,
and thought that the school bell was the
steamboat bell."
"Very well," said the master, glad of
any pretext to excuse his favorite. "And
now, sir," turning to the juther boy,
"What have you to say?"
"Pleas-e, sir," said the puzzled boy,
'I I was waiting to see Tom off."
Complexion of English (Women.
An English statistic, says that no less
thau 7000 swan skins are annually used
in London alone fr the exclusive manu
facture of the "puffs'' used for the pur
pose of laying powder on) the face.
Every swan's skin makes about sixty
puffs, which would make an annual con
sumption of 420,000 puffs Is, then, the
natural whiteness of the English skin a
myth? The same English statistic says
that tons of rice and wheat powder are
annually consumed in England, and he
regrets "the waste of so much rice and
wheat, which might be better used to
feed the starving.
A Robber's Story.
With heavy gyves clanking in dull,
metallic ring at each movement, Henry
W. Burton confessed murderer and
mail robber, sat wearily on the bench in
a cell in the Central station, where he
was bronorht from the prison in Detroit,
last evening by United States Marshal
Matthews, of Michigan. Burton never
smoked a cicar or pipe, or used tobacco
in any other form, nor has he ever taken
a drink of intoxicating liquor. " He never
swears, and he said last evening that the
sound of an oath cuts him like a knife.
He was born m lexas. My father was
a ranchman." said he: "his name was
White, and my right nams is bamuel
White. When . I was thirteen years of
age my father was shot by James Brown
in a quarrel. It was when I was twenty
one years of acre that I met Brown for
the first time. It was in a camp in Rock
dale county. Texas. I was told who he
was. Stepping in front of him I ex
claimed, You are my father's murderer,'
and before he had time to draw a pistol,
I xhot him through the heart. I was ar
rested afterward for the offence, and
served a short term of imprisonment.
After my discharge I began my career as
a mail robber, or tram accent. I worked
without anv assistance whatever; always
alone. In April. 1877. 1 stopped a mail
expreis in Rockdale county, Texas.
There were fourteen passengers in
the stage. You would hardly think it
possible that one man should intimi
date so manv. but I erected dummies
that in the dark looked like men sur
rounding: the vehicle. Then I made the
passengers step out of the coach one by
one. alter first attending to the ariver
and tbe guard by crippling them wuh a
shot apiece from ruv revolver. As the
passensrers alighted I threw black hoods
over their eves and fastened their hands
behind their backs. I got $4000 from
this haul, but was arrested soon after
and sentenced to an imprisonment for
life. I was pardoued through the influ
ence of friends within two years.
"I went to Colorado. I cannot tell
how it was, but after drifting about for
a time I returned to my old pursuits.
One dark nicht about a vear aero I beard
that the stage on the road between
Dreadnought and Aramosa, in Colorado,
was full of passengers and carried a rich
mail. 1 erected several canvas tents and
built dummies looking like men on both
sides of the road. I barred the road
with two poles, fastened forkwise.
Shortly after midnight the vehicle came
dashiner aloncr the road. The horses
caught on the stakes and rolled to the
erround. One bv one I ordered the driver
and passengers to alight. There were
fourteen passengers, any one of whom
could have knocked me down, for I am a
cripple, remember; but out they came as
gentle as lambs, looked at my dummy
men and trembled with fear. After
mv trial in the September torm of court,
1881, in Colorado, I was being
taken from Chicago to Detroit when I
disarmed the sheriff and his two deputies
who had me in custody. This was in
the cars. I had the sheriff's revolver
pointed at his head. In an instant more
I would have blown his brains out, but
a passenger, Miss Alice Smith, a lady
whom I had never seen before, and
whom I had never met since, threw her
self upon me, begging for the sheriffs
life. I think I am too tender-hearted.
Escape was open for me, but Miss Smith
called out: 'Think of the man's wife and
children.' Without a word I handed
the revolver back to the sheriff, and sub
mitted without any sound of complaint
to hairing shackles placed upon my hands
and feet.f Philadelphia Press.
In Inventor's Courtship.
The following account of Edison's mar
riage is from the Buffalo Commercial
Advocate.
Griffin. Edison's private secretary, once
told me a family characteristic story of
the manner in which Ldison came to get
married. The idea was first suggested
by an intimate friend, who made the
point that he needed a mistress to pre
side over his big house, who was being
managed by a housekeeper and several
servants. I dare say the idea had never
occurred to him beforo, for be it known
he is the shyest and most bashful of men;
but he seemed pleased with the proposi
tion, and timidly inquired whom he
should marry. The friend somewhat
testily replied, "any one;" that a man
who had so little sentiment in his soul as
to ask such a question as that ought to be
coat and was decent, and concluded by
saying: "There are a number of nice
girls employed in your factory over yon
der. They aren t especially refined or
cultivated, I must confess; but they are
respectable, and that is the main consid
eration, after all."
Edison looked them over, and after
making his selection, put the question
plumply to her. It was Edison's way of
doing business, but embarrassed the
young lady all the same. She asked time
to consider, and granted her a week. At
the end of that time she accepted him,
and they were married without delay.
They had decided to visit the New Eng
land States and Canada and make quite
an extensive tour. As the bridal party
drove to the station they passed his
laboratory. Turning to his wife, Edison
excused himself for a few minutes, say
ing there were some matters that needed
his attention and that he would be at the
station in time for the train. The train
came and went and so did several others,
but no Edison. The bride, who knew
his peculiarities, finally drove back to
the house and waited her liege lord's
pleasure. She never saw hioi again for
forty-eight hours. Immersed in some
idea that had suddenly occurred to him,
he became oblivious to brides, honey
moons or anything else.
The Stomach of the Horse.
Very few men who foed horses know
anything about the physiology of the ah-
vant and companion. Colvin gives the
following brief description of the stom
ach of the horse and the process of di
gestion, which may interest every man
who feeds a horse. It settles the long
open question of which to feed first, grain
or hay:
"The horse s stomach has a capacity of
only about 10 quarts, while that of the
ox has two hundred and fifty. ; In the in
tines this proportion is reversed, the
horse liavincr jl canacitv of one, hnndrafl
and nfiety quarts, against one hundred
of the ox. The ox and most other ani
mals have a gall-bladder for the reten
tion of part of the bile secreted during
digestion ; the horse has none, and bile
flows directly into the stomach as fast as
secreted. This construction of the di
gestiv6 apparatus indicates that the horse
was formed to eat slowly and digest con
tmually bulky and nutritious food.
When fed on hay it passes very rapidly
through the stomach into the intestine.
The horse can eat but about five pounds
01 nay in an hour, which is charged,
with four times its weight of saliva. Now
the stomach, to digest well, will contain
but about ten quarts, and when the
animal eats one-third of his daily ration,
or seven pounds, in one and one-half
hours, he has swallowed at least
two stomachfulls of hav and saliva.
one of these having passed to the intes
tine. Observation has shown that the
food is passed to the intestine of the
stomach in which it is received. If we
feed a horse six q uarts of oats it will
just fill his stomach, and if, as soon as
he finishes this, we feed him the above
ration of seven pounds of hay, he will
eat sufficient in three-quarters of an hour
to Lave forced the oats entirely out of
nis stomach into the intestine. As it is
the office of the stomach to digest the
nitrogenous parts of the feed, and as a
stomachful of oats contains four or five
times as much of these as the same
a-nount of hay, it is certain that either
the stomach must secrete the gastric
juice five times as fast, which is hardly
possible, or it must retain this food five
times as long. By feeding the oats first
it can only be retained long enough for
the proper digestion of hay .consequently
it seems logical, when feeding a concen
trated food like oats with a bulky one
line hay, to leed the latter nrst, giving
the gram the whole time between the re
pasts to be digested."
How Arab! Bey Looks.
The general curiosity in regard to
Arabi Bey who has lately shot up into
prominence and notoriety, if not fame
will be partly satisfied by a description
of a dinner given in Cairo, at which a
large number of prominent Americ ins
and ministers of the Khedive Avere pres
ent. Dr. Henry M. Field, editor of the
Evangelist, who made the principal
speech of the evening, in response to the
toast, "To the President of the United
States," describes the dinner and the
guests, in a letter to his p jper, in the
course of. which is the lollortrmg pen
picture of Arabi Bey:
"However, the dinner came off, and
proved an unique affair. It brought
together a distinguished company. All
the ministers of the Khedive were pres
ent, among whom the greatest ouriosity
was manifested to see the Arabi Bey, the
leader in the recent military movement.
His first act in leading the army against
the government was certainly a gross act
of insubordination, and had Ismail
Pasha been still Khedivo and felt strong
enough, he would undoubtedly have
been shot. But in such cases the char
acter of the act is generally judged by its
success, and, as Arabi Bey had the army
at his back, instead of being executed he
is now minister of war and virtual dic
tator of Egypt.
1 was very curious to see a man who
acted such a part, and who might be des
tined either to eupreme power or to
death, and observed him closely. He
is a man of large physique, with rather
a heavy lace, except his eye. which
looks as thoueii it micht flash fire if he
were once aroused. ut his manner
- - ... I
was very quiet, and the few words that
he said when I addressed him through
an interpreter, were such as might be
uttered by any other patriotic man.
He said he had come out this evening,
though not feeling well, to do honor to
the memory of a man who had freed his
country from a foreign yoke, perhaps
thinking in himself that what Washing
ton had done in America he might do for
Egypt."
The .Stinging Tree.
Through the. tropical scrubs of Queens
land are very luxuriant and beaatiful
they are not without their dangerous
drawbacks, for there is one plant grow
ing in them that is really deadly in its
effects that is to say, deadly in the
same way that one would apply the term
to fire, as if a certain proportion of one's
body is burnt by the stinging tree, death
will be the result. It would be as safe
to pass through fire as to fall into one of
these trees. They grow from three
inches to ten and fifteen feet ; in the old
ones the stem is whitish, and red berries
usually grow on the top. It emits a
peculiar and disagreeable smell but it is
best known Dy its ieai, wmcu is nearly
round, having a point on the top, and is
jagged all around the edge, like the net
tle. All the leaves are large, some larger
than a saucer.
"Sometimes." says a traveler, "while
shooting turkeys in the scrubs Phave en
tirely forgotten the stinging tree tin
warned of its proximity oy its smen, ana
I have then found myself in a little for
est of them. I was once stung, and that
but lightly. It effects are ourious. It
leaves no mark, but the pain is madden
ing, and for months afterwards the part
which is touched is tender in rainy
weather, or when it was wetted in wash
ing. I have seen a man who treats ordi
nary pain lightly, 'roll on the ground in
agony, after being stung; and I have
known a horse so completely mad after
getting into a grove of the trees that he
rushed open-mouthed at every one who
approached him, and he had to be shot.
Dogs when stung will rush about, whin
ing piteously, bitting pieces from the
affected part." I
The small stinging trees, a few inches
high, are as dangerous as any, being
hard to see, and) seriously imperilintr
one's ankles. The scrub is usually found
growing among palm trees.
Up to Suuft.
A young man with a nose like a razor.
and an eye which would have raised a
"lister on sheet iron on a hot day, hailed
a pedestrian on Gratiot avenue, and said
that he was trying to raise money to get
to the bedside of his dying aunt in
Chicago. He was too proud to beg, bu
if the citizen would give him a qnarter
he would show him a trick worth five
dollars. t
"Vhas ish dot drick?" queried the cit
lzen.
"It is to make ten cents go farther
than a dollar. You can play it on the boys
and make ten dollars a day.
"Mine friendt, I nefar blays mitder
poys.
"Yes, but you can have lots of fun.you
Know.
"1 vhas no handt for fun. If 1 ever
git off some shokes I never laff."
"xes, out this is something new.
When you come down to the grocery of
an.evenmsr you
"I'doan come down. I vhas home on
der steP8 all der eafenings."
But you could have a little fun with
your neighbors." j
"I told you I vhas not a funny man.
likes to schmoke und read der morning
bapers
"Well, I don t want to beg, and I am
offering you the trick very low in order io
get home and see my sister die. Have
you a dying sister?"
"I doan expect I have. Vhas ish dot
dricks?" I
"To make 10 cents go farther than
SI." !
"Und vhill she do it?"
"She will." j
"Und five cents goes petter ash
a
dime?" !
"That's the ratio."
"Und notings at all goes petter ash 5
cents?" I
"I I I think it does."
"Vhell, you shust consider you haf all
der notings efer was und you vhill be in
Chicago to-morrow! Gif my love to dot
dying sister, und tell her dot you saw
me well. . You d petter git some express
wagons to draw dose nichels down to der
railroad, und you look a leedle oudt for
some Dutohmans who has peen eating
grass und vhas green: uetroit ree
Press. !
'Hello; Baby."
M. B. Curtis and his wife have a pet
parrot which is their constant traveling
companion and which speaks the King's
English with amazing fluency. The lo
quacious bird caused quite a panic at
Windsor Hotel last night. It seems that
the Curtis family occupy rooms directly
adjoining Governor Tabor's apartments
at the hotel, and last evening as the
Governor was entering his apartments
he heard what he thought was a female
voice, saying, "Hello, Uaoy. lhe
Governor was a trine startled. He is a
very gallant man, but he could not for
the life of him imagine what he had ever
done to warrant any female in address
ing him so familiarly. The salutation
appeared to be intended for him, and it
came from the transom over the door of
the room directly across thehall.
The Governor j was netfqTlussed.
"Hello, baby pretty baby," said the
voice again, and the Governor blushed
as he stroked his j fiery mustache and
tried to brace up and look dignified.
"Wont you come and kiss your baby?
, .1 ii.. :
said the voice again in a deliciously se
ductive sort of way. Now the Governor
seldom takes a dare of any kind ! To do
him justice, he is a! brave man, and at
this particular moment he felt big
enough to tackle i an army. He crept
slowly over to the door and asked:
"Are you talking to me?" "Nice baby,
said the voice, but no sooner had the
voice spoken than another voice inside
the room a big, burly man s voice
called out: "Go away from that door,
and let the parrot go to sleep!" It was
Mr. Curtis who spoke, but he hud no
idea it was Governor Tabor outside.
Governor Tabor slid quietly into his
room, but he thought it was such a good
joke he had to tell the boys about it after
supper, and in the Opera House lobby
last night it was all the talk. Denver
Tribune.
Philadelphia. Churches. There are
G37 churches in Philadelphia, a figure
which entitles that town to be called the
"City of Churches," in contradistinction
to Brooklyn, and the assessed valuation
of this property, according to the official
report just published, is $17,000,000.
The largest valuation is that of the Ro
man Catholic Cathedral ($285,000) , and
the next largest the Jewish synagogue
on Broad street ($220,000.)
Happily twisted: When Sir Gaorf
Rose was dining on one occasion with
the late Lord Langdale, his host was
speaking of the very diminutive church
in Langdale, of which his lordship was
patron. "It is not bigger," said Lord
Langdale, "than I this dining room."
"No," returned Sir George, "and the
living not half so good." London
Society.
Certainly De (To I ad.
The other evening as a muscular citi
zen was passing a house on Montcalm
street, a lady who stood at the gate
called out to him:
Qrt I appeal to you for protection!"
What's the trouble?" he asked, as he
stopped short.'
"There's a man in the house, and he
wouldn't go out doors when I ordered
him to!"
"He wouldn't, eh? We'll see about
that!"
Thereupon the man gave the woman
his coat to hold and sailed into the
house, spitting on his hands. He found
a man down at the supper table, and he
took him by the neck and remarked: '
".Nice style of a brute you are, eh?
Come out o' this or I'll break every bone
in your body!" "
lhe man fought back and it was not
until a chair had been broken and the
table upset that be was hauled out doors
by the legs, and given a fling
through the gate. Then, as the muscu
lar citizen placed his boot where it would
do the most good, he remarked: "Now,
then, you brass-faced old tramp, you
move on or I'll finish you. "
"Tramp! tramp!" shouted the victim,
as he got up, "I'm no tramp! I own this
property and live in this house!"
"You do?"
"Yes, and that's my wife holding your
coat!"
"Thunder!" whispered the victim, as
he gazed from one to the other, and re
alized that the wife had got square
through him; and then he made a grab
for his coat'and slid into the darkness
with his shirt bosom torn open, a finger
badly bitten, and two front teeth ready
to drop out. Free Press.
, Clandestine Correspondent?.
One of the surest roads to ruin trodden
by young girls is the pernicious custom
of indulging in clandestine correspond
ence with any handsome scamp that lies
in wait for them. Saturday is a red let
ter day with these clandestine corres
pondents, many of whom are school
girls whose parents never dream that
their children are following in the foot
steps of so many girls who have been
taught the art of deception and disloyalty
by their love of what they call adven
ture. The writer of this article once
stood near the ladies' delivery window in
a city postoffice and watched these girls
as they came and went. It was very
easy to distinguish those that came to
the office for a legitimate purpose. One
young lady approached the delivery win
dow and inquired for a letter in a man
ner which seemed to indicate that she
didn't care whether she got one or not.
She was good-looking, but there was a
restless, uneasy look about her face, and
scarcely heeding the delivery clerk's
reply to her question, she glanced
furively about the postofhee. Suddenly
a young man entered the office, and with
her soul in her eyes she met him, and
hold ' a hurried conversation, the last
words of which were, "To-morrow even
ing in the usual place. "Lots of
women call regularly at this office who
never received a letter in their lives,
said the postoffice official, "and many of
them don't expect any letters. We have
done all we could to get rid of them, and
of these young girls who come to get
letters from clandestine correspondents,
but wo can not. We deliver no letters at
the general delivery addressed to initials,
but scores of them are received." Then
the official showed a long list of these
letters which had been sent to the dead
letter office.
Curious Facts.
The horseshoe crab grinds its food be
tween its thighs.
One half of the human family die un
der 17 years of age.
Antwerp and other towns of Belgium
are overrun by a vast network oi tele-
)hone wires.
Coarse garnets are sometimes used as a
substitute for emery in the work of pre
paring gems for polishing.
The salutation of the Egyptians is
alleged to be "How do you perspire?"
and that of the natives of the Orinoco.
"How have the mosquitoes used you?"
Plants have been raised from seeds
bund with coins of the Emperor
Hadrian in an ancient barrow in Encr-
and.
Sultan, the pet elephant of the Jardin
des Plantes, was unable to survive the
death of his companion, the dog Jean.
A statistician estimates that the people
of the United States have to pay twenty-
hree dollars a minute for Congress while
in session.
The chamois is the only antelope
bund in Europe, and the baboon, on the
rocks of Gibraltar, the only quad-
rumana.
The word "daughter," common to all
Indo-European languages, means milker,
and bears witness to the early taming of
the cow.
The Gibl op Colorado. A girl in
Col or id o had been receiving the atten
tions of a young man for about a year,
but becoming impatient at his failure to
bring matters to a crisis she resolved to
ascertain his intentions. When he next
called she took him gently by the ear,
led him to a seat and said: "Nobby,
you've been foolin 'round this claim for
mighty near a year, an; nev never yet
shot off your mouth on tbe marryin biz.
I've cottoned to you on the square clear
through an hev stood off every other ga
loot that has tried to chip in; an now x
want you to come down to business or
leave the ranch. Ef you're on the marry,
an want a pard that'll stick rite to ye till
ve pass in vour checks an' the good Lord
J -t . ' it - : i. l
cans ye over me ruugu, jUBiD4ucai, u
we'll hitch; but el that am t yer game,
draw out an' give some other fellow a
show for his pile. Now sing yer song or
I skip out." He sang. Chicago Times.
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