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About The Columbian. (St. Helens, Columbia County, Or.) 1880-1886 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 29, 1884)
4 f V ' . A. 'V --i- - - 3- THE COLUMBIAN. THE COLUMBIAN. T: Published Evebt Fbiat, AT . - ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA CO., Oil., BY . E. 0. ADAT.I3, Editor and Prcprfetcr. Advertising Hates : : PUBLISHED EVXBT FRIDAY, '"'.. : ' AT . ; ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA CO., . - ' BY '. ' :' " M A E. Q. AD AO, Editor and Proprietor. Subscription Ratbs : One year, in advance f 2 00 Six months, " 100 . Three months. " 50 One square (10 lines) first Insertion. . 2 00 ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON, FEBRUARY 29, 1884. VOL. TV. NO. 30. Each subsequent insertion.. 1 03 WOMAN AND HOME. Hints for the Household and Helps for the House-Mother. Clara Hello Concerning- Conrteklp CJuu-tlas; WomenSenp Base ; and Old Papers A Fine Complexion. Plo Lewi Monthly. To soften ana whiten the skin there is noth ing more beneficial than oatmeal, taken in ternally and used externally. As I hare no wish to 1 encroach upon the housewife's do main, m simply jive directions for its ex ternal use. After a warm bath it may be used dry, or pour boiling water over a few spoonfuls of it, and let stand a few hour On going to ' bed, wash the hands and face freely in the starchy water, and dry without wiping. firan and Indian menl may be used instead, with nearly the same effect For the sun bath put the bran or oatmeal into small bags, otherwise the difficulty of remov ing the particles which adhere to the skin is considerable.- ''.- Instead of poultices of bread and asses' milk which the Roman ladies found so effi cacious for softening and whitening the face, we may use a mask of quilted cotton or chamois skin, wet in cold distilled water. This will not be the most comfortable in the world, but . no great excellence is ever at tained without labor and care. Many ladies, whose complexions are the envy of all their friends, acknowledge that they owe it all to distilled water, which they use for their face and hands. Queen Victoria is to be envied for one thing, if nothing else, for 6he has the delightful comfort and luxury of having dis tilled water for all her baths. Ladles with oily or greasy skins may use, sparingly, a few drops of camphor in the bath. Borax and glycerine combined, are used with good effect by some people, while thoroughly disagreeing with others. Glycer ine alone softens and heals, but in time will darken the skin and make it over-sensitive; the borax obviates this, and has a tendency to whiten. No toilet table is complete with out a bottle of ammonia. A few drops of this in the bath, cleanses the skin and stimu lates it wonderfully. It is especially valua ble in removing the odor from those who perspire freely. To remove tan and sun-bum, cold cream, mutton tallow and lemon juice may be used ; for freckles, apply the latter with a tiny camel's-hair brush. The country girl, de prived of many things which her city cousin finds indispensable, discovers that she can re move the tan from her face with a wash made of green encumbers sliced into skim milk, or, failing in this, she makes a decoc tion of buttermilk and tansy. A well-known writer on feminine beauty recommends the use of finely-ground French eaarcoal for the complexion. A teaspoonful of this, well mixed with water or honey, should be taken for three consecutive nights, followed by a simple purgative, to remove it from the system. The aperient must not be omitted, or the charcoal will remain in the system, a mass of festering poison, with all the impurities it absorbs. None of these things will bring about the .-desired result aniens, the foundation is first laid by proper food, exercise and bathing; above all things, do not neglect the bath. Cleanliness is one of the cardinal virtues, and a woman fresh from the bath feels a good deal like an angeL "Clara Belle" Concerning; Courtship. , Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer. Let us return for a moment to the subject otibmage, lor the sake of a little moraliz ing. Ruskin is out with condemnation of what he calls mob courtship, and I agree with him. It is greatly to be regretted that of paying court in the old-fashioned way to a lady, with expectancy that it will take time for acquaintance to blossom into friendship and friendship to ripen into love, there is not much in our days. Instead we have the mad "falling in love," for which our novels aie partially responsible, which have much mar rying in haste and repenting in leisure to an swer for because of their false teaching in ex alting impetuous passion above calm, patient, intelligent love. Ruskin is of the opinion that if a youth is rally in love with a girl, and feels that he is wise in loving her, he should at once tell her so plainly, and take his chance bravely with other suitors. No lover should have the inso lence to think of being accepted at once, nor should any girl have the cruelty to refuse at once without severe reasons. If she simply doesn't like him she may send him away for seven years or so, he vowing to live on cresses and, wear sackcloth meanwhile, or the like penance; if she likes him a little, or thinks she might come to like him in time, she may let him stay near her, putting him always on sharp trial to see what stuff he is made of, and requiring, figuratively, as many lions' skins or giants' heads as she thinks herself worth. The whole meaning and power of true courtship is probatiou; and old man Ruskin thinks thai it ought to be fixed at seven years. But th j precipitate process is now in vogue. We learn our lessons of love and wedlock from the novel and the drama. Charm Ins; Women. Atlantic Monthly. "When it was all over, my friend said, Now, that is a woman in earnest. Do you suppose it is her earnestness that makes her so unprepossessing P That is my perplexity reduced to its last equation: Was it her earnestness? My friend held that it was. "If you have observed," said she, "women with aims are always like that. They are too superior to condescend to make themselves agreeable. Besides, they haven't time. Then they never . can see but one side of a question the side they are on. They are always dragging their own opinions to the front, and always running full tilt against every one else's. That is where they differ most from women who haven't purposes and who have seen a good deal of the .world. It is the business of a woman of the world to be agreeable. She spares no pains to make her self just as good looking as possible and just as charming. And she is always tolerant. She may think you a fool for your beliefs, but she doesn't tell you so brutally, or try to crush you with an avalanche of argument. She tries to look at the matter from your point of view ; in short, she feigns a sympathy if she has it not. Your women with a purpose think it wrong to feign anything. They won't pretend to be sympathetic any more than they will powder their faces, or let their dress maker improve their figures. That's why they are so boring; they are too narrow to be sympathetic and too conscientious to be polite. It is earnestness does it, earnestness is naturally narrowing. It is earnest ness, too, sets their nerves in a quiver and makes them so restless. They can never sit still; they are always twitching, don't you know! That's earnestness. It has a kind of electrical effect. Women in earnest have no repose of manner. But a woman of the world feigns that, just as she feigns sympathy, because it makes her pleasant to other people. Oh, there's no doubt of it; women with a purpose are vastly better than other women, but they are not nearly so nicer My own experience corroborates my friend's opinions. Women with a purpose, women in earnest, have a noticeable lack of charm. And I regret to say that the nobility of the purpose does not In the least affect tne Quantity of charm. Very likely their busy lives and the hard fight they , have had to wage with social prejudices 'and moral anachronisms may have something to do with it. " But after making all deductions, I wonder if my friend's theory does not hit somewhere near the mark. An Epidemic mt Scrap-Bass. New York Post.) One of the fancies of the day is to have in numerable scrap-bags and work-bags scat tered through the house. This should, and probably will become something more than a fancy, for after one has become accustomed to the convenient practice or putting away things in them it will be difficult to give them up. They are made in every style ana of every kind of material. If for bed-rooms, they should match in color with the other bright or sombre colors used there. One very simple and pretty way. to make them is to make - tne nag or. wnite butchers' linen ; cut it square and have it about.flfteen inches each. way. Across tne top and bottom put on a strip of Canton flan nel three inches wide; sew this to the linen with fancy stitches, then draw three circles at equal distances apart and about the size of a half-dollar. Work these, commencing at the centre and going up in straight lines to the circumference, with three or four shades of yellow embroidery silk. The ba is not gathered at the top, but has two blue strings attached to the corners to . hang it by. The bottom of the bag may be ornam-! jUkI by a strip of butchers' linen fringed out, or by a row ol torchon across the bottom, slightly fulled on, or it may be left plain. Another way is to have the bottom of the bag of a band of silk, sateen or velvet, five inches wide, and the rest of the bag, wmcn should be ten inches or more long, of one kind of material. The top should be faced for about five inches and a shir be stitched there and ribbon run in. Aida canvas bags, made in the shape of the first one mentioned, are very pretty. Embroider some shot1" figure or pattern on the canvas, and hav upper part of silk with very narrow ribu to hang it by. The canvas so extensively used by tailors in gentlemen's coats make nice and serviceable bags. This may be used in place of butchers' linen. .Still another style is to take a piece of silk three-quarters of a yard long and twelve inches wide, line it with silesia, sew it up in a long and narrow bag, leaving an opening in the centre large enough to insert your band, gather the ends and finish with a tassel, slip two small rings of bone or of brass over these ends up to each Bide of the opening. These are made up especially to bang over a rod or the knob of a door that is not used often, and made very ornamental. Outline work shows to good advantage on brown canvas, and cashmere is pretty for the upper part of the bag. - j Chlhuahuan Women. Wheeling Register. Chihuahua is innocent of sidewalks. Mud is scarcely known, as rain falls only suffi ciently to moisten the earth, except in the month of June, when as if to make up for its feebleness at other times, it almost deluges the town, falling to the depth of. thirteen or fourteen inches. It rushes down the moun tains in a torrent, floating off carta, barrels, chairs and chicken-coops, if the latter are sufficiently modern to be made of wood. The coops are usually mud and . stone, hastily thrown together. The Mexican women are wonderfully graceful This is partly due to the mannei of carrying baskets or bundles, begun in early childhood. I watched a Mexican girl carry an immense basket of clothes home to be laundned. First she selected from the basket a towel, and twisting it tightly wound it round and round until the circum ference was the size of her head, on which she placed it; then, helped by a companion, she lifted the basket, weighing at least thirty pounds, on top of the rolL She balanced it by touching it lightly, first with one hand and then the other. After she had gone a short distance she folded her hands in her shawl, walking with the greatest ease and unconsciousness. She looked back smilingly at me, showing her pretty white teeth, still amused at senora, who thought her task difficult Households Hints. "I L. L." in Detroit Free Press. To keep knives and forks in good condition when not in use, dust the blades and prongs with finely powdered quicklime and keep them wrapped in flannel. To clean straw matting, boil three quarts of bran in oue gallon of water and wash the matting with the water, drying it well. To wash castor bottles, put them one-third full of rice and fill up with water; shake thoroughly. To remove fruit stains from linen, dip in sour buttermilk and dry in the sun; wash in cold water and dry two or three times a day. Mildew is easily removed by rubbing com mon yellow soap on the article an 1 then a little salt and starch on that. Rub all well on the article and put in the sunshine. To extract ink from wool, scour vrith sand wet with water and ammonia. Then rinse with strong saleratus water. - To clean door plates use a wet solution of ammonia in water applied with a wet rag. Clothes pins boiled a few minutes and quickly dried once or twice a month become more durable. Modes of Bread "Raising." Scientific American) Good cream tartar bread is perfectly whole some, but it lacks the alcohol, and can cot monly be distinguished from yeast t even by the taste, and this mode of "raising" is used chiefly for those forms which we will so unwisely persist in eating hot, For herein comes to light the most import ant distinction between the two modes of raising dough. As formerly remarked, hot bread, biscuit, etc., ought never to be eaten by any one. But if we are bound at any rate to do it, there is much greater safety ' and much more ease of digestion secured by the use of the cream tartar.. The biscuit, eta, made with it can within a very few minutes after baking pass through all the changes which in the other case requires Jive or six hours. And until these molecular transfor mations ha ve ceased, the bread is a fearful bur den to a weak stomach. But where it is to be eaten cold, as it shoul 1 always be, yeast fermentation is what it ha in all ages been, the one way to raise bread. Something; Sew and Xlce. Inter Ocean. pannages are easier to pour when prepared tm p ti kettle with a spout A small one can Tjrrrchased for the purpose. ' When peeling onions place a pin tightly bo tween the front teeth. This prevents the tears from coming. A very palatable dish can be made of mashed potatoes and a little finely chopped meat of one or more kinds, mixed together, flavored with salt and pepper, and fried in small flat cakes. .. It is said by a butter-maker, who ought to be authority, that if rancid butter is worked over thoroughly in sweet milk, every suspi cion even of unpleasant flavor will here moved. The caution is repeated that this must be thoroughly done. Beef balls are very nice fried in suet Round steak can be used for these. Chop the meat fine, season well with pepper and salt and any herb you may choose, snaps mem like flat balls with your hands, dip in egg and fine cracker or bread crumbs, and fry in the hot suet Fiction for Children. Harper's Bazar. Feed your child on pickles and sweetmeats, allow her to wear paper-soled shoes and an Insufficiency of flannel, and we all Know what the consequences, will be dyspepsia and hectic cough. Does it never occur to you that the analogy applies to her mental sus tenance and equipment? that if we feed hei unformed and emotional nature with high-spiced, morbid, unreal fiction she will become incapable of digesting bettor literature, and that by the time she is a woman anything solid will be rejected by the pampered appetite f Have you never seen this, tou mothers? . Oo-ni fiction is truly a legitimate, healthful, and improving means of- pleasure and profit By the perusal of clever novels, of real and idealized pictuny of human life, our mental range of vision is extended, the focus of our intellectual glasses is truly adjusted, ' our sympathies enlarged, our prejudices driven away, our knowledge of and regard for the just value of life increased and verified; we are amused, improved, touched, warned, helped, and ureed to help others. Thero is so better means of impressing on our mindi the facts of history or the qualities and val ues of human nature than by the historical or critical novo). But such tiro not the re sults which usually follow from a perusal of "the light literature of the day," which library people prove young girls devour yearly in unlimited quantities. Save the Old Paper. Tnter-Ocean. Never throw away old paper. If you have no wish to sell it, use it in the house. Some housekeepers prefer it to cloth for cleaning many articles of furniture. For instance, a volume written by a lady says: "After a stove has been blackened it can be kept looking very well for a long time by rubbing it with paper every morning. Rubbing with paper is a much nicer way of keeping a tea-kettle, coffee pot, and tea-pot bright and clean than the old way of wash ing them in suds. Rubbing with paper is also the best way of polishing knives, tin ware and spoons; they shine like new silver. "For polishing mirrors, lamp chimneys, etc, paper is better than dry cloth. Pre serves and pickles keep much better if brown paper instead of cloth is tied over the jar. Canned fruit is not. so apt to mold if a piece of writing paper, cut to fit the can, is laid directly on the fruit Paper is much better to put under a carpet than straw. It la warmer, thinner and makes less noise when one walks over it Difficult and Dangerous. The Continent It is only a few years since the "fifteen puzzle" was the favorite pastime. It con fronted us on all sides, besieging the study, the home circle and drawing-room More lately a new enigiha has been propounded, which novelists are bandying in every form. It is the enigma of the human heart, which, finding wedlock unsatisfactory, fixes its de votion on another than the legal husband or wife. Are the days of innocent young love fast passing away ( It needs little reflection to show that the theme of cross-love between the married is not only difficult to manage but dangerous. It cannot possibly be wholesome as a topic either for idle amusement or close and fre quent study. For many reasons its habitual use as the motive of a story is something to be greatly deplored. Are we, who have lifted our skirts at the prurience of French novels and plays, now to draggle them through American renderings of the same naughtiness f Blase and Miserable. St Louis Republican. There are women in our midst who have looked forward all their lives to a possible time when they might own a plain, lady like costume, of elegant material say a good black silk. To have such a one would make them perfectly happy, while their neighbors are women who have worn nothing but silken gowns and velvets all their lives. But the first is the happier of the two. She hop s on still looks forward to the superb possession, while the other has nothing to look at through the lens of futurity. The future, when the rosy curtain rolls away, can show her nothing she has not known in the past only newer silk gowns, others like what have gone before, and which Lave fallen to the lot of the poor relative. She can still feel an enthusiasm while looking at painted satins and brocaded velvets, but her expectancy is blunt at the point What can the woman know of the genuine happiness who does not remember the first day she wore a sealskin pelisse, trimmed with natural otter f The fortunate she, born to sealskin, is blase and miserable. The Workmanship of tbe Universal Father. Cor. Philadelphia Journal. A few days since, a learned physician, with much pride, told me bow his leading of a costly work on the structure and functions of woman had ?jeen delayed. His daughter, 14 years of age, had got a glimpse of the volumes as soon as tbe express left them, and wished to read. He readily granted permis sion. "But, father," added, the witty girl, "this is all about mother and me. May I also read of you and Charlie (a brother) T' "Why, certainly," responded the doctor. "It is only an exposition of the workmanship of the Universal Father, whose will is perfect" His voice, he thinks, grew reverent Such truly was his state of mind. Dewy tears came into the eyes of this daughter, already noted for her grace, beauty and intellect, and she put her arms around her father's neck, and most tenderly kissed him. Parlor Furniture. New York World Fashion requires that the modern parlor shall avoid all appearances of uniformity in its furniture. In a word, every piece is expected to have some characteristic not possessed by its neighbor. What is known nowadays to dealers and manufacturers as a "parlor suite' consists of one sofa, one arm-chair, and a side chair or two. These may be uniform in style and upholstery. The remainder of the furniture is contributed iu odd pieces, differ ing in style, color, and upholstery, yet in harmony with the furniture proper. Coffee Cups. ' No two after-dinner coffee cups should be the same, says an exchange, and this will en able china collectors to show what they have got that is old, new, odd, uniqua, exclusive, and pretty. . (anntlet Glove. The gauntlet glove is coming into fashion for morning use in quitt gray, tan, and wood shades.. They are. made in four different lengths and the longest cuffs reach nearly to the elbows. . . , rVm't train your eves by readinz on an empty stomach or when ilL THE FEUIT-WOMAN'S NEPHEW. From the French of H. Moreau. "What, you -(retch I cried Pere La Bare, cook at Versailles, to his son; "you will be 6 years old at Christmas, and yon can't do the least thing of nse; yon can neither tarn the spit nor skim the pot!" - One must avow that Father Lazare was somewhat right in his reprimand ing, for at the moment in which the scene passed, 176, he had just canght his heir-presumptive in delicto flagrante of frolic and laziness, ekirmishixg, armed with a skewer in the guise of a foil, with the smoky kitchen wall, re gardless of a fowl that upon a table piteonsly waited to be spitted, and of the paternal kettle that mntteringly hurled cascades of scum ita the ashes. "Come now I i ardon- him . and em brace him, the poor child ; he won't do so any more," said a young peasant, fruit-teller at Montreal, and sister of the irritable cook. Martha that was her name had come to Versailles under pretext of consulting her brother about some matter, or other, but really to bring kisses and peaches for her nephew, of whom she wan extremely fond. Everything about the child's character and appearance justified this extraordinary affection; for he was franksome and turbulent, but good, sensible and charming, charming I one could not refrain from eatiug with kisses his pretty cheeks, fresher and redder than his aunt's peaches. But Fere Lazare continually grumbled. "Six years!" he would say, "and he don't know how to skim a pott lean never make anything out of that child !" Father Lazare. you see, was one of those steadfast and fanatical cooks, that consider the'r trade the chief of all, as an art, as a cult whose hands are fiercely posed on their carving-knives like that of a pasha on his yatagan ; who pluck a goose with the solemn air of a hierophant consulting the sacred en trails, who beat an omelette with the majesty of Xerxes whipping the sea; who whiten nnder the immemorable cotton cap, and who will hold on to the leg of a stove, dying, as they say the Indian devotees hold on to the tail of a cow. There are no longer any such men. As for Martha, the fruit-woman, she was a good and simple creature, so good that she was not foolish, as they usu ally sav, but, on' the contrary, spiritu elle. Yes, she found ever in her heart touching and passionate ways of speak ing, that M. de Voltaire himself, great man in those days, never found nnder his peruque. There are stiil such women. "Brother," said she, moved and weep ing almost at seeing her little Lazare, "you know that big trunk yon found so commodious for packing up the table service, and which I refused to sell to you? I will give it to you if yon wish." "I will still give 10 pounds, as be fore." "Brother, I want more." "Come! 19 pounds, 10 sous, and enough said." "Oh ! I exact more yet. It is a reas nre which I wish !". Pere Lazare h okrd fixed at his sister. as if to see if the were not gone mad. "Yes," continued she, "I want my little Lazare Lome and mine all alone. From this evening, if you consent, the trunk is yours, atd I take the little fel low to Montreuil." Martha's brother objected somewhat, for at the bottom he was a good man and a good father; but the boy in liti gation caused him to have, as ha ex pressed himself, so much bad blood and so many bad sauces ! Martha's in stances were so lively and, moreover, the trunk in question was so suitable for hoMing the silverware ! at last he yielded. "Come, my child, come ?" said Martha, as she dragged the little Lazare toward her cart, "you will fare better with me among my apples, which you eat with so much pleasure, than in the society of your father's roasted goose. . Poor boy ! yon would have perished in that smoke. Lcok now," added she with naive fright, "my violet bouquet, a mo ment ago so fresh, is already withered ! Come on, quick jf your father should recall his words and wish you back 1" And she dragged off her prey so fast that the pa.sors-by would have taken her, but for her decent appearance and the free and gay air of her young com panion, for a genuine kidnaper. " The aunt's first care, after seeing her yonng nephew installed in her house, was to teach him to read what Father Lazare had never thought of; for totally devoid of education, the brave man knew not its value, and would have been greatly astonished. I swear td'ybu, if one had informed him that one of the feathers he had so heedlessly plucked from a goose's wing, fallen into skillful, fingers, could overturn the world. Little Lagare learned rapidly, and with so much ardor that his instructress first had often to close the book and say: - "Enough, my angel, enough for to-day; go play now; be good and amuse yourself the best you can." And the child would ride horseback uproarously within the house or before the door, a stick between his legs. Sometimes the innocent steed seemed to take the bit in his teeth " "Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu ! he will fall, would cry the good Martha who followed the esquire with her eyes ; but . she soon saw him tame, guide, spur his v broomstick with all the dexterity and. self-possession of an old witch, and, reassured, she smiled down upon him. from her window like a queen from tbe height of her balcony. JLhis bellicose instinct but augmented with age. So much bo that at 10 he was named unanimously general-in-chief by half of the playfellows of Montreuil, who were then divided into . two camps. contending for the possession of a black bird's nest. Useless it is to say that he justified this distinction by prodigies of address and valor. They pretend that he succeeded in winning four ba'tles in one day, an unheard. of feat in military annals. fNapoleon, himself, never reached but just to three. But his high rank and victories did not render Lazare prouder than before, and every morning the customary filial kiss sounded not less freely npon the fruit-seller's cheek. But alas! war , has terrible chances ; and one fine day the conqnerer met with a misadventure which almost disgusted him forever with the mama for conquest. It happened in this wise: As he bent over to observe the enemy's movements, his hand rested npon the trunk of a tree, a little j after the manner of Napoleon pointing a battery at Montmirail, the general's trousers cracked and split bahind, yon know where, let tine hang and flutter a large bit of the little shirt which Mar tha had washed and ironed tbe evening before. At this sight the heroes of Montmirail burst into laughter as loud as the best efforts of Homers gods great jokers as everybody knows, (j The army mutinied ; in yam did the general cry, like Henry, of Navarre, whose his tory he had read: "Soldiers, rally on my white plume!" They answered that a plume was not worn there, and. one could not, without insult to the French colors, plant them in a like breach, so that tbe poor general broke his i: com mander's baton over a" mutineer's back, and went home ' sad and dejected as the English when ; they landed at Dover after the battle of Fontenoy. i This name recalls a circumstance I would be wrong to omit. ; A poor old soldier who came from time to time to Martha's house to smoke his pipe in the chimney corner, and warm h;s heart with s glass of cherry bounce, had not for gotten to relate at length how he and Marshal Saxe had won the celebrated battle. I leave yon to think whethei this inaccurate but warm recital could have influenced the imagination of the young listener. From that time, asleep or awake, he heard without cessation the horses striving against the curb, the bullets whistling and the cannons roar ing; and more than once, alone in his little room, he thought himself an actor in the grand military drama. j; Then you should have seen; him stamp, leap and cry. j! "Fire first, Messieurs les Anglais! Marshal, our cavalry has been repulsed! The enemy's column is nnshatterable ! Forward the king's guards! Pifl'paf! boom! boom! Bravo! the English square is broken ! The victory is ours ! Long live the king!" jj Poor Lazare believed himself at least esquire of Louis XV., or colonel.! Such an exhibition doubtless makes yon laugh ! It would have been a miracle, would it not, if the fruit woman's nephew had risen so high ? Yes : but rememler that we approach 1789, an epoch fruitful in miracles. Listen : Lazare first entered . the French go ards, despite his aunt's tears,) whom he endeavored on parting to console with his caresses, and soon became ser geant. Then the age marched onward, and the fortune of many sergeants also. In brief, from grade to grade, he be came guess colonel. There were no longer any colonels. The king's e.paery. There no longer was any king.; You cannot guess. Well, Lazare, the cook's son, Lazare, the fruit woman's nephew, became a general; no more a j make believe general with a paper hel met, but general for good, with a plumed hat and a coat laced with gold; general-in-cbief , general of a j great French army, nothing otherwise; and, if you doubt it, open the modern his tory, and there you will read with emo tion the beautiful and grand feats of Gen. Hoche. Roche was the family name of Lazare. Let us hasten to say to his praise, that his victories, this time so serious, left him as modest and as good as his infantile victories at Montreuil. So, when- on a review day he passed at full gallop along his army's front, there was yet at a win dow near by a fine old woman, who covered the splendid general with her eyes breathless from pleasure and fear, and repeating as twenty years be'ore, "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu ! He will fall!" As for the grumbler cook of Versailles he was there, too',' aston ished at having given a hero to the country, repeating with a certain air of sufficiency to those who felicitated him thereupon : 44 You don't know how much trouble I had to raise that boy! Just imagine, citoyens, at 6 years of age he could not skim a pot." j Ueniarkable Ieath From Fright. Loud 3H Globe. j i The most remarkable death from the accident of fright was that of the Dutch painter Pentman, in the seventeenth century. He was at work on a picture in which were ! repre sented several death's-heads, grin ning skeletons and other objects calculated to inspire the beholder with a contempt for the vanities . and j follies of the day. In order to do his work better, he went to an anatomical room and nsed it as a studio. One i sultry day. as he was drawing these melan choly relics of mortality by which he was surrounded, he fell off into a quiet sleep, from which he was suddenly aroused. Imagine his horror i at be holding the skulls and bones dancing around him like mad, and the skeletons which hung from the ceiling dashing themselves 'together. Panio stricken, he rushed from the room and threw himself headlong from the . window on the pavement below. He sufficiently recovered to learn that the can?e of his fear was a slight earthquake, but his nervous system had received so i severe a shock that he died in a few day 4. ftaeane from Kditorlal Stiffness. "Oath's Letter." j The first person article, which has spread all over the press, began in The London Illustrated News, with George Augustus Sala. The next appearance was in The Washington Evening Star, called "Gadabout's Column," nine years ago. The New York Star then published "The Man About Town," by Mr. Ackermann. The Tribune about the same time published "Johnny Bou quet," and followed it with "The Broad way Note-book." A few -weeks after the latter began all the newspapers fol lowed Bait. The stiffness of editorial comment is thus thrown off, and direct responsibility evaded. Op tk a door in heaven; From skies of gla s A Jacob's-la Ider Tails On n-Mulnir era's. And o er the mountain walls L Young angels pass. ! --Tennyson's $1,000 poem. TWO GUINEAS -AND FOUR MEN A Scene of tTsal Interest the Oreyhoand ef the Ocean. New York World. Fonr gentlemen were seated at a table in the smoking-room of the steamer Alaska, of the Gnion line, on her recent remarkable- trip across. The sea was running heavy, and the smoking-room steward found it a delicate matter to place a glass and a bottle be fore each of the four gentlemen and to nncork the complementary ginger ale otherwise than on his head. The con versation turned on the extraordinary speed the steamer was making, and led to a bet. In "covering" the wager of a sovereign npon a trivial matter one of the four gentlemen took from his purse a guinea of ; the reign', of William and Mary. ' , ' "There are only two of them ' in ex istence,", he said proudly, "and this piece is worth a hundred times its face valne. ' Had I the other the collection of two would be simply invaluable to nnmismati8ts.f:. - .. -. He laid it on the table as he spoke, and in a moment after the coin had dis appeared. Nobody saw it fall or glide off the table. Nobody saw anybody else take it. Its owner searched high and low ; his three companions and the steward helped him. No other persons were in the compartment, and yet the coin could not be found. - These four men had been strangers to each other when the voyage began. They had b-en five days out and were rapidly nearing port. The owner of the valuable coin was inconsolable, sus picious, and profane by turns. . "IU tell you what is the best thing to do," said one of the party. "The coin is not on the floor; it cannot have rolled through the ceiling. Somebody . here must have it. Let ' all . of us be searched." All agreed but one gentleman who had hitherto said nothing. He posi tively refused to suffer such an indig nity. When . it was, suggested to him that where all others agreed no single persons ought to object he simply de clined, made his bow, took his drink alone and left for his state-room. ; The good ship Alaska ploughed on to her sixth day, and just after her com pleting it Fire island was sighted. The gentleman who had refused to be searched had been put in Coventry; the three others who sat at . the table with him unanimously suspected him. But just as the pilot came aboard the Alaska the gentleman who had lost the guinea found it sticking in the sole of his boot, where it had been wedged ever since he had first displayed it. He was overjoyed at his discovery and anxious to make amends for his suspicions. "But," said he to the gentleman who had refused to be searched, "why on earth did you not agree as we all did to such a simple test ? That . would have settled the matter instantly." "No, it wouldn't," answered the other. "Why not r "Because (producing his purse) there is the only other coin of the kind in the world same date, same color, worn the same I That is the reason I refused to be searched, for nothing on earth would have made you believe this was not your own coin had you not been so lucky as to recover it." As the Alaska steamed into port a social glass removed all traces of un pleasantness. rtitlslac the Alligator. A reporter for The New Orleans Picayune has been investigating the alligator, its uses, commercial value, etc. The following are some of his observa tions: The edicts of fashion have sent hun ters into the tropical forests of Borneo and Java to bring back the plumage of birds of paradise to decorate female head gear. To-day these same imperial edicts send the hunter to the swamps and jungles of Louisiana to procure the bide of the alligator for slippers to clothe the dainty feet of fair women and to make sachels and bags in which to carry their handkerchiefs and pocket money. , The most fashionable material for small valises, sachels; hand bags, portmonnaies, and the like, is the skin of the American alligator, and in all the gulf states, from Florida to Texas, these saurians are hunted to supply the demand. This fashion has not been in vogue for a very long time, but for the last three years the slaughter of the al ligator has been carried on with great activity. Besides the hides, there are other products of the alligator utilized for commercial purposes. The teeth, which are round, white and conical, and as long as two joints of an average fin ger, are mounted with gold and silver and nsed for jewelry trinkets and for teething babies to play with. All teeth of the alligator are of this class of coni cal tusks, with no cutting or grinding apparatus, and hence the animal is forced to -feed chiefly on carrion. which is ready prepared for his diges tion, i The oil extracted from this creature has a high reputation among the swampers for rheumatism, being given both inwardly and "externally, and is produced to supply a limited demand. How Sloabjr Escaped. "Carleton's" Bull Run Letter. My note book is full of incidents nar rated by the veterans of both sides and by the citizens. .; . "1 had command of a company,. said Maj. Fishenar, "and was out on the picket line. I heard horses' hoofs. It was about 3 o'clock, the night before Chantillv. I was close by a pair of bars leading into a road, and the hoofs were coming down the road in the woods." - "Beady I Aim!" and twenty musket- men aimed at the bars. Three horse men rode up. ' "Halt!" : "I surrender," shouted the middle horseman, throwing up his hands. The other two wheeled and fled. I could not give the order to fire,- for I 'should have killed my prisoner. .One of. them escaping was Aiosuy, as he aiterwaros informed me. - In the United States there are 120 newspapers edited br colored men. Th Ha-nf-etare ar ITea4rXac r Houses. Scientific American. - A correspondent paid a visit not long ago to a city in Maine, where a large es tablishment is located for the produc tion of these ready-made houses, and ha says that few have any idea to what ex tent this business has been carried, or to what perfection it has been brought. Tn the establishment to which we refer, dwelling houses are made, like boots and shoes, in any quantity, and of any size or style, and for any market in ths wide yorld. Not long since this con cern received a single order for fifty houses for Cape May, to be delivered speedily and in complete finish. ' These houses, were to be, not sheds nor shanties, but regularly ordered dwellings ; and they were made accord ingly and so delivered, and contain hundreds of occupants at this moment. An order will be received for a $50,000 hotel, or an ornate; French roof cottars for a fi-o country estate, and rte jo are t s easily and expeditiously furnished as an ordinary boarding-house fpr a country village, or a barn for a ranch in Kans or Colorado. Do not suppose that only a coarse, rough frame is thus sent out to be trimmed into shape on the spot where it is delivered ! On the contrary. the house is complete when it leaves the factory, and as ready to go together as is a musket when it leaves the armory at Springfield, all the parts being found, even to the knobs for the doors and the screens and shades for the doors and windows, according to specification. Graat trains of freight cars stand waiting about, ana are freighted almost daily here. The re fuse trimmings and edge cuttings of the lumber are carted off to a neighboring pulp mill, and there speedily turned into material for paper or other pro ducts. Machinery for almost every con ceivable nse in connection with wood is at hand,' and house materials, of any kind or size or shape, seem to drop oat like meal from a hopper. In a recent instance where a large building was furnished for a southern order, the parts were thus made,, and when pnt together in the city where the building is now standing the length of the latter was found to vary not the eighth of an inch from the original - specifications, although its length -on the front num bered hundreds of feet. Every inch of this building, from the sill to the last shingle, was sent ready prepared from this factory, and "set up ' as ready and almost as quickly as a nail cask. When S-a-ar Warn laveate-, Clinton Montague in The Household The exact date of the inven tion of sugar is lost in the mist of fable. How ever, sugar is said to have been known to the Chinese 3,000 years ago, and there is not much doubt but that the manufacture of the article was carried on under the Tsin dynasty 200 years before Christ. A strong claim for priority has been made for India. Trob ably the Hindoos learned the art from the Chinese, and from India the knowl edge was carried farther west. Three hundred and twenty-five years B. C, Alexander sent Nearchus with a large fleet down the Indus to explore the adjacent countries. When that officer returned from his expedition, he brought to Greece an account of honey, (sugar) which the Asiatics made from cane, without any assistance from bees. This was the earliest idea the western nations had of sugar, the Jews, Egypt ians, Babylonians and Greeks knowing nothing of its use. As late as A. D. 150, sugar was prescribed by Galen, the famous physician, as a medicine. Before the discovery of America, sugar was a costly luxury, used only on rare occasions. During the wars ox the Roses, about 1455, Margaret Paston, wife of a wealthy country gentleman of Norfolk, wrote to her husband, begging that he would "vouchsafe" to send her a pound of sugar. As late as the year 1700, all England consumed only 20, 000,000 pounds in the course of the year, but since the consumption has greatly increased, 20,000,000 hundredweight now being used by the English people. The process of refining sugar was not known in England previous to 1659. That was probably an invention of the Arabs. A Venetian merchant learned the secret from the Saracens of Sicily, and sold the art for 100,000 crowns. Varieties of Weed Palp. Chicago Tribune. In the first stages of the manufacture of wood pulp for paper, poplar was re garded as preeminently adapted for the purpose, and for a considerable time it was thought that only that wood, bass wood, and a few other kinds could bo. ground into a suitable pulp. Now, however, machines are made which turn out pulp with equal facility from all kinds of wood. The longest fibre is made from willow, bass wood and poplar ranking next, respectively. Cedar, fir, and hemlock are said to work about alike; maple has a fibre shorter than that of either spruce or pine, and is quite hard to grind ; birch is very hard and grinds quite short. Poplar and buckeye pulps remain white for a con siderable time, other woods changing color; birch becomes pink, maple turns purple, and basswood takes on a reddish hue. " or Interaatie-al Copyrlff-C Mark Twain writes that he is 41 J'ears old and does not expect ' to live i ong enough to see international copy right established, but his great grand father struggled for the right, and it is his unworthy great grandson's hope and rsyer that as long as his stock shall ast the transmitted voice of that grand old man will still go ringing down the centuries, stirring the international heart in the interest of the eternal cause for which he struggled and died. MMWMMM I MM The Mtapld Fellow. Exchange. " Gaze upon that pure, "beautiful" evening star, and swear to be true while its light shall shine; swear my love; swear by Venus," exclaimed a Boston youth in impassioned accents. "How' stupid you are," answered the Boston girl, "that is not Venus. The right as cension of Venus this month is 15h., Cm., her declination is 17 deg. 25m. south, and her diameter is 10.2. .