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About The Oregon scout. (Union, Union County, Or.) 188?-1918 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1887)
THE CHESTNUT BELL. Tho News or It Kxlntenco Flnnlly Itrnchrs tut Knellali Mngnclne l.illtor. To say that the Americans have got fi now sialic expression is liko repeats ing tins ancient news thrtt n man died yesterday in London. tint tlicro arc giants cvcJi among tho Brobdingnags. ana from tunc, to time a fresh Amori uanism breaks out "like an Irish rebel lion thirty thousand strong," and rises to the dignity of a national institution Such seems to bo tho magnitude and importance of the simple word "chest nuts." Liko ninny great incarnations "chestnuts came at lirst before tho world in humble guise. As an Anieri can Anglo-German poet has sung: No oho knew how It win started, Or how ilo foro-shloij enmc but about two years ago, where or whenever a Frenchman would have cried "Ooiinu!" or an Englishman have murmured "Joe Millcrl" tho Transat lantics began to yell "chestnuts!" Woe to the man who tried to palm oil an "old soldier" for a "recruit," if any one was present who recognized a singlo feature. But, as usual, when tho etymologists examined the new phrase, nobody knew wlionco it came. It was said that tho dead chestnut of last year suggosted, like Villon's snows of the preceding year or of tho south wind, its origin. Any ono who lias prowled in tho forests in spring time knows how often a chestnut may be picked up which is fair to view, but which on examination proves to be about as valuable a3 a Dead Sea apple. Another investigator declared that tho word was derived from a certain in vet unit.1 repeater of worn-out jokes named Chestnut, who had actually been in dicted by a grand jury in Connecticut as a public nuisance "becauso nobody could stand his stories." But it is time to consider what will bo the ultimate effect of tho chestnut boll on American intellect and culture. Is it really good for a country to have no old jokes, no venerable Joes, no standards of "fun?" Evervbody can not rise to a point of order or to the point of a joke with the acumen of a Riddleberger. Even a great American declared, after years of investigation through the annals of mediiuval, classic, Egyptian and Assyrian wit and humor, that there are only twenty-live original jests in existence, and that all known at the present day can bo referred to one or another of these. At the cud of the last century the chestnut bell was rung in Franco as "Connu!" The re sult has been frotii. A feverish fret fulness for something new, and ever something new, brought France from Jtabclnis to Voltaire some may say raised it -but the cry of "Connu!" de based it to endless isolated frivolous witticisms. There has been great re joicing over the death of the pun; but oven the pun was not so bad as the mere slang phrase which is succeeding it. Ono can not relloet without horror what tho result would be should this great American "campanologist ie cor rective" be introduced to England. Fancy ihe chestnut bell in our Ilotio of Commons -worse yet, in the House of Lords! Mut oven here there is a gleam of light. Jt. is within the reach of im agination to conceive its being rung with great effect during one of Mr. Gladstone's speeches. Imagine Lord Jtaudolph Churchill armed with one! Imagine-but the imagination of the reader will sttpph the rest. If there ever was a bell v liich deserved to bear the inscription lulgura frango" it U the chestnut. That will break up the. thunders of "the gods." Saturday lie- view. A LOST ACCOMPLISHMENT. Jluys When I.cII.tx HVi'n Worth Wntchluc I'or mid Win Mi HitvliiK. Cheap postage, postal cards and the 'telegraph have almost crowded letter- writing into a place among the lost arte. When it cost twenty-live cents to send a coiumniiicatiou to a distant relathe or friend it was a matter of some conscipieuee to get one's monoy'i worth. Letters were (lavs in pre para tion, and the writer was careful to omit no detail. This was especially true of fiiniil,) correspondence. Letters re ceived in those days were worth watch 1 . - ... I .1 1 IOI jug lor aim worm naving. ihovworo descriptive of what tho aiithorliad seen and heard, contained a message to each member of the family, and were laid aside for a second and third perusal. The husband and father who goes away from home nowadays telegraphs his safe arrival at Ids destination in ten words, sends a postal card to jho same ollcct, or at most writes a letter of a dozen lines, knowing that If any thing of importance Happens two cents will carry the news or an hour will sullice for a telegram. The days of long letters are over. A single sheet of note paper is enough to contain the average business, friendly or family communication. Years ago the corres pondence of bright and able men was worth publishing for the descriptions and opinions it contained. Volumes of letters havu been printed, and excellent reading they made. But the corres pondence of prominent and busy men of to-daj, oven to their wives and fam ilies, would be largely taken up with ditto and signatures. That Is the ton done y of tho times. Heduced postal rates might Increase tho number of let ters written, but it would not make them longer or more readable. The change U only one of tho suggestions instigated by the treasury surplus, and it may be years before it gets further UUea Press. than a suggestion. --"Ves, he called nu u liar, an un mitigated liar." "What did you do about Itr"' "Nothing." "Aren't you going to resent it?" "Ves. but not un til the weathorgots. cooler." Jlarper Jtatar, IN A CAPUCHIN TOMB. Ghastly Dftvlcm unii OrnmnentV Con utruclrit Out of Human Hour. The Capuchin brother, attired in his long habit of coarso brown frieze, his waist encircled by a hempen rope, his ftockingloss feet bound in sandals, his mitrimmcd beard and head bare, ex cept for a diminutive skull-cap is a familiar sight on tho streets in Koine, which he patiently traverses, carrying nn earthen pitcher as a receptacle, while he begs alms from house to house. The Church of the Fraternity is in Die piazza of the same name in the im mediate vicinity of tiio Piazza Barber. ini. It was founded by Cardinal Barber ini brother of I'ope Urban VIII., in 1G21 the same Cardinal who was the friend of Milton when ho visited the Eternal City in 1(538. The church contains the tomb of tho founder and many rcmark- nblo treasures of art. including the magnificent painting by Guide, rcprc sonting "Michael the ArehaiiL'cl Trampling tho Dovil" the latter a portrait of Pope Innocent X., for whom the painter seems to have had an invet erate hatred. Passing through the church a few steps to the right will lead you to as ghastly and at tho same time as gro tesquely horriblo a spectacle as tho morbid sonrohed-ofter flesh-creeping experiences can possibly desire. A scries of four connected small apart ments, tho floors of which are made of earth said to liavo been carried from Jerusalem, contain tho honors I speak of. Tho walls and ceiling arc liberally decorated with ornamented dovicos instructed by cunning workmen out of human bones. Tho bones of tho vertebra, wrists and ankles aro ar- yed so as to describe circles and curves. J hose ligures are interspersed hero and there with skulls, femurs and humerus, tibias, fibulas, uliias and radius. The same horrid ornaments aro ar ranged around the persoii of a deceased brother, who appears susponded against tho middle of a wall, incased in the coarse brown cloth, the garment he lived, died and was buried in. Tho dried skin clinging to tho face of tho skeleton grins in horriblo mockery as tho living brother, his former compan ion in llesli, conducts you around this decorated charnel house. Ilo looks as though he chuckled over tho fact of having boon released from tho grave below to give place to a brother more recently defunct, for it is the rule of tho fraternity who are compelled to make a small burial ground meet tho requirements of the order when death takes place to dig up tho longest interred to make room for his succes sor. There is a quality in tho onrth em ployed that has tho effoctof provon-ting ileeny ot the body, drying it up in mummy fashion, and preserving tho hair, presenting a far more horrible effect than if bleached bones were pre- Kentcd to view. I here is a weird iineanniness about this strange mixture of the living and dead, and tho latter divested of so lemnity by environment of ornamental osteology, while the air of tho survivor Booms toned down to an unnatural sopiilehralness a sort of half-way eon ilitiou between life and tho tomb. Home Cor. San Francisco Chronicle. A PECULIAR RAILROAD. Ilo it It Ik Constructed to Climb Up nn jcicviitioo or r,noo Fret. If the Iligi railroad is worthy of be ing considered an extraordinary and wonderful piece of work, the latest un dertaking of this kind the building of tho railroad on Mount Pilatus cer tainly ought to attract tho attention of railroad engineers and of the traveling public. This new road differs essen tially from its oldest rivals in the con struction of its roadbed, as well as the THE RATTLESNAKE'S EYE. It Malignant, Terrible nml nnngerouftly FiMrlnatlnc Kxprrnglon. Never seeing a snake charm a bird or animal, I concluded it was a negro superstition or fancy, devoid of fact. So I continued to think until a few days ago when a farmer friend of mine, living four miles south of Abilene, told me what he had lately witnessed. He said lie was riding along on a prairie, and saw a prairie dog within a few feet of him, which refused to scamper to THE KARA-KIRGHESE. THE CONGO PIGMIES. A Itiwe of C'miiilni; l.lllpiitlmi Living In llio Heart or A trim. Hon .o do Loo, who traveled many years in Alrica with Dr. Livingstone, was ono who almost stood out alone in tho assertion that a race of dwarfs lived in Central Africa. In his lee hires in America lie told of a little people who lied to the clefts of tho rocks when tho explorers approached. C. Eugene Wolff, who traveled' many years with Stanley, and who is now in (lie city, gives some queer accounts of those dwarfs. "On tho southern branches of the Congo," said ho to a reporter, "I have seen whole villages of these Liliputlans. Tlioy aro a gen orous little people, who live in rude huts and clear ground, engaging in varied sons oi agriculture, .i hov aro also skilled hunters and they make palm wine. They are as lithe and sup ple in climbing trees as monkeys or baboons, although they are physically as perfect men as any of the giant tribes thereabout, and they know as much. Tho men are not over four feet and a half high, while the women aro a good deal smaller. These tiny little men are both bravo and cimnimr. riiey are experts with the bow and ar row and readily bring down the Afri can bison, antelope and even elephants with tliem. As trappers of small ani mals they aro unsurpassed. In a close pinch they use the lance with astonish ing dexterity, and an ordinary sling in their hands Is wielded with wonderful skill. The dwarfs collect tho sap of the palm, with which they make soap. Ti... ..... t i ....i j iu iiiuu mil omul ui-inccii ami oi a rich mahogany color, while the hair is short, kinky and as black as night. lens of thousands of them livo on the south branch of the Congo. They aro an affable, kind-hearted people, of simple ways and devoid of vicious tendencies to a greater degree than most semi-barbario races. The women aro industrious and amiable. Very queer these people look alongside tho great swarthy blacks further up tho uongo. J lie latter are of prodigious size, uncouth, rude to the remotest de gree and cannibalistlcally inclined. Tho dwarfs stand in awe of them, but aro so bravo and cunning that, with all the odds of physique against them, tho pigmies aro musters of the situation." San Erantiseo Examiner. -Hlondln, of tight ropo fame, will return to this country next summer after an absence of over tweuty yoais. rolling stock. The ruggedncss and Vhis hole, as prairie dogs usually do steepness of the mountain, toffother, when approached by nun; on the con- ...id. !. . 1. f I. . n Don i. . . . . . . ... i trary, ne sat as u transiixed to the spot, though making a constant nerv ous, shuddering motion, as if anxious to get away. My friend thought this was strange, and while considering the spectacle, lie presently saw a largo rat tlesnake coiled up under some bushes, his head uplifted, about six or seven feet from the dog, which still heeded him not, but looked steadily upon the snake. Ho dismounted, took the dog by the head and thrust him off, when the snake, which had up to that moment remained quiet, immediately swelled with rage, and began sound ing his rattles. The prairie dog for some time seemed benumbed, hardly capable of motion, but grow better, and finally got into his hole. My friend then killed the rattler. Now, was this a ease of charming? If not. what was it? Mu' friend who told me this is named John Irving MeCluie, a farmer, well known to me, a good and truthful man. J now give it up that snakes do indeed charm, or so paralyze birds and little animals with terror, when they catch their eye, that they become help less and motionless, almost as good as dead. What say the scientists? And to one who is familiar with the eyes of rattlesnakes it does not seem unreasonable that they should have such power. If you will examine the eye of one when ho is cold in death, you win perceive tout it lias an ex tremely malignant and terrible expres sion. hen he is nhve and excited I know of nothing in all nature of so dreadful appearance as the eve of tho rattlesnake. It is enough to strike not only birds and little animals but men with nightmare. I have on several oc casions examined them closely witli strong glasses, and feel with all force what 1 state, and I will toll vou that there are few men on the face of the earth who can look upon an angered rattlesnake through a good glass bringing linn apparently within a foot or two of the eye and stand it more than a moment. Forest and Stream. witli its great height (6,882 feet against o.DUo in the case of Uigi), oflered much greater onsiacics tnaii tnc roads pre viously built, and required an entirely different system. The restless spirit of man is always glad to set for itself some new task, and consequently men arc found who, equipped with the necessary capital were willing and able to carry out this tremendous undertaking. When a portion of the road had been completed all fear in regard to strength and safety was removed, for it was thoroughly tested every day, tho locomotives go ing as often as was necessary to that part of the road on which they were at work, carrying materials of all kinds, weighing from 20,000 to 22,000 pounds. J he southeastern side of the mountain was chosen for the road, which begins at Alpnaeht-Stnd, between the Hotel Pilatus and the Eaglo Hotel (1,-1-18 feel ibovo tho level of the sea). From there it climbs in a northerly direction to the lU'insigonalp, then westward to the Mattalp (6,31,r feet above the sea), and after much winding readies tho plateau of the Hotel Bellcvuo, on Mount Pila tus (0,811 feet above tho sea). Ihe road is uhou'i, two and throe luarter mile long, and tho total height climbed from the shore of Alp naeht Bay to the Hotel Bellcvuo is o.iiGO feot fcot. Tho grado is from 18 to '18 per cent., which is scarcely ex- eeded by any ropo road. In the mid dle of tho lino at Alp Aemsigon. there is a switch. Seven thousand two hun- lred and sixty-seven feet of the entire oad consists of straight stretches, urves, with radii of from 202 feet to 328 fet constituting tho remainder. The road includes a viaduct, throe hurt tunnels and one long one. The width of the track is 2 feot 7 inches. I'lio foundation consists of a wall cov- red with plates of granite and loose material, and on tin's tho superstruc ture is firmly anchored. The toothed bar which is placed midway between the rails and is some what higher than tho latter consists of soft steel and is provided with a double row of vertical tcotli which are milled out. of the liar. The cogged wheels on the cars, which engage the toothed bar, aro arranged in pairs at the right and left of the same. Tho axles of these cog-wheels are not hori zontal with the level of tho road, as in the Iligi system, but perpendicular to tho snipe, this arrangement making it impossible for tho cog-wheels to be come displaced. The locomotive and ears form a train with two running axles and four cog wheels engaging the toothed bar. The boiler and engine are behind or below the ears, which latter accommodate thirty-two passengers. Brakes can bo applied to all tho cog-wheels, and be sides this there aro two clamps at. tho upper running axle which clutches the head of the rail, thus preventing the upsetting of the ears by tho wind. The weight ot the loaded cars is about 21, 000 pounds, and ono trip up or down can bo made in about eighty minutes, The idea of tho Pilatus road origin aieci wiin j.uwuru j,ocnor oi tno linn of Loclier & Co., in Zurich, under whose supervision and control the road has been built. Tho engine was invented by Mechanical Engineer Haa and Engineer Honslor, who has had much experience in the construction of railroads, undertook to act as the rep resentative of Messrs. Loclier. Jlltis trirtc Zeituntj. OLD-TIME VAGARIES. TO GRAIN WALNUT. Tim Color anil Motion iti'qulriiil to Do Sat Wrat'tory Work. It. is very dillleult to teach graining by essay, for, as experts know, this lowlcdge can bo obtained only bv . t in i . years oi practice. o (to not protess to be expert on this sort of thing, as it is a little out of our line, still wo will doom best, The groundwork for black walnut should be made of white lead, yellow oeher, Venetian red and black, and should dry with somewhat of an oil gloss. To obtain any degree of per fection in imitating burl walnut or any other wood, ills necessary to procure a panel or bits of veneer, and copy the color and form the grain as nearly as possible. Tho grain color should bo burnt umbor. To grain in oil, mix tho grain color in boiled linseed oil and turpentine, and add a little soap or whiting, or both, as it makes tho color llow more freely. For distemper color, grind tho grain color in ale, boor, vinegar, or whisky, (the latter to be preferred in old weather), the object being to bind the color so that it will not rub off. Graining should he done with a free mil careless motion of tho hand, vet having tut eye to the character of the wood to be imitated. Glazing colors aro transparent, and should be used very thin, whether in oil or distemper color. Blending should bo done by brushing the tip of the blender back and forth slightly over tho work while It Is yet wet. Blazing, or tho light hades, are put in by sliding u blaze stick up, and bearing around to the lit or left. Die same motion is to- liiiivd in packing in the tine check1 grain with the kldo of the blonder. The Hub. How .i;iih anil Nlglitiimru With Cured In t lio (ioikI Old Days. In the early days of credulity and superstition the popular mind was pre pared to receive as a remedy any thing of a mysterious character. A ring made on the hinge of a coffin was cred ited with the power of relieving cramps which also received solace when a rusty (dd sword was hung up by tho patient's bedside. Nails driven into an oaic tree were not a cure, hut a pre ventive against toothache. A halter which had served to hang a criminal withal, when bound round tho temples. was found an infallible remedy for ncatiaene. j sun more oiiieaoious remedy was found, of course, in the "moss" growing on a human skull, which moss was dried and pulverized and then taken bv way of cephalic snuff. A dead man's hand could dis pel tumors of the gland by stroking the parts nine times; but the hand of a man who had been cut down from tho gallows-tree was, we need not say, remedy infinitely more efficacious. Some of these remedies still exist among tho superstitious poor of the provinces, although the formula, of course, is not now strictly adhered to, tho game being emphatically "hardly worth tho caudle. Jo euro warts, lor instance, the host thing was to steal a piece of beef from the butcher, with which tho warls were to bo rubbed, after which it was to lie in terred in any tilth, and as the process of decomposition went on the warts would wither and disappear. Tho chips of a gallows on which sov- eral persons had been hanged, when worn in a bag round the neck, were pronounced an infallible cure for tho ague. The nightmare, supposed, of course, tt bo caused by supernatural agency, was banished by means of a stoipi witli a hole in it being suspended at the head of the sullerer s bed. Tin.- I...... i . tast remedy went ny tno name ot u "hag-stone," because it prevented tho witches, who of course wrought tho CuKtomn ofnnil T.lfc Ainonr tho Seml-Har barlan Slborlnn 'omud. The Kara-Kirglieso are essentially a nation of shepherds and breeders of cattle, and think it a "come-down' in life when compelled to resort to settled occupations. J hey are not so rich as their brethren in the plains. Very fow own as many as two thousand horses or throe thousand sliocp. Also they have fowcr camels; but, on the otlierliand. possess nn excellent brood of oxen for traversing tho mountains. Their cows nrc large," but do not yield much milk. Yaks aro kept by thoin instead. Their cattle-breeding claims far less labor than agriculture, but is exposed to great risks. For the sup port of a Nomad family for a your are required eleven head of largo and ten of small cattle, and to provide hay for the winter consumption even of this number exceeds the working power of ono household. I was much interested to see some of tho Kirgheso on the march. Their wanderings aro thus conducted: When the pasture, in u neighborhood is eaten, ono or two of tho young men aro sent to select a suitablo spot for another en campment, and to clean out the wells. This done, tho women pack tho tents and Ihe men form tho cattle in droves. Tho camp is ready and starts before dawn, tho good womon of'tho family rid.ng in front. 1 met ono old lady in this honorable position, mounted nslride a bullock and looking any thing but graceful. After her camo the other women,' vnriouslv mounted on tho top tif carpels, teakettles, tents. etc., tho whole being made to wear, as far as possible, a festive aspect. Tho length of a stage h from thirteen to seven loen miles, and tho aid traverses about twenty-live miles in twenty-four hours. On arriving at the placo of encamp ment it is theofliee of tho wife to put uj) the tent. 1 chanced to see a woman bogin to do so, and would not stir from the spot till I had witnessed the whole operation. The principal parts of a kibitka, or .ont, are large pieces of felt to cover a frame-work that con sists of linloi and side-posts for a door, and pieces of trellis-work sur mounted by poles that moot in tho center. On this trellis-work arc sus pended ai'irs, clothes, bags, basins, harness and cooking utensils. Not that there is a largo variety, however, of tho last, for most of the cooking is done in si large open saucepan that stands on a tripod over a fire in the middle of tho tout. Crockery waro is not abundant, being of hazardous car riage, and mo I al goods aro not cheap, so that leather has to do duty not only for making bottles (specially those for carrying koumiss) but also pails, some of which aro fur nished with a spout. I mot with no small saucepans or teakettles of En glish shape, their place being supplied by kurguns, or Witler-owers. somewhat resembling a coffee-pot. Hound the walls of the tent tire piled luxes, sad dles, nigs, and bales of carpel, against which the occupants lean, the head of the household sitting opposite the door, and in front of him the wife in attendance. t was Honored w.t.i an invitation to dino in one of these tents, tho dishes being put before us according to our rank. I heard nothing of grace before moat, but 1 never saw any thing to ox teed tho alacrity with which the dishes woro cleared. Hands weroknivos and lingers wore forks, tho meat boingtorn from tho bones as by tho tcotli of hungry dogs. It is considered polite lor a Kirgheso superior to take a hand fill of pieces of meat and stuff them into tho mouth of an inferior guest, an elegancy I saw practised on another, but from which, mercifully, I mysolf was excused. Dr. Henry Lansdell, in Harper s Magazine.. ATTRACTIVE IZALCO. riio Mot Active Volcano In the Central American Stale!. Your Central American correspond ent wis recently at Izalco, tho most nclivo and attractive of the volcanoes of Central America. It never harms nirybody. 'J here is a church at its base, its buttressed walls quito eighteen feet thick. It has stood the rockings and racket of daily quakes through ono hundred and eighty years. Three groat bolls, each weighing one thousand pounds and constituted quite one-half of silver, aro suspended in the church ward. They' aro often tolled by Izalco when tho jolly mountain is in a rollick ing good humor, or perhaps whou it is "colicky." It explosions oco.tr at Intervals of from three to five and fifteen minutes. Now and then tho great vent for explosive forces within tre hcrniitically sea'ed for iivo or six hours, and even longer. Then tho conniry has ngueiJitsand S in Salvador is shaky, and tho prescribed path of "arthquakes, which is about twenty- fivo miles wide, is "rat tled." This, too, is , tho width of tho :oal-bcds along this routo of earth quakes. Beneath tho coal is the river i)f oil that is on lire at Izalco. There oal-oil and a siream of water meet. Each explosion of the mountain emits two columns, ono of black smoke front ihe burning oil, lie other of whito itoam from H'o Calionte, which runs )iit from beneath the mountain and jrosses the railway five miles from tho rolcano. Tin water is so hot that it peeled the h. tir off my initio's leg that srossed it a few days ago. When an jxplosion occurs in Izalco, not only do these two columns of steam and of unoke rise up among tho clouds, but great stones and ashes and scoria) and rast volumes of lava are omitted. The sreater portion of all this measureless roltini i of earthly mineral substance (alls back into tho crater, closing it and resting on it as a mighty valve. Great masses of earth and stone fall in from the interior )f the mouulnin side, and then tho ralvo is heavier and deeper and brotul-M- than usual, and then tho oil must burn longor, and groator and more re sistless volumes of gas must bo pro Juccil. The flames rage, tho waters boil, gas and steam and smoke explode it lust, and tho country along tho farthqiiako's or coal inoasuro's routo rudely shaken, and tho thunders of the universe aro heard roaring through the vast distances in measure- loss caverns beneath Izalco. N ibody should bo afraid of earth quakes. They are simply products of forces of coal-oil gas and water. All that astonishing yarn about mother sarlli cooling off and contracting lior bolt is very lino and grand and impos ing, as a theory, but it won't hold wa ter; certainly not that of llio Calionte, which took tho hair, last Saturday, off my gray mule s slims. San Salvador Cor. A la California. PASTEUR'S METHODS. As the Virginia street car rolled from Cottage street into Virginia, says tho Buffalo Courirr. a young woman motioned tho conductor to stop. Be fore tho car had como to a standstill she stepped off and landed her full longili upon the pavement on her bad It seemed to the passengors that she must have been seriously injurod, and, as she was being assisted to lur foot. ono lady with an expression of pity on nor laco s.iul: "What a foolish woman." The injured ono straight ened herself in an instant, waved her broken parasol in a threatening man ner ami siiouto.i: "Wiion 1 want your opinion I'll ask for it." A Sun Francisco nowspaper savs mat a pet chipmunk In that city hurt mischief, from sitting on the patient's i,s fl)0t so 1,,iU ,no llosll dropped off stomach. n,,u 'L' ,n 1)(U(s exposed. There upon the lutlo follow bit off or ampu tated tho foot at what would corre- lts effect upon these mischievous old crones was singularly deterrent. The poor old creatures who could not have sat a horse the moment lie began to walk were credited with riding these animals over the moorland at headlong speed in the dead of night, when bet ter disposed and less frisky people were wrapped in slumber. A "hag-stone" tied to the key of the stable door at once put a stop to these heathenish vagaries. 7 uiic. 'Great Ctesar, Smith!" said the editor of the society paper to his as sistant, "here's a ten-lino paragraph you've written about Colonel Bulger, and you haven t called him handsome once in the whole of it." "But Colonel Bulger isn't handsome," persisted Smith. "Handsome! He's ugly enough to scare a carload of monkeys into convulsions." "Then would I bo justified in speaking of him as hand souioU" "Never vou mind whether your Justified or not always speak of colonel Hulgor as handsome; I got my butter of Mm." Exchange: . spend to lite wrist joint. In tho course of a fow days the bono still remained uncovered becauso no provision had neon made for a llap of the flesh to cover It. J ho chipmunk then, with his nose, turned back the lies It and bit oil a piece of bono above the ond of the flesh so that it proj oted beyond tho bone. In two weoks it had honied up and the result is a perfect stump. 4 A man near London recently mndo a hot that lie could kill, cloan, cook and eat a spring chickon in fifteen minutes. Preparatory to tho contest ho socurod tho chicken and provided liimsolf with a pot of boiling water, a buchot of cold water, a hot skillet, and a hot llat-lron. Wnon time was called ho jerked the chicken's hoad off, doused It in n pot of boiling wntor, slipped the feathers off. oieauod it, and then laid tho fry tint in tho pan, with tho flat iron on top to cook the uppsr side. At llio olosu of elovoit and a half iniimtna hn had tho chickon bones beautifully pol shttd.;oMiio.U ' Wllllt i:pi'l-ilri! 1 1 ii s Shown In the Milt- tor ot III !Ivdiiiliiiblii Cure. Whether a cur for hydrophobia litis 'been discovered is still matter of iloubt. Tho widespread gratification which sprung up when the news was Hashed throughout tho world that M. Pasteur, tho eminent French patholo gist, had evolved a remedy for tho dis ease lias given placo to doubt created 1)3 evidences which have bred severe criticisms. So severe, indeed, were llio attacks of cortain Vienna pro fessors that M. Pasteur rocontly deemed it expedient to defend himself and ids practice in a letter addressed lo llio Vienna Imperial Society of Physicians. In favor, however, of M. Pastour's position, much that is weighty is of fered in tho report of a royal commis sion appointed in April of Inst year by llio British Local Government Board, to investigate M. Pastour's systom. Many experiments woro had with rab bits and dogs exposed to tho attacks of hydrophobic dogs and cats. Some of tho subjects wore previously inoculated on M. Pasteur's plan; othors were not, and, whilo only ono of the pro tected animals died, ovory ono of tho othors succumbed. Upon this tho conclusion of tlu co minis sion is, that "it may bo deemed certain that M. Pas tour has discovered a method of protcc.ioit from rabies comparable with that which vaccination affords infection from stmill-pox." In support of this inference the commission states that in fifteen months Pasteur inoculated 2, 082 persons, of whom 31 died of rabies. Assuming that . per cent. tho lowest estimate of mortality among tiio un protected would have died if no method of inoculation had boon dis covered, tho nuiiibnr of deaths would have beon 134. Honce, It holds tho opinion that inoculation saved 100 lives. But, as against this favorable view. thero is to bo taken into account a very significant record of M. Pastour's practice. It is affirmed that the avcr ago annual number of deaths from bv- dropliobia in Franco since 1850 has boon 80. Pasteur records that 31 of the patients inoculated by him in iif tcon months died of hydrophobia. This forces one of two conclusions: cither during tho fifteen mouths sont-on nt tho cases of hydrophobia must have un iar above the avorairo mini bee. hp M. Pastour's treatment effected but a small roduetion in the number nf deaths. All things considered, it sooms desirable to hold the now thoorios and praetico as still on pro. bation. Demoresfs Monthly. A now cloth employed for driving and dust cloaks is reversible, being plain on otu side and striped ou the. other.