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.