Topics of the Times It Is astonishing how Rockefeller be came so rich when he knows so little. A New York financier Is to live In a glass house. Isn't this display of In nocence a bit ostentatious? If Russia hates us because American sympathies were with the Japanese In the late war, why should not Jupun love us for the same reason? A Miss Czatstanlakow and a Mr. Frlncklnowleksy were married In Con necticut a few days ago. Well,' that will help to simplify matters a little. The Washington preacher Who thinks holl Is located In the sun may merely have tried to go through a hot spell without taking off his winter flannels. Even though he has been shot at twice, It Is not believed that the presi dent of France will consider It neces sary to carry a six-shooter under his coattalls hereafter. From the latest utterances of Jap anese diplomats It may fairly be In ferred that the mikado Is willing to rub noses with Uncle Sam and be his great and good friend. Tramps compelled to work In the Kansas harvest fields! It will be use less for us to try after this to convince some people that Inhuman cruelty Is not practiced In some parts of our fair land. Rural free delivery has been estab lished on the Island of Guam. Ten years ago there were not many people on the Island who even took the trouble to go to the village postofflce for their mall. Admiral Dewey says the country that has the least trouble In getting Its coal Is the one which wins In wfor. This being the case, it may be well for us to keen on good terms with Deacon Baer. The new census of Canada shows that the great Dominion has a popula- tlon of about equal to that of the grand old State of Illinois. We congratulate the people of Canada on the progress they are making. The New York Evening Post prints a letter from a subscriber wno wanrs to know the meaning of "pie-faced . . ii t i . . .1 I mutt." Evidently he has never attend ed a ball game where the bleacherltes took a dislike to the umpire. "Never be contentious. Concern your selves with your duties, and your rights will take care of themselves." A bit of parting advice from a general to the graduates of West Point, but applicable to all men, young or old, college gradu ates or not. Recently published reminiscences of Carl Schurz put severe blame on Uen. O. O. Howard for the Union defeat at Olmucollorsville. General Howard makes a gallant and clever reply. The whole blame, ho says, for that defeat rests umm General "Stonewall" Jack- Bon, the Confederate commaudcr. 8lxrt skirts are likely to be the pop ular costumo In Nordhausen, Germany. The bon hi of health has recommended the Imposition of a fine of thirty marks, or Imprisonment for one week, for wearing dresses with trains on the street. The drugging of the bottom of the skirt through the dust and dirt of the street Is characterized as "a men ace to the well-being of the commu nity." Some defiulte and well-organized movement ought niaulfeaty to be made toward the wider scattering throughout the country of the horde of aliens that la continually trooping Into our coun try. It Is not good either for them selves of for the public that they plant themselves, as they have long been do- lug, In great colonies In the largo cit ies. That practice makes for continued poverty, HI health, general conditions that are not desirable. It would be sur prising to know how many of those who flock to these shores annually are end should be tillers of the soil. There la demand for such. They should be Induced, If not compelled, to distribute themselves over our large area of ag ricultural districts. Until within a few years the whole at the surplus earnings of the United States was Invested at home. There were thousands of enterprises for the development of agriculture, manufac tures sua transportation that were jiuors attractive than foreign undertak ings. There are such opportunities still; but the wealth of the country has Increased so greatly that the Indus tries are seeking foreign markets, and capitalist are searching the world over for the most profitable places to In- (S) m vest their surplus. The other day a company In which Americans are large ly Interested secured a concession for developing two and a half million acres :of the Congo region. The company se : cures the rights to the India-rubber trade of the district, and mining and 'railroad rights as well. That there are other fields the development of which will benefit the whole country as well as the Immediate Investors, the Secretary of State Indicated In his re cent address at Kansas City on South American opportunities. The trade of the United States with South America Is lusignlflcaut in comparison with South American trade with Europe. The easiest way to get from New York to Buenos Ayres is by way of Liver pool, which Involves two crossings of the ocean. Secretary Root said, what is evident to every one, that there ought to be more steamship lines be tween North and South America, and that they should be owned by citizens of tlie United States. Some new lines have lately been opened, or are albout to be opened, betwen Brazil and New York ; between Peru and Panama, with the Intention of extending to New York ; and between Argentina and Eu rope. But they are enterprises of for eign and not American capital. Let the American flag fly at the masthead of Fhlps carrying the products of Amer ican farms and factories to the people who need them, and the American sur plus will find use at home in develop ing Industries for a foreign market. Thanks to a new act of the Massa chusetts legislature, which goes Into effect on the first of November next, an Interesting experiment In life Insurance Is promised to the people of the Bay State and New England generally. The law In question provides for the sale of small life Insurance policies and an nuities by the savings Institutions of Massachusetts. The new feature Is en tirely voluntary or optional, but when the legislature adopted the measure In the face of very strong opposition It knew that a number of savings banks were willing to go experimentally Into the Insurance business not, Indeed, for profit or with the notion of serious ly competing with the Insurance com panies, but In a benevolent and altruis tic spirit. The law was the outgrowth of the Insurance scandals and revela tions. Those who framed and pushed it believed that the savings banks of Massachusetts, which are strictly regu lated by statute and controlled by a state commission, are particularly fitted to provide the poorer elements of the population with opportunities of getting life Insurance at bare cost and under conditions which guarantee honest, eon- servative and Intelligent management. fM a konla Jtsi tisv sivnastt onil m ia nrf-it" I The banks do not expect, and are not expected, to solicit Insurance, to employ agents or even carry on active corre spondence lit order to obtain business. Blank forms of policies will, however, be widely distributed and the would-be beneficiaries of the system will have to take the trouble of applying for and getting the policies and of regularly paying their premiums. Whether many people, even In thrifty and enlightened Massachusetts, realize the need of life Insurance sufficiently to Incur such trouble Is one of the many questions upon which the experiment Is to give ua light. The governor of Massachu setts has Just taken the first step under the act He has appointed seven state trustees, whose duty It will be to select a state Insurance actuary and a medical director and to make all other prepara tions for the assumption by the savings linuks of the new function. The trus tees servo without pay aud are connect ed with the banks that are In sympathy wlrti the experiment. There Is much preliminary work to be done, Includ ing the preparation of actuarial tables on the basis of cost, minus, however, all agency expenses. Steaoaraphers' Morale. Under this title the New York World discusses the recent proposition of a New York preacher for a stenograph ers' guild which brought to the World many letters from stenographers that declared that the moral pitfalls In the business were fewer than In others. The World says: It Is chiefly In 10-cent magnzlnes, Tenderloin comedies and "comic sup plements that the employer trifles with the innocent affections of his pretty stenographer. In actual life he wrings his hands and wishes to heaven that business colleges would teach girls how to 8111. The attitude of the stenog rapher toward her employer Is more than likely to be of the I-feel-sorry-for hls-noor-wlfe kind. Few men are heroes to their typewriters. A stenog rapher who has Just finished transcrib ing thirty or forty letters is not In danger of flaming Into Sapphic passion for a man who growls because she failed to turn his simplified grannur into conventional EugllBh. Edible Ensolameat. Tlrst Actor Hello, old man t Got an engagement? Secoud Actor Yes, old chap. First Actor Any salary attached? Second Actor No ; but there's a real pudding In the second act The Tatler. House (or Turkeys. In colder climates, . where shelter must be provided, a house may be built with the slanting roof; and an open ventilator should be placed In front, close to the roof, and never be closed except In cold weather. The roost should be placed on a level In the front of the house, with a sliding or rolling door In the rear. Only light enough Is needed for the turkeys to see the way to and from the roosts. The door should be left open all day, that they may come and go nt pleasure-. Within this house they may be fed in cold, snowy weather, writes T. F. Me- Grew, United States Department of Ag riculture. In the cold northern climate of Canada one of the most successful turkey growers has a double-lnolosed apartment house for his breeding stock In winter, connected with which Is an In closed run that will protect them from the elements, at the same time furnish ing opportunity for open-air exercise during the day. This kind of house Is GOOD TURKEY HOUSE. most useful In cold climates, but It might be used In all localities and pre vent midnight marauders of all kinds from carrying away the turkeys. Ekks Without Shells. Russian exporters, to avoid an excess ive freight on eggs, as well as to avoid loss from breakage and from spoiling by heat, ship them without the shell 1. e., broken and the contents put up In air-tight block tin boxes, with or with out salt, according to the taste of the customer. Each box contains several eggs and Is sold by weight, the size running from half a kilogram up to a pud (some 10 kilograms). The price of the latter Is 5 rubles. For use In cooking and for a nmtted time these tinned or preserved i i eggs seem to answer very wen ; inai is, on the continent, for England doesn't take kindly to them. London, for In stance, says the National Druggist, which buys large quantities of Russian eggs, "pays 8 rubles a pud for them (against 5 for the preserved eggs), be sides the weight of the shells and the extra freight tariff on eggs. Each block tin box of "conserved" eggs, whether of half kilo (a kilo Is a little more than two pounds) or 2-pud size, must bear the date and hour of Its closing, thus guarding against get tine stale ere. The Amount of eggs put up In boxes and annually exported Is enormous and constantly growing. Trees Grow at Nlarht. One of the foreign agents of the Bu reau of Forestry, now In Tasmania, re ports as the result of a series of meas urements of growing apple and pear trees and rose and geraulum bushes and other plants that 85 per cent of the growth of trees takes place between midnight and U o'clock In the morning. The growth continues at a much di minished rate until 0 o'clock. After that It Is very slight until noon, when the tree falls Into a condition of com plete rest, lasting until 6 o'clock. Then there Is a gradual renewal of the growth, which, however, does not be come rapid until the middle of the night 1 A Good Spray Mixture. Parts green does not dissolve, but Is held In suspension In water, hence the water must be constantly agitated to apply It The Ohio Experiment Station recommends a much cheaper mixture, which is soluble In water. It Is made by dissolving two pounds of commercial white arsenic and four pounds of car. bonate of (washing) soda In two gal lons of water. Use one and one-half pints of this mixture to each barrel of Bordeaux mixture when spraying for blight and scab. How to Blaach Celery. To blanch celery easily and rapidly, go on your knees astride the row ; take a plant In oner band, shake It and squeeze it close, to get out the earth from the center, holding it with one hand, and with the other draw the earth up to the plant on that side ; then take the plaut with the other hand and draw up the earth on the other side ; next let go of the plant and draw earth from both sides, pressing It against the plant Finish with a hoe when the row Is gone over, and give a sprinkling long the row. Weeds of Vain New Zealand flax Is one of a number of wild weeds that yield their gath erers great wealth, says the Scientific American. This flax, the strongest known, grows wild In marshes. When it Is cultivated It dwindles and Its fibers become brittle and valueless. Indian hemp grows wild, and out of It hasheesh, or keef, fs made. Keef looks like flakes of chopped straw. It Is smoked in a pipe ; it Is eaten on liver; It Is drunk In water. It pro duces an Intense, a delirious happiness ; and among Orientals It Is almost as highly prized as beer and whisky with us. The best nutmegs are the wild ones. They grow throughout the Malay archi pelago. But the most valuable weed of all these wild growths Is the seaweed. The nitrate beds oi, South America, which yield something like $05,000,000 a year, are nothing but beds of seaweed decom posed. Proportion oC Seiea In Swine, The Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture has re cently Issued an Interesting bulletin on the relative proportion of the two sexes of pigs at birth. This is Information not heretofore obtainable, for the rea son that while the herd books have given the total number of pigs far rowed, the number of each sex was given only for those raised. The re port Included 1,477 litters. The number of boar pigs was (5,0tK), the number of cows 0,020. The average per sow was, boars 4.51, sows 4.48. For all prac tical purposes the sexes may be regard ed as equal In number at birth, al though the boars are seen to be slightly more numerous than sows. Expressed In the lowest terms of whole figures, the proportion stands 201 boars to 200 sows. The results were gathered from twenty-five States and Territories and represented eight breeds, with several litters of grades or mixed breeds. The Army Worm. He's a notable pest. ( He ruins the crops. In 1743 he appeared by millions. That was In struggling New Eng land.' Dr. Bouton, of Vermont, saw ten bushels In a heap. The last very serious onslaught was made In 1800. He feeds on the succulent stalks of wheat, corn, oats and the like. Fortunately . he has a host of nat ural enemies. Ills mamma Is a light-brown moth, who lays her eggs In meadow grasses, In his six weeks from egg to moth- fly he does his great damage to the precious crops. He's a Juicy morsel for the meadow lark, the bobolink, the blackbird, robin redbreast and many others. The black beetle also devours him wholesale. Hay Carrier. Make of muslin or coarse unbleached muslin six feet wide and a handy 7 27 convenient hay cakhieb. length tacked to a 2x2 piece on each side, all but a middle space, which should be left loose for hand-holds. Straw, vines, or almost any litter which Is liable to scatter, can be carried readily. Horse Facts Have his harness fit He'll last much longer. Above all, don't overtax his strength, Give him a little water very often Don't give him a big drink directly after a meal. s Don't allow him to eat too fast, Even scatter his grain on a clean floor. Don't beat a stupid horse that only proves the drivers stupidity.. Stay with him while he is shod the sboer may hit him over the head, ruining him, A few days' rest with earth to stand on, unshod, will do him more good than Teterlnary treatment In many cases. Gooseberry Story. Fifty years ago George W. Wetzel, of Bardolpb, HI., had gooseberry pie for his wedding dinner. The other day he celebrated his golden wedding annl versary and had another gooseberry pie for dinner. And the gooseberries grew on the same bush from which the first pie was gathered. Louisiana Press-Journal. Trees and Grass. Sometimes we see trees which dry up the grass under them, while In the same neighborhood will be trees under i which the grass will grow better than where it Is not thus shaded. An or- chard that has long bsn plowed deep has most of its feeding roots below those of the grass. On the other hand. under the trees where grass has long grown the true feeding roots come near the surface, and when a dry time arrives the grass nnder It lacks mois ture, and Is very soon killed out r For removing rust from polished steel, an effective mixture is made by taking 10 parts of tin putty, 8 parts of prepared buckhorn and 250 parts spir its of wine. These Ingredients are mixed to a soft paste and rubbed In on the surface until the rust disappears. Practically all the California and Texas fuel oils contain more or less ater, sand, asbestos, fiber and marsh gas, says the Paint, Oil and Drug Re view. Some grades of oil flow freely. while others are more viscous, even though they have a lower specific grav ity. The Inferior Bohemian graphite, which Is too Impure or compact for use in pencils, Is ground fine and freed from sulphides and other heavy min erals. The refined material does not contain more than 50 or CO per ceut of graphite, and is used in the manu facture of Inferior crucibles and for stove polish. According to the English Mechanic, articles of brass or copper boiled in a solution of stannnte of potassium mix ed with turnings or scraps of tin In a few moments become covered with a firmly attached layer-of fine tin. A similar effect is produced by boiling the articles with tin turnings or scraps and caustic alkali or cream of tartar. The number of carriages and vehi cles of every description crowding the streets of Paris augments continually, and the danger, not only to pedestri ans, but to the carriages themselves, has become so great that an engineer, Monsieur Henard, proposes the estab lishment, at the most dangerous cross lugs, of a circular "island of refuge" in the center, and the regulation of all t raffle in such a manner that every ve hicle traversing the crossing-point, no matter what its ultimate direction may be, shall pass round the central plateau In the same direction. Thus the dan ger of collision and the peril to foot- passengers would be reduced to a mini mum. The cut Illustrates the opera tion of this proposed whirlpool of traf fic ' The Interest of astronomers In the strange red spot, about 30,000 miles In length, which has been visible on the surface of the planet Jupiter since 1878, is Intensified by the recent obser vations of Mr. W. F. Denning, and others, on a remarkable change In its ' rate of motion. In a period of about three months last year It was dis placed some 16 degrees of longitude from the position calculated as the ba sis of its former motion. . This Is the greatest change that has ever been ob served In Its rate of motion. On Ju piter the visible surface of the plunet does not revolve, like the surface of the earth, everywhere with the same angular velocity, but, In general, the parts nearest the equator move with the greatest rapidity. Thus the huge planet resembles a rotating ball of con stantly changing clouds, aud in the midst of these the great red spot seems to float Uncle Job's Lesson. "Yas suh," began Uncle Job, survey ing his hearers with an expression of ' virtuous sadness, "yas, sub, I sholy gib dat trifling Ab'abnm a lesson be neveb fohgot!" Then, seeing an Inquiring look In the eyes of some of his bearers, and hearing a question from the lips of one of them, he decided to go more Into de tails about the nature of the lesson he' had Imparted. "W'at'd I do tun him? I's gwine tun tell you-alls. Ab'raham fair drawed de lightning on bisself w'en he bed de 'dacity tuh 'vite me tub. he house tub eat eh tuhkey dinner. "Tuhkey," repeated Uncle Job, after a telling pause, "w'en dat llverashous rascal neveh raised any tuhkey in he life 'cept offen some w'lte man's roost "Hit sho was er fine tuhkey, but I showed dat Ab'aham dat stolen goods proflteth little. Dat tuhkey was er big gobleh, an dere was nobody but me an' Ab'aham dere; an I seasoned dat bird wlf admonitions tuh be good an' wahn ings Tom de wrath to come. "Hit sholy would, nev tasted good ef hit hed'nt ben stole. But de sauce o'b a deed well did an' a slnneh rebuked al mos' made hit relish, an'," concluded Uncle Job, with pious satisfaction, "though hit was er hahd pull, I's bound to say I held out to de end an' finished dat tuhkey, Bplte ob Ab'ahams hints dat he spected hit tuh las' him er week." Some Long Words. The comic papers frequently poke fun at the long words of the German language, yet the English language can furnish some pretty long words, too. Here are some of the longest English words: Subconstltutionallst, Incompre hensibility, bonorlflclbllltndlnlty (it will be noticed that this word contains seven i's), anthropophagenarlan, dis proportionableness, veloplpedestrianistl cal, transsubstantlatlonableness, proan titranssubstantlatlonlstlcal. This last word Is no doubt the longest In the En glish language; It contains thirty-three letters.