t <6 im i opera nr pari » - t e i orare staircase . F ew A SPECTACULAR V IEW XV THX FAJUS OPXBA HOUSX. Perha.pi at no other point can ao vivid an lmpreaelon of the rlchae and grace of the fren ch capital be gained me at the foot of the grand etalrcaee leading to the Interior of the opera house at Par la The exterior of the building with Its colonnade lit with bine mercury lights Is familiar to everyone who has been to Paris, but until the visitor has witnessed this soene of shimmering satin and sparkling Jewels he will hare missed a re­ markable sight which only the opera can show him. A V O ID * lm Arkansas leads among the states In tha productlon of bauxite, her output being more than 60 per cent of the total last year. Holland has a new law forbidding the adulteration of butter, under pen­ alty of Imprisonment, which may reach one year. The brilliancy of a limelight used la a demonstrating lantern can be In­ creased by slipping it over an ordi­ nary gas mantle. The United States government main­ tains fifty-seven wireless telegraph stalons and has nlnety-elx vessels fitted out with the apparatua A professorship of aerostatics has been founded In Gottingen Universi­ ty, and schools for training aeronauts are to be established In several Ger­ man cities. The word "tangstollsr“ has been coined to define the fixture used to hold a group of tungsten electric lights' la proper position to. give the best service. **“• * . Austria limits the number of drug stores to the number of Inhabitants of a district or city, and the need of an additional one must be clearly shown before the license Is Issued. The geological survey Is erecting at Pittsburg a testing plant for structu­ ral material that will be able to han­ dle girders 65 feet long and give them a tension of 10,000,000 pounds Government tests have shown that many coals which are too high In ash and sulphur for economical use under boilers or for cooking may be made commercially valuable by proper wash­ ing. Messrs. Henri and Btodel recently demonstrated to the French Academy of Sclencee the practicability of steril­ ising milk by means of the ultraviolet rays emitted by mercury vapor lamps. Milk thus treated can be completely sterilised In the cold. At the same meeting of the academy Mona A. Gascard showed that milk to which potassium bichromate has been added as a preservative keeps much better in the dark. The ,Yana language of northern Cali­ fornia represents a distinct llngulstlo stock, and had formerly three dlaleots, one o f which Is now extinct It pos­ sesses two forms of speech, one of which Is employed by men speaking to men. while the other Is used In all other cases. Practically, the language has only nouns and verba, the adjeotl- Ives, adverbs, numerals. Interrogative pronouns and conjunctions being form­ ed from the verbs. In the Calaveras National Forest there are two groves of big trees. In the North Grove, In Calaveras County, there are ten trees each having a diameter of 18 feet or over, and more than seventy having a diameter rang­ ing between 15 and 85 feet The tree called the “Father of the Forests,“ which now Use on the ground, Is esti­ mated to have had a height of 460 fe e t and a diameter, at the ground, of more than 40 feet The bark on these trees runs from 6 Inches to I feet In thickness. Besides the giant sequoias, there are hundreds of sugar pines and yellow pines from • to 10 feet In diameter, and ranging to 176 foot In height TREASON An Interesting historical letter, re­ lating. to Benedict Arnold’s treason, Gen. Gates’ disastrous campaign In the Southern States and the appoint ment of Gen. Nathanael Greene to suo- oeed him there, fetched |55 at Free­ man’s in Philadelphia a few days ago, the New Tork Times says. The letter was written to Greene from Philadel­ phia, Oct 5, 1780, by Charles Petit, a member of the continental congress, who also was assistant to Greene while the latter was quartermaster general. In regards to the West Point treason Petit wrote: “ I cannot say that Gen. Arnold’s treason, so far as respects his turn­ ing tory and deserting the American cause, was any great surprise to me. The constant and uniform tenor of his conduct In this city looked strongly that way, and the court he paid to the tories was too plain and evident and too universal to arise from any other motive than the laying of a foundation for Joining them at some day or other, but the magnitude of his treason and the extent of his plan, I must confess, startle and amase me: I could scarcely have conceived that the pride o f an ambl tlous man and that sense of honor, or at least the pretension to It, which every man of station thinks himself bound to wear the appearance of. whether he really feels It or not, would have prevented a man of hts situation to rush at once Into a vll lalnty so atrocious and degrading to human nature. But he seems to have been determined not to be a little vil­ lain. Nothing short of the highest rate could ’ satisfy him,,and In this he has shown his courage, though his plan has failed. I shall at present add only one reflection upon this af­ fair, and that is that I consider it as a public benefit not only that the plot has been so seasonably discover­ ed, but that the attempt has been made.“ In writing about Gen. Gates’ South ern campaign Petit says: “ The Southern gentlemen particularly seem­ ed desirous that Gen. Greene should be appointed. The Southern people are strongly prejudiced against a Cale­ donian (Gen. 8L Clair), having an ugly pest of them In their own bow els In North Carolina.“ T e S t«» C oa sU ss. Coughing is one of the nuisances that no one has been able to abolish In churches or In theaters. A physician, however, claims that the coughing nui­ sance Is a mere question of acoustics “There is a subtle connection be tween the ear and the throat,” he said. “When the ear Is strained the throat Is affected and a cough Is the result "When we can hear perfectly In church or theater It never occurs to us to oough. But when we bend for ward, straining every nerve to catch the actor’s or preacher's muffled syl­ lables, then we find ourselves coughing every little while. Build auditoriums with perfect acoustic properties, and I warrant that the thunderous choruses of ooughs, so common now among uq will be no more heard.“ F e a s ib ilit ie s . T have Just had an Invitation to an electrical tea to be given by a wom­ an doctor,“ said the bachelor girl. “ I’m looking forward to It and wondering what Is going to happen to us—wheth­ After you got a dollar In your er she will give us a little battery dutches the taint soon evaporates. and let us entertain ourselves, make the tea on an elect rio stove, or Just A tombstone epitaph Isn’t electrocute the bunch el us." Ijr a hard foot wVJ Shape W h e r e t h e J im m y B e h e ig h t . d eed a t A a r S ta tio n . livery little while, said a London detective, recently, th4 police . arrest a man with a set of burglar's tools in his possession, and one naturally won­ ders where they all come from. It Is easy to buy a gun of any description, and the most reputable person would not be alarmed to be seen purchasing the most wicked looking knife ever made, but who would know where to get a Jimmy or a device for drilling lpto a safe or any of the many tools used by the professional burglar in the pursuit of his calling? There probably are plaoee In the large cities where these things are made and sold to the user, but such places are exceedingly scarce. It may seem a little strange to learn that most of the tools used In burglaries are made by mechanics who are look­ ed upon as respectable men in the community. When a burglar wants any particular tool made he goes to a mechanic who can do the Job, and pays him perhaps five times what It Is actually worth for making the tool and keeping quiet about It. Many de­ tectives can recall cases of this kind that hfve come to light in London. One In particular occurred some years ago, when an escaped convict named Williams went to h blacksmith In the East End and got him to make a lot of drills to be used In safe crack­ ing. He personally superintended the tempering of the steel, but when the Job was nearly completed It leak out, and Williams was arrested. In this Instance the blacksmith knew nothing of the use to which the tools were to be put Most of the tools used by burglars are secured In the sai way. The only tegular establishment ev4r discovered where they were made was in the East End. This was years ago, and the place was soon pounced upon. 5 Ä 'V W W V W W A / M s s Oat. Mr. B.—There, I’ve let my cigar go ou t Do you know that it spoils a cigar, no matter how good It Is, If you allow It to go outL Mrs. B.—Tee; a cigar la a good deal like a man In that respect Patron—Have you pigs’ feet? Walb it —No, sir; It’s a bunion makes me walk that way. She—Does the course of true love run smooth? He—Oh, yes; there are banks on both sides. "M