CLIPPINGS FOB THE CURIOUS.
The census shows the odd fact that
the majority of people's ages are at
even numbers.
It is said that in sonde parts of
California and Nevada, where water
is scarce, the machinery of large mills
is driven by having sand instead of
water propel the overshot wheels.
The hair is the least destructible
part of. our bodies. In Egypt it has
been known to survive four thousand
years, and bids fair to outlive the pyra
mids. There are but three coloring
pigments belonging to it : yellow, red,
and black. The mixture of these pro
duces all the known shades.
The birthplace of George "Washing
ton is at the inner side of a peninsula
having for its water boundary Mattox
creek, the Potomac river, and Pope's
creek. The house in which Washing
ton was born stood on a projection
which is now called Burnt House
point. A road leads down to Bridge
Creek landing, a little less than two
miles distant, where, it is probable, a
steamboat wharf will be built, in order
that tlie spot may be more easily
accessible.
People know a great deal more about
bees than they 'did once, and they are
still learning. Though the bee has
long been a type of the industrious
worker, there are few people who
know how much labor the sweet hoard
of the hive represents. Each head ol
clover contains about sixty distinct
flower tubes, each of which contains a
portion of sugar not exceeding the
five hundredth part of a grain. The
proboscis of the bee must therefore be
inserted into 500 clover tubes before
one grain of sugar can be obtained.
There are 7000 grains in a pound, and
as honey contains three-fourths of its
weight of dry sugar, each pound of
honey represents 2,500,000 clover tubes
sucked by bees.
Habits of Smokers.
' Inveterate smokers do funny things.
Carlyle smoked up the chimney with a
degree of thoughtfulness for the feel
ing of others not universal in his con
duct, and the famous Bishop Burnet,
who like many another author found
composition faciliated by puffings of
seductive weed, disliking the interrup
tion of removing his pipe constantly
while he was writing, in order to com
bine the two operations with due com-
fort to himself bored a hole through
the broad brim of his large hat and'
putting his large pipe through it
puffed and wrote, and wrote and puffed
with the most philosophical calm. The
increase in the sale of pipes within the
last ten years is astounding. They
are now manufactured in immense
quantities in New York city. The
polishing of meerschaum pipes affords
profitable occupation for girls who,
after learning the business, can real
ize 8 or 10 a week with ease. New
York Mail-Express.
The Philosophy of It.
"I do hate to have a husband whc
lowances me every time I want to buy
anything." said Mrs. Slimms. "When
I tell Slimms .that J want a little
change to go shopping with he don't
hem and haw as some men do. He
just takes out his pocket-book and
says, 'Certainly, my dear; how much
do you want, a five or a ten ? "
"And what do you say?" asked Mrs.
Smith.
"Oh, I never say anything. He gives
me the money right off without wait
ing for me to answer.'
"Anu bow much does he give you?'
"A dollar generally unless he has
some change handy. But it isn't the
amount that I care so much about. It
is the readiness with which he re
sponds to my request that makes me
think o much of him."
Hew to Select Flour.
In selecting flour first look to the
color. If it is white with a yellowish
straw color tint, buy it. Ii it is white
with a blueish cast or with black
specks in it, refuse it Next examine
its adhesiveness wet and knead a lit
tle of it between your fingers; if it
works, soft and sticky, it is poor. Then
throw a little lump of dried flour
against a smooth surface; if it falls like
pewder, it is bad. Lastly, squeeze some
of the flour tightly in your hand; if it
retains the shape given by the pres
sure, that, too, is a bad sign. It is
safe to buy flour that will stand al
these tests. These modes are given by
all old flour dealers, and they pertain
to a matter that concerns everybody.
Animal Fascination.
' Is there not a good deal of nonsense
about the wonderful fascination that
poets and authors have from time im
memorial attached to the snake tribe?
They possess the peculiar charming
power similar to that exhibited by tho
cat which eats up the canary, we are
told, and the animal falls at once by a
sort of magnetism into the fangs of
death. Any one who has seen the
snakes fed ! at the Zoo, and. those who
have not, certainly seen the doves
placidly roosting on the boa con
strictor's body as he lays coiled on the
sandy floor of his cage, must have
noticed how perfectly at home the birds
seem to be. The snake kills the bird
not by any fascination, but by activity.
Animals, such as rabbits or rats, put
into a cage with a snake run over their
bodies, smell inquiringly at their noses
and sometimes proceed to nibble theii
bodies. Put a rabbit in a cage with a
puff adder, and they both exhibit the
most remarkable indifference. When
the rabbit is dropped from above right
on to the body of the snake every one
would expect it to be eaten at once.
Not so. He runs all around the cage,
passing over the snake's body several
times, seeking some outlet to escape.
Then' he quietly smells the reptile's
nose, and sitting down directly in front
of him proceeds to wash his face and
ears. Birds hop on the bodies of snakes
with perfect freedom, and sparrows fre
quently sit on the body . of a snake by
the hour. A guinea-pig has been
known to go to sleep in the coils of an
Australian diamond snake. Ducks
and pigeons sometimes eye the snake
with suspicion, but so they do human
beings who come to look at them.
The truth is the fascination business
has been overdone. It is a worthy ex
ample of the persistency of superstition.
Almost every literature in the world
alludes by way of metaphor to the fas
cinating powers of snakes.
Woman's Work In a Mint.
The San Francisco Chronicle says
that fifty females employed in the mint
in that city are called adjusters and
their pay is $2.75 a day, counting week
days and all holidays but Sundays. Their
hours are from 8 o'clock in the morn
ing until 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
with the exception of Saturdays, when
they cease at 2 o'clock. These ad
justers occupy two large rooms on the
second floor of the mint One is used
for the adjusting of silver and the
other for that of gold. The floors are
carpeted,and each lady had a marble
top table, a pair of scales, and a fine,
delicate file. Before the gold is turned
over to them to be adjusted it goes
through the process of being rolled,
annealed, cut, and washed. They
then take it in a state called "bldiiks,"
that is, perfectly smooth, and the
weighing is done. It is weighed to
see if each piece be of standard weight,
which must be 412 J grains for a silver
dollar, a slight discrepancy being al
lowed on either side. If a coin is
found outside of the limit after being
weighed by the adjuster it is returned ;
if too light it is condemned and it must
be remelted ; if too heavy it is filed to
its proper weight This is the ladies
work, and an interesting sight it is to
watch the small white fingers deftly
handling the shining pieces. A room
near the adjusting-room has been set
aside for the ladies, who use it as a
lunch-room ; two long tables are pro
vided and a janitress furnishes hot
water for making tea, and also keeps
the place neat and clean. Several of
the ladies have been in the mint for
a number of years.
Fruits of Advertising.
A prominent business firm in one of
our leading cities, who have grown
rich by liberally patronizing the print
er, give to their fellow merchants the
following concerning advertising :
"We have for many years studied
the art of advertising, and still it re
mains a marvel to us that there is
not a hundred times more of it We
never yet knew a man to advertise his
wares liberally and steadily that it did
not pay. Yet there are thousands of
manufacturers and tens of thousands of
men, having articles which they declare
ought to be 'in every household in the
country,' who advertise as gingerly and
closely as though they had at heart no
faith at all. How can they expect
to get their goods anywhere unless
some knowledge of the article first
gets in the family newspaper? If we
waited till people learned from their
neighbors, we might wait for years
before the most wonderful and useful
invention became known."
PE1BLS OF THOUGHT.
Dost thou .love life, then do not
squander time, for that is the stuff life
is made of.
The claims of habit are generally too
small to be felt till they are too strong
to be broken " .
The proper way to check slander is
to despise it; attempt to overtake and
refute it, and it will outrun jou.
People who do not care do not say
so. The soldier who is not afraid
never boasts that he fears no ball.
There is no happiness like that of
being loved by your fellow-creatures,
and feeling that your presence is an
addition to their comfort.
Duty is a power which rises with us
in the morning and goe3 to bed with
us at night It is co-extensive with
the action of our intelligence.
The primary use of knowledge is for
such guidance of conduct in all circum
stances as shall make living complete.
a n ot.hr use of knowledge are secon
dary. Like most garments, everything in
life has a right and a wrong side. You
can take any joy, and by turning it
round, find troubles on the other side;
or, you take the greatest trouble, and
by turning it round, find joys on the
other side. The gloomiest mountain
never cast a shadow on both sides at
once.
Habits of Ostriches
The editor of the Anaheim (Cal)
QazetU has been viewing the, ostriches
on a ranch near Costa Station. He
says: "The female lays an egg on alter
nate days to the number of fifteen.
when, if permitted to set, she considers
her work done. If, however, her eggs
are taken from her, she will lay thirty
before she discovers the deception.
And such eggs! The one showed us
weighs three and a half pounds, and
contains food sufficient to furnish a
plentiful breakfast for four men. One
would suppose that the flavor of such
eggs would be unpleasantly pronounced.
Such is not the case, however, the
flavor not being so decided as that of
duck eggs. What school-boy has not
read of the ostrich egg, and of its be
ing hatched in the hot sun of Africa's
sunny shore? But this pretty little
legend, like many other cherished
stories of the past, is all gammon. The
chicks are broughtforth in the good
old way. The female sits on the eggs
in the day time, and the male assumes
that duty at night, allowing the female
to seek rest and recreation while he at
tends to the household duties. It must
be noted here that the .male is much
more solicitous for his household than
is the female. It not pnf requently'
happens that the latter prefers to gad
about rather than take her turn at set
ting, and on such occasions her lord
and master administers to her a deserv
ed chastisement by kicking her heartily
around the paddock, until she manifests
proper contrition, and signifies' her
willingness to settle down on the eggs.
There is a moral somewhere about this
incident which, when found, make a
note of."
Tigged Women.
A New York correspondent, writing
about fashionable women who wear
wigs, says: There are still more curL
ous wigged women in Xew York, how
ever, though they are not fashionable.
They constitute an overwhelming ma
jority in several,, east side streets.
One's first view of them is an astonish
ing revelation. Here is the world's
greatest market for hair restorer, for
fully nine in ten of all the women who
stood in the doors of the tenement
houses, or helped to fill the sidewalk,
wore the most obvious of imaginable
wigs flat, lusterless, wholly undecep
tive wigs. Nevertheless, it is true
that these women were bald only be
cause they had shaved their heads.
They ranged in age from less than two
score to more than three score and ten!
but the younger ones were made by
their disfiguring wigs to lgok. double
their real age. All this was a religious
sacrifice of attractiveness. They were
Polish Jewesses, and therefore adher
ents in the minutest details of ortho
dox Jewish law. They all cut off their
hair and don wigs on their marriage
day, and will keep themselves close
clipped as long as they live. The cus
tom is ancient Judaism, but it i3 ob
served in this country only by the
Poles, who regard the fashionable and.
frizzled Bach els and Rebeccas as sin
ners in the highest decree.
Trained to Hnnt Game.
In Florida the writer had an ac
quaintance an ancient fisherman, noi
too sprightly withal who possessed
two tame pelicans that he had brought
up from the nest, As catching bail
was somewhat of a laborious task, thi
old man frequently attached a leathei
strap about the birds necks, and thej
invariably came back with pouches dis
tended with fish that they were unable
to swallow and would not give up, anc
that were wrested from them by theii
owner, who, be it said to his credit al
ways gave the birds a fair share of the
snappers and barracondas caught with
the bait of their collecting.
In former years, to a considerable
extent the otter was used to fish, th
animals being trained when cubs, and
trained at first with leather fishes, sc
that they would fetch like a dog
Though not used exactly in hunting
live game, a large lizzard found in the
Nile country has been put to a curious
use. The animal is extremely power
ful, using its claws to great advantage
and a band of robbers being aware ol
this and having no ladder wherewith
to reach the lattice of a second storj
window, secured a large one. Tht
great lizzard was placed against th'
rough wall, head toward the desired
epot and instantly it began crawling
up, eventually hauling the robbers
safely up, who were clinging to his
tail. A very good story, if not true,
and perhaps possible, as these large liz
izards have been known to drown large
janimals in crossing the Nile.
In England and too often in thu
country the ferret is often used i
hunting the rabbit, while the expert
rat-catchers of this country value them
as important adjuncts in their mysteri
ous business. In the Carribean sea
some of the fishermen use a fish, the
remora, in the capture of turtles. Tha
fish is the well known attendant upon
the shark, having a disc-like sucker
upon its head, with which it clings to
large fishes. The extent to which
this labor-saving arrangement is used
is shown in the fact that the upper
side of the fish, that in others is gener
ally dark, is light, and the under side,
dark. So powerful is the sucker that
fifteen or twenty pounds can be lifted
by taking the fish by the tail, and by
playing in the water a large turtle can
be caught The fishermen take the re
moras out in a tub of water in their
boats, and have a leather strap attach
ed to a long line that is fitted about
the fish's tail. At the approach of a
turtle the fish is tossed over, and re-
iembering its old friend, or. instinct
ively, it attaches itself, and so the rep
tile, often towing the boat, is gradually
brought alongside aud subdued, and
the remora placed in the tub to await
a second appearance. The remoras
attain a length of a foot and a half,
and attend sharks and turtles, and
have also been seen about a large por-
gie. N. Y. Evening Post.
The Ileal Home.
The real home is in the country
and it is something more than a dwell
ing; the field and trees around it are
part of it, and the views from it of
the landscape, and of distant "moun
tains, perhaps, make it unlike any
other place in the world. The country
home with its fixity of surroundings,
has usually some measure of perman
ence, and the social life formed there
is under the favorable conditions of
old family associations. Some have
the happy condition of living in the
home of their fathers, and are sur
rounded with objects of precious mem
ory, daily mementoes of parental af
fection and instruction.
The home which it makes is the
best thing of farm life. There 'is a
necessity of permanence, and as there
is no sudden or great accumulation o
wealth, or large increase, the family
is free from that discontent which us
ually comes with sudden or great ac
quisition. It i3 one of the compensa
tions of their condition that the farm
er's family is in that "fixity of sur
roundings" which favors their highesJ
culture. Country Gentleman.
Assuming that the . migration ol
1883 will equal that of 1882 and 1881,
these three years, it is estimated will
give the United States not less than
two hundred and fifty thousand Ger
man farmers and mechanics, and over
fifty million dollars of German money.
' .Little men are beneath boasting;
great men are above it '
. SCIENTIFIC SCRIPS.
Incandescent electric lamps are used
in the carriage lamps of Baron Roths
child, of Vienna. Storage batteries
placed under the coachman's seat are
said to be capable of carrying a charge
of electricity sufficient to feed the
lamps for one hundred hours.
M. Charles Monti ray, of Brussels.
has noticed that not only does the
aurora borealis increase the scintit
lation of stars as other observers
have noted but that magnetic dis
turbances produce the same effect evert
when accompanied by no visible auro
ra. The influence is strongest for stars?
In the north.
Recently one man was taken very
ill and another died from the effects of
handling poisoned hides. There is no
reason why hides should not convey
senous and fatal diseases, like clothing.
" Some years ago, says the Scientific
American, "an importer of hides in
New York died from the effects of a
bite or sting of a fly which inhabited
the loft where hi3 hides were stored.'
There are reports from several parts
of Sweden of a hitherto unknown and
very destructive kind of caterpillar?
which is giving a great deal of trouble;
to the farmers and anxiety to tho
whole population. It is gray-brown
with deep gray stripes; its appearance
is most common after rain. Its work
on the crops has been so serious as
to demand the assistance of the gov
eminent
The opinion is said to be gaining
ground among metallurgists, that
whatever mechanical strength is de
sirable, an alloy is preferable to pure
metal One of the greatest obstruc
tions to the mechanical value of iron
is its tendency to crystallizethe result
being the same whether the article be
a monster gun or a ship's cable. But
this tendency of iron to crystallize
may be prevented by the admixture of
other metals.
' Prof. Proctor asserts that the moon
has grown, old six times as fast as the
earth, a comparison of the masses and
radiating surfaces of the two bodies
making if evident that the earth's
internal heat was originally sufficient
to last six times as long as the moon's
supply. On the very moderate as
sumption, therefore, that only twelve
millions of years have passed since the
earth' and the moon were at the same
stage of planetary life, this astrono-'
mer shows us that sixty millions of
years must elapse before the earth
will have reached the stage of life
through which the moon is now pass
ing. Japanese Object Teaching.
The teachers at the school for the
sons of Japanese nobles in Tokio ap
pears to 1 have hit upon a notable
method of teaching physical geogra-.
phy. In the court behind the school
building is a physical map of the
country, between 300 and 400 feet'
long. It is made of turf and rock and
is bordered with pebbles, which look at
a little distance much like water.
Every inlet, river and mountain is re
produced in this model with a fidelity,
to detail which is wonderf uL Latitude
and longitude are indicated by tele-;
graph wires, and tablets show the po
sition of the cities. Ingenious devices;
are employed in' illustrating botanic?
studies also. For4 example the pine is'
illustrated by a picture showing the
cone, leaf and dissected flower, set in a
frame which shows the bark and lon
gitudinal and transverse sections of
the wood. Nature.
Half Worm and Hair Snake.
The mountains furnish many strange
forms of life which the dry, hofrvalleys
never develop. Old rotten pine logs
seem to be the favorite nest of a loath
some creature which is half-way be-'
tween a worm and a snake. It is
usually a foot long and nearly an inch
in diameter, with a head like a snake,
and a clumsy, blunt tail. It is of a1
dead color, between a dirty green and;
a brown, without spots or stripes; It
is slow of movement cold and clam-,
my to the touch, and seems to be more
of a jelly than bone and muscle. It is.
regarded as harmless, and the woods
men pick it up and handle it careless
ly. Virginia City (Nev.) Enterprise,
Cardiff, Wales, is to have another
dock which will cover thirty-five
acres and cost the marquis of Bute
$2,500,000. The Bute family have in
vested over $12,000,000 in docks.