GENTLE WORDS.
Why not let our words bo gentlo 1
Harsh words rudely jar
On the feelings of anotJier,
And to kindly greet each other
Would be better far.
In the plainest words of converse
Music sweet is heard;
If in tenderness they're spoken;
But the melody is broken
By an angry word.
It would show a strength of spirit
To let no hard word
Fall petulently from our tongue,
And strike the notes to music strung;
Making rude discord.
We would find it just as easy,
In kind tones to speak;
Hasty, cruel words are grievous,
And too sadly, truly prove us,
Pitifully weak. .
Oft a little word, soft spoken,
Falling on the ear,
Throws a passing ray of gladness
O'er the heart darkened with sadnoes.
And dispels the tear.
Gentle words they cost so little,
And such power hold
To impart to others pleasure,
"Why not greater make their measure
Many thousand fold f
It will make our own hearts richer,
If we will but give
Lavishly to our fellow-man,
Gentle words when'er we can,
"While on earth we live.
We are lowly, sinful creatures,
Sadly prone to err;
Tet, if we've blindly gone astray,
And can make amends to-day,
, Let us not defer.
If one kindred heart we've wounded,
By a word unkind,
Oh, let us now forgiveness ask,
And make it our most willing task
The sad wound to bind.
There may be less sweet than bitter
In the cup of life;
There may be more thorns than flowers,
Yet, if unbroken love be ours,
We can bear the strife.
Detroit Free Press.
A RAY OF SUNLIGHT.
4 Quiet, Bess! steady, Fan!"
Jack Trevor gathered the reins more
tightly in his grasp, and touched the
horses with the long circling lash of his
whip.
"Five minutes more will accomplish
the distance if we can maintain this
E resent rate of speed," he remarked to
is companion, who had taken out his
watch and was" anxiously consulting its
crystal face.
"And will the place afford shelter for
our party ?"
"Shelter ?" Jack gave a low whistle,
"Why you could quarter an army in the
old barracks and have room to spare."
"Five minutes seems but a short pe
riod," said Laura Decker, glancing rue
fully at her crisp muslin gown with its
dainty garn's'iing of creamy lace and
blue ribbons; "but the floods will be
upon us in earnest before the expiration
of that time."
"Farewell, my love." murmured her
Cousin Rettie, pathetically, furling her
sunshade under whose rim of soft pink
silk her bright eyes were wont to peer
out beseechingly. "You cost me a pretty
sum at bcnaeiier s, duc tne elements wm
have mercy upon you, my beauty."
"And ray mauve sateen," wailed stately
Hiss Johnson, surveying the saidminicu
lously fashioned garment with actual
tears, that she did not dare let fall on
her delicately tinted checks, for cogent
reasons that she fondly imagined was
known only to herself,
"Are you afraid, Miss Bcckwith?"
Lawyer Hunter leaned over and was
looking into the girl's face, thinking
what a strong one it was,, with its de
cided mouth and darkly fringed grey
eyes.
"Afraid? No. Why should I be?"
She spoke a little impatiently and let
her gaze wander back to the great masses
of black clouds that lay piled above the
horizon-like ebon mountains, the lurid
lightning flashing fitfully above their
ragged peaks.
A sudden peal of thunder startled the
horses into a mad gallop, and brought
an hysterical scream to the lips of Miss
Johnson.
"Oh!" cried little Rettie Trevor, un
der her breath, her face -growing very
Etill and white, and her sunshade slip
ping unheeded to tho yellow straw that
had carpeted the bottom, of the roomy
old vehicle.
4 'Don't shiver so, child'
It was Margaret Beck with who spoke,
and she turned to tho little limp figure,
quickly divested herself of her wrap, and
hid crisp muslin, dainty ribbons, and all
in its voluminous gray folds.
"But you will take cold yourself," re
monstrated Lawyer Hunter.
"I am not a tender plant," she replied,
laughingly, touching with one slim hand
the dark blue of her cloth dress. "I do
not attend picnics clad in gossamer at
tire when " ,
"Eureka! at last!"
It was Jack Trevor's big hearty voice
that rang cut, aai a moment after he
drew up the fo lining horses with a tri
umphant flourish of whip and reins.
"Now, ladies!" -
Ned Johnson seized Rettie Trevor in
his arms, and sprung up the crumbling
steps of the porch, llh stately sister as
cended with more haste than grace, and
just as Lawyer Hunter handed Miss Beck
with up ana followed himself laden with
books and shawls, the patter of great
drops sounded on the roof, and in a mo
ment the outside world was a mist of
j driving rain and rushing wind, before I
i which the great trees bent like saplings, j
j and the flowers laid their broKen heads
j 1 - J - J mi T 1 - -1 3
on ine arencnea eann, ana iookou. jup
with pitiful tear-wet faces to the angry
sky that an hour before had been blue
and smiling as an infant's eyes.
"Open, ye inhospitable doors," spouted
the irrepressible Jack, striking the panels I
with such force that the crazy latch
gave way and the entire party surged
into the . wide, musty hall, from which
opened a large, dark parlor, sparsely fur
nished with dingy curtains and a few
moth-eaten couches and chairs.
"Ugh! it's damp and musty," cried
little Rettie Trevor, tip-tilting her dainty
nose in disgust.
"And haunted, too," concluded her
brother Jack, looking at her with solemn
eyes. . .
"Haunted!" Rettie would bve
screamed, but her particular cavalier
was examining the dismal prospect from
ono of tho many diamond-paned win
dows, and she wisely concluded that it
would be a waste of breath.
"Tell us the story, Jack." '
A dozen voices chimed in th request,
and nothing loth, Jack seated himself on
the edge of a faded chintz sofa, and
began in a deep, sepulchral tone, that
ac corded V ell with the shadows and
general mustiness of the place :
"You may not credit the facts, my
friends, but considerably less than half
a century ago these rooms, now so silent
and deserted, were filled with a gay
company, and jest and dance made the
hours fly merrily enough. The owner of
the old mansion had brought to its roof
a bride, a bonny young thing, according
to tradition, and a year after an heir
appeared to complete their felicity. All
went merry as a marriage bell till the
poor young mother discovered that her
liege lord was given over to an insatiable
love for strong stimulants. Unfortunately
the shock broke her heart, and one fine
day she died. "
"And what became of the others?"
"That is as far as my information,
derived piecemeal from the aged father
of our landlord, extends," concluded
Jack. "I only know that the father
finished his days in disgrace, and died
alone and solitary in this oid house,
which is haunted, the superstitious
neighbors aver, by his restless ghost."
Ned Johnson had managed to entice
the fickle Rettie to a scat in the window
that overlooked tho tangled, neglected
garden. The others were conversing in
pairs, and Mark Hunter stood alone and
unheeded in the doorway, a heavy shadow
on his face. Meg Bcckwith, looking up
from the book whose contents she was
carelessly scanning, saw the shadows,
and a sudden look of pitiful intelligence
crossed her own.
"Mr. Hunter Mark," she whispered,
crossing the room unnoticed, and laying
one hand on hjs arm. "I see it all now.
Oh, why did you come here?"
"How could I foresee this visit?" he
responded, hi low tone penetrating no
further than -her attentive ear. "Re
member that when we left our pretty
picnic ground in Horman's Glade we
expected to return immediately to the
hotel, and not to this abode of dismal
memories, whither the storm has driven
us."
"Ladies," said Mark suddenly, in his
usual everyday voice, "there must be
some old quaint chambers abovc.to which
yon long dusky staircase leads. Who
feels in a mood for exploration?"
"Not I," answered Rettie, happy in the
company of her cavalier.
"Nor I," repeated Miss Johnson,
thinking of dust, spiders, and her mauve
sateen, all in one.
The others were engrossed in Jack
Trevor's nonsense, and Meg, gathering
her blue skirts closely about her, swept
them a half-inocking, half-disdainful
courtesy from the doorway.
"I am going to lay the ghost," she
announced, and a moment after stood
breathless on the broad landing above,
her arm closely clasped around Mark's
as she looked beyond, half affrighted
at the gloom and dreary silence of the
place.
Hastening her footsteps a little, he
led her into a large, low-ceiled room,
barely furnished, like the parlor below,
and opening a wooden shutter, let in the
cold gray of the afternoon's waning
light. Meg's face was in the shadow,
but the few rays that straggled through
the dusty panes fell full upon his coun
tenance, and a faint flush colored her
cheeks as she noted the eager expression
that rested on it.
Without speaking he drew a letter
from his pocket, and held it toward
her. She glanced at the address, ejac
ulated the one word, " Philip,' and with
out opening it put the missive aside with
a firm hand.
"Nay." he said, and his strong lip
quivered under its covering of dark nair.
"Notf that you know all, be merciful.
Here in this house which his father dark
ened with the dreary shadow of sin and
under which shadow he passed a por
tion of his miserable childhood, let me
plead for him. Was it so much his fault
that he gave way to the miserable vice in
herited from his wretched parent? He
rn ember, "he had no mother to guard his
young footsteps and turn him from sin.
Once he shocked your pure womanhood,
but God knows he repented the deed in
sackcloth, and . as far as lies th. the
strength of weak man he has striven to
overcome his depraved habit. Your in
fluence, he avers, could , wean him still
farther from destruction, and you lave
each other."
It was well that he did not see the
blaze of indignation in Meg's eyes, or he
would never have finished his vehement
speech.
"Mark Hunter," she answered, calmly
and coldly, for she would have died,
sooner than betray the tremor that shook
her frame, "you cannot deceive me.
Have I not seen do I not know how you
I stood by your cousin, day after day,
warning, counseling, never impatient,
very weary, till you won him back to
virtue? He does not live, in his own
strength, he exists in yours. As far as
the world goes, you have achieved a
noble action. If you did it for my sake
I cannot thanl: you."
Mark drew his hand across his brow.
"Your words sound strangely," he
said, with a dreary pathos in his , voice.
"I did not expect thanks, but" with a
second quiver of the mustached lip, that
manlike he strove desperately to hide
"but. " .
At the sight all the passion in Meg's
strong nature was aroused.
"Because a woman was kind to a weak
lad, who unstable nature appealed so ir
resistably to her strong one, was it neces
sary that the purest emotions ot her heart
must go out to him also ? Why should
he have all wealth, position, friends,
and mercy ?"
Mark's rugged features grew suddenly
stern.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Tell me
one thing. Do you love Philip ?"
Meg gave a little gasp at the abrupt
ness of the question; then her lip3 took
on the old decided curve.
"1 could love no one who proved him
self less than a man," 6he responded, and
there was honosty, at least, in her
voice.
"Margaret," Mark Hunter leaned for
ward in the gray light with a half -awed
look on his face "my childhood was a
hard, unlovely one, for I was not born to
wealth, as was my Cousin Philip. I have
educated myself by my own efforts, and
have won a position in the world ; but
the battle I waged has left many a scar
on heart and brain. Answer me one
question honestly, even if the answer
add to the burden my life has al
ready sustained. Could you would
you "
Shy Mark, he wras stammering and
stuttering like a guilty schoolboy ; but
Meg, with a smile that sparkled in the
very depth of he eyes, put her slim hand
in his, and repeated simply:
"I both could and would."
A sudden ray of sunlight shone out
over the drenched earth, and in a trice
dripping boughs and rain-laden grasses
were sparkling diamond-like it its glo
rious radiance. "Mr. Hunter! Meg I"
It was Rettie who called from the
regions below, and the truants came
down the dusky old staircase much more
slowly than they had ascended. A
second ray from the tiny window fell
athwart them like a blessed omen of ap
proaching weal.
"Poor Philip!"' Mark said, struggling
between a sense of his own happiness and
compassion for his cousin's disappoint
ment.
"But not poor Mark," echoed Meg,
softly, thinking how noble his plain face
looked in the golden glow.
" Where have you been?" questioned
curious Jack,- as he stood by the horses'
heads, while the party surged out ,to
take their places with laugh and jest.
" What have you two been doing all this
time?"
"We have laid the ghost," answered
Mark, gravely "the ghost of doubt and
misunderstanding that has cast its shadow
over so many lives. I pray heaven it may
never walk again !"
"Eh?" said uncomprehending Jack,
wondering at the strangeness of the
reply. But even after he and Meg were
happy man and wife Mark never ex
plained how his life, hitherto so dark,
had at last been illumined by a ray of
sunlight.
Webster's Court Dress.
Mr. Webster and Judge Duane Doty,
then of Green Bay, Wis., were wTarm
friends, and the judge at one time was a
visitor at Marshfield. 'Mr. Webster was
very fond of fishing the only out-door i
sport in which he indulged. While the
judge was his guest it chanced that a
fine day for , his sport presented itself.
He accordingly 'invited the judge to ac
company him in his piscatory sport. The
judge didn't want to go, and tried his
best to get off, saying he would much
prefer, with his consent, to pass that
rainy day in Mr. W.'s library among his
books and papers. Mr. W. wouldn't
listen to him, said he could pass any and
as many days in the library as he chose,
but such a day as that for fishing might
not occur again while they were at
Marshfield. The judge, as a last resort,
said that he really could not go, as it would
spoil his clothes, that the handsome black
suit he had on was his best and all he
had, and that to go fishing in - it
would spoil it. To meet this objection
Mr. W. directed his servant George to
go upstairs and bring down the dres3 in
which he was presented at court in Eng
land, which George did. As soon as he
appeared with it Mr. W. said: " There,
Doty, is a dress for you; put it on, and
come as soon as you can, for we are
losing valuable time."
Thei.juuire replied: "Surely, Mr.
Webster, you are not in earnest in what
you say; that you want me to go fishing
in that elegant suit, and spoil it?"
"Yes, I am," he replied; "that is
what it has been brought down for."
The judge still lingered, when Mr. W.,
to settle the matter, said to him: " nave
no anxiety about injuring the dress, for
to fish or hunt in it is the only way it can
now be made useful. Could I wear it in
Washington, Philadelphia, New York,
Boston or even here? If I did, wouldn't
everybody laugh at me?"
The judge was compelled to answer
affirmatively to the question.
" Well, then," he said, " pray what is
it good for but to go fishing in?" .
This settled the matter. The judge
put on the dress, and went fishing in Mr.
W.'s court suit,, and saved his own.
Harper's Magazine
By the discovery of four new asteroids
last year the total number of known
minor planets was increased to 235.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDIST1UAL.
Platinum wire has been drawn down so
fine by Mr. II. F. Read, of Brooklyn, as
to be invisible to tho naked eye, although
its presence upon a perfectly white card
could be detected by the touch and could
be seen with the aid of a small magnify
ing glass when the card was held in such
a position that the wire cast a shadow.
Zirconia, an extract from a mineral
found in considerable quantities in the
South,is quite likely to succeed petroleum
coke for the manufacture of electric light
carbons. Recent experiments have been
highly successful, and the discoverer
claims to be able to ' produce a carbon
point two inches in length that will last
for a year. .
Professor Chowlson, St. Petersburg,
reports the invention of an electric watch,
which derives its motion from a very
small battery. It is said to keep very
good time. No details are given regard
ing the construction and arrangement of
its several parts, but the mechanism must
be very simple if, as it is stated, the
watch has only two wheels.
Gas-pipes are now made ol hemp paper,
as it possesses many advantages over
the ordinary material. It is cheaper, and
is not so liable to be broken. The pipes
so made are smooth and absolutely tight,
and, when the sides arc scarcely three
fifths of an inch thick, resist a pressure
of more than fifteen atmospheres. They
are bad conductors of heat and do not
readily freeze.
The annual rainfall in this country,
according to the W&ither Signal, is lowest
in New Mexico (thirteen inches) and
California (eighteen inches), and highest
in Oregon (forty-nine inches) and Ala
bama (fifty-six inches). The annual
rainfall in the British Islands among the
mountains is forty-one inches; on the
plains, twenty-five inches; forty-five
inches of rain falls on the west side of
England, twenty-seven inches on the
east side.
Rev. Dr. H. C. McCook, of Philadel
phia, has-been studying the habits of
spiders, and in a lecture on that class of
beings, finds much to admire in them
and their work. Among . other things
he said that seldom does an artist suc
ceed in drawing a spider's web correctly.
Moreover, an artist generally draws a
spider with its head upward, when it
ought to be downward. Of webs there
are the orb, the sectional, the part circle,
the hanging net and the surface ground
web. Some arc also found in California,
with their nest in the ground and hidden
with a trap-door like covering. The
inside of these nests . is covered with a
delicate white silk, and the 6pider seldom
ventures out for its prey except at night,
when it spins a fine web on the ground
near its nest. In this are caught many
insects, Illustrations were shown of
spiders which can construct a nest be
neath the water in the shape of a bell.
To this they carry air, a breath at a
time, and there they live and take care
of their young.
A Risky Speculation in Sheep.
N. and M., cadets, tall and hairy, and
looking much older than they were,
found themselves one vacation with only
five shillings between them, and in need
of capital. They were accustomed to
agricultural pursuits, and N. plumed
himself on his judgment of sheep. "Let
us go," he said, "to the sheep fair at
E.,.and buy a flock and sell them at
a profit." They attired themselves in
proper raiment and went to the fair;
after a general inspection of the pens,
they bought 100 sheep at thirty-nine
shillings a head that is to say, they
agreed to buy them. M. went with one
of the drovers to a public house, ostensi
bly to hand him over the money, but
really to gain time and to spend his five
shillings in treating him, while N. re
mained with the other to dispose of his
bargain at a profit if he could. For a
whole hour he did no business, but in
the end he sold the flock at forty shil
lings a head, realizing 5 by the trans
action. We talk of a bad quarter of an
hour, but here were four of them for
poor N. "Suppose you had not sold
them," I said; "would you not have got
into a frightful row?" 'Very likely,"
he said. "All the time I was thinking
less of the buyers than of Botany Bay."
For at that time we had transportation.
CornhiU Magazine.
The Maid's Rexenge.
The London Truth tells the following:
A week or two ago one of our best known
peeresses gave her maid a month's notice,
accompanying the warning by a smack on
the face. The maid said nothing at the
time, but brooded over her wrong?. On
the day that her month was up, after she
had received her wages, and her boxes
had been placed upon a cab, she went
up stairs and commenced to "do" her
mistress's hair. Having deftly fastened
it to the back of a chair, she calmly pro
ceeded to administer a series of slaps to
the somewhat highly -colored cheeks
which were ready to her hands. Then,
with a low courtesy, she took herself off.
A Proposal.
"Had a proposal from any of the fair
sex since leap-year began, Jones ?"
"I have, Brown; I had a proposal from
the daughter of my boarding missus."
"Gimini! you are in luck. How did
she muster courage to make it, and what
did you say ?"
"Well, you see, she keeps the books fot
her mother, so she came to mc the other
day and proposed."
"Yes, yes, lucky 'dog; go on."
"She proposed that I pay up my arrears
or git."
"Whew!"
"So I got." Somervitte Journal.
Chicago has a girl with twenty fingers.
Counts just as much, but it must be a
scratch, all the same.
A LOST ART REDISCOVERED.
THE AZTCIS3TTS' BLJ.-3K MIKU0Z3
ISADS FS02X rtJRCTACE SLAQ.
A Visit to Pompeii ICovlty in Ex
per i me lit YV 111 . U 31 a y It e v I u t ion
ize the flaking I c:aivare. '
Pittsburg is the recognized headquar
ters of glass manufacture in the United
States, and any new discovery relating
to it is always of interest here. Obsid
ian, it may be premised, is a species of
volcanic glass, and one of the lost arts
was the manufacture of various articles
from this material, among them black
mirrors, which are used in the making of
optical astronomical instruments. In
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries mir
rors were made from an obsidian stone,
and used principally by the Peruvians.
The first mirror for optical astronomical
purposes was made from obsidian in the
year 1279, by a Franciscan monk, Johan
nus Peckham who called it Perspectiva
Communis. He gave the first satisfac
tory prescription for the manufacture ol
mirrors from this material. That they had
been known at an earlier day is shown by
their mentionn Pliny's writings. In the
course of time the secret of their manu
facture was lost. In the earliest ages
mirrors were made from polished metal,
dlass mirrors overlaid with silver were
used in Europe to some extent in the
thirteenth century, Venice being the seat
of their manufacture. From Venice the
art went to Bohemia, at that time called
"the mother of glass manufacture." and
it was not until 1GG5 that it was con
veyed to France by one Colbert, a
chemist.
Mr. Enrico Rosenzi, of this city, who
is entitled to the honor of having redis
covered the lost art, is a native of Italy,
a chemist by profession and practice,
having studied in one of the "leading
German universities. He is now a citi
zen of Pittsburg, and here conducted
the experiment which ended in his final
success. His attention was first directed
to the subject in 1879, while on a visit to
Pompeii. Here he found a fragment of
a statue an arm made from obsidian,
and its evident kinship to the lava there
so abundant led him to think it might
have been made therefrom. Bringing
away with him his trophy and a quantity
of lava, he began an investigation and.
series of experiments which finally .
led him to a knowledge not only
of the component elements of obsidian,
but also as how it might be reproduced
by artificial means. Like all investiga
tors he met with many obstacles and dis
couragements, all of wh ch only served
to make him persevere more energetically.
His first experiments looking toward the
reproduction of the material were made
at a Pittsburg glass house, and others in
the furnaces of several of our local steel
works. His first successful melt was
made at the glass factory of George Dun
can & Sons, in the latter part of 1881.
He there made a number of ornamental
articles and several slabs of the new
glass, and later went to New York city
and set up a small f uruace for its man
ufacture. He one day visited the best
known manufacturer of optical lenses
in the United States, Mr. Weiskopf, and
asked what he wou!d charge for polish
ing a slab of it, which he laid before the
great man. ' Mr. Weiskopf wanted to
know what it was, and when he got the
information curtly named a high price
for polishing it. Much to his "astonkh
ment Mr. Rosenzi accepted his terms aWt
I a day was named when the work was to
I be completed. W hen he called for it
Mr. Rosenzi was surprised to find all
of Mr. Weisko'pfs brusqucrio gone.
"Do you know What you have
done?" the latter inquired. "You have
rediscovered the lost art of making black
mirrors. . Don't get excited and think
' there's millions in it ' for you, because
1 but few of them are used, yet your dis
covery is of the greatest scientific im
portance." W hen it came to receiving
pay for his work he smiled and said :
"No, I want no money. Just bring me
a slab like this, or even smaller, and I
will be well paid." He got the slab and
from it made a mirror which is now m
his possession in New York city. The
first one he made for Mr. Rosenzi is
now in St. Petersburg, whither it was
sent by the consul-general of that coun
try, to whom Mr. Rosenzi presented it.
The new material ha been patented
under the name of "ferroline." Of.
course the articles entering into its com
position are the secret of the discoverer,
but the basic material is furnace slag.
It melts at 1,800 degrees to 2,000 de
grees F., and can be worked in eighteen
to twenty hours after the materials are
placed in the melting pot. Its quali
fies are great hardness and strength
far superior to glass, capability of
being either cast like molten iron or
blown or pressed like glass, and suscepti
bility to the highest possible polish. It
is opaque, the thinnest sheet of it suc
cessfully resisting the passage of light; is
not attacked by any kind of acid, and
has a clean, highly-polished fracture."
Commercially it is well adapted for the
manufacture of tops for tables and
bureaus, slabs or plates for inlaying fur
niture, marble or wood mantels, for
opaque bottles for druggists, fruit jars
and for wall and other "ornaments. It
will take the place of glass in many uses
for which the latter is poorly adapted.
Its cost is some greater than glass, but
not sufficiently so to render its use for
the above purpose too costly. Mr. Ro-
senzi has not yet entered upon its manu
facture except on an experimental scale,
but expects to do so at no distant day.
There are millions upon millions of tons
of furnace slag in this country which can
be converted by this process from a posi
tive incumbrance to a useful purpose.
Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph.
Several snowbanks along the Central
r- ?i 1 a -1 l r . i
I .racinc rauroau. irucng in vamornia oal
' to be dislodged -with powder.