Topics of
the Times
After putting your best foot forward
get there with both feet
An old bachelor says an optimist U
a married man who la glad of it.
In the bright lexicon of th hustler
there la do such word aa 'Voouih."
A wise physician sometimes flatter
a man by telling him be haa brain
tag.
Many a woman who ran convene
In five languages la unable to ahut op
In one.
If wires woukl continue to be sweet
bearts lota of husband would, ceaae to
pay their cfub dues.
An honest nilllcr separates the
wheat from the chaff and converts
the latter into breakfast food.
Many a man talks back to his wife
for the purpose of affording her the
pleasure of getting in the last word.
A colored philosopher says there Is
less luck In a rabbit's foot than there
Is in a chicken's foot providing the
rest of the fowl is attached.
Jean Pe Resxke gets $30 an hour for
music lessons. Perhaps If Patti could
do that she might forego the sweet sor-
' row of saying good-by to American au
dlences.
The Kin? of .Spain has consented to
act as arbitrator between Honduras
and Nicaragua. Who can deny that
Progress is progressing when children
may settle disputes between great na
tlons?
A Boston society woman wno en
deavored to smuggle a pearl necklace
through a custom house was caught at
It and the Jewels were confiscated.
Still, this probably had less than Mr.
Douglas' advertising to do with the
result in Massachusetts.
"Not a single religious problem of
any Importance has been solved by
the theological seminaries of the Unit
ed States in fifty years," says Presi
dent Harper of the University of Chi
eago. Therefore he wants his univer
sity to go to work and solve them all
It is a great undertaking, and will
probably keep the Chicago institution
busy for the next year at least
Spain is about to abolish bull-fight
lng. No country In the civilised world
has changed so much in the last six
years as Spain. The effect of the
prompt and unequivocal defeat admin
istered to her navy by . the United
States has been highly beneficial to
the nation. Her people no longer stand
against a wall and whine. The loss of
their colonies has proved an incentive
to the development of the resources of
the peninsula. The lowering of the
traditional Spanish pride has Induced
Inhabitants of city and country to
work as never before since the Roman
invasion.
We pray thee, 0 Yankee Ingenuity,
to give as: A window shade that rolls
up straight a window shade roller that
stops winding when the tassel reaches
the pole, a window sash that doesn't
rattle when the wind blows, a rug that
won't turn up at the edges, a silver
service that will not tarnish, door
hinges that won't creak, door locks
with spring latches which yield to their
keeper without the constant assistance
of soap, a bunch of keys that will not
rust milk bottles that will clean them
selves, garbage palls that will defy
white wings and the porter, steam
heaters that won't stink, gas tips that
won't clog and fish tall, a griddle that
won t smoke, a clock that keeps time,
Sunday long since ceased to be ex
clusively a day of worship in the Unit
ed States. In fact the percentage of
tne population who are habitual church
goers is comparatively Insignificant
Sunday has become not much more
than a day of rest and recreation. In
spite of helpful laws and ordinances
it is a difficult thing to preserve a de
corous observance of Sunday. The
declaration of Christ that the Sabbath
was made for man, not man for Sab
bath, has been given a latltudinarian
Interpretation that allows not only or
gent and necessary duties to be per
formed on that day but tolerates open
saloons, theaters, ball games and other
kinds of sports and amusements.
You've formed your notions of coun
try people from "The Old Homestead
and these by-gosh Mirandy novels. The
real farmers nowadays drive into town
In double-seated carriages with match
ed bays curried so that you could see
to comb your hair In their glossy sides,
The single rigs sparkle in the sun, con-
veying young men and young women
of such clean-cut high-bred features
as to make us wonder. They all come
from good old stock. The young fel
lows run a little too strongly to patent
leather shoes and their horses are al
most too skittish, but the girls are all
right If their clothes set better than
you thought they would, why you must
femember that they subscribe for the
very same fashion magazine that you
do.
While we still insist that people who
deal In articles wherewith one may
take life secretly shall be licensed and
made to show their fitness for public
and professional trust, we show a sin
gular inconsistency in demanding no
license to make Cr sell or use the
means of sudden and violent death,
In other words, while w demand skill
and care in making, bottling, labeling,
prescribing and selling certain strenu
ous alkalis, aclda and drugs that have
a specific effect on the functioning of
various organs, we will sell to any
bvdy a gun, jjUUm', a box of ammuni
tion, a ton of dynamite, a keg of pon
der, a bomb, a rocket, a dagger, any
thing In fact wherewith the end of an
enemy or a host of enemies can be se
cured.
A magailne writer says the church
is in crying need of "business clergy
men." lie explains that congregations
of which he knows have grown from
almost nothing to great slie because ot
the business ability of the pastors
chosen to lead them. He thinks the
lufluence of the church will wane and
dwindle unless men fitted to deal with
administrative and financial problems
enter the ministry In large numbers.
We do not remember ever having seen
the commercial trend of the present
age better Illustrated than In this ar
ticle. Probably the WTlter would con
sider a great poet great scholar or a
great statesman a failure unless his
success were attested by the number
of his disciples or the site ot bis bauk
account Business ability Is a good
thlug to have, whatever one's calling,
but the need of the church Is more true
spirituality in its leadership.
It may always have been so, but It
Is especially true to-day, that this coun
try Is producing a higher type of wom
anhood than of mauhood. In all our
towus and cities there are more young
women whom you would welcome to
your homes as daughters-in-law than
young men whom you would welcome
as sons-in-law. There are reasous why
this Is so, but there Is no excuse that
It is so. There Is nothing In the world
so well worth looking after as the boy,
and there is no human being in the
world so neglected. We have pro
vided little place, scant room for htm.
He is welcome to the home as a baby
and he is welcome as a man, but there
Is little welcome for him as a boy.
We chaperon our girls and carefully
guard them against unworthy boys,
but we leave the boy to choose for him
self his associates and his achieve
ments. We give him much sage ad
vice, perhaps, but little sympathetic
guidance. The loneliest most unloved
human creature la the boy. Girls are
naturally winsome, gentle, companion
able. They win their way In homes
and hearts. But the boy, noisy, awk
ward, mischievous, is invited Into few
homes and feels none too much at
home in his own. About the only door
that swings with sure welcome to the,
boys, about the only chair that is
shoved near the fire especially for the
boy, about the only place where he Is
sure of a cordial greeting Is where he
ought not to go. It is one of the hard
est things in the world to get hold of
a boy to get a sure grip on him. It
is hard to win the companionship, the
faith and confidence of your boy. He
has almost occult powers of observa
tion and conclusion. Ton think yon
know him through an occasional
glance, but the chances are be knows
yon far better than you know him. He
Is hungry for companionship and be
will have it Tou can't chain him
away from It He wants the com
panionship of boys, and nothing will
take its place. If the rime of selfish
ness has so Incased your heart that
the joys and hopes of your boy cannot
enter into it the boy is to be pitied.
but so are yon. Few fathers and sons
are more than fairly intimate acquaint
ances. It is always the father's fault
People go to the city to buy goods,
thinking they can buy them cheaper,
Ordinarily prices are higher in the city
than in the country and the only rea
son the customer does not buy at home
Is because he thinks be can buy cheap
er In the city. It devolves upon the
home merchant to obliterate that
"think" by liberal advertising.
A merchant in an Iowa town states
that his advertising last year cost him
54 cents for every $100 worth of goods
sold. He used a half page for his
business announcement each week and
says that as long as people read news
papers he will advertise. There's a
man possessed of a good head. Just
as soon as merchants begin to look
upon advertising as a branch of the
business which requires as much care
as any part of it then will advertising
pay. Honesty, force, originality and
persistency in advertising make it a
paying Investment
An advertisement which Is so con
structed as to leave every reader who
has taken the pains to go through it
satisfied that his time has not been
wasted, even though he has no need of
the particular thing advertised, is a
good bid for publicity. An advertiser's
offering should have enough thought
and care and skill put on it to pay any
one for reading it whether he is t
customer or not Advertisements
should be instructive, thought stimu
latlng and newsy. It is worth some
thing of any man's time to read any
thing in a newspaper or periodical, and
woe betide the newswriter or "ad."
man who does not keep this end con
stantly in view. Advertising doesn't
pay unless it gives the reader some
thing to pay him for the time he
spends in perusing it
pro ,
CIVILIZED MEN SHOllD BE ABOVE WAR.
r
I prefer teaching our children that war Is one
of the direst curse that afflict this earth, and
that while all should be prepared. If needs be, to
defend our Independence, our persistent aim
should be to avoid all wars, and as was well
said by liord Tercy "nations should consider,
not how little they can concede to one another,
Ltut how far they can meet each other's views."
This Is the spirit that now animates the work-
10L J
lni nieu of France, of Germany, and of
ers are ever deprecating any recrudescence of the military
spirit that has conduced so often to war fn the past It Is
the spirit that animates our owu worklngmen. ir we were
attacked they would need no military tomfooleries In na
tional schools to Induce them to fight for their country.
But they know that peace is the best of policies for them,
as never has there been a war which has not been harm
ful to those engaged In Industry. Napoleon lufused a mili
tary spirit into Frenchmen. What did the worklngmen
of France gain by hi conquests? What do British work
ers gain by our annexations of 1'ganda. of the Soudan and
of the empire of Sokoto? What have they gained by our
war in South Africa, except having to pay more for some
of their necessaries and the knowledge that it has paved
the way for the Introduction or Chinese chattels to work in
the Transvaal mines for the benefit of cosmopolitan mil
lionaires? A tribe of savages Is always cultivating a military spirit.
Its sole occupation Is war. and the arts of peace are de
spised as contemptible to men of spirit Among clvlllied
men there ought to be a higher Ideal, and there would be
were It that there are usually too many missionaries of
strife among them ever appealing to the baser passions
and trying to persuade their fellow-countrymen that there
Is something noble and elevating in war and that a soldier
la the noblest of human beings. Armies are necessary
evils, but for my part I prefer a procession of trade-unionists
to the marching by of armed regiments, and the simple
ami homely garb of a worker to the tawdry trappings of
men of war. I respect a man who honorably fulfills his
calling as a soldier, but he Is no better in my eyes than the
man who honestly labors In other and more peaceful avocations.
WHY HEROES' TAME IS ACCIDENTAL.
i ' i There are hundreds In every
fj every country there are thousands of men,
ll women and children with a latent capacity of
fj heroism who go through life unnoted or despised.
fj because no accident has evoked It Again, the
W recognition or Precognition of those heroisms
f which accident has evoked Is often accidental.
J They happen, perhaps. Inopportunely, when at-
Jj tentlon Is absorbed by something which Imposes
more upon the public Imagination. In the same week In
which the name of the boy hero of the Norge was In every
paper and on every Hp a boy hero of our own, who threw
himself In front of an express train to
and fling him aside off the truck at the
attracted hardly a moment's notice.
Dumont records the following Instance of a woman's
heroism during the siege of Gibraltar:
came to St. Koch to visit the place and
member that his highness, while Inspecting the lines in
company with the Duke de Crlllon, both of them with
their suite, slighted, and all lay flat on
the effects of a bomb that fell near a
NEW ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVc.
Fntare Ballroadlng- Us? Be Greatly
Chang; ed by Speedy Engine.
A new electric locomotive which may
revolutionize the motive power on rail
roads was given a trial at Schenec
tady, N. Y., a few days ago, while
scores of men prominent In railroad
and electrical circles watched the
tests. The locomotive wss built in that
city for the New York Central termi
nal service in New York City, and the
. v. . - i .:
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NEW YORK CENTRAL'S NEW
trials demonstrated that it will ulti
mately provide high srd motive pow
er for railroad traffic. It is expected
to develop a speed of 100 miles an
hour.
The official tests of the big. Otf-ton
electric locomotive took place on a
stretch of four miles of especially pre
pared track near Schenectady, and in
the presence of many leading railroad
officials and hundreds of deeply Inter
ested spectators. This extraordinary
locomotive, the most powerful trans
portation engine In the world, pulled
a train of four heavy coaches at the
rate of 72 miles an hour, and only
the shortness of the track prevented it
from attaining an even higher velocity.
In the cab of the locomotive, when it
left its shed for the trial was W. K.
Vanderbllt Jr., who worked the con
troller. The' engine was pronounced
a great success and nil who watched
the tests were strong in the belief
that it will be a great feature in rail
roading in the future.
This' locomotive is the first built of
40 ordered by the. New York Central
for its New York terminal. It had had
several preliminary trials, but this was
the official test for speed, drawing ca
pacity and acceleration. Prominent
electrical . engineers and railroad men
from all over the country were pres
ent There Is little doubt in the minds
of the officials who witnessed the tests
that a speed of 90 to 100 miles an hoar
can be made.
V . ( ' .
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nrr laSx'ftr,
where a Frenchwoman had a canteen. This woman, with
two children on her arm, rushes forth, sits with the ut
most sangfold on the bombahell, puts out the match, and
thus extricates from danger all that were around her. Num
bers were witnesses of this Incident his highness
granted her a pension of three franca a day and promised
to promote her husband after the siege. The Duke de
Crlllon imitated the Prime's generosity aud lusured to her
a payment of five francs a day."
Here, from a contemporary Journal, Is an account of an
act of similar Intrepidity, giving ttie names of the heroes:
"After a royal salute from the principal fort St Ilellere,
In the Island of Jersey, the matches used on the occasion
were lodged In the magailne without being properly ex
tinguished. On the evening of the same day smoke was
perceived to Issue from au air hole In one end of the maga
ilne, and the alarm was soon spread. Three men volun
teered their services and were nM enough to advance to
and break open the magaslne, where they found two cais
sons of wood, filled with ammunition, on fire, near which
stood an open barrel of gunpowder. A flannel cartridge
waa ajmost burned through and mine of the beams that
supported the roof were on Are. By their exertions the
Italy. Their lead
fire was extinguished. t The magaslne contained 200 barrels
of gunpowder, besides charged bombs."
FORTUNE TELLING
k
side of physiology. The whole soothsaying business Is a
matter of tricks, such as can Impress the credulous alone.
I never heard the case against palmistry ami fortune-telling
at large better summed up than In the expression of
an American critic. He declared that If there was any
truth or reality In the art, the palmist could make his for
tune on the turf by backing winners, that his operations on
the stock exchange would soon render him Independent
and that if a life. Insurance company could trust to his
revelation regarding the duration of life of Insurers, be
would be retained by it at the salary of a president
That which also surprises me Is the faith which cul
tured people occasionally are found to place In fortune
telling. I have read of cases In which It was averred that
a lady looking into a crystal described to bystanders scenes
she had never witnessed, but with which scenes they were
themselves familiar. Now, one would wish here for much
more exact evidence than mere hearsay. In a scientific In
vestigation we should have all the evidence duly noted,
and every possibility of fraud or error avoided. There
would require to be an exact inquiry Into all the circum
stances under which the alleged reproductions In the crys
tal, construed by the brain of a jn-rson unfamiliar with
the scenes, were carried out. I do not know If In a single.
Instance this plan was pursued. Why should we not apply
the care we exercise In ordinary matters of life to the pre
tensions of the fortune-teller? Besides, even on scientific
grounds, we might find In certain braln-vagarles materials
for accounting for the phenomena on the lines of uncon
scious memory ami reproduction of Impressions. As for the
palmists, let us devoutly hope we have heard the .last of
them. On this point I have my donbts.'
Br f. r. O'Cesser.
great city, and In
seize a little brother
cost of his own life,
"The count d'Artols
works. I well re
the ground to shun
part of the barracks
There was no beat in the cab, no
noise save the whirring of the air com
pressors for the brskes and no smoke
to pollute the clear country air,, yet
this huge machine with its 8,000 horse
power pulled a train of ten cars,
weighing 600 tons, at the rate of 50
miles an hour and actually beat an ex
press train wblch passed on another
track. It alsp pulled a 400-ton train of
five cars at a speed of V2 miles an
hour.
The locomotive is one of a number
-4
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ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE.
that will be used by the Central for
hauling through passenger trains
through the Park avenue tunnel in the
metropolis. With one of this type,
trains of ten or more cars may be haul
ed at express speed of GO to 70 miles
per hour, and the design and method of
control are such that two or more lo
comotives can be coupled together and
operated by a single engineer from the
lending cab. so that the size of the
train that may be under the control
of one engineer Is practically unllm
ited so far as the question of motive
power Is concerned.
The locomotive Is double-ended and
can be run in eitner direction with
equal facility. The maximum horse
power of this locomotive is approxi
mately 3,000, which is considerably
greater than that of the largest steam
locomotive.
' WHAT WOMAN CONFE88ED.
When Wealth and Business Came In
Love Flew From the Hearth.
"Did anybody ever tell you that in
some far prehistoric time I was in love
with my husband 7" said Mrs. Romalne
carelessly. "Well, I was. 1 used to
go to afternoon services in Lent and
pray for that love to last because the
sensation was so much to my taste.
used to have ecstatic feelings when bis
foot was on the stair and I sat sewing
little baby clothes. We lived in
plalnlsh way then; $3 spent in two
Jw-i-moiST
V
IS INSCIENTUIC
Br Ja- wiUom.
To assume that In some mysterious fashion or
other the Indications, not of character merely,
but of a person's past aud future, are to Iw deter
mined by a survey of certain lines on the palm,
la to assert a doctrine which Is monstrous in re
spect of Its absurdity. Such a statement Is easi
ly made, but when one calls for proof he does not
find It In the results of the palmist's practice, and
certainly no explanation Is forthcoming from the
theater tickets was a tremendous out
lay: and we walked out to dinners 1
tucking up the train of my best gown
uuder a long cloak and laughing if the
wind snatched it away from ine at the
corners and whipped it around my
feet Then be grew richer, and we
broadened the borders of our phylac
tery, and then how when dear
knows if 1 can remember, we grew
farther and father away from each
other. Now, when be Is at home, I
am aware of it because be Is thero
behind a newspaper; but that Is all!
When our Hps meet It is like two
pieces of dry pith comtng together. I
know nothing of his affairs, nor he of
mine. I have money In abundance
Money money who cares for money
when a man's heart and soul and brain
have gone Into It?"
The above Is a true experience in
many a woman s lire, says George T.
Angell In Our Dumb Animals, nnd In
reading Ittho thought comes what a
blessing it would be If a hundred
thousand American girls, now striving
to get places In shops nnd stores and
do unhenlthy work In offices, could
thoroughly prepare themselves for do
mestic life, and, marrying young men
of about their own age, be content as
we were years ago to hire a little
house out of town at $150 rent, and
living with economy, with no need of
wealth, have more of heaven in this
world than they are ever likely to get
In any other 'way.
Man a Ilenibnr of Mineral Kingdom.
That the minute traces of metallic
substances found In living bodies are
not accidental, but essential to the
performance of the functions of life,
Is asserted by Ilerrera, a French bi
ologist, lie goes so far as to say that
zoology and botany are but chapters
of mineralogy, so Important Is the role
played In organic life by these so-called
Inorganic substunces. For Instance, all
the phenomena of movemment In an
animal are, he asserts, due to oxida
tion. As to nutrition, it Is Impossible,
he says, when the food Is deprived of
113 mineral elements. Dogs fed on
substances from which the salt and
other Inorganic matter has been care
fully removed die ot starvation. At
the bottom of our vital processes, as
serts this writer, are fermentation and
oxidation, or their analogies; and these
depend on the presence of certain mln
eral bodies in the tissues. Even the
role of pepsin in digestion seems to de
pend on the presence of iron. In short
the organic substances on which life
depends are, be says, "prepared in In
organic workshops with mineral re
agents;" , and thus a living being la
practically a member of the mineral
kingdom. Success,
A man's relatives should live so far
away that he feels like putting on a
clean shirt when he goes to see them.
IN THE SICILIAN HIGHLAND
Magnificent Htcacrjr Hurronn.U Moun
tain Town of La Utaaroaa
There Is, except from Mount Etna
or from the oviub of the C miliars ta,
from the great ruck above Cwstogm
vannl. or from tfce Malls of Centurlpe
or Trolua, or from the lecb wood
of Maniac at the summit of the Serra
del Ito, no view In Sicily comparable
In magnificent range with that from
I .a lleucrosa, a Polltxl 1 aur named,
says a writer la the AUautlc Mouth
I. This small town, ouce a Norman
eyrie of Couitt Roger his mountain
whip fur the Saracens stands ou au
extraordinary rock or precipice at an
elevation of over 3.000 feet sheer from
tho surrounding luouutatn reglou. In
the middle agv Polltxl waa one of the
moat prosperous Inland towns of the
Sicilian lilghluuda, though bow It
could ever have been so may well pus
tie the traveler of to-day, who looks
up to Its crag-set height either In the
blaxo of the merciless heat beating
with a furnace-wlug against the arid
rock, or against the sleety rain and
tempestuous cloud of the tromonta or
grcgitto In the dreaded staglone dl tern
pornle the season of tempest.
The Immense panorama of the view
extend over much of central Sicily
from the last spurs of the Macedonia!!
range on the north, above Ofulu and
the Tyrrhene Sea, to the height of
Knna. lu the south; from the Monte-
tnaggtore and Cumin unit a Mountain.
range of the wet to the sleeve of M
cexla and Trolna and to the snow of
sky-rvaehliig Etna on the east. Fur
below In the rock valley from the tor
rents which become the Flume Hsiao
(the Ulmern Meridional!) aud the
Flume Grande (the Illmeru Heptentro
nails). Near by aro the precipitous neigh
boring mountain towns of Castelleua,
on ttie flanks of Monte Balxa the site,
It Is believed, of the am-lcnt Iiiiik tin.
And even In the little town Itself Hmto
are things of Interest to be seen In
particular some One carving aud other
sculptural adornment lu the Puoiuo,
or Gtilneae Ma trice, as the cathedral
church Is slways called In Sicily, aud
in the Church of Hta. Maria degll Avu
gell, a really fine archaic triptych,
brought here no one seems to know
when or by whom, but obviously paint
ed by a disciple of Memlng, If not by
the great Fleming himself.
FLAGGING THE ENEMY.
The agent for "The Modern World
of Music" hcsltutcd at the foot of the
driveway and glnm-cd again at tho
bright red ling which fluttered from
the front porch.
"Coining up or ain't ye?" railed a
loud voice, aa a tall figure rose from a
chair on the porch ami turned toward
the stranger.
"Are you going to have an auction
or have you got scarlet fever or some
thing there?" called the agent.
" Taln't any auction, that's certain
sure," bawled the voice from the
porch; "ami I don't reckon it's scarlet
fever, either,, leastw ays the doctor alu't
said so. Come up, won't ye?"
"I guess not to-day!" called the book,
agent, and he sped on up the road.
The man on the iorcn resumed his
seat and looked affectionately at the
small red flag.
' living outside the vlllago as we
do, I don't know how we'd manage
without that little flag," he remarked
to the summer boarder.
"It comes handy more ways than
one. Folks are apt to be klml o' wind
ed after they've dim' up the hill, and
In time past we've had agents for
one thing or another setting on this
plaxzarette hours at a. time. Hut I
most gen-ally hewr of 'cm In the vil
lage the day before, and since the Ice
man give me that little flag I haven't
bad a mite o' trouble.
"I guess now 111 take her In; the
Iceman don't gen'lly come by on Thurs
days, an' yet of course "he might take
a notion; but If ho don't get along by
tills time o' day I am apt to give him
up. Usertil little critter; , and ho
smoothed the small flag tenderly as ho
took It Into the house.
The Ufo of a Hook.
Interviewed by tha Hook Monthly,
A. M. S. Methuen admits that "an
enormous amount of rubbish Is pub
lished," but he holds that because it
has no likelihood of living it does little
harm. There are few people, he tells
us, who realize how short the life of
an average book is and how far short-
er It Is getting. "Fifteen years ago
you could count on its existence for
two or three years. Now three books
out of four are almost dead as
mutton in three mouths. You
may sell a few copies afterward,
but the sale that remuuerafes the au
thor and publisher Is over before you
know where you are." Taken alto
gether, Mr. Methuen considers pub
lishing 'the most difficult business In
the world," adding that "with compe
tition It-Is getting more difficult.' Tho
publisher need not look for wealth;
but among his compensations Is tho
Interest of his calling "the literary in
terest, which Is grateful and agreeaMo
under all circumstances." London
Outlook.
Two Kinds of Actors.
"Actors nowadays," said Mr. Storm
lngton Barnes, "are divided Into two
great classes."
"Tragedians and comedians?" quer
ied the friepd.
"No. Amochewers and scene-chew
ers." Washington Star.
When there is a death in tho family..
people begin to realize the kindness of
80,116 neighbors. A card of thanks 1
' reaI,1Jr creditable. '