MOLLY IN THE CHOIR.
In a blaze of golden sunshine, '
Sabbath morning sunshine gay,
Laughed a girl with hair all glory,
Jresh young face and eyes of gray,
Head uplifted, red lips parted,
Caroled she of faith's desire,
Sang she with a voice of heaven- .
That was Molly in the choir.
In a flood of chastened glory,
Great white light from out the West,
Stood a womanr loveliest, fairest,
In her face her soul expressed.
With a voice that pierced the stillness,
Chastened sweetness rising higher,
Bang 'she with a voice of heaven
That was Molly in the choir.
In the gloom of winter, beating
'Gainst the pane fierce storm and sleet,
Stands a woman, sorrow-laden,
With a face resigned and sweet.
Still that voice that rises clearly 1
Thrills all hearts with holy fire;
Well she's used her gift from heaven
That,is Molly in the choir. !
American . Farmer. " .
A IITJNDHED- -DOLLAR
BILL.
T T ELP
ELP me think. I have got
i do something. I feel so
t-so responsible," Peggy
said to Mabel, who answered, sticking
out her chin: "I do hope, Peggy Cray-
; ehaw, nobody else won't never die and
leave you a hundred-dollar bill, You
ain't good for anything in the world
since your father brought It home."
"If he had Just taken It with him!"
Peggy sighed; "mother wanted him to,
but he said It was safer here. As If
: anybody would think of picking pock
ets at a wedding! And they won't be
back until almost midnight. It's ten
miles at least to Cousin Fanny Gor
ham's." "I never saw' a hundred-dollar bill.
Let ' me look at yours if you know
where It is," Mabel said, almost pens
ively. Peggy gave her red skirts an
airy flirt, saying: "Of course I know
- where It Is. Do you reckon they would
not tell me, so I couldn't get it first
thing If the house should catch fire?"
"I thought maybe they hid it until
they could buy you those two cows
with it," Mabel answered, meekly.
Peggy smiled, but said, austerely:
"Mother said I must not be vain and
purseproud, and I don't mean to be;
but It will be nice to have $1,000 all my
own when I'm 21. And father says he
will give me the keep of the cows for
the calves, so the milk and butter In
- eight years will make me a nice little
"fortune " .",.-.
"Oho! You're like the milkmaid over
In the back of the spelling book," Mabel
broke in. Peggy grew very sober. "It's
thlukln' about her makes me so un-
. easy," she said. "Suppose something
ehould go with the money. You know
In the story books'" something always
does happen to the money, when It is
left at home with nobody but girls to
take care of It." -- .r'-:'
- "You surely ain't 'fraid of robbers 7"
Mabel laughed. "There never was one
In the county, father says. ' Nor tramps
i": neither- "
"You never can tell what's going to
happen," Teggy said. "Anyway, I'm
... goln' to get out the money, and we'll
study up where we'll put It, so it shall
be perfectly safe." "
, : "Why! It's Just like any other bill.
I thought It would be ever so big,"
Mabel said, as Peggy unlocked her fa
ther's desk, touched the spring of the
- secret drawer and drew out a bit of
-' crisp green paper. Together they spread
It flat on the desk and traced the figures
with eager, happy fingers. "You see
; It's hundred all right!" Peggy said,
' with a note of triumph which she tried
vainly to subdue. Mabel squinted at it
critically. "If I was you I'd pin it
-1 tight to my underbody," she said, "then
it couldn't get lost, 'and nobody could
find It." -"That
won't do at all. Of course, rob-
;" bers would look In our clothes first
thing, after they didn't find It In the
.desk," Peggy answered. "Besides,
: we're goln' in the orchard for a basket
of sweetings, and It might work loose."
-. "Oh, I know where It'll be safe! Let's
put it under Seraphlne's new face be
fore we sew It on. Nobody In the world
would ever find it there," Mabel cried.
' Peggy heard her almost with envy.
Seraphine was her biggest doll, a stout,
bunchy rag damsel, who had a new
staring, clean, white countenance every
. year of her life. If the bill, neatly
folded, made her face somewhat bloat
, ed, as Mabel said, nobody that ever
lived would guess the reason for it.
. Peggy added, "We mustn't put her
' away in the closet, or a drawer. That
might make the robbers think we'll
Just throw her there on the window
seat, where we can keep an eye on her,
and we.yill look like we had been play
ing with her and had dropped her." ,
"Yes,'!, Mabel nodded, "and if any
thing comes we'll pick her up and slip
. out to the orchard. They never can
find us If we get up high where the
leaves are so thick In the tops of the
trees." m
"Let's go there right now! I'm apple
hungry," Peggy said, reaching for the
basket. . Mabel picked up Seraphine,
- but Peggy said with emphasis, "Mabel
Bert, is that all the sense you have got?
Suppose we met the robbers right at the
door as we came back? They'd know
right off we had a reason for lugging
Seraphine around!"
"They'd Just think we were fond of
her. I am!" Mabel said stoutly, cud
dling Seraphine and smoothing her red
skirts affectionately. But Peggy snatch
ed the doll and flung her against the
window seat with a resounding tbump,
then banged the door behind her and
ran with Mabel for the apples.
: They were gone only a minute at
least it seemed so to themselves, but
when they got back a tall man hallooed
lustily at the gate.
k "Say! Come here. you young misses!
Are the people at this place all deaa or
asleep? My name is John Dutch I've
come twenty miles to fetch 'Squire
Crayshaw that filly he said he'd buy
last week." '
"You'll have to come In and wait, Mr.
Dutch. He won't be home for ever so
long," Peggy said, hospitably, setting
open the door. Mr. Dutch shook his
head. "Can't wait," he said, but got
down from his horse and led through
the yard gate a haltered filly, the very
prettiest thing on four hoofs Peggy had
ever seen. The filly pulled back, then
nipped at Dutch as though angry, but
when Mabel ran up to her she put down
her dainty head to be stroked. -
"She is mad with you because you
made her come too fast. See how her
flanks heave," Peggy - said. ' Dutch
smiled oddly as he answered: "I had
to come fast I am bound to go back
to-night, and the days are short now.
Say, miss, didn't your father leave the
money for me? I can't well go with
out it the filly, you see, is Just partly
mine, and 'tother fellow's a cross-grained
chap that don't trust anybody."
"He didn't leave any money at all but
my .hundred dollars," Peggy said, try
ing to speak carelessly. Dutch laughed
again. "Funny!" he said, "but that's
Just the price of this beauty. She's
worth double, but I well, I don't like
to be partner with a skinflint. Suppose
you buy the beast, seein' the 'Squire
ain't here and then tell him if he
wants her, why! he must give you two
hundred."
"Oh, Peggy! Don't!" Mabel said
eagerly, but Peggy frowned at. her.
"Don't you mind her, Mr. Dutch," she
said. "Of course, I'll give you the
money. Father must have forgotten
you were coming, but I won't make
him pay me quite two hundred. That
wouldn't be fair would it?"
"Any thing's fair in a horse trade,"
Dutch said. "But let's finish our bar
gain. I must be movin' fast. Get the
money, please, while I write a receipt"
"In Just a minute," Peggy said, lead
ing the way to her father's desk. As
Dutch sat down he looked apprehens
ively over his shoulder through the
open door, and said almost In a whis
per: - "Make haste." - -. ,
Hand in band, Peggy and Mabel ran
to find Seraphine. Seraphine had van
ished. Yet the room was undisturbed,
the windows fast, the. door securely
latched, Tipsy, the white kitten, sleep
ing peacefully beside the fire. The
children looked at each other, awe
struck, then began to cry. Dutch dart
ed In to them. "If you've been fooling
me you'll be sorry for it," he said sav
agely. "You had that hundred dollars
I know it I know about your aunt's
will. Give It to me. Quick! Quick! Do
you hear? I'm bound to get away."
. "Hardly when you leave a stolen
filly plain to view," a man said, step
ping behind Dutch and seizing both
wrists. Dutch struggled hard, but was
promptly knocked down by the Sheriff
and his deputies, who had been hot on
the trail. "I really thought better of
you, Hankins," the Sheriff said,' as he
snapped the handcuffs on his prisoner.
"It isn't like you to botch things this
way. I suppose, though, you have
grown careless as you had stolen sev
en horses and got away with them,
you thought you'd make the riffle with
the eighth, no matter what you did."
"How did he get my hundred dollar
bill? Make him tell. Make him give it
back. He stole It while we were In the
orchard," Peggy cried, shrilly. The
Sheriff looked significantly at Hank-
Ins. Hankins shook his head. "I came
after it," he said, defiantly, "but sure
as I'm In these bracelets, if it's gone,
somebody else got it If I had got it,
you'd a-never caught me. The stock's
dead beat I'd a-left it and struck for
the railroad. I knew you were not two
miles behind."
Search proved that he told the truth.
When the Sheriff had taken him away,
Peggy and Mabel ransacked the prem
ises. They looked under the beds, In
every drawer and cuddy, the .kitchen
closet, the woodshed, even the pigeon
house, the chicken coop and the pump
shed. "I don't believe it could have
got to the barn," Peggy said despair
ingly, "and the cellar door is locked
fast and tight," Mabel added, through
sympathetic tears. . Still they searched
spasmodically, with no appetite for
anything but sweetcake, until 'Squire
Crayshaw and his wife came home
from the wedding. They brought a
great bundle of goodies, the sight of
which consoled Mabel to such an ex
tent that Peggy said, between sobs: "I
wouldn't sit there and gorge iced
pound-cake, Mabel Bert, if you had
had lost your whole fortune."
Just as she said it there came a queer
lumbering pit-pat on the kitchen stairs,
which ran up in one corner and led to .a
low, dark closet. Peggy and Mabi'l
had looked It . through as best they
might by light of the stable lantern,
turning inside- out everything but
Bose's box bed beside the warm chim
ney, in which Bose himself, most wag
gish of shepherd puppies, lay. curled
into a fuzzy ball. Bose was coming
down the stairs now, moving sldewise,
with something scarlet and heavyish
in his mouth. At sight of his master
he tumbled down the last three steps,
dashed across the floor and laid the
something at his feet, wagging bis tall
and looking up, as if for a word of i
praise.
"Why, It's Seraphine J He carried her
off to his bed!" Mabel screamed. Peggy
had her arms about the puppy's neck.
"Oh, you darling! You saved my hun
dred dollar bill!" she cried. Cincinnati
Commercial Gazette.
When a woman has mashed potatoes
for dinner, it Indicates that - she has
worked awfully hard: potatoes have to
be-peeled and boiled and mashed, as
they don't come in cans. -
There is always a quarrel going on
as to which Is the more fickle, men or
women. Both are so fickle that they
should be ashamed of themselves.
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR UNCLE
The new colonial commission, which is to have general supervision f the affairs of the Philippines, Porto Rico and Cuba,
Is composed of three men from the three States of Ohio, Michigan and Massachusetts. Gen. Robert Patterson Kennedy is
the former Congressman, from the Eighth District of Ohio. He served in the armies of West Virginia, the Potomac, the
Cumberland and the Shenandoah. When he was mustered out he returned to his home at Bellefontaine and became a
lawyer. He was internal revenue collector in 1878 and lieutenant governor of Ohio in 1885. He is prominent as a jurist in
Ohio. Charles W. Watkins, of Grand Rapids, Mich., has been long well known to Secretary Alger, who feels he can rely
implicitly on the sound judgment of the colonial commissioner from Michigan, as well as on that of the two other gentlemen
who make up its personnel. The third member of the commission, Lieut. Coi. Curtis Guild Jr., of Boston, is engaged in
Cuba as inspector general ; on s the staff of . Gen. Lee. - Col.; Guild is a son of the editor of the Boston Commercial Bulle
tin and is well known in Massachusetts. 1 . - , - .-j
The commission's headquarters will be located in Washington. The peculiar functions of the commission will be more
economic than political. " They will concern the granting of franchises, the supervision of public works and of engineering
enterprises, which are now rapidly multiplying in the new territories, with a promise of development in the- future that is
not less than appalling to the war office. ' , -;
GOVERNOR OF PENNSLYVANIA.
His Rise from Poverty and Obscurity
to Wealth and Distinction.
When Hon. W. A. Stone, newly elect
ed Governor of Pennsylvania, took the
oath of office and assumed the reins
of State government there entered the
executive mansion at Harrlsburg a
man who has climbed to his present
high position over unusual obstacles of
poverty and difficulties and who may
truthfully be called "a self-made man."
His : parents . : were Pennsylvania
WHEBE STONE WAS BORN.
farmers, highly respected, but poor.
Through all of the earlj years of his
boyhood he had but three months of
each year at school, .and that a little
country one; the remaining nine
months he bore his share of the bur
dens incident to a farm. : At 17 he en
listed In the war, and came out, at the
close' of hostilities, two years later, a
second lieutenant. Then for several
terms he taught school during the day?
time and at night studied until the wee
sma' hours fitting himself for his pro
fession, the law. He was admitted to
practice in 1870. ' For the next twenty
years he. was -an active factor in the
polities of his State and in 1890 he was
elected to Congress, where he remained
until he resigned to become chief ex-
EXECUTIVE MANSION, HAttKISBUUG.
ecutive to one of the greatest common
wealths of the Union. .
The executive mansion at Harris
burg Is sure to be the scene of many
brilliant social functions under the
regime of its new mistress. Mrs. Stone
loves society and is never happier than
when dispensing the hospitality of her
home. Their Washington residence
was not nearly so pretentious as the
executive "mansion, of which we pre
sent our readers a picture, but during
the eight years in which Gov. Stone
was in Congress it was always a favor
ite resort with society, and Mrs. Stone's
dinners and receptions were among the
notable ones of the season.
Gov. Stone has been married twice.
By his first marriage there were two
children, Stephen Stone,; a Pittsburg
attorney, and Mrs. Hickling, of Wash
ington. As Miss Harriet Stone, Mrs.
Hickling was one of the capital's reign-
lng belles, her sweet disposition and
womanly graces making her then what
she is now, a great social favorite. She
married Dr. D. P. Hickling, an emin
ent physician of Washington, and they
have two bright little ones, a-dainty
daughter of 4 and a robust boy of 2.
By his second marriage Gov. Stone has
had six children, four of whom are liv
ing. Miss Jean, a vivacious girl of 14
and her younger sister, Miss Margaret,
are attending boarding school at Lake
Forest John, a handsome lad of 12,
is very like his distinguished father
both in looks and manner, while Isa
bella, the baby of 7, completes this in
teresting family group. .
"!- Children's Eyesight.
Official tests of the eyesight of Balti
more school children tests ordinarily
used by oculists to the number of 63,
007 show some interesting and suggest
ive results. More than 9,000 pupils
were found to have such defects in
these organs as to make school work
unsafe, while 53 per cent of the chil
dren were found not to be in the en
joyment of normal vision. ' Curiously
enough, this percentage of defective
eyesight steadily decreased with the
age of the pupils. The percentage of
normal vision was found to be as fol
lows in the different grades: First
grade,' 35; second, 41; third, 47; fourth,
40; fifth, 48; sixth, 48; seventh, 54;
eighth, 56. No explanation is offered
for this Improvement in eyesight with
age and the use of the eyes under
school conditions. It was found, how
ever, that many blackboards and maps
in the schools were not placed in the
proper light, and the report of the ocu
lists recommends yearly examinations
hereafter of the pupils' eyesight; also
the adoption of a uniform system of
adjustable seats and desks adapted to
the heights of the children.
THE ROMANS.
Bnllt Aqueducts Solely Because They
Had No Suitable Pipes.
People forgetful of the real status of
mechanical economy In the time of the
Romans have often expressed wonder
that they built expensive aqueducts
wheil, It Is proved, they knew the hy
drostatic principle that water rises al
ways to its own level. v .
The- principle reason undoubtedly
was that they had ho suitable material
to make pipes which would stand the
enormous pressure inseparable from an
underground system. Lead was out of
the question for the purpose because
the- pipes would have to be made so
disproportionately thick, and, besides,
water, flowing for miles through lead
would be poisonous. ; Short lead and
clay pipes were used by them In their
cities and houses for the. supply of
baths, but without cast Iron, which
they did not possess, they could not
have made pipes to carry water long
distances. - Lastly, the wate'r brought
to Rome was strongly impregnated
with lime, and this would have caused
a great incrustation in pipes and neces
sitated frequent opening and cleaning,
whereas an aqueduct, once ' built,
would; as events have proved, last for
a very long time with a very moderate
amount of repairs. ' ,
No good luck ever surprises a girl of
sixteen, and bad luck rarely surprises
married people. v ,
A bug exterminator that doesn't ex
terminate is a hum-bug.
SAM'S COLONIES.
HILLIS GOES TO BROOKLYN.
Chicago's Brilliant Preacher Called to
... the Pnlpit of Plymouth Church.
Chicago's brilliant preacher has been
called to the pulpit of Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn, made famous by
Henry Ward Beecher and recently va
cated by Lyman Abbott. The friends
of Rev. Dr. Newton Dwlght HiUis ex
pect that he will achieve the same
measure of renown and popularity as
did the Illustrious men whom he suc
ceeds. -;
Dr. Hillls is a native of Iowa and 40
years old. He was educated at Grin
nell Academy, at Lake Forest Unlver-
eity, and at McCormlck Seminary. For
three years after leaving his theological
studies he was pastor of the First Pres
byterian Church of Peoria, 111. .Within
that time he built a new church at a
cost of $50,000. From 1890 to 1894 he
preached from the pulpit of the First
Church of Evanston, Ind., where he
likewise upreared a new church build
ing. In December, 1894, he succeeded
Prof. Swing, of Central Church, Chi
cago. The new pastor of Plymouth will
preach in Brooklyn the same creed he
has preached in Chicago. It is the creed
of broadest Christianity and humanity,
the creed of Beeoher. Dr. Hillls is also
a writer and has been well called "the
poet-preacher of the end of the cen
tury." '
"PROPHETESS OF EVIL."
. -
The High Priestess of the Dreyfnsards
Predicts France's Buin.
Georgiana Weldon Is the latest Paris
ian sensation. She has written a
pamphlet which involves those army
men who have said that Dreyfus is
guilty, and in which she predicts the
downfall of the nation.
This woman has been the scourge of
a few great men In her time and the
puzzle of courts and specialists in psy
chlstry. In 1872 she was a concert
singer in London, and on the occasion
of Gounod's visit there she spread the
report that the German composer was
GEORGIANA WELDON.
about to become a British subject. .It
was ail Gounod could do to persuade'
his fellow countrymen to the contrary.
She claimed Gounod's compositions aa
her own and secured a Judgment
against him for $50,000 in the English
courts. . . She sued Roehefort for HbeL
was committed to insane asylums,
which she sued immediately on being
released. She was sent to a convent,
where she still resides, but there are
Dreyfusards who desire -to carry her
'through the streets of Paris : in a
chariot.
Bible Hisses.
There are eight kinds of kisses men
tioned in scripture: Salutation (1 Sam,
xx. 41, 1 Thess. v. 20); valediction (Ruth
1. 9); reconciliation (2 Sam. xiv. 33);
subjection (Ps. ii. 12); approbation
(Prov. xxiv. 20); adoration (1 Kings xiv.
18); treachery (Matt. xxvi. 49); affec
tion (Gen. xiv. 15).
It Is said that a colored man has a
greater longing for straight hair than
11
(fig)
DB. NEWELL DWIGHT HILLI8. '
an old man has for youth.
ART OF APT REPLY.
Fnme Examples of Felicitous Expres
sions in Ticklish Places.
The art of avoiding a conversational
unpleasantness by a graceful way of
putting things belongs, in its highest
perfection, to the East When Lord
Dufferin was viceroy of India he had a
"shikarry," or sporting servant, whose
special duty was to a ttend the visitors
at the vice regal court on their shoot
ing excursions. Returning one day
from one of these expeditions the shi
karry encountered the viceroy, who,
full of courteous solicitude for his
guests' enjoyment, asked:
"Well, what sort of sport has Lord
had?"
"Oh," replied the scrupulously polite
Indian, "the young sahib shot divinely,
but God was very merciful to the
birds." :
Compare this honeyed form of speech
with the terms in which an English
gamekeeper would convey his opinion
of a bad shot, and we are forced to ad
mit the social superiority of Lord Sal
isbury's "black man." But if we turn
from the- Orient to the Occident and
from our; dependencies to the United
Kingdom, the art of putting things is
found to; flourish better on Irish than
on Scotch or English soil. We all re
member: that Archbishop Whately is
said to have thanked God on his death
bed that he had never given a penny in
indiscriminate charity. A successspr
of the apostles might have found more
suitable subjects of moribund self -con-,
gratulation, and I have always rejoiced
In the mental picture of the archbishop,
in all the frigid pomp of political econ
omy, waving off the Dublin . beggar
with: . ' V : .
"Go away; go away. I never give to
anyone in the street," and receiving the
Instantaneous rejoinder:
"Then where would your reverence
have me wait on you?"
- A lady of my acquaintance who is a
proprietress in County Gal way is in the
habit of receiving her own rents. One
day, when a tenant farmer had pleaded
long and unsuccessfully for an abate
ment, he exclaimed as be banded over
his money:
"Well, my lady, all I can say is that
if I had my time over again, it's not a
tenant farmer I'd be. I'd follow one of
the learned professions."
The proprietress gently replied that
even in the learned professions there .
were losses as well as gains, and, per
haps, he would have found professional
life as precarious as farming.
"Ah, my lady, but how can that be?"
replied the son of St. Patrick. "If
you're a lawyer win or lose, you're
paid. If you're a doctor kill or cure,
you're paid. . If you're a priest heaven
or hell, you're paid." .
Who can imagine an English farmer
pleading the case for an abatement
with ' this happy , mixture of fun and
satire? Manchester Guardian. ..
Jim Webster was being tried for
bribing a colored witness, Sam John
islng, to testify falsely, relates the De
troit Free Press., -
"Yo'i say the defendant offered you
$50 to testify In his behalf?" asked the
lawyer of Sam." ; ..
"Yes, sah." : .
"Now, repeat what he said, using hla
exact words." -
"He said he would gib me $50 if
i ' '
"He didn't speak in the third person, -did
he?" V :
"No, sah; he tuck good care dat dar
were no third pusson 'round; dar was
only two us two."....
, "I know that, but he spoke to you in
the first person, didn't he?"
"I was de f us' pusson myself, sah."
"You don't understand me. When he
was talking to you did he say, 'I will
pay you $50?"'
"No, sah; he didn't say nothln' 'bout
you payin' me $50. Your name wasn't
mentioned, 'ceptln' he told me ef eber I
got into a scrape you was de best law
yer in San Antone to fool de jedge and
de Jury In fac', you was de best in
town to cover up reskellty."
: For a brief, breathless moment the
trial was suspended. , ; , .
Very Safe Indend.
There is such a thing as taking too
good care of a precious article. A
Southern exchange tells of a "cracker"
couple who came to a minister to be
married. ; , -;
They were to have the ceremony per
formed with a ring, and the groom was
terribly afraid he should lose it. So
was the bride, and-she kept asking:
"John, you sho' you got that ring?"
"I'm sho', now, Mary."
. "Whar you got it, John?",
"I've got it in my mouth. I ain't
g'an' to lose It now." .
When the ceremony was in progress,
and the place was reached where the
ring was in order, the clergyman said:
"Let me have the ring, please."
The bridegroom gulped, choked, stut
tered, and finally exclaimed despair-
Ingly: - . ' ' , .
"Lawshy, I done swallered It!"
Velocity of Sound.
Some Interesting experiments on the
velocity of sound were recently made
by M. Frot near Bourges. Two sets of
experiments gave for the velocity in air
at 0 degrees centigrade mean results of
330.6 and 330.9 meters per second. The .
times were measured automatically by
electric chronographs.
A woman's idea of being cultured is
to look at terrapin as indifferently when
Invited out as she looks at fried bacon
at home.