»IT TRICKSTERS. i A MAN AND A MOB. Seward*» Prephacy Raalisad. Th. Way Lyon Playfair Handled the Lanoaahir» Striker». When, shortly before his ileath lu 1872. William 11. Seward was aaked what he believed to be the greatest achievement of his pul lie career, he an­ swered, "The annexation of Alaska." He added. however, "But the American people will not grasp the value of that acquisition for a third of a century yet” Ttii» shows that Seward, the em­ pire builder, was also a prophet. Sew­ ard has been dead ft>r thirty live years, and It 1» only In recent time» that bls countrymen have appreciated the Im portanee of Alaska as a possession. Strong opposition was offered In the house of representatives In 1807 to making the appropriation of $7.200.000. the price which Seward paid to Russia for the province. Said one of annexa­ tion's opponents In that chamber, "All that Alaska will ever be able to pro­ duce are i>olar bear« and Iceberg».” For several years a nickname for the region was "Seward's Folly.” But time ha» fully vindicated Seward. Leslie's Weekly. During the great labor riot» In Lan­ Queer Conjuring Feats of the cashire about the middle of the last century the ready resources of Lyon Seventeenth Century. 1'layfalr saved one of the only two I --------- mills which remained open at the time. SOME QUAINT OLD RECIPES. The government was anxious that these two should continue iu action, and supplied the workmen engaged Lfttt» Expar iments In Which Boiling with muskets. Rut a great force of Hoad« Off Living Animal» Waa an Strikers advanced upon cue of the Incident—How They Killed a Horae two, and It was obvious that the day and Cured Him Again. was lost. The mob meant to wreck Conjurers In ancient times were not the place, l'layfalr. who was a frlcud of the owner, appeared in haste among eery respectable members of society. them, keeping the projirietor out of When successful they enjoyed the rep­ sight. He put the case fratikly to the utation of having sold their souls to the strikers. The gates of the mill were effil one. and wheu of inferior ability closed, but the numbers of the strikers they gained notoriety by being either made them irresistible; hence it waa Browned |burned The mediaeval of no use their all going in and wreck­ magicians as well as the Egyptian ing the place, l^t a few of them enter magi and the Chaldean sages were ouly the premier«, remove the plugs from a strange mixture of chemist, conjurer the boilers, aud thus, without damage Th» Oldest T»xt Book. and charlatan, and as these gentlemen to the works, secure their stoppage. Within the last few years a revolu­ Even a disorderly mob. bravely met by were In the habit of using their sup­ tion has been accomplished at Oxford posed occult powers to their own ad­ a man of courage and tact, w ill listen. which ought really to affect the mind So did this one. Playfair's proposition vantage they were naturally unpopu­ of the nation more than the difference lar. The feats of Jugglery performed sounded fair, but might not treachery between Lord Curzon and Lord Rose­ lie behind it? by these craftsmen were intended for He immediately put their doubts at bery. A text book has been discarded the mystification and not the amuse­ rest by offering himself as hostage. which was already venerable for Its ment of the public, and for centuries He would accompany the deputation antiquity at the beginning of the conjuring had to It only a black side. while the others kept guard over the Christian era. Needless to say. we aro The amateur conjurer of today is not works. The men agreed, and Playfair referring to Euclid's "Element»,” for always a popular individual, save with strolled off with the men chosen. To- what other text book ever had such a children and the unsophisticated yokels gether they went to the boilers and run as that? It has been accepted ffb the general public he is merely a withdrew the plugs. This stopped the ever since Its publication, which was bore of greater or less magnitude, works, but did no other damage. While In the reign of the first Ptolemy erson is no mere mushroom with geometry, The nearest ap- growth of modern society, but in point found many of their demands most proache» art' to be found lu the rela- ■of fact bls role is one of a respectable reasonable and such that afterward It tlon of Aristotle to logic und of Adam antiquity, for be is to be found tread­ was possible readily to concede them. Smith to political economy.—London The little party returned from their ing close upon the heels of the magi­ Spectator. Innocent wrecking and found the mob cians and in the day» when witchcraft was still rampant This is significant honorably preserving order. The sci­ A Stairway of Concrete of bls reputation even In those early entist gave them a couple of sover­ One of tho moat novel, useful and times, for had any one taken his tricks eigns with which the buy food, and pleasing use. to which cement has seriously be would doubtless have been they returned him three times three been put In Interior construction la the run to earth and done to death as a In cheers. There remained only one banging concrete stairway. In Its other mill to close, that at Clitberoe, •^D^^he middle of the seventeenth and upon this the strikers now construction no structural Iron what­ ever Is used, only small channel ban century, in the earliest years of tbs marched. Again they were thwarted, one-quarter inch by three-quarter Inch itetofatlbn. a number of tricks were but this time not by pacific means, spaced about four inches and covered published In one of those facetious but by the might of the military.—St with expanded metal lathing. The hooks which seem to bare occupied James' Gazette. false work can tie removed In two weeks. The stairway supports not the press to a great extent at this time, only Its own weight, but. In addition. but which owing to their popularity I SUPERSTITIOUS. 7,500 pounds of warble, and n load of have for the most part [«erisbed The 2,000 pounds has lieeu carried up the chief recommendation of the greater General Grant believed in dreams. number of these tricks is that no ap­ Nelson, the English naval hero, al­ stairs without Injury or deflection. paratus beyond the utensils of every­ ways carried a horseshoe with him into Only the t>est quality cement should be used In Interior work.—Philadel­ day life is necessary; also it is sug­ battle. • gested to the performer that be can Von Moltke, the hardy old German phia Ledger. make some small profit ont of his en­ general, would never begin a battle os tertainment by prevailing on bls audi­ a Friday. Tho Dog. | ence to bet with him on the result of Why any sane person should wish to 1 Prince Bismarck of Germany would the trick. never sit down to a dinner with thir­ nurse any animal at mealtime It Is > ’ "To set a horse's or an asse's head teen at the table. difficult to see. atxl when that animal upon a man's bead aud shoulders" ia a dog the matter fairly passes com­ President Davis of the Confederacy aeems Impossible out of the land of prehension. With all his good quali­ of children believed that the presence Faery, but we are Informed that by ties the friend of man has a most dis­ boiling the bead cut off a living brought him luck. gusting habit of cadging for food James G. Blaine would never turn whenever he sees It, and as a table animal “the flesh boy I’d may runne into oyle,” and then by mingling the I back to re-enter his home even Jf he companion he is decidedly objectiona­ hair beaten into powder with this had forgotten something. ble —Country Gentleman. The father of Nicholas IL of Russia oil and anointing the beads of the •tanders-by “they shall seem to have guided his actions by the advice of an horses’ or asses' beads”— a costly ex­ American spirit medium. Admiral Farragut says he used to periment and fearsome if successful. But. besides this, one can "make peo­ be guided by a still, small voice which ple seem headlesse," and this withont told him what to do in battles. bloodshed and by the following simple The ameer of Afghanistan, the sul­ recipe: "Break arsenick very fine and tans of Morocco and Zanzibar and the boyle it with sulphur in a cover'd pot khedlve of Egypt all maintain official and kindle It with a new candle, and astrologers. the standers-by will seem to be head- lease.” Doubtless a strong imaglna- A Timely Pr»»»nt. tlon is necessary for success. A certain colored gentleman recently Some of the tricks are such as would sainted a large colored lady ol the nowadays cause the performer to be Amazonian tyj>e in the following lan­ disliked, to put it mildly. For instance, guage: "have a nut filled with ink aDd give “Yuh's lookin' mighty fascinatin’ this unto another and bid him crack It this evenin', Bal.” and see what be can find in that,” Ba) hauled off and knocked him (Which being done« "will cause much down. Then, looking him out of an laughter.” inclination to get up, she said, "Now, I "To keep a Tapster from frothing his yuh jest lay tbar till I goes an* finds pots' must have been an amusement out what dat word fascinatin' ’ to the wagB of the period, and for this means!” "provide in readinesse the skin of a red Next day the aforesaid colored gen- Hering, and when the Tapster is ab­ tieman presented the said Sal wlth sent do but rub a little on the Inside a copy of Webster's Dictionary, say- of bls pots, and be will not be able to Ing, “I might want ter salute yuh froth them, do what be can. In a ag'in, so jes please look up the mean­ good while after.” in’ of some of these heah compllraen- “To counterfeit a diamond with a tation terms.” White saphir” is a most useful accom­ Sal promptly refused to accept the plishment, but the fraud is likely in present upon the ground that one these days to be discovered and 1» would have to know the word In or- more a chemical experiment than a der to look It up.—New York Times. trick. Several tricks are recommended Gown» From the Undertaker’». r.hich have animals as tlieir subject “You’ll be astonished when I tell and are for the most part brutal to you," said a man who knows, "but It’s our modern ideas. Perhaps the least a fact that dressmakers sometimes ■objectionable is "to seem to kill a send to a fashionable undertaker for Horse aud cure him ugain,” which a gown when they have a hurry order. may be thus accomplished: There was a time when undertakers • "Take the seed of henbane and give carried only shrouds in stock, but In It the Horse In his Provender, and It this age of luxury the big concerns will cast him into such a deep sleep have a line of v or a Gaggle of Geese to seem to draw was born with no legs and no anna. a Timber logge Is done by the verie I am a dime museum manager, and I means that Is us'd when a Cat draws should like to find him. a fool through a Pond, but bandied Citizen—No use hunting him up. Ills somewhat further off from the Be parents won’t exhibit him. holders.’’•-London Standard. "They won’t? Weil, it beats all what blessings fall to folks as can’t appre­ What the Hydra Was. ciate ’em."—Kansas City ln