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Pittsburg Dispatch from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 4

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aBwfw? PKr THE "PITTSBURG' BUNDAT ifaga- DECEMBER 14, ESTABLISHED FEBRUARY 1S46. Vol. 45, o. 310. -Entered at 1'ltlsburg rostoffico, November 14, 1SS7, as second-class natter.

Business Office Corner Smithfleld and Diamond Streets. News Booms and Publishing House 75, 77 and 79 Diamond Street EASTERN ADVERTISING OFFICE. ROOM 51, TRIBUNE BUILDING. NEW YORK, -where complete flies of THE DISPATCH can always be found. Foreign advertisers appreciate thecon-Tentcncc Hoinc advertisers and friends of THE DISPATCH, while In York, are also made welcome.

THE DISPATCH is regularly on sale at Erenlmtf. 5 Union Square. Slew York, aid 17 Are. de Opt Pat is, fiance, where anyone who has been disappointed at a hotel news stand can obrain it. TEKMS OF THE DISPATCH.

roSTAGE mxE ur tux cnited states. DAILT DlSFATCn, One Year 8 00 Daily Disi'atch, 1'jr Quarter 2 00 Daily Dispatch ore "0 Daily Dispatch, including Sunday, lycar. 10 00 DaiLi" Dl'rATCH. Inclndlncfcunday.Sm'lhs 250 Daily Dispatcu. including fcunday, lm'th 90 snuiT DisrATCU, One Year 2 50 "IVrEEiY DisrATCU, One Year 1 25 Til Daily Dispatch Is delivered by carriers at 35centsperwcel.

or lucluCiugbunday edition, at lOcents per week. This Issuo or THE DISPATCH contains 24 pnecx. rondo up of THREE PARTS. Failure on the part of Cnrriprs, Agents, Newsdealers or Newsboy to supplv patrons with a Complete Number should lio promptly reportrd to this office Voluntary contributors should keep copies of articles. If compensation is desired the price expected must be named.

The courtesy of returning rejected manuscripts will be extended when stampsor that purpose are enclosed, but the Editor of The DISPATCH trill under no cii cumstances be responsible for the care of unsolicited manuscripts. POSTAGE AH persons who mall the Sunday inue of The Dispatch to friends should benrin mind the fact that the postage thereon is Two (2) Cents. AH double and triple number cop.es ot The Dispatch leqniro a 2-cent stomp to insuro prompt delivery. PITTSnURG. SUDAY, DEC.

14, GAS AT THE EXPOSITION. Avery unexpected and satisfactory chance in the gas situation is rendered possible by the striking of gas yesterday in the 'well drilled at the Of course, it is too early to determine the force or permanence of the pressure. It is qnite possible that it may turn out to be a mere pocket, as has been the case with other wells that have been drilled in and about the city limits. Alter the experience already secured with wells at Homewood, "Wilkinsburg and on the Southside, it will not be wise to count on the presence of a strong gas pressure from this well as a sure or permanent thing. But the tact that gas has been struck at a depth of about two thousand feet in the center of the citv, raises the interesting possibility of developing a new field right in our midst.

At the time when the supply from other fields is becoming insufficient for Pittsburg's needs, the introduction of such a possibility into the situation is one of the most vital importance. A well of 200 pounds pressure right in the city is of more value lor the domestic supply than one of 500 pounds at Grapeville or Bellevernon. If such wells can be drilled right under our manufacturing establishments and residence quarters, a very low pressure in them may keep the city free from smoke and supplied with cheap fuel for an indefinite period. Of course every one will hope that the pressure in the well may turn out to be full and permanent. One of the most gratifying result! if the well should prove a good one, woulS be its addition to the revenues of the Imposition Society.

To have a paving well added to the assets of that institution would be a piece of good luck which no one will grudge that public enterprise. It is to be hoped that this gratifying outcome will reward the public spirit oi all who have been engaged in pushing tbe work till it reaches the gas bearing strata. BEFORE KOCH, PERHAPS. "Whether the claim that the discoveries made at "Washington antedate those of Dr. Koch in connection with tubercular diseases, the account of the germ experiments in the Animal Industry Department, which we publish to-day, will be of wide interest.

It is worth noting that the observations and tests in "Washington practically confirm the correctness of Dr. Koch's theorv. RAILWAY MAGNATES AND THE LAW. A very striking exhibit of the respective valne of the plans of the railway kings and the enactments of law governing the course of the great corporations, is furnished by the summary published by a "Wall street journal of the plans which will be presented to the meeting of railway presidents in New York on Monday, backed by the indorsement of Gould, Huntington, Bockafellar, and the banking interests. By this statement what is called "the Gould railway plan" will consist of placing all the competitive business of the lines forming the association in the hands of a general manager or assistant.

Through this agency "the association will regulate, through competitive tariffs, the management of competitive business, and the conduct of outside agencies for the procuring of traffic as well as routing it over the respective roads of the members of the association in such amount, manner and proportions as may be agreed upon between the members?" During the agreement no road must construct new lines that might compete with the roads of other members, and all must put up a forfeit or guarantee that they will stick to the agreement. As a method of attaining tbe corporate ideal of abolishing competition in railway traffic, this plan does not present any material difference from scores of others that have preceded it and gone to pieces in due time. But as an indication that the magnates who now rule the railway world do not deem it necessary to pay any attention to the law, it appears very striking in view of tbe fact that the inter-State commerce laws make it illegal for any common carrier subject to the act to enter into any agreement with any other common carrier or carriers "for tbe pooling of freights of different and competing railroads, or to divide between them the aggregate or net proceeds of the earnings of such roads or any portion thereof," and each day's continuance of such an agreement is made a separate offense, subjecting the officers of the roads engaged in the contract or agreement to a daily fine of 55,000. There fs no possible dispute that the agreement as announced not only evades the purpose of the law, but violates its letter by uniting in one common total or "pool" the competition traffic of the roads engaged in the agreement, and its division among them of the business "in such amount, manner and proportion" as may be agreed upon. This is a "traffic pool," neither more nor less, of exactly such character as dozens of others that were prohibited by the law.

It is openly announced and advocated in the expectation that the financial powers behind it can secure its immunity, although we believe that Air. Gould, as a matter of courtesy, proposes to request of Congress'that it repeal the prohibition at the present session. The Dispatch has noted with pleasure that efforts are being made to punish the railway officials of secondary rank who have bees violating the law in the matter of preferential rates. There is even more need for bringing the penal provisions of the act to bear on tbe participants in this agreement It is a plan to relieve the railroads from the influence of competition practically the same as those of the trusts, and for the same purpose to force the public to pay for earnings on purely fictitious capitalizations. If the trusts are to be tolerated the railroads have tbe same right.

But there is the greatest need for a vigorous and incisive assertion that the great masses of capital must respect the laws and the rights of the public. Yet the financial magnates proposing this agreement have such confidence in their ability to nullify the law that they subject themselves to the penalty of 000 per day for each individual without weakening. BUSINESS AND CONFIDENCE. The lack of confidence is one of the features of the monetary situation which is attracting the attention of the press. It is bevond dispute that the immediate reason why stocks are depressed, why some of the leading investments of the country are looked at askance, why some classes of business cannot obtain discounts from the banks, aud why some banks have been run upon by their depositors, is a lack ol confidence.

In some cases this is the only cause of the trouble, although so far as the more serious business disasters are concerned, they have revealed more deep and permanent causes. I This feature of thesitnation isjustat present enlarged upon by a portion of the press in a very monitory manner. Our esteemed cotem-poraries are lectnring the public on its lack of confidence, and exhorting it to show a more worthy spirit, in a tone almost as pathetic as that character of Mrs. Burnett's, who, when his wife rejected with scorn his proposition that she should "allowance" him with twelve shillings a week to spend for beer, reproached her with "Tha hast na confidence in me, Lizer-Jane tha hast na confidence." It is true that the lack of confidence may put solvent business firms to much inconvenience, and that the country has exactly as much real wealth as it had before any monetary troubles were experienced. These facts show the foolishness of misplaced distrust aud unfounded panics; but they do not prove that the lack of confidence is the only cause of business troubles.

As an evidence that there is money enough but that it is kept out of the market by a lack of confidence, the New Tork Herald notes that the city of Brooklyn's new 3 per cent loan was recently bought up at a handsome premium. This proves that there is money enough for investment; but it also proves that there is plenty of confidence in certain investments. Another case of the same sort occurred in this city the other day, when the stock of one of the leading banks was sold at the highest price it ever obtained, and one which at its present rate of dividend makes it little more than a 3 per cent investment. Beat estate in this city, also, which has not been pushed to inflated values still finds money enough. These things show that the public has a good deal of confidence.

In these investments people know that they will not be juggled out of their money by manipulations or squeezes; that the investments are unwatered and that the assets of financial institutions have not been used to float corporate or political adventurers, la such investments, confidence is ud shaken. It is well to remember that while tbe lack of confidence has caused every panic from the bursting of the South Sea bubble down, there is reason in the inquiry how far the lack of confidence was justified. In the first example just mentioned, it would plainly have been better if the lack of confidence had been developed at the beginning instead of at the end of the bubble. The present monetary stringency began in the stock market, and when we recall the trust bubbles, the operations of the corporate kings, the dividends on borrowed money and the other means by which the public has been fleeced, there is some reason for thinking that the distrust of that field of investments is not altogether misplaced. The best way to create confidence is to have financial interests so managed as to prove themselves worthy of it.

"We will wager that the bank in Philadelphia which recently paid out its lands to depositors until they begged it to take back their deposits, like the bank in this city whose stock sold last week at the highest figure ever known, have no reason to complain of the lack of confidence. It is foolish and injurious to display a lack of confidence of solvent and legitimate business; but wherever that spirit appears it will soon correct itself. Business houses that have kept themselves clear from speculation and inflation can be relied on to prove their title to the confidence of the public But in view of some of the methods by which corporate management and stock operations have been connected, it is quite possible that a general and discriminating lack of confidence in such things may prove a healthy and much-needed corrective. BANK WRECKERS BAGGED. The arrest of two.

more of the Philadelphia bank wreckers yesterday indicates that the machinery of justice has been set in motion at last and refined rascality is in a fair way to get its proper reward. It is to be hoped that every man engaged in the gigantic scheme of bank gutting will be landed in jail with Pfeiffer, Duugan and "Work. The grade of their guilt may be severally determined later on, but for tbe present the safest plan is to put all the' suspected financiers under lock and key. A NEW CABINET RDJIOB. A very novel development in politics is promised by the report that the next addition to President Harrison's Cabinet is to be James S.

Clarkson, whose trenchant record as Assistant Postmaster General has endeared him to the spoils faction. The rumor goes that Clarkson will succeed Noble in the Interior Department, while Noble will be made Attorney General, vice Miller, promoted to Court. This puss-in-the-corner arrangement will give the President's law partner the permanent plum, and Clarkson's last state produced by his recent kaleidoscopic career will be that of a full-fledged Cabinet minister. Under ordinary circumstances such a rumoras this could be rejected without the slightest considerationsimply for the reason that if there could be one person in the couutry who is more impossible as a cabinet minister than Clarkson, he has happily remained undiscovered up to the present time. His sole idea of politics is the spoils, and his only theory of statesmanship is to get the closest grip of the offices that the law will allow.

He first attained national reputation as a political manager in connection with the at tempt to obtain the support of a leading Prohibitionist for pecuniary considerations. His record in office has been that of wholesale removals for purely partisan reasons; and if he can be held to represent any political idea, it must be expressed in a variation ot Nero's wish to the effect that all fourth-class postmasters might have but one neck, so that he could strike off their heads at a single blow. Still the present disposition of the President to insist on doing the things that he ought not to do, leaving out of the question the failure to do the things that he ought to do, renders it necessary to regard the report as the reflection ot a possibility. It may be that Mr. Harrison regards the introdnction in the Cabinet of the man who has lately been trying to get political prominence by essaying the gigantic contract of reading Secretary Elaine out of the Republican party, will establish a balance to the Secretary's growing popularity.

It is no objection to Clarkson that his appointment would show the administration to be wholly regardless of the pledge of the Bepublican platform to civil service reform; for that has been fully demonstrated already. But it might be of some significance that with Clarkson at the head of the Interior Department the greatcorpor-ations having dealings with the Department would reasonably expect to have a picnic if there is anything left within the power of the Secretary of the Interior which they have not already obtained. The nomination of Clarkson to the Cabinet would be a novel development of the President's idea of forwarding his chances for a renomination. Mr. Blaine can certainly afford to stand aside and give Mr.

Harrison all the rope he wants for experiments of that sort until the latter has had all of the sectional and spoils policy that he wants. Such a course wonld only strengthen the demand on Mr. Blaine to assume the leadership in 1892. Air extremely surprising deliverance on tbe subject of tbe monetary stringency has recently been published all over the country, in which the silver-tongued Chauncey AI.Depew is made to say that not only do the people lock up money, 'bnt the Government does it also in times of a financial scare, by buying bonds." As the necessary effect of buying bonds Is to take money out of the United States Treasury, where it has been locked up, and to put it into circulation, tbe first presumption would be that Dr. Depew meant to say that the Government locks up money "by not buying bonds." But when he proceeds to unfold his pet remedy it is perceived that he has indulged in a little shallow-misrepresentation to support his scheme of having tbe Government lend its surplus to the banks without interest.

"Whatever the outcome of the meeting of the railroad Presidents next week, there seems to be a universal determination that it shall not be a "gentlemen's agreement." Besides the fact that gentlemen's agreements do not agree, there Is also the conclusive fact that Jay Gould is running this one. The surprising report is set afloat in New York that the reason why Governor Hill hesitates about taking the United States Senator-ship from New York is that he does not understand the first principles of the game of draw poker. This can hardly da expected to gain credence. It is possible that a man might recognize his deficiency in the great American game as a disqualification for Senatorial honors; but who can believe that Governor Hill has risen to the leadership of spoils Democracy while retaining this remarkable iguorance of the great American game? We should as soon expect to hear that David Bennett was a hated mugwump. The Brazilian waT.

ships have returned to the tropics, their crews being unable to stand the blasts of a Northern December. "We may regard the danger of having our ports bombarded by the fleets of Brazil as reduced to a minimum during the winter months. It is rather amusing in the light of recent events to read in the New York Herald of Friday a prediction that "it is likely that tbe mild spell of this week will slowly give place to a cold anti-cyclone from the Northwest." Considering that by the time this was pnblisbed tbe muddy mildness of Thursday night had changed into the cold blasts of Thursday morning, it looks as if the esteemed JlevlcTs idea of slowness was of the sort that makes it diffi-cult'f or it to keep up with the procession of this year's weather. "With the probability that the pension attorneys may find their rations cut short by the new pension appropriation bill, they may be expected to hold a ghost dance in tbe lobbies of Congress. Austria has taken precautions to regulate the of Koch's lymph by providing that it shall only be obtained from authorized Prussian agencies, and orbjddlng its administration except with proper medical supervision.

The function of the Unite! States Government in the same connection is to protect the country against the pauper scientific discoverers ot Europe by imposinga d'lty on the lymph of 25 per cent as a medicinal preparation or "SO per cent as a preparation containing alcohol. This winter's cold waves create a universal public opiuion tnat whatever the gas companies may do with their capital stock they shonld not fail to inflate their gas supply. Judge "Woods' decision that a bankrupt corporation cannot make its directors or officers preferred creditors is universally recog-ntzedasacase where sound sense and good law are entirely agreed with each other. An extension of the same idea might enforce upon Congress the good sense and sound legislation that would be combined in the act of stopping partisan squabbles long enough to pass a national bankruptcy law, which would abolish preferred creditors altogether. The foreign gold that is coming to this country across the Atlantic is certain to have a more relaxing effect on the money market than the American Gould.

"Whatever appropriateness there may be In the late Home Rule party operating on the principles of a faction fight, it certainly Is time to suggest to the leaders that they are not likely to increase the influence of their organs by discounting the methods of tbe Arizona Kicker and editing United Ireland with a crowbar. The mention of Attorney General Miller's name for the Supreme Bench arouses ex. actly the same lack of enthusiasm that it did before. ON THE ATBICAN PIGMIES. Stanley Writes About a Bewitching Llttlo Model of a Woman.

Henry M. Stanley, in his article on the Pigmies in the January Scribner't, says: "We have seen some a few who mignt be said to be well formed. Tbe little plump beauty we saw with Ugarrowwa an Ivory raider was a bewitching little creature 33 inches bight. It is possible that this beauty was due to perfect health and tbe good food with wblcb she was fed by the Arab. She was certainly a gem worth seeing, and as calm and self-possossed as a well-bred lady.

"Artists would have doted on her, and sculptors would have paid goodly sums for such a miniature model. She was young, just at the dawn of womanhood, and her youth and girlish innocence made her simply charmlDg." THE TOPICAL TALKER. A 'Half Assent, Qome of tbe secret societies and benevolent orders give their members cards or badges which procure for their wearers a discount on articles they may buy at certain stores. Yesterday a man walked into a Fifth avenue cigar store and asked for five cents' worth of tobies. Tbe storekeeper pushed over a box of tobies and tbe customer took fonr, laying a nickel on the showcase In payment.

Tho storekeeper slid the niokcl into the till, and tbe man with the tobies said: "I want ten per cent off." "What fori" "I'm a member of the order of X. Y. Z. you allow a discount of ten per cent, don't you, to, members "I'm out of half-ceuts at present," said the cigar man coolly, "but you're welcome to help yourself to matches." Square. WANT fifty dollars," were the familiar words which fell upon tbe ear of a city official yesterday.

The man who uttered them had the air ot a millionaire and the attire ot a seedy wringer peddler. He didn't wait for an answer, but went on to tell how his rent was overdue, and tbe butcher brutally attentive, and tbe milkman frozen up, and the universe, in short, out of joint. He explained that fifty dollars would place him upon a plateau of prosperity from which the heights of fortune could easily be reached. His rhetoric was rich, and the gentleman he was operating upon was impressionable. Besides, there were reasons of state for the granting of the loan.

Tbe fifty dollars were forthcoming, and the borrower departed breathing blessings upon tbe lender's head. Half an hour later the city official went into a fashionable restaurant to get his noonday lunch. His was not a fashionable meal simply a bowl of milk and some crackers. He bad dropped two crackers into tho milk when he saw at a table on tho other side of the room the impecunious party who bad touched him for fifty. The P.

was lunching in high style. A pint of Fommery peeped om an ice-pail by his chair, and the waiter bad just removed the cover from a dish of quail on toast. Strange to say the sight made that city official's soul boil within him. It was unlucky for milk and a boiling soul do not assimilate nicely. He didn't relish the milk and the crackers choked him.

One quail had become a dismantled wreck when the angry man reached the impecunious party's elbow. "Do you call this square?" asked the angry man. The feeder trpon quail looked up with a wild, deprecating smile, but said nothing. "Do you call this square?" tho other repeated more angrily. "You told me your family was starving, in danger of being turned out of doors, and I find you bore do you call this square?" "Square?" echoed tho borrower with a fond look at the second quail.

"Well, it's the nearest I've been to a square meal for a long time, but if you can suggest anything, you know" But the angry man had fled. A Big Bill and a Bigger Gall. "GIVE me a ROOd five-cent cigar," said a well-dressed man in a Smithfleld street cigar store yesterday. A box of those fragrant perfectos grown near Lebanon and made In Wheeling opened its cedar jaws and the daring man took a cigar. Then he handed over a bill.

Tbe salesman's eyes almost jumped out of his head it was a S5.000 bill. He took it back to the proprietor of the store, who came out at once to look at the customer. The latter was puffing quietly at the five-center. "I'm sorry, sir." the storekeeper said, "but wo havo only S4.S0O in change we're a little short just now. and I shall fe-l obliged if you will take the cigar as a slight token of my regard." A Woolly Western Christmas.

Rosina Vokes was nere last she told a story that is timely enough now on tbe verge of the Christmas holidays. Said she: "I have had some very funny Christmases, bnt I cannot remember any much more amusing than my very first Christmas in this country. It was in a Western city, then a very primitive little place, now a rather flourishing city, I believe, although I have not been there since. No, I will not tell you the name, but it is on tho map and you may guess It in six times! "We bad just made a remarkable success in Boston and New York and were on very good terms with onrselves. We were a little hurt at first on finding that the men, or rather the boys, at the theater had not the smallest notion who we were.

Tho head boy proposed to give us an Alpine scene to play 'The Belles of tbe Kitchen' in. "We kindly but firmly declined, and pointed out that we wanted a carpet, chairs and even a table. He proceeded to bring forth a piece of carpet about six feet square. Again we remonstrated and told him that we wanted the carpet to cover the stage. To cover the he said.

'Why, 1 thought you were tumblerst We were a little crestfallen at this, hut were somewhat encouraged in the evening by the landlord, who told us that the street in front of the theater was so crowded that it was almost impossible to pass. we thought, 'fame does travel quickly, after all But when we arrived at the theater we found that the excitement was not on our account at all. Not a bit of it. It was the first appearance of the stereoptlcon in the town that is, the thing that flashes advertisements on a white sheet and the populace naturally preferred seeing 'Sozodont' or somebody's tablets or baking powder gratuitously, and tho claims of the legitimate drama were overlooked. Fortunately, our manager was a man of resources.

He went across the street and hired our hated rival to 'turn ofT the lights for K0. So the crowd, for want of anywhere else to go. turned into the theater, and in a few minutes every seat but one was filled. That belonged to a gentleman in a red shirt, who paid lor two and planted bis legs and his revolvers on one of them, nor rould the most variegated remonstrance it has ever been my lot to hear induce him to relinquish it. "The stage was supported by barrels, and each of us gave a hint to the' others when we came to a good barrel or an unreliable one, so that wc might all know the best spots to dance on.

It was lighted by a few little oil lanips.aud the progress of the play was a little retarded by tbe boys passing and repassing to relight them or touch them up when they showed signs of coming total eclipse. "Not a very pleasant Christmas, but a funny one and a merry one, too." Do We Chew so Much? iiThe tobacco-chewing hog seems to be omnipresent in Pittsburg," said a San Francisco man yesterday. "I've been meeting him everywhere since I came here, a week ago. This morning I came in from tho East End in a cable car. One chewer sat beside -me, and another opposite, and it kept me busy to keep out of their lino of fire.

Luckily, they had found their range before I sat down, and I escaped with a slight spattering. At the Fifth avenue corner a motley crowd of men lined the curb, and they were all chewing and expectorating as If they were competing for a prize. The pavement all around them looked as if it had a cutaneous disease and bad broken out in blotches the tobacco juice bad frozen where It ell. I fought my way to a big office building and boarded the elevator. As tbe boy closed the door he expectorated dexterously between the passengers' feet; he had a rubber mat to squirt at.

The lawyer whom I went to see, as he talked to me, punctuated his sentences with long shots at a cuspidor, and he had tbe delicate politeness to offer me a chew. "No dount you PIttsburgers do not notice tbe tobacco chewers; you are used, hardened to it: but to one coming from the Pacific coast, where even the Chinaman gets out of a street car if a tobacco-chewer spits before him, the flood of tobacco juice is somewhat appalling." A Star Gas Meter. here's a Ras meter in a house on tho Bluff that is making tbe natural gas question exceedingly interesting to the man who pays the gas bdls. It's a natural gas meter. At least that's what it thinks it is.

Keely migbt be clad to claim it as his motor, but the People's Gas Company would be foolish to part with it. Since It came Into tbe house it has registered enough gas to make up the deficiency in tha supply for the whole city. Yesterday the lessee of this eccentric and humorous machine decided to give It a chance to make a record for itself. He turned off the gas. The effect was miraculous' and alarming.

It registered faster than everg Tho hands on the dial could not be seen, they flew around so fast; and the noise they made was heard blocks' away. At this point the landlord' arrived and Insisted 'that the gas be turned on again In order to save tbe house, for the foundations wore trembling. Since then the meter has kept oh the even tenor a rather hign tenor of its way, and a gas bill In the thousands stares its owner in tbe face. Hepburn Johns. ANOMALIES IN PLANT DD3X.

Curious Facts Which Negative a Division of Animals and Plants. What are we to say, writes Andrew Wilson in the Illustrated News of the World, of the parasitic mistletoe, whicb, while It has green leaves of its own, and can, therefore, obtain so much carbon-food from the air on its own account, nevertheless drinks up tho sap of the oak or apple, which forms Its host, and thus illustrates the spectacle of a green plant feeding, like an animal, on living matter Or what may we think of such plants as the sun-dew, the Venus fly-trap1, the pitcher plants, the side-saddle plants, tbe butterworts and bla'dderworts, and others of their kind, which not only capture insects, often by ingenious and complex lures, but also digest the animal food thus captured? A sun-dew thus spreads out its lure in tbe shape ot its leaf studded with sensitive tentacles, each capped by a glistening drop of gummy secretion. Entangled in this secre tion me uy is luriner uxeu to tne leat by the tentacles which bend over it and enclose it in their fold. Then is poured put upon the insect's body a digestive acid flald, and the substance of the dissolved and digested animal is duly absorbed bv the plant, So also tho Venus' fly-trap captures insects by means ot its leaf, which closes upon the prey when certain sensitive hairs have given the signal that the animal has been trapped. Within the lear the insect is duly dlzested as before, and its substance applied to the nutrition ot tue plant.

Such plants, moreover, cannot flourish perfectly unless dulv supplied with their animal food. Such Illustrations ot exceptions to the rule of green plant feeding simply have the effect of abolishing the distinctions which tbe diet question might be supposed to raise between animals aud plants. I have said enough to show that to the ques-tion "Can we separate animals from plantar1 a very decided negative reply must be given. Lile everywhere exhibits too many noints of contact to admit of any boundary line being drawn between the two great groups which make up the sum total of organic existence. THE EPOCH OF REGENCIES.

This is the Condition or Things in Europe at the Present Time. The present time may well be known as tho epoch of regencies in Europe, says tbe Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. No less than five governments have for their heads the proxies of their more or less legitimate sovereigns, holding sway merely ad interim. These are the governments of Holland, Spain, Bavaria, Servia and Brunswick. In tbe first named country a woman reigns for.

the first time since "Governoress" Marearet of Parma, more than 300 years ago. and in Spain another young German Princess is holding most successful sway. These two women regents are each about 32 years old, while tho regent of Brunswick, Prince Albert of Prussia, is 55; tbe regent of Bavaria, Prince Luitpold, is 70, and the Servian triumvirs average more than 61 each. The two young women, however, seem to get on much better than the five old men, and they have the most important countries in band, too. A SPABK FELL ON HIS BACK And, as a Consequence, a Lumberman Was Almost Burned to Deatlu Beaver Falls, Dec 13.

Hugh Henderson, engaged in hauling logs to a portable sawmill, situated on the Reissinger farm, in Brighton township, met with a singular accident yesterday afternoon. He had unloaded a log at the mill when a spark from tbe furnace fell upon the back of his coat and set fire to his clothing. This he did not notice and was quite a distance into tbe woods when the heat on his back admonished him that something was wrong. By that time the coat was ablazo. He sprang from tbe wagon and began to execute a chost dance, at the same time crying for help.

Some companions ran to his assistance, tore the flaming clotbes from bis back and extinguished the flames. Henderson's clothing was destroyed and his back is very badly burned. PEBS0NAL MENTION: Dom Pedro's throne was recent! su at auction initio de Janeiro for S400. SpenceW M. Clark, whose death was reported on Friday from Washington, was tbe first person who printed greenbacks for the Government.

Justice Bradley, who has the reputation of doing more nork than any other justice on the Supremo Bench, rises every morning at o'clock and eats a peach, after a bit of exercise or airing, before breakfast. C. Carnegie, a nenhew of Andrew Carnegie, who was married in Cleveland a day or two ago, is in Washington with his bride. They are seeing tbe sights'of tha city and stopping at Willard's Hotel. Nathah Matthews, who was last Tuesday elected Mayor of Boston by the Democracy, is socially oue of the tost fellows in the world.

He and John Boyle O'Reilly the lamented patriot, poet and journalist were the dearest of friends, and many ever so many a pleasant evening was made bright and memorable to scores of Boston's intellectual magnates by tho quiet reunions they gavo together in secluded corners of the old town to choice gainings of a score of kindred spirits. The venerable General Francis E. Spinner, ex-Treasurer of tbe United States, will be 83 Tears of age next month. Ho served in Congress six years, and was for over 14 years in the United States Treasury. He is now in Florida and suffering dreadfully from a steadily progressing cancer upon his face.

He writes that by tbe use of opiate's he is able to obtain some sleep and rest from his intense pain, but that he is gradually wasting away and that he can-not sec to read or wnte. Mrs. Jefferson Davis Is now at the home of an old family friend, Dr. J. Harvie Dew, No.

252 West Fifty-fourth street She has been in tbe city since October at Mrs. Alexander's, No. 41 East Twenty-second street, and lately with Dr. and Mrs. Dew.

Her timo has been occupied to some extent in revising the final proofs of herhiograpy of her husband, which is now in the publisher's hands. To-day Mrs. Davis will go to the New York Hotel, where she will stay until April, when she will visit Colorado Springs if ber health, which fs still enfeebled, will permit the journey. "Senator Inoalls." says tho Kansas City Star, "has never written a novel, and may never write one, but it is believed by people who know blm well that be has sufficient ideality to produce a creditable work of fiction. When his children were small he was accustomed to relate to them a talc called The Demon of the Blacksnakc It was a thrilling story of adventure, 'made up' as tbe author went along, and occupied countless winter evenings.

Tbe only one of Senator Ingalls' children who inherits to a notable degree his literary talent his eldest daughter, Ethel." DEATHS OP A DAT. John A. Ileistand. Lancaster. Dec.

13. Ex-Congressman John A. Ileistand died at 1 o'clock: this morning at the Stevens Uonsc, after a long illness. Alr.Hclstand -was 63 years of ace. He was a lawyer, and had served as State Representative and State Senator.

In 1871 he was made Naval Officer at the port of which position he held for eight years. Iu 1SS4 hewas elected to Con Kress as a Republican, and was re-elected in 1S36. Mr. Hels-tand was for over 30 years proprietor and editor of the Lancaster Examiner. George Howard.

George Howard, a well-known resident of tbe county, died yesterday at bis homo on tbe Morn-lngside road, at the age of 83 years. He was born in Ireland, and was the son of Captain James Howard, of the North of Ireland. He came to this country in 1S70. Two of his sons are carriage manufacturers In the city. Mr.

Howard was a faithful and consistent member of St. John's l'rotestant Episcopal Church. The runerat will occur to-morrow. Jndge William C. Maxwell.

SPKCIAL TELKOUAM TO THE DISrATCII.l UBEENVILI.E, Dec J3.Willlam C. ex-Judge of Mercer county, died to-day, aged 82 years. He was the senior member of the bar of Mercer county, having been admitted In 1831. and noticed continuously until a few days before his eatb. Mrs.

Mary Drennan. Mrs. Mary Drennan died yesterday moraine, at the age of SS years at her home, pn Lacock street, Allegheny. She was well known In both cities. She was the mother or John mid the-laic Joseph M.

Drennan. Bernhard, Kauh. -IScrnhard Kauh, one ol the best-known old gentlemen. or Allegheny, died late Friday night at his home on Locnst street. He was 73 years of The funeral will occur to-day.

MURRAY'S MUSINGS, A Suggestion That Men Invade the Kitchen to Do the Work Women Hate So Universally A Carious Tacti About Photographs A Southern Man's Talk. IVItOM A 6TA1T CORBESFONDENT.3 optimistic and pbilanthropical ladyof New York, who has given considerable attention to the higher social problems, has suggested and warmly advocates domestic service for men. Tbis is a direct and practical means of relieving an overcharged labor market and of, at the same time, materially improving present unsatisfactory domestic conditions. It will probably not strike a good many married men who already do kitchen work every day. as cither new or novel.

While young women are being trained on eveiy hand to take the place of men in the ranks of skilled labor and the factories, stores and shops are crowded with female cheap labor at the expense of the male population, and to the great neglect of the common requirements of domestic life, this particular woman wants to know why sbouioTnot tha malo overplus flow into tbe kitchen, tho laundry, and that other most important branch of domestic sorvice known as "general ho lsework." The possibilities concealed in this suggestion are startling. In this city, and in every great city, in fact, everybody feels the great and dn-ceasing friction of stupid and Incompetent domestic service. This friction is aggravated by the fact that tbe mistress is worse than tbe servant. Men servants are only possibl to the well-to-do and are well paid. Men make the best cooks, the best laundrymen, the best "maids of all work." In these days the smartest girls are put in the mills, factories, shops-learn typewriting, stenography, bookkeeping, teaching, etc.

and are practically withdrawn from domestic life. Only the newly imported, the old and the stupid and ignorant are Iett to cook and wash and iron and perform other domestic lanor. There are not less than 211,000 males in this city who are well educated who are doing office drudgery year after year and who will never do anything else but drag out a miserable existence, and several thousand other men who are on tbe verge of starvation, none of whom are as well off as the stupid girl in my kitchen who gets 815 a month and her board. They work twice as hard as she, and furnish tbe skill and brains to do that work which she does not possess. Yet most of them never have 515 per month over and above their Dare necessities at any time during the year.

But first-class servants good cook3 and laundry women get from $30 to S50 per month over and aoove their board. And they are hard to cet at any price. Tbis, while the streets of New'York and other cities, and tbo roads all over the country, swarm with male beggars and tramps and vain seekers after employment, and wbllo countless male tollers work day in and day out, year alter year, for what merely supports life from hour to hour in hopeless slavery. What is there in tbis domestic field of labor which makes women of all grades and conditions flee from it as an humiliation and a shame? There are swell clubs of rich men in this city whose members are better cooks than any woman who ever trod shoe leather. The logic is irresistible.

Yet while men will marry and do the housework of helpless wives, most men would rather starve than go into a kitchen and cet up plain meals for pay. Astogettinc: out tbe family washing and ironing whewl The same men will drive a team, run a horse car, beg or steal, or do any labor under a boss that treats him like a horse, almost uncomplainingly. If such a man can marry one of these samo factory or shop girls, who knows about as much about domestic work, and likes it about as well as he does, it is in the usual order of things he will do it at the best accepting the misery of such a life as tbo natural sequence of matrimony. And if a pretty daughter of such a union should prefer to go to the dogs rather than wash dishes, it is not to be wondered at, but is aiso to" be set down as the usual order of things. Font may be accepted as a fact that the ill-regulated household is tbe source of more unhappiness and crime than all other sources put together.

A Phlegmatic Man's Hard Work. 'T'HEHE is a fleshy and phlegmatic gentleman in gold glasses at a high desk in tbe office of the County Clerk of New York county who passes his official life in about as monotonous a manner as could well be associated with continuous and trying labor. He is tho acknowledgement clerk, administers oaths and has charge of the county'seal. All day long, from early morn till dewy eve, on every day of tbe week, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, he sits and stands, alternately, at this desk and fills out blank certificates, signs his name in a cramped, fine hand, affixes tbe slips with a dab of mucilage and brings down tbe lever of tbe great seal of tbe most important county of tbe United States upon the document. His oaths are not loud, but deep and continuous.

An average of SOU certificates per day. sometimes mure and sometimes less, constitute his day's work. At whatever hour in the day you call uoon him you will find from 3 or 4 to 20 persons in line in front of his window, papers in hand, awaiting a turn at the big seal and Its calm manipulator. No matter how many and how eager those in line he never gets rattled, never worries. His soft, white, chubby hands do.

their work in each case as if it were tbe last and whether it is a certificate for a 10 pension paperor a deed for millions of dollars, he rarely raises his eyes but to rake in tbe 25 cent fee. or administer a perfunctory oatb. Having entered it in a little blotter he silently swoops down on tbe next paper and goes on with the procession. A more nervous or fussy man in such a place would wear himself out In six months. Why They Leave tho South.

A Southern friend just returned from a visit to his old home says he can scarcely understand how an energetic man can longer live contented in tbe South. "No man who left the South to live in New York," said he, "ever goes back to his old home, but what be is glad he left it. He could never be induced to go back there for good. And yet in my section there never was such general prosperity as there is to-day. The changes have been for the betterment of all classes, and there are many changes.

Northern enterprise-and Northern ideas are apparent everywhere, where no Northern men are to be found. There is scarcely a vestige of tbe old order of things in town or country. It has been a Iorely season and the cotton boles have come out in their second bloom, while tbe second crop of potatoes and the early peas and other vegetables seem to leave nothiDg to be desired. At Savannah a new modern hotel has been erected, and furnishes as good accommodations as can be found Nurth. Tho things which make tho South more desirable to live in, however, are tbe very things that make a Southern man more contented to live in the North.

Why? Because these very changes have swept aw ay all the seutimen; imbibed with the 'mammy's milk' ot childhood, fixed into the mind of youth and burned into the soul with the hot iron of war. It is more satisfactory to remain away and cherish the memory of early days than to go back and realize the cold, hard facts that there is nothing ot the old Southleft, and if there was it wouldn't be worth remembering. New York is good enough for me." Two Sides to a Man's Face, (i "yHERE is an extraordinary dissimilarity between tbe two side views of almost every person's face," says a prominent Broadway photographer. "I mean that If should take a three-quarter view of you, thus. It would be quite different from a three-quarter view of you taking the other side of tbe face.

Most people are taken from the samo side I don't know why. When they happen to be taken the other way their best friends will sometimes fail to recognize tbe portrait. Tbero is usually a good side and a bad side to every face, speaking from an artistic point of view. It is tbe business of the artist to catch the better side it the sitter will permit him to do so. But there are public men, actresses, professional beauties, and so on, who understand tbis good and bad side quite as well as we do.

Tho only way you can get a good conception of a face is by studying all sides of it. If you should see many of our celebrities from any other point of view than afforded by tbelr commonly accepted photographs you probably wouldn't know them. Of course. If this other view Is a photograph, you will call it a bad likeness. Very often tho pose of an actress or celebrated beauty brings out ber best points in such a striking way that a sight of tho original is a disappointment.

The outlines, good or bad. can be accentuated by the artist. You wouldn't think it possible, perhaps, but three photographs ot you could be taken, and two would not look like they bad been taken of tbe same man that was tbe original of the otber. And they would eive the outlines of the face, too. Queer, Isn't It?" The OldMessenger'Boy Fad Keeps Up.

TN this progressive aee tbelady of tbe period at least the New York 1. o. does not remain at home because she has no beau, cousin, brother or other conventional escort bandy, nor does she Ignore Justice Duffy's decision that no respectable woman is abroad after o'clock at night without an escort. If she has no serving man or big black maid she simply rings for a messenger boy. In tbis city a "messenger boy" may be a youth from 15 to 25 years of aze.

With this "boy" she gets on her "things" and goes abroad for business or amusement as safely and self-satisfied as if she were in chargeot her husband or a policeman. Everybody respects tbe lady with the messenger boy. Sbinesympathize'with ber. perhaps. Some may envy the boy.

Buc-rbe lady with the messenger boy as an escort pays a trfuuto to respectability that is at once appreciated by loungers or streetcar society. Andsbe can, and does, go to the flower show, the horse show, or to any other show thus attended without violating tbe rules of propriety. The pay is so much per hour, the bov likes tbo job, and the lady is not bored by tbe necessity of entertaining an escort for whom she cares nothing. Tbe uniformed messenger boy is an official in New York life who bears in ins brass-buttoned bosom the secrets of a good many people and ho beats them with an air of responsibility that would do credit to any gigantlo member ot the Broadway squad. Salvation and the Ghost Dances.

A far Western man who has just arrived here from tbe scene of the Indian difficulties says that, while, it is true that tbe Indians havo been systematically cheated by everybody having dealings with them, including Government officials, tbe real cause of trouble lies In the rivalry of religious denominations to get control of the Indians' salvation. He thinks this fact has been kept in the background through the delicacy officials and newspapers have always exhibited of going into matters of religion. "The Messiah craze," he says, "can be traced to the same old struggle of tbe frontier representatives of the various religious denominations, who have vied with each otber from time immemorial for the exclusive control of tbe savage conscience. These operations have been quiet, but none the lcS3 effective, as the result shows." Tho Servant's Day Out. TF anybody uses his powers of observation and the elevated trains Sunday afternoons and evenings he will note that four-fifths of the travel is that of servants.

It is their "day out." By hundreds and thousands they flock on and off the nptown stations of the Sixth avenue line. Mostly women, they are smartly and substantially ciotbed and with a uniformity that is astonishing. They are of all nationalities, chiefly Irish, German and Scandinavian, while the absence of tbe native American type is conspicuous. As a rule they have a well-fed, stolid, comtortable look of respectable and happy mediocrity. CHARLES T.

MURRAY. New York, Dec 13. FAV0BITE SONS EOS A Western Paper forms a Consensus of Editorial Opinion. Tbe Chicago Times devotes over three pages to a consensus of editorial opinions touching tbe probable action of tbe political parties in 1892. They are gathered from leading and local representative papers in alt parts of the country.

It appears therefrom that most Republicans and all Democrats give Blaine the chieftaincy of his party, while most Democrats and all Republicans look upon Cleveland as tbe Democratic leader, both parties at present anticipating the nomination of these two men. Not all of the predictions were preferences, and the tally could not well be made accurate. A summary of the 221 editorial responses, from 45 different States and territories, show that 106 named Cleveland as the nrobable Democratic nominee for 1S92, and 12 named Hill; while Blaine was named bv 52 as tbe probable Republican nominee and 12 named Harrisun. Among the "favorite sons" for 1892, tbe Democratic list reveals the names of ex-Governor Palmer, of Illinois, soon to bo Senator-elect, Governor-eleet Winans, of Michigan, Governor Boies, of Iowa, Governor Campbell, of Ohio, Governor-elect Fattlson, of Pennsylvania, Governor-elect Russel, of Massachusetts. Senator McPberson, ot New Jersey, and Governor Hill, of New York.

Tbe Republican list comprises the names of he should be next year elected Governor of Ohio, President Harrison, Judge Gresbam, John Sherman, Alger, of Michigan, Allison, ot Iowa, Phelps, ot New Jersey, and Robert T. Lincoln, of Illinois, There 13 no mention of Keed or Cullom. The Times changes two years may bring in a rapidly moving world no man can say, but the probabilities are so strong as to amount seemingly to a certainty that if each shall have health tbe rival nominees for tbe Presidency in 1892 will be Cleveland and Blaine." COIN FOB CHEISTMASTIDE. Uncle Sam's Mint Is Turning Ont Gold for Holiday Shoppers. From the Philadelphia Press.

Tbe quota of coin money to be manufactured and finished in tbe United States Mint in Philadelphia for the month of December has been decided upon, and will be as follows: Gold, half eagles, 5,000 pieces, value, quarter eagles. 10,000 pieces, valne. silver, dol lars, 1,600,000 pieces, value. Jl.eoO.OCO; half dollars, 10,000 pieces, value, S8.0U0; quarter dollars, 80,000 pieces, value. dimes, 2.500,000, value, 8250.000; bronze and nickel, 5 cent and 1 cent pieces, about 12,000,000 pieces, value, Total number of pieces, value, 12,083.000.

A great deal of small change Is being made to accommodate trade. During the three or four weeks preceding and a few weeks following Const mas there is a great demand for small-change, and more of it is coined in order to meet this demand. The manufacture of the smaller gold coins at tbis season, while it is partly for the purpose of keeping up the continuity of these pieces, has a bearinc on the holiday festivities, as many persons take pleasure in making their gifts to children, and sometimes to aduts, in them. In order to manufacture so much money it i3 necessary for the employes of the Mint to work 12 hours daily. This they hare been doing for a month past.

"WADE HAMPTON'S DEFEAT. WASHlNdTON Post: It is possible that the 'defeat of Senator Wade Hampton will have tbe effect of checking the political revolution in South Carolina. Philadelphia Press: The defeat of Senator Hampton for re-election by the Legislature' of South Carolina will be regretted even by his political opponents. New York World: Senator Wade Hampton's defeat will remove from the Senate one of Its picturesque and historical figures that of a brave soldier and anbonest gentleman. New York Sun: The defeat of General Hampton will bo received with general regret In the country, and in tbe Senate of which be has been a useful if not a distinguished member.

New York Times: ThU is a result over which there will be no rejoicing outside of South Carolina, for General Hampton has shown himself an able, dignified and high-minded Senator. New York Press: A Bourbon of the Bourbons, his personal honesty has never been impeached, and be has commanded the respect of the Republicans as well as the Democrats among bis colleagues. Philadelphia Ledger: South Carolina can hardly be congratulated on her choice of Senator, made under the influence of the Farmers' Alliance. Senator Wade Hampton has been an honor to the State, and should have been reelected. NEW York Tribune: Hampton may be said to be a victim to thecourase of his convictions.

The fact that ho did not hesitate to come out openly against the Sub-Treasury scheme and that he pursued a conservative course during Tillman's great fight for leadeiShip cost him his election. Philadelphia Inquirer: General Hampton, tbe flower of Southern chivalry, the representative of an ancient wealthy family, has fallen before John Laurens Irby. a boy of 36. He is a lawyer and a reputed sbrowd politician. He Is we believe, the youngest man ever elected to tbe Senate, with the exception of Henry Clay, who was too young to qualify until several months after his election.

THE TOYS. By Coventry Patmore.l My little Sou. who looked from thoughtful eyes And moved and spoke In quiet grown-up wise, Having my law the seventh time disobeyed, 1 struck him. and dUuiiss'd With hard words and unklss'd, His Mother, who was patient, being dead. Then fearing lest bis grief should hinder sleep, I visited his bed, But found him Numbering deep.

With darkened eyelids, and their lashes yet Trom his late sobbing wet. And with moan, Kissing away bis tears, left others of mv own; For, on a table, drawn beside his head, He had put. within his reach. A box of counters and a red-veln'd stone, A piece ot gUw abraded by the beach, And six or seven shells, A bottle with bluebells. And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art.

To comfort his sad heart. So when that night I pray'd To God, ana went, and saldt Ah, when at last we lie with tranced breath, ot vexing Thee in death. And Thon rememberest of what toys make ourjoy. How weakly unacrslood Thy great commanded good, Then, iatherly not.Icss Than I whom Tbou hast molded from the clay, Thoh'ltleavo Thy wrath, and say, "I will be sorry for their childishness." CDEI0US C0JJDENSATI05S. All over except near the United States border, prices of coal range from 510 to 113 per ton.

A modern "improvement" is to drop the in tbe abbreviations a. m. and p. as for example, 11 a. and 4-20 p.

"With the assistance of his dog, Chauncey Snyder, of Woodstock, N. killed a wildcat weighing 34 pounds tho other day. While the United States has but 11 per cent of its area covered by forests, the Empire of Germany has 26 per cent of its entile area so covered. It took ten men and boys to handle a drove of 200 turkeys that Butcher Amos Nace drove through the town of Cbalfont, Buaks county. a few days ago.

The most expensive drug is pbysostig-Jj'ps. two ounces of which would cost nearly .1000,000. It is a preparation from the calabar bean and Is of use in eye diseases. According to a decree ofthe Archbishop of Santiago all brldemaids In Chilli must dress la black. White gloves and veils are permitted then, but no colors are allowed.

Of twin daughters born to Mrs. Taylor, of Helena. the other day, one of tha babies is said to have entered tbe world already provided with a full set of teeth. The house that was occupied by Jefferson Davis in Richmond as tbe Executive Mansion of tbe Confederacy has bees turned over to a memorial society as a museum for war relics. Kev.

J. C. Price, of Salisbury, N. avers that of the 10,000 negro preachers in the South not more than one-fifth, or 2,000 of them, have had any preparation for their work. Joseph "Wetzell, 11 years old, of Hart-mansville, W.

being attacked by a "tremendous" catamount the otber day, shot the beast through tbe head, killing it instantly, lie is now quite a hero In the community. The little cod of the polar seas, although a pigmy compared with tbe true cod of tbs Grand Banks and George's, stands to the Esquimaux in as Important a relation as iu bigger relative to the people of New England. Of the 52 vessels constituting the Arctic whaling fleet as it existed at the beanning of tbe season. 43 have arrived at San Francisco. The total catch for the seasun amounts to 14,835 barrels of oil and 241,360 pounds of bone, Richardson mentions the polar cod, or coal flsb, as the principal nourishment of the sea fowl which frequent tbe Arctic regions in summer, its habit of swimming at the top of the water making it extremely easy of capture.

From a bushel of corn the distiller gets four gallons of whisky which will retail at J16. The Government gets S3 60, tbe farmer gels 40 cents, the railroad gets si, the manufacturer gets tho retailer gets $7 and the consumer gets drunk. In Paris, when a funeral is. passing, persons in view of the procession remove their hats and remain uncovered until it passes, and in London, Berlin, Vienna, Rome and other important cities funerals are treated with respectful consideration. Little kerosene lamps, made to fit in ordinary silver candlesticks, are in demand for rich men's tables.

Ihey are displacing candles because they give more light, don't set fire to tho fancy shades, don't smoke or barn out quickly and because they are the fashion. To fell a large mahogany tree is one day's task for two men. On account of tbe wide spurs which project from the trunk at its base, scaffolds have to be erected and tbe tree mi off above tbe spurs, which leave a stump from 10 to 15 feet high a waste of the very best wood. The length of the polar cod is said to reach a maximum of 14 Inches; the average length, however, is about one foot, and the weight less than half a pound. The flsb, according to Richardson, spawns on set weeds along the shores In February and uoaer the ice.

Four young men of Piscataquis, while "kating on Harrison Point at Sebec last week, noticed pickerel swimming about and at once secured an ax. "Striking the ice stunned the flsb, and when a hole was cut through it was easy to serure a large number. They carried home 36 of the finest specimens. Guttapercha derives its name from the Malayan words gueta, a gum, and pertcba, a cloth, and was introduced to tbe civilized world in 1842 by Dr. Montgomery, a Scotch surgeon.

Tbe first specimens were taken to London from Singapore by Jose Almeida, and the properties of tha gum were announced by Hancock, Wheatstone aud Faraday. Foreign agents are buyinsrlarge numbers of male finches in Voronezh and neighboring provinces and sending tbem to London-Tney pay as much 'as 25 kopecks apiece. Tha bunting for these birds has become quite an industry in those Governments. No less than 10.000 finches were shipped from Russia during the months of August and September. "When a woodcock "twitters" he squeals, pipes, squeaks, rather than whistles.

The sound made in swift flight by the wings of tbis and other species many of ourducks for example-is perhaps more appropriately termed a whistle. Frank, Forester makes tbe same distinction. He speaks of the woodcock's flisbt after tbe leaves are off tbe underbrush of its darting away "on a vigorous and whistling pinion, with sharp-piping alarm note, swift as a rifle bullet." Certain worms similar to thetubifex multiply by producing new parts. There is one form, known by tbe quaint name of Nats, which will develop in tbe midst of its own body a second bead, and just in front of tbe new head a second tail. Tbns there come to be, as it were, two worms joined together; the front one has tbe old head and a new tall, tbe hind one a new head and the old tail.

By and by tbe companions separate, and tbe parent body is thus transformed into two complete animals. A woodcock-, which was recently kept a few days in captivity by Gurdon Trumbull, of Hartford, ate, by aotcal measurement, about a half pint of earth worms during each day (24 hours); the worms being measured without any dirt, of course; each one picked up by itself, shaken clean, and dropped Into the measure. Arew "white grubs" of different sizes wero also supplied: be ate tbe little ones bnt refused tbe larger. None of tbe angle worms, however, seemed too large for him. An exhibition of a novel kind is planned in St.

Petersburg. The geographical and ethnographical societies ot St. Petersburg aud Moscow, tho art academies and the historical museums, have for the last ten years collected women's needlework from all parts of ths Czar's empire in Europe. Aula and Africa. Now thev have several thousand samples of that work, which represent the patience, abilities and taste of the women of various regions and trioes.

To tbis will be added tbe historical ornamentation of garments. Doth male and female, as well as pictures of the various peoples and lands from which the needle work was collected. HUMOR OFTHE HOUR. "At last I have it," said the poor bnt honest man who knows It all. "1 shall advertise for pupils.

Incorporate myself into a university. and wilt for some rich man to endow me." Asia Xork Sun. Clericus (clinching the argument) Worth makes the man and want of It the fellow: Cvnlcus Yes? How much does he have to be York Herald. Friend I suppose everything is settled in regard to tbe marriage of your daughter? Stoakley Well, yes; everyinintr out tne nuis. Detroit ttee Press.

Tom The man in the room next to me if learning to play on the piano. jack And what do you do? Tom I'm learning to s-vear. Kev Xork' Herald. Teacher Tommy Trewant, don't you know that the rule of this school Is for children to have their shoes shlned? Why are yonrs so dirty? Tommy Trewant I did shine 'em, ma'am. But I climbed up a tree afterward, to get this nice red apple for you.

Puc. THE BOSTON GIRL'S CHRISTMAS. She tossed her Christmas toys aside, Her face with disappointment frowning, "Ou. dear!" tbe little maiden sighed, I did so want another Browning!" Lift. The richest woman in Baltimore has decided to retire from the world; which means, we suppose, that she Is going to move- to Philadelphia.

Judge. Auntie Katie, you must not cut out dolls on Sunday. Remember the fourth commandment. God made this beautiful world la six days and rested on the seventh. Katie tatter a little reflection) Auntie, did Ha make everything In six days? "Yes.

my dear, everything." 'Well, I reckon He did rest, 'cause He didn't have anything else to do." Life. MistEIderlelgh No, Mr. Sissy, there is not a day passes that I do not add to my store of knowledge. Mr. Sissy Une Is never too old to learn.

(And he wonders why she is never at home wae he calls now.) Detroit m..

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About Pittsburg Dispatch Archive

Pages Available:
16,188
Years Available:
1889-1892