SCIENTIFIC TOPICS CURRENT NOTES OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. Holds Street Car Transfer Tnlsnbl Ttt CaU Thread New Man-Stopping Ballet The Value of Vaccination Improvements to the Klaetoscope. Tbe Value of Vaccination The fierce attack recently made by Alfred Russel Wallace in his able book, the "Wonderful Century," on vaccina-tion, vaccina-tion, has called out opinions held by other scientists In different parts of the world on the subject. One of the latest lat-est to appear as an advocate of vaccination vac-cination is Dr. Bizzozero of Rome, who has lectured in that city in a manner, says a correspondent of the London Lancet, to make a deep impression. He passed oyer his own country, Italy, thus leaving his foreign readers in ignorance ignor-ance of how tbe case stands there; but Germany, he said, is alone in doing it3 entire du'y by it3 people In respect to vaccination. That great empire, in consequence of the calamitous smallpox small-pox epidemic of 1S70-71, enacted the law of 1874, which makes vaccination obligatory at the tenth year. What was the reau'.t? With a population of 50.000,000 having in 1871 lost 143,000 Uvea by smallpox, she found by her law of 1874 the mortality diminished so rapidly that today the disease numbers only 116 victims a year. These cases, moreover, occur almost exclusively on her frontier. If it were true, Professor Bizzozero went on to say, taat a g?od vaccination does not protect from epidemics, epi-demics, we ought to find in smallpox epidemics that the disease diffuses it-relf it-relf In the well vaccinated no less than in the non-vaccinated countries. But it is not so. In 1870-71. during tue Franco-Prussian war, the two peoples Interpenerated each other, the German having Its civil population vaccinateJ optionally, but its army completely re-vaccinated, re-vaccinated, while the French (population (popula-tion and army alike) were vaccinated perfunctorily. Both were attacked by smallpox; but the French army numbered num-bered 23.000 deaths by it, while the German army had only i8; and in the same tent, breathing the same air, the French wounded were neavi'.y visited vis-ited by the disease, while the German wounded, having been vaft.i!nated, had not a single case. Improvement to the yinetoscope. "I have just succeedt-.t ?n getting perfect per-fect photographs for tne kinetoscope, that will be four by five inches in size," said Mr. Edison. "This means that when they are thrown on a screen they will be a perfect reproduction. As things are tow, a man's head is no bigger big-ger than a pin point in the ordinary photograph for the kineti scope. But with my improved apparatus we can color the fixtures and show thlng3 just as you see them in nature. The advantage ad-vantage of this will be apparent when I tell you that we propose to photograph photo-graph a grand opera performance and reproduce it with the assistance of my latest improved phonogrr.ph, I have Just succeeded in making cylinders that will reproduce the tones of the human voice with all the sweetness and volume vol-ume that could be desired. Indeed, it would take an experienced far to detect de-tect the difference between the singer and the singing instrument or the talker and the talking machine. The only necessary concomitants for a grand opera performance are a drop curtain.my own phonograph and kinet-oscope kinet-oscope and two men. This may seem like a fairy tale, but it is a fact. The bigger you make the cylinders for the phonograph the more perfect is the reproduction. re-production. And if you have a series of them, say like a steamer's funnel, you can easily reproduce the vocal part of an opera performance. Just think how cheap the outfit would be! A curtain cur-tain would be all the stage scenery necessary and two men could work tne machine from behind. Why, the admission ad-mission fee would not be over a quarter quar-ter at mo3t, and the poor could hear Melba, Nordica, Eamee. the de Reszkes or other great singers for a mere song!" Thimble That Cats Thread. A German manufacturer has placed on the market a new thimble, with' a turnable knife. When a thread is to be cut off the knife is to be opened by the small handle, so that the thread is put between the two cutting edges and by closing up the knife the thread is cut off. The article has found a ready sale all over Germany. The obnoxious habit of biting the thread off with the teeth would be avoided by the adoption adop-tion of this thimble. As a rule, scissors scis-sors are never where they ought to be, and our women are spared a half-day's work in hunting for them! That's what the German inventor says. A Coralnf Celestial Spectacle. Astronomers are already looking forward for-ward with keen Interest to the expected reappearance of the celebrated Leonid meteors next November. These meteors, me-teors, whose reappearance at a great storm occurs at intervals of about 33 years, made spectacular display In 1833, and were also very numerous In 1866 and 1867. Recent calculations show that since the swarm met the earth the last time It has been perturbed by the attractions of Jupiter and Saturn, and that the middle of the shower this year will occur on the morning of November Novem-ber 16, instead of the 14th. It wi'l - visible In both Europe and America. Uas Explosions. Explosions of gas in private houses are, unfortunately.very common occurrences, occur-rences, . and could nearly always be avoided by the exercise of a little care. It Is only occasionally that we hear of an escape of gas being due to some ignorant ig-norant person blowing out the flame Instead of turning off the gas at the Up, for, except In a few remote places, fas and Its ways are familiar to all. It to this familiarity which breeds the proverbial carelessness and callousness which prompts people to seek an escape es-cape of gas with a light. In nine cases out of ten the escape is du to the telescopic tele-scopic fitting of a gasaller becoming dry. This is obviated by the addition to th water with which the flttlnr is charged of a few dropa of sweet oil coal oil, which forms a layer on the surface and stops evaporation. If this precaution were commonly adopted the number of gas explosions wouid be sensibly decreased. Bold Street Car Transfer. Something new in railroad street car punches la a magazine transfer punch, especially suitable for small roads. The instrument, which Is a tiny affair, as shown by the Illustration, Illustra-tion, is loaded (this one holding 250 transfers) at the station and locked. To issue a transfer the conductor eets a pointer, which is on the end of the small cylinder opposite the time dial, to Indicate the route for which the transfer is intended and then turns the time dial through one revolution, when a transfer ticket bearing the date, time, place of isue and destination is pushed out as shown. This arrangement arrange-ment prevents mistakes in the dating, time or issuance of a ticket. New Man-Stopping Bnllet Experiments were conducted in Birmingham Bir-mingham recently with a new man-stopping man-stopping projectile, the invention o! Mr. Leslie B. Taylor, the managing director of the famous firm of West- ley, Richards & Co. The main object of the new bullet is to produce a more extensive wound at short distances; but its resisting power was proved at 100 yards, which is considerably in excess ex-cess of the range at which an officer would use a revolver. "Wait till you see the whites of his eyes," is the maxim max-im practiced in regard to revolver firing fir-ing In the army. The bullet, which weighs eighty grains, has a flat, exposed ex-posed lead core projecting from the nickel envelope. The protruding lead is undercut in a tapering fashion toward to-ward the point where the nickel Jacket terminates. The shoulder thus serves to cut or punch out on impact a clearer entrance hole of much larger dimensions dimen-sions than the ordinary shaped bullet. The flat surface naturally retards the passage of the bullet, which therefore expends a greater amount of bullet energy within the object struck. This process of resistance is Increased by the presence of an air chamber at the base of the nickel envelope, which enables en-ables the lead to shorten and at the same time mushroom. The accuracy cf flight was tested against the cylin-dro-conoidal bullet, and on firing from a 12-yard range the ordinary bullet passed straight through a 4-lnch l2ech target, while the new bullet penetrated pen-etrated an inch and a half. It completely com-pletely shattered large bones, and was then tried on a piece of beef a foot in diameter. The ordinary Mauser bullet bul-let passed straight through the flesh, but the new one was arrested six inches from the point of impact. One curious effect that it produced was that it made a hole at the point of entranca three times bigger than the surface of the fiat nose of the lead, and in this respect it was as effective as the man-stopping man-stopping bullet now in use in the British Brit-ish army. Considering the vast difference differ-ence in weight and size of the projectiles, projec-tiles, the destructive power of the new bullet was rather remarkable. Various Is of bullets were used from tne Mauser weapon and the present service revolver, and the opinion of military and sporting authorities was that the new bullet is a decided "improvement" on the ordinary projectile. Illuminating Windows. Modern "skyscrapers" have necessitated necessi-tated the use of a new kind of window pane. The lower rooms in such buildings build-ings are frequently very gloomy because be-cause their windows open only upon well-like areas and canon-like streets. To save, or supplement, the use of artificial ar-tificial light in such rooms, window panes have been invented consisting of glass plates covered with prisms, whose angles are so calculated that the light falling upon them from above is turned into the center and corners of the room, instead of reaching only the floor close to the windows. Anothei form of pane consists of overlapping strips of glass so placed as to reflect light into the room. Recent Inventions. To add to the comfort of bicycling a spring attachment has been patented, which is Inserted in the rear forks, with a central rod in each fork engaging the , hub connection, the springs holding the rods down and lessening the shock and jar to the rider. Vegetables can be readily sliced or mashed by a newly designed cutter, having a hopper resting over a set of knivee carried by a base, with a lever mounted on one side of the base, to depress a plunger In the hopper and force the vegetable between the outers. out-ers. In a newly patented system of gearing gear-ing for chainless bicycles the crank shaft carries a plain gear wheel, which drives a smaller wheel, carried by a j snare Deiow the crank hanger, a pair of short cranks being mounted on the second shaft to drive rods connecting with cranks on the rear hub. For use in cold weather, when the hands get numb a new driving mitten has a metal bar pivoted in the palm, i with a slotted guide covering the loose i Lend of the bar to draw It close to the palm when pushed toward the fingers, causing it to grip the rein with a cam action and allow the fingers to relax their hold. An Improved movable stairway has been patented, which allows people to descend as well as ascend on the same flight, an endless chain of strips being placed on guides running up an inclined inclin-ed plane, with a loop at either end around which the stripes pass In a vertical position, falliag horizontally as they reach the plane. Poor Fellow I Among the visitors to a fine art ex- ' exhibition were two old ladies, engaged in examining with great interest a i statue representing a young Greek, nn- derneath which were inscribed the words, "Executed in Terra Cotta. "Where is Terra Cotta?" asked the elder of the two, turning to her companion, com-panion, i "I haven't the least idea," replied the other; "I never heard of the place before." "Ah. well, observed the first speaker, speak-er, "it doesn't much signify. The poor man who was executed there is not the less to be pitied, wherever it aajr be. JOHNSTOFS ADVENTURE. I know this story is true, for Johnston John-ston told it to me himself, and he has not imagination enough to invent an untruth. He told me that if you should attempt at-tempt to enter into conversation with a fellow-passenger in a Chicago train he probably would present you with the card in question as a delicate hint that he wanted to be left in peace. " 'I am going down to Warwickshire tomorrow,' I said" continued Johnston John-ston " 'to spend a few days with Sco-ble, Sco-ble, and I'll take this card with me. If some one insists on talking to me when I'm reading my paper I'll try what handing him the card will do.' "I took the train at Euston, traveling second class. "My fellow-passenger was a fine-looking fine-looking woman of about 30. The heat of the day and the excitement of catching catch-ing the train had given her a florid color, and I could see that the desire of condemning the weather and exposing the wickedness of a cabman was strong within her. "Presently the woman caught my eye and said, 'I beg your pardon, but will you tell me the exact time? My cabman cab-man ' "But here I handed the woman the Chicago card I had received the day before. "She read it ad then said, 'Oh, indeed! in-deed! So sorry. Pray excuse me,' and then lapsed in silence, while I resumed my newspaper and congratulated myself my-self on the efficacy of the American plan of dealing with railway bores. "It is true that my conscience did give me an occasional twinge, for the distinction between telling a lie and handing a person a ready-made lie printed on a card was not very perceptible. per-ceptible. I asked myself whether in giving the woman a card with the words, 'I am deaf and dumb,' I had not been guilty of lying as certainly as I 'IS THIS MR. should have been if I had told her the 6ame thing in so many words. "At Willesden Junction another passenger pas-senger got in. This time it was a young lady who was evidently expected by the elder lady. "By and by my attention was aroused in spite of myself by hearing the elder lady mention my name. 'You see,' she said, 'I had to come down today because be-cause John has asked that tiresome Johnston to spend a week with us, and of course it wouldn't do for me to be away.' " 'But, auntie,' said the other, 'how do you know that he is tiresome if you have never seen him? " 'I know it, for one thing, because John's friends always are tiresome. It does seem as if he deliberately selected the most stupid men he could find and asked them dawn to Greencroft, just to make life a burden to me. And then, my dear, for another thing, I tried to read this detectable Johnston's books. Anything more stupid and silly you can't possibly imagine.' "So I was actually traveling in the same carriage with Seohle's wife and niece, and the former was dreading my arrival at her house and looking upon me as a tiresome nuisance. "The two ladies talked on, but happily hap-pily seemed to forget the existence of tbe unfortunate Johnston. Once Mrs. Scoble came to the window where I was sitting, to point out something to her niece, and the swaying of the carriage nearly threw her on my lap. "Just then the elder lady began one of those nervous and hurried searches for her purse which women when traveling trav-eling are so prone to make. ""It is gone!" she exclaimed, 'and I am Bure that fellow in the corner picked my pocket when I was looking out of his window.' " 'He could not have done that, replied re-plied the niece, 'for I was looking at him at the time, and he never once took his hands or his eyes away from his newspaper.' " 'My dear child! Do you suppose you are quick enough to watch the motions mo-tions of a professional pickpocket. That man has my purse. I am perfectly eure of it; and I shall give him in charge the moment we get to Rugby.' "It was clear that I must holt from the carriage the instant the train reached Rugby platform, and before a policeman could be called. The train was already slowing and I hastily gathered gath-ered up my rug and umbrella and prepared pre-pared to move toward the door. " 'No, you don't, my man," said Mrs. Scoble, rising and taking possession of the door by the simple process of thrusting half of her ample person through the window. "I saw at once that the game wa3 up. " That man has picked my pocket,' said Mrs. Scoble, as soon as the policeman police-man opened the door. 'Search him and you'll And my purse in his possession. posses-sion. It is marked 'A. D. S.,' and has four five-pound notes, two sovereigns, and some change in it, besides my ticket.' 'What do you say to this? the policeman po-liceman asked me, evidently impressed with tho certainty of my guilt. 'Simply that It isn't true, I replied. 1 know nothing of the lady's purse nd I can easily convince you that1 1 am a respectable person,' "My goodness!' exclaimed my ao-cuser. ao-cuser. 'Why, the fellow Isn't deaf and dumb after all! Constable, he pretended pre-tended to be deaf and dumb. That bhows what a scoundrel he 1st' "I rose up to follow the policeman, and my foot struck against something that was lying on the floor of the carriage. car-riage. I stooped and picked it up. It was the missing puree. " 'Is that your purse, madam?' I asked, as I held it up. 'You must have dropped it when you were looking out of my window.' "'I wouldn't advise him to play that game any more,' said the policeman, severely. 'Let me tell you sir, that if ycu travel under false pretenses you needn't be surprised if you find yourself your-self in trouble. You'il have to give me your name and address, in case anything any-thing more comes of this.' "I gave him my address as soon as I could get away from the carriage, and at the same time I gave him a surreptitious surrep-titious five shillings and asked him not to give my name to Mrs. Scoble. "I saw Scoble on the platform as the train drew up at Greencroft, but he did not see me, for I had concealed myself behind the curtains of the carriage. I watched him until his back was turned and then sprang out and bolted into the cloak room, which was close at hand. I had hoped to remain there until Scoble had left the station, but I was disappointed. The porter in attendance, at-tendance, finding that I had no particular partic-ular business with him, immediately suspected me of designs upon the property prop-erty under his charge, and told me that I must not stay in the cloakroom. I tried bribery, but the action only confirmed con-firmed his suspicions, and he roughly ordered me to go about my business or he would have me arrested. Just then Scoble spied me. "'Why, here you are, after all!' he exclaimed. 'Where on earth ha.e you been?' The niece had returned, and was standing looking in bewilderment, first at me, and then at her uncle. Sudden- JOHNSTON?" ly she took in the full meaning of th? situation, and after saying to me, 'Is this Mr. Johnston?' burst into uncontrollable uncon-trollable laughter. "There never was anything so contagious con-tagious and irresistible as that laugh, since the wond began, and the flasi of the girl's mischievous eyes would hiive made John Calvin smile even in the act of burning a heretic. I could not help it, but in another moment I found myself my-self joining in the girl's laughter, while Scoble stood and gazed at us with an almost frightened expression. "The niece was the first to speak. 'Uncle,' she said, 'there has been a mistake mis-take that would have been perfectly awful if Mr. Johnston had not been a real humorist and seen the funny side of It. Auntie has driven home, for she could not wait any longer, and we will all three walk home together, and you shall know all about it.' "I hesitated for a second and then said to myself that I would meet fifty aunts sooner than say good-by to the niece before I had convinced her that I was not always stupid, and that I could sometimes be other than a nuisance. nuis-ance. I not only walked home with her and faced the dismayed and repentant re-pentant aunt, but I staid my full week at Greencroft. When I came away I was engaged to be married, and had already began to call Mrs. Scoble 'aunt,' partly to show her that I bore no malice and partly by way of emphasizing em-phasizing the triumph that the man whom she had called stupid had won." Pall Mall. An Actress Revenge. A curious story comes from Paris of a quarrel between two actresses at the Ambigu It seems that a young player named Regine Martial became fiercely jealous of one of her comrades, but concealed her resentment and tried with all her powers to attach herself to her rival, so that when one day the latter comp'ained of a sick headache Mile. Martial instantly offered her some cachets which could not fail to work an instantaneous cure. The sick actress accepted, but did not shallow them, and on examination they were found to contain many queer ingredients, ingre-dients, fishhooks being one of the component com-ponent parts. Mile. Martial was arrested ar-rested and was kept in prison for some months, her case finally having been submitted to experts in mental diseases, dis-eases, who have pronounced her insane, in-sane, and she will now be sent to an asylum. A strange side of the affair is that previously nobody had ever noticed no-ticed anything peculiar about her conduct. con-duct. Spearing with "Bobs.". Did you ever tate a cork, stick through it a horseshoe nail, put on the top of the cork two or three feathers, tie a long string around the cork and then spear for apples or potatoes? Just try it some time, and see how proficiently pro-ficiently and how straight you can learn to throw the bob in a short time. The cork keeps the horseshoe nal) in without slipping and the feathers seive to guide tbe bob Orough the air. . Shirhn'ldin on the Clrdo During the last half year 125 vessels, aggregating 234,877 tons, were launcJutd in the Clyde, beating all records. FIRED THE FIRST G UN AMD A FILIPINO PICKET DROPPED DROP-PED DEAD. Dramatic Story of the Inlilnl Shot That Brought on the War In the I'hllip-pines I'hllip-pines William Graysoa IScIli v l That He Was Right. William Grayson, wjo fired to shot that culminated in the Filipino American Ameri-can war, strangely caough, joined the Nebraska volunutrs because of love of adventure, lie hps lately been discharged dis-charged and is now in Nebraska. He says that the Filipinos are being supplied sup-plied with provisions by the English and not by the Germans. lie says of the shot that started the war: "It was just a question of killing that Filipino before he killed me. That is the way I felt when I leveled my gun WILLIAM GRAYSON, at him, and those were my feelings when I heard him groan in the dust. "After it wa3 all over I felt 'queer' nervous and unsteady. The only tbing that seemed to steady my nerves that night was to shoot again. "That was the first shot of the war against the insurgents, and my target was the first Filipino ever killed by an American. "When I went on outpost duty that night I was mad enough to fight the old scratch. For days and weeks before be-fore the Filipinos had been calling us the worst names men could think of. " 'Uno Filipino mas bueno cinq Americanos.' That was their taunt: 'One rebel can lick five Americans.' They would have spit in our faces if we had waited much longer. "Orville Miller of company D went out with me that night for outpost duty near Santa Mesa. We went heavily armed and kept our eyes open, for we had been warned by our superior officers. offi-cers. The end of our beat was close to a lot of old buildings and bamboo thickets. Whenever we saw a suspicious sus-picious figure we would get under cover and watch. If any one tried to cross our line he would be halted or shot down. "About 8:30 o'clock I saw three men not more than thirty feet from us lying flat on the ground. They had just discovered dis-covered us. At that moment I heard a whistle from their direction. It was too dark to see them plainly. The signal sig-nal was answered from the brush by another low whistle. Then signal lights were seen from Filipino blockhouses, block-houses, and Miller and I knew what was coming. "Halt!" I yelled, as the rebels began to get up, clicking their rifles. "Alto!" (halt) was their reply, and we had been challenged. There was no time to lose, and so I brought my first Filipino down; and I tell you, there was a little feeling of safety and satisfaction when I heard him groan. Then I knew the war was on. "We at once ran back to where four of our men were on guard and lined up for battle. Then we made for the pipe line back toward the camp, and I shall never forget that little trip that night. "It seemed that a thousand men were firing at us on all sides, and it looked as though we would never get under cover from the bullet3. My hat was lost somewhere near where I killed my rebel, and I found it there the next morning. "I admit that I was scared when I got back out of reach of that lead. It is a serious thing to fire a shot that starts a war. None of us ever expected to get out of the hole at the pipe line, Which made good breastworks, though we were joined by the entire outpost thirty men and we all peppered away at the enemy. "Then the action spread from the right to the left, and in fifteen minutes the engagement was general from Caloocan to the bay." RUINED BY FORCE OF EXAMPLE An Imitative Dog Becomes a Drunkard Because a Rooster Tippled. FTom the New York Sun: A peculiar pe-culiar instance of what bad example will do is illustrated in the case of a rooster and a dog owned by the keeper of a suburban roadhouse. The man had run a saloon in this city for a number num-ber of years, but. being possessed of a fondness for country life he recently decided to gratify his tastes and he opened a roadhouse not far from the High bridge. He was fond of hens and one of the first things he did was to get a number of them. In the bevy wa3 a big rooster, and it wasn't long before the former saloonkeeper noticed that the rooster was frequently in the barroom. He soon discovered that the attraction for the bird was one of the regular customers. Every time this customer came in he would soak scraps of bread in beer and throw them to the rooster, which devoured them with apparent relish. As the man made a number of trips to the bar each day, it soon fell out that the rooster was invariably in-variably tipsy by evening. In this condition con-dition the rooster would perfom all kinds of antics, much to the amusement amuse-ment of a crowd of loungers. But here is where the bad example part of the story comes in. The saloonkeeper has 1 fine Newfoundland dog of which he is especially fond. For six years the dog had been around the city saloon without with-out showing the slightest liking for intoxicants. in-toxicants. As soon, however, as the dog saw the means by which the rooster roos-ter became so hilarious he began to devote de-vote attention to the drip pans under the beer kegs, the dregs in which he greedily drank. In a short time the dog had the "beer habit" too. This greatly annoyed the roadhouse-keeper, and in his wrath he decided to kill the roster, hoping that by doing away with the "evil infuence," as he put it, the dog would reform. But it was of no use, and now the dog has become tin inveterate toper and may be seen tally staggering about the barroom, a sad example of canire depravity. The 5Tost Wonderful. From Harper's Round Table: enele Reuben had just returned from hi; Dhristmas holiday in New York, and bis mind was a confusion of cinematographs, cinemato-graphs, self-playing pianos, automobiles, automo-biles, phonographs, etc. When he was isked which had impressed him most ke solemnly replied: "By soan, the orseles.-1 piano be-U 'en all." mm u v 1 v fi LONDON'S "BIG BEN." Flow do People Keep Well Who Hsn to Bear It. The striking mechanism of Big Ben is a Brobdingnagian affair in every way. It is some thirty or forty feet up above the clock, which occupies a room in the center of the tower, says the London News. The striking machinery ma-chinery is driven by weights of about a ton and a half, hanging in a sort of chimney shaft 174 feet deep, and to wind them up from bottom to top though, of course, they are never allowed al-lowed to run quite down is a fair day's work. When fully wound up, Elg Ben's tormentor the massive iron hammer head will go pounding away for four days without further attention. at-tention. It needs a pretty ponderous hammer to fetch the full tone out of a bell weighing fifteen or sixteen tons, and the marvelous thing is that thia massive mechanism keeps such beautiful beau-tiful time as it does. The clock, with which it is connected by iron rods, gives it its cue with such astonishing precision that the chimes get through their preliminary performance and the great hammer falls on the mighty Ben within one second of Greenwich mean time at least, that is what it is supposed sup-posed to do, and the astronomer royal, who keeps a vigilant eye upon the great public timepiece, says that it does not vary a second a week all the year round. The only unsatisfactory thing about the whole performance is the horribly bad "E" that Ben 6enda forth. The wonder is, not that a sick person finds it torture to him to ' have it booming out all night long, but that people who are doomed to be continually continu-ally hearing it are not made ill by it. WEDDINGS IN JAPAN. Odd Ceremony In the Land of the Chrysanthemum. When a young man has fixed his affections af-fections upon a maiden of suitable standing he declares his love by fastening fasten-ing a branch of a certain shrub to the house of the damsel's parents. If the branch be neglected the suit is rejected; re-jected; if it be accepted so is the suitor. At the time of the marriage the bridegroom bride-groom sends presents to his briae as costly as his means will allow, which she immediately offers to her parents in acknowledgment of their kindness in infancy and of the pains bestowed upon her education. The wedding takes place in the evening. The bride is dressed in a long white silk kimono and white veil and she and her future husband sit facing each other on the floor. Two tables are placed close by; on the one is a kettle with two spouts, a bottle of sake and cups; on the other table a miniature fir tree signifying the strength of the bridegroom; a plum tree, signifying the beauty of the bride, and, lastly, a etork standing on a tortoise, tor-toise, representing a long life and happiness, hap-piness, desired by them both. At the marriage feast each guest in turn drinks three cups of the sake and the two-spouted kettle, also containing sake, is put to the mouths of the bride and bridegroom alternately by two attendants, at-tendants, signifying that they are to share together joys and sorrows. The bride keeps her veil all her life and after death it is buried with her as her shroud. The chief duty of a Japanese woman all her life is obedience while unmarried, to her parents; when married, mar-ried, to her husband and his parents; when widowed, to her son. HERO TO BE HONORED. The city of Mobile, Ala., is to do honor to the memory of Rear Admiral Raphael Semines of the confederate navy, one of the greatest sea captains of the rebellion. Semmes was born in Maryland, the state of Rear Admiral rife?' tV.fc1 NEW STATUE OP REAR ADMIRAL SEMMES. Schley, and was appointed a midshipman midship-man in the navy of President John Quincy Adams. He served with credit during the Mexican war, and when the rebellion broke out offered his services to Jefferson Davis. His most noted engagement during the rebellion was as commander of the famous Alabama during its engagement with the Kear-sarge Kear-sarge off Cherbourg, France. The Mobile Mo-bile monument will be of heroic size, the figure of Semmes being eight feet six Inche3 in height. It was cast in bronze at Newark, N. J., recently. Sad Ending to Festivities. The cable announces that young Viscount Vis-count Castlereagh, eldest son of the Marquis of Londonderry, has suffered concussion of the brain tnrough a fall from his horse and will be confined to hie bed for several weeks at least, even if no more serious complications develop. de-velop. The accident will put a sudden sud-den and sad ending to the festivities in honor of the comiDg of age of the young nobleman. The birthday has been celebrated at Mount Stewart, County Down, one of the seats to which the viscount is heir. One day last week more than 1,000 tenants were feasted on the estate. Viscount Castlereagh, Cas-tlereagh, who was educated at Sandhurst, Sand-hurst, the English West Point, is a second lieutenant in tie Royal Horse Guards, and is heir to 50,000 acres ol land. Their Favorite Colors. The Sultan of Turkey's favorite color col-or is dark red. The German Emperor likes his uniforms blue and red, and covered with gold embroideries. The King of Greece, who dons his uniforms uni-forms as seldom as possible, has a marked preference for light colors. The Emperor of Austria has a preference for gray, while the Emperor of Russia likes dark green uniforms, and th King of Italy, excepting the rare occasions oc-casions v. hen he appears in a general's uniform, generally wears black- v; Vriaf J C.f FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 60ME GOOD STORIES FOR OUR JUNIOR READERS. Frank's Visit to the juarts Mill What Victor Did Dewey as He Is An Acquaintance Ac-quaintance Talks About the Admiral's Characteristics. Little Miss MnfTet. Little Miss MufTet discovered a tuffet (Which never occurred to the rest of us). And, as 'twas a June day and Just about noonday. She wanted to eat like the best of us. Her diet was whey, and I hasten to say It is wholesome, the people grow fat on it; The spot being lonely, the lady not only Discovered the tuffet, but sat on it. A rivulet gabbled beside her and babbled. As rivulets always are thought to do. And dragon-flies sported around and cavorted. ca-vorted. As poets say dragon-flies ought to do: When, glancing aside for a moment, she spied A horrible sight that brought fear to her, A hideous spider was sitting beside her. And most unavoidably near to her! However unsightly, this creature politely Said: "Madam, I earnestly vow to you I'm penitent that I did not wear my hat. I Should otherwise certainly bow to you." Though anxious to please, he was so 111 at ease That he lost all his sense of propriety. And grew so inept that he clumsily stept In her plate, which is barred in society. This curious error completed her terror. She shuddered, and, growing much paler, not Only left tuffet, but dealt him a buffet Which doubled him up in a sailor knot. It should be explained that at this he was pained; He cried, "I have vexed you. no doubt of it! Your fist's like a truncheon." "You're still in my luncheon," Was all that she answered; "Get out of it!" And the moral is this be it madam or miss To whom you have something to say; You are only absurd when you get in the curd, But you're rude when you get in the whey. Guy Wetmore Carrye. Frank's Visit to the Quartz JililL A few days after Frank's visit to the mine, his father took him through the large quartz mill, where the ore was crushed and the gold separated from the rock. Frank had often stood outside, out-side, listening to the roar of the machinery, ma-chinery, but now that he was shut in with the noise, he found it much louder than he had expected. He could hardly hard-ly hear his own voice, and could not catch half that his father said, although al-though he tried hard to do so. They went first to where the ore was emptied emp-tied from the cars into a large bin with a slanting floor. From there it slid into the rock-crusher, a machine with two great iron jaws, which opened and shut, breaking the large lumps of ore into small pieces. It was fascinating to watch this machine "chew rocks." As Frank said, it looked "exactly like the mouth of a hungry crocodile." Next they went up several flights of stairs to an immense bin where the broken ore was stored, and from whence it was slowly fed to the stamps pounding away below. The stamps were heavy iron hammers, fastened to an upright iron rod, which worked up and down in an iron frame. Each stamp weighed over six hundred hun-dred pounds, and eight or ten of them, going at once, made the building shake, as you may well suppose. Little streams of water ran under the stamps, washing out the finely crushed ore and carrying it to gently sloping copper plates, covered with quicksilver. Frank's father explained that the quicksilver caught and held the gold that was washed over it, but allowed the dirt to wash away. This dirt, however, was too precious to lose, for it contained a good deal of gold combined com-bined with other minerals. It was therefore dried, .put into sacks, and sent away to go through other processes, pro-cesses, by which the gold was obtained. As it was now nearly time to quit work for the day, the stamps were stopped, and the combination of gold and quicksilver, called amalgam, was scraped from the plates into small canvas can-vas bags and taken to the amalgamation amalgama-tion room. Frank followed to see what was done with it, and found that the bags were pressed until the free mercury mer-cury oozed out. The amalgam was then heated, and the quicksilver driven off in the form of vapor. And here at last they had the elusive gold, for which men and machinery had labored so long. Frank was given a tiny bit of the pure, glittering metal, and also a piece of amalgam, for his cabinet. Nina C. Kyle. What Victor Did. "Teddy, dear!" called mamma. "Yes'm," replied Teddy. He was busy over his book on the cool, shaded piazza, and it was a warm August afternoon. "I want you to take Victor down to the river for a bath. The dog is so hot in the cellar." "But, mother, at sundown." "Who promised to play the hose foi Patrick at sundown?" "I did," said Teddy, a little smile replacing re-placing the sober pucker over his nose. "Dear me, mamma," he remarked, pulling on his cap. "what a thing it is to be man of the house!" "Yes," returned mamma, "it is a beautiful thing to be a cheerful little man of the house." Presently she losed the big St. Bernard, Ber-nard, and he came leaping toward Teddy, Ted-dy, eagerness in every movement, for his freedom usually meant a bath these hot days. "Come on, Vic!" called Teddy. "You're more bother than . you're worth, old fellow!" he declared, fondling him. "Just think of me, a two-ieggee boy, waiting upon you, a four-legged dog!" Victor could not think about it, but he licked Teddy's hand lovingly, as if to acknowledge the condescension, and they started off. "It seems to me," said mamma to Betty, when they sat on the porch later with their fancy work, "that Teddy and Victor have been gone a long time." "They're coming this minute, mamma!" mam-ma!" murmured Betty, peering through the creeper. "Why, Ted, how flushed you look! Charge, Victor! That's right. Did he have a cool swim, dear. "Did he?" cried Ted. excitedly. Then his round face sobered. "Mamma," he said, "how strangely things happen! If I had not promised to play the hose why, you see. mamma." he continued, contin-ued, breaking off and plunging into the heart of his story, "when we got down to the water, there was Patrick's old father trying to swim for his straw hat, which had blown into the river. He's so old and feeble, I thought it qneer he should be swimming for his hat so wildly, with all nis clothes on. So I pent Victor in for it, and what do you think?" "Wnat?" cried Betty, breathlessly. "He never went near it. but straight for Patrick's father insteid. and brought him to shore. A wise thing, too, for the old man had given out. I pulled him ashore, drippine and then away went Victor after the hat. and brought that! The poor fellow grabbed It and pulled a ten-dollar bill out from under the leather. He had driwn It from the bank and thought he had lost it, and they're so poor! He cried over the money! Vic and I took him home, and his sick old wife cried over him. Oh, I tell you 'twas a wet time!" he finished, winking oddly himself. Mamma and Betty both looked suspicious sus-picious also, and Ted said, "Come here, Vic, till I apologize. You darling old dog, I am proud to wait on you, sir!" and he buried his arms in the damp fur of the noble fellow's shaggy neck. Lillian L. Price. Dewey as lie Is. Many pictures of Admiral Dewey have been published in the last few months, but very few of them show much of the man as he is. Most of them show a rather long, narrow face, with high, slightly receding forehead and Roman nose. As a matter of fact, there is more breadth and less length to the face than these pictures show. It is a square face, and its most prominent prom-inent feature is the rugged under Jaw. The eyes are wide apart and set well back under heavy brows. The forehead fore-head is high, broad and bold. The nose is large, and the mouth generous, but firm. Most of his pictures show more of a mustache than the admiral wore last summer. Mustache and hair are almost al-most white. The complexion is dark, as are the eyes. He is not a big man physically.but he Is astonishingly quick In his actions. His shoulders are so square and his broad back so straight that many a man, much his junior, might envy him them. His step is quick and springy; his whole bearing Is one of alertness and readiness.. His mental process lightning-like. He thinks like a flash, and goes all around his subject in less time than many a man would take to study one side. Yet he does not jump to conclusions, con-clusions, and there are times when he is very deliberate. He reasons to his determinations, and, whatever his personal per-sonal preferences or beliefs, or feelings, he can dissociate them entirely from his work. His logic machine is absolutely abso-lutely sound and in the finest order. It turns out conclusions with mathematical mathemat-ical precision. The sharpest critic he has can hardly find one point in the long record made in Manila bay where he can put down his finger and say, "There Dewey made a mistake." The admiral has a peculiar trick of thinking out loud, and sometimes when he is pondering some subject he will argue with any man whom chance sends along. On such occasions he will advance as his definite conclusion whatever side of the question happens ! to be uppermost in his mind and stand ready to defend it with considerable warmth. McClure's Magazine. Eyes Like Telescopes. It has often been remarked that civilized civil-ized people tend to become short-sighted. This is because in towns and cities ! their vision is mostly confined to short j distances. Savage races, on the other hand, are generally gifted with remark-i remark-i ably keen sight. and few tribes are more j noteworthy in this respect than the Af- rican Bushmen, whose eyes are verit able telescopes. This power is, no doubt, a wise provision of nature, for Bushmen are a small race, and if they were not able to see danger a long way off they would be exterminated by their various enemies, whether savages or other tribes or wild beasts. A traveler trav-eler in South Africa relates that while walking one day in company with a friendly Bushman the savage suddenly stopped, and. gazing across the plain, cried out there was a lion ahead. The traveler gazed long and earnestly into the direction indicated 1 tho Bush- i man, DUt couia see auiiiins. ion-; ion-; sense," he said. "There's nothing i there." And he went forward again, j with the Bushman following at his ; heels, trembling and unwiuing and ! still asserting that h could see a ! lion. Presently the ujulve came to a dead stop and refused to budge another inch, for this time, he declared, he could see a lioness with cubs, a fact which made the animal more dangerous danger-ous than ever. But the European, who could see no lioness, much less her cubs, pushed ahead. After walking a quarter of a mile, however, he could dimly make out an object moving across the horizon. Still doubting that it could be the object which the Bushman Bush-man said he had seen, he continued to advance, and at last he was able to. distinguish a lioness, with her cubs around her, walking leisurely toward the woods. Her Polls. When Miss Nightingale was a child she had many dolls, and her great hobby was to pretend that they each in turn were very sick and needed the most careful nursing. There was one rag baby that had fever so badly that her life was despaired of, and littl Florence would only go to her own bed one night when the nurses and her mother promised that they would watch beside the sick doll. And watch they had to, with a vengeance. For if any of the nurses tried to go away, thinking Florence was asleep, the little lit-tle lady was awake in a moment and would not lie down until they went r watching again. Early in the mornlnj Florence rose to take her share in the nursing, and then the others were allowed al-lowed to lie down. She was soon able to say that the rag baby was much better. Pleasing the Baby. From Tit-Bits. A few days ago two ladies, one of whom carried a baby, entered en-tered a carpet shop and signified their desire to look at somt carpets. Thel shopman cheerfully showed roll after roll, until the perspiration literally streamed from every pore of his body. Finally one of the ladies asked the other if she did not think it was time to go. "Not quite." was the answer of her companion; and then in an undertone, under-tone, she added: "Baby likes to see him roll them out, and it Is not time to catch the train yet.' Romance and Reality. When an engaged girl plans how she will act after she is married she thinks of herself, queenly and stately, descending de-scending to the hall to greet her husband hus-band when he comes home and letting him kiss her on the forehead; what she does is to fall down-stairs and then cry on his waistcoat. New York Press. Age of Whales. Whales from 300 to 400 years old are sometimes met with. The age is ascertained as-certained by the size and number of layers of the whalebone which increase yearly. No school is more necessary to children chil-dren than that of patience, because either the will must be broken In childhood child-hood or the heart in old age.