Show FLY PLANTS some strange features observed by men in Was hinston its a very easy aning to do wa liang learned so long ago in every comans womans youth that she scarcely remember hoar or when she was taught to put one foot before the other how she learned to move with shambling or dignified motions and so strong upon her is the force of habit long continued that rarely rarely in later years of girl or young can she be brought to a consciousness ness of the defects in her carriage and persuaded to alter them for more graceful movements as she passes to and fio upon the face of the earth juat ju at one out of twenty five women seen passing down a crowded street knows bow to hold her body and how to lift up and set down her feet naturally this is the result of long observation on the part of the writer who moreover remarks that that one redeeming woman is but a passable walker says a writer in the illustrated american now only that woman who goes g oes in for athletic exercises or has darkened bark ened to long lectures from the dress reformers ever takes thought as to her daily bearing in public and at home it is sufficient that she is not hunchbacked or conspicuously ungraceful and though she know it all long flowing skirt draperies from waist to foot hide for glicr a multitude of what might almost be deformities ugly un pleasing movements that in a man go under the uncompromising terms of knock kneed bowlegged bow legged splayfooted splay footed and so on but in her are hidden and only obtrude by the uneasy steps switching and lift of shoulders by the weak droop of shoulders undignified bend of the head and poise of arms all of which go to make up the ir outlines of an ugly figure in those early days when a toddling j baby much of this of carriage was learned nor was it corrected and as very few women consider more than facial beauty necessary for happiness they never pause a moment beffre the mirror and regard attentively tent ively the contours of the body and walking back and forth halt to judge whether the motion is regular and full of ease FLY EATING PLANTS some strange things seen in tho gardens at washington did you ever see plants that live on flies or mosquitoes hearing of them I 1 took f fitrell through the botanical washington and inquired of the superintendent about the truth of the story says a writer in the philadelphia times yes we have some such things he said and here is one now he pointed to a pot containing what seemed to be moss but in this green mass could be seen tiny shells like baby clam shells only they were thin and green and only half open along the edges were green hairs like eyelashes you see a fly goes in here he explained pla ined as he opened the two halves and when he gets in the leaves close then the fly cant get out then he dies and his substance is absorbed by the bad little flower it grows only in south carolina here is what I 1 call the beer saloon he continued you see this is shaped like a pitcher hangs from a long stem and has a curved lid inside is a fluid that intoxicated intoxicates all insects that drink it they are then absorbed by the plant this other one like a round hollow tulip stem is of the same nature then here is a big green pitcher plant well frogs climb into this to drink from the fluid at the bottom but they cant get out for when they try to a couple of sharp homs in the lid overhead stab them in the back could any one dream that an innocent fragrant flower could be so heartless it butchers its victim after luring it into an intoxicating den and then feeds on the mangled remains this on the board is what we call stag moss you see it grows on the side of the house from a clump of brown leaves like a deers head from it branch out four large green prongs of leaves exactly like homs of all curious plants this about the oddest these ereen leaves are spotted with white and you can always trace a face on the outlines and I 1 ran it ohp caricature plant tho crimea golenp to waste A st petersburg paper complains that the crimea though rich in natural resources is neglected by the government the editor remarks some crimean peasant digging in the ground has discovered coal another has found a well of naphtha a third has stumbled upon a layer of sulphate of soda a fourth has shoveled up some gold dust but we hear little of special scientific commissions appointed to explore the mineral wealth of our peninsula year by year the irrigation of the crimea is getting worse tho rivers are drying up and nothing is done to check the evil the from the deserts overflow large tracts of arable soil miles of fecund lands are covered by them every year and nothing is done to stop their encroachment either by irrigation or by the planting of trees on their present limits swarms of locusts and other destructive insects destroy the best crops every year and no effort is made to counteract this evil mania for an extraordinary case of monomania has been developed at vienna A bakers assistant there has stolen no less than six hundred and forty six pocket handkerchiefs not for value but because an irresistible long ing to possess them has prompted him to do so he never sold them but used to carry them about with him constantly st he was first punished in 1883 when he was condemned to a fort nights imprisonment for stealing twenty seven handkerchiefs he waa sentenced to the same penalty three years later for a similar offense but the police instead of handing him over to the jailer sent him to the hospital to have his mental condition examined the doctors dae lared him to be suffer inn from acute monomania he says that when he sees a ladys handkerchief hanging out of her pocket he can not help taking it ih |