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Show FARM AND GARDEN. MATTERS OF INTEREST AGRICULTURISTS. TO Fome rp-to-Uale Hints Abont "ol-tiration "ol-tiration of the Soil and Yield Thereof Horticulture, ilU-ulture and Floriculture. American False Ilelleliure. In this column we illustrate a plant known as American False Hellebore. It is one of the poisonous plants of the United States. It L blessed with a great variety of names, as 'ollows: White hellebore, false hellebore, swamp .hellebore, Indian poke, meadow poke, poke root (in N. II.). Indian uncus, puppet roots, earth gall, crow poison, devil's bite, tlutkreUer, itch weed, bugbane, wolf's bane, bear corn. It grows from two to seven feet high and has a fleshy root one to three inches long. The leaves are large and stem'ess and of varying size. The flowers blossom In a large yellowish-green cluster from May to July. 1 he plant is a native of this country. In New England it is found in wet mtadjws ana by ieouh- False liHlclxire ( Yerat ruin viridry, one-th"tl one-th"tl 11:1 f iirrt! Hiza. tain brooks. It is found in cold situations situa-tions as far south as Virginia and westward to Oregon and Washington. It is even met with in Alaska. Its poisonous properties are found in all parts of the plant, seed, "leaves and root. It has been reported that chickens chick-ens are frequently killed by eating the seeds, and horses by eating the leaves. But it is asserted that sheep eat the leaves with relish and apparent impunity. The root has been known to kill people who ate it for something else. One case is reported where a family prepared the leaves for eating, thinking them to be marsh marigolds. The result was the poisoning uf the entire family. The poison acts by paralyzing par-alyzing the heart. Fertilizers for Wheat. The Ohio Station has been making an interesting experiment on fertilizing fertiliz-ing wheat. The marked effect on the growth of the wheat plant, which is usually observed after the application of fertilizers carrying soluble phosphoric phos-phoric acid, such as acid phosphate or iisstlved bone black, together with the low price at which plain acid phosphates phos-phates can be bought, as compared with fertilizers containing nitrogen ini potash, have led many farmers to the use of this material alone, believing believ-ing that they can supply sufficient tiitroeeii by growing clover, and that potash is not needed. The trials made covering a period of years show con-ili-.sively that the clover is not fur-uishiug fur-uishiug suflicient nitrogen to meet Jlie Jemands of a full crop, and that it is more economical to use a fertiliser ;outaining a small percentage of n;ro-?en n;ro-?en (ammonia) even though the cost be somewhat increased, than to use jae which carries only phosphoric acid. row Pf In the Orchard. (Condensed from Farmers' Review Stenographic Sten-ographic Report of Illino.s State Horticultural Horti-cultural Convention.) Q. Is it not an advantage to sow low peas in the orchard the fourth rear and then pasture it with hogs? Mr. Riehl That practice is all right. I do it. and think it is better than the rultivation I give my orchard. I had i peach orchard on a side hill that I :ould no longer cultivate, as it was .vathing so. So I put in cow peas and et th"? hogs eat them. However, I ost some trees from mice that got into 'ie cow peas. So the iast season I nowed the cow peas, hauled them off md made them into hay. Q. Would you seed your peas to grass after two years of good cultlva-Jon? cultlva-Jon? A. W. Stanton I would not. but It lepends to a large extent on the kind )f 6oil. The practice with us is to cultivate only till the trees come into bearing, and then stop. Kc.p the weeds or grass mowed down. Mr. Riehl I think the question is lot asked right. We should not make iny hard and fast rule; we must get it the principle of what wc ire doing. It has been said to cultivate your pears :ill they come into bearing and then est your trees. Oar Friend, the .aclyhng. "Ladybug, ladybug. fly away home," s a line familiar to mo'children who ire taught not to hurt the pretty bug, is she is a friend of the garden; and this is strictly true. Ths ladybug does great damage to insects which themselves them-selves destroy the products of the gar-iener's gar-iener's labor. Plant lice, for instance, like most insects, have certain natural enemies which tend to keep them in :beck. The ladybirds or ladybugs are iy far the most important factors in the destruction of plant lice, as both :he adults and young feed ravenously apon them. There is a notion prevalent preva-lent that ladybirds, in some way or jther, produce plant lice. Natural laws will not permit such a state of affairs. Like begets like in the insect world, lust as persistently as it does in the higher animals. The progeny of a ladybird is always a ladybird like the parent insect. The young of a ladybird lady-bird however, looks very different from the adult. In fact, the young of ome species resemble minute alligators alliga-tors in general appearance, and are piily colored. They feed almost entirely en-tirely upon soft-bodied insects. Wood Flour In Poultry House. We notice that a contemporary objects ob-jects to board floors in poultry houses, because they get wet and soaked w ith filth from the poultry droppings. Whenever that condition arises, it is positive proof that the poultry bouse Vs overcrowded, or lacks light and ventilation, ven-tilation, or is not cleaned cut ss oltea M it ghould be- The writer of this has a poultry house that has been in use for some years. b in it no su-h V; "v'T-- ' -, ; V"v "'-12 - x") ondltlon has arisen as is describe! l the said journal as a neees:-ary consequence conse-quence of having a board floor. The building is 12x20 feet and is well lighted light-ed on the east, south and west. In summer two of the sashes are taken cut and wire screens put in. In this house not to exceed fifty fowls are kept at any one time, and generally the number does not exceed twenty-five. twenty-five. The light and ventilation keep the floor dry in all seasons. The droppings drop-pings become soon dry and the house is cleaned out in large part by sweeping, sweep-ing, the shovel being used only immediately imme-diately under the roosts. It is better to have the floor of matched lumber, as there are then no cracks to annoy in cleaning out the house. As to rats, there is no danger at all if the floor is so built that it will be a foot or two above the ground. There is no point cf support at which a rat could begin operations to gnaw his way into the poultry house. Layers In the Kail. Some hens begin laying late in the 'all, lay through the winter, and during dur-ing the summer losing no time until August or September, when they begin be-gin to moult, says Mirror and Farmer, Farm-er, fcut moulting is considered a fault with sucr hens, as they receive no credit for their good works. If they set au example of usefulness they lead their owners to expect them to so continue, con-tinue, and as scon as they fail to keep on, their heads fall under the hatchet for simply resting from their labors, hile the fat drone hens, that have been o.pected to begin, are retained a second year, in the hope that they will do i etter. Virtue does not receive its reward, even among hens. Individual Indi-vidual merit is swallowed up in the vices of the whole number. Early pullets pul-lets are the most uncertain of all. A pullet that does not begin to lay be-fore be-fore she is ten months old should be sent to the market stall. It does not pay to keep pullets to replace hens unless the pullets begin to lay in No-vembeEnd No-vembeEnd then lay during the winter. win-ter. When the pullet Is slow beginning be-ginning to lay, the cost of her maintenance main-tenance detracts from the profits greatly. great-ly. When early pullets (those hatched not later than April) do not begin in November it is seldom they will lay u:,til the opening of spring. It is much cheaper to keep the old hens during the three months required for the moulting process than to sell them off and replace them with early pullets. The old hens will cost less and pay bet'er. No early pullet will pay for herself until she is at least 15 months old, as she must return the cost from the time she was hatched until the time she begins laying, a tribute which the hen has already paid. Heet'H Hedged. The tourist in Scotland, as his brothers elsewhere, with his hurry and scurry, forever in haste to see everything every-thing in a few days, too cften passes by the smaller objects of interest and thus really accomplishes little of hi3 vast undertaking, says the New York Tribune. The beech hedge is one of these too often neglected wonders of nature Not that it is a "smaller object ob-ject of interest"' by any means, for it stands over 100 feet high. The beech hedge is the property of the marquis cf Lansdown, at Meiklour, -Perthshire, and was planted in or about the year 1745 by a party of highlanders encamped en-camped there for a few days while on their way to join the pretender, Prince Charlie. This mammoth hedge, which indeed deserves the name of being one of the modern wonders of the world, is a fitting monument to commemorate the pretender's defeat at Culloden, "the last battle ever fought on English soil." Surface Fires in Forests. Surface fires may be checked if they are feeble by beating them out with green branches, or by raking the leaves away from a narrow strip across their course. When the duff is deep or th soil peaty, a fire may burn beneath tht surface of the ground for weeks or even months, sometimes showing its presence pres-ence by a little smoke, sometimes without with-out giving any sign of life. Even a heavy rain may fail to quench a fire of this kind, which often breaks out again long after it is believed to be entirely extinct. Fires which thus burn into the ground can sometimes be checked only by digging a trench through, the layer of decaying wood and otlr vegetable veg-etable matter to the mineral soil beneath. be-neath. The most dangerous and destructive de-structive forest fires are those which run both along the ground and in the tops of the trees. They can be checked check-ed only by rain or change of wind, or by meeting some barrier which they cannot pass. A barrier of this kind is often made by starting another fire some distance ahead of the principal one. Wheat for Macaroni. M. A. Carle-ton Carle-ton of the department of agriculture, who last year brought to this country a large number of species of grain from Russia and Siberia, is about starting for the west to follow out the line of this work with cereals. He is especially espe-cially interested in visiting Arizona and New Mexico with the idea of establishing es-tablishing there the hard macaroni wheata. Mr. Carleton is assured that if these wheats can be grown In this country the manufacture of genuine "Italian" macaroni will be at once taken up. Some macaroni is now manufactured man-ufactured in the United States, but the best is Imported, as the wheat grown here is not suitable for its manufacture. manufac-ture. Mr. Carleton also intends visiting visit-ing the irrigated wheat sections of Utah and Idaho, where such immense yields are secured, being more than double, it is stated, an ordinary heavy crop under dry farming. Pig Feeding It is unprofitable for any swine raiser to stint his animals, as they should be made to grow every day, says Farm, Stock and Home. After ten days or two weeks pigs should be fed generously through their dams, and Et three or four weeks provided pro-vided with a place where they can obtain, ob-tain, unmolested, a little feed of slop and soaked shelled corn. Keep them growing every day, and at an early age they will be ready for the market ! at a profit to the raiser. If pigs are j allowed to stop growing and bocome ! stunted it is very hard to start them anew, not to mention the loss of feed, time and labor. Pigs enclosed in a dry lot or yard, and given only dry, i hard corn and hard water seldom yield a handsome profit. They need a variety va-riety of food, such as will expand the stomach and at th.e same time be cooling cool-ing to the system. Corn, alone, is too heating. The Profit in Poultry. The profit in poultry is Just what we make it. If we pay out large sums of money for etrs, birds and equipments, we must make large sales and lots of mem it we expect to make & profit. If we neglect our poultry, no matter how little we pay out, wa will lose money. Ex. WONDERS OF ALASKA. CAPTAIN BAYSE DISCOVERS A -CAVE OF RELICS. Bloody Battle with Two Bis Bears Evidence T iat Many Centuries Ago the Klondyke Wa Not the krigld Arctic Region. It Now 1, (Special Letter.) Capt. D. C. Bayse of the Standard Oil company's Yukon river steamer Oil City was one of the skippers caught midway between Dawson and St. Michael Mi-chael by the freezing of the Yukon last October. He spent the winter hunting hunt-ing and exploring, often making long trip3 into the interior from the steamer. steam-er. On one of these trips he had an exciting ex-citing bear hunt and discovered traces of ancient Alaskan history that may prove valuable when properly investigated. inves-tigated. "The beginning of last winter win-ter on the Yukon found the stern-wheel stern-wheel steamer Oil City midway between be-tween Dawson and St. Michael, with a big cargo of oil on board," he said. "There were unmistakable signs of an early closing of the stream. In consequence con-sequence I ran the steamer into a short but deep stream that flo-vs into the Yukon opposite the Russian mission. We got everything in good order before be-fore the river finally closed on Oct. 15. It was a case of killing dme until the river opened six months later, and there were few ways of doing it Hunt- AN INTERIOR VIEW. Ing was not good, as game wa3 scarce, but we had no choice. My companion on these trips was usually Lin Que, the Americanized Chinese steward of the steamer. One day we made the crest of a low range of white sandstone hills, took a detour for the purpose of reaching reach-ing a higher ridge of the same kind of rick, and finally found ourselves in a sort of cove entirely shut oli by rocks, except for the entrance we had made use of. While I was resting Lin went out on a private prospecting trip. 1 was soon aroused by hearing him call: " 'Captain! Captain! Come long quick; heavy hole in rock!' "I found him peering into what I took to be the entrance to a bear den. After clearing away some of the fresh rock slide that almost blocked the entrance, en-trance, and making an improvised torch we entered the hole cautiously. With Lin in advance we crawled some six feet and found ourselves in a sort of room. It was about twenty feet square, with a high rock in the center which had evidently been used a3 a table. On the north side was a crude sort of fireplace. Going further back we noticed the entrance to a somewhat larger chamber. We no sooner entered en-tered this than I saw six balls of fire glaring out of the darkness directly ahead. Lin moved his light to one side, and by its glare I saw a monster form rise and come toward me with a rush. The beast was almost upon me before I remembered the Winchester. I raised the weapon, and with no aim at all pulled the trigger. As luck would have it I killed the bear. In the excitement ex-citement I lost sight of Lin, who was having a touch of excitement on his own account. He, too, had seen balls of fire approaching. He took one hurried hur-ried shot with his revolver, but fired low, and hit the bear that was making for him in the loin. He threw away the gun, and, whipping out his long cooking knife, prepared for a hand to hand struggle. His opponent, a half-grown half-grown bear, was on him in an instant. The pair rolled over and over. Whenever When-ever Lin was on top he plunged his big knife in to the hilt. I could not shoot, as the Chinaman and the bear were too mixed up. The Chinaman finally won out, but not until the flesh about hi3 arms and limbs had been badly torn. The other cub wa3 easily killed. We decided to return to the boat that night and send after the meat the next day. As soon as the Arctic sky Indicated a stretch of good weather Lin and I started out to invesugaie our discovery. We found the cave with little trouble. After carefully brushing brush-ing off the wall with some hay that we wore inside our Arctic socks, a carefully care-fully drawn panorama, which I judged to be the history of the people who occupied the cave in former times, was d-isclosed. The first scene, drawn in red on the white sandstone, was very plain. It showed three small boats, with three people in each, putting out on a stormy sea from a rugged coast. About three feet further along was another an-other drawing in which the same boats figured. The boats had evidently crossed cross-ed the sea and were landing on a low shore. Between the pictures wre drawings of whales, walrus and seals. The third drawing was four feet from the second and showed the three boats coming up a wide river. Further investigation in-vestigation showed other sketches, of the chase after buffalo, deer, bear and moose. The hunters always appeared with dogs and canoe3. In none of the sketches were there any indication of eleds or snow. This led me to wonder won-der if the Yukon country at that time had the same terrible winters it now has. It seems strange that the ancient historian would forget the cold winters when he was so accurate in putting in other details. Religions "Jumpers" In tbe Iilar(r. The "jumpers" are making things lively in South Carrollton, Ky., by ! holding street services in the day and j-meetings In their tent at night. Their manner of holding services is not the prettiest on earth, nor to the unconverted uncon-verted strikingly indicative of a possession pos-session of the spirit true and tried. They pass unheeded the laughter and remarks of the audience as they go through their varied programme, including in-cluding what, if seen on we stage, would be voted up-to-date dancing with the high-kick act tossed in for down weight. This is the same band that has been doing other parts cf the country for several years, and is composed com-posed of several men and women and little ones of a number sufficient to lend Interest if not comment. AT THE NORTH POLE. A Canadian Who Claim to Hare There. Gustav Bertrand of St. Madeleine, Quebec, Canada, who is at the Perrault ouse, at Lestershire, one of Bingham-ton's Bingham-ton's suburbs, claims to be the discoverer discov-erer of the north pole. He is a poor man, and, being rather ignorant of the higher arts of reamanship, in his story oi the discovery can be given only the outlines of his adventures. He is about 35 years old, and is at present practically prac-tically on the charity of the residents of the village. A local physician says he is sane. He is unwilling to talk for publication, saying that he will not be believed. Bertrand's story is to the effect that while on a Belle Isle fishing smack afar up the Bay of Biff an he became estranged from his companions, being in a small boat by himself. A storm came and drove him from his course, and, after going without with-out food for some time, he met an Esquimaux, who gave him food, and told him of a "white man's party further fur-ther up the coast." He wandered along, not finding the white men, and, upon the wrecking of his boat, he was obliged to live with the natives, always al-ways getting nearer the pole. About a year afterward he arrived at a warmer part, and going still further north, found the north pole. This country he describes as being an island surrounded sur-rounded by ice. It has one or two small mountains. A small tribe of farge-built people, not Esquimaux, lived there, and he stayed there for some time. The manner of living Is similar to that of the Esquimaux, and he experienced many hardships. There aie two seasons, he says, mild and cold. In the mild weather lichens grow there. He tells only of a life of hardship hard-ship among a savage people, and says he marvels how he every survived to tell the story. He returned by working work-ing his way down to Ellesmere, and then, by the aid of kindly officers, got to northern Alaska. He went gold prospecting, got caught by the Canadian Cana-dian authorities in some unsavory affair, so he says, and was sent to prison at Toronto, Canada. He was released re-leased from there several months ago. He is evidently a man badly broken in health by hardships, and as hl3 story seems to bear the stamp of truth in one or two relics of life among the natives of the north pole, opinion among the villagers is somewhat divided di-vided as to the veracity of his statements. state-ments. New York Hun. HE ATTACKS HOBSON. Lieut. Jose Muller y Tejeiro, who was next to Admiral Cervera in command com-mand of the naval forces of Santiago de Cuba, has just finished an elaborate reply to Naval Constructor Hobson's article, entitled, "The Sinking of the Merrimac," in the Century Magazine. Lieut. Muller is a Spanish officer of thirty-five years' standing, saw the sinking of the Merrimac, took Lieut. Hobson's depositions in Morro Castle, and was present at the battle of San tiago. The navy department at Washington Wash-ington has thought so much of him that it has published his book, "Battles and Capitulation of Santiago de Cuba." I have received an advance copy of the Spanish officer's article. He writes: "A glance at a chart would have shown Mr. Hobson that with or without the Merrimac vessels of large tonnage can come out of Santiago harbor only one at a time. Consequently the Merrimac was perfectly useless in the place and position in which it was sunk. This was thoroughly demonstrated on the 3d of July, when the Spanish fleet came out, and one at a time, as they would have had to do under any circumstances." circum-stances." The writer of the article says that the reason why the Merrimac did not sink across the channel, as was Intended, was because the maneuver was badly executed. He adds: "If Mr. Hobson had fitted his vessel with two good anchors ahead, and another an-other two good anchors astern, all he had to do was to steam slowly in and stop the engines shortly before arriving arriv-ing at the chosen place. If tht tfae were coming in the bow anchor should be dropped. The tide would necessarily swing the stern around, and when the vessel reached the desired position across, then the anchor should be dropped drop-ped astern. If, on the contrary, the tide were coming out, the stern anchor an-chor should be dropped first, and the waters having swung the vessel across the bow anchor should be dropped. Lieut. Muller, not content with pointing point-ing out that the sinking of the Merrimac Merri-mac was useless because the maneuver was badly executed, attacks Lieut. Hobson, not so much for hie osculatory habit, as for his discrimination in favor fa-vor of the young and pretty. He says: "Mr. Hobson has reaped the greatest LIEUT. MULLER. harvest of kisses from the time of Adam to that of McKinley, but he appeared ap-peared more determined and enthusiastic enthusias-tic In kissing the young and pretty than the old and ugly." The whole tone of the article is a strong Indictment against what this Spanish officer calls Hobson egotism. An English Girl's Long: Swim. Miss Mary Livingstone, Scotland's champion lady swimmer, recently attempted at-tempted to swim from Greenock to Rothesay, a distance of fifteen miles. A Glasgow correspondent of the London Lon-don Leader says she took the water at 11:40 o'clock, the temperature being in the region of 48 degrees. She showed splendid form and no signs of fatigue. After leaving Gourock some refreshment refresh-ment was administered and her hands were rubbed. She passed Clock lighthouse light-house at 12:50, the distance up to this point being six miles, and the time occupied oc-cupied two hours and ten minutes, the tide and river aiding her gTeatly. Miss Livingstone began to show signs of exhaustion ex-haustion shortly after passing the lighthouse, and as the sea had turned a trifle rough it was evident she would not succeed in her object. When opposite op-posite Wemyss Castle, about eight miles from Grenock, the doctors decided de-cided to take her on board, the swim to this point taking three hours and ; forty minutes. She pleaded to be al lowed to float and finish the feat. The Lutheran Church in Iceland has about 72,000 members, or about the entire en-tire population. ! J.SMITH,MILLIOXAIEE It was a typical autumn London night, the streets flowing with greasy mud, the air yello.w with smoky fog, and a cold, sleety drizzle falling, as Hilda Smith arrived at Paddington station. sta-tion. It was her first experience of the great metropolis, but she had received her Instructions.and selecting her port-l port-l manteau she had it removed to a cab, ' and. Jumping in, ordered the man to drive to the Ballarat mansions in Vic toria street, Westminster. Hilda was not a little anxious because be-cause she had arrived in town a day ahead of her invitation, and she was not certain whether her bachelor brother, with whom she was going to stay for a month or six weeks, would be ready to receive her. The door was opened by a hard-faced looking woman of the charwoman type, who stood gazing at her without moving mov-ing away from the entrance. "Ia this Mr. Smith's?" asked Hilda. "Yes, miss," replied the woman.with-out woman.with-out offering to let her in, however. "Is he at home?" "No, he ain't, and I don't know when he will be." "But did he not expect me? He is my brother, and I have come to stay with him." "Oh, indeed, miss. Well, he didn't say nothing to me about It," answered the woman. "But I suppose you'd better bet-ter have the spare room," and she stepped step-ped aside with a grudging air as she allowed al-lowed the fair girl to enter. Turning on the electric light, she showed Hilda into a handsomely furnished fur-nished bedroom, whose white and gold paint and blue satin furniture caused her to open her eyes in wonder, for her brother was not supposed at home to be In luxurious circumstances, and by the time she had washed her face and hands the housekeeper brought her a cup of tea and some bread and butter, after which she retired to rest, and did not wake until late the following morning. morn-ing. "Mr. Smith came home late 'last night, miss," said the housekeeper, when she aroused her with the hot water, "and told me to say that he would join you at breakfast." The breakfast table was a picture to the eyes of the frugally brought up country girl, for it was covered with every delicacy In or out of season, and Hilda was admiring the priceless china when she heard footsteps approaching, and turned around to welcome her brother. "Oh, Jack!" she exclaimed, dancing toward the door with her arms outstretched. out-stretched. "I'm so lad " Then she stopped suddenly aa thougn she had been shot, for a tall, dark, handsome man, quite the opposite of her brother in appearance, entered the room. "I am afraid that somebody has made a mistake," he said, in a soft, kind, reassuring re-assuring voice. "But I can not be sufficiently suf-ficiently grateful to whoever is to blame for sending me such a charming guest to breakfast." "I expected to meet my brother Mr. Smith," observed Hilda, nearly choking chok-ing with confusion. "John Smith." "My name is John Smith," said the Stranger, with an amused smile. "Of No. 8 Ballarat mansions," continued con-tinued Hilda. "Ah! Now I see how the mistake occurred," oc-curred," exclaimed Mr. Smith. "This Is No. 6, but there is another John Smith at No. 8, and our letters frequently fre-quently get mixed up. I can only say that I am sorry it is the other John Smith who is the lucky man on this occasion. And now, my dear young lady, let us go to breakfast." At first Hilda could neither eat nor ipeak, but her rost in a short time had succeeded in putting her so much at her ease that she was chattering away to him about her family, her home, and all her little domestic affairs. That breakfast must have lasted an unconscionably long period, but Mr. Smith did not appear to be desirous of hurrying it, and everything was so delightfully de-lightfully strange and novel to Hilda that she did not notice the lapse of time until her companion suggested that if they went around now they would most probably find "the other Mr. Smith" at home to lunch. Hilda hurried away to put her hat on, and the more she looked at the exquisitely ex-quisitely furnished room, with its cut-glass cut-glass perfume bottles, chased silver powder boxes, and all the hundred and one little additions that go toward making a woman happy, the more she wondered who it had been prepared for. Fortunately, when they arrived at 8 Ballarat mane loss, they found "the other Mr. Smith at home on the top floor, and Hilda could not help noticing how wonderfully civil he was to her host, and how eagerly he accepted his offer to dine on the following evening for himself and sister. After he had gone, however, the matter mat-ter was explained. "That is John Smith, the millionaire, said her brother, impressively, "and he Is the managing director of the company com-pany I work for." The dinner was followed by a theater thea-ter and a supper, and so it went on, until the night before she should have gone home Mr. Smith asked her if she would change her - appellation from Miss to Mrs. Smith. : Hilda has always had an overwhelming overwhelm-ing desire to penetrate the mystery of HILDA HURm AWAYTO PUT HERHAT ON. the spare room, bat ail the Information she could obtain from her husband wai, that he kept it fitted up In that manner man-ner In order that he might be able to entertain an angel if one called upon him unawares, and he always added: "And if it had not been for that precaution, pre-caution, my dear, I should not have had the dearest and sweetest little wife In the world." Ally Sloper. BANK CLERKS. Are Specialists In Bandwritlnr, bnt Are Not Experts. New Orleans Times Democrat: "I am free to say I don't repose much confidence in bank clerks as experts in handwriting," said an experienced paying pay-ing teller of this city. "I mean, of course, experts in the broad acceptance of the term. The average teller becomes be-comes familiar with the signatures of the customers of his bank and in time he acquires a remarkable facility for memorizing the characteristics of any autograph on sight, that doesn't make him a scientific expert In chlrography. In nine cases out of ten his opinion as to whether two documents, for instance, were written by the same man, would have no special value, and for that reason rea-son a great deal of the so-called expert evidence received in court is really worthless. A bank teller or cashier is a specialist in signatures, but exactly ex-actly how he identifies them and detects de-tects forgeries with almost unfailing accuracy is something that very few of them are able to explain. It i3 very difficult, in f-ct, to put it into words. As nearly as I can express it, a teller recognizes rec-ognizes a signature in much the same way that he recognizes a friend on the street not by any single feature, but by the ensemble, by a general summing up of all his characteristics. He would know him in spite of changes in attire and even changes in the manner of wearing his hair or beard, and by a similar process he recognizes signatures signa-tures written under varying conditions they are dissimilar, but they have the old familiar look. A forgery on the other hand is almost certain to impress him as strange. He can't tell exactly why, perhaps, but he knows it 'doesn't look right." A modern expert in handwriting hand-writing basis his opinion on certain exact rules and close, detailed analysis, but with a banking man the thing is half instinctive. He has to decide on the spur of the moment and has no time for measurements and micro- scopes. Most tellers know nothing whatever about the science of chirog-raphy." chirog-raphy." The Hindoo Egg Dance. One of the most wonderful of the many feats performed by Hindoo jugglers jug-glers is the egg dance. Usually It is executed by a girl fantastically dressed. She makes use of a willow wheel, round which, at equal distances, are some twenty threads, and at the end of each thread there is a noose, held open by a bead. This wheel the girl places on her head, while she carries car-ries a basket of eggs on her arm. When the music strikes up she dances and the wheel begins to spin round. She then takes an egg from the basket, places it in one of the thread nooses, and throws it from her with suflJcient force to draw the knot tight. The spinning of the wheel keeps the thread stretched, with the egg at the end of it. She then takes another egg from the basket, places it in another noose, and repeats this until there is an egg in every noose. Her fantastic costume, her perfect motion, and all the eggs swinging on the taut threads at once, present a very pretty sight indeed. It requires much art to execute the dance, for at one false step the eggs would be dashed together, the dance spoiled, and the dancer thereby disgraced. After dancing, for a time, she takes the eggs out of the noose one by one, all the time keeping the wheel balanced and in motion, and again places them in the basket. A Rabbit's Stupidity. "I saw a curious incident not long ago which seems to show that the rabbit, rab-bit, like other wild creatures, has room in its brain for only one idea at a time," says a lover of animals. "I was walking up a lane, with three dogs trotting in front. A smart little fox terrier and a fat black cocker spaniel span-iel led the way side by side, and another an-other very fat cocker waddled after them, about ten paces in the rear. A rabbit bolted out of the hedge Just after two dogs had passed, and, coming com-ing face to face with the very fat cocker, wheeled and dashed up the lane, passing the other two dogs so closely that the fox terrier raced alongside along-side poor bunny for half a dozen, yards and caught him. The curious part of the business was that the rabbit, when bolting from the dog behind, almost ran Into the two dogs In front and, plainly, did not see them at all till it had passed them and the fox terrier ter-rier gave chase. I suppose its thoughts and energies were centered on escape from the roly-poly dog, which, had the rabbit only known it, could have caught a swallow on tne wing as soon as its frightened self." A Chmnk of Wisdom. " "The bicycle girl who doesn't know bow to use a brake frequently get one," said the wise man in the repair shop. . Tke world needs human paracletes. CAMPFIRE SKETCHES GOOD SHORT STORIES FOR THE VETERANS. Saved' bj s Goose The Bird Gives Timely Warning to a Sentry A Battlefield Bat-tlefield Dream A Reminiscence of a Carnival of Slaughter. Requiem. For One Slain In Battle, 1S62. Breathe, trumpets, breathe Slow notes of saddest 'nailing Sadly responsive peal, ye muffled drums; Comrades, with downcast eye. And banners trailing. Attend him home The youthful warrior comes. Upon his shield. Upon his shield returning. Borne from the field of honor, Where he fell; Glory and grief, together clasped In mourning. His fame, his fate With sobs exulting tell. Wrap round his breast The flag his breast defended His country's flag. In battle's front unrolled; ( For It he died ' On earth forever ended Ms brave young life Lives in each sacred fold. With proud, fond tears. By tinge of shame untainted, ' Bear him, and lay him Gently in his grave: Above the hero write: The young, half-sainted His country asked his life. His life he gave! George Lunt- Saved by a Goose. Ella Rodman Church tells a very "Strange Story of a Goose" in St. Nicholas Nich-olas a story that recalls the legend of the Roman capital and the cackling geese that saved it from surprise. This goose made its first appearance near Quebec over fifty years ago, when some British troops had been sent out to put down a rebellion of the colonists. A certain farm In the neighborhood, suspected sus-pected of being a resort for the insurgents, insur-gents, was surrounded by sentries placed at some distance apart, and one day the sentry whose post was near the gate of the farm heard a singular noise. A fine, plump goose soon appeared ap-peared on a run, making directly for the spot where the soldier stood, and close behind in pursuit came a hungry hun-gry fox. The sentry's first impulse was to shoot the thievish animal and rescue the goose, but since the noise of the report would have brought out the guard on a false alarm he was obliged to deny himself this satisfaction. The fox was gaining on his intended prey, when the goose, in a frantic attempt to reach the sentry box, ran his head and neck between the soldier's legs just as the pursuer was on the point of seizing seiz-ing it. Fortunately, the guard could use his bayonet without making a disturbance, dis-turbance, and he did this to such good advantage that the pursuit was soon ended. The rescued goose, evidently animated by the liveliest gratituds, rubbed its head against its deliverer's legs, and performed various other joyful joy-ful and kitten-like antics. Then, deliberately de-liberately taking up its residence at the garrison post, it walked up and down with the sentry while he was on duty, and thus accompanied each successive suc-cessive sentry who appeared to patrol that beat. About two months later the goose actually saved the life of ita particular par-ticular friend in a very remarkable way. The soldier was again on duty at the same place, and on a moonlight night, when the moon was frequently obscured by passing clouds, the enemy had formed a plan to surprise and kill him. His feathered devotee was be side him, as usual, while he paced his lonely beat, challenging at every sound and then "standing at ease" before his sentry box. The goose always stood at ease, too, and it made a very comical com-ical picture. But some undesirable spectators at least, of the soldier's movements were stealing cautiously toward the place, under cover of the frequent clouds and a line of stunted pine trees. Nearer and nearer to the post they crawled, till one of them, with uplifted knife, was about to spring on "the unsuspecting man. Then it was that the watchful goose covered itself with glory by rising unexpectedly unexpect-edly from the ground and flapping its wings in the faces of the would-be assassins. They rushed blindly forward, for-ward, but the 6entry succeeded in shooting one of the party and bayoneting bayo-neting another, while the goose continued con-tinued to worry and confuse the remainder re-mainder until they fled wildly for their Uvea. The brave bird wa3 at once adopted by the regiment, under the name of "Jacob," and decorated "with a gold collar on which his name was engraved. !n appreciation of his services. ser-vices. Ever after, during his life of twelve years, he did sentry duty at home and abroad, for he was taken to England at the close of the war in Canada, and greatly lamented there when he died. His epitaph reads, "Died on duty," and no human sentinel senti-nel could have been more faithful than poor old Jacob. As it may occur to some readers who have not made a study of the interesting and almost human hu-man ways of many animals to doubt the truth of so remarkable a story, they are referred to the gold collar, with Jacob's name and exploit engraved en-graved on it, which may still be seen at the headquarters of the Horse Guards in London. Battlefield Dream. They were talking of dreams, when the volunteer who wa3 shot ;hrough the hip at San Juan spoke up, says the Washington Star. "It is strange," said he, "how the real and the unreal are sometimes connected in dreams. I had an experience down at Tampa while we were waiting for orders to go to Cuba which was remarkable In its way. One night, after trying for hours to go to sleep in my tent, I went outside to see If there was a breath of fresh air to be had. Near the ten! there was a rough bench, which had been built for card playing. It was about three feet from the ground and was just wide enough for a man to lie down on. I walked over to the bench and, stretching out on it, was soon asleep. I dreamed that I was stanUQg In a Spanish camp surrounded by hundreds hun-dreds of excited Spaniards, who were Insisting that I be shot at once for a spy. I was perfectly cool and had a supreme indifference about my fate. They took me over to a stake driven in the ground and tied me up to it. Then they wheeled up an enormous cannon to within fifty feet of where I stood and aimed it straight at me. I saw the gunner seize the lanyard and look around at the officer in charge for t command to fire. Then I closed my eyes. The next moment there was a tremendous roar. The cannon ball truck me squarely on the side of the right hip and I flew up into the air. I woke to find myself on the ground, where I had rolled from the bench. There was a sharp pain in my right Up, and, looking out into the open pace beyond the tents I saw that the j corning gun had Just been fired. The i imoke was "till hanging over the can non. The pain in my hip was caused by its coming in contact with a stake driven in the ground near the bench. Several weeks later at San Juan I got bullet in my right hip rhere the tanaon ball of the dream struck and directly in the center of the bruis e left by my forcible contact with the staae when I rolled off the bench." Reminiscence or a Carnival of Slaughter Denver News: "Yes, we made sbout 550 good Indians on that day," said Robert Fiskin, a former member of company G, First Colorado volunteers, who served three years during the civil war in the department of the Missouri, and who is now visiting Colorado after an absence of thirty-five years. The day referred to above was the date of the Sand Creek massacre, in which Mr. Fiskin took an active part. I left my home in Dubuque, Iowa, In the spring of '60," he resumed, "and, of course, came overland by wagon. I was only a lad of 20, but I had the 'fever,' and in company with Jim Mc-Bride Mc-Bride and a man named Wood we headed for Russell Gulch. We mined with varying success all that year, and in the spring of '61 I sold the only claim I had for $50 and went to Denver. War had just been dtv.ared, and I enlisted en-listed in the First Colorado for a period of three years, or until the end of the war. We went into camp at Camp Weld on the Platte river, and our first campaign was in New Mexico, where at Canby, 1,350 Colorado troops routed 3,000 Texans under Bailey and drove them back into Texas. Soon after this the government commenced having trouble with the Indians and we were sent back to Fort Lyons. On the night of Nov. 27, Col. Chivington rode into the fort and gave orders for the entire regiment to be ready to move on the following night. The government had been finding fault with Chivington for his apparent inability to restrain the Indians, and he had evidently resolved to give them a lesson which they would remember. On the night of the 28th we left the fort and after marching all night came upon the Indians on Sand Creek in the early morning. The Indians In-dians were taken wholly unawares, and then ensued a carnival of slaughter the memory of which even now makes my blood run cold. Of the 850 Cheyenne, Chey-enne, Arapahoe and Sioux Indians there were but 300 who escaped. Over 550 were massacred and left dead and dying on the field, their flesh to be eaten by the coyotes and their bones to bleach on the prairie. Mr. Fiskin was mustered out in the fall of '65 and went back to Iowa, where he has been ever since. He has come to Denver for the purpose of entering the Soldiers' Home at Monte Vista. An Historic Slip of Taper. A scrap of paper that carries one back to the very atmosphere of a great decisive battle in the world's history is among the historical treasures ot Blenheim house. On the paper are a dozen lines scribbled in pencil. They were written by the duke of Marlborough Marlbor-ough at the close of the fierce struggle at Blenheim. The tumult of battle was rolling westward, where French and Bavarians were in disordered retreat, with Marlborough's cavalry riding fiercely in their rear. The slopes of the hills and the marshy plain were strewn with thirty thousand killed and wounded. But Marlborough, with the excitement of the great fight yet strong within him, pulled up his horse on one of the little rustic bridges across the Schwanbuch, and scribbled these dozen lines to his imperious wife in London, to tell her of the great event. Apparently, Appar-ently, says the Cornhill Magazine, the duke borrowed the scrap of paper from some member of his staff, for on the back of it are the faded items of a tavern tav-ern bill. He used the parapet of the bridge for a writing desk. He had been seventeen hours in the saddle, most of that time riding in the "very heart of one of the greatest battles in all history, yet the letters are firm in shape, a curious testimony to that serenely se-renely unshakable temperament which was Marlborough's most striking characteristic. Army and Navy. The annual reunion of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland was not held last season, as many of its prominent members were engaged In the war with Spain. This year's meeting meet-ing is to take place at Detroit, Sept. 26 and 27. A German officer has invented an acetylene searchlight, which, can be carried by one man and which will Illuminate Il-luminate everything within a distance of 100 yards. It is expected to be of great use In searching for the wounded after a battle and in bridge building at night. M. Dunant, a doctor, was the first to call the attention of the world to the necessity of some such thing as the Geneva flag, for the betterment of the wounded on the great battlefields of the world. It was in 1859 that he aroused the people to the situation by an account of the condition of things on the field at Solferino. M. Dunant, who was a resident of Geneva, and a fellow-citizen, M. Moynier, set the ball lolling, which resulted in the final acceptance ac-ceptance of the Geneva flag, which is merely the Swiss flag reversed a red cross on a white field, instead of a white crosa on a red field. The military authorities in Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary are confronted with a somewhat some-what serious situation the escape over the frontier of men liable to military service in Austria-Hungary. A large business is carried on by the agents, chiefly foreigners, who assist these men. The first essential is a passport, and this is generally forged. It is known that 1,000 men weekly, on their way to the frontier, pass through Vienna Vi-enna alone, and as most of these are young men, it is calculated that during the year at least 30,000 of those who so pass are escaping from military service. ser-vice. Most of these, it is estimated. come to America, where It is believed there are at present over 100,000 men who should be in the Austro-Hunga- rian army or reserves. During the Franco-Prussian war the French hospital at Vendome was in charge of Mme. Coralie Cahen, aided by two other nurses and seven sis ters of charity. These women visited vis-ited thousands of both the French and German soldiers. The recent death of , Mme. Cahen has brought to light the story of her bravery when the Prussians Prus-sians occupied Vendome and attempted to turn tbe hospital into a German place of refuge for the sick and wounded. wound-ed. Mme. Cahen herself went to see the Prussian general and protested against the raising of the German flag over her Institution, replying to his remark that "We are masters here" with: "In the town it may be; here, no. We are protected by the red cross and the French flag, neither of which you have the right to touch." She was -allowed her own way, and soon won the love of the enemy, whom she continued con-tinued to nurse, as she had done every lime one of them came under her notice. |