OCR Text |
Show IN THE ODD CORNEIl. AND CURIOUS AND EVENTS. QUEER THINGS Some Lizards Foljrnesian Warriors Queer Facts About These Funny Little Creatures Some Curiosities of Our Calendar. Sprintt's Iievense. in lii.s offi-- e was sitting. When he h ippcued to spy A calcroi ir nigii, Uioiin.-s- s mo;'' Hi exclubm d, how Im Fatlier Time My fitting dajs a:c just scurrying by. get jour garlands and and mirth down to earth. sunshine and showers. ou are worth." al claws is Ttien said Spring, with a pout of unreason, Oh, please. Father dear. Let me off just this year; I hate the earth more every season. It s a silly, absurd little sphere! ing, What on earth has offended you so? Spring odes, lays and ballads they fashion. Ive known one man to pen ad- what a clever suggestion! 'Tis the very best Exclaimed giddy Now, what shall question. When my merry wing. thing. Spring. j'oung I wear? thats way earthward the I Heres a snow robe of Winters, thats Jolly: Ill take it to wear. And Ill stick in my hair Some mistletoe sprays and some holly Theyll never know me, I declare!" Come, come, hurry, said old Time, you must Tis February 28, March 1 is your date. And Im in a sad state of worry, For Im mortally sure youll be late. right, answered Spring, I am goHer mantle she drew Aiound her and flew Down to earth, where twas blowing and All ing. I Features of the Reception to the Manila Hero ' at Yahlngton. The central idea underlying the grand welcome to be g.vtn Admiral Dewey In Washington the first week in October is Its national character. His arrival at the capital will mark his real g to the American people, where the officials of the government will participate, and the magnificently Jeweled sword voted by cor. trees will be presented. To that end H the arrangements will be of a simple hut most dignified character. The welcome to the hero of Manila at the national capital will probably occur on Monday, October 2, although the date will de-- i pend upon the length of the celebra- tion in New York, which is still unhome-comin- longi- tudinally between each claw and coming off much like a small glove. The sand lizard seems in no way inconvenienced in the process, and scrambles about with skin as his does as nor before; agilely grip of claw or mouth appear to suffer at all The beautiful by the transaction. tints of his side, emerald green in sunshine, seem even more vivid than before his sloughing from the old skin, though naturally he is not comparable with the beautiful emerald green Jersey lizard. Voraclon As many as ten! 'And I vow" here she flew in a passion I never will go there again! Oh. Time, distinctly shed, splitting d, 'NATIONS GREETING TO DEWEY snowing She crept tn, and nobody knew. Carolyn Wells, In Life. Warriors. All over Polynesia, clubs and spears h assume an astonishing and abnormal development. They are made of extremely hard woods, so heavy that they will sink In water, and the carving of a single weapon of the kind ofter requires years of labor. Some of the spears are barbed all the way up to the handle. At the same time battles among the Polynesian islanders have a character that is largely ceremonial, and the object of the military equipment i3 chiefly to make the warrior seem prouder and more terrible. Helmets of feathers are worn and breastplates decorated with feathers and shells. The elaborate clubs are not only weapons, but also Insignia of Tank. In Tahiti the war costume consists of three cloaks with holes In the middle, put on oue over the other one white, one red and one brown; and the natives of that Island have a special sort of forked sword ornamented with sharks teeth, which is a frightful instrument. Human sacrifices were universal all over Polynesia before the Europeans came, and cannibalism was Sacrifices of practiced everywhere. war prisoners were and slaves invariably necessary at the building of war canoes. The natives believed that their deities were and their faith was cannibals, that the great god Tangaroa caught souls with a net and ate them up. Infanticide is extremely common now all over that part of the world, and female infants are strangled quite customarily, because it pays better to bring up boys, who can fight, fish and become priests. One consequence of this custom is that women are scarce, aad polyandry frequently results, one woman having several husbands. On some islands women are strangled when their husbands die, and the matron from her wedding day always wears the ominous cord around her neck. Polynesian well-nig- Lizard. Lizards are little studied and little known. In Shakespeare's day they ante-roo- clothes-wearin- g fern-hous- Some Cariosities of Our Calendar. scientific A writer in the French Journal La Science pour Tous recalls certain curiosities of the Gregorian Since the re calendar. He writes: form of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII., in 1582, no century can begin with a Wednesday, a Friday or a Sunday. Also the same calendar can be used every twenty years. January and October of the same year always begin with the same day. So do April and July, also September and December. February, March and November also begin with the same day. New Years day and St. Sylvester's day also fall on the same day, except, of course, in leap years. Each day of the week has served as a day of rest somewhere; Sunday among Christians, Monday with the Greeks, Tuesday with the Persians, Wednesday with the Assyrians, Thursday with the Egyptians, Friday with the Turks, and Saturday with the Jews. Finally, the error of the Gregorian calendar, compared with the actual course of the sun, does not exceed one day in four thousand years. As it is quite probable that neither you nor I shall ever verify this, we shall not risk very much by believing the were thought to be poisonous, and in England today country people hold them in awe. The forked tongue and suokelike movement add to the fear in which they are held. The scaly and the sand lizard are most common, and both seem to need the presence of water. yet they like dry quarters, and a cold, wet day will see every one of them vanish. It is the tongue of the lizard which does most execution and secures the prey of which it Is in quest. statement C. JOHN HUEINGER. Remarkable Career of Western Capitalist, Manufactell-Kno- ARE SURELY BUT SLOWLY PASSING AWAY. urer and Philanthropist. Among the leaders of the progressiva element for wl.iih the i:.k:Ie west is The Steel Track and Locomotive Csnrp famous, .Mr. John C. II ubinger, of KeoTheir 1lace A Ilough Kidcr Telle kuk, la., reigns without a peer. As I One of the Why the Occupation a manufacturer, as an enterprising capI udertakeu. Must Disiutl Kvt-italist anil as a philanthropist his famt has spread oer inajn states, and hit financial entei prises bate de eloped (Special Letter.) towns into progressive, Arah3 white the Desert teamsters many cities. Mr of the American Sahara, as some one thrift .... 47 years oi ut are passing II ubinger, although has aptly called them of comaway. The rairoads are driving them age, can look bail, upon scorts mercial ietorks. each one of which hat back to civilization, to find other occuhis liberality it pation. Ten years ago there were benefited mankind, for as bountiful as his business sagacity ii 1.2t)0 teamsters on the deserts and in lie was born in New Orthe arid mountains ot Arizona and mart elous. southern California, with wagon trains leans. I,a.t his jarents bt ingof Frenck unlike anything else in the world, on and German origin. When lie was foui tears old, Ins family removed to Kenaccount of their size and the stupendous loads they carried. tucky, in which state young Ilubingei Fe received a public school eduiation. AL & Santa The Atchison, Topeka most before reaching mans estate h extensive some has done very company and secured Colorado patents on a number of valrailroad building on the ical Inventions, thereby media are less uable y there deserts. Mojave than fifty genuine desert teamsters left laying the foundation of liis presenl fortune. in southern California, and their numBy inclination and force of circumber is diminishing every month. Most his attention was early directstances deserts on the of the freight teamsters manufacture of starch by imthe to ed or are Mexicans nowadays is man proved processes, and in the course oi The average white Indians. for such time he became the head of a concern unfitted by temperament of million! hardships and depressing solitude. having an annual business But genuine ambition g runs of dollars. There are some that require seventeen days for the never quite satisfied with existing conround trip, and during the journey the ditions, works ever toward perfection, and after years of painstaking study men with the teams spend research Mr. Ilubinger has made and of the time remote from any other human beings. It requires twenty-one days to make the round trip from Mojave to the Death valley borax works in California, and it is seldom that a teamster sees even four or five r e 1 wide-awak- e 1 r half-bree- d freight-teamin- three-fourt- White Ants. One of the principal and most immediate needs of the hour, especially at this moment, in Luzon is some effective method whereby wood may be rendered absolutely Impervious to the attacks of the various species or allies of the genus termites the white ants says the Scientific American. Writing to our state department in 1893, the then United States consul at Amoy, China, Dr. Edward Bedloe, said: A fortune lies in store for the man who will discover some process for cheaply making wood proof against white ants. These pests are the curse of existence in Amoy and every other tropical or subtropical city. Their voracity is incredible. They ate the framework of a new door in this consulate in three weeks. In the same period they almost consumed a large and handsome cabinet In the courtroom and a heavy Their pine settee in the work is invisible. They attack the wood from a mere point, through which they bore to the Interior, and there eat everything until only a shell or film remains. Wood which will successfully resist these insects must be thoroughly charged with some powerful chemical, A both poisonous and solution of corrosive sublimate, chloride of zinc, arsenic of antimony would seem to meet the want. But how to force these into the fibers until the latter are saturated and to do so at a merely fractional cost of the wood Itself is the problem that confronts the inventor. The American genius is so prolific in invention and discovery that I feel assured that the problem will be satisfactorily solved. Six years have passed, and the consuls faith in the genius of American inventors has not been vindicated, while the great need of some such process as he suggests has yearly grown much greater as Europeans have atto penetrate deeper and deeper tempted Into tropic wildernesses. A soldier correspondent of a western daily graphically writes from Manila, after having returned from one of these recent raids: These Tagals are aa elusive and annoying as wasps and not much more dangerous, if you can only catch them. For my part, I consider the white ants much more Invincible. A fellow feels pretty bad e after a three days tramp in tnis climate to get back to camp and clean clothes, only to find that a colony of white ants have burrowed into his chest, and that all his belongings, not made of glass or metal, have been reduced to a rather fine powder. desert teamsters. To-da- half-she- d Why, my child, said old Father Time, frowning, They are waiting, you know, And of course you must go, The poets their Queen would be crown- Well, of course you cant help their miring, Said Time, looking wise, So I would advise That you travel incog, by attiring Yourself In some sort of disguise. clings tightly to the band and nny be even carried about in this fashion. The skinning of the lizard is an event well worth watching, beginning at the ears and progressing gradually taking about a week or ten days in progress. The skin is shed in sections of perhaps half an inch in length, and, going right around the body, in the case of the sand lizard, measures two inches in breadth. The markings are most beautiful, and the skin of the tail-war- The world has il up tiie whole Winter, And demands tiie next stage At the turn of the page; I declare one must be a real sprinter To Keep up wuh the pace of this age. Here. Spring, llowers; With laughter You must skip Take plenty of And hurry for more especially flies and spiders, which fall ready victims to its sudden dart. Caterpillars are not above the lizards attention, and small earthworms are a favorite food, the greater power of the lizard enabling it to force its way almost under any stones and roots in search of food. Small particles of raw beef every few days appear to contain nourishment of the right kind when insect food is missing. Irritated by handling, Lacerta agile s turns sharply on his assailant, and, though toothless, 6WORD VOTED BY CONGRESS TO DEWEY. settled. The principal features of the reception In Washington, as planned by the citizens, with the of the president and cabinet, will be two In number the presentation of the Bword voted by congress and a night A public reception at the parade. white house will be followed by dinner to the admiral by President McKinley. The eword will be presented by Secrel, tary Lon-g- , at the east front of the in the presence of Mr. McKinley and all the members of the cabinet, late In the afternoon, while the parade, consisting of organizations of all kinds, will be accompanied by an illumination of the city on a scale of beauty never before witnessed In Washington. The different features of the preparations are in the hands of a central body of citizens and eleven committees, embracing In all over a thousand people. Preparations for the celebration have been in hand for over a month. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad and other railroads entering Washington have agreed upon cheap rates for the celebration, and the committee expects that there will be an outpouring of patriotic citizens almost equal to the inauguration of a president. eap-ito- Betrayed by HU Parrot. Victor Chevalier, a clever criminal In Paris, was run down in a shrewd way. He was known to be exceedingly fond of a pet parrot, and the police were Instructed to look for a loquacious bird of this kind. After a weeks search the talkative parrot was discovered In the Montmartre district. The police kept a close watch on the house, and in time the criminal appeared to have an affectionate chat with his bird. REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR. Every woman Is a good actress till she goes on the stage. There Is one thing a woman never can understand, and that is herself. When the devil had his choice as to instruments he first picked jealousy. If they were named anything else a woman would have just as queer a look in her face when she talked about her legs. If there weren't any bad men to bs horrible examples, probably there wouldnt be any good women to be hs A DESERT TRAIN. persons in his long, weary journey across the desert. On many desert freight wagons are two men the teamster and swamper. The former sits at the front of the first wagon and looks out for the horses and mules; the swamper is on the second wagon. His duty is to work the ponderous brakes on the big wagon on down grades and to urge on the dallying horses and mules by means of stones and rocks thrown at the beasts on ths up grades. Mr. John E. Hodgson (Happy Jack), one of Buffalo Bills rough riders, says: The dreariness and melancholy produced by months of freight teaming across the desert and through the blisI tering mountains is indescribable. have lived alone for three or four months at a time in a mining cabin away over the Verde mountains, and I have been where I never saw a human being for two or three weeks at a stretch, but the two trips I made as teamster from Phoenix to Prescott and back during the summer of 1894 were enough for me. It would take at least $1,000 a trip to get me to contract to do more freight hauling like that. What is it that makes freighting on the deserts so frightful? Why, the solitude, the hot sun, the aridity that makes one almost a mummy before he knows it, the slow, steady, humdrum creaking of the freight wagons as they just move through the sea of sand, the withering heat that comes ceaselessly day by day to ones face while he is out on a trip, and the depressing scenery all about all turn ones disposition upside down. The nightly camps on the hot sand and the swallowing of food are in themcheap, selves enough to upset a common mans stomach and mind. I cannot adequately tell of the awful monotony of a seven days trip across the Gila candesert, through the furnace-lik- e yons, over the white, scaled, alkali foothills, and then up through the desolate, forbidding and lifeless mountains to the Rio Hasayampa, on the way from Phoenix to Prescott, that freight teamsters have endured in summer. The more intelligent the teamster, so much more dreadful the monotonous solitude and enervating the conditions of the trip. half-cook- ed God Is Lovs, into ecstasies over the a corporal Jehovah, though with scarcely a spark of love in their hearts; yet God is love, and without God immortality cannot appear. Mortals try to believe without understanding truth, yet God is truth. Mortals claim that man must die, when his divine principle is ever present life. Mortals believe in a finitely human God, People go Idea of when God Is love that must be demonstrated. Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy. The New How often men Conld Not Stop Laughing. shining examples. finally put to sleep Julius Opiates Every racy story a man hears he Mattas, who was taken to a Chicago acts like It was old to him and every woman like it was new to her, and both are making believe. When a man can make a woman believe that he cant help thrilling at her voice she feels she has to marry him so that she can turn the current on whenever Bhe feels like It. The difference between a woman and a cat is that when you tease the cat you know shell scratch you, but when its a woman you never know whether shell kise you or tear your eyes out. New York Press. discovery, which he considers the crowning event of his wonderful career, and which is embodied in a new article of commerce, known as Red Cross Starch (Red Cross trade mark.) lie is planning to distribute millions of packages of this starch to the housewives of America, at a merely nominal price to the consumer, in order to make its merits known without delay. Thus, for but 5 cents two large 10c packages of Red Cross Starch may be had, together with tw-- magnificent Shakespearean views printed in 12 beautiful colors, or a Twentieth Century Girl Calendar; or for only 20 cents 10 packages of the starch and the entire series of eight Shakespearean views and one Twentieth Century Girl Calendar views alone easily worth $1.00. Watch this paper for future of which premium announcements, every lady will certainly want to take advantage. While Mr. Ilubinger will devote his best energies to the manufacture of this new and wonderful starch, he will not retire from the various financial enterprises in which he is interested street railways, electric lighting plants and the Missisisppi Valley Telephone Co., with 10,000 telephone subscribers in Minneapolis and St. 1aul nor will his augmented activity interfere with his social obligations and exercise of the splendid hospitality which he dispenses at his palatial Keokuk home. Mr. Hubingers family, consisting of himself, wife and four children, is the pivot around which his activity revolves, and while fond of promoting great enterprises, he is still fonder of his home circle, where he spends every moment of time not taken up by business or public cares. hospital suffering from an apparently uncontrollable fit of laughter. He was quite recovered from the attack when he awoke the next morning. He was not able to give any explanation of the cause of the attack, which came on immediately after he had taken a drink in a saloon. Within its circle of going and coming the unknown of all things becomes known, and the ultimate of all things is revealed to the eye of wisdom. T. R. Wilson. and Old think tnat new ideas call for new arenas! They are generally wrong. The new sword is for the old fight, the new courage for the old conflict. Go home to thy friends. SSow the new life where the old one was lived. It will cost, but it will count The new way of doing the old duty, bearing the old burden, fighting the old temptations, is the vindication of a new heart, Behold, I make all things new means makin old things new. Canada Favnrln; the Jap. While Canadas tax on Chinese immigrants is to be increased, Japanese are to be permitted to come in free only for imperial reasons. |