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Show TOOK ca&3pcwzrxrj In the Grand Dalai Lama of Thibet Great Britain has the strangest enemy aha has ever had. Thibet lies on the slopes of the Himalayas, and has a total area of about 650,000 miles, square with a population of six millions. Its capital is Lhasa (which means Gods ground"), and is the metropolis of the Buddhist world. Because it Is situated at a height of nearly twelve thousand feet above the .level of the sea, It is often referred to as the roof of the world." It is the ambition of adventurous European travelers to make their way Into Lhasa, and solve many of the mysteries which surround the sacred city, but only three have ever done so and come out alive. No living European has ever seen the Grand Lama. Only one Englishman ever got to Lhasa and came back again, and that was Thomas Manning, a great frieud of Charles Lamb, in 1811. However, at various times Indians and Chinese have got there more or less In British interests, and the India Office has a special secret service in its employment, the members of which have, at terrible risks obtained Information which has been duly pigeon holed, so that, though we have not seen Thibet nor its famous Grand Lama, we are not by any means ignorant concernirg either. Lama simply means priest, and the Grand Lama is the head of all the thousands of priests with which the The whole capital city abounds country is divided into four sections, called lings," and a lama rules over each of them. The Grand Lama is assisted in his government by a council, consisting of a Prime Minister and nine other representatives, including a minority of laymen. Two or Chinese residents, are the only officials statione'd in the city In an ambassadorial capacity. Though the government is nominally a theocracy entirely religious, that is ths man who really makes the wheels go round In Thibet Is the Prime Minister, br Gyalpo, as he Is called. . Tbs relations existing between the Qfand Lama and his Gyalpo are as iecullargs theyare Interesting altogether toormucfir so, one would Imagine, for the peace of mind of the former. It somehow became a tradition, which is now regarded hs inviolable, that the Grand Lama shall never live long, and tradition nowadays further fixes his departure from this world at some date between his thirteenth and fifteenth years. There Is really no physical reason why the head of the State should not live as lorg as any other inhabitant of the sacred city, but as the Thibetans would soon be in a state of panic and fear that the end of the world had come If he did so, tradition requires careful management, which is exercised by the Gyalpo. A point in bis favor at the outset Is that it is decreed that the manner of the Lamas death shall always be tnknown, but that the fundamental cause of it shall be a mysterious dis- "am-bans,- t vel that he should be so exactly what the Gyalpo had said be would b Then he is taken off to the great palace. or potala, and duly installed as the new Grand Lama. There Is no doubt that the Gyalpo has previously arranged all detaila concerning tne finding of this child. The people believe It to be In effect the same Grand Lama all the time merely a change of spirit from one body to another. He Is only consulted in state matters In an emergency, and then his word is the last to be said on any question. The Gyalpo holds his office for life; any other arrangement might lead to difficulties Though a religious potentate, the 11 ft ft ft ft ft ft to v! to W to TEMMANS DRY GOODS COMPANY.... to to to t , , (V Plowing :,. - , c, b f with Buffalo. Grand Lama has many lively distracmovement Is very, very slow, and tions. and it is said that one of his they are not ferocious. I met an anaconda on the predecessors Indulged in dissipations upper to a scandalous extent. Amongst the Maranon, a great black and yellow chief festivities in which he partici- anake, all colled up. I drew my re-pates is a kind of lama carnival, volver and fired at the coil. Instead which lasts for fifteen days at the of the terrible convulsions of which I beginning of each year. On the sec- had read, the coll rolled over, reond day he gives a grand banquet, and mained stationary a moment, then on the third there are sports. One of rolled back and lay as before. I fired these-whiIs called the danee again. The slowly la the of the gods, and which the Grand water and disappeared. Lama never fails to witness consists These snakes can easily be domesof a long cable of leathern thongs be- ticated. Some men ran upon an aning stretched from one of the pinna- aconda in the woods near the rubber cles of the palace to the ground far camp. They threw a fish net over It below, and down this steep slope two and brought It to camp, where they men, lying on their chests, and let it go. It crawled away Into the spreading their arms out as If they river, but came back ofteu and were swimming, slide with the speed crawled around the yard so much that oi an arrow. Occasionally they are they got tired of looking at It. So killed in the process. they put It in a box and sent it to On the thirteenth day of the second iquitos. We measured it; it was just month of the year the Grand Iama 24 feet 6 inches Jong. undergoes a kind of annual vindication A poor Thibetan is hired to play Wanted a Change. the part of a demon. He is dressed The Rev. S. P. Cadman of Brooklyn in weird fashion, and his face is painted in a mottle of black and white. tells this story- of a young matron of He is met by a representative of the his congregation who is earnest in her Grand Lama, and the two engage in endeavor to instill religious ideas into what is supposed to be theological the childish mind of her daughter. As argument, in which the Grand Lama's a prayer this little one was taught to man scores heavily. lisp a stanza of the hymn Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, llless Thy little lamb Through the d.ukness be Thou near me. eeAJ-ct- ch mk - to to to to to to LEADING to to WE to to to to to to AS CHEAP AS ANY CATALOGUE to to to to to to IN THE COUNTRY. Mail and Telephone Filled the Orders Same Day "Mamma, dont lets say that one about the little lamb Lets New say the one about the little pig. t. V' 7 o wfi York Times. Microbes in Cid Furniture. Fear of microbes seems to have spread to the possessors of old furniture. which during a long life and unknown experiences may have collected the germs of disease. Recently a cautious lady in London who had V X I- - ) . 1 Ixen studying the medical warnings inherited a Sheraton table. She would not admit it to her ljkse, but sent ff to a cabinet1 it rotor's with orders that an exact replica be made, the original table being offered in pay-mont. If this ladys craze for new and innocuous furnitnre spreads, there should be good times in st&re for the cabinetmakers, as well as for collectors who prefer the risk of microbes to the certainty of shoddy. ft--! to to to -- to to to vu GET THE HABIT I ' J Thibetan Traveling Merchant and Wife. 1 retd Then they agree to decide all questions in dispute by resort to dice, and the Grand Lama has never bem known to lose, because the dice are always loaded. It would be an appal-liromfen If he did, and it has to be The effectually guarded against demon. In his discomfiture. Is marched off amidst execrations and blows, and never lives long afterwards. The sooner he dies, the better Is the omen g for I.hara. Take time for recreation or you will work yourself out of a job. i Ladys Frog Farm. Not the least curious of businesses In which women are engaged is that entered upon by Miss Mpna Sheldon of Friendship, New Jersey, who has started a frog farm upon a twenty-acr- e patch of swamp. Her frogs are, of course, of the edible variety, whose hind legs are beloved of the gourmet, and they find In cosmopolitan America a ready sale, t Miss Sheldon Is said to make a clear 12,500 a year out bf her reptilian sUtck-ln-trad- AND TRADE AT STEI1NMAIN ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft jp ft ft ft 25 ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ' ft ft va "" o o o o o o o o o o o o . ttvv v vvv vtvvvvvvv o GOLDEI! GJITE CDS11 STORE. Miner1 Clothing Snppllen, Such a OvarslU, r Jumper, Boot. OrenblrU, Etc. Main Street, Mercur. Wm. BILLINGS, Prop. 's"2 -- YU;-,--. TRY US. to - her mother: TELEPPONES 24 L as Re ceived. Keep me sate till morning light. And among the rhymes of the nurscry was one about a little man who had a little pig, which was neither very little, nor yet very big." When it came time for the evening devotions one night the small girl said to Dry Goods & Shoes to to to DRY GOODS STORE OF MERCUR Clothing, to w ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ARE SELLING to to to ! J$ to ii to to to to to Jr ease which does not afflict other persons. Here is the Gyalos chance. When, in his opln.o", the psychologi cal raomert ha- - 'rri''4' f"r s cha-e- a ef Grand Lamas, he announces to the people that the spirit has passe-- from for the one upon whom It had the past few years, ard w io as now no more and that it had descended upon a little child, whom they would find in a locality In the city which he definitely Indicated, giving at the same time an exact description of the hoy. , They go In search of him. and mar- - to 1 ...FRANK ERfffliS BREAD... to - to to to to : to to " w Why, the reason "is plain, he keeps the best selected stock of GROCERIES in Mercur and his treatment is the same to all and is appreciated by all X His business is increasing daily and to do so ad lib. X X promise X X X a A - ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft Mr y , & the matter with ERATHS ft WHAT'S filled to overflowing all theSTORE, time! Anacondas of South America Ars Comparatively Harmless. William C. Agle, who baa apent many years in South America, upsets many old notions about dangeroua reptiles, says the Philadelphia Inquirer. When be first went to South America he had the conventional pictures In his mind of men being crushed and swallowed by anacondas and boas. Years ago, he said, "I read an account written by a naturalist of these monsters In their native state, coiling and uncoiling themselves like lightning, and coughing and hissing with such a roar as could be compared only to the exhaust of a powerful team engine. What Is the truth about these mysterious reptiles? I have aBked nearly every native I met In the South American countries if he had ever ever seen a boa or an anaconda. Most of them had not. To those who had I put the question: What do they look like? And the answer was always: Their Tun (c REPTILE. WOT A DANGEROUS A. Bnvn Z? uJ-j- oo o o o o o o m SWENSON CO., Next Door to the Mercur Drug Co. Jolt received end nre .now displaying m beautiful line e Fall and Winter Millinery Goods, Also Ladies Coats, Jackets. Furr, Skirts and Waists The above are the fall atylea. We have no old took left over from loot. Don't forget to give us your orders for FURNITURE CARPETS. BLANKETS, QUILTS, Ec. Our SHOE line is complete both in Style and Quality. Including a full assortment of GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS, Leave orden Lx GROCERIES AND FARM PRODUCE X X -- 14VB AJTD LKT LIVK," le ear aaetto. W |