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Show s for nun jurJion READEriG j grousing arjd Instructive Stories for tr) Rising Generatlorj. i Illlno. I hid a ll:ili. donkey once Vtltl! Ii.llr s sruy Ulhl alesy; One ,r at I i,.. thr olhrr ,l.,wn. WhUli lesuu hrr l'K qulla aaucy. Whichever wav I wished In go. The iher way w ent III leu, Whl, I, inn k s a f' llus aw lul mad. If al,)l...,ly ,!. One il.iv we weni si. ins Ills besch. Ami llllnu" he-liiiwed'leiel and long ill liUKsos and lu lleltUa. lint whi-n t winle.l In home, The dtuikry would li"t Inidge. sir, II e. in..l ah II .be r. ully Aaulnst me .jlille a S"l'le. sir. Whin I auld "go." she "lily balked And ha.'ked rlsht In the wnler. Th. meinl a tins H.ui t rni...n with A biuyliig dunk. ) a iluiiglKer. K.I.-T.lllna III Itnasla. It might perhaps Inteivit the readers of this magasino to bear something about "fnte-reudlng" In Itusila. this snuwy land still so full of Knstern lore. cuHioma. and tiadltlun. Of course. It la, nowudaya, a pastime and an amusement amuse-ment Indulged In chiefly during the Chrlstmaa hollilaya. and more for the fun of the thing than from any belief in ine iroin or mo propne y. There aie a good ninny ways of bsik-Ing bsik-Ing llilo the hook of fate. New Year s eve ami Twelfth night ai" considered the best occii-dons of the year for these ainiiidng experiments. Whenever a number of young people come together during Ibis lime of the yenr, whither it be tor dancing, playing play-ing gauiee. or Just spi n ling a pleasant evening together, some one of the pnrty Is uuis to propose "fnte-readlng." or "gn let," as It Is called In HiKslnn. S'-ekliig to know beforehand the nnnie of one's future sweetheart Is a lery amusing experiment, and there are two tnotlriil of going to work. The first Is mnunc.ed thus. A sheet of paper is cut up Into strips about four and a half Inches long, on every one of which a name Is written. A big basin la tinlf filled with water, and by wetting wet-ting one end of the strips of paper, these are mndn to adhere to tin rim of Ihe bnsn all round, the dry enda pointing horliontully toward the cen ter. A nutshell containing a bit nf lighted wax taper la then act afloat by one of the party, the water having previously been slightly disturbed with the fingers so aa to give It a rotary movement Sometimes the aklff will pass by many names without harm, or again, It may stay a pretty long while before one without Igniting It; but the name set fire to Is bellev.-d to be that of the person who Is to play a prominent part In one'a future life. The next question of Importance Is to ascertain In "what direction Ilea your fate that la from which point of the compass you are to ex pint It Tbe answer Is obtained In the following way: You atep outdoors and throw your slipper high Into the air, then the quarter quar-ter to which the toe points when II alights la that whence will come tbe person who Is to Influence your future. St. Nlcholss. Tha tlitwer Hint. Many species of birds are noted for their akill in neat-hulldliig and the peculiarity of the neat when finished, but the ao-culled "bower birds" easily bold flrat place among them. They ae-lect ae-lect a small aapllng with a trunk alaiut one Inch In dlauieier, and around this they erect a number of slrnder poles, the frsntework having the form of an Indian wlgwara. Kach polo has a fork at tha top, strange to asy, and thla keeps them In position. Then the birds psaa In and out, weaving bits uf glass and leaves between the poles until they have a rain-proof roof for their home. On one ride they leavo an open space aa a lacuna of entrance. Alsiut the trunk of the aapllng, which forms the pillar of their house, so to apeak, they build an emliauknieut of moss, and all around the Interior a gallery, likewise of toons. Thla complete com-plete the Interior, and then they do their "lanilsciijie gardening" outside. Ilelntilng nt the door of the house or "Isnvcr" they niuke a lawn, clearing nwuy unit smoothing and covering It Willi a layer of moss. Then they gather gay-col. ired llow-rr llow-rr und biillertly wings and anything else of that kind Unit they ran find, and with them il. (unite the luwn. The gallery Inside the house they decorate In the Mime way, und when H la u done they have a home that Is a marvel mar-vel of ingenuity and bi uuty. N.iluiult.u think that they do all this simply In gratify their aesthetic tusles, but we may be permitted to believe. nevertheless, thut they aro guided by their instinct fur some practical prac-tical purpose. Sliniila hut r.RiHitlie Trlrk. Odd or even Is a trick which will occasion considerable perplexity, and yut la very simple. You tuke a handful hand-ful of colua or counters, and Invito another person to do the same, and to ascertuln whether tho number bo takes Is odd or even. Yon rciiueat tho company to observe thut you have not asked a single nui-stlon of hlm, but thut you are able, notwithstanding to divine his accrct Intentions and counteract coun-teract them. In proof of thla you tako a number of colna and add them to those he has taken. If the number be took was odd, the total shall be even; If even, the tutul uhull be odd. lte(iicstlug hlm to drop the coins he holds lo a bat, held on high by ona of the company, you drop In A certain A number on your own account. He la J now asked whether his number waa f, odd or even; and. the coins belna; , counted, the total number proves to lie 4 ns you stated, exactly the reverse. The experiment la tried again and ! ' agnln with different niinibera, but the ' i result Is alwuva tho same. I he result lies In the simple arlth- f meilcal fact that If you add an odd ( iiutiiber to an even number the result !. t . will he odd; If you add an odd nutn- ; ' her to nn odd number the result will he even, You have only to tnke care, l, therefore, that the number you your- self add. whether large ur amnll, shall always be odd. ) ) Amu. Ins t:rrnra. 2 In "Kngllsh aa She Is Taught," pub- llahod by the Century rnmpnny. are ' given aome laughable examples of er- t rora found In the coniposttlona and ex- amination pipeis of acboolhoya and i girls. Here aie aome uf the sentences t that the pupils composed: f "Wo should endeavor to avoid eg- i Hemes, likes those of wasps and beea." f "The serfdom of Coney Island Is very I high." i "Herod will culled a let rnre h because he w.is fond of tea." "Kvciy sentence and nnnie of Cod must begin with a caterpillar." "The principal Mis. of America are lamb, beef, veal." "New York was once culled llin Emperor Em-peror Stnte because It onio had an emperor." em-peror." "The Yosemtte vnlley la the highest uiuiiniiiln In the world." "Muson and Dixon lino Is the cg.ua- tor." "Columbus knew the world waa round beiaiise he balanced an egg ou the table." "('apt. John flinllh line been styled the father of hia country. Hla life was saved by bis daughter, I'ocubuu- N taa." t "The unfortiinntn Charles First waa i executed, and after he waa beheaded he I held It up, exclaiming: 'Heboid tbe t head of a ttater!' " ' I Soma Hard aealenroa, Moat boya and girls have at aome lima been asked to repeat aoma sentence sen-tence that confusea their tongilea, aa I "She sells sea a lull," or the "Sea ceaa-eth ceaa-eth and It sufllceth us," or possibly thla one, "What a shame eucti shapely sash should shabby atltchea show." Now, It Is very easy to suggeat eon-tencea eon-tencea to the one who might claim a vlrtory because of some slip of tbe tongue. If by asking the tfaser to i "Otve Orlmne Jim's gilt glg-wjjlp" doea . ,w not aurflcx oaalbly the task lo repeat I alx tlrr i. iu one breath "What a pity poor I';- picked pretty Pnlly'a pigs" i msy do v tj well. If that will not do ' tall blm to repeat ten times In ton seconds "Fig misses mixed hisses." Other difficult combinations to repeat re-peat are: "If he slipped should she sip?" "Should a ship's steward Bell a shoddy suit?" "The bore brought boar brawn," "ham should soon aell Sliem alg shilling single shingles," and "He threw two true throws." Hut still more d lfllrii It is the one. "Should sooty Hue seek soap?" A rirer of rnrly roars Aso. It la not generally known that aa long ago aa forty years ago an American Ameri-can constructed au airship, practically practical-ly the aame In type and principle aa that of Haul o Ihimunt It waa a cigar-ahaped cigar-ahaped balloon driven by air propeller moved by a amall atnam engine, and the Inventor exhibited It frequently In , and around New York. Since that time many other Inventors have worked on Ihe problem, but It Is to be feared that none of them, not even the clever young llraiillun, haa yet overcome many of the dllllcultle. Ho far It haa been found that a trip In the air la too expensive for ordinary peraons, f'HJ being the cost of a single trip In the Dumniit machine. More than thla, however, the use of such an airship aa has thus far been constructed la only possible In very light winds. Ways of Tallies Time. The nntl-ves of Llliei in In Africa have no clocks. They tuke the kernels from the in. Is of the candle tree and waall and string them on the rib of a palm , leaf. Tho tl rut or top kernel Is then lighted. All of the kernels are uf the auine alio and substauce, and curb will burn a certain number uf minima aud then act lire lo the nno next below The unlive, tie pieces of cloth at regular Intervals along tho string to mark the dlvlnlons of time. Among the natives ; at Slugur, In tha Malay archipelago, auother peculiar device la used. Two bottles are placed neck and neck and sand la put In one of tin in, which poura , Itself Into the other every kalf hour, t when tho bottlea are reversed. jr Ilabae la Ilia Wood. From Sweden comes a story of two 'j little glrla, who returning home dur- I lng a violent snowstorm, became lost i In a wood. For three weeks a tireless j1 search by the entire population of f the village, fulled to trace them, hut I at the end of that lime the children ' were found froten to the ground, hut still alive. After wandering lu the ' storm, they had fallen exhausted un- ! der a big fir tree, and awoke to Had I their feel so frost bitten they could I not stand. Life was sustained by tha ) extra clothing they wore aud a baa- i ket of provisions they carried, but ; when taken to the hospltu! It waa i found uecessury tu auipulato their feet. I h' j! |