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; ilk method, warm winds that blow out of an April sky, is a delicate of the richer gifts of summer. yet is [here one of all the many vegetables that the warm suns of summer bring out. that is more me than asparagus? * From the housewife's point - of view, the best thing about aspara- gua is that it is so simple to pre- pare for the table.. In fact, with tittle boiling in a little water with o little salt and butter you have a dich 'fit-for a king. . The matter: of "boiling, however; is sometimes & stumbling-block: We all have seen asparagus come 40' tablewwith deca cheads. gaa is une fact that the heads; fre been: boiled sufficiently "the: heads have been boiled to pieces. One - way to obviate 'this trouble is to take pains to put the bunches of asparagus after: they have been washed and scraped into the boil- dish with 'the stalk end down. ba boiling water should be poured over the stalks as far as the heads, but not to cover them. Then, as the stalks boil, the heads are gently steamed, and if handled carefully will not break. Another way to obviate this dif- ficulty is to use a wire basket which is made especially for asparagus. This basket holds the stalks while cooking and the bottom opens eas- ily so that when the asparagus is cooked it can be put on a plate or serving platter without breaking the ends. Asparagus should always be cook- ed with salt in the proportion of a teaspoonful to a quart of water. No rule can be laid down as to the length of time to cook asparagus. When it is young and very tender 15 minutes will suffice. When it is somewhat older it will be improved by cooking up to 30 minutes or more'. In choosing asparagus from the market it matters little whether it be small and highly colored, or thickstalked and white. If it young and fresh it is sure to be good. Asparagus is like = fish in this--that you don't really know its flavor until you have eaten it very fresh--just caught from the water or just cut from the asparagus bed. But the next best thing to do with respect to asparagus is to buy it on market day, and get it home and in the ice box early in the morning before it has been exposed to the air and heat many hours. The custom of sending asparagus in as a separate course is a good one, for nothing is more satisfac- tory as a separate vegetable course than this succulent spring stalk. It can be served with the heads rest- ing on a tiny strip of buttered toast, dressed with pepper and salt and butter or with a good cream sauce or it can be served in any of a doz- en more elaborate ways. Served simply with butter or cold, "with a vinaigrette sauce, it is a good accompaniment of any roast meat, Various sauces make various dishes of asparagus, and although connoisseurs insist that the delicate flavor of this vegetable cannot be improved on by the addition of flay- oring, other than pepper, salt and melted butter, still sauces can be depended on by the eook for va- riety: Regarding green and white as- paragug, it is generally admitted that the long, green sort is sweeter than the larger white variety. But, on ihe other hand. the thick white stalks perhaps look better than the green ones. Either kind is good, if it is fresh. Scales in the Kitchen a Necessity. | An important way for the efficient housewife to reduce the high: cost of living is by weighing everything which comes into the kitchen. It may-seem a bother at first, but when the habit has been established and the tradespeople know it is done the housewife may be sure -getbfing value received. ~The head of the ice "trust, writing for a wo- oe & magazine, "said that if all the housewives had scales "and a make a practice:of weighing ice it would not only result saving to the consumer, producer as well, The iceman and the careless combined to m of short personal supetvision J shee oon. » iceman was 8 few il a few ndr 5, way wy esty is for the ; lie the feeman id "'to-give her a ie today. "" This he does, but at nse of the other woman in the ~ ghborhood, who, take no no- tice of the size of the pieces to See hoses. Good scales oe weigh up sixty pounds may had for $3 or 84, and they are em- phatically a household Hecestity. ky Usetul Hints. 5 Bargwond floors should be dusted aily Hot vinegar | is good. to serve with break rather thaw cubs as- dover. the pot. in which you webu sed griimgtaty in vine- a The best dressing for asparagus is butter and 'pure 'cream. Camphoral il will . white spots f 'furniture.' A tihng of rhubarb and orange makes a delicious jam. i The simpler, thinner and. fresher summer curtains can be the better. Tattling is revived, not only 'for use on collars, but for centrepieces. Spiced rhubarb makes an appetiz- ing relish to serve with cold meats. Cut glass 'needs thorough scour- ing and scrubbing to bring out its beauty. A broom cover made of velveteen is excellent for going over dusty walls. During housecleaning time all door hinges and all castors should be oiled. If one has but a few mushrooms the most economical way to serve them is on toast. To mend an umbrella take a small piece of black sticking plaster and soak it until it is quite soft; place it carefully under 'the hole inside and let it dry. This is bet- ter than darning, as it closes the hole neatly and without stitching. i _remave FORTUNE-TELLING IN CHINA. ee How a Student Came Out at the Head of His Class. The Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Pekin, written by Edmund Backhousa and J. O. P. Bland, and covering Chinese history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, have a human interest quite apart from their historical value may be read with pleasure for the many entertaining stories contain- ed in them. One amusing anecdote is of a student who rushed into the crowd gathered - about a fortune teller, seized the mam, and shouted : "¥ou have ruined my. career for good and all. Either you or I shall die for it."' When an attendant of the Emperor, who was there incog- nito, had separated the men, the soothsayer explained : "A few days ago this man came here to consult™mé with regard to his prospects in the impending ex- amination; and I promised that he would win the first place. Now having failed to take his place in' the examination hall, he comes here forsooth and blames me for his own unpunctuality. Much learning has made him mad.' At this, the scholar broke in aud said : 'Because you foretold that I should come out at the head of the list, my friends gave me a banquet, at. which I became very drunk. When at last my servant managed to arouse me, I"got up and hurried to the examination hall, but the gates were already barred. Did you: ever hear of a 'non-competitor coming out at the head of the list? Are you not, then, the mls eause of my undoing?' The dispute continued till the Emperor ended it-by writing an or- der which would secure to the tardy student admiszion to the examina- tion hall. The fortune-teller agreed to punichment.if his prophecy was not fulfilled. The student went to "A. Very 04d Spring Hat by Buret, Paris, Model of black tagal straw trimmed with a boge wing of accordeon- pleated taffeta. iE Th TT A DOG'S SENSE OF DIRECTION. "Husky" Animal Shows Remark- able Intelligence. Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell tells in his book, 'Down North on the Lab- rador," about a "Husky" dog that had an almost uncanny sense of direction. It was necessary to make a hurried overland trip to Island Harbor, where sickness had broken ott, and the two doctors decided to go over a short cut--a seventy-mile trail through the wilderness that had long been unused. The leader of our team was named Brin. He was a yellowish-brown fellow with queer black markings somewhat like those of u tiger. They gave his face the appearance of an eternal grin--an impression that his odd way of turning up 'the' dor- ners of his mouth when he caught your eye intensified. Of all the cav- alcade, he alone had ever seen the trail, and that only once, years be- and | fore Nothing of particular interest happened until we came to the edge of Hanging Marsh. There was not a mark on its virgin face. If I had to find my own way to the trail on the farther side, I should have had to go all round the edge, and per haps miss it, after all, for the blazes on the trees were obscured by ice. The outlook was discouraging. Our only assets were. our pocket com- passes, our axes, and Brin. It was a moment of real excite- ment when he led off at a gallop across the big white marsh straight for a lone spruce. As we whisked by it, I can almost swear he back at me and winked. We had been told that about* ten miles from the marsh there was a forked juniper tree, "standing brit it- self. The top boughs' "had stripped from it, and the skull bese antlers of a caribou fixed in the cleft. The utter inaccuracy of our map had led me to forget this land- mark, and I was excessively sur- prised to hear my chum whet gut, 'There she is !"' i "There's what 1" "Why, the skull in the tree." "A little later we passed the ridge of the Cloudy Hills, and there seem- ed to lie between us and our goal , nothing but miles of rolling How much longer could we Brin! He had swung off almost right angles and was other dogs along the ¥ upper' the woods. A minute later he ed into the forest, There were his sxamination, the Emperor weat | w quietly : Emperor, in order to triumph over the for- tune-teller, had meant to give or- ders that the student should not be | cre: sed pasezd, but he forgot to. the examiners, 'impressed: student's ap) . influence with the Emperor, agreed that, it, would | John be disrespectful, to place a above him. So the tol ---------- east, because we could see : the lake a high range of hills. et without hesitation Brin headed straight for them. On--on--on-- until at last we came to the woods. The dogs went straight into the for- est, and in half a minute were om opposite sides of a dozen trees. The dogs, glad of a rest, lay down and started chewing icicles out. of their fur, while we set to work to untangle them. Brin, at the end of his longer trace, was nearly hidden by the bushes, but I could see that he was standing up and looking | an back. I went in his direction. To my amazement, I found that he was standing in a well-marked path that ran at an acute angle up the hill! There was no troube after that, and by eight o'clock we were at Toland Harbor. Before turning in, I went out to see what the night was. My hand was on the latch of the cottage door, when something warm and furry|® 'rubbed against my leg, and'I found myself looking into Brin's eyes. They were asking unmistakably, "How did I please you to-day, master!' I could not help putting my arths round his neck amd hugging him. Then we both went off to our beds, the happier for-it. -- ee pe BUILT UPON 19 HILLS. Valparaiso Is One o of the Most Curi- ous of Cities. The City of ValpaFuiso is built upon nineteen hills, like Rome upon her seven. Tt is ome of the most curious dities in the world, says National Magazine. Its 'hills rise from 300 to. 1,100 feet, and the city | b ranged upon hem, tier above r, in sections t are separated by deep gullies, through many of which flow lively little rivers. Winds streets climb, as in Lisbon, by. the aid of stairways; lifts and inc clined tramways, up from the docks the hilltops. The houses mo- doesn, but not notable ally. 'Those of the wealthier are mansions and have fine though® many of the families spend miost of "their time at Santiago or at Sis ner villas fur- of the twentieth cem- business world. The many comforts tury ab less. of luxury which twelve lies ;} indicate the. and it 1s only I * a Girl of it is a well known fact m prodigies have been cident. so there is to believe that the West of Guardians have found in a orphan girl of fourteen under the protection of the Union one who may in the near fu- ture be rivalling Mme. Clara Butt, or Mme. Kirkby Lunn 8 on the opera stage or concert platfor "She 18 & mafvel, a a member the guardians, a asked about' hor discovery, 'Several of the I Board have heard her singing some ballads, and have been charmed le voice. She possesses also a aa range-- three octaves and a semi-ton She has a rich contralto vo! love of music, Seems 1 ingra in her heart. The t her to a professor at the Ror val Cojlege of Music, he, reported that A could say without reserve that those critics who lis- a to her at the college were greatly su prised by her gift 'here is no doubt" he said, that the girl shows very great -promise'; but warns her guardians that as there is plent of time before her, she must not lowed to practise her highest notes as she has been doing. 'She ought, pro- perly trained,.to do very well ndesd, as she the making of a very unusual contralto voice." Ba London's Poetry Bookshop. he least of modern London's sen- apie is is the Poetry Book- It is in Devonshire street, a Soicwhat uninviting turning off Theo- bald's road. You cannot mistake the shop, for a signboard representing stars and a flying flame hangs above the door. Inside the daylight penetrates but dimly. When 2s eye has grown ac- customed to the gloom you mee all around and within easy reach of your arm shelves upon shelves of poetry, an- clent and modern, You are at liberty down any volume and on a com- benah Tefresh. 1 yourself at Eo and a od y led the spot any ed You te o'clock you Hate to a " a about it to or is a and abuse alike with position does 'not that he was not and. however, . As the dogs as unclean animals,' 'would be by them. No-" tice, , that he does not murmur against God nor against! the rich man. Later there is no exultation over the teversal of]. their positions. 22. This is, of course, only a pars : able, and we should not look for! special meaning in each detail. "The parable teaches that happiness © dnd misery after Seah mined by the ¢onduct of persons in this life. 23. Hades--In general the abode of all departed spirits, good - bad, until the time of final Judes ment. Here, however, clearly place of torment for the wicked! fr Being i in torments--The 'rich 'man was in torment because | - difference to the poor of sympathy. Tt.coul been because he "| Abraham himself had been oe ricki - man. 24, Father Abraham--The rioliG man was a Jew, a descendant of . Abraham, and he appeals to their relationship and to Abraham's fa therly compassion, Bend Lazarus, that he may dip' the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue--How changed the environment! On earth every- was made to contribute "to at ¢ | his selfish enjoyment. He had liv- . ed a life of comfort, ease, and in- difference. He had not been ar- rogant and driven Lazarus from his :| gate, but simply unconcerned Stouts a alr absent. © vie The gni Tor bon On e recognition of the Nati of Rallwaymen by the ations Union jonies 1s ng acclaimed as one of the Beis es won by trades unions in TanEiand for any years, 'eemen ween the mi the companies, by which Alsphtas pi: referred to. arbitration, expires at the cs this year, and the men had 'de- was recognized. Si the fusion of ne general Selo Stren Wonders ot the World, 4 The seven marvels of the "modern "to the Berlin "Lo- "Anzeiger," may be Soupared what the world \ away at the opposits | ¢ Transanding Rail. others, | Tyee is ze one to ~ m a e must imp ore'the. A est Wervice, me 25, -He receive but he' 'no 'investments for - the. future 26.° Abraham" tells the rich. man that it is impossible to inter with hig lot or with 4 of ot to renew it unless the union i 29, 30. Jesus doiibtless od i mind the craving of the Pharisees for a sign, and. wishes to warn , as well as all of his hearers, they made no pt to His tas 1 enough to; Food are deter- Te Jin thy Jtetima, recsivedst