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CONFECTIONERY. Creamy Fudge. After removing fudg.; from the fire add a pinoh of baking powder and boat briskly. If the fudge has been cooked a lit- tle too long and hardens before it in perfectly smooth, add a table- spoonful of cream, or condensed mi!k will do just as well. Beat again till the right consistency and you will have smooth, creamy, and delicious candy. Turkish Candy. Take one and one-half cups granulated sugar, one-half cup warm water, one-half cup glucose. Boil together till they form a hard lump when dropped in oold water. Then add the whites of two eggs, well beaten, and a cup of nut meats. . Marshmallow Fluff. Take one- half pound of marshuiallows, cut each in four dice, one pint of cream whipped stiff and white of one ogg whipped, and pulverized sugar to tBste. Add marbhmallows and one- fourth pound of English walnuts broken in small pieces to cream and mix all together. If color scheme is desired, one or two drops of any fruit oolorirg can be addd. This is a cheap and delicious dessert for lix. Candy Cranberries Into a porce- lain kuttle put a (juart of cranber- ries, add three cups of granulated sugar and a pint and a. half of water. Let simmer until berries are soft, but nou until they lose their shape. Brown Sugar Creams. Take two cups light brown sugar and one- half cup water. Boil together un- til a bit dropped into cold water forms soft ball. Remove from fire. Beat in deep bowl tho whites of two ggs to slight froth, add candy syrup, onel-half teaspoon vanilla, and beat until it begins to stiffen. Long beating makes it finer grained. Drop with teaspoon up- on waxed or buttered pat>cr and press a nut-meat into top if desir- ed. Will keep moist indefinitely in gluts jar. Frosted N T ut Hills. Use one-half pound long, narrow, white crack- ers, whip white of one egg, add one cup chop)xxl nuts and one cup sugar. Place little lumps here and there on crackers and brown in oven a few minutes. Watch con- stantly. DESSERTS. Teddy Bear Pudding. Make a rich custard and while warm add chopjx-d nuts and glace fruit; beat with egg beater until cool. Eat with whipped cream, to which you may add a little brandy or vanilla, according to taste. Egg Snow. Heat up until stiff the whites of six eggs ; have ready in the saucepan on the fire a pint of milk sweetened and flavored witn vanilla. As soon as i boiU drop the bealen egg into it by tnble- Bpoonf'ils, one at ;i timj, and as they become set dip iheem <>i't with a tin. Slice them and arrange thi.m upon a br\ul dish. Ai'ow the milk in the xaucupun to cool a little and then stir in the yolks of the eggs gradually. When it be- comes thick pour it around the snowed eggs and serve cold. Flour 'Pudding. This, dessert <s known in Maryland and the Vir- ginias as a "Hour pudding," but in reality is a boiled apple dump- ling. Sift suflifH'iit flour to make, the quantity of dumplings you wish and mix in a little salt. Pour into this boiling wate.r direct from the kettle, sufficient to make a soft dough. Mix quickly before it has time to get chilled, roll out on tho bread board in wheels about throe- quarters of an inch thick and spread over it the apples pared and quar- tered. Sprinkle over this a little sugar, roll up quickly, just as you would a jelly roll, tie in a clotk wrung from cold water, and plunge quickly into a pot of boil- ing waler. Boil for an hour and a quarter. Rerve with milk and cream, half and half, sweetened and flavored with grated nutmeg, or any other sauce preferred. This also is delicious made from peaches, and in the winter time make it of preserved fruits, plums and pf.-iijhea being particularly pala table. SALADS. Macaroni Salad. --Break into two inch pieces required amount of ma- caroni for a meal. Cook until ten der in salt water. When o>!d mix with th same amount of fine sliced cabbage. Then mix with salad dressing. Appetizing Salad.- Cut fresh pineapples if you can get them if not, tho canned, into small pieo es, sweet pickk' in same sized pieces, using two thirds of pine- apple, one-third of pickles, and a cup or more of English wajnuts. Mix these with a ttalad dressing made of mio-half cup vinegar, yolks of four <'X8*. teaspoon salt, >ne- half teaspoon mustard, two table- spoons sugar; put on stove, stirring 11 the time until it thickens. -Add butter size of a large walnut, brat until amooth, and whn oold thin with thick sweet cream or eour or whipped cream, and mix with your salad. Fruit Salad. Use on apple out into small pieces, one oraugo cut Lii the same way, one-quarter rup of needless raisins, one-half cup of sugar, one cup of milk. Mix and let stand a half hour. LUNCHEON. Walnut Sandwich. Chop com- mon walnut meats fine, add a little salt. Spread between thin slices of buttered bread. Veal Birds. Have your butcher cut a slice of veal cutlet thin. Di- vide this into two to three inch squares. Lay on each a little heap of cracker crumbs seasoned with pepper, salt, celery salt, and mois- tened with milk. An oyster or nuts may be added. Draw the corners of the meat together and fasten with toothpicks. Bake or fry un- til brown. They may be served on toast with a spray of green. This is one of the daintiest luncheon dishes imaginable, and it is quite amusing how much they look like real little bird. Lace Luncheon Set. To make an attractive and inexpensive lunch- eon set procure at the curtain goods department filet curtain lace for about G5 cents a yard. Four of the squares make a plate doily, one square a bread and butter plate doily, and one square a tumbler doily. Sixteen squares make the centerpiece. To make a set of twelve each only takes about a yard and a quarter of material. Then get inexpensive torchon or some other heavy lace aaid sew around the edges of the doilies, making the. scams in the corner, where they will not show. HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Paper Quilt. Five or six thick- nesses of common newspaper placed between light layers of cotton and covered and tacked in the usual way make a warm, light, cheap, and sanitary ijuilt. Those who have not tried it will be surprised at its warmth and durability. In these days of high priced cotton, many will find this an economical means of keeping warm. Economical Cushions. Make a slip the proper size, turn wrong side out, cover thickly with cotton batting, and tack firm with twine. Turn right side out again and fill with excelsior that has been clip]>ed 'line with scissors,, and you will have a satisfactory pillow at little cost. To strengthen woollen mittens where men are handling forks, as on a farm, sew a piece of leather in the palm, cut from the tops of wornout shoes. Night Pillow Shams. -Take tho good part of worn si ?cts (or use new material if preferred) and Hpread over and tuck under the pillows when fixing the bed for use at night. These will protect the pillow slips. Save Hat Bands. Do not throw away the silk hat bands on men's straw hats or .soft felt hats, as they make excellent belts to be used in a buckle or take the place of bdt- ing for skirt bands. Make Insoles. A good idea is to save all the old felt and beaver hats. Out of the felt ones make insoles for shoes. With the beaver cut out the shape of a shoe, only a little larger ; then sew on any old bottoms of woollen socks and have nice bedroom slippers. Wear Sorks Over New Shoes. So many people try shoes on in the store and find them comfor- table, but when they wear them awhile they find them either too short or too narrow. Put a pair c. f socks over your nhoes and try wearing them around the house for a few hours. You soon can see if the shoes are the right size and shape for your foot. If they are not comfortable the socks have ao protected them that they can be returned without the shoes seeming to have been worn. ANIMALS WITH MEMORIES. 'I liii Rllll l!ri:ii-iiilir|-ctl .'I Crile.l Heating With a Club. That animals of certain species pos-Hoss highly retentive memories is vividly illustrated by a tragic af- fair that happened some tame ago in Colorado. Among the live stock of Antonio Anderson, a auooessful farmer, was a fine bull that was o docile that Mrs. Anderson herself fed and wa- tered him regularly every day. On one occasion, more, than a year ago, while Mrs. Anderson was absent, Anderson gave the animal a cruel belting with a club. The man had forgotten the/ affair, but had not approached tho bull since then until one- eve.ning, when he decided to lend the bull to water. When Ande-roson drew nVAr the nniinnl attacked him and gored him to deat.1i. Neighbors who witnessed the af- fair insisted that the hull was mad /in- 1 should be killed. To how that they were mistaken, Mrs. Anderson stepped forward, rubbed the hull's, nose, then put her arm around hi nock, and lod him away. The. man forcrot his cruel deed, but the bull remembered. THE QUALITY OP MERCY. Judge "Prisoner, have you got anything to say before sentence is passed?" Prisoner "All I arst, yer lordship, is to tike into account the ex- treme youth and hinexperience of my lawyer, and to be lenient for 'is Kike." The Bystander. i ~ oi'Hiuy opumi oniny Irlt duNUAi obHOuL SIOlIi INTERNATIONAL LESSON, J.i^LAKY 14. Lesson II. Tho birth of John th<> Jtnpllsi, Luke I. 57-SO. Golden I '>\i. Lube 1. 68. Verses '2-1-56 The verses which intervene between the text of our last lesson and this one record a nunilKir of events of special inter- i e*t for us in our study of tho lifo of Jesus. These include the fol- lowing : The annunciation by tho angel Gabriel to Mary of the com- ing birth of her son ; the visit of Man,- to Elizabeth at her homo in the hill country of Judaea; the re- ference to the kinship existing be- tween tho two women and to tho difference in time. between the birth of John and of Jesus; aiid the Song of Mary, known to the church throughout the centuries as tho Magnificent. The entire passage should be read in connection with our to-day's lesson. Verse 5S. Magnified his mercy towards her Shown her especial favor. 59. On the eigth day In harmony with the requirement of the law. Compare Gen. 17. 12; Lev. 12. 3. The religious ceremony of circum- cision was administered simultane- ously with the naming of the male child. In the Christian Church the sacrament of baptism takes tho place of the Jewish ceremonial ; but, like the latter, it is still asso- ciated with the giving of the name. Thus the expression "to christen," meaning literally, to make Chris- tian by baptizing, has come also to mean simply to name. 02. Made signs to his father Who was still unable to spe:vk, the penalty of his unbelief, referred to in verse S!0 of our last lesson. What he would have him called The word of the father was the final authority. 03. A writing tablet A small wooden tablet, smeared with wax, on which the impression was made with an iron stylus. 64. His mouth was opened His power of speech was restored. Spake, blessing God There wau a double reason for his thanksgiv- ing, the restoration of hia speech and the great blessing that had oome to him in tho gift of this child. 65. Fear camo un all that dwelt round about them There was something mysterious and awe-in- spiring about the events which they had witnessed. 67. Tho Song of Zacharias, known U> the Christian Church as the Be- nedictus, is worthy to he the in- spired utterance of a saintly priest of Jehovah. The text of the song is given in verses 08-79. It con- sists of five strophes or Hebrew stnnzas, each of three verses; but in English is most conveniently di- vided into two parts, verses 68-75, and verses 76-79. Tho first of these narts expresses thankfulness to Ood for having fulfilled his prom- ises to Israel in tho sending of the, Messiah, tho offspring of David, for the salvation of Israel and the establishment of true religion and righteousness. It refers to the. child of Mary aa the Messiah to eorne. The second pait bp.ffins with a roforence to tho speak ' own child as the nrmninto.d pr"r< v > rv t of Jehovah and forerunner of the Messiah. In this capacity the child, when grown to manhood, shall proclaim the mcsF.ige of salvation, I the remission of sins, release from ] bondage, the dawn of hope, and the reign of peace, which the birth of the Saviour shall bring. C8. Blessed be the Lord The hymn of praise which follows gets; its name, the Benedictus", from this opening phrase. It has been in use in Christian worship since the | sixth century. Wrought redemption To Zach- arias this would mean redemption from foreign rule, as well as from spiritual bondage. 69. Horn of salvation A fre- quent metaphor found also in clas- sic ancient writers outside of the Bible. The figure here signifies the power of the Messianic king, which is likened to the strength of a -.viJd ox as represented in its horns. Ill the house of his servant David A statement implying that Mary, as well as Joseph, was de- scended from David. 70. His holy prophets "In ino law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24. 44). 72, 73. Covenant ; . . .oath These were identical. Compare Gen. 22. 10-18. 76. Thou, child Zacharias has been speaking of the Messiah to come ; now he addresses his own in- fant son, who is to be the prophet of the Most High. Make ready his ways An allu- sion to the prophecies of Isaiah 40. 3 and Malachi 3. 1. The figure of the forerunner is taken from the ancient Oriental custom of sending a special advance messenger to an- nounce the coming of any royal personage, one function of this forerunner being to see to it that {he roads over which the royal traveler was to go were put into good order for his coming. 78. Dayspring from on high Tne expresr.icn in the original may mean either the rising of a heaven- ly bmly, as the sun or morning star, or the heavenly ^ody itself. It is thus equivalent J o .peaking of the Messiah as the oun or Star of Israel. 80. Grew Developed normally. Tho same expression is applied to Jesus in Luke 2. 40. Waxed strong in spirit Develop- ed unusual strength intellectually and spiritually. Was in the deserts His boyhood homo was in the hill country of Judaea %nd in this quiet seclusion, far from the tumult and distraction of city life, he grew to manhood. CLAY EATERS. The earth caters of Africa do not eat the) clay because of tho ab- sence of other edibles, as they are found in localities where other forms of food arc found in abund- ance. The clay of the deeper lay- ers is preferred, and the native* dig galleries of a rudo nature and ac- cidents due to falls or earth are quite frequent. When accidents of this character occur, no effort ie made to assist the unfortunate miner thus buried, and he, is allow- ed to die, because it is believed that tho deities of> tho mines must be propitiated with a certain number of sacrifices annually, and the ac- cident in regarded as the mr.ans of claiming their rights. The earth eaters frequently consume seven and eight pounds of clay daily. $ Economy is all right, but don't waste a dollar's worth of time try- ing to save a penny. JAPANESE BUSINESS HONOR. Their Standard Not the Same as Ours The Reason Why. Japanese business methods li.-i.ve been widely criticised, especiaJly in the last few years, as lacking thow. standards- of commercial hoaor which prevail among Occidental na- tions. A writer in the Atlantic Kays that the question most frequently Orient has been : ' ' Why is it that the Japanese are so dishonest that they cannot even truit themselves, and have to em- ploy Chinamen at the head of all their great business concerns V ' He explains this almost unive-real impression* by saying that the aver- age tourist u-suaily has business, re- lations only with the branches of the three great banks established in the treaty ports. When he cashes his letter of credit he ob- serves the singular fact that tho money is being handled by a China- man instead of by a native. "The simple truth," says this writer, "is that these thr:e banks all of them, by the way, foreign concerns are the only business houses in the entire, empire so conducted. Whe^ri Japan was open- ed and these foreign corporations in China sent their brancht-s into the new field, they sent their Chinese compradores with them. "Yet, while all this can be said, and should be said, in the interest of simple justice, it is nevertheless undeniable that in Japan the ideals of commercial honor and the methods adopted in the conduct of business are not what they are in the We-st, and there is much of which the Occidental may justly complain. "There is a historical reason for this. The fact that in the olden days in Japan the me.rchant was placed at the bot.om of tho social scale and the soldiers at the top. while in China exactly the reverse was the case, fully explains why Japan has produced a splendid soldiery, and has wofully suffered in her mercantile life, while the army of China has been the sport of the nations though her merchants have attained a high place in the world of business credit. "But even though the 'cake oJ custom' is tne hardest to break, its power of resistance has been al- ready materially weakened by this wue policy of the Emperor ; and the merchant is no longer the pariah of the realm. Prominent among those who by the Emperor's- favor have risen from the social dust into places of highest honor is a family whose history is significant. "The Mitsui family of Japan have been called the Rothschilds of the East; but while the fnme, of tho latter has gone abroad over the world the Mitsuis have remained practically unknown except to a few Western merchants who have had extensive- dealings with the Orient. The European family owes its great renown to the fact that for a century there has been no slightest stain upon ita com- mercial honor. "But its career, it should oe re- membered, has been passed in a world where, business itself has been held in honor; while the Mitsuis, engaged in a pursuit utterly con- temned by public sentiment, for three centuries, in spite of the de- moralizing influence of the social ban, have been trusted by Govern- ment and people alike, and have kept the honor of their name un- stained. Now, thanks to the new spirit animating the nation, they no longer stand so conspicuously alone. NATURE AND HER COLORS. Why the Pink of the Flesh of th* Watermelon, for Instance! The attractive appetizing outward appearance of most fruits is ex- plained by the s<:icutific supposition, that ita function is to attract birds a.nd animals whjch carry the fruit away to eat the Heshy portion and dsicard the. seed, thereby aiding in the disturbutioni of the species. According to Prof. O. N. Whitt, writing in a recent number of the Runr.-chau, modern science teaches us that everything related to color of fruits and vegetables has its de- finite purpose. The red cheeks of a peach, he says, are iso enticing that the above distribution oi species explanation will probably be readily accepted. but why that brilliant red color where the flesh meets the kernel? The bird that picks at the flesh of the fruit does not strike this colored layer until the work is practically ac- complished. Somev/hat similar conditions are met with in tho vegetable kingdom. Why is the red bee.t deeply colored, while its- close congeners have a white juice? After all, neither, ! under normal circumstances, sees i the light of day, so that it i* pro- blematical what useful function the color can possibly serve. Then, again, why does the madder root contain quantities of alizarine and allied dyie.itufs that in the past have been of such great value, while in modern times we have learned to manufacture them by artificial means'! Of what possible use can such dyestuffs be to the j plants? Consider the watermelon : covered by a thick, opaque, dark green skin. We may .make some sort of conjecture as to the pur- pose of this : it perhaps, serves in keeping off some of the large ani- mals which would 1 devour the fruit, skin and all, and thus leaving th melon to be burrowed by worms, who leave the seeds untouched. But why that appetizing pink coloi of the. flesh of the melon ? It can- not serve as a charm to attraci visitors, for the guest that has eat- en its way through the skin needt no further attraction, after he has reacher the interior. The black color of the seeds may perhaps be put down as a preventive measure, protecting them from (sharing th< fate of the rest of the fruit. We now know that the refresh- ing gre,en o* the wood* and mea- dows is "not provided for our enjoy- ment, but for the serious a.nd practical purpose of plant nutri- tion; the flowers display their bright colors to attract the insect that carries the pollen from stamen to stigma; the Alpine hare is snow colored so as to be hidden from the sight of his enemy while the lion is tawny and the, tiger striped. BOLDNESS OF SWALLOWS. One Nest Built in a House Anoth- er on an Electric Lamp. HUNTING THE CHEETAH. Sport Once Popular With English Residents of India. Tho cheetah hunt which the Vice- roy witnessed recently at Hydera- bad reminds one that cheetah hunt- ing was an extremely popular eport with Indian princes in former days, although the initation of European fovma of sport has done much in these time* to rob it of its ancient vogue, says the Madras Mail. It was practised both by Hindu and Mohammedan chieftains over tho greater part of India, for tho cheetah even now is not a rare beast, and a century or RO ago must have been commor enough. Another animal used in the same way by Indian nobles was a sort of lynx, spelled variously as "Shoe- goose," "syahgush." But this was used much more rarely than the cheetah. However, it was not only Indians who indulged in this form of sport. It was enjoyed and practised by Europeans as well in the davs when they were content to abide in India for fifteen years at a stretch and when they lived a 1'Indienne- in a way unknown to modern times. More than one of the, Compnnv's nabobs kept their own cheetahs, which were freoucntly presents from friendly ohiefs. It may easily be imagined th n t cheetah hunting \v.ia verv g^id sport and welcomed by the servant") of the Company as an exoe"eit substitute for the coursirv* wlvh was familiar to them in England and which, like, the eheetnh hunt, has vanished before tKp .snro.nd of games such as tennis and golf. "A couple," said Mrs. 8in>r.'-'-. "got married n few divs RTO jift^r a conrtshi'-v which hcd l.i!*p'' ^' u -> years." "I aupnose." f-nl : -fl " Simpkina, "the. noor o'd mj>n h.-d become too feeble to hold out fcnv longer." A very curious instance of noss in swallows was recorded in 1886 from Ceylon. In this case the birds built over a lamp in the dining room ; what made their choice of site more remarkable wan the fact that the lamp could b raised or lowered by counter weights and the connecting chains actually passed through the mud walls of the nest, s.y<Baily's Mag- azine. Occasionally the bird selects a nesting site which invites comparison with the boldness of the robin. In July last a pair of swallows took advantage of the open window of an unoccupied bedroom in a house at Felmersha.m in Bedfordshire to beotin building their nest on the cur- tain rod of the bed. The. return of the owner of th house and his occupation of th< bed did not in the least disturb or alarm the birds, which completed the ne-st and brought off V 1r< ?e nestlings within seve.n weeks of the house owner's return. They took no notice of the occupant of the bed when flying in and out of the window Seeding tH?. : r ynuni : but the hen bird would fly off the nrst if anv one entered th room during the daytime. Three, vears ago a pair of swal- lows built their wist on top of the shade of an eleetrjo lamp whirl' hfntrs outside the nsvlum at Nar- borough, near Leicester. RAW FOOD AND THE BLOOD. Two French physiologists have, re- cently demonstrated that a r.v.v food diet develops, under certain conditions, a considerable inemise of the white, blood corpuscle* which play .such an important part in the fight against invading bacteria. Cooked food, even in double, do=es, has no similar effect, aeeord : nnr to the. e sc : enti'--t.s. Thav accredit the value of the raw food diet to tho juices pxtra-cted from it in the pro- cess of- digestion. v FACT AND FANCY. A pound of cheap cocoa on analy- sis proved to contain ^''C ounces of sugar, five once-i o' starch, five ounces of cocoa husk, and an ounce of cocoa. Mariners cover a multitude of sins. F'n-vl.-n.' Knistis 50.000 patent m"^' ; ' > inf doslem. TCH ir]r ,<,., .,,-., not, made from Fi.i.. ; .rir> in C'nrv is nsi'ullv ac- ' Scd by tho inhalation ol le-if.