The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Hirst offering. EMORIALDAY" OBSBRVANWEL --t«E ' tJen. Xogmn's Order Ent»btbhln( D«f«r«- tkog Way -- Impr«ntve and Touehlnu Imiih >t Arlington Nearly a Quarter of ' « ©wrtwry- A|«--The - Ceremonies 1®8®- ' 1MB. Gen. toptn'a Order. - N the spring of 186b, three years after the close of the war, and by the time the people were just getting w e l l s e t t l e d i n t o their new avoca­ tions and had time to cast a thought backward to the troublous days of the past, some one ' ^suggested that it would be nice to hold a national memorial day in honor of the Union dead. The idea met with spoo- 4 taneous approval, and seemed to touch a popular chord of sympathy in the hearts of the people north of Mason «nd Dixon's line. It required only » short agita- t lion to bring the matter to a focus, ft which was accomplished by the follow- • Ing order sent out from 'Washington: • tlKALKi'H.4 UK15D ARMY OF THE 1 El'UBl.lC, | " Aojdtant Gesekai/s OtriCB. J J- ' ' 446 FOLBTKSHTH i=TB«ET, I V " : ' ' . " W A s a s s G T O J f , I X © , M a y f t . 1 8 6 8 , J ' . fit«a«ral Orders No. 1L : L The 30lh day of May, 1868, is deslg- " tinted for (h« purpose of strewing flowers •'.* jot otherwise decorating the graves of , comrades who died In defense of their ^ * 'country during the ilate rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, hamlet and churchyard In the -< land. In thi9 observance no form of cere­ mony is prescribed, but posts and com­ rades will, in their own way, arrange such iitting services and testimonials of re­ spect as circumstances will permit. We are organized, comrades, as our ^ resulat ions tell us. for the purpose, amongi - other things, «of preserving and strength- teniae those kind aud fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, . Bailors and njarlnes who united together '£• to suppress the late rebellion." What can .* aid more to assure this result than by fCherishing tenderly the memory of our - heroic dead, who made their breasts a bar- ; jHcade between our country and its foes. 'J heir soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their * <de»ths the tattao of a rebellious tyranny 4 jiu arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the conse- '(l crated taste and wealth of the nation can '• add to their adornment and security is but y a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain -defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rude­ ly on such hallowed grounds. Let pleas­ ant paths invite the coming and going of referent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no rav­ ages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the co*t of a free and undi­ vided republic. If other eyes grow dull, and other h«f>ds slack, and other hearts grow cold in the solemn trust, ours S%ep It well as long as tite light and warmth of life remain to us. Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of springtime; let us • raise above them the dear old flag they irfs-V. -i saved from dishonor; 1st us in this solemn r* as* * f„ " W$kf: .'presence renew our pledges to aid and a«- 6ist those whoiA they have left attong us. a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude •--the soldiers and sailors' widow and or­ phan. 2. It is the purpose of the commander- in-chief to inaugurate this observance, with the hope that it will be kept up from •year to year v hile a survivor of the war rem iJns to honor the memory of his de­ parted comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this -order and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to tbe notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous com­ pliance therewith. 3. Depaitment commanders will use every effort to make this order effective. By order of JOHN A. LO3AN. ' Commander-in-Chief. ' Official N. P. Chipmas. Adjutant Genera*. As a result of this initial movement the loyal people in twenty-seven States •and at 183 burying places met on May 3o end conducted the first memorial «kprvice to the Union dead. Such was the elevating character of this solemn demonstration that Congress deter- Cniued4o have the proceedings of the meeting collected and bound. This is the origin of Decoration day, which, 4ince I>-68, has annually been observed in the United States. Probably at no other place in the country on this first Decoration Day were the ceremonies more touching and imposing than at the national cemetery at Arlington Heights, near Washington city, wLere are buried 22,000 Union soldiers.' The services were conducted entirely under the auspices of the De­ partment of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Republic, with the co-operation of the public authorities displaying it­ self in military array and contributions of flowers. . The exercises were opened at 1 o'clock in iront of the Arlington man­ sion by Mr. W. T. Collins, who read Gen. Logan's order designating this day as a memorial day. Rev. Byron Sunderland offered a prayer, after which a hymn was sung. General James A. Garfield was then intro­ duced and delivered an eloquent and impressive addresB. The assemblage | then sang a patriotic song and listened | to the reading of an original poem by Mr. J. C. Smith. As the Forty-four:h Infantry Band played a dirge the pro­ cession formed and marched around the gardens sou'h of the mansion, the chil­ dren from the Soldiers and Sailors' Or­ phan Asylum strewing flowers upon the graves as lhey passed. The procession halted at the tomb of the unknown dead and a fervent prayer was offered by Hev. J. G. Butler, followed by the singing of an appropriate chorus by the Arion Club. Tiie tomb was decorated and the procession marched to the flag stand at the principal cemetery, where the ceremonies were opened with prayer by the Bev. Chas. V. Kelley, of Chicago. Mr. Holbert C. Paine, of Wisconsin, read the dedicatory address delivered at Gettysburg by President Lincoln. After the reading of the address the graves throughout the cemetery were decorated. In the following year sill more exten­ sive preparations were made for ob­ serving Decoration Day. In thirty-ona States and in 33(i towns and cities the day was observed with impressive cere­ monies. "Ko; I suppose he can't forget," and Leonard looked sadly at his brother, who was turning to leave him. . "Hold on, stranger," called the oy-i stander, and the departing man turned around. "I want to give you a pointer," continued he; "this brother of yours has been my friend since the war, and if he did fight on the rebel side, that's noth­ ing against him now; come with me a minute," and taking his arm, he led him back to the graves and showed him the name on one of them. fSthei-e," he said; -"yoitr brother could forgive him, and every year he comes here and puts flowers on his grave, and ye$ that man, when your brotner tried to escape when he was taken prisoner, fired the shot that cost him his leg; he acted up to his, convictions and so <Ud your brother. Now what are yours-- can you go away without making friends? "Kemember," he added with a smile, "there isn't as much of him to forgive as when he made the mistake of tak­ ing the wrong side, and reu ember, too." he added, taking off 'his hat, "what's left mayn't be here to forgive when you make up your mind you want to." There wjts a moment's pause, and then a cheer went up as the brothers turned away together. FIRST TIME UNDER FIRE. Impressions of a Soldier Graphically Told tf Himself. I am requested, however, to write my impressions Of a soldier uader fire for the first time, says a writer in an ex­ change. Tnose who remember the pallid hue of ihe enemy at that time doubtless would kindly advise silence on my part, but I'm not under oath at present, neither are there many wit­ nesses living to dispute my flight--of fancy as I place myself in battle array and wait for the skulking enemy to ad­ vance and get shot (I sell that article by the pound). How one feels under fire for the first time is not a pleasant thing to recount. I have a dim, hazy recollection that for about a half-hour preceding that time I was not bereft of sensation, although my blood was frozen, and .1 experienced the same feeling a boy does who knows there's a licking due from his paternal ancestor and that party has a record for keeping his work. I have never experienced the sensation of a man being tied down upon a railroad track with the cannon bflH express due in three seconds, and no succor to help the sucker on the track, but I presume the feelings of a person under such unfavorable conditions are similar to a man under fire for the first time. I remember that I was a sickly, sentimental boy at that time, with my head full of such expressions as "'Tis sweet, oh, 'tis sweet for one's country to die," "Fire when you see the whites of their eyes," "A little more grape, Captain Bragg," "Pro lono publico, vox populi, vox Dei" and other well-known expressions of war heroes. Somehow, on the eve battle, I failed to remember any of these, but I did <hink of "Home, Sweet Home,* and how I used to sit in the gloaming of the back woodshed, while my mother shook the fleas out of my wardrobe. The first feeling that felt of me real hard, when the enemy learned that I was trying to keep in front of them, was a desire to assist the noble hospital stewards at tbe rear and lend my advice and knowledge of military operations to the war correspondents and other non-combatants. In fact, I had half-consented to allow myself a furlough, when I discovered that I bad hesitated too long and there was as much danger in running away as to re­ main and be a first-class hero or a bul- let-riddled corpse--I had no real facts at hand to state which. I think I smiled a sickly smile at my comrades and tr:ed to push my hair dfuyn and break the tie for the' first time more as a BclentlUc conttibution to the petit mal or epilepsy 9f literature than merely a desire to £ee my name in ^public print. As has been said before, "'Tie sweet for one's country to die," but no man who has died in that way has said so. It's the fellow who didn't get killed who sao- charinely views death on the battle­ field and knows all about dying. mmii icicle that had fori When the enemy ed along my spine, became somewhat VElt the tents of Halltown camp The fog was heavy, the morn was damp; The soldiers sleeping dreamed of hopie; 1 When sped a courier, flecked with foam. To Malor Sullivan. brave and true. Then "boots and saddles" his bugler blsi^ And at the call each soldier woke, , /, Saddled h1n steed, »ind the stillness broke; With clanking saber and neighing st«ed, For down by the river was terrible need • Of men "vho could fight and save the day Wt.lch an officer's cowardice threw away. Quick Into line! Ihe battalion was ready. "By twos from the right," each horseman wassteudy; '•Forward, march!" and away they sped. But never a word the Major said, Over the pike ere the morning sheen 11 ad reddened the east with luminous glaum; Past the grand guard, near Charlestown. Where the rebels hung Osawatomie Brown, And then toward tbe river the trooper* rode". Where the silver fog of the morning showed The Blue Ridge rim that sheltered the gray. And made for guerrillas an easy prey; Soldiers in blue who on picket stood, Down by the copses ef willow wood. The sabers click and the horse hoofs pound. Till a dead Union soldier by the wayside's found; i Then the Major cries «Halt!n and scouts are deployed. And darkness with daybreak is quickly alloyed. Bang! bang! go the carbines, down by the ford, Some soldier has fallen and drank of death's gourd; Some mother's heart-broken, some father's sad-- A family wilt mourn for their volunteer lad. "Now, lads." cries the Major, "we're in for the fight, The rebs they are forming beyond on the tight; They're two to our one--we won't show the white feai her. But if God wills it so we'll all die together. Draw sabers, and charge, every man fol low me; We'll give them the steel, and Mosby shall see The 'First vets' are true; now in for the fray." * A cheer, and the rebels are flying away! Driven like snow in a winter gale Few came back to tell the tale. And "Jerry" Sullivan, truest arid best. Lay dead by the river, a wouud in hia breast. • • * , • •; • • • Men who were young ha^e now grown grayf fcince at Cubletown, that April day, Sullivan led his troopers down j'ast wliei'e the rebels iiung .".ohn Brown. Down by the river, hard by the ford, The dauntless soldier drained death's gourd. Place on his grave some flowers to-day. Bravest and tend«rest, his comrades say. v'.n. / IX A "HAIL Of BOLLII&" active in their firing someone said, Draw sabers and charge," but 1 tried j £,ee. FRIEND tpro'JMC*' AT LA3T. Memorial Day RUB l. .. J Assemblage. ... Home years ago, at a Memorial Day 4$semblage in one of the Northern Ter­ ritories. after the ceremonies were over and the crowd was commencing to break lip, two men came face to lace near the graves that ha4 been covered with the : symbols of renewed brotherhood. They stood transfixed, then one held eut his hand to the other. "Jim," he said, "I've never stopped #Doking for you since the war." Tbe other man never spoke, but kept looking him steadily in the eye. "Jim," again commenced the one who :: jfcad spoken, "the war has kept us long enough apart; let us be friends again-- i>i others once more." A crowd had gathered, attracted by 4he scene, and one of the bystanders %ho knew the speaker said' "What's the matter, Leonard? Is that the brother you have been tellin' *• • *bout?" -v." Leonard nodded. "And he won't make up wltfc you •Wirt" • • .• ' SSfe, ' • • fe hard not to hear it. I could see the en­ emy and lhey looked worried when they j saw me, and I felt so sorry to be, obliged to split their h?ads open with : my sword that I fain would have turned 1 back without molesting them. Several men who started with me had turned back, and a few had stopped short and were no longer in it. One rude thing that shocked my young nerves was the carelessness of the enemy, especially the artillesy, in aiming their weapons. A man about No. 3 from me was hit in the bosom with a shell. Of course, this wasn't edifying to a young soldier un­ der fire for the first time, but after the battle was over, and we were safe out of the enemy's reach, one man, who had never been in a battle, said that wasn't anything to find fault about. "Just wait," said he, "until you get a warm cannon ball in the breast, and then you'll have some reason to complain that war isn't what its cracked up to be." In this tattle we knocked tbe spots off the enemy, and I wrote home telling my people 'that we did it; al­ though I don't remember firing a single shot, still I may in a moment of enthus­ iasm or abstractedness have done so. My recollection is that the first time I was under fire I acted in an irrational, irresponsible manner, and not in keep- | ,atTbe'Vunerai"of ing with the character of a hero. At the second affair I took kindly refuge brhind a tree, being at that time an or­ derly for a geneial who was one of the best rear guaid directors of the trhole war. I believe the generos­ ity of this grand military gentleman saved my life. I regard a wide-chested tree as a bulwark of protection in a battle that no man who prizes life, lib­ erty and the pursuit of happiness can ignore. Seriously, my feelings when under fire for the first time were that I had mistaken my trade and preferred THE WAR ONLY A MEMORY. A.u Ex-Coa!ederute'« Oration at a Union Memorial Service. The memorial services held at Hing- iiam, Mass., last year by Edwin Humphrey Post, G. A. B., were nota­ ble for two reasons. The services were held in the1 meeting-house of the F^rst Parish, which has the distinction of being the oldest church in the United States in which continuous religious services have been hold, having been erected in lt>81, while the ora or of the occasion was the llev. John E. Lind­ say, rector of St. Paul's Church, Bos­ ton, and formerly a soldier in the Con­ federate army, serving under Gen. Bobert^ E. Lee. Dr. Lindsay, while rector at Georgetown, D. C., whs Chap­ lain of the House of Representatives. Dr. Lindsay, in the course of his ad­ dress, said: "You were soldiers of the Union, and I, for a short time, filled an humble place among the followers of Bobert E. Generosity to foes was a trait of THE POR8IUN 3BRVICE. DttttN «fO«r Representative* OMfta Abroad. Many of tho most Interesting ap­ pointments made by a new President are those in the diplomatic and con­ sular service, says the Youth's Com­ panion. Our ministers, consuls and consular agents in foreign cities are important to the nation's welfare in three ways. They are to protect American citizens living or traveling abroad, and to attend to certain de­ tails in connection with merchan­ dise which is to be imported into this country. Second, they mu£t study the meth­ ods, socal and industrial, of the lo­ calities to which they are sent, and report to the State Department such facts as may he usefully applied in our own Institutions. Their third duty is sometimes the most important of all; to stand as the representative of their government in the immediate presence of foreign states, and on all occasions to receive and offer the courtesies and atten­ tions expected between governments. In European governments, this last duty of a foreign minister is tbe most important. It is the ambas­ sador who lays the foundations for great international alliances. It is he who prepares treaties, and his per­ sonal atioDS may olten bring on or avert wa^. It is perhaps the fact that the chief duties of an American and of a European foreign representative aie different, which explains the wide difference between the American diplomatic and consular service and that of other great states. In the President's appointments, the feel­ ing has become general that tbe foreign service is on the same plane with service of the government at home. Every President is expected to ap­ point men to foreign embassies or consulates on the same ground as he is asked to appoint others to Treasury Clerkships and country ^postottices. The candidate's value as a political leader, and his services in a presi­ dential campaign, often count for as much in the one case as in the other. That is not the European plan. Across the Atlantic the consular ser­ vice is a profession by itself. Men enter it, as they would enter on the study of law or medicine, early in lite. In the British Foreign Office It was doubtlessly owing to this fact that when the people could not ac­ count for Paganini's wonderful play­ ing. they declared that he had a hu­ man soul imprisoned in his violin, for his violin sang and whispered even when all the strings were o& . 411111 Belter* In Vampires. , In a paper recently read before tlao New York Folk-lore society, Lee J. Yance narrates some curious facts, quoted by the New Orleans Picayune, showing the survival of the vampire superstition among the Hungarian miners in Pennsylvania. One of these miners at Antrim; who was suffering from ronsumption, con­ ceived the idea that his suffocation and shortne s of breath was caused by the ghost of a former boss, who in life had tyrannized over him, sitting on his breast and sucking his life blood. In Hungary ghosts who thus pray on the living are exorcised by buring the hearts which beat in the bodies they inhabited before death. The proof that a body is that of a vampire is a heart still fresh and full of blood, when the rest of tho corpse may be decayed. When a heart which is thus proved to be that of a vampire is burned the live person who has beeu the ghost's victim recovers from the effects of the visitation. Believing all this impiicity, th'e miner, aided by his brother, dug up the corpse of the dead boss and cut. out the heart. It was found to be fresh and full of blood, as they ex­ pected, and they accordingly burnea it, with full faith that good results would follow to the sufferer from con­ sumption. The immediate result was the arrest of the disturbers of the dead. They were not prosecuted, however, allowances being made for their ignorance. In spite of the burn.ng of the boss' heart the con­ sumptive miner, although he pro­ fessed ac first to feel perfectly Weil, died not long' aftei ward. the soldiers of our two armies. There were cruelties, now and ihen, on both sides to wounded men and prisoners, but even they were often exaggerated and they were condemned by the true men of the two armies. I have seen ragged privates of the Confederate army stand with heads uncovered by the side of a dying In ion general. I have seen them lift a shattered Union soldier from an ambulance and lay him down upon the ground with tho gentleness of i a woman, and heard bim eicialm: 'You rebels are mighty kind,' while teats ran 1 down their powder-stained cheeks. ; Hancock's thoughtful and unselfish con- du t, when severely wounded, in send- • ing his own surgeon to relieve his class­ mate, Armistead, at Gettysburg, has j been told in every Southern home. "Grant ccnquered our army at Appo­ mattox. but the whole South surren- dered to him their hearts when they heard of his generosity to Lee and his i men. Tbe Southern soldiers never i n ore thought of him as »n enemy, but j eagerly listened for the news from the J chamber where he struggled with death, 1 and in sorrow and love sent their best j men to follow him to the grave. Joseph i E. .Johnston died from exposure en­ countered while acting as pall-bearer his friend, General Sherman. And what those leaders were, so were the men who followed them in battle. "The h&ues of the war are settled settled forever, and are so accepted in the South as in tne North. Let us ide with each other In devotion to our com' mon coumry and in generous consider' atton for ihose who have differed with us in the past or may do so in the future, . . Thank God that this sol dierly s%lrlt has so far pervaded our people tnat they, on their respective .... - ^ , memorial days, place the tribute of clerking In a corner grocery store, or j uowe„ alike on tbe gravesot those who applicant must serve in the depart­ ment at London six "months, before he can be sent on foreign duty. He must then pass a rigid (examination; he must be able to speak French, must also understand the language of the country to which he is to be sent, and have a sufficient knowl­ edge of mercantile and commercial law. When he has passed successfully such an examination and has gone to bis consulate, he is for two years "under probation," and will be dis­ missed if he is found incapable; but if he passes his probation time with a good recoid, only disgrace, death, or resignation will remove bim from the service. Not onl^ this, but he knows that search for ieal ability is so keen that genuine merit .will surely be rewarded •with promotion.- In France the system is nearly the same. The candidate for consular office must understand two languages beside his own. He must pass a strict examination in International law, diplomatic history, statistics, political e.onomy, and geography. If he stands the test successfully he may count on sure promotion as a reward for industry and capacity, and mav feel absolutely secure against capricious dismissal, or be­ cause some other man desires his place. The result of such systems is to give these governments la thoroughly competent, useful and creditable foreign service. Of our consular service the same thing cannot always be said. Our ministers to Important states are al­ most invariablv men of whom Ameri­ cans can be justly proud, but there is often an American consul in a far-off commercial port who is quite un­ equal, comtfiercially or socially, to his duties. Indeed* it could hardly be other­ wise. He is chosen often merely be^ cause he has been a skillful political leader in the far West, or because he had been a faithful party Congress­ man and had failed of re-election. Then, too, it is hisrhly probable that he succeeded in hk office a man of the opposite party who was sum­ marily dismissed, a fate which he also looks for when the other party returns to Dower. The abuse of such appointments are among the worst results of the "spqils system." A Failure. In times past many designs have been made with a view of producing a carriage which would maintain a great amount of speed with a small expenditure of energy. But it re­ mained for an American to devise the most remarkable cycle on record. The contrivance consisted of a sort of miniature dog-cart, on which was a box-seat. This was connected by means of a pole, with a large wheel »n ! in front, so arranged that it could contain two dogs. The machine was guided by means of a steering-rod, with a handle conveniently near the The inventor reckoned that the dogs, in their natural desire to escape, would run forward, thus revolving the wheel, somewhat after the manner of a prisoner on a treadmill. Even supposing that dogs could be procured which would perform this service, thece remains the question of weight, which was the straw that broke the inventor's back. He found that the /carriage, complete, would weigh abbut 200\ pounds. To this was added the weight of a 150-pound lady, for the machine was designed especially for woman's use. Con­ siderable discussion arose as to how heavy tho dogs would have to be in | order to drive this weight, and a j book written on the subject said that [ two forty-pound flogs would not |\suffice. The inventor, therefore, de­ ciding that animals of greater weight could not be accommodated, aban­ doned bis task. herding cattle, to the glory and fame of a eoldier's life. Subsequently I was present in several battles, but I haven't' a written expression from the com- I mander-ln-chief that I saved the day or I died as heroes die. I have never been presented with medals, the dozen or so that I wear when on parade at county lairs and picnics have been purchased ot regular dealers in heroic emblazonry. But 1 desire to l§ay, for the benefit of posterity, that I have had some hair­ breadth escapes outside ot war as she is fought on the battlefields of nations. In domestic affairs I have met the ene­ my and "are hern every time." There are such things as being under fire and ( being fired. I have experienced both! 100 grammes o| fluorine, 22 kilo fought with them and those who fought against i hem." Tbe Human Itoily. The human body contains 150 bon and 500 muscles; the heart beats 70 times a minute, displacing each time 44 grammes of blood. Ail the blood passes through the heart in three minutes. In a normal condition the lungs contain litres of air: we breathe 1.200 times every hour. There are 13 elements In the body; 5 gaseous und 8 solid. A man weighing 76 kilogrammes represents H kilogrammes of oxygen, 7 of hydrogen, 1.73 of azote. 600 grammes of chlorine. Big Ears and Their Meaning. Ears in which the "hem" is flat, as if smoothed down with a flat iron, accompany a vacillating mind and cold, unromantic disposition. Large round ears, with a neat "hem" around their border, well carved, not flat, indicate a strong will and a bull-dog tenacity of pur­ pose. When there is no lobe and the ear widens from the bottom upward, the j owner is of a selfish, cunning and re­ vengeful disposition. The person with an ear with a rounded ovate top is almost without exception one with a placid disposi­ tion and a nature that pines to love and be loved in return. When the ear is oval in form, with the lobe slightly but distinctly marked, it indicates for its owner a lofty ideality, combined with a mor­ bidly sensitive nature. ONLY LACKED HYPOCRISY, All Other Vtcmm Practltml "by tbe People of Queen Caroline's Day. f>t it never be forgotten that the first half of the eighteenth century was gross and profligate, laudatores temporis acti to the contrary notr withstanding, says London Society. By our modern standard of purity, perhaps, it, ought, not to be tested. Men and women were eaten ufS with the worship of mammon. Politicians were a herd of venaf wretches who thought of nothing else but place, power, and pocket. At one time they trimmed, at another time they turned their coats. One day they voted in favor of a measure, the next day against it On the hustinsrs they made promises, in the Legislature they forgot those promises. Out­ wardly they were loud in uheir praises of the house of Brunswick, secretly they drank to the King over the water. All who are familiar; with the veracious chronicles of the lives of "Tom Jones" and "Joseph An­ drews"--and who is there that is not? --are fully conversant with the man­ ners and customs of the contempor­ ary squires, paisons, and farmers. Those wlua have ever perused the correspondence of Miss Bellendenand Miss Howe do not need to be re­ minded of the way in which elegant dames of high degree sometimes wrote and spoke of the queen's En­ glish. The court merely reflected the crossness of one-half of English so­ ciety, and, indeed, of continental so­ ciety. Moreover, it was singularly lacking in those allurements which the graceful, refined and witty court of the regent Orleans exhibited. The only vice by which the age was not characterized was ^ hypocrisy. Nothing was tfissfeiribleaj nothing was cloaked. George IL lived openly with Lady Suffolk and witli jtpie countess nf Yarmouth '- Sir'jibbert Walpole. |iis prime minister, lived openly with Miss Skerritt, and yet he was a great friend of Gibson, bishop of London, and of Hoadley, bishop ot Win­ chester. When Mr. Howard desired to wrest his spouse from the service of Queen Caioline and the em braces of the King he employed an arch­ bishop of Canterbury as the go-be­ tween. An occupant of the archi- cpiscopal see of York lived openly with a succession of mistresses; one Lady Bath was as intriguing as she was comely, and her friend, Lady Walpole, was no less apt at intrigue. There are good grounds for believing that Horace Walpole was the son of Carr. elder brother of Lord Hervey. But there is no need to cite again Jacts so commonly known. In the present day it is not speaking out of bounds to say that there is more de­ cency, more observance of form, more regard to conventionality, more deli­ cacy of feeling than there was in the Georgian era Nor can we believe but that the change is both apparent and real, that more respect exists for principles and externals, more for a truer self-knowledge and an excusa­ ble pride that men contrast the days af Caroline ot Auspach with the days of the good Queen Victoria. Testing Diamonds. There are several ready tests for diamonds. That which is generally adopted by jewelers has for its foun­ dation the well-known fact that the diamond is harder than any other sub­ stance, and can consequently not be scratched or marked by anything but another diamond. The second test is that it becomes positively electric by friction, but it is not electrified by heat, and this serves to distinguish it from the topaz and many other stones. Another method of determining whether a diamond is genuine or not is to pierce a hole in a card with a needle, and then look at the hole through the stone. If false you will see two holes, but if genuine only a single hole will appear. You may also make tbe test in, an­ other very simple way. Put your finger behind the stone and look at it through the diamond as through a magnifying glass. If the stone is genuine you will, be unable to dis­ tinguish the grain of the skin, but with a false stone this will he plainly visible. Besides looking through a real diamond the setting is never visible, whereas it is with a false stone. TEXAS GATEWAY. tbe Umm Hm Violins. The great violin milkers all lived within the compass of one hundred and fifty years. They chose their wood from a few great timbers felled in the south Tyrol, and floated in rafts, pine and maple, sycamore, pear, and ash. They examined these to find streaks and veins and freckles, valua­ ble superficially when brought out by varnishing. Thev learned to tell tne dynasty of the pieces of wuod by touching them; they weighed them, they struck thein. and listened to judge how fast or how slow, or resonantly they would vibrate in answer to strings. Some portions of the wood must be porus and soft, some of close fibre. Just the right beam was hard to find; wheu found, it can be traced all through the violins of some great master, and after his death In those of his pupils. The Diece of wood was taken home and seasoned, dried in the hot Bres­ cia and Cremona sun. The house of Stradivarius, the great master of all, is described as having been as hot as an oven. through and through with the sun Fruit Orowtlis or Mexico. - Mexico is the librae of the straw­ berry and in one of the provinces this fruit can be bought for 5 cents a quart every day in the year. Oranges, lemons, limes, and figs also grow in that fruitful land, with four kinds ot bananas, among them the sugar ba­ nana, the size of a mans' finger and most delicately flavored. Among the peculiar foreign fruits are the guaua, like a large yellow plum; the custard frul§ which looks like a large apple; the yepata, one variety of which re­ sembles the pawpaw; the mango, a large flat fruit, which supports en­ tire colonies. and the butter fruit, used in making sandwiches. Timber Scarce. Out West--that is to say, in the Wild West--it is the custom, says the Harvard Lampoon, to mark a j man's grave by a white cross, sur- j rounded by a little fence. One day I 1 happened to notice ihat there was but one cross in the cemetery at Mud I Flat "Look, here, Dick,1' said I, ! turning to my cowboy friend, "this must be a remarkably healthy place, eh?" "Wa-al, it's this way, pard," he replied, "timber's d--d scar e out here, and the last mah gets the fence Bakers. Special laws for bakers have been in existence since early times, in parts of Asia, whenever famine threatened, it has been customary for the rulers to proclaim a fixed price The wood was there sTkcd ! ralled " Dar* %. "Ji K nri thrnno+i «,»th tho nounced in xndia). On this account shine*"In this great heat th« oil, i dbhonest takers were nailed to their thinned and simmered slowly, and ea" ® pdr ^ penetrated the tar into the wood, un- Asia, wl^lieitjhe more polite Irench and still no one will cover me over with j beautiful flowers for what I have saf- | fere<^ Memorial Day Is here ~nd t think It has come to stay. I'm glad to liable to relate lfty experience in bat- _ precious metals. grammes of carbon, 8t;0 grammes of phosphorus, 100 grammes of sulphur, 1,750 grammes of calcium, 80 grammes of potassium. 5<> grammes of iron, no til the varnish became part of the wood itself. The old violin makers used to save every bit of the wood when they found what they liked, to mend and patch and inlay with it So vibrant and so resonant i$nthe wood of g'wt old violins that they murmur, and echo, and sing in answer to any sound where a number of them han$r to­ gether on the wall, as if rehearsing the old music that once they k«sw. have contented themselves for <500 years and at the present time with nailing their prices in their shops. WHENEVER a woman has bad luck with her cooking, she doesn't study tbe cook book more, but begins to offer her opal jewelry for sale. HTakixg medicine is a good deafr like "poisoning the spring where you get your drinking water. Atrloans with Tails. Various stories have been told of the tails of the Niam Niams of Cen­ tral Africa, who have also been as­ serted to be cannibal^ Their tails have been described as smooth and as hairy, as peculiar to the men, and as possessed by the men and women both. The most interesting and circum­ stantial account of this feature is given by Dr. Hubsch, of Constanti­ nople, who examined a tailed negress. Her tail was about twD inches long and terminated in a point The slave^dealer who owned her said that all the Niam Niams had tails, and that they were sometimes ten inches long. Dr. Hubsch also saw a man of the same race who had a tail an inch and a half long, covcred with a few hairs; and he knew at Constantinople the son of a physician who was born with a tail an inch and a half long and one of whoso grandfathers had a like appendage. « The phenomenon, he said, is regarded generally in the East as a sign of great brute force. Was tn Chapel on Time. A good story about Profes^br Tuckeri formerly of Bowdoin college, is told l y the Portland Transcrlot About, the year '61, when he was "Tutor" Tucker at the institution, the bell rang for prayers at the chapel, as now; very early in the morning, and it was imp ratlve upon tutors and pupils to respond. As a tutor Mr. Tucker was very popular, although very strict, and was always prompt to take his place at the head of his class at the early morning de votions. One morning, however, he found h!s clothing gone and his door nailed while the bell was ringing. Finding a hatchet ho scon split the door down, and at the last stroke of the bell appeared clothed in his shirt and a pair of overalls, barefoot, but with a smile of serenity on his ex­ pressive countenance. He took his customary place, and neither then nor afterward- were words of com plaint heard from him.--Boston Journal. ; MORE women are looking for an op­ portunity to elope from men than to them. A Mwmltf Been Only In State. . The author of "Tenants of ah DM .Farm" tells of ofte of the remarkable habits of the cutting-ants in Texas, as observed by him. It relates to the opening and shutting of the gates which communicate with the interior of the mound nests, which he found were opened and closed before and after every exit the ants make. These gates are simply little heaps of dry leaves, twigs, and other refuse, which are seen scattered here afid there over the mound as one ap-. proaches it in daytime. When I first saw them I was com­ pletely deceived, and thought them nothing more than accidental ac­ cumulations. I found out, however, that these piles were raised above the surface opening of the galleries that penetrated the mound, and tilled the mouths to the depth sometimes of an inch and a half. The leaves and chips w^e. inter­ mingled with pellets of soil, and oc­ casionally below them the gallery was quite sealed with pellets* The galleries frequently slant inward from the gate, and at as great an angle as forty-five degrees. Sometimes they deflect a short distance from the top. These conformations allow more readily the process of closing, as they give a purchase to the material used. The doors are opened about dusk. First appear the minims, the very small forms, creeping out of minute holes, whiqh they have doubtless made by working inside, and carrying grains of sand away from the heap Presently larger forms follows, carry­ ing away bits of refuse, which they drop a couple of inches,' more or less, from the gate. This is a slow jfrocess, and ap­ parently nothing is accomplished for a long time. But evidently the whole mass of plugging is thus gradually loosed. Then comes tbe final burst, with soldiers, majors, and minors ih the lead, who rush out, bearing be­ fore them the rubbish, which flies here and there, and in a feto mo­ ments is cleared away from the gal- lery, and spread around the margin of the gate. These chips are doubtless gathered together for this purpose, and are among the treasured properties of tire ants, being kept near by for such ser­ vice. 1 easily identified many pieces as being thus used several days in suc­ cession. The doors remain open to give exit and entrance to the swarms of leaf- gatherers until morning, when they are gradually closed, the process con­ tinuing in some cases until half-past ten. In shutting up tbe house tbe minors appear to begin by dragging the scattered refuse toward the hole. One by one they are taken in, and* the ingenuity shown in this is very great. The workers proceed by properly adjusting the longest stalks and leaves that can stretch across and wedge into the mouth of the gal­ lery, and then laying the shorter ones atop of these. As the hole gradually fills up, the smaller castes of workers appear upon tho field, and take up the work ' &o which their slighter frames $pe adapted. The last touches are carefully and delicately made by the minims wh^ in small squares, fill in the remaining interstices with minute grains of sand; and finally the last laborer steals in behind some bit of leaf, and ihe gate is closed. Bis Refuge. • "Dou't you consider it's a terrible thing for folks to give way to their ugly feelin's, an' talk mad?" inquired mild little Mrs. Lambkin of her hus­ band, after a slight display of tem­ per from their son Ike. "Well, I dunno," said Mr. Lamb­ kin, meditatively stroking his beard; "It appears to me it's Jest as well now an' agin to let out a mite, ef so be ye can do it without hurtin' any- thin' or anybody, as 'tis to keep it all buttoned up, an' go round lookln' glummer an' glummer. •Of course," Mr. Lambkin added, hastily, "I ain't countenancin' per- fanity in any form. To my mind there aint any excuse for that, though I've seen folks that was fust-rate iu other respects that hed a fearful time to get shet o' tnat habit What I mean is kind o' scoldin' talk. 'Now I shell rec'mmend to Ike what my father rec'mmended to me when 1 was a yearlin' boy like him. He's built constd'able like me, an' I see he's got where he needs it "1 was a high-tempered boy, an' my father used t' tell me when I was riled up to git out to the woodshed, an' ketch up tbe hatchet an' go to splittln', an' talk to the woodpile. An' I ken tell you 'twas a monstrous help! I've started for that woodpile on tbe gallop more'n once; an' I'd jest say eyerythin' I could think of to it at fust, till I cooled down. "It's jest like this," concluded Mr. Lambkin, humbly, "if folks hev got even tempers I admire 'em, an' they ought to count 'em a gift o' God, an' be mighty thankful. "An' I b'lieve in tryln' to fritMi pur­ chase on yourdisp'sition, no matter how poor 'tis; but 1 will say," here he ' looked half-dcflantly at his wife, "I: will say that there's been ttnies, fcven since I was merried, when that wpod- pile hes saved me a fit o' slcknessf" Be Played a Winning Cant. There's a very pious and diffident, young man in Detroit who is so very1 sensitive that a certain geotleman with a good-looking daughter is fore- ever teasing him on all sorts Of sub­ jects, and the young fellow has never been able to get even until now. The other day the old one met the youug one in. a crowd of men. "Ah, my boy," he said, "you weren't at the club last night?" "No, sir." was the response, "I was maKing alfew calls." "O--ho," laughed the old one with great significance, "making calls were you? What kind of hands did you hold?" and be winked and (laughed again, and nudged the young man in. the ribs. . Then tbe inspiration came to , the young man. • - ' "They were just too lovoly for any­ thing," he said with a smile. "Your daughter's was one, for instance," and somehow the old one hasn't felt so much like teasing the pious young man since that. u v MEN make tools of their friendly and then howl when they get cat fs* * \ .