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P-v-S ' -S'. FALLACY OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Notion of the Writers that They Must Be on the Level of the Infant Mind. They have succeeded, according to Harper's Magazine. They have got be­ low the level of any kind of mind. They are as mediocre and almost as commonplace -as half the novels that are bought and read by adults. Is do­ mestic twaddle, because it is printed, of service to any mind, young or old? The ponderous Dr. Johnson lived when the attempt to dilute the minds of children was just beginning to be madei, and he characterized it with-hls usual d1rectne«a_and _goofl -Aenaa In. that inexhaustible and wholly charm­ ing storehouse' of anecdote and enter­ tainment, Johnsonian Miscellanies, ed­ ited my Birkbeck Hill, there is a record of Johnson's disapproval of putting Newbery's books into the hands of children as too trifling to engage their attention. '-Babies," he said, "do not want to hear about babies, they like to be told of giants and castles, and Of something that can stretch and stimu­ late their minds.'.' They like genuine stories, and a genuine story has always a strong flavor of human nature or some supernatural life in it. It is quite true that the young mind wants, the stories put into simple language, with­ out superfluous flourishes--just as the signs used by deaf mutes discard ev­ erything that does not directly product the image of the mind. The signs ap­ proach the' linguistic simplicity . of "Aesop's Fables." And this necessity for simplicity is the apology for some of the books written especially for chil­ dren--that is, the class represented by Lamb's "Tales from Shakspeare," and prose tales from Homer, and generally the Greek legends and the fairy stories and mediaeval narratives, half-super­ natural. The "reductions" of good books for the use of children are, how­ ever, on the borderland of the admis­ sive, and in most cases it is better for the children, as soon as they can read easily, to read Shakspeare and a good translation of Homer, or have them read to them. If the real things are not put into their hands they will read something, and go on and enfeeme their minds with the attractive vol­ umes that are prettily illustrated, and require not so much mental effort as the conversation at a little girl's tea party. GREAT AND HONORED NAMES Ysabel? Well, \t is she. You know how she has slaved among the poor devils in this horrible hole. Yon can never know the devotion of this gentle maiden to her self-sacrificial duties. Evidently a woman of culture and refinement, she has slaved for the poor blacks as earnestly as for those of higher caste. Now,she is ill-- sick unto death. I have tried to learn who and what she is, but without success. To-niglit as she fell into delirium she muttered the word 'George' a couple of times. My God, man, what is the mat- tev, with you? I have feared it, you have the fever." "No, doctor. No fever but that of ter­ ror. Feel my pulse, take my temperature and you_will see the plague has exempted , my name?" "Certainly, your name. But--God in , heaven, can it be possible? Quick, man, j come with me." Out into the night rushed the two men,J one torn by a thousand conflicting einq-1 tions. He knew the resolute temper of J his sweetheart and fearing she hadseenj his downfall and had returned in spite offl all, he feit a fear tugging at his heart® which stifled him. Yet lie ran blindly af-« ter the doctor until they reached a small house where a dim light could be seen near the open window. Here Dr. AVright halted and cautioned the excited man to exercise care. > /' - ;* "Care! Who should'be more tender than I? If it is my love I will nurse her back into life," hoarsely said the young Northerner. "Let nie in. Don't you see this suspense is killing me?'t/God, it is she!" and he fell on his knees beside the pallet on which the form of a young wom­ an in the gray garb of the sisters lay ex­ tended. His voice roused the sick girl from her stupor. She glanced around the room with frightened eyes and then sud­ denly started up. "George," she said feebly, "you here? Oh, go away. You will take the fever and die. Don't stay. Take him away, doctor, for my sjake." "No. Here x stay. Tell me how you came here and " what does this dress mean ?" "This dress?" replied Mamie. "Oh, this belonged to a young nun who iost her life out in the camp. I was thrown from the train, dear, and when I came back home my father " and here the poor, ema­ ciated form writhed in agony. "Yes, yes." "It was the law, George. He could not help it. But he turned me back. I saw you fall. I went to this camp, then a fearful place of contagion and terror. I slipped in during the night, when the guard did not see me, and begged for food. The nun had died during the night. I prevailed on Dr. Stefano, who had just come, to permit me to assume the garb. I thought you were dead. I did not care what became of me. They told me you' never regained consciousness. I was| driven from home by the plague and forc­ ed to wander an outcast by my only par­ ent. I wore the garb out there. Then! the good doctor came here. Again I suc-1 ceeded in prevailing on him to take me, with him. He said I had helped him out. there, why should I not do so in here?' Besides, it was home, and I longed for it. I came aud worked until this morning.^ Then I fell ill. Now I'm dying. Yes, dearest, I'm dying. No skill can save me. I have worn the infected clothing too' long and was too much broken down when I put them on for any hope of life, to remain. We must part now. Oh, the' pain of the parting! But, when I am gone, tell my father I forgive him. Yes, it is rest now. Meet me above the stars." Fainter and fainter the struggling breath came and went. As the day dawn­ ed, another day of horror, with its mer­ ciless sun to bake and scorch the doomed, populace, the gentle spirit took flight. Conscious to the last, in the arms of her despairing lover she sank to* her eternal rest with a peaceful smile on her wasted features.--Chicago Chronicle. TO PERRY A OWEN.) as a rule, older, physically mature, ancl the opinion is held by some physicians that, for the sake of the physical per­ fection of the race, no woman should many until she is 25. They have a wider knowledge of physiological and1 midnight and if you were the deity him self, stay you must." ability to acquire it--which must bring • forth beneficial fruit in the rearing of ttfeir children. They know more pro­ foundly the responsibilities of mother­ hood, and their realization of the impor­ tance of details in the training of a •liild disposes them to look upon what night seem drudgery to other women iis glorified, educational opportunity. Besides, when an educated woman is jnate^ with an educated man there is intellectual companionship between them and each has sufficient respect for the other's mental and moral san­ ity to make possible a government for the home and the children, not by '"managing" each other, keeping clear of a pandering to each other's foibles and prejudices, but by frank and fear­ less discussion as to what is reasonable and right, - Golf as n Mind Cure. "My friends all laugh at my enthusi­ asm for golf." said a married woman with a large family and many cares, "but if they could realizekwhat it has done for me they would not wonder at my 'infatuation,' as they call it. Many a time, when 1 have been so worried over this thing and that 1 would other­ wise have sat down and cried, I have forgotten for the time being my cares and my troubles in following that little white ball across the fields, and the at­ tention it naturally commands makes me, forget for the time my cares and my troubles, while the fresh winds of heaven blow away the cobwebs from my tired brain, giving me courage and a cleaner vision. 1 verily believe, if it had not been my liking for golf and my enjoyment of the game, I should have had nervous prostration." Entirely Too Formal. Dolly Swift--Young Mr. jPensmlth, the editor of the Weekly Visitor, has just made me a written offer of mar­ riage. Sally Gay--He is a handsome fellow. What will be your answer, dear? Dolly Swift--He is handsome, IT ad­ mit, but I shall be forced to decline him with thanks. He is too horridly business-like. After requesting an early answer, he added: "Please write briefly, to the point and upon but one side of the paper. Sign your full name, not for publication, but merely as a guarantee of good faith, and do not forget to inclose a postage stamp if you desire a reply." Sally, a man like that would calmly smoke while the baby fell downstairs. Director of Art. The youngest and first woman direc­ tor of an art institute is Miss May Ball of Valparaiso, Ind., who now occupies the chair of fine arts at the Northern Indiana Normal College, located at that place. After being graduated from the Chicago Institute of Fine Art Miss Ball j5||do your buying wh^re you can noJ^flowing lines and gentle curves are the order in new gowns. This inter- ests not only the women and the mo­ distes Who made their gowns, but men who have for years jeered at and' ridi­ culed, secretly perhaps in many cases;,, the absurdities of woman's fashions, tight corsets, wasplike waists, 'bulging li!ps and other abominations. Women have for years gone on imagining that A JFEW FASHION they.were making themselves beautiful by just these means and getting farther j and farther away from nature and her lines.i The climajc was reached ten years ago, with.<the bustle and the hum]) it produced, and since then there has been a>gradual return to nr.tural lines until now the new fashions are ; almost ideal*' More women are now well rounded and proportioned, and it is attributable to nothing save the spread of the ath­ letic fever among women and the con­ sequent abolition of the tight corset ; and tight gowns. The American public had become accustomed to the deform­ ities which the prevailing styles seem­ ed to inflict upon women, but they were none the less inartistic and ob­ jectionable. The new fashion, being on the lines of a return to natural lines, 1 is indeed welcome and a marked im- < provement. 1 She Uses Her Lijjht. A man said to me not long ago. "What ' has got into the girls? Has it become • the fashion to economize? All the nicest girls I know are talking of the value of money and how much is wasted un­ thinkingly. Are we poor bachelors to take courage and believe that we can afford one of these beautiful luxuries in wives?" Alas! It is anything but a hint to take c ourage, for this heavenly phase of the new woman means that when she has learned that she can support herself, so that in case her riches take wings she need not be forced to drudge at un­ congenial employment, or to marry for a home--it means that she will be more particular than ever in the kind of a man she marries. For in fitting herself for marriage she is learning quite as well the kind of husband she ought to have. And she will not be as apt to marry a. man on account of his clothes, or because he dances divinely, as once she might have done. I do not mean to say that the new woman will not marry. In point of fact she will, if properly urged by the right man. But she will not marry so early, so hurriedly nor so ill-advisedly as be­ fore. And therefore the men whom new women marry will do well to real­ ize the compliment of her choice, for it will mean that, according to her light, he has been weighed in the balance and not found wanting. Of course, the other women marry on that principle, too. The only difference between the new woman and her sisters is in the amount of her light and the use she makes of it.--Woman's Home Compan­ ion. A Modern Diana. Mrs. Eugene Belden, a resident of the Boston suburbs, lias proved that a woman can point a gun straight and bag large game. During the past i l)as killed in the Maine woods as J many deer as the J j, vXjj law will allow. / J Til ^er husband is / y,'a 11 enthusiastic C f'SPOrisman. Some Mil t'ine "So he per- VII |i"i suaded her to try IS |j n wi , shooting 'bottles 11 i/i "thrown in the air. i ll SI mWi II was success-till ln leaking P I* L W M most of them and | H V M III was KOOn eager to /' Ms • ry her skU1 at ' something with yiMMVy more risk and ex- WW f citement about it. I <*P. MRS. II ELD EN. SHE ALWAYS dresses so that she can get abqut just . as easily and noiselessly as a man. Her j coktume consists of cortluroy lcnicker- . bockers and cap, a heavy sweater and . high boots. The first year that Mrs. Belden was In the woods she stood in the runways and waited for the guides to scare up the game, but afterward she exchanged this somewhat tiresome method for the fascination of the still hunt. Collejse Wotpen as Wives. Women of a higher education bring to motherhood and wifehood a better A boy who goes to a private school preparation than do those of smaller has great contempt for a boy who. opportunities. The reasons for this are goes to "the public." ; i both physical and mental. They are', Borne by New York Men in the Com­ mon Walks of Life. New York's directory can turn out a few odd names, but an investigation lias shown rather remarkable and cu­ rious facts, which go to prove that the answer to Shakspeare's question is that there is nothing at all in a name. For William Shakespeare--the Will­ iam Shakspeare of New York--is a humble printer. There is a John Mil­ ton in .New York who, as the directory describes him, is an engineer. Victor Hugo is put down as a waiter in a res­ taurant. Edwin Booth is given as a nurse, and Francis Bacon appears in the role of a piano tuner. There are seven Thomas Jefliersons, and one of them is a policeman. Of a roiMid dozen Andrew Jaeksons one is a varet, another a repairer of bicycles. Six George Washingtons vary in avo­ cation from lawyer to stock broker. One Plato sells hats, James G. Biaine is a coachman, Jefferson Davis a dri­ ver, Henry Clay a laborer, and Julius Caesar is a cigar salesman. There are two Ben Franklins, one William E. Gladstone, four Robert Burnses and any number of George Gordons--By­ ron's name. There are twenty Tom Moores, a Virgil and a Homer. There is but one Henry Heine in New York, two Richard Wagners, one Verdi, who is a musician, and a Gluck, who is a florist. This by no means exhausts the list of famous names whose owners were as obscure as their nominal prototypes were famous, but it shows the possi­ bilities of Greater New York. WOMEN WORKED LIKE MEN, Too Smart. The professedly comic papers are not above printing stories with a moral. Thus we find in Judge the following electioneering anecdote, the moral of which is, in Judge's language, "Don't hustle too hard:" Jim liussle wanted the nomination for County Treasurer in Beggs County last fall, and his success was conceded by those who knew him. He was as energetic as a tugboat, and as tireless as a mule. The other candidates groan-, ed when he entered the lists. But lie failed to reach the goal. One day he drove fifteen miles through a pouring rain, over roads hub- deep with mud, to see a man--a farmer of considerable influence. The farmer received him coolly. "So ye drove through that mud in three hours, did ye?" lie inquired. "I did," replied Russle. The farmer pondered a few moments. "I s'pose ye want the delegation from this town?" "I do." "Well, my boy, I'm afraid ye can't have it. You was solid with me up to a few minutes ago, but by thunder! a man who can drive fifteen miles over such infernal roads in three hours wouldn't be a safe man to trust with the county money; he'd be too hard to catch." MISS MAY BALI, gave instruction at Milford, 111., until she accepted her present position. Al­ though a young woman, her rare quali­ fications and exceptional artistic talent has already won her a name in the world of art. Her father, Erasmus Ball, fs cashier of the First National Bank of Valparaiso. FATHER!" SHE CIUED, FALLING TO NEIT KNEES. Queen's Circus Riding. Queen Henrietta of Belgium, by birth an Austrian archduchess, continues, in spite of her snow-white bait and rank as a grandmother, to occupy her time with circus riding. A year ago she gave, in the riding sehool of the royal palace at Brussels, a semi-public per­ formance, in which she and her daugh­ ter Clementine put their horses through all kinds of fancy paces and trick rid­ ing with the skill of professionals. They leaped their horses through burning hoops and over flaming hedges, and lier majesty jumped a pet horse over a din­ ner table covered with flowers and lighted candelabra. Theu sihe drove a team of twenty-In-hand herself, mount- od on her favorite mare.--Newcastle Chronicle. . • ' V,.' \ A Gigantic English Brewery. Some 3,000 people are employed at Bass' Burton breweries and the num­ ber of clerks employed Is uearly 300. The breweries cover about 200 acrcs of land. The annual output Is about 1,300,000 barrels, and the annual Jssua of bottling labels is about 230,000,000.. Moreover, no less than SO,000 acres are employed in growing hops for the man­ ufacture of Bass' ale. Wheat in Olden Time. From the time of Alexander the Great down to the time of Columbus, the average price of wheat was $0.72 a ton; from 1751 to 1800 the price avec- aged four times as much. Out into the night rushed the train. Headed for the North, the people on board glanced fearfully behind them and hope­ fully to the front. Miles were eaten up before another town was neared. As the engine was rushing and shrieking along there was a sudden grindia* >of the Wheels, a few panting snorts and the Jong to a standstill. AlLaljwigjfellic