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WOULD CHOOSE FOR HERSELF. 4 <fTp\HEN--Good-hy." I "No--Au revoir." The girl, Ada d'Arenville, giggled, the handsouis doors closed with a bang and with a muttered direction tjo'jtbe driver Dick Fenwiek turned on liis heel and re-entered the restaurant where he and Miss d'Arenville had dined together for the last time prior to Mr. Fenwick's marriage--not With Miss d'Arenville of the Alcazar, it. liiay be said. The power which some men exercise ever women, and women of different classes, is wonderful.. Fenwick's popu­ larity with the actress liad as its basis her fear of liim ,and also his treatment of her, at one time caressing and at an­ other violent, which, to her mind, ar­ gued that lie was a man amongst men, her experience of men previous to Fen- wick being continual compliance on . their part to her win. which she had found monotonous. With his fiancee Fenwiek. who was marrying her solely for the almost boundless wealth her father had left, her. proceeded on very different lines; he earned her respect by firmness cloaked with kindness; her love--for she thought she lover! the man who was ready to give her a title to play with-- j?y a chivalrous affection which he most eleverly assumed, with a particularly npright and modest bearing which cap­ tivated the good hearts of the two worthy maiden aunts who were the girl's sole guardians. Luckily for Sir Dick, a considerable tract of Great Britain separated the mnnants of his estate from the ancient high-wall-surrounded mansion _where dwelt Miss Mabel Lane and her de­ voted relatives. Luckily, because there were certain tales about--tales which did not redounu to his credit, and these might have got to the ears of the esti­ mable ladies chiefly concerned in the hero of them. Only once did he allow the cloven hoof to show itself before his wedding, and that waj when a tearful aunt in­ formed him that, owing to the untimely illness of their oldest friend, the vicar ef the parish, the marriage would have to be put off for a few days. "Just to think," said Miss Fauline, "just to think that, after all the trouble the dear vicar put himself to in post­ poning the day of his resignation in or­ der io marry Mabei, whom he chris­ tened as a child, he should be too ill to do so." It was a small village, and the time was too short to allow of extraneous clerical aid being obtained immediate­ ly, and for a moment Fenwiek thought the marriage would indeed have to be deferred. "But surely there is some other cler­ gyman in the neighborhood?" he asked, angrily./-' "Another clergyman." said the star­ tled Miss Sophia, "and the dear vicar christened • Mabel as a child--impossi­ ble." "Is there or is there not another cler­ gyman?" demanded the bridegroom, . sternly. "There is, indeed, a young curate in the village, sent in advance by the new vicar," said Miss Sophia in a plaintive voice, "but we do not know him, Rich­ ard; indeed, he has only been with 'us a few hours, and his years are too few, bad be been here at the time, for him to have assisted in the christening of our " "O, hang the christening, it's a wed­ ding we want him for now; the banns have been published in both parishes, and what difference does it make whether we are married by a curate or a bishop, as long as we are married-- and 1 Intend we shall be," replied Fen- wick, with asperity. "Dick, dear " expostulated Miss Lane. "My dear, I feel very upset about this Idea of postponement. I may be super­ stitious--I cannot help that--but I feel that unless we are married to-day something untimely will happen to pre- „ vent our being married at all." In his pocket Sir Richard had a very awkward letter, in which threats of ex­ posure were held over his head by an individual who was "tired of the ever­ lasting delays in the settlement of. my account. If there is justice to be ob­ tained in England I shall instruct, my solicitors, Messrs. Moses, Haig & Ben- ty. to proceed," etc., etc. It was not like Sir Richard to be thwarted by a couple of old ladies, and the wedding was performed at the ap­ pointed time by the curate, whose years were not sufficient had he been there at the time to have assisted at the christening of Miss Laile. The wedding performed, Fenwiek breathed again, and, once in the train, he indulged in a fairly big dose of bran­ dy, or Avould have done so had not an affectionate gesture of his wife caused the flask to fall from his hand, and elic­ ited from his lips such a term of black­ guardly opprobrium that the blood left ... the bride's face, leaving her pallid and trembling. i" • "Look here," said he, savagely, "let's understand each other. Do you know why I married you?" And he told her. "Do you know whom I love, whose little finger is worth a thousand times more than your whole body?" He told her that also. Then he told her not to interfere with him unless she wished her life to be an earthly bell. "I intend to be master, , he said, the veins standing out on his forehead with passion ill suppressed "Look here. I hate dogs." He opened the window and, taking the tiny terrier which lay curled upon the girl's lap, dropped it from the flying $|| train. % "You understand!" he sneered When they changed trains Fenwiek met upon the platform a boon compan Ipn of his pre-d'Arenville days, whom he induced to travel in the same car­ riage with himself and his wife to thefr destination. Lady Fenwiek cringed, bat dare say nothing, not even when her husband said, "Will see you later," when they parted; seeing only in thai insult a small reprieve from his society. When their silent dinner was dis­ patched Sir Richard turned to his wife and said, "I am going out; you can amuse yourself in the drawing-room, reading the fashions in year-old ladles' papers, or," he whispered, "in letting the tears gush forth from those some thinged silly eyes of yours." And he went forth to join his friend of the journey, and in the fullness- very fullness--of time returned to the hotel, where he was informed that a gentleman wished to see him. "At fhish hour!" he1 'hiccoughed. "Wher<| The gentleman who wished to se-> Sir Richard w;ts* ushej-ed into the room. In appearance lie was strictly profession­ al, but his,somewhat ppgrp expression was tempered by a look which men as­ sume when they have some exceeding- lypunpleasant duty to perform. J'Sir Richard! Fenwiek," he began. /"O, geralong," said the gentleman ad­ dressed. •, •' , , , "You will be (surprised to hear. Sir Richard, that,Lady Fenwiek is no long­ er in this hotel " Fenwick's., intoxication seemed to vanish by enchantment and he glared at his visitor, who continued to explain, " she is, indeed with/my wife, and in perfect safety."., _ ,i. "And who. the deuco-rrr-" began Fen- wick. "I am the head of the firm of Hughie, Acres & D&ublecheek, Lpndon agents of Messrs. Courtly & Stock, legal advis­ ers of C3e Misses Lane." "By what authority have you bad the impertinence to take my wife out of my charge?" asked the outraged husband. "As a man of law you must know that " "I am quite aware -of the position in which I stand," placidly continued the lawyer, "and my justification is con­ tained in these telegrams from the lady's guardians authorizing me to act as I think fit. I have also had several communications with the police." "The police----" gasped Sir Richard. "Calm yourself, my good sir; no harm is done, and everything will arrange it­ self for the best. It appears that for some time the police have been looking for a certain Frank Fenton, a well-edu­ cated young man, whose career marks him as a criminal of the highest abil­ ity." "I never heard of the name," asserted Sir Richard, loftily. "No; for professional uses he general­ ly found it convenient to adopt other names and other guises. For instance, during the last? few months this in­ genious youth has posed as a brick­ layer, an actor, a soldier, a lawyer, a liftman, and--a curate. He is, in fact, the very curate who married you this morning. The impostor was arrested on his way to the station with* a bag containing the gold plate belonging to the church and all moneys for alms and from collections that he could lay his hands on. The criminal being a lay­ man, and unauthorized to perform the wedding ceremony, your marriage is therefore illegal--you are, in fact, not married; but, of course, the marriage can be performed immediately a duly licensed clergyman can be obtained to perform it at Heston cum-Wold--that is," he added, with a dry smile, "if Doth parties are still willing." Dick.Eenwick's reply is not written.-- Pi?k-Me-Up. , ------------>----• PERILS OF SEA GUNNERY. The Mate's Ability and Quick Wftted- neas Save the Ship. An officer of the United States Navy relates the following as Illustrating some of the perils of gunnery at sea: "I am glad to see you again, and all the more so, because, without knowing it, I came very near going up into the air in small bits on this last squadron cruise; We were at heavy gun prac­ tice at sea, and but for the quickness of a gunner's mate would never have re­ turned. As you probably( know, the heavy, guns in the turrets are fired by electricity, the gun being discharged simply by pressing a,button. The offi' cer in command of the forward turret on our ship during rapid-firing practice was just about to press the butbo^ to fire one of our big guns, whence gunr ner's mate was seen to grab at spme* thing on the wall of the turret and then fall in a heap on the floor. The officer pressed the button, but the gun was not discharged. When the mate came to he was^asked what had happened, and he informed the officer that the breech of the gun had not been locked and that what he grabbed at on the wall was the wires forming the electric firing cir­ cuit. When he saw that the officer was prepared to fire the gun and at the same time observed that the breech of the gun was not locked, the only thing that occurred to him to prevent the gun being discharged was to destroy the cir­ cuit, which lie did promptly and effec­ tively. When all this occurred there was a .charge of 250 pounds of powder in the gun, another charge of the same size in the turret ready to be served, and the passageway leading to the pow­ der magazine was wide open. But for the quickness of the gunner's mate the gnn would have been discharged, the breech block would have blown out in­ side the turret, the gases from the burning powder would probably have Ignited the charge lying in the turret, this explosion would> have ignited the powder in the magazine, and the chances are that the whole ship, crew and all would have gone up in the air. A thought t^at has occurred to me is this: Suppose the accident had occur­ red, what do you imagine the verdict of a board of inquiry as to the cause of the loss of the ship would have been? Since this experience the department has adopted electrical means to prevent the discharge bf any of the large guns until the breech is locked." THE MELUNGEONS. Peculiar People Who L.hre in East Ten­ nessee--Legend of History. It is not generally known that in the I & lb. psalmon, 90 cents. Wonderful Snake Charming. A well-known magician tells this story "One mqrning I was sitting in my room writing letters. There was no furniture in the room except a few chairs, a table and the cot. bed on which I had slept and which had a single sheet thrown over It. There were no curtains or drapery anywhere about. Suddenly a snake charmer appeared in the doorway and remarked, cheerfully, 'Heap plenty big snake in room, sahib! Heap plenty big snake.' "I told him to go away; that I had no time to waste on him, and besides, that I did not believe there was a snake in the whole house. But he declared ear­ nestly that there was 'heap plenty big snake." and I finally told him to come in and drive them out. He advanced two or three places into the room, put a pipe to his lips and began to play. The sheet of the bed rose in the air. The native twitched it off and behold there was a great cobra coiled up with his head in the air. The charmer's eyes were fixed upon the cobra, and the music became soft and slow. From the bed the serpent descended and slowly followed the man, who was backing toward the door. Just out­ side the charmer stopped, and the snake coiled himself on the threshold, his head high in the air, hissing angrily,' while his tongue darted in and out, full of menace- He was just ready to strike when another native who had remain­ ed outside stepped forward and, in a flash, cut off the monster's head with a sharp sword. I went out and saw the writhing, bleeding, headless ser­ pent on the ground." The Way It Was Spelled. A lady who buys provisions regular­ ly of a dealer in Boston was a little puz­ zled over one of the items in her month­ ly bilL The item was as follows; "To eUEEN WILHELMINA has a mind of her own. It is not often that a girl jilts a prince with a million quartering^ and a trunk full of titles. It is not often she gets a chance. She could not afford to jilt a prince if she were at all ambitious. This is just what the girl queen of Holland has done, however. It is seldom that love has anything to do with it and the mar­ riage is often arranged without the con­ sent of the princess being sought. The arrangements for the wedding of Queen Wilhelmlna were made along the regu­ lation lines that have obtained in Euro- QUEEN WII.HKI.MINA. mountains of Eastern Tennessee there lives a class of peculiar looking people whose Origin is wrapped in mystery, and who are called by the whites Me- lungeons. They resent this appella­ tion, and proud^declare'that they are It suddenly occurred to the lady that she had purchased three pounds of salmon on the date given, and the meaning of the mysteriously spelled word was apparent to her. Greatly amused, and feeling well Portuguese,M .The legend of their his- enough acquainted with the provision which they carefully preserve, is dealer to tell him of the little laugh she had enjoyed at his expense, she said, when she went to pay the bill: 4Mr. Blank, I had quite a laugh over the way some one in your establish­ ment spells 'salmon.' " When the item had been pointed out to him, Mr. Blank said, in a tone of contempt for such ignorance: "That's tne work of a new bookkeeper I have. I'm ashamed to have such torv, this: A great nfa'ny years ago these moun­ tains were settled by a society of Por­ tuguese adventurers, men and women, who camC from the' shore of Virginia that they might be freed from the re­ straints ai\d drawbacks imposed upon them by any form of government. They made theysel'ves friendly with the In­ dians. and "freed .as they were from ev­ ery kind of sotfctl government, they up- bills sent out, and 1 shall have to speak rooted all conventional forms of so- to him about it. He is a good book ciety, and lived in a kind of delightful keeper, but he's got to learn to spell if Utopia of their own creation, trampling he stays in my employ. Let me correct upon the marriage relation, despising the bill all forms of religion, and-subsisting up- Taking a pen, Mr. Blank drew several on corn--the only possible product of lines across the word and wrote above the soil--and the gatpe-pf the great for- | it pean courts for a century. Nothing was overlooked with the exception of the girl queen herself. When she learn­ ed that her mother, the queen regent, had chosen her cousin, Prince Bern- hard of Saxe-Weimar, as a husband for the Queen of Holland there was rebel­ lion right away. Wilhelmlna kicked over the traces and said she would never marry her eousin. There is con­ sternation in the palaee of the Dutch court. Wilhelmina is showing that she is not going to be a doll Queen of Hol­ land. She is not going to' accept any­ one to be her life companion. She has wept in her mother's arms and begged the queen regent not to press the suit of Prince Bernliard. She has also said she would not marry the prince even If her throne depended upon it. * The Other Half. The "other half" of which one-half of the world is said to know nothing might be the very rich rather than the poor, says the New York Times. The poor cannot conceal themselves from investigating eyes. The rich, while they are in a way much before the pub­ lic, may be comparatively little known. The world might be surprised if it knew something of the character and good works of many of the people of whom It. knows onljf as connected with some society function. "The women of the most beautiful characters I have ever known." says a woman who knows, "are in the upper classes of New York society. They be­ long in the most select circles, what is known as the "'howling swells.' They are women of great wealth, who are always invited to all the most fashion­ able functions. They may accept for the sake of their children or for some other reason. Certainly not because society is their only thought. They are women of broadest sympathies; wom­ en whose one thought from the time they arise in the morning until they go to bed at night is to do their duty con­ scientiously." Curfew for Married Men. The very latest curfew idea comes from Waycross, Ga., where a demand is made that the bell shall riug for the coming home of married men rath­ er than of the children. The ladies had been engaged in a discussion of the law to clear the streets of the youngsters who made the night hid­ eous and the movement had gained considerable headway when a local pa­ per suggested that there was more need of corralling the fathers of the iinily than of chasing down the lit­ tle children. The suggestion took at once. Those married men who are known as bon vivants were at first iu- lined to laugh at the proposition, but t lias been agitated until now the very seriousness with which their wives have taken it up causes them consider­ able annoyance. ests. They intermixed-with the Indian* and subsequently with*-the negroes, and thus formed the present race of Melungeons. '• // They are, fall, .Straight, well-formed people, of a dark copper color, but with Circassian' fe'atitfes".' They were privi­ leged voters in the old slave days and accredited' citizens. They are brave, but quarrelsome, and are hospitable to strangers.'1 They - have' no preachers among them, and are almost without any knowledge of a VJjJupreme Being. They marry by established forms, but husband and wifQ.'ift^n.' separate at pleasure without meeting with any re­ proach or disgrace from their friends. They have but little association with their neighbors, and are in every re­ spect, save that they are under the jurisdiction of the State government, separate and distinct people. Whisky or Water. It is said that when; whisky is used I The power "Sammon." "There, ma'am," he said, complacent­ ly, handing back the bill. "I'll teach that bookkeeper how to spell 'salmon' when he comes In, or tell him to find a new place."--Tit-Bits. > Convenient. In the commune of Monceau-sur-Oise not far from Paris, a little village of only two hundred and fifty' inhabitants, the streets are lighted by electricity electric lights are found In the church In all the houses, and even in the sta bles; and the farm buildings in the neighborhood of the village are illu minated in the same manner. More than this, the commune possesses large threshing machine driven by elec­ tric power and capable of threshing nine hundred sheaves of grain per hour besides turnip-cutters, crushers, sor­ ters, pumps, and other agricultural ma chinery, all set in motion by electricity is derives from a water instead of water In making glue the mixture will remain unaltered for years, will remain perfectly liquid and is ready for use without heating. If you want to sell an article to the women, and not to the men, announce that it is "good for yoq.' u a y; . ,•*. Talk isn't cheap when you hire a law­ yer to do it"for /ou." fall, and by combining their interests the inhabitants of the commune have made science illunjrinate their streets and houses at night and drive their ma­ chines by day more cheaply than these things could be done by the old meth ods. , .. .. - • Almost every one holds an old piece of paper or silver money which he hqpes some day to "get something for." the selection of each member, 1. e., they are supposed to be the favorite dishes of the mother of the man whom the girl is anxious to catch in the matrimonial net. The man in question is to be in­ vited to little suppers, which the girl is to prepare. Previously she must find out from him what Is his mother's favorite delicacy. Once a mouth the club meets,' aud the various dishes that have been served are discussed as to their effi­ cacy in bringing the eaters thereof to terms. Kleptomania Brought Hoiiie. "Kleptomania is a disease peculiar to the female sex, and is one to which any woman is susceptible." Such Is the startling declaration of a German sci­ entist, presumably learped, who has just published a work on "Kleptomania, Its Causes and Ciire." Dr. Frederick Von Kunltz of Berlin is the daring man who has put forth the statement that the majority of women have a natural inclination toward--to put it bluntly-- thievery. According to the author all women have sown in their poor, weak moral nature the seeds of theft. These pernicious germs; he calmly maintains, will sprout and flourish like beanstalks unless nipped in the bud. Woman's Sphere. Tliev talk about a woman's sphere, As though it had a limit; There's not a place in earth or heaven, There's not a task to mankind given, There's not a blessing or a woe. There's not a wliisper'tl yes or no. There's not a life, or death, or birth. That has a feather's weight or^Worth, Without a woman in it. Treatment for Sleep. A cloth dipped in cold water anc» bound around the back of the neck, just at the base of the brain, will often produce sleep when all else falls. Do not resort to tne use of drugs for sleep­ lessness. The relief is only temporary, and often a habit Is acquired that is very hard to overcome. Thumb Worth $75,000. Inez Carusi, one of the greatest of harpists, has lost the use of her thumb, and has valued it at $75,000 in the suit she has brought against the Metropol­ itan Railway Company of New York. A street car gave a jerk while she was standing on the rear platform and she was pitched out on the track in front of a car coming in the opposite direc­ tion. Her head was cut open in several places, her jaw was broken, front teeth broken, and there were many Injuries to her body. Most serious was the in­ jury to her thnrnb, which will prevent her from ever again playing a bar]). The right thumb was broken in two MISS INEZ CAUUjI. pieces. The tip of the thumb was pierced between the forefinger and sec­ ond finger, and her wrist was injured badly. Now all her power is gone. For such a small thing as a thumb a wom­ an has lost her profession. That is why $75,000 is asked of the Metropolitan Railroad Compauy. Ink Spots. When ink has been spilled upon linen, try dipping the spots in hot melted tal­ low. The hot tallow seems to absorb the ink, and after washing it the stains will be fouud to have entirely disap­ peared. A Hint to Guests. A guest should always be careful to keep her owu room in perfect order, so that no extra work is made for the hostess or the servants. THESE ARE CLEVER INSECTS. Female Are A r- Miss Cliristiii" Bradley. Ants Whose Toilets ranged by Maids. We well know enough that ants are the. most advanced of all the insect world, that they can talk to one an­ other, and have regular laws and regu­ lations in their tiny colonies. But the last discovery about them is, perhaps, the most astonishing of all. A naturalist has been making obser­ vations on their toilet, and has discov­ ered that each insect goes through a clearing process as elaborate as that of a cat, only never performed by herself, but by another, who acts for the time as lady's maid. Ants of the genus "atta" were the subject of these observations. These, he found, slept in relays for about three hours. When they woke up they would stretch their limbs just like warm blooded animals; under the microscope, lio could even watch them yawn. Then begins the toilet. The assistant starts by washing the face of her companion, and goes on to the thorax and legs. The attitude of the cleansed one Is one of intense satis faction, resembling a dog or cat when his head Is being scratched. She lies down with all her limbs stretched loosely out; she rolls over on her side, even her back, a perfect picftire of ease. The pleasure the creature takes iu being thus combed and sponged Is really enjoyable to the observer.-- Science. Daughter of the Governor of Ken- lucky. who elJbtened the battleship bearing the name of that State. rook to Catch Husbands Cooking to catch husbands is the ob­ ject of a new and nameless club which, It is rumored, has recently been form­ ed by a dozen St. Louis girls. Only un­ married women are eligible and the by­ laws are said to prescribe two things: First--Each member must try to catch a St. Louis man for a husband within a year. Second--Each member must learn to cook three dishes better than they can be cooked anywhere else in town. What these dishes shall be Is left to BELLES OF BYGONE DAYS. Their POBC Was to Appear the Opposite •of Oar Modern Women. A brigh' old lady, a relative of mine, who had lived long enough to see the gradui! progress of woman from inane Imbecility to strong, self-reliant wom­ anhood, has told me many amusing anecdotes of her youth, says a writer in the Ladies' World. She, by the way, has never been of the Lydia Languish type, for she had a strong,intellect, had been a careful reader, a student, one might say, of history and literature, and always, to the day of her death, had talcen ^lively interest in the topics of the day. When this relative was a young girl to be consumptive was to be interesting, and young women were delighted to look delicate and to have a cough and be supposed to be fading away! To further this idea concerning their ethereal nature they wore kid slippers and tliin white dresses in the depth of winter, and waters then were very severe and people depended on wood fires for warmth. Many times young women had their arms frostbit­ ten from wrist to shoulder coming hohie from parties lightly clad. K "My heart and lute are all the store « That I can bring to thee/' sung the okl-time lover to the delicate maiden who looked as if she cared for nothing heartier in the way of diet than love and sweet sounds. This reminds me of one of the anecdotes my dear old relative told me years ago. She said when she. was a girl a youth, the ison of a well-to-do gentleman, ran away with a damsel of his acquaint­ ance and married her. The first time the irate father met him after the elopement he said very sternly to him: "What are you going to live on now? I shall give you noth­ ing." "Oh," said the young benedict, I shall live on love and kisses of my dear Angelina." "A very poor diet," grunted the father. There are still callow youths and maidens, who marry with the idea of living on love and kisses, but not in­ definitely; one of them generally has money in view, mother's or father's money, be it known, so both agree to risk everything and win parental for­ giveness later on. When the enact­ ment to make the taking out of a li­ cense obligatory becomes a law it will pot be so easy for minors to make hasty and Imprudent marriages as it is nowadays. Silly folk, especially silly young folk, we shall always have with us, but they will not be the fashion, only the exception. OLD AND MODERN GLOVE. First Was a Mitten, Most Wondrously Colored and Jeweled. Before the tenth century English ladies wore long sleeves with pointed flaps that rested on the backs of theii hands, or when they went forth in win­ ter drew the loose drapery of their outer garment over their hands. The first glove had only a thumb and no fingers, says the Pittsburg Dispatch, like the mittens of the present day. They were so proud of them that they emphasized them by bright colors, such as violets, reds and blues. They were wondrously embroidered and starred with jewels. No gloves were finer than those of the clergy. They were mostly of white silk or linen, cunningly embroidered . and sometimes fringed with pearls. One ecclesiastic had a red silk pair, with the sacred monogram worked on the back, surrounded with a golden glory; and later on they had gloves to match their different vestments. In fact, gloves had departed from the primary idea of utility and become a decoration. They were too magnificent for common wear, and in cotemporary pictures the no­ bility seemed to have carried them rather in their hand? or in their girders than on their fingers. The knight's mailed glove sheltered his hand; it became a sign of power, and when a gracious lord meant to sig­ nify his intention to protect a town he sent his glove as a sign of his willing­ ness. The glove, too, was a token of defiance when one knight declared war against another; and at the same time, as if to mark the difference between the strong right hand of man and the dain­ tier hand of woman, he bound his mis­ tress' delicate glove to his helmet by way of shpwing his fealty. By the six­ teenth ceptury; gloves were common wear, tqgqfheruwijii farthingales, cor- sets and low go>vns,, BUILDING A BONFIRE. How to Make a SucceHsful Lonsr-Dii* • • tance Blaze. It Is easy to make a bonfire, and when once a good start has been made it is easy to burn almost anything, from tar barrels to Quakers; but it is not so easy to build and burn a really good beacon fire, as, perhaps, would be sup­ posed by those who have never tried it. A bonfire is not a bonfire when it does not blaze well, and if you want a really effective and impressive flare-up it is not sufficient to keep together large quantities of materials. A short life and a merry one should be the motto for a bonfire, and- the great de­ sideratum is to burn the largest amount of material In the smallest space of time. This Is not generally very well understood, and the conse­ quence is that though on previous fes­ tal occasions enormous3 quantities of combustibles have been consumed, the l'esult has been in many cases oPly a great smother of smoke and less than half the flame that there would have been if the business had been better understood. The success of a bonfire may be judged by the distance from which it .may be seen, and that will not depend at all on the quantity of material con­ sumed. Of course, it will greatly de­ pend upon the height of the hilltop on which the fire is located and the clear­ ness of the night, but, all other things being equal, that bonfire will be seen furthest that may be made to suck in the most oxygen. A little knob of lime heated under a stream of oxygen has been known to blaze with a light that has been clearly visible as a distance of over 100 miles, much further than the largest hilltop beacon fire that ever was built. Forty years ago or there­ abouts a bonfire was kindled on the Malvern hills, and was believed to have been seen at a distance of sixty or sev­ enty pjlles, .-„They used jmatepials to make a stack thirty feet high and thir­ ty feet square. There were used in building this pile four hundred and fifty fagots, twelve poplar trees, two tons of coal, five cords of wood, four loads of hoop pol two loads of furze, two barrels of tai. twelve empty tar barrels and a barrel of naphtha. This mass of Inflammable material was piled on a hilltop 1,000 feet high, and it ought to have been a brilliant success. But It seems to have been considered something of a failure. In such a heap of material stacked closely togeth­ er there would have been a large com­ pact mass in the center practically shut in from the reach of the surrounding air. Unless particular care were taken In the building of the pile, the air, rush­ ing in upon the-blaze from all points of the compass, would be caught by the external flame and be diverted up­ ward,""leaving the whole central mass practically untouched by it, or nearly so. The surface of the pile would thus be aflare, while the heart of it was merely a dead and smoldering mass, contributing little but smoke, and mere­ ly prolonging the process of burning without in any way contributing to the splendor of effect. It was said at the time of the fire on the Malvern hills, which was, perhaps, the most ambi­ tious experiment of the kind that had been made up to that date, that the use of the two tons of coal proved a mistake, but that probably was only because the laying of the fire was bad­ ly managed. The thing to be looked to as essential to success is a free play of air right in­ to the heart of the stack. Everybody knows that If a grate gets clogged with ashes so as to prevent the passage of air up into the fire from beneath, the fire burns dead and dull. The same thing occurs if a large mass of com­ bustible material is stacked flat upon the ground. Care should be taken to leave abundant air passage into the center, and, indeed, free access to the whole base of the pile is best if it can be managed. A few strong iron hur­ dles laid on big stones or stuck up In the ground for the combustible material to rest upon, so as to admit the air right underneath the whole blaze, will add immensely to Its brilliancy and strength.--London Daily News. There Was No Assault. "You can testify to the assault of this defendant on the person of this boy, can't you?" asked the attorney of the witness In the justice court. "Doau 'spec I cud, suli." "Well, do you swear that you saw the assaultV" "Nossuli, kent swar dat, boss." "What! I thought you were present when the trouble occurred." "I Wur, jedge, an' they wurh't no 'saultin' done." "Well, what was done?" "Why, dattar "vtoman, Lindy Brown, jes' nachully busted de boy open wid a six-foot plank." A young whale weighing about 2.000 pounds was captured the other day off Biddeford Pool, Me. Some sheep were frightened by dogs at Grenoble. France, and 242 blindly "followed their leader" over a pn-cl- pice 150 feet high. A remarkable eel has been discover­ ed in the Fiji Islands. It has a pecu­ liar formation in its throat, which causes it to whistle when in an ex­ cited state. The eel is fifteen feet long, and several inches iu girth. In the markets oJ Brazil one often sets live snakes--a species of boa-- from ten to fifteen feet long. They ace employed in many houses to liuut rats at night, being otherwise perfectly harmless. They become attached to a house like a cat or a dog. Mrs. Flitch, of Denver, Colo., drives an ostrich, behind which she rides in a light wagon. She is the only woman in the world who owns a zoological garden, and manages it herself. The animal isn't guided by the reins, but by a long whip, with w.hich the driver hits it on the feathers. The Tt st. Miss Millward--You say you love me, but you must prove it. Make some great sacrifice for me and I will then believe you. Mr. Helmwood--By »Jove, I'll do it! I'll limit myself to three packages of cigarettes to-morrow for your sake! An alimony of $20 a month is worth more to a woman than the average husband. Many men who go to war fall in bat­ tle and are lost; others fall in love and %re lost In the matrimonial shuffle. Railroad Jugglery in China. Probably no foreigner will ever know the cost of constructing the railway from Shanghai to Woosung, but, says the North China Daily News, it is al­ ready clear that it is to become a means for the usual prodigious squeezes on the part of the officials which are the curse of all public works in China. The old railway road to Woosung still exists, and has for years been used as a line of convenient com­ munication betweeu Shanghai and Woosung, and as this road actually be­ longs to the government, it would nat­ urally be supposed that it would be made use of as it is, for the projected railway. Not a bit of it; that would have been a far too simple and inexpen­ sive plan, and would not have suf­ ficiently lined the pockets of the of­ ficials, so the new line is to take a large curve into the country, Aossing the old railway line more than once, and of course ruining the latter as a roadway for local traffic, while itis for ^he most part rejected for the railway. Already this road is cut across about four niiles from Shanghai and beyond this point jiurichsas cannot go toward Woosung. The Omaha Stamps. The stamps which the government will issue in honor of the trans-Missis­ sippi Exposition to be held in Omaha next summer will be nine in number, " and are Intended to illustrate the de­ velopment of that section. The one- cent stamp portrays Marquette's first glimpse of the Mississippi. On the two- cent stamp an Indian chief appears, and'on the four-cent stamp'a buffalo- liuntlng scene. ^ Fremont raising the .flag on a Rocky Mountain peak is seen an the five-cent stamp; emigrants cross­ ing the plains on the eight-cent, and a mining scene on the ten-cent. The sev­ enth stamp presents a cowboy and cat­ tle scene; the eighth a flouring, mill, and the ninth and last the compara­ tively small and aged bridge across the Mississippi at Rock Island. This cli­ max is a two-dollar stamp. A boarding house keeper always dis­ likes a country Avoman for a boarder; the country woman looks with such suspicion at the butter that it excites distrust among the other boarders. When a woman lias been in society, and turned out, she is as disagreeable as the man who has once been ujy In the wolf