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t f S , ' • I i t - f t 1 .*v «. A 1 »v,'w >\ •<«* .v-1•>•.'-'a; -u/'i ,tv, *****#«» «* • ..wto^ , -V. 'Si?. -:*- ": ' : ,' '•-- ' • ' i;?',;4 j'V .'-•^CV'.^ :t.. • iii mm •THE FIELDS OF STUBfMp^,-. •QWI the field of stubble i Vb*> grasshopper flits andslngl, -• ; Aad butterflies ao«t Uke thistle dowi On fMNaw golden winftg. , lit op tram tta s iot <4 the gleaming wast* Are • took• ftf thlitl* and tare, ^» And after the harvest is reajied nuQ gon%,, y, The wee*!* uro* sturdily on and on, , Tfttmtr blithe in ewoh furrow <8 easily tncMf-'" Though only the straw is there. life'* field of stubble, $,. ' I wondwr bow it will be, 'Sro .; ' ^ *' 'We hW® the weed io the plumy gnMj White the mimmar winda arefire% - ' '. Bat when the harvester by and by •*"*?--* Qathors l>i* golden sheaves. The sinful and nelflsh will all be fonnd, a . ; And into the selfsame sheaf be bpuBd, ®s • Where the best of our e orts lie, While sin ita scarring leaves. life's field of stubble When the busy reaper has gone. Will the secret sins we have nourished Grow 8 readily on and on V UMolet ue be busy and watchful »1 **JT, > ; For the summer of life will wani, To plnck t he evils that love to hide Under the cover of good, abide, .Wor the fteM of stubblw, we leave some day, Tor the yield of (ho wealth of grain. •••Oisutaoquan. F' lHE ENGINEER'S STORY. "v* " • ""V " 1* v l was very young when first put in charge of the night express, but I had begun my career as an engineer so -CT- - early -- being only nineteen when I ,<;" » <T; first ran the Middlesex mail--that I * was an experienced hand when put ££..• 1L-...i. .jpjjn the"6; 10 night express," though y*i, ; only twenty-seven years old. jj i\ * Linden was our second trip on the run out--thirty-eight miles--and the fc,V* "town, with its dull, crooked, half- >•$'•**S* pAved streets, itsquaintold cathedral, ; mod pretty outlying country seats, ®jr*; was very dear to me, for here Nellie - ~ lived when first 1 knew her. c< ' I always looked forward pleasantly to our arrival at Linden, for, as our train came thundering up to the depot, on the-e long summer eve­ nings, Nellie was often there, await­ ing my coming, and, while Joe was watering the engine, 1 managed to have a few pleasant words with her before we were ready to start again "Then, as the bellrope signalled "Go •head." and I stepped upon the en- •gine.she waved me a pleasant good-by. that seemed to give me heart and strength during the rest of my long ride. So time passed pleasantly on, until I told Nellie one day the story I had so longed to tell her, and heard the answer for which my heart had hardly dared to hope How light were my labors, with her love to cheer me on! How dear the thousand little evidences of that love, uttered in her own sweet, delicate -my. We were to be married in the fall, and all. "wentmerry as a marriage bell," when an accident occurred to me as I was running the "Firefly"-- my dear old engine--down to Linden, which materially altered our plans. 1 had started four minutes late, .and was going along at a lively speed, when as we swung around a curve, we saw a man coming down the track, waving a red flag. Whistling "Down brakes," we were soon at a standstill, and, leav­ ing Joe to take care of the engine, I hurried forward with the cenductor, to see the cause of the danger signal Coming up with the flagman, we •learned that a freight train was off the track, a mile further up the road; and for two whole hours we waited on the main track, while the heavy freight cars were being unloaded and righted. At last, "Clear tvack" was signalled, and I sounded the whistle Cor "All aboard!" "Put her through pretty lively when you get clear track," said Charlie, the conductor. "I've tele­ graphed ahead, and we'll have right of way from here straight through. Now, let her jump, Harry, and we'll make up time before we reach Sad­ ler's." Twilight was fast coming on us. The switch lights ahead winked eir 'red eyes, and showed a pair of ones to tell us all was right; pv-; 4, v , Amid the shrieks of the whistle we jrushed around the curve, our sp eed blackening, when, with a great bound that shook the engine in every joint, it sorang from the track, ptunging into and ripping up the ties, twisting the rails, lunging from side to side, fa nit then pitching into the ditch With a shock that, flung me insensible from my hold. When I came to I was lying on the Jloor of a farm-house, while close ground me were a crowd of anxious spectators, from whom escaped a gen­ eral exclamation of joy as 1 opened my eyes and looked op at them. What did it all mean? I raised myself on one arm, and passing my hand across my brow, tried to comprehend why I was here, and who were these people about me. All was bewilderment and confusion 1n my brain, and it was some little time before I gathered my scattered thoughts. Then realization of what I had passed through came back to me, i»nd a cry of horror hurst from me as they told me I had killed the wo­ man 1 had seen upon the track. 1 buried mv face in my hand as the vision of that upturned face came be­ fore me, so full of agony and dumb pleadiog. Then 1 roused myself, but they told me to lie still until the doc­ tor came; then as I insisted I was unhurt, beyond a few ugly bruises, they assisted me to rise, when I fottnd myself sore and stiff. My first thought was for Nellie. I knew how anxious she would be. I knew all she would suffer until she knew I was safe, so l asked for pen and paper, that I might send her a telegram, tellinar her that 1 was well, and would be in Linden that night, where 1 would remain. This was forwarded to her at once. They told me, then, in a rambling way, each one adding an item, the story of the accident. A broken rail had thrown'us from the track; and the girl wham we bad killed had evidently discovered it while walking home upon the track, and, hurrying forward^ had hoped to warn us, had miscalculated the dis­ tance and speed of the engine, and had been struck before she could turn from its path, having nobly sacrificed herself in order to save»the great train and its precious load. So much had been surmised of her intentions, and Joe and I, of course, confirmed the story. She was a lovely girl of seventeen, the only daughter, they said, of a neighboring farmer-- John Dixon. "Poor girl! Pear, noble-hearted girl'" I said, wiping away the tears that filled my eyes and choked my utterance. 1 sat silent for a moment, thinking what I could do to show my sympa­ thy for the poor parents in thoir ter­ ribly sad bereavement. At last I called a man to my side--one who seemed to be giving orders and who seemed to have the direction of mat­ ters, and, steadying my voice, saitj quietly: "Where is she -- the poor girl, you know?" '•They have taken her home: they took her home as soon as she was identified, poor dear!" "If you please, I would like to go there, if you think they would see me. God knows 1 did not do it, upon bodU-at ip. owa iGYSdoM-- Nellie! , • <" t. „ vnr>'/ What is there for me tp add to my sad tale? Need I tell you of the weary months passed indelirluru. the coming to, and the realization' the horrible reality? '• ' But ot Nellie--my own little darl­ ing. It seems that she had gone to Markelflelds that day. and had in­ tended to return upon my train to Lindcnr While waiting at the depot, she learned that the train was two hours late, and then decided to walk down the track, and then off by a little side road, which led to the house of a friend. Then, as the time for the coming of the tiain came around, Nellie started for the depot, accompanied by a young boy, who carried a lantern. While walking the track, and within a half mile of the depot, they discovered the broken rail, and Nellie bid the boy run in haste to the depot with the tidings. "She heard the whistle of the train," said the boy, afterward, "far down through the hills, and she just "stopped tor one minute, while she caught her hand to her heart, and her face turned as white as the snow. 'Run! run! Jamie!' she cried out, as though her very heart was breaking. Oh, run! run! for Hteaven's sake!' And with one awful cry, such as I never heard before, she turned and fled down the track, toward the com­ ing train, away into the darkness." When they found her lying at the side of the track-- my heart grows sick as I write these last words--they mistook her for a young girl of the neighborhood, who had beeuseen on the track shortly before. Of the joys of the parents at the discovery of the mistaken identity, and of my desola­ tion, I need not speak. Many years have come and gone, but time does not seem to soften my grief, nor ef- facte fjri>m my mind the vividness of my fast i*ide to to Marketflelds.--N. Y. Journal. • • • £" «»,'»v S • mm NEW YORK'S D!AMtC*F» The Ocean Floor. across the room, but he kindly gave me his arm, and I knew 1 could man- farm only a spare mile, he said. I 1 was putting on my hat in the ! hall, and adjusting mv arm in a sling, {preparatory to starting, when the i tramp of many feet was heard on the ! piazza, and the door was flung open, j A man stepped into the passage-way, 1 and held the door for those to enter > who were carrying the remains of some poor victim upon a bier. w • \ ;/Y,1 } jT!) - He knows that I would give this right arm," a said, bitterly, thrusting it up into tjbe air. "to have saved the poor girl; but I cannot rest easy, I can never have an easy heart, until I have gone to them and heard them say with their own lips that they forgive me. You see," I said, sorrowfully, "I didn't do it -- of course not -- I didn't do it. Heaven knows how hard 1 tried to stop up short! But-- the poor lictle thing is dead! It is all over now; and it was 'Firefly' and I who did it! So, if you please, if you would be good enough to go with me. I would like to go down to them and i tell them in such words as I can, how eadlight of our engine was lit, !.. . . . . , ' 1 their sorrow is mine, and how com- at w^h T'dellr i I waTvJy stiff and sore,and It aheL^r us^of twenty-'ne mMe- to; wlth »"mc dlmcil,tv lb" 1 Marketflelds Junction, our first sta- j If I could have looked ahead- j 10 walk down the D""!B only as far as Marketflelds--and eouid hare seen the broken rail which lay j waiting for me at an ugly curve, wouid I have told Joe so earnestly to Iceep up the fire, and see that forty .pounds were on the boilers, as we mast tear along as fast as "Firefly" -wnuld tarry us? We wjre bounding across the coun- try at a terrific pace, leaving behind i us a long tram of sparks and heavy clouds of smoke, the engine swinging j Xrom side to side, and almost leaping ' the track at every turn of the great 'driving wheel. On, 01, without slackening speed; on, over the great tPlains and into the clearing again; thundering under the great stone •archways, flying past the country sta­ tions, w here the rustics were huddled -together t j s( e the great train pass; >oa. on, without pause or re ,t: through >the valley and into the mountain g6rge, whose rojks echoed back the i rShrili whistle I sounded as we swung j «ar >und the curves. j ."The night was upon us ere we twared Marketflelds, and Joe and I Were seated at either window, our eves fixed inlently on the track ahead, watching for any obstruction on the fining rails, which were glistening ilike silvei serpents in the brilliancv uof our headlight «Marketflelds lights came in sight, d I drew the rop3 over my head. Jong, shrill whistle sounded over the country announcing our coming. "As we swung around the curve I re­ flated it. h«<) "Good heavens, Hairy! Look! Jook! lt»ok!" | . And Joe s hand struck mc a blow as flbe sprang to my side in a sort of ter- j#or, and. grasped the whistle roDe. ' founded, repeatedly: "Down brakes!" ' ' 1 had seen it, too--the figure of a <Sproman upon the track, running to- •Ward us, as she wildly waved her i Affkr four years of sounding, dredge ing, •etc.,. the expedition sent out un­ der ihe aiuspices m the Biitisli Gov­ ernment for the purpose of mapping the floor of the ocean has published its report and unfolded its maps to uhe qurious gaze of the "land lub­ bers." i They show that the Atlantic if drained would b© a vast plain with a mountain range near the middle running parallel with our coast. An­ other range intersects the first al­ most at right angles and crosses from Newfoundland to Ireland. The Altantic, according to these soundings and maps, is thus divided into three great basins, but they are no longer set down as "unfathomed depths." The tops of most of these sea mountains are about twp miles below the surface, and the deepest of the basins two and a half miles deeper. According tor Jteclqs, the tops of these mountain^ are as white as though they were lying in the region of perpetual snow, the cause being countless numbers of a species of pure white shells which literally cover what would otherwise be jagged surfaces. There is a queer old legend which comes down to us from the time of and | Solon and Plato, according to which, in the early ages of the world, a con­ tinent extended from the west coast of Africa far out toward what is now South America These recent scien­ tific deep-sea soundings cast much light on this old tradition. Accord­ ing to their report they found '*ap elevated plateau the shape and ex­ tent of which corresponds to the size of the lost Atlantic almost exactly." What if ninetenth century Ingenuity should fish up the vast continent which Marcon says was "lost in a fearful cataclysm before dawn of present history?" The Intense Coldness of Space. We rarely realize, i think, how easily the earth parts with its heat, and how cold space is through which the earth sweeps in its orbit. Nor do we commonly appreciate how re­ lentlessly space sucks away the heat which the earth has garnered from the sunbeams out into its illimitable depths. 'Way out in space is a cold so intense that we fairly fail to grasp its meaning. Perhaps 300 or 400 de­ grees below the freezing point of wa­ ter, some philosophers think, are the dark recesses beyond our atmoswhere. And night and day, summer and win­ ter, this insatiate space is robbing us of out heat, and fighting with demo­ niac1 power to reduce our globe to its 'Who is it?"' I asked softly, ad-«own bitter chill. So. after all, our dressing him who held wide the door. "The girl," he jsrhispered, as he; raised his hat. j Ah, poor creature! All I could do for her now was to bow my head reverently, as they bore her past me, while my heart swelled with emo­ tion. and in admiration of her noble conduct. They laid her down gently, and then, taking off their rough caps, waited silently for further orders. The doorway was filled by those who had followed the bier; the stair­ way by those who had come out from the rooms above, some with lights in their hands, and all gazing earnestly, almost curiously, upon the form resi- ; ing so quietly and peacefully in the * utile passageway. All was hushed and} ^ ̂ gtone still in the crowded doorway, upon j c jg the youngest Pf*6V*D AStiOOP-Ag Ht&%6RD What Bturbank BeMlmd When His Credit Wasn't Good for a Sack of Flonr. George A. Burbank will leave to­ morrow for Pittsfleld, Mass., says a Tacoma letter to the Seattle Post-In­ telligencer, on business connected with the flpal settlement of his grand­ father's estate, which is valued at $3,410,000. Of this amount about $210,000 goes to Mr. Burbank. His grandfather had twenty-one grand­ children, to each of whom lie be­ queathed $50,000. His will, written by himself, comprises fifty-three legal cap pages and provides .that the in­ terest on all of his estate should go to the town of Pittsfield. to be used in the erection of a memorial hos­ pital and other public buildings. Just before death Burbank expressed a desire to change his will in favor of hts family. After spending $75,000 in lawyers' fees the city of Pittsfield compromised with . the heirs for $^00,000. At that time the heirs had spent $125,000 in attempting to break the will. Abraham Burbank, grandfather of Mr. Burbank of this city, made a declaration at Pittsfield which took him his lifetime to carry out. In carrying It out he exhibited in­ domitable pluck and energy. He was Striving to support his young wife at Pittsfield in 1835, when he was 22 years old. John G West, then the leading business man of the place and a large property holder, refused to trust Burbank for a sack of flour, which greatly humiliated thQ: young man. He told West of his good in­ tentions; of his hotiesty and the like, and then declared to him that he would yet own at Pittsfield as many houses as there were davs in the year; that he would own and let as many stores as there were weeks in the year; that he would own as manv blocks as there were months in the year; that he would own as many hotels, farms, wood-yards, and quarries as there were days in the week. He had but a short time before come to Pittsfield from West Spring­ field, where he was born in 1813, with nothing but an old suit of clothes, a bandanna handkerchief with a blouse tied up in it, and 50 cents in money. At 12 he had learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner. Before West died he had failed three times, ana at the time of his death he owed Burbank $48,000, which, in returning good for evil, he bad advanced him in order to keep a roof over his head. A few years ago, after completing the Ethel Hall block at Pittsfield, being then* a man over 70 years of age, Mr. Burbank told his grandson, George A. Burbank of this city, that he did not care whether he ever saw anothe/ sunrise. He had accom­ plished his task, as he told John C West he would accomplish it. In three weeks he was dead. Mr. Burbank worke! assiduously until the last building wascompleted. He had the Ethel Hall block up three stories when, owing todefective work by the brick-mason, it collapsed. At tne time the millionaire was setting a window frame on the third floor. He was not injured and in a few hours had 100 men at work removing the debris, and in three weeks he had the three stories up again. He never wore overcoat or gloves on the coldest days and rarely ever wore anything but a blouse and:overall^ without collar or necKtie.., Once while at Boston, in his old working clothes, the clerk of one of the leading hotels put him in the attic tb sleep, refusing him the usual courtesies of a guest In the morning the proprietor upbraided the clerk, telling him Abraham Burbank could buy halta dozen hotels like his, and to square things took his guest to dine with him, all of which 1s said to have amused the shabby-appearing millionaire immensely. The clerk excused his action by saying he could not read Mr. Burbank's autograph on the hotel register. 'he crowded stairway, in the hall- .iiy, where stood the six stout farm- summer and winter temperatures are only maintained by the residue of the sun's heat which we have been able to sterfe up and keep hold of in spite of the pitiless demands of space. Our margin sometimes gets so reduced on nights in winter that we can readily believe the astronomers and physi­ cists when they tell us that a reduc­ tion of the sun's heat by 7 per cent., and a slight increase in the number of If inter days, would suffice to bring again to our hemisphere a new age of ice, with its inevitable desolation. The' ftilance is really a nice one l»e- tween the heat we daily gather from the sun and the share of it which we lose in space.--Harper's Magazine. OUR Thi~H(jt». of Hendeifoq, 'editor and pro prieter" in the United States. He is the bo^s "hustler" of the Henderson V eiMaWi° hv.ad ^rnej" on^eir.hou!-« mistlerand is only 13 years old ders the bier on which lay the vie-; There is a liKhthouse to every four tim. -iliawl in the air, one arm uplifted >Warnirigly, her face turned full upon in an agony of terror, her flowing ^Hbuhair lit up in the light of the *«HH^|gwe rushed down upon her speed. I reversed the • whecl^SHyiltd again, the whistle tlioarsely s!Wil§|fct out its warning; tfcuttoolate--t<§PM|i|f We were upon Sher as she utterew ft wild cry of ter­ ror. turned from the track and stum- tttad. ithe engine striking her with a fearful shock, hurling her far into the 4«l&>«>a!!ctad and t^rtt "Ah, poor child!" I said, while my heart throbbed quickly, "how gladly would I give my life to restore yours, so nobly, so generously given!" j Then, in very love for her--she j seemed near and dear to me in death i --I leaned over her, and taking one i of the dear little hands within mv | own. kissed it, and replaced it pehtly j under the white sheet from which it i had escaped. j There was a bustle in the doorway, I as of some one passing through the crowd, and sounds as of sobbing and j bitter weeping. "Make way for the parents," was heard from the doorway, and the' eager crowd fell back respectfully, as a plain farmer and his wife came forward, filling the air with their cries The sheet was turned back | from the features of the dead girl, and | What! Was I mad? Shriek after : shriek burst from me as I flung up 1 my arms wildly and fell prostrate for a word, even thankful tor an oath. But the cat is a creature ot a very different stamp. She will not even stoop to conquer, nor be tempted out of her nature by offers of reward. She absolutely declines instruction; nay, even persuasion is lost upon her for any permanent effect it may be designed to have. You may be the legal possessor of a cat, but you ctn* not govern her affections. long Hair and Long hair was in vogue among mu­ sicians and artists long after it ceased to be worn by the rest of mankind. The long-haired artist, with his vel­ vet cloak, has altogether disappeared, and lengthy locks only linger nowa­ days, with a few exceptions, on the head of the musician. Indeed this luxurious thatch would appear to exercise a potent influence on aadiences,. for it is said that, in the agreement of a notable pianist about to go on a foreign tour, there is a special clause that he shall not have his hair cut. This po&slbly is an in­ vention, but it is an extraordinary thing that musicians are well nifth the only people left who give but limited employment to the shears of the barber. It is also a fact that their hair flourishes better than most people. I have recently heard a theory that the great prevalence of baldness in the present day is en­ tirely due to the constant close, crop­ ping which has existed for the last five and twenty years. If you look at the portraits of celebrites of thirty or forty years ago you will be per­ fectly astonished at the carefully ar­ ranged coiffure which meandered over their coat collars, and vou feel inclined to begin singing, "Get yer 'air cut," without further delay. You will also be amazed to learn that most of them retained this extraor­ dinary growth to the end of their days. It is sincerely to be hoped that the theory which has recently been started will not be the means of the introduction of a race of long­ haired men..--London Graphic. ' A Woman's Blood. Juflt where Powell street breaks into Market, is an octagonal cement block set in a sidewalk of cement squares. Any afternoon you will see well-dressed men come up to it, make a cross upon its surface with their canes, turn and go back the way they came. After you have seen this mummery reneated a halt a dozen times you are apt to ask the reason why. A post once stood where that octa­ gon block of cement now is. Against this post were dashed out the brains of one of the handsomest women of her day. Her horse ran away with her and slipped in turning the corner. She had a red birthmark between the index finger and the thumb of her left hand. This, she said, was her luck mark, and she surely won mar- velously on the stock exchange. Her admirers used to touch the mark--• with their lips, if permitted--to bring fortune to them. When they picked her up, dead, the spot was gone from between her finger and the thumb. On the post was a stain of blood--just the shape of the mark, 'twas said. Men who loved the woman went to that post, touched the r*>d stain, and crossed themselves after that in memory of her. From this has grown ttie foolish custom of drawing a cross for luck on the octagon cement block which marks the spot where the post stood. "Ah! there was a womanl" sighed the man who told the tale.--San Francisco Examiner. I There is a lighthouse to every four teeh miles of Irish coast and one to every thirty-nine miles of Scottish shore line. Six brothers of the Frost family at Kansas City, own the following odd lot of names: Jack Frost, Winter Frost. White Frost, Cold Frost, Early Frost and Snow Frost A Berlin chemist claims to have dif<;oyered the art of reproducing colors true to nature #lth the catnera. If true, the discovery is one of^tihi most important that hafe been made in the line of photography. Testing the big Krupp guns is said to be responsible for the cracking* o! every brick and stone house at Essen, the seat of the great armory. At York, Pa., the orchard of Simon Muchl«r, there is a tree' that antrn ally bears a crop of three different kirttis of friiits: Peats, peaches and apples, Nineveh, the ancient city, wai fourteen miles long amf -eight mile-! , wide, surrounded by a wall 100 foef i high and twenty feet wld* An Oflfolal Cat. It isn't every cat that has the f ;nd fortune to come into a settled in­ come, but that pleasing distinction from the rest ot his race is enjoyed by an animal attached to the pro­ duce exchange staff. He has had the job of looking after the mice and rats on the big exchange floor ever since his kittenhood, and he is now very nearly a full-grown cat. and a sizable one as well. Grain samples are sure to attract the rodents, and the produce exchange did not secure exemDtion from their visits. ' Traps were tried with some success, but the relief thus obtained was only tempo­ rary. and it was Anally decided to re­ sort to a cat. To secure one which would not run awav at the first op­ portunity, it Was deemed wise to ob­ tain a kitten, which, having no ex­ perience pf the delights of midnight battles oh back fences, would be sat- isfi6d to get along without them. The theory of this has proven to be cor­ rect The cat never leaves the main floor of the building, ani apparently issatisfled with the hunting ground it offers, spending the nights there with praiseworthy regularity. At 9 ! o'clock each morning hegives up busi­ ness and seeks rest in a carpeted cor­ ner of the superintendent's office. When the gong rings at 3 o'clock to warn the broker that the exchange day is over the cat starts out to pa­ trol h's beat, making a leisurely cir­ cuit of the hall and completing it about the time that the last strag­ glers are disappearing. He is a good hunter, and eclipses the achieve­ ments of the traps his presence on the floor at night having resulted In rendering the rats and mice far less of a nuisance than they were. His pay comes in the shape of regular ra­ tions, while a polished metal collar about his neck shows that he is the "official" cao of the exchange.--^New York Times. He wraa a Scoundrel. A German Jew who keeps a pawn­ broker's shop in Sidney, is blessed with one daughter, who now and then keeps shop while her father at­ tends sales on the lookout ior bar­ gains. During the temporary ab­ sence of old Moses recently, a meek looking Chinaman walked into the shop and asked Bachel to show him some "welly good watches." Rachel handed down four from the shelf at the end of the counter, marked respectively "fifty dollar watch," "forty dollar watch," "thirty dollar watch,"and "ten dollar watch," and arranged them in a line on the counter in the order of their value. John inspected them, and taking advantage of Rachel's momentary inattention, slipped the ten dollar watch into the place occupied by the forty dollar watch, and handed~oVer a ten dollar note, saying: "I takee cheapee watchee." Shortly afterward Rachel detected the swindle, and sought refuge in tears. On the return of old Moses she related the misadventure with many protestations of corncern. "Never mind, mine tear," said the father, with a dry chuckle, "dose vatches were all de same brice--six dollars: but vat a scoundrel dot Schinaman must pe, «lon't he?" Bow Um lafllth Language Is HsrdwMI In the Metropolis. How many persons know that New York City has a dialect all its own and one that it maintains in purity by teaching it in the public schools? Many persons have commented on the precision with which a New Yorker can spot a stranger the instant the stranger undertakes to pronounce the name of the principal street in the town. We call it Broad-way, empha­ sizing the last syllable very strongly. It appears to be quite a trick to do this, and it is evidently an unnatural pronunciation, for we notice that the very great majority of strangers say Broadway. So we spot them on the instant, and ask t^em from what part of the country they hail, just to show them that there is something about them that is not cityfled, and to set them puzzling about whether it is in the shape cf their hat or the style of their shoes or what it is. People from the South betray the fact by calling our Houston street "Hewston street." as that name is pronounced from Texas to Cnesapeake, but we play as strange a trick with another n^me, for we call Coenties Slip "Quincy Slip" As no one would do that nat­ urally, we detect strangers by that pronunciation. The name of Hobo- ken is another that we trifle with, calling it Hubbucken, instead of as we should. But in ways and bywords other than these 1 can pick out a New Yorker atiywhere that he and I may meet, whether it be in Boston or in the Rocky Mountains. I can do this by noticing how he pronounces the "ur" sound in such words as birtb, bird, earth, heard, etc. All the rest of the country pronounce those words burth, burd, urth, and urd. Not so the New Yorker. He" is carefully taught not to do so, in all the public schools as well as by his pa­ rents at home. The queer little twist that enters so largely into our lan­ guage in marring one of the cardinal sounds that compose it, is thus ex­ pressed by our tongues; ur-yith is how we say earth: bur-yid is how we say bird. We say hur-rid for heard, and mur-yid-der for murder. AH of us who were born in New York have heard the public school teachers in­ sisting upon this peculiar twist; com­ manding the pupils to put on the trade-mark, as fighting men once wore the coart-of-arms of their feudal mas­ ters. Most of us, too, have heard nice, careful little girls on the way home from school correcting careless companions by insisting that 'You mustn't say burd, you must say it nicely, bur-vid." Of all the senseless and unmusical and bad things that are done to En­ glish that is one of the worst, because one expects to hear a language at its best in the greatest city of a country, and thither foreigners repair to study English, and then, perhaps, to go back home and teach it with a whole lot of little tricks like that in their heads, to be solemnly taught and scattered, until no one knows where the mischief will end. Of course, I do not want the reader to understand that very nice people murder the lan1 guage in these or any other ways, but the great masses of New Ycrkers, those who get their learning in the public schools, and whose tongues were trained in old New York homes of the middle-class--these are the vic­ tims of this most peculiar habit.;-- Providence Journal. A Proud Welsh Boy. A proud Welsh boy at school, hear­ ing that an English duke employed six men cooks during the period that he 'kept open house, or rather open castle in the North, sneered at the alleged magnificence. "My father does better than that," said Griffith-ap-Jones: "at our very last party before I left«Cmydrdlmnynd- dryd we had twenty-four men cooks, all employed in dressing the supper." This would have gone down easily, and Grifflth-ap-Jones would have es tablished his paternal magnificence for ever, had not a companion of an inquiring turn of mind discoverea the real state of the case, and announced to his school-fellows that, although the Welshman had spoken truly, the company at the supper to which he alluded consisted of twenty-four of his near relations, and that every man toasted his own cheese! The Cat Nature. The cat's spirit of independence, -indeed, is the most distinct cjg^rac- teristic of her nature. As de Custine rightly said, the cat'* gt&at difference from, and, according to her sentiments, superiority to the dog, lies-in her calm insistence on selec­ tion which invariably accompanies her apparent docility. To the dog proprietorship is mastership, he knows his home, and, .he recognizes without question the man who has paid for feeds, and. on occasion, kicks him with all tjbe easy familiarity of ownership He follows that man undoubtiug and unnoticed, grateful • ' , Tame Prairie Chicken*. Prairie chickens may be easily tamed and domesticated in the farm yards, having their wings clipped to prevent them flying away. The New York Tribune says that, so long as we make room for that squawking, dry-fleshed guinea hen in the chicken yard, also a great rover, attention might as well be given to the prairie hen, that Audubon tamed, as a do­ mestic game-bird. WOMAN was made after man, but man has been after woman ever smcc. Smaui hm£s get big the quickest This Is Human Mature. It was one of the days when the wind blows suddenly and sharply around corners, when the dust whirls in Clouds and the air has a hard, cold dampness which goer straight through any coat except a fur one. Away up town on one of the western avenues where cheap shops are kept on the ground floor of cheap flat houses, a woman stood by a window with a baby in her arms. Her dress was shabby and so thin that the wind went through it as through a sieve. The baby had a woolen frock and a worsted coat and cap, and seemed to be warm enough as he burrowed upon the woman's shoulder and dug his sprawling little Angers into her eyes. In the shop window was displayed two kinds of garments. On one side were women's woolen petticoats and all kindsof-heavy cotton underclothing which looked warm and comfortable. But this woman did not see them, for she was looking on the other side of the window, where was shown little knitted hoods and tippets of white, flossy stuff, and babies' mittens and babies' shoes and babies' fancy caps, with ribbons in them.--New York Times. Rays From an Arc Light. The curious phenomenon of a Greek cross in fire, the arms radiating from an arc light as a centcr, has often been noticed by scientific people, and the numerous attempts at explana­ tion serve but to show how little is really known about the science of op­ tics, even in spite of the extensive re­ searches and developments of the pres­ ent century. The singular appear­ ance is not seen save when tho light is viewed through a pane of glass or a wire screen such as may be found in the front of any street car, and the absence of the peculiar rectangular radiation under other circumstances suggests that it is in some way con­ nected with the polarization of light, for when an electric light is looked at without any intervening medium save the air the rays dart off in every direction. The pane of glass must, therefore, as scientific people have suggested, serve the purpose of de­ taining some of the rays and intensi­ fying others, for the Greek cross of light is much brighter than the rays of the lamp when seen otherwise. -- Ohio Valley Manufacturer, Causes ot Karthquakes. Three causes of earthquakes have been assigned. The first is that the earthquake is caused by an upward movement of the superficial layers of the earth's crust induced by expansion of steam or gas in voicanic districts. In support of this, it is claimed that earthquakes are common in volcanic districts and rare elsewhere. Mount St Helena is an extinct volcano, be­ yond doubt There is the subsidence theory, which holds that the continu­ ous contraction of the earth in cool­ ing produces ^subterranean Assures, faults and landslides. The new theory is that an earthquake is a terrestrial thunderstorm, in proof of which many good arguments have been adduced. Or lBMter Mechanic^Mtohard* >*111 Hla, New Locomotive Avrmj. , A working model of the record*; breaking locomotive, invented ind patented by Master Mechanic Jack­ son Richards of the Reading railroaQi was placed on exhibition yesterday in the. hall of builder's exchange, says the Philadelphia Times. A large number of engineers, losemotive ex­ perts, and others interested in the increase of speed on railroads visited the hall during the day. - Speaking of his invention Mr.Rich­ ards said: "If the new engine I am about to construct for exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago cannot make over 100 miles an hour I will give it away to the first person I meet. 1 do not claim that this will be the highest rate of speed it will be capa­ ble of making, for I believe the speed will be practicaUy unlimited. By that 1 mean the engine will be capa* ble of going much faster than anyone would care to travel. If the machine is successful, as I firmly believe it will be, it will revolutionize the eny tire construction of all the high-speed locomoti ves of the future, I have been working on this invention foi over ten years, though the drawings were only completed about the first of September. Afcer this the patent was applied for, and as soon as it was granted I had the working model, now in the builders' exchange, made for the purpose of exhibiting it to the public. "The new inventions will enable a gigantic stride to be taken in the matter of high-speed locomotives, and it is more than likely that the time between Philadelphia and New York will be decreased to less than an hour. I intend to make the first trial trip between this city and Chicago with the engine I will have built for the World's Fair. •'In outward appearance the new locomotive will not differ materially from the speedy ones now used by our company between this city and New York. The driving-whe^l' will be a trifle larger, being 6 feet high in place of 5 feet 8 inches, as at present, and the engine will weigh fifty tons, a small increase over the present weight The peculiarity of construc­ tion lies in the fact that instead of the two cylinders as now used there will be four "One cylinder will be located on each side of the locomotive frame, as at present, and the other two will be cast on what is known as the cylinder saddle. The inside cylinders are tq be cast in one piece and will be hori­ zontal to the outside ones. The four cylinders will entirely overcome what is known to engineers as the dead center and the engine will be per­ fectly balanced without any counter­ balance in the driving wheels. This latter improvement will be the means of saving from 30 to 50 per cent ol the present wear and tear on the roadbed, as it will do away with th< vicious pounding which has proved st destructive to modern roadbeds. "The engine will glide smoofhh and easily along, and there will not be any of tae sudden starts and jerki so noticeable in those of the present time. These are specially noticeablt in the starting, when it is necessary to reverse the engine tefore a «tart can be made. In my invention, owing to the perfect balance, this will not be necessary, the engine starting forward as soon as the yalv* is opened. ' "You can see how smoothly ani easily the engine works by tjie njodel. This, though it has been running 10| miles an hour for over a day* and though it is placed on a movable sup­ port without any fastening:® what­ ever, has not shifted during that time one-sixteenth of an ihph 'from its first position. • < "An easy Way to flfescrlbte my loco­ motive would be to say it is two. en­ gines consolidated into one, so ad­ justed that when the balance of one's driving-wheel is on top that of the other is beneath, and vice versa." " , Too Much for Htm. A tall, solemn-looking yonng msro entered the restaurant with a mild, apologetic air and seated himself at a vacant table near the middle of the room, says the Detroit Tribune. It was evident that he dreaded to in­ trude. He wanted to get as far away from other people as possible. He even blushed painfully when he gave his order, and the most casual ob­ server could have told that he was bashful. Just as his dinner was brought to him a buxom-looking woman with seven small children entered the place. The head waiter swept the field with his eye. pounced down upon the table where the young man had sought solitude, motioned to the mother, who clucked to the qhickens, and a moment^ later they were , all around that one taWe. That young man's face was a serial story. Other people entered the restau­ rant, glanced at the group, smiled significantly and seated themselves. "He doen't lf»ok it, does he?" queried a pleasant-faced old lady in an audi­ ble whisper. "She looks at least ten vears older than he?" murmured a girl at the next table. He flew to the hatrack, threw a dollar to the cashier, and tried to get through the door without openingit '•S The Oldest Town In the United State*. The oldest town in Texas, and it Is f believed in the United States, is Ysleta, situated on the Rio Grande, and near El Paso, the chief town in " the county of that name. It has a population of 2,500 souls. The place £ is one of peculiar interest alike from I its age, its people, Its architecture, its agriculture, and its general pro- ' ducts. It is a well-established his­ torical fact that a Spanish military explorer named Corar.do visited the town in 1540, and found it then a populous and prosperous civilized community. He was immeditely fol­ lowed by the Franciscan friars, who erected a church and established school* Ysleta is believed to have S been a considerable center of popu- I lation centuries before the visit of | Corando. It Is not a little ctrrioijis, ^ considering the advance of clviltza- fi tion from Europe, that the same race | of people exist in the town to-day as | existed 350 years ago, and that they | are engaged in the same agricultural 3 and mechanical pursuits as their fore- : * Pii'. ' U' •* V * H I l T * U l i S k l i , ^ 4 i / * A