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l vawVfiy‘VVvvvv-VvvvaV.‘vV‘V‘ijyyvvwvjvw.vvfw.Â¥j .v“‘ ‘V'Vvv \. “' "vavv-vv-r } . 1L. ’ , r p r P ,, OWW”WOOOOGWOOOO: : g About the House. pumooooomoooneo THE WINTER. ROBIN. Now is that sad time of year When no flower or leaf is here When in misty southern ways Oriole and jay have flown, And of all sweet-birds, aloni The robin‘ stays. -‘ ' ’ 6&0090 So give thanks at Christmas-tide; Hopes of springtime yet abide! See, in spite of darksome days, Wind and rain and bitter chill, - Snow and sleetâ€"hung branches, still The robin staysl . MISTRESS AND SERVANT. So much has been written concern; ing the servant-girl question that it seems almost as if the housewife ought to know by this» time what to expect of her maid,.and what her maid expects of her. ‘ A certain man who seems to know as much about the subject as the aver- age Woman has issued a proclamation that. tells how to have and to keep ideal servants. His recipe follows: Run your household on business principles; servants should have re- gular hours of "service daily. Complete freedom after work is done. ~ Do not be too pretentious with only one maid-ofâ€"all-work. One afternoon and evening out each week. ' ' Clean, wholesome bedroom; substanâ€" tial food. .Social privileges within reasonable discretion. If "you haVe a ‘ young good-looking, capable servant, she probably wants a husband some day, Do not drive her into the-street to get courted; " ~ " ' ores," in the January Ladies' Home Journal. "But mothers must co’nsid- or that from the-first moment of life the child is destined toward "growth, development, progression. A dallying with this ,bit- of wisdom in the begin- ninggmakesrare occasions for much that is disagreeable later. And let no mother make the error _of being baffled by the cry of ‘ heredity.’ Much of what is called heredity is really imitation of what is to be seen and felt in the environment; and the most objectionâ€" able human heredity can be overcome. The inheritance of the divine spark which is ever ready. to fly upward must never be forgotten." ” Mothers’ Mistakes and Fathers’ Fail‘ PAY FOR: A. SPOT. Two mothers of large ‘families'were discussing domestic matters one day, and theyounger of the two spokewith a. sigh of the way in which her'table- cloths were spotted through! the dail- ly mishaps of her two boys. “Perhaps you’d like to know how 1 have helped my boys to be careful'at Avoid interference with‘her religious ' and private. life. Do not permit familarity. from the baker’s, grocer's and butcher’s boys. Insist on respectful your servant, and set them ample. , .Avoid personal supervision while off duty. . Do not let slipsho'd, careless work go unnoticed. A good mistress is always critical, firm and exacting, but she alwtays appreciates conscientimis ef- xor . ‘ the ex- FLOWERS AS PERFUhIR In Provence, one, of the districts or provinces of the-southof France, are nearly a hundred distilleries of per- fumes, for the making of which hun- dreds of acres of-roses, violets and other sweetâ€"scented flowers are culâ€" tlvated. » Fifty of these are located in the town of Grasse. 'The distil- leries give employment to large num- bers of boys and girls, the adults be- ing engaged in growing the flowers. All the blossoms must be gathered while the dew is on. them, as they are then most fragrant. There are three processes, the “cucillage,” or gather- iing; “triage,” or stripping the petals from calyx and stem; and “enfleur- age,” the distilling the petals to pro- duce the essential oil or perfume. The girls who strip the petals get four cents for two pounds; some of them are so expert they can earn from fifty to seventy-five cents, occasionâ€" ally a dollar. The green of stem and calyx injures the scent. In the distilleries the petals are put on a glass slab coated with pure fat, being laid on half an inch deep. manner ,is laid over them. ‘ The fat absorbs the perfume in from twelve to twenty-four hours. When saturated it is packed in tins for shipment to the manufacturers, where the washed out‘ with alcohol. Some delibate. perfumes require fifty togeighty layers of- petals upon the same fat. Those flowers very strong in perfume do not require so many replenishments. It requires about sixteen thousand pounds of rose petals to produce one pound of attar of roses,- or the essential oil of: the flower. No wonder the precious oil is more val- uable than gold. in some factories the petals after the stripping are simply shot down a trap into cauldrons of- boiling fat. This is a wasteful process, as much of the fragrance escapes into the air and is lost. ‘ 1t«=‘has,been said that “Provence is the garden of France and Grasse the garden of Provence." It seems quite and peaceful now, but through; many centuries it was the battleground as well as the garden. It has been sack- ed by Spaniards; it 'was laid waste by Francis I. on the approach of Charles V., and plundered by the invader when he reached it. It was again devastat- edtin Maria Theresa’s strife with Frederick the Great. Almost every war in Europe has been felt in Pro- vence. Sometimes the invaders could be appeased by a ransom; once ten thousand bottles of perfume were de- manded in addition to a heavy money indemnity. Nevertheless, Grasse has thriven and the people grow rich through the pretty industry which ministers to the luxurious habits of the wealthy. \It is not often, though, that GraSse has had such a customer as Madame Pompadour, who. spent five million francs on perfumes in a single year. odor is CHILDREN ARE NOT PLAYTHINGS. “Mothers- must remember ‘ their babies are not given “them for their own pleasure or amusement, nor to display as marvels to their friends,” warns Barnetta Brown, treatment to- An- and have been grown in EurOpet incpotg - with a single stem like as an ar Other glass Slab coated m the same rose with a-crown of any desired size, that ed. the table," said the older woman; “it is the plan on which my = mother brought me up, and I've never found a better, "The rule in our‘family,” she proce- Bded. when. urged by her friend to ex- plain her method, “is this: Any one :who makes a spot on the tablecloth must. cover it with a piece of money, and the piece must be lai'ge'enough to hide the stain entirely; no rimfi are allowedl The children have to Pro" vide the coins out. of their own pocket money. This rule applies to their father and me as wellas to them. The sum goes to buy new table linen. "The first year I tried the plan we had money encugh forlhree handsome tablecloths, but. since then there has been» less and less. This is the fourth year, and although none of my boys has yet reached his 15th birthday, and they. are byno means unusually deft in their management of knives, forks and spoons, they'have learned to serve themselves and others so’ well that I am inclined to think their contribu- tions to the. 'tableclo-th fund’ will be very slight." DESTROYING THE CHILDREN. . "Do American men and women rea- lize that in five cities of our country alone there were during the .last school term over sixteen thousand chil- dren between the ages of eight and fourteen taken out of public schools because their nervous systems were wrecked, and.their minds were incap- able of going on any further in the infernal cramming system which exâ€" ists today. in our schools l” inquires Edward...Bok in the January Ladies‘ Home Journal. “ And these sixteen thousand helpless little wrecks,” he continues, "are simply the children we know about. Conservative medical men who have given their lives to the study of children place the number whose health is shattered by overstudy at more than fifty thousand each year. It is putting the truth m'ildly to state of our children is at once‘thenmost faulty, the most unintelligent and the roost cruel.” i â€"...__â€"â€". INDOOR LILAC CULTURE, ,‘There has always beenj'a demand for lilacs at unseasonable :times, and the florists have made this an important branch of their business, and reaped the dollars accordi'ntglly. A corres-« pendent has found the indoorculture a very simple proreeding which Will repay any one who wants Winter blooming lilacs to adorn the house and- make it a bower of beauty. She says: "The Persian varieties are beautiful drooping with its wealth of‘ floral beauty. It is a charming decora- tion for the window, corner of a room or conservatory. Take up a plant with a ball of earth around it and with as little loss of roots as picssible; plant in a tub of suitable size in rich earth. Keep the earth covered by leaves, which should be moistened and the temperature at. 60 to- 65 degrees. Under such conditions a fine harvest of lilacs may be gathered at any time during the winter months. xA lot of stocky shrubs must be taken up before the ground freezes solid and heeled in to some shed or cool cellar, so that they may keep dormant until wanted." .__.._.____. ROW FURS ARE CURED. Usually they are brought to the manufacturer merely stretched and dried; or perhaps a solution of alum has been applied to the flesh side. If the manufacturer does not wish to make use of them immediately, be sprinkles them thickly with camphor, puts them in a perfectly dry place, and every few weeks has them‘care- fully beaten. .. When they are to be prepared for making up into muffs, caps, and 'so forth, they are put into large tubs with; a quantity of ra'ncid butter, and trampled under the bare feet of men~ until the pelt becomes soft‘and par- Then they are tially tanned. taken out and scraped on the flesh side with ' a strip of iron, in order to remove such parts of the flesh or cellular tissue as may have adhered to theskin-L j The grease is then removed from them by algain trampling them thor- ouiglily with fine sawdust ofmahogany or some other hard wood., Finally, they are subjected to a thorough beat- ing, the fur or wool is carefully comb- ‘ out, and they are ready to be made up into the various articles forlwhich they are used. ' ' ' In Italy bread and. sugar cost about writing ofltwice as much‘ as they do in England, that, of all American institutions, that which deals with the public edu'ion »_ SOUTH AFRICA. guru-q ‘ ‘ Pathetic Incidents,Tiféplnys have and? loyalty: ~and (flu-erfulnvss "lulu!" Eire-- flu-morn! Trains I1H‘H‘lf3’illillgf‘llflkl- A pathetic incident at Elandslaagte is" described in a letter from one of the bearer company: 1 I i _ , IVc were out: looking “ after -the wounded at night when the fight was over, when} I cairne across an old, white-' bearded Boer. He was lying behindva bit; of rock, supporting himself on, his elbows. I was a. bit wary of the old fellow. at. first. Some of thete wound- ed'Boers, we've found, are snakes in' the grass. You go-up to them with the best intentions, and the next thing you know is that the man you were going to succor blazing at you with his gun. So I kept, my eye on the old chap. But when I got near- erI saw that he was too far gone to raise his rifle. He was gasping hard for breath, and I saw he, was not long for this. world. He motioned to me that he wanted to speak, and I bent over him. He asked the to go and find his. son, a boy of thirteen. who had been fighting by his side when he fell. We‘ll, I did as he asked me, and under a heap of wounded, I found ’ the poor lad, s'tone dead, and I carried him back to his father. \Vell, you know I’m not a chickenâ€"hearted sort of a fellow. I have seen a. bit of- fighting in my time, and that sort of. thing, knocks all the soft, out of a chap. But‘ I had to turn away when that old. Boer saw his dead lad. He hugged the body to him and moaned over it, and carried on in a way that fetched a big lump in, my throat. Until that very mo- ‘m‘eznt I never thought how horrible war is. I never wanted to see anoth- eir shot fired. Aind when I looked round again, the old Boer was dead, claspu'ng the cold hand of his dead' boy. Many records of love and loyalty have been 'made and among them this deserves a. place: A young officer of the. Manchesters, wounded in one of the first engage~ ments, lay on the hillside, expecting to die through the night, which had already fallen, bleeding from a bad wound in the thigh, and shivering with cold, when there stumbled over him a “Tommy” of his company, named Rodgers," This “Tommy” quirky whipped off his own oveu‘coat,.placed it around the boy officer, and lying down put his arms around him, and for the restof that long, cold night kept him “beautifully warm." And there are now being told many such incidents. Courage of the highest has cheer- fullness, too, in the most trying situâ€" atloins: The character of the Dublirns, Privâ€" ate Kavutiagfiiâ€"that day one of the stretcherâ€"bearersâ€"chaffed and encour- aiged his comrades, te.ling them the Boer shells could hit nothing. He it was, who, at Dundee, after the long day’s battle, becaig asked if he was hungry and did not wish for: someâ€" thing to eat, said; “No. How can I with my mouth full ’4" “had,” said the officer. “What do you mean?’ “Why, my heart's beenin it fall day, six,” replied Aavanagh, with a grin And so the "hard case" of his batta- liioin shouted and joked, walked about amid a. tempest of bullets, and stir- red the. gallant, glorious Dublins to shoot well and true. Matters have been pretty lively, also at Mafckiing, though with little loss: Colonel Badenâ€"Howell has been keep- ing the .BIOBIISS on the mom day and night, and has taken every precaution, not only to prevent the town being rushed by the. Boers, but also to ren- der as small as possible ain damage resulting from the Boer bombardment. The night attacks of the British ap- pear to have, worried the Boers con- siderably. Although the latter have shelled the town day by'day, but little damage {has resulted, the British casualties having been but few. Connâ€" mandant (.‘ironje has brought all his guns to bear .on the town; and hailed shells in its diremion for hours. His pieces, however, appear to have been liglft'field guns, and have proved sin- guilau‘ly ineffective. The humor of it is fith‘at Commandant Cronje, at a. loss what”. next to do, wrote LU Colonel Bafd'enâ€"vaell requesting him to sur- render Mafeklng, to “save further bloodshed." In reply, Baden-Powell asked when the bloodshed was to com- mence, and Cronje, greatly annoyed, sent‘to Pretoria in haste for| heavy field-guns, keeping up a light bomâ€" bardment in the meantime just to show that he was in the neighborâ€" hood. Bennet Burleigli, writing from Estâ€" court, agrees with many critics at. home and abroad, that Natal is “the least suitable. of countries for armor- ed irains," and proceeds to say: Besides, those we have. are poorly exteimporizecl affairs, lhouglL the l‘ezt, perhaps, that could 'be done in a hurry. Imagine a f‘xw five-eighlhs inch boiler-plates placed round the engine, anl flat bo-gic trucks boxed round seven feet high with similar » the Same mainner. sheets of iron or steel, and lop'pâ€"holedâ€"the whole paimted khakiâ€" and you have the armored ti-aitn'if'llhei'e being nogdqogwaysjto get irisidamo'ne of those “among ironcboices, ‘Eyvhic‘h’gai'e quite uméovured at:"_the.._to.p,"Lyou'idaave . ‘ ‘ ’ to, cla-m‘ber _,‘up as?'.‘bestl you ., Cain;;1;_grip- pin‘g‘th‘e'loop-holeis and e‘rt’eri rafastâ€" 'e-niiigs'. 2r Egressgéha .. . eibejzilmade Vin ‘ ' ‘ mergers-sill right against. rifle-fire, exécpt. when ‘i‘n; a cutting or passing under-._a hill, when an enemy mighthaâ€"vejyouatahis mercy by firing down into.;th.e jopen-tdpp‘e'd llrucks. It is alyvell';knvowvn'dessonyalfi I so, that an armored. train,1:except-"_in an absolutely flat country, Wis-unsuit- ed for scouting or ,atthok,.unleiss‘back- ed and flanked by a friendly force of cavalryland guns. Our armored-trains here are uinprov'idedi‘with Maxims or cannon; . ‘ , ' Julian. Ralph, gof .the London ,Mail, writing from Orange RiVer» on' Nov- ember .16, recurs to the subject‘ of khaki color: _ .- ,3 South Africa looks now as if it were the dust-him of creation. Its ground is loose dust. ~Its air is fly- ing dust. Its vege-t’ation, animals and insects are nearly all of different shades of dustâ€"color. As I write, the men are dissolving mud in their, pails and dipping brushes in it to' paint their white str tps mud color. Every pouch, and strap, and clothâ€"covered water-bottle that would show while or dark is undergoing this treatment. And the drummers are do’ng the same with their drumsâ€"painting the» white tLightening cords with mud, muddyâ€" ing over the golden lions and unicorns and the gaudy regimental mottoes, so that everything shall look like the veldtâ€"so that we shall be as- dusty as thecouintiry. While “Tommy” is .wholly and solely earth like in tone, his officers differ from him in wearing shiny buttons, stars, crowns, and sword~hi,lts, and pipâ€"clayed bolts and straps. In this differeince has lain the danger of all in battle in this cam- Paign, and from it has come, the death of far too many. All alike recognize this, yet how differently they discuss the PToposal to have the officers dress like the men. The “To-mmies" are all in favor of the change, though it would greatly increase their own dan- ger and losses. They are enthusiastic for having the officers doff swords, carry light, carbiues and do away with their ornaments. They idiscuss the mortality above the ranks with bated breath as a thilnig altogether awful. With the officers the subject is difâ€" fc-rrmtly treated. Some discuss the if it were, a thing to be considered only for the sake of receiving an un- fair foe and gaining a point that way. Others indignantly spurn the idea as u‘ndignified and unworthy. - Since this was written Lord M'eth- uen settled the question in the com- mon~sense way, and now his officers are no longer glittering targets for the Boers, even their swords beingi re- placed by carbiines. â€"-â€".¢.â€"â€"- LOVE AND GENIUS. Some men of genius have undoubted- ly believed, with Thackeray, that it is better to love foolishly than not at all; that they have practised this philosophy is proved by .their mem- oirs and biographies. Leigh Hunt loved a good girl whose spelling was unconventional, and whose chiro- graphy could not be called her chief accomplishment. Keats was wildly, madly in love with a commonplace girl named Fanny Browne. He married her, but she was incapable of appreciâ€" ating him. Hazlitt, the brilliant es- sayist, loved the pept, coarse daughter of his landlady. He wrote her a let- ter which she'never answered, and he said that “the rolling years of eter- nity would not fill up the blank that her failure to answer that'letter caus- ed." A practical Scotch girl, Char- lotte Carpenter, won Walter Scott’s love. She not only hated literature, but objected to writing to him. He wrote her, saying, “You must write me once a week." She replied, “You are quite out of your senses, and you need not put in so many ‘musts' in letters. It is beginning too early.”. Walter was foolishly in ‘love with Lady Dorothea Sydney, who was his "Saccharissa.’ She liked his love« making in poetry, but when be pro- posed marriage in prose the idea did not apppeal to her. Alfred de Mus- set’s love for the irresponsive GeOrge Sands gave his thoughts such an ex- traordinary elevation that he wrote many brilliant poems in consequence. Thomson had his Amanda, Littleton his Nannie. Chaucer sang the praises of many queens, but his one great love u was Phillippa Picard de Rouet, the lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of B0- hemia. He waited nine years ~to marry her, but made it a matter of complaint in several poems. Moore lived up to his theory that love's young dream is the sweetest thing in life. He never let one love get old erfore he supplanted it with a new.‘ Garey had his Sally of “Sally in Our Alley" fame. Surrey loved Geraldine from the time she was a child in short dresses, Corneille, the astute lawâ€" yer fell in love and became the bril- liant dramatic poet. Thus it seems that love, whether successful or other- wise, for a time inspires its votaries. ___ V‘____ It is a somewhat curious fact that in the Church of England there are two brothers who, as preachers, enjoy the reputation of hav- ing no superiors. hop of Ripon and the Rev. Archibald Boyd Carpenter, the rector of, St. George’s, Bloomsburyl ‘ roughly prospect of disguising themselves as. . first pair. extempore These are the Bisâ€"l A Woman Lion It is not often that fliqu taming and; itrainingrof ferocious beasts is adopted 30.5 a pastime. V iseem likely that such an occupation gwould appeal to a woman as a means zof diversion. Yet one of themost suc. gcessful lion tamers in Germany is Miss EECora Benoit of Leipsic, who adopted. ithis occupation as a source of enter. 'gtainment rather than of income. bliss iBenoit. is of Germany. English extrac. i‘tion and was carefully educated... Her Sp-arents, died while she was in her iteens, and. after their death she resid-v. tied in the family of olne of hen‘ father’s friends, the director of the Leipsic Zoo- ’logical Gardens. ‘ ;’ She had many op-portunites to study :the animals in the Leipsic collection, . ‘Being a young woman of independentl' ‘ mind she at length took, the notion that she would like to try her hand. at training a pair of young lions: that had just arrived at the zoo. At first her friends refused to take the project seriously. When they were convinced that she was in earnestl they tried to dissuade her, pointing out the diffi- culty and danger of such an under. taking. Bliss. Benoit was convinced that she had as much courage, as any man and. moreover that she under- stood the nature of lions as'well as most persons. She succeeded in hav- ing her own way and was permitted to take charge of the two young lions, “l cannot say truthfully that Iwas in the least nervous whenl I entered the lions’ cage for the first time,” ‘said Miss Benoit in relating- her ex... perience. "I had studied the habits and natures» of such animals and had seen the methods of the trainers. (12 had theories of my own on the subject Ialso and I knew that the one thing necessary was to gain and, keep the Smastery from the start. In found that my sex aided rather than hindered me. The lions had never been handled at. all except to the, extent necessary in feeding and transporting them, which was, of course, an advan- ltage. No woman had been near them. When I entered the cage they retreat. [to the_ opposite corner and crouched ‘there in fear and trembling, Itound that this was due to the rustling of {my long skirts which seemed _ to in- lspire in them a sort of fascinated .fear. My' task was therefore to re. store and not to com them. From ness, seldom using force or even the displayiof force except to the extent of inspiring them with a wholesome respect. I found this plan to succeed admirably and with the right material ltp begin With it is ‘possible to train lions to do almost anything, V ‘l have noticed that the. Sight and sound of my skirts has had, the same effect on other lions that it did in; this _ . 1 think that the. reason. is this, lions that are captured ina wild. state do not see or come in contact Wi_th women until long after they have come into captivity. Therefore, a woman is a new andi‘unknown be- ing to them and. like [air animals they are timid 1n the presence of' anything that is unfamiliar. I have never found it adVisable to adopt the costume of most professional women lion tamers, preferring the ordinary attire and finding that it answers even better than the other. The animals always manifest a great interest in my. gowns. They like to sniff about them and have torn them sometimes in trying to inspect them will? their claws. But 1 discourage any such‘ familiarity. "I have never had. an accident. or an injury from the lions beyond a few scratches on my arms and legs, in- flicted usually by accident. That is because I am always careful. I take my time in teaching my subjects and always know them thoroughly before I attempt to make them perform any tricks. The best subjects for a lion tamer are those that are captured, when they are young. Animals that are born in captivity are never so sat- isfnciory. As a rule they have been Spoiled by petting, and haVe been han. dled by too many different persons, They. are sluggish and deceitful. and are likely to turn on. one at. tlidniost unexpected moment. Of course there are. great differences also between in. divulual animals as between individual persons. Some are- much more in- telligent and much‘ more honest than others. The best lions for training purposes come from East'Africa; They are more intelligent and can be ban..- dled much better than the Asiatic lions. "I enjoy my work. took it up. To succeed in it requires hard work and careful study and above all infinite patience, But in Ithe nature ‘of things I see no reason iwhy _a woman who has strong, nerves and, is thoroughly self-reliant should §110l2 become as successful in lion’ tam- ling as any man.” ‘* â€"â€"_6~_ COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. That is why I Charley. dear, said young Mrs.- Torâ€" " kins, please don’t try to deceive me. I haven’t tried to deceive you. I told you that I hid four cocktails last night. , ' ‘ Charley, dear, Iknoiw that a ’few chicken feathers would not 'make you- act like that. . . v â€".â€"â€"t' MUSICAL MILKMAIDS. In Switzerland a milkmaid gels betâ€" _,ter wages if gifted with a good voice, because it has been discovered that a cow will. yield one-fifth more milk if soothed during milking by melody. Sir Redvers Butler used to be a great smoker, but is said‘to now lii'mit himself to one pipe a day. At- {ter a fight it .was always his habit {to retire into solitude and smoke a i pipe out. . :1 rs... am”, _..‘___'-...' ;;. .’... »- “ Least of all does it 4 this I . the first I treated them with kind-‘ . ._ .. . -m... .A‘ . , . Want-0" .. my :g-s'r .3»:i-xnmxrnumm.ym,;_~ammxrrm mums... first“ .sfidiWW‘g ' “'~”~"Â¥<m->-:-.-re~,_._rvmr: [m .- ,â€". ,\-~_, ,- , ., z . â€" M ./ TNT/alnyacq. lg” ivy . _,.._/«_'.._,,~,_..‘ ,. ...-,. ._ ! 7.....‘u »., \n‘.‘ ‘_.._v|:':n~r W- - 1...... .- . - ., «mrrmuaw-rrw-n m- “ ~>.'~.1:-<3. ' â€" Lm-AALAL-_ . v AAA‘A‘-A.LA-A