Wp; yorroiwi ftiNFAMIUAfi CHAPTER 1# WASH INGTON'S HISTOfti'. '?* y. & fctMwB* Of More tJhan CredltaM* Shrewd- BfM l« |a Bol Kitkta D«l-The Prwi- iMt'i Questionable Pniehne at lky*tto Cowaty, PwmylWBi*. in ,|U *.®f Q«Mf« M M SpieotatpA And they wont Washington mad! SBy "they" tho people of Perryopoli3. m little town in the backwoods of jrayette County, Pennsylvania, are meant. How the accident of calling tho place Perryopolis ever occurred no »ne can toll. Because, perhaps, the .godfathers were afterwar i ashamed of the awful mistake they had made. But those who came later tried hard to if?,-, rectify the error. They have fairly jMV. 'beggared the resources of the name in If^ thoir efforts to'perpetuate it. rv v First, they fashioned the plan of the town after that of the Capital City, be- ' cause it was named afte" their patron , saint Tne central part is an octagon- • shaped public square, covering an * acre and a half. Two main streets cross |§§:" the square at right angle-, and ba- tweon the streets are two alleys, run ning diagonally. The square is thus the exact focusing point of eight thor oughfares, radiating from it like wheelspoltes from the hub. The ear liest inhabitants built their houses around the square; then along the avenues. When it became necessary to lay out a cross street it took the form of a circle, completely surround ing the square and making of each block a sort of trapezoid. Then as the ©red with rl . w there a clump of trews growllif along ft stream of pure, deligb tful. Spring water flowing over a bed of BArMIng white sand. Thp whole inclosed o» threa sides by still greater $vngfhta» and on the other sfofltng 'tp river, the YougMio|ftj»i§'. V It pretty a lands^j^ as cue* could wi«h to look upon. •• 1 With all his cares WashlngfrMi did net fail tQ observe the attra«jiiv©sur roundings. Ho tdoE^tffoful jioto of its advantages. It.hliflKpeillr; first of all, it was an idvllW<*t!onJbr a ̂ plan tation. " as they called the farm in those days. The future ho^d of thK^roaS,Ration was but twenty-three years or Age at that time, buthe kne w the value of the land. Therefore ha did not allow that splendid pie *o of Fayotte County land to gj out of hi* recollection, though years intervened before he had op-, portanity to carry out his schemes concerning it. Through all the in teresting periods following the Brad- dock episode that "Promised Land," wa • kept in his mind's eye. A do-en years later his chance came. He wrote to his old friend, Capt. William Craw ford of Stewart's Crossings, now New Haven, as follows: "I then de ired the favor of you (as I under^too i rights might now. be had for the lands which have fallen within the Pennsylvania line) to look me out a track of about 1.500, 2.000, or more acres sc me where in your neighbor hood, meauing enly by this that it may be contiguous to your own settlement as such a bady of good land can be found," Few of those people who revere the memory of our first President will be lieve that one formed in so fine a mold was ready and willing t J transgress a Wh.:* @ WASHINGTON'S MILL, 12® YEARS OLD AND STILL tX USE. years wore on another cross street of the same kind was added and then another. 9Then the christeners had an inning. • * They railed the public square, or rath er octagon, "Washington square," and the main street that intersected it $:•} < " Washington street." Of course an : alley is not a street, so "Washington alley," as they named one of the nar- ; rower ways, did not conflict with tne other. The site of the town and all - 'the surrounding country generally was 'named "Washington's Meadows, ' and - 'the little stream which flowed through ~ ~ " all this lovely land from the low hills .> f to the southeast was -Washington's '.Run." Part of its course lay along . "Washington's Bottoms/'and it fell as • ^"Washington's Falls" over a great ••'i «; /ledge of rock a short distance north of -1 "• 'the town and set the wheels going in ; % "Washington's Mill" to make "Wash- *{ (ington flour." T Everything entitled to a name had land hi "Washington" tacked onto it. . 1 !The family that failed to get in the r •jaame of Washington somewhere in the : {naming of the first offspring was sub jected to a sort of social ostracism by •. Perryopolitan society. Later editions ; of the same family > ere not subjected j«t, to such conditions, but as regards the ./ first the rule wa-t invariable. In fact fi , "Washington" is a sort of generic title for everything, animate or inanimate, ;, . • In or about Perryopolis. 7 How did it all come about? One ,< must go back a good distance into his- •J.„ , tory to get at the starting point of the Itory. July 9 it will be 139 years since law for his own private gain, jet the continuation of this same letter shows that ha was not averse to doing so, or engaging in any of th« petty trickery of a common real estate jobber when his own personal ends were concerned. Here is the evidence: "It is possible, but I do not know that it really is the case, that the custom in Pennsylvania will not admit so large a quantity of land as 1 require to be entered togeth er: if so. this may be arranged by mak ing several entries to the same amount if the expenses of doing it are not too heavy." He" does nrt say' exactly how the en tries were to be made, and we have no information how Crawford went about the business. It i$ known, however, that on the opening of the land office of the proprietaries for the sale of land west of the mountains. April 3, 1769, a piece of land called "The Meadows," amounting to 32.^ acres, was transferred to George Washington: another piece of like amount, or thereaoouts, calied "The Forkfe," went to John Augusta (Augustine) Washington: another called "Bear Hills" to Lawrence Wash ington: "Deer Range," 332 acres, to Thomas Jones: "Crab-Tree Run," 330 acres, to John Paty; "Spring Run," 331 acres, to William Athel; and "Fl&tt," 319 acres, tovjbhn Bishop. No further transactions are recorded, but the re ports of thettjeneral'f exectuors in 1802 showed that'tbey belonged to him. Be that as it may, immediately Wash ington secured possession he set about improving the place. He sent work- ingmen to build houses and a mill, and what a certain popular writer would ! slaves Ito work on the plantation. Re- ierm "a good fight" took place between i mains of some o! Jho^e improvements iwr-srt WASHINGTON QUA RE PEBBYOrOLTB v*\ t,;-V * r C: • Englishmen on the one side and French and Indians on the ether on the banks of the Monongahela River, in Penn sylvania, only a few miles from its mouth. Among a group that surrounded Gen. Braddcck as he lay mortally wounded was Col. George Washington. Previ ous to this hour Braddock would not listen to Washington's proffered ad vice regarding the pror er method to *'•. * cope with redskin warfare. Now, in »' n this bitter moment, he sought it. ." Evening was clpse at hand when, as the result of that consultation, Wash - - • » ington mounted his horse and galloped @f'| | swiftly up the river with dispatches for » Gen. Dunbar. Three miles away he was joined by two soldiers. Night eame, and with it the storm that usu ally follows the battle. But the riders kept on. Through dark, gloomy for ests, across streams, and up and down mountains. Sometimes they noted their way by the fitful flashes of light- .m mi' lie * short distance southward. WiA-f of the finest white sand, just th«4 'ItiiA ttjiti jthn maanMotOTer iwunt§« crop up Everywhere. About the be- of th«rcanturya t, whioh w#s l»itinooatiimt>us ratldu up to wlfehtn a score of year* ajgfo, when the disadvantageous situa tion rendered competition with other ^ork of the kind wiof the question, notwithstanding the abundant send stores that it could, draw upon so fr6ely if it cho.?c. A Hundred \ eu* Hencft t First American. Citizen--Who ii that ancient looking darky over there? Second American Citizen--Why, that's one of Washington's body ser vants. " ;i Firrt American Citizen--Washing ton: Who's he? WASHINGTON'S SHAVING MUG. A Treaaare Coaneetteat A V4«IT TO THE BASEMENT Q* THE SENATE. Cnearthed In K» rm-House. , E. A. Housman, of Danbury, Conn , a collector of Americana, has a rich prize. He was born in the old house on Treason hill, near Haverstraw, where Major Andre and Benedict Arnold met. The house is in the pos»: session of the Housman tamily still* Aaron Burr studied law there, and during the revolutionary war it was Gen. Wayne's headquarters. George Washington stopped there four nights. Three mcnths ago Mr. Housman was visiting his brother-in-law at Haver straw. He found himself in the attic of the old house on Treason hill one day during his visit, and he poked and rummaged around the dusty crannies and corners that had been ransacked for their treasures a hundred times by antiquaries fully as enthusiastic as, r he. Fortune favored his persistence, according to the New York World, and between a couple of rafters, away down under the eaves of the roof, Mr. Housman found a rare lot. There were ancient almanacs and an old oil lamp, but, most precious of all, a pewter cup and a copy of a New \ orK newspaper over one hundred years old. The cup has a handle and wa? evidently usea as a shaving mug. Tfceie is a poorly Ovwit wtttefc Will Boast Oxen a*d CM*# Irons Btf Enough for Sheep--GlImpaM of Oar lllfir Uruined St»te*mun »t tho Dining Table. -f " • IV hat Sonatws Kkb * Cot»gr*89 wants new k'.tehewifc' A committee of the Home has !«een ap pointed to Investigate the matter, and the members are by no means satisfied with the dark rooms and old-fashioned cooking utensils with which the base ment of that part of the Capitol is lLrnished. T^e restaurants of Con- gioss do as big a business as any high- toned ect ng houses in the United States. Nearly a trousand people are fed daily at the tables of the House restaurant, and fully five hund.ed haVe their stomachs tickled by tho appetiz ing' viands dished i p in the restaurant of the Senate. The Senate of the United States recently pot in new kitchens, and there is no club house in the world that has a better culinary apparatus. Our greatest statesmen are more par ticular as to their bills of fare than they ara as to the bills before Congress. They want all the latest frills m the fashion of their dkhes, and they use everything that modern invention can Ripply to help them in their cooking. I nave spent some time this week in sampling the gocd things of the res taurants and have made a study of the Senate kitchen. ,The latter canqpt but be interesting to the women i|f the United States. They are away down under the ground. You go .through wipding stairways into the sub-base ment of the CapitoL The kitchens, storerooms and baker ies of the Senate form one of the busi- m WASHINOTOH 8 SHAVING MUG. executed crest on the side and under* neath it the inscription: • • • 1 GBOBGC Washington. s ; 5 . im Mr. Houseman believes that was ington left the cup behind him afte* his stay at the old farmhouse, and that it had been lying under the eaves ev^r since. He took the cup to Danbury and had it silver-plated. The newspaper was a copy of the NewYork Daily Gazette for Thursday, Oct. 8, 1789, very yellow and very in teresting. It contains President Wash ington's Thanksgiving proclamation and a notice of the treaty between the United States and the Wyandotte, Dei- aware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawato; mie and Sac nations of Indians. The paper was published by Archibald Mc Lean "at his printing office, Franklin's Head, No. 41 Hanover square." SENATORS PBITER AND WOLfcOTT. est parts of the Capitol building. It takes about thirty employes to rim them, You see white-aproned, white- capped men everywhere, and there are cooks and di^h washers,^oyster shuck- ers and bakers, makingyup a corps large enough to run a big summer ho tel. The main room of the^kitchan proper is 15 feet wide by 100 feet long. It contains two ranges, elich b'tg enough to roast an ox, and it ha3" pat ent steamers and baking machines here and there about it. In orjfe corner is the biggest soup pot in Washington. It will hold about two bushel^ of liquid and it is the size of the largest apple butter kettle. It is made of the bright est of red copper and it is used for keeping the stock for the making of the soup.. Nickel-plated steam pipes run through it and the liquid is always hot. A little further over there is a copper pot of about half this size, heat ed in the same way, in which the cran berry sauce and apple sauce which is eaten by these Senators is cooked, and near this is a patent turkey roaster. It would make your mouth water to know just how good the turkeys ccoked by this process are. They are roasted by steam, and the roaster is a double iron box about as big as the average dry goods box, within the walls of which steam is conducted bv nickel- & THE ABANDONED GLA8B-HOCSK. Bing; again they felt their way along 1)V hand. Sick, sad and oppressed though he was, Washington cared lit tle for obstacles if progress cpuld be made. At daybreak tne storm-clouds pessed away, out it was net until the «tw shot his first golden spear across 'the hill-tops that the messengers drew lor the first rest in all that long, wearisome journey. ̂A fair scene was that upon which Washington gazed that morning. A wide table land it was resting on the hill tops. Flat alm«rt m a board, oov- stiil exist. The visitor^ Perryopolis who makes hisway ltffm Lavton Sta tion on the Youghjiq^lieny railroad will see*tlie flour mil}" Wasmugton built still in operat£6ii;&nil practically in the same cond^Wm it wa* when it left his hands mor$ wian a century ago. It is located in a ravine near the town, and the machinery is still put in motion by water-power derived from Washington Run, which here makes its way down a tteep declivity. A family named Smith are the present owners. They pride themselves greatly on its poisession, as well as from the fact that it has been in their hands ever s-ince it pas-ed from the control of the Original proprietor. Probably it was t)ae construction of this building that first wearied Wash ington of his bargain. He always liked the place, and spent considerable time there, residing the while with Colonel Simpson, his overseer or superintend ent. But before it was finished that mill cost him a lot o! money. Although commenced in 1774, several years elapsed before it was finally comp eted. No sooner was the work fairly com menced than the Indians would become troublesome, the laborers would get frightened, and shortly de=ert to the protection of old Redstone fort, a few miles away. Blockhouses were built in the vicinity of the mill in the hope that they would rely on them for pro tection in case of attack, but the first' fresh atrocity of the redskins, who were continually raiding the frontiers, at that time, would create a ne w panic. In a few minutes the whole force would have disappeared and not be heard of again until the fort was reached. Val entine Crawford, who had succeeded his brother as Washington's agent, wrote about this time: "I consider it a pity that the mill was ever begun in these times." i- inally Washington ret about to dis» pose of the whole business. The revo lutionary war, then still going on, pre vented him from giving it the atten tion jt demanded, so that it was not un til 1789 that he succeeded in leasing it to CoL Isaac Shreve, one of his old Washington's Birthplace. A contract ha") been awarded (or the erection of a $10,00 i wharf cn the Poto mac River, near Wakefield, Westmore land' County, Va., Gen. George Wash ington's birthplace, and the steamer Sue will probably make it a landing place. The house in which Washing ton was born was destroyed by lire during his boyhood, but in 1815"tt stone, with a suitable inscription, was placed on the spot by George Washington Park Custis. It was while living at Wakefield that Washington attended the neighboring school where instruc tion did not go further than reading, writing and spelling, with the addi tion, which must have been somewhat exceptional, of bookkeeping and sur veying. In after years, while Wash ington was surveying the vast estates of Lord Fairfax, the birthplace was burned, and the family moved on the Rappahannock„£^iver, near Fredericks burg. The new wharf will be built by the Government as a means of access to the ruins of the burned house, and Congress is to mark the place with a monument. A steamboat landing will make the historical spot, now some what difficult to refcch. of easy access for tourists. army comrades, who finally bought it outright in 1795. There is hardly any doubt that, with proper transportation facilities. Wash ington's (ami;us plantation would verify his judgment. It is the center of one of the best fruit distrj ! ' ..Jiu February Twenty-second. . A« comes thy birthday, conquering shade! No humorist omits Tho historic little hatchet's aid To sharpen up his wits. The Thoughtful Boy. ti • Yorrag America (to his father, who has recently visited the tomb of Wash ington)--Why, is Washington dead? Father--Oi course he is--® long time ago. Young America--Then why does be V-Ut ---'Si V :•••* % 'C: IK THE SENATU KITCHEN man whois fondefiieftaf and there is a fcaleerV ators this Senator "Stewart cooks his oysters I self. He call for a dozen of the finest selects and these are brought to him at the table and a chafing dish is set before him. There is no water used. The cyttors are stewed in their own liquot* in a large glaw of the best sher ry wine, and in additi' n he Duti in a big lump of butter and the yelks of two eggs, and then salts and; pepers to taste. It is one of the richest dishes known to public man atd is very pro ductive of gout. Serator Hawley knows what is good, but he usually takes a light lunch. His favorite dish is chicken s up, and aftar this he has a piece of apple pie and a glass of milk. If he has a friend with him he spreads hiimelf out over the «*• NEW VOBK SKNATQBa ins whole bill of fare, but when alone his lunch is a light one. Senator Sherman is another pfe eater. His favorites are apple and custard, and he always takes a glass of milk with his lunch! Sena tor Frye lunches on apple pie and a cup of tea. Peffer Of Kansas confines him self to a.bowl of bread and milK or an oyster stew. Joe Blackburn and Ar thur P. Gorman are both fond of go ;d living. Senator Hoar of Massachu setts has the reputation of being a light feeder. He is, however, one of the richest gourmands of the Senate, and he is fond of filling his round stomach with a chafing' dish stew, and he dotes on sweetbreads served up in butter. There is nothing tOo good for Senator Wolcott. He wants his food highly seasoned and he is very fond of pheasants and other game. He likes a nice porter-house steak served so rare that the blood run-down its sides. He eats a big meal every noon and the day is cold indeed when'you find wrinkles in his.stomach. All of these Western men live well. Hansbrough and Du bois want the best that the cooks can provide. Senator Perkins of Califor nia is a great feeder, and his colleague, Senator White, picks cut a half dozen dishes and eats them all. These men seldom dine alone; and the average statesman likes company at his meals. Henry Cabot Lodge usually bring3 a party in with him, and Tom Reed, Julius Caesar Burrows and Doliver, of ti •I- SENATOR VEST AND THE OYSTER. piated pipes, thoroughly roasting the mallard ducks and the twenty-pound turkeys which are laid away within it. Mother feature of this kitchen is the grill. It is a gridiron »o Iwga t>iftt you could lay the largest sheep upon it and broil it. This rests over a ">&d of ed-hot charcoal, and the fire is such that the steak or chop can be well done in five minutes. This grill is kept go ing about six hours a day, and the juicy meat which conies from it has- made most of the gray matter which you will find in the alleged brains of the Congressional Record. The dining rooms of these Senators are worth looking at. Their walls and* ceilings are frescoed. Tbey sit abound the finest of damask cloths on chairs of oak, cushioned with green leather. Their dishes are china and their forks are of silver. The most of them pre fer steel knive3, and silver is only used for tho cutting of fruit. The common dining room is apart from that used by the Senators, and there is a pie and oyster counter pre:ided over by wait ers. At the?e the statesmen now and then take a snack, but the most of SENATOR f-TEWAM'8 CHAFINO DtSift. Iowa, come to the Senate-and eat their lunches together. • Senator Cush Davis i? one of the big fish eaters of the Capitol. He likes anything that comes from the water, and he feeds his brain on black bass five times.a week. The New York Sen ators usually come to lunch together, and they are both good feeders, though Hill merely nibbles at the dishes he orders, while Murphy eats all of the best and lots of it. Power, of Montana, is a dyspeptic. He has no stomach to speak of, and he looks at his victuals with such a vinegar aspect that his milk has to be boiled before it is brought to him for fear it will sour. His regular lunch is a bowl of boiled milk and a plate of brown bread well toasted. He breaks the toast into the milk and dishes it up with a spoon. Senator Stockbridge, of Michigan, wants the best he can get, but he never drinks anything but water or milk. Turpie, of Indiana, lunches on oysters and wants fruit every day. Vance, of North Carolina, is satisfied with a sandwich, and Dan Voorhees eats enough country sausage and cakes to give any other statesman the gout. Wilson, of Iowa, usually dines off a glass of milk and a piece,; of apple pie, and Roger Q, Mills can fiii up his bread basket with chicken salad and feel like a king. National Capital Xoteo, PRESIDENT CLEVELAND signed the Federal elections repeal bill, and it is now a law. / THE gold reserve in the Treasury Friday lacked but $6,256 of the ^HCOJ- 0(Ky.A>o, of which it should consist. Miss LAURA HOUGHTALING, of Ashe ville, N. C., a niece of Senator Stock bridge, died at hi* residence in Wash ington. SECRETARY OP THE N ANY HERBERT has appointed a* board to examine Lieut. Fillett, of Portsmouth, N. H., as to his sanity. THE distillers are laboring with tho Senate Finance Committee to secure an extension of the bonded period, which they say is absolutely necessary. COL. DAVID B. HENDERSON, of Iowa, who lost one leg at the knee during the war, was compelled to undergo an operation on the wounded member. He stood it well and is recovering rapidly from its effects. A BILL is said to be before the House Committee on Appropriations having for its purpose .the control of the Na tional Soldiers' Homes by the WTar De partment. Veterans generally do not approve of the bilL CARROLL L. RIKEH, of Chicago, made a bid for the entire issue of b nds offered by Secretary Carlisle. His proposition was of an extraordi nary character and his bid was ig nored by 1he Treasury Department. Riker ha* filad a petition in the Su preme Court seeking a mandamus to compel Secretary Carli-le to issu3 $50,- 000,000 in bonds to him, according to the terms of his bids. CHAIRMAN BLANCHARD says that the river'and harbor bili will probably n ,t be ready to report t > the House for at least three we'eks. Speaking of the size of it he says that it will be a very small bill, probably carrying about $10,000,000. There have been but few improvements projected <5r now under way that have not b- en advo cated by the members in whose dis- I tricts they are situated. All this argu- them are good livers, and they take a full meal at noon every day in the year. Funny to Watch 'Km. It is funny to watch them eat and to see " Upon what meat these our Caesars feed that t!iey may grow so great." Take Don Cameron. He looks like a dy.-peptic, and as he sits in the Senate he chews his red mustache as if he were hungry. He is as lean as a rail, and you would never suppose that he was one of the biggest eaters of the j ment wilf not have much effect upon Capitol. He likes rich food, and he | the committee, as the Problem Hprtoadte* 4*««r M America md EDIIMM). The servant-girl question is again engrossing attention both in the East and in England, savs the San Fran cisco Argonaut. The revelations of Elizabeth L. Banks, an An erlcan "newspaper woman" who went out to service in London and then related her expei icnceto the t apers, are read with avidity." In New Yoric, Miss Kate Gannett .Wells is lecturing mothers of families, whom she bold* responsible for the inconveniences of modern senant-gir.ism. In both countries the trouble is that the line between mistress and servant is not drawn with sufficient distinctness; the relative duties of each hre too vaguely defined; the mistress is al ways complaining of the encroach ments of the domestic, and the later is resenting the selfish thoughtless ness of her employer. The servant says that the mistress does not seem to remember that cook and bouse^ made havo feelings; the mistress wails that her servants have no affec tion for her. Over,and at-ove all this, the question of wages is an unceasing source ot friction. The market value of a trained servant is constantly rising. The mistress thinks she is badly treated when a servant whom she has trained demands an advance in consequence of the training. t£n this city, John Chinaman has elbowed the servant-girl out of the kitchen, to the advantage of the em- ployefr He is not so quarrelsome as the Irish girl, nor so impertinent, and he does his Work better. He has his drawbacks. He will not stand inter ference, aud he thoroughly under stands that his relation with his master is a business relation, into which sentiment does not enter. He will leave a house where hehasserved for ten or twelve years without a pang; whenever a Geary law, or other similar enactment, reduces the sup ply of house-servants, he will insist on an advance of wages with a child like and bland smile but with iron firmness. He is a master of econo mies. But his morals do not require looking after, and he is almost in variably honest. In the East, the handling of the servant-girl question has suffered from English example; In the old days, the servants were "helps" and dined at the family table. Their footing resembled that of the valets in Moliere's comedies, who were con fidants and advisers ot their masters.. But with the influx of English man ners,* hew relations between the mis tress and maid were imported. Helps begatme servants, and dined in the kitchen. Thus far no harm was done. The house-maid could not have felt at home in the family circle, nor could the remarks she injected into the general conversation have been improving. But the mistresses* of American 'households went further, and seemed to desire to ignore the ex istence of the maid, except as an In strument of service. They avoided recognizing her in the mornings and only addressed her to give her an order. This was a wholly unneces sary slight to the girl. It was En glish. An Englishman will call and dine at a house for years, and never by word or< look recognize the ex istence of the man who for all that time has opened the front-door for him or changed his plate at the table. The Englishman's idea is that be be- long's to a different order of created beings from the butler and the foot man, and that his self-respect would suffer if he addressed them except on Official business. Thackeray hit off the notion whenrhe tells of an En* glish Duke, who teing addressed in a crowd by a stranger, beckoned to his Aide-de-camp to answer the re mark. It does not seem that the spheres would crumble if American ladies admitted by word and act that their servants are human beings. Their social position might survive in iuir- ing about their health when they are ill. But a mistress of a household will undo the benefit of kindness if she breaks down altogether the con ventional barrier between mistress and maid, A servant who is placed on a footing of absolute equality with her mistress will not perform good work, and wnen it becomes necessary to exercise authority, the attempt will involve a quarrel. and he washes his lunch down every day with a pint of champagne. One of his favorite dishes is calves' liver and bacon, and he smacks his 1 ps three a week over a chafing dish stew. determination has been reached not to have any more new improvements provided for in this bill and to cut the appropriations for projects now under way to the lowest poMibta f gure. Celestial Collision*. Astronomers are yet discuSsfnii? the new star which suddenly flared up in the constellation Auriga in February, 1892, and which afterward turned into a nebula The general opinion is that a collision of some kind oc curred out there in the heavens It is plain that it must have been a pretiy serious collision to produce a blaze visible some millions of millions of miles away. Indeed, the puzzling thing is that so great an outburst of heat and light should so soon have disappeared. If two suns, or two great worlds, had met in full career and smashed one another, the heat developed would have sufficed to make them glow like a conflagration in the sky until long after the new star in Auriga bad lost its brilliancy. On this account the opinion seems to be gaining ground that the col lision to which ths appearance of the new star was due must have occurred either between two swarms of me teors, or between a huge solid, dark body and a cloud of celestial dust If it *was the meeting of meteor swaims, then „he smallnessof the in dividual met ors would account for the rapid loss of light after the sud den blaze at the moment of the en counter; and if it was a solid sphere, an extinguished sun, for instancy plunging through cosmic dust or scat tered nebulous matter, the fact that only the surface of the great body would probably be heated by the col lision might account for the quick fading of the st$r iJ ' But what a glimpse into the mar vels of surrounding space is supplied by such facts and theories as these! How filled must the heavens be, even where they seem the blackest and most vacant, with scattered meteors, celestial dust clouds, and wandering bodies that once, perhaps, shone as living atars, but now are dark apd invisible except when fired into tem porary brilliancy by collis on! In view of such facts it no longer fieems quite as wonderful as it once did that the earth, traveling with the sun through the universe, contin ually encounters strange particles of matter that come darting ttown of tire-hill® Knc#U|f-|iow well the air us agalnst such mi forward with e with eagerness, to thej our globe may swarm of straying illnminating the iantly that the light may tract the eyes of dwellers planets, and set them to w(j»d« what strange thing has come to upon the earth. Shipping Bfolanses in Bnllu Almost all the molasses wh&ii comes from Cuba to the United States is brought in the same tanto in steamships that are used to carry petroleum as a return cargo. The ships' tanks are about sixteen feet deep and have a neck seven feet deep They are jumped full of oil at Brook lyn or Philadelphia, then taken to Havana, and the oil is pumped out into the tanks of the refining plants thera Molasses is brought from the interior of the island in huge hogs heads,^which are erupted into storage tanka A suction pump drawing about 10,000 gallons an hour fills each ship's tanks to within about two feet of the top that amount of space being required for. the expansion of the molasses it might be supposed that the petroleum would have a b&d effect upon the molasses, but it has been shown that the contrary is the case, and as nearly one-halt the' im portation is made into rum and the balance refined into sugar, a little oil is not of much account. The tanks artf cleaned after the molasses has been pumped out by turning in a powerful steam jet* which wastes down the sides and liquefies whatever molasses may be left in the bottom of the tank, and the suction pump finishes the work. A cargo of molasses, which formerly required ten or twelve days, can now be unloaded iu forty-eight hours, while the difference in cost of hand ling, to say nothing of the saving of time, amounts to a large sum. The first attempt at handling molasses in bulk was made by the brig Novelty in 1877. She was fitted with a lining and her whole* hold was used without nartitions/ She made several trips between Matanzas and Boston, but was hot successful as a dividend earner. Since the present system of dlvidling a vessel's hold fe to tanks was devised and put in prac tice on steamers the profits of the trade and the steamship companies have largely Increased.--Albany Ex press. • 1'pheld His Reputation*. 1 We genearally find that a person who brags is usually a coward, but. inr this case the old man upheld bis reputation. v An old cobbler in Amity street, who was largely patronized by the young bloods, once boasted that noth ing was capable of frightening him. Two young men once determined* to put his courage to the tdst. One t>f them pretended to be dead, while; the other went to the cobbler and asked him to sit up all night with the corpse The old man, who had some pressing work in hand which had to be delivered next morning, took his leather and his tools with him, sat down near the supposed dead body, and set about his task. At midnight they brought him a cup of cafe noir to keep him awake, which he gratefully, partook of, and then immediately resumed his work. The coffee, however, put him in such a happy frame of mind that, entirely forgetting the presence of the corpse, he struck up a lively song, beating time all the while with his hammer on the laps tone. Suddenly the im aginary corpse raised itself into a sit ting posture, and exclaimed, in a hol low voice: "People ought not to sing when keeping watch over a deathbed." The cobbler shook his bead, gave the young man a smart rap ahd said: "People shouldn't talk when they are dead." This was the last time anybody tried to frighten the old cobbler. flnn Spots Lessen Annual Heat, It has been observed that, after the sun spots have been at a mini* mum, the summers are hotter, just as though there was more heat cow ing from the sun at such periods, and the fact has been accounted for- by supposing that sun spots are caused by vast clouds of matter erupteS from the sun and condensed in the sur rounding space. These act as screens and prevent the sun's heat from radi ating freely through them. From an examination of statistics A. B. Mo Dowall, M. A., has found that in En gland during the hot summers, fol lowing the minima of sun spots, tbe month of August is hotter than July, an effect due, in all likelihood, to ac cumulation of the heat. --Paris Amer- o an Register. t February* "February fill-dike," is so called, because, irrespective or rainfall, the springs "break" in that month. It is a curious provision of nature that the water supply should remain pent up in tbe hills until wanted. In Dorsetshire the county-folk say the springs burst after high winds. Last year there was little wind before they broke, but in due time they ir rigated the meadows, as they do yearly, generally about the middle ot February, thus justifying the old Ghosts Very Old. It has tseen the'current opfBOTft ftifr centuries that places of burial ait^ haunted, especially after nightfall, with specters, ghosts, and other Ap parition. Persons who have investi gated this matter declare that the ghost idea was prevalent before Noah built the ark. Even Ovid has nut himself on record as believing that" spirits occasionally left their sepul chres and wandered about seeking whom they might devour. Another Three* Someone has said that the three hardest words to pronounce consecu tively are, "1 was mistaken.Let the person who believes this asser tion try his artiulatlng powers on the names of the lakes in the State of Maine--three, for instance.. Huknz. tya;.:)h, Zitzmornumgohio, Mahoga- prscohgug. Hg- ' i'-ji ; *T/V-V'