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A TRUE GHOST STORY. QT man^ people used to sneer; tit ghosts and ghost stories much more than they do now,-and oiie would constantly hear people whisper to one another while some individual was relating his or her experience: "Ah! it is very odd that these ghost stories should always be re­ lated at second or third hand. Now, I want to see a person who personally has seen the ghost, and then, I will believe!" Yes. People are more accustomed to hearing about ghosts now; and yet, even now, should it be a wife, daugh­ ter, or sister who ventures to narrate some supernatural experience, she Is pooh-poohed or laughed at or told to "take a pill." Now, I have seen a ghost, and am pre­ pared to attest most solemnly to the fact, as well as .to the truth of every word here set down. I have, of course, •voided names, but nothing else; so, without further preamble, I will state my case. Some years ago I became the object infatuated adoration of a person of my own age and sex, and I use the word "infatuated" advisedly, because I feel now, as I did at the time, that neither I nor any mortal that ever lived could possibly be worthy of the over­ whelming affection which my poor friend lavished upon me. I, on my side, was not ungrateful toward her, for I loved her iu return very dearly, but when I explain that I was a wife and the mother of youug children, and that she was unmarried, it will easily be understood that our devotion to each other must of necessity be rather one­ sided, and this fact caused some dis- peace between us at times. For many years my friend held a post at court, which she resigned soon after she began to know me; and although her royal mistress in her gracious kind­ ness assigned two houses to her, she gave them both up to be free to live near me in B ; indeed, she gave up relatives, old servants and comforts in order that slie might come and lie (and die, alas!) in lodgings over a shop near me. But she was not happy. She "gloomed" over the inevitable fact that In consequence of the difference in her circumstances and mine, I^/jpuld not be with her every day and all day long. I think she was naturally of an un­ happy disposition, being deeply, pas­ sionately and unjustifiably jealous, and also painfully incapable of taking things and people as they were. AH this gave me often much annoyance; but we were, all the same, sometimes very cheerful and happy together, and sometimes the reverse. . Later on, she, poor soul, was taken ill, and during months of fluctuating health I nursed her--sometimes in hope, sometimes without--and at moments during her illness she found strange comfort in foretelling to me, after the most "uncanny" fashion, things which she declared would happen to me after her death. They were mostly triviali­ ties--little episodes concerning people and things over whom we had talked and laughed together, for she was gift­ ed with a keen sense of the ridiculous. Among other things, she said to me one afternoon: "This bazaar for which we are work­ ing (she had been helping me for weeks for a charity bazaar, and I can now see her dainty little hands as she ma­ nipulated the delicate muslin and lace. Poor, poor L !) I shall be dead be­ fore it takes place; and I shall see yon at your stall, and on one of the days of the bazaar an old lady will come up to you and say: 'Have you any of poor Miss L 's work?' mentioning me. And you will answer: 'Yes, here is some!' and you will show her this which I am working; and she'll say, 'Yes,' again; and she'll carry it all off and say she buys it for poor Miss L 's -sake.' And Lrshall know and see it all!" ^ I remember repeating, wonderingly "What lady?" She answered, dreamily, "Oh! I don't know--but some old lady! You'll see!" And lam bound to say that this is ac­ tually what occurred at the bazaar months after her death; an old lady with whom I was not acquainted did buy all her work, having asked for it and carried it away "for her sake!" An old lady, too, whom I had never seen. One other curious circumstance which attended her death was that, after look­ ing forward with more than usual pleasure to my coming birthday, which she 6aid would be a more than com­ monly happy anniversary--that was the very day she died! I think that one of the sharpest re­ grets which I ever experienced in my |f life--consisted in the fact that I was not with ray dearest friend at the mo­ ment that she passed away. She had made me promise„lhat I would be with her at that timie, and God knows 1 had the fullest intention of fulfilling her wish, but on that very evening, of all others, I was called away, and she died in my absence. I had been sitting by her bedside all the afternoon, and«,all that evening I had held her dear hand and had kept whispering comforting words in her ear; but latterly she had made no response and was seemingly unconscious. Suddenly a message came* from my house (not a hundred yards it was away) saying my husband wanted me " - - -- -- " " -- "forth, I sent for. my doctor, an old and trusted friend,* and after making him talk rationally to me for some time, I asked him whether he considered me in an Exalted state or whether I had ever*betrayed any hysterical tenden­ cies. He reassured me heartily on these points, and then asked my reasons for such questions. I thereupon opened my heart,to him, and he neither ridiculed nor dfsbeliev- ed, but,' on-the contrary, told me an­ other case of the same kind which -had lately happened toll friend of his, but he strongly advised me to keep my own counsel at present, which I did for some time, and kindly added that he not only dlft not look upon me as a lunatic, but simply as a woman for whom one cor­ ner of the curtain which guarded the unseen had been lifted. , In conclusion, I repeat 4 am ready to vouch for the truth of every word hero set down, and also, should it be requir­ ed, to give^ names--in private--to satis­ fy those who doubt.--Strand Magazine. LIFE-TASKS. at once, as one of my children was ill. f looked at the nurse, who assured me there was nothing immediate Impend­ ing, so, stooping over my poor friend, I whispered,---at the same time pressing a kiss ,on her forehead--that -half an hour should see me at her side again. But she took no notice, and . much against my will I hastily and noiseless­ ly left the room. Throwing a shawl over my head, I hurried across the square, and as I passed the church the clock struck 12, and I suddenly remembered that to-day was my birthday. I got back in less that half an hour and on my return heard, to my ever­ lasting sorrow, that I had not been gone ten minutes before my dear L became restless and uneasy, then look­ ed hastily round the room, gave a cry, then there came a rush of blood to her mouth; and after a few painful strug­ gles she sank back, gasped once dr twice and never moved again. Of course I thought then, and do to this day, that she was looking round the room for me and that she died feel­ ing that I had broken my faith with her. A bitter,, never-failing regret! I have given this light sketch of the feelings which existed between me and my poor friend (before narrating the circumstances of her supernatural visit to me) just to emphasize the facts of the alluring fascination, the intense af­ fection, which existed between us dur­ ing her lifetime, and which, I firmly believe, have lasted beyond her grave. Quite a year and a half after her death my poor L . with what motive I know not--unless it may have been, as I sometimes fondly hope, to assure me that she understood and sympa­ thized with my sorrow at having failed her at the moment of her extremity -- appeared to me. She came once* out never again. It occurred thus: I had been suffering all day from brow ague and had gone early to bed, but not to sleep. All the evening I had been kept painfully awake by that same church clock which I have men­ tioned above. It seemed to me to strike oftener, louder and more slowly than any clock I had ever had the misfortune to come across. Of course my ailment of the moment caused the clock's vagaries to appear peculiarly painful, and I bore the annoyance very restlessly, with my face turned pettishly to the wall, but when the midnight hour began to chime I felt as though I could bear it no longer. Muttering an impatient ex­ clamation, I turned in my bed so as to face the room, and looking across it I saw my poor L standing close to a screen between me and the door, look­ ing at me. She was in her usual dress, wearing what was then called a "cross-over," which was tied behind, while her bun- net, which she was always in the habit of taking off as she came upstairs, was, as usual, hanging by the ribbon on her arm. She had a smile on her face, and I distinctly noticed her lovely little white ears, which were always my ad­ miration and which were only half cov­ ered by her soft brown hair. She stood--a minute it seemed--look­ ing at me, then she glided toward me, and-1, half apprehensive that she was about to throw herself on my bed, ex­ claimed, jumping up in a bitting pos­ ture: "Dearest! What brings you here so late?" With deep reverence be it spoken; but as soon as these words were out of my mouth I was irresistibly reminded of those spoken, holy writ tells us, by St. Peter at the awful moment of the trans­ figuration! Awed and dazed at the sight of the spiritual visitants, we are told he uttered words "notknowing what he said." These words of mine also seem­ ed to leap to my lips, with but little meaning in them, if any. As soon, however, as my voice had ceased the apparition disappeared and I remained some moments motionless. One of the most curious features of the case is that, although I was very es­ pecially restless and awake at the mo­ ment of the appearance, I recognized my friend so completely that I forgot also to recognize the fact that she had died, or rather it happened too quickly for me to bring that fact to mind. In­ deed, it all took place in such a flash,' in such a moment of time--so much quicker than I can tell it--and she look­ ed so exactly like her well-known self that till she had disappeared I really be­ lieved I was seeing her in the flesh! Of Course as soon as I had time to reflect I remembered and realized what it was I had seen! I was not frightened, but I felt colder than I had felt in my life, and I have never felt so cold since, but the mois­ ture seemed to pour off my body. I called no one to my assistance. All I realized was that God had permitted me to see her once more, and that per­ haps fie might send her to me again. But he has not done~s3",' and probably now he never will. I lay awake all the night afterward, hoping for--and, I think, almost expect ing--her again, and after the day down­ ed I fell asleep. 1 Before telling my story to anyone and dreading unspeakably all the doubting and sarcastic speeches which Many Great Men Perform Ill-Re­ quited Labor, .. We #ften speak admiringly of the wonderful patience of the monkish scribes of the Middle Ages, who wer® willing to devote an entire life to the copying and embellishing of a single book; and the Inference is. that such pa­ tient devotion to a single task is. un­ known at the present day. This is not a fact.. The field of modern science is full of effort which is equally prolong­ ed, equally painstaking, and in many cases equally obscure. We have in our observatories men who are spending their lives in entering into great books, night by night, figures which merely go to make tables from which our descend­ ants, a century hence, shall be able to calculate the procession of the ^equi­ noxes. Perhaps the most monumental life- tasks performed in the present century have been in the field of botany, in which certain indefatigable men have undertaken to make a flora each of his own country. In those floras, we are to have not merely a list of all the plants In any country, but a full account and description of every plant. What this work may be is shown by one or two special cases. The Italian Flora which Prof. Filippo Parlatore began in the year 1848, was completed in the year 1S94. But it was not com­ pleted by Prof. Parlatore. He had long since been gathered to his reward among the flowers of Paradise; and Prof. Teodoro Caruel had completed his work. In this country Prof. Asa Gray, our most distinguished botanist, began the "Flora of North America" at about his twenty-fifth year of age. The first num­ ber of it appeared in 1838. Gray died in 1S88, and the work was then about half finishes. During all that time his work on the flora never was interrupted for more than a brief period, though other tasks were performed meantime. Sir Joseph Hooker begiau the "Flora of British India" about forty years ago. Only one volume of it remains to be completed, and if Sir Joseph's life is spared he may hope to accomplish his great task. During all these two score years the work has constantly engaged his attention. Martin's "Flora of Brazil" was begun in 1846, and is still incomplete, though it is steadily progressing. Cosson, a French botanist, died before the com­ pletion of .his "Flora of Algeria." Practically only two great floras, those of Australia and the Orient, were successfully completed by their original authors--the first by Bentham, the sec­ ond by Boissier. They are splendid monuuments to the learned men who made them. In the field of biological investigation many men, and women too, are engag­ ed in minute and patient researches into some primitive and apparently in­ significant form of life which it will take them many years to complete. To the ordinary mind, these investigations seem vain and foolish. But the schol­ ars of the future will celebrate these patient deeds of the "monks of science." A TRIBUTE TO FIDELITY. How the Monument to Faithftal Bonds- > men Is Regarded, The proposition of a South Carolinian to raise a monument to commemorate the fidelity of the Southern slaves who stood by their masters and their fami­ lies in the late war, seems to be jmpular in both Sections. ( The Chicago Times-Herald says ol it: The movement started in the South to erect a monument to commemorate the unique fidelity of the negroes dur­ ing the war in caring for the homes and property of their masters, and in recognition of the fact that not one instance is known of any acts of vio­ lence and scarcely one of a betrayal of a sacred trust reposed in them by their masters on going forth to the war, is a movement which will peculiarly com­ mend itself to all. The erection of such a monument would not only be indicative of a fine sense of gratefulness, but a beautiful thing to do in expressive appreciation of one of the noblest traits of our na­ ture. But more than that. It were well to consider the influence which it could not fail to have on the people of both races in the South, especially In their present somewhat sorely strained re­ lations. As a preventive of crimes it would be more effective than a thou­ sand barbaric lynchlngs. The Richmond Times heartily in­ dorses it as follows: " ^ The conduct of the slave population of the South during the war is a glow-' ing tribute to the best elements of the negro character, and it. entitles him to the everlasting gratitude of the South­ ern people. We are heartily in favor of erecting a monument that shall com­ memorate the faithfulness with which the negro watched over the family of the Confederate soldier whilst he was absent battling with the enemies of his country. In one of the speeches that made his fame Henry W. Grady said: I want no truer soul than that which moved the trusty slave, who for four years, while my father fought with the armies that barred his freedom, slept every night at my mother's chamber door, holding her. and her children as safe as if her husband stood guard, and ready to lay'down his humble life on her threshold. History has no parallel to the faith kept by the negro in the South during the war. Often 500 ne­ groes to a single white man, and yet through these dusky throngs the wom­ en and children walked in safety, and the unprotected homes rested in peace. Unmarshaled, the black battalions mov­ ed patiently to the fields In the morn­ ing to feed the armies their idleness would have starved, and at night gath­ ered anxiously at the big house to "hear the news from marster," though conscious that his victory made their chains enduring. Everywhere humble and kindly. The bodyguard of the helpless. The rough companion of the little ones. The observant friend. The silent sentry in his lowly cabin. The shrewd counselor. And when the dead came home, a mourner at the open grave. A thousand torches would have disbanded every Southern army, but not one was lighted. When the mas­ ter, going to a war in which slavery was involved, said to his slave, "1 leave my home and loved ones in your charge," the tenderness between man and master stood disclosed. And when the slave held that charge sacred through, storm and temptation he gave new meaning to faith and loyalty. I rejoice that when freedom came to him after years of waiting it was all the sweeter, because the black f^rm hands from which the shackles fell were stainless of a single crime against the helpless ones confided to his care. If the Southern people raise the pro­ posed monument it will simply be Gra­ dy's speech translated into marble or bronze.--Atlanta Constitution. Sir Charles' Idea. Miss Frances Power Cobbe once dis­ cussed evolution with Sir Charles Ly- ell, when some of the party had betray­ ed the idea that "survival of the fittest" meant of the best. Sir^Charles left the room (continues Miss Cobbe, in. her re­ cently published memoirs) and went down stairs, but suddenly rushed back Into the drawing-room, and said to me all in a breath, standing on the rug: "I'll explain it to you in a minute! Sup­ pose you had been living in Spain three hundred years ago, and had had a sister who was a perfectly commonplace per­ son, and believed everything she was told. Well, your sister would have been happily married and had a nu­ merous progeny, and .that would have been the survival of the fittest; but you would have been burnt at an auto- da-fe, and there would have been an end of you. You would have been un- suited to your environment. There! That's evolution! Good-by!" On went his hat, and we heard the hall door close after him before we had done laughing. r ______ How to Digest Chocolate. As a nation the French are in ad­ vance of us in their application of the chemistry of food. Their little school children may be seen daily enjoying a luncheon of a piece of bread or a little roil or croissant with a bar of plain chocolate--not creams--and noth­ ing is more nourishing for them; while French, Italians and Spaniards alike dip bread into their morning cup of chocolate. The fact Is that chocolate, like bread itself, requires for Its as­ similation the chemical action pro duced by mastication--I. e., the saliva of the mouth as well as the action of the stomach. Thus chocolate eaten can be digested by those to whom a cup quickly drunk is poison.--The House­ wife. 11 His Eye Picked Out by a Crane. Charles Draper, a boy of near Engle- side, Queen Anne's County, Md., was peering into a box in which was con» fined a crane, when the bird pecked at him, striking him in the eye with its bill. The sight of the eye was entirely destroyed. A Lawsuit About a Dog. A Connecticut man is about to begin a lawsuit against a youug man of his town for selling him a dog .that was such a narration would inevitably calH deaf in both ears. • • •M I J ' MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM "rails, are laid on wooden alecpers. Th# gauge is eight feet three Inches. •- Two cradles, each with eight wheels, are so.arranged that one goes up while another Is descending. The" width of the boat is seven, feet, and the length forty-five feet. The weight of the cargo is from ten to fifteen tons, and the time of the passage of the cradle is about twelve minutes. Not only are the cradles moved up and down the canal incline by the elec­ tric motor, but the electric power is used for spinning, weaving, in the man­ ufacture of clocks, watches, needles, oil, .lemonade, in soda water factories, rolling mills, ,r!ce mills and for pump­ ing water for the innumerable bath houses which are situated within a radius of two miles from the powet station. Besides these the station sup­ plies electricity in the day time to the Kioto Electric Railway Company and at night to the Kioto Light Company. The cost of the power ranges from $20 to $60 per horse power per year for daily ^ates of twelve hours; for eight­ een hours the increase is 30 per cent, and for twenty-four hours it is 50 per cent " • . Cannon on a Bicycle. A bicycle troop has been organized in Brooklyn, and it is but a question of a short time before, the suburban police of all our cities Will be mounted upon the silent steel steed, - It was given, however, to the thousands of people who viewed the monster bicycle parade on the Ocean boulevard recently, says the New York World, to witness the first bicycle cannon; the first of a pack of flying light artillery, and for which an application for a patent.has been made. The vehicle was a twin cycle, In ap­ pearance much like a tricycle, and known as a duplex. It is especially light and strong. The cannon, a steel rifled affair thirty-four inches in length, eight Inches at the butt and four at the muz­ zle, and weighing about fifty pounds, is swung between the two rear wheels, resting upon the connecting axle and is further supported from above. An ingenious mechanism permits of the piece of ordnance being raised or de­ flected to any angle. The caisson containing the ammuni­ tion is carried on another duplex. Four artillery men equip a battery. They are at once gun crew and motive power. Two men on the seats can propel the machines with their heavy loads at a faster gait than horses have ever shown in similar service. The work of wheel­ ing the gun into position is the work of an instant. On Swampy Land. " To live near a swamp is suicidal. No dwelling house should be built near one. If such a place exists, either the house should be removed or the swamp drained. There are many places where the deepening of ditches already made Is all that is needed to> make dry land fit for cultivation of what has been, an eyesore to the neighborhood. This making of an outlet is much the most expensive part of the reclamation. It will improve the neighboring upland also, for that equally needs under drain­ ing, but cannot get it until a safe, re­ liable outlet has been provided. All swampy lands have been for ages the deposits for vegetable matter from up­ lands. So soon as the latter is under- drained the water falling on the up­ land sinks down to. the tile and en­ riches the soil instead of washing away its fertility. Sugar and Muscle. The subject of sugar as a food pro­ ducing muscular power has been dis­ cussed by Dr. Vaughau Harely. From a brief summary of his paper we make the following extracts. During a twen­ ty-four hours' fast on one day water alone was drunk; on another five hun­ dred grammes of sugar were taken in an equal quantity of water. It was thus found that the sugar not only pro­ longed the time before fatigue occur­ red, but caused an increase of sixty-one to seventy-six per cent in the muscular work done. In the next place the effect of sugar added to the meals was in­ vestigated. The muscle energy producing effect of sugar was found to be so great that 200 grammes added to a small meal in­ creased the totaLamount of work done from 6 to 39 per cent. Sugar (250 grammes--about eight ounces) was now added to a large mixed meal, when it was found not only to increase the amount of work done from 8 to 16 per cent, but increased the resistance against fatigue. As a concluding exper­ iment, 250 grammes of sugar were add­ ed to the meals of a full diet day, caus­ ing the work done during the period of eight hours to be increased 22 to 30 per cent.--London Public Opinion. American Machinery in Japan. Advices-from Japan in treating of the omnipresence of electrical advices in that country, make special event note of the extent to which American ma­ chinery is in favor. At the electric generating station of the Lake Biwa-Kioto canal, twenty 120-horse power Pelton water wheels are Installed. These wheels are belted with Edison, Thompson-Houston and Brush dyna­ mos,with counter-shafts between them. Lately a three phase dynamo of Sie­ mens & Halske has been added. The Work of this plant is extremely inter­ esting, and the Installation shows how keenly alive the Japanese are to the possibilities of machinery. The canal, which provides the water vower for the generating station, is crossed by several bridges. Near thb water power station is an incline along which boats with cargo are moved up and down on wheeled cradles. The cradles are hauled by steel ropes pass- ingaround a drum, which is worked'by electricity from the power house. This peculiar adaptation is made necessary by the descent of the canal at this point 118 feet Jn 1^15 feet to the level of the city. The^gradient of the canal incline is 1 in 15. Double lines of rail­ ways, consisting Of flat-bottomed steel Bismarck and the American Girl. Dr. Stefansson retells the story of a, beautiful American girl from Colorado who went to Kissingen to see Bis­ marck, who was taking the waters there. Having feasted for some days on the sight of the great man, she one day summoned up courage, walked straight up to him, and said: "Durch- laucht, I am going to Colorado to-day; may I shake hands with you before I go?" She took his offered hand and attempted to kiss It, but he promptly said: "In Kissingen we do not kiss hands," and then and there he kissed her on the mouth as tenderly and af­ fectionately as any lover. And yet, remarks Dr. Stefansson, some people will try to make out that Bismarck is blind to a woman's' charms.--West­ minster Gazette. « A City of Champagne. Epernay, France, is a vast subter­ ranean "city of champagne." For miles and miles there are streets hewn out of the solid chalk, flanked with piles of champagne of all blends and quali­ ties. There is no light in this laby­ rinth of streets, crossings and turnings except what the sputtering candles af­ ford. All is dark, dank and damp, with the temperature away down about zero. The largest champagne manufacturers in Epernay have underground cellars which cover forty-five acres and con­ tain 5,000,000 bottles of wine. There is a whole street in Epernay lined with fine chateaux, the proprietors of which possess similar-, establishments. The whole town is hoheycombed with these underground galleries for the manu­ facture and storage of champagne. Gull and Eel. "We had a gull, a tame gull, with clipped w'ngs." said an English writer, "who would feed on fish if we would give him any, failing fish, on raw meat, failing raw meat, on worms and insec ts, and, failing these, on anything, Including sparrows. It was the most fascinating entertainment to give him an e^l, for he would toss the eel about several ways until it came to a position most suitable for swallowing, when lie would swallow It; but the eel, not yet defeated, would often wriggle up in his gullet again, and this process would be repeated many a time. So, if swallow­ ing be a delight, the pleasure which dU'ttgull derived from the process must have been manifold. Eventually the eel would weary of the vain ascent ol the gull's gullet and consent to remain in contact with the juices of digestion." Visitor (to attendant friar in the re* fectory of a convent)--Are we allowed to smoke here? Friar--No, sir. Vis­ itor--Then where do all these stumps of cigars come from that I see. lying 'about? Friar--From those gentlemen who didn't ask.--Tabllche Rundschau. She robes herself in fashions new That niodern modes have givon, - But will she in those sleeves squeezg through The pearly gates of heaven? --Poston Courier. Geography Lessons. Almost anybody can learn to answer questions out of a book, but now and then a school boy shows originality.. This is true even in geography, a field in which at first sight there might seem to be small opportunity to think for one's self. A teacher had been speaking of the division of the world into nationalities, and wishing to see how well the class had followed her, she said, pointing to a map of Europe: "Now, suppose I were In France and went into Germany, how should I be likely to know when I passed the boun­ dary?" A child of seven years answered promptly: "You would hear the German bauds, please." Another teacher asked one of her boys where Nicaragua was. The boy, as it happened, had a postage stamp album by which he set great store, and to the teacher's astonishment he answered: "It's on page ninety-eight." Costly Building Material. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports a curious occurrence. Early in May Mr. Turpin, a teller in the Sub-treasury at Cincinnati, missed a ten-dollar bill, which had been left upon a table. The weather was warm and the windows were open. After searching the room, Mr. Turpin hunted over the garden lawn. All was in vain; the bill was gone, and after a while forgotten. Some weeks later a high wind blew down a bird's nest near the house and, as it chanced, Mr. Turpin picked it up and looked at it curiously. His attention was struck by a piece of paper of a pe­ culiar color. He drew it out and it proved to be a ten-dollar bill, the very one, no doubt, that he had lost. It was in pretty bad condition, but was redeemed at the treasury. A Calendar for Business Men. Austin Tyler, the well-known invent­ or, has arranged a new calendar, chief­ ly for business men, which has thirteen months in the year instead of twelve. Each month, except the thirteenth month, he has arranged to have twen­ ty-eight days, which he contends will simplify and expedite the calculation of interest. The odd day will fall in the thirteenth mSnth, which in the in­ terest tables can be arranged. He says that several bank presidents have given their approval of his calendar, and his belief Is that it will finally be adopted. He points to the fact that Russia has two calendars, one for the church and one for business purposes. The odd month, he thinks, should be called Christmas. Europe's Electric Railways. Electric railways in Europe in 1S94 increased in number from forty-three to seventy. In length of line from 305 to 700 kilometers, the power at the central stations from 10,650 to 18,150 kilowatts. From 538 to 1,236 self-mov-" ing vehicles. Germany leads in length of lines with 366 kilometers, France 96>, England 69, Austria-Hungary 45, Swit­ zerland 37, Belgium 22, Italy 19, Spain 14. The overhead trolley system Is used by fifty-five out of seventy lines. "Young man," said the sage, "you know it all now, but when you have reached my age you will find you know almost nothing." "Yes," said the youth, "I have often heard that one forgets much In his declining years."--Cincin­ nati Tribune. Debtor (apologetic)--The payment of that jaccount is a source of constant anxiety to me', I assure you. Creditor- Very likely. You're afraid you might forget yourself and pay it--Chicago Record. A Hard-Headjed Fanner; "Miss Minnie Bertha Learned, will now give us some very interesting ex­ periments In chemistry,showing the car­ boniferous character of many ordinary substances, after which she will enter­ tain us with a short treatise on astron- : omy, and an illustration of the geolog­ ical formation of certain substances, and close with a brief essay entitled; 'Philosophy vs. Ratlonalisim' Thus spoke the president of a young: ladies' seminary on the class-show day. A hard-headed, old-fashioned farmer happened to be among the examining board, and he electrified the faculty, and paralyzed Miss Minnie by asking: "Kin Miss Minnie tell me how much sixteen and three-fourths pounds of beef would come to at fifteen and a half cents a pound?" "Why, really, I--I " gasped Miss Minnie. "Kin you tell me who is the vice president of the United States?" "Why--I--I--Mr. B , isn't he?; Or Is It " "Kin you tell me where the Missis­ sippi River rises and set^JP? "I--I--don't just know-" "I reckoned ye dld^^^CMjaatmii^iiA good old days When gals an!4 to school to larn sense! Recording a Vessel's Course. A naval engineer of Hamburg, John Paul, has invented an apparatus re­ cording graphically the course of a ship during the entire voyage. Upon a strip of paper the angles of the rudder in relation to the longitudinal axis of the ship and the relation of the magnetic needle of the compass to the axis of the ship are continually recorded. The paper Is- moved along by clockwork, while the recording, pencil receives its motion by means of electro magnets connected by wire with the ship's com­ pass and; steering engine. The record­ ing instrument, working automatically, may be shut off so as to be Inaccessi­ ble to any but the captain, and such a record would doubtlessly furnish the most satisfactory evidence of the- ship's eourse during "the entire voyage. With the automatic register of revolutions of the propeller and of knots traveled, previously patented by the same In­ ventor, the entire maneuvering of a ship during a given time or an entire trip may be critically inspected by the ship's owners or the captain. A Question of Doctrine. A hardshell Baptist minister, prea-j v- ing in a so-called Union church in a Vermont town, at the close of his sfer- moin announced to the congregation that the pulpi^ would be occupied the following Sunday by a Universalis "They believe," said he, with the sol­ emn air of a man whose convictions as to the hereafter are stronger and sturdier than the oaks of the forest "that all men will be saved. Rut, brethren," he continued, intoning the remark with a lugubrious expression, "we hope for better things." Got a New Scalp. A triumph in surgery is recorded In the case of Miss Mary Collis, of New­ ark, N. J. Two years ago this young woman w&s completely scalped by a "winding machine in a factory in Kear­ ny. She was taken to St Barnabas hospital, where Dr. Mercer undertook to furnish her with a new scalp and head of hair. After laboring patiently for two years he has succeeded. It is said to be the greatest case of success­ ful skin grafting on record. Tit for Tat. In z Parisian omnibus, an ill-bred male passenger made a grimace when a very stout old lady got in. 9 "Hippopotamus!" he exclaimed un­ der his breath, but so loudly that the old lady heard him. / "Sir," she said, "you know an dmni- 'bus Is like Noah's Ark; it takes In all the animals--even donkeys!" Mgn are bound to have trouble; If no other way offers, they marry It How a Thief's Crime Became a Serv­ ice in Texas. "It's avvol!-known fact in. Texas," re­ marked a gentleman from that State at the Hoffman House, "that 'Buck' Kllgore, ex-Congressman, now judge, used to owh the worst horse in his coun­ ty, and he neVer owned but one at a time, simply beeause two horses of such quality couldn't be found In the entire State. As an Illustration of the case let me tell you a story." There being no objection the gentle­ man proceeded. "It seems," he said, "that a fellow had oeen caught with a horse in the county adjoining Judge Kilgore's county which he could not satisfactorily account for. The more he tried to\ explain ^natters the deeper into the hole he went, until the captors concluded the best way to settle the difficulty was to hang the man and await developments. A very few minutes after this determination the funeral cortege approached the nearest tree, with the man on the stolen horse to make it more impressive. The arrangements for the final scene were completed and the leader was about to hit the horse with his whip to drive him from beneath the culprit, who was attached to the limb of the tree by a rope, when a couple of men rode by and stopped to see the performance. They knew the leader of the party and he invited them to take a hand. "'Why," exclaimed one of them, 'that's "Buck" Kilgore's horse. Where did you come across it?' " 'That's the hoss the thief stole,' re­ plied the leader, 'and we thought we'd let him have his last ride on It.' And he began to look the animal over. 'Are you sure it's Buck's?' be asked after his investigation. " 'Of course. Would anybody else have that kind of a hoss?' " 'Well,' admitted the leader, 'I reck­ on you're right, since I come to look at it. You see, we was thinking more about the moral side of the case than at the hoss.' "Then he turned to his followers. " 'Boys,' he said, 'this boss is Buck Kilgore's. You all know what we think of a man in Texas that will steal a hoss> and you all know what we think of the kind of bosses that Buck Kllgore owns. Now, in the name of justice, I ask you if we ought to bang this man?' " 'No, siree, Bob!' yelled the crowd1- " 'What ought we to do with him.?. I say we ought to take up a collection aind give the feller money enough and time enough to ride the hoss clean out of the State. All in favor of that motion say "Aye!" ' and the motion passed with vociferous unanimity."--New York Sun*. A new edition of Professor de Flllp^ pe's "Simplified and Practical Meth­ od," for acquiring in the shortest time complete fluency of speech in the French and Spanlsh>-languages has just been issued. "C ^ In his notes to the "Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym," Professor Geo; Edward Woo.dberry says that much of t:be "Narrative" was taken from Cap­ tain Benjamin Moreii's "Narrative of Four Voyages to the South Seas and Pacific." - James Payn and Andrew Lang- have •both taken to giving lists of boolks they have "stuck in" and could not get! through without an effort. Among them are "Gil Bias," "Don Quixote," "Marcella," "Robert Elsmere," *'Dom- bey and Son," and "The Light That Failed." ' .. Although Jose Echegaray, the Span­ ish dramatist, has written more than a hundred plays during the past twenty years, nearly all of them successful, ho aspires to be famous as a mathemati­ cian rather than as a play wright Hfc writes plays in the intervals of leisure from bis scientific studies* and none of them has cost him more than a fort­ night's labor. Echegaray is s lively, old man of seventy, and he has recently learned to ride the bicycle. He makes the curious boast that up to the age of fifty he had iread every novel published in England. Twenty thousand; dollarsy the price paid Mrs. Humphry Ward for the serial rights in her new novel, is not the largest ever paid to a popular novelist According to Mr. R. H. Slxerard, Le Petit Journal pays Richebourg, Mary and Montepin from fifteen to- twenty thousand dollars for the serial rights in their novels. Having become' rather tired of paying such high, prices for Its feuilletons, the editor now offers a prize of ten thousand dollars- for a serial story. Mme: Marinoni, a woman of the working class, reads all the fic­ tion manuscripts submitted to Le Petit Journal, and she is a good judge of the sort of story that appeals to-the rjftsses* She likes plenty of sentiment and- in­ sists upon decency.