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ST. JOHN'S EVE. SS& Come, draw the chairs around the hearth, Mjylad, What! it's but 10 o'clock, and all is bright? If I had kept that strength that once I had, ' .. i " They had been ranged, there with the morning's light. | Just once a year, just once, poor souls! they're let To cross the old home threshold, and. to . sit Beside the fire, and here we don't forget; I say.-they're ready ere the lamps are Jit! ' Put the old grandsire's elbow-seat the first, In the warm corner that he called his own; And* next the rocker, where thy mother nursed Her first-bovn, proud as on a monarch's throne; i'And then the little stool that she would ; . draw ; Close up to me as we sat laughing there, "And I»would make as if I scarcely saw The firelight dancing on her sunny hair. t,Up there at Euo-gat the tall grass wares. And the. red roses glitter in the sun, •The three tall crosses mark the three > green graves, Where they lie quiet, life's hot battle i l f & l P ; d o n e ; . • • V " ; - : . • . Old man, and matron, and unwedded - ^ . m i l i t t m i d , . ' : ' " Y For many a weary year of labor gone, <&• -But they will rise, for all so deeply laid, And seek us on the eve of good St. John. . 'Pour out three cups of the old cider, boy; Put the three sweetest apples oa the ' v ;* platie;. • v ,: •Bring flowers, to give the board a look . of joy, • * And then go rest while I sit here and - wait; ' • v.- ;• ; - V shall not greet them at the open door, , I shall not see them lift the heavy latch, •Nor hear their footsteps on the oaken floor, «;-"Y i Thongh eyes and ears are straining as '^vr I watch. <3 And yet, I think, as they come in at last, That I shall know them near me once again, . ^ And all the gladness of the dear dead past Will beat once more in dulling heart and brain; 'While age and weariness, like robes out­ worn, Will drop from off me, and young, brave and true, With wrongs forgiven and sweet hopes reborn, I and my loved our lost lives will renew. ' i t : ' / *m; Mm- iWhat, the old man is doting, is he lad? Perhaps so; yet he'll have his willful way, And give our rites the honor that they had, Ere all was cold and scornful, as to­ day! • See how the west is palling. Set the chairs. And go; all round us must be still and dumb. •' The saints are gracious when man trusts and dares; My darling, oh, my darling, wilt thou come? --Household Words. '•w . .afo»' ' • • • There was a large party at the Cha- . teau de Kerdall, near Vannes. ] The Marquis de Kerdall and his young wife had just returned from a tour of the world on their yacht, during Iff seemed as though he. must have re­ moved his shoes in order to tread softly, Bathed with cold perspiration and her teeth chattering, she awaited the mor­ tal blow from the invader. But it did not come. , After about a quarter of an hour she timidly peered out. She could see and hear nothing.. Slightly reassured, she, recovered the use of her voice $nd started, a series of shrieks, so sharp, piercing and terrible that in an instant the entire chateau was turned into her chamber with lights in their hands, M. and Ajtaie. De Kerdall at the head. "What Is it? What's the matter?" they cried. She recounted her horrible vision They would not believe her; she had been dreaming, Who could have climb­ ed Into this chamber, so high above the ground, without a ladder? "Did you see him plainly?" asked the Marquis, with k'touch of suspicion in his voice. r ' ' '1" As plainly as I see you, aud it even seemed " She. hesitated. What?" ')((«•> ' It seemed as though I could recog­ nize Dr. Cornabuc in his blonde wig and redingote.",; / Everybody laughed. What! Dr. Corna­ buc! A man of age and character scal­ ing windows at midnight! It. wa^ cer­ tain now that Mine. Lartigues had been dreaming. They tried to dissipate her fear, and she was just about ^o per­ suade herself that she had been the vic­ tim of an hallucination when she hap­ pened to east her eyes Upon tae;bt|igeau, where she bad left her jewels. ; * They were gone! It had truly been a .hkA.l' W V " . v "V £ robber! ' The laughing suddenly ceased, and they looked at one another in conster­ nation. V r- All at once another cry was heard, a piercing shriek coming through; the stillness of the night It appeared to emanate from Miss Hawthorne's cham­ ber. There was a rush for her apart­ ment, and the English lady was found standing In the middle of the room, with frightened eyes, "There! there!" she cried; pointing to the window. "A; man! He has escaped, but I recognized him" "Who was it?" v 'v". ' * ' „ | "Dr. Cornabuc?*, The doctor again! This time nobody laughed. Cornabuc was looked for among the persons who had been* at­ tracted by the excitement, but he was not there. He was the only occupant of the chateau who was missing. $ "Come, let us go to the doctor's room," said the Marquis, knitting his brows. "He will doubtless solve the mystery for us." V All followed Kerdall--the men half dressed, the women in their white night robes, all carrying candles--a weird procession. Upon the entrance of the crowd the doctor hurriedly wrapped himself in the bedclothes, his wrinkled counten­ ance alone being visible over the top, and this convulsed by anger into a comical grimace. The candle light was reflected from his Mid pate, which i A THIEF IN THE WGrHTf^SSuT^ 3 stormed. "What is going on? Is the chateau on fire? I heard a terrible out- cry. and was about to inquire into it." "Y«u 'must come and join us, doctor," said Kerdall. f "AnSfhow shall I do it?" cried the Doctor, furiously. "Some rascal has run off with my clothing, and in ex­ change he has left me this," and he savagely hurled a white object into the middle of the room. "My corsets!" murmured Miss Haw­ thorne, modestly lowering her eyes. "And this?" continued the Doctor, wildly brandishing another article. "My hat!" cried Mme. de Lajrtigues. "This raillery passes all bounds," howled the Doctor, whose shining head, with one final grimace, ducked beneath the bed clothing, like the clown going through a trap door in the marionette theater. They knew not what to think. The mystery was growing more complicat­ ed. It certainly looked as though a rob­ ber had entered the chateau--perhaps a whole band of burglars and assassins. Mme. De Lartigues imagined a troop of brigands armed to the teeth. "Let us hope they have no guns," said the Marquis, to raise the hopes of his guests. • - • There was no echo tp the pleasantry.^ Suddenly a strange sound was heard coming from the ground floor. It was certainly the piano , in the reception salon, but it was surely being played by goblin fingers, and so furiously that it seemed as though the keys must be broken. "This is too much!" cried the Mar­ quis, rushing toward the staircase, with all the crowdAexcepting Dr. Cornabuc, close behind hma. They hastily penetrated the splop^. It was empty. The mfysteripij^ ^i^tor was gone, but he could ^t be faraway. The crash of china and gjass announced his presence in the dlning-roonj<./\! Everybody rushed thither; and the Marquis, who was in the -lead, dimly saw a form escaping through the wih- Everything was explained. The RnW fT]Tri ]?A Dlf m«l had escaped from his cage the pre- " ii-LLJll vious evening and had managed to effect an entrance into the ^chateau. Animated by his Instinct of imitation, he had first attired himself in the doc­ tor's effects and then wandered over the house at his own free will. He was put back into his prison after some:little trouble, and at daybreak the party enjoyed a hearty laugh at the ad­ ventures of the night. But Dr. Cornabuc did not appear at the table. He left the chateau at an early liour, furious and without taking leave. Since this episode he has never set foot at Kerdall, and he has never lost a feeling of deep antipathy to Mme. De Lartigues and Miss Hawthorne. "How could they have mixed me up with a monkey?" he wants to know.-- Argonaut. MATTER& OF1 NTEftEST TO FARM- ER AND HOUSEWIFE. Lesson ia Up-to-Date Farming--Corn Shredders and Huskers -- Second Growth Clover--Quality of Vejjeta- bleB-- Grain Cheaper tban Hay. SURGERY IN THE BACKWOODS. . . . . .which they had paid flying visits to Africa, America and Oceanica, and they had celebrated their home com­ ing by gathering together all their friends and relatives at their beautiful country house. Among the guests was old Dr. Corna­ buc, an illustrious member of the Acad- trjy of Metaphysical Sciences, so orig­ inal, so absent-minded, so venerable in his blonde peruke and liis costume of the fashion of 1850. Then there was Mme. De Lartigues, an old school friend of the Marquise, a brilliant and coquettish Parisienne. And there was 1 Miss Hawthorne, an English maiden lady with youthful propensities. And there were many others, all of whom found plenty of amusement to their heart's content at Kerdall. Outside of the ordinary pleasures of life there were some unusual attrac­ tions,; In the first place the host and hostess had seen and experienced so much that was novel and startling that their conversation was always fascin­ ating. Then the rooms of the castle constituted a veritable museum, being stocked with rare and curious objects from two continents. And, finally, a menagerie had been created in one cor­ ner of the park and stocked with vari­ ous animals, which M. De Kerdall had picked up during the voyage and brought back to France for purposes * of acclimatization. There were gazelles, antelopes, Thibet goats, Nile ibises, rose ! flamingoes, opossums, beavers and an ii . Asiatic ape of the mandrill species, as ij. mild as a lamb, but as mischievous as i ' • ell his kind. An iron lattice cage had ] been built for him clofce to the conserva­ tory. ? • As will be seen, the chateau de Ker­ dall was a* veritable Eden, but this fact did not prevent little Mme. De Lartigues from dreading the isolated position of the place among the wide expanse of woods and fields. | "I should be afraid to live here all f the year round," she said. | "Afraid of what, my dear?" asked the Marquise. "Oh, of robbers; they would fairly .revel here." ? Robbers! In this mansion filled to the eaves with guests and servants! Ev­ erybody mocked at the young woman and old Dr. Cornabuc told horrible stories till Mme. De Lartigues, ashamed of her chimerical fears, was the first to laugh, and when the retiring hour tame she mounted to her sleeping apartment on the second floor supplied iwlth a goodly stock of heroism. Within a short time all the occupants of the chateau were in the land of dreams. How long Mme. De LartigUes slept •he knew not. She was awakened by a rattling at her window, which she had left half opened on account of the • heat.,. . v -. ,. What,'.. was her. terror when, in the feeble starlight, she-saw a form cllmb- tng noiselessly through the window. She -tried to scream, but her throat iwas parched with fright and-, she could aot utter a sound. The man had entered the chamber. Then the poor woman hastily buried iher head beneath the bed clothing. Half dead with fear, she could hear hef no<HUrMl visitor going and coining across „ the carpet with muffled steps, Dislocation Treated by Means of a Pulley and Steam Engine. "Probably as queer a piece of back­ woods surgery as has been described," says a frequenter of the region, "was that performed by a Moosehead lake guide known as "Old Sabattus," twen­ ty ̂ years ago. The man was not an Indian, as the nickname implies, but a Yankee, one of those rough fellows formerly characteristic of that locality. This guide was left on a lake steam­ boat at one of the far up landings while the engineer went ashore with the com­ pany. A man named Meservey came aboard and in fooling around the boat managed to tumble down into the fire pit and put his shoulder out of joint. "Here was a dilemma. The other members of the party would not be back for half an hour, and the injured man was in grea!t pain. The guide was a man of expedients. He got a rope and tied his patient securely to a post Then he tied another rope around the man's wrist and hitched the loose end of it to a pulley of the engine. He managed somehow to turn on steam and the pulley began to wind up the rope. It drew the arm out tight in beautiful shape and presently the joint snapped back into its socket., Then 'Sabattus' jumped around to shut off steam while the pulley kept on wind­ ing. 'Holy Moses,' gasped the guide, excitedly, 'how does it go? I don't know where 'tis. I can't stop the blanked thing,' and the pulley mean­ while was slowly but surely pulling Meservey to pieces. His eyes were sticking, out of their sockets and he screamed and gasped for breath. " 'Sabattus' danced around like a wild man, not knowing what to do, when he happened to spy a hatchet ly­ ing near and, jumping for that, he cut the rope and saved a dreadful catas­ trophe. This was done just as the party of city folks who had gone ashore came rushing back on to the boat, alarmed by Meservey's screams. It was some years afterward," says the narrator, "that I was present when a lot of sum­ mer company-arrived aJ Greenville. 'Sabattus' was there, too, and pres­ ently a distinguished looking man, one of the newcomers, went up to him and said with a meaning smile: 'Are you not the man that practices surgery by steam?' and 'Sabattus' had to admit that he was 'that same feller.' "--Lew- iston, Me., Journal. How n Live Farmer Farms. I have fifty-eight acres of land, keep three cows, three yearlings, two work horses, fifteen sheep, forty hens and two hen turkeys, writes a farmer in Colman's Rural World. Have five acres of woods; balance of land Is in cultivation and pasture. I will give below my methods of raising crops. For oats, I plow in the fall so that freezing will mellow up the soil. Should advise plowing eight inches for stubble and six inches for sward In the spring set the pulverizer as deep as the flekl was plowed the pre­ ceding fall. In drilling grain, put in one-halt' bushel grass seed per acre. If phosphate is, used, get the best, and mix half plaster with it; use about 400 pounds per a?ro. If oats are sown broadcast, sow three bushels per acre, and sow be­ fore pulverizing, so as to put the soil on top of the grain. Go over the soil twice, then sow grass seed. If phos­ phate is used broadcast, apply before sowing grass seed. Then, with the old-fashioned drag, go over It once and then roll, which will leave-It In good condition. During 1894 I made G per cent, interest on my farm, and last year 0 per cent. Had a big potato crop. Paris green was applied with plaster. To sell hay and straw, cut early and when through the sweat, press it and put it on the market; send It to a good firm and avoid all the commissions possible. Cut oats when one-half or two-thirds turned, and the straw will be much, better. In regard to selling produce, I have found it pays to sell stuff when It Is ready to be sold. Last year I had three cows and one farrow. I sold veal calves for $09.50; from seventeen ewes and a ram, wool brought $15.12, lambs brought $20.70; miscellaneous receipts brought the total for the year up to $23S. I fed my family well, and carried stock through to grass. In marketing potatoes, three or more farmers should sell to one merchant. Order a car and ship by carload direct. This will save bother, extra commis­ sions,' freight and work. Dangerons Sheep. The dangers of mountain climbing are in general pretty well understood, and so can be guarded against, but Sir W. Martin Conway, in Scribner's Mag­ azine, narrates a mountain adventure of a really novel sort. On the way to Mud Lake we had a strange adventure, of which I was for­ tunate enough to secure a photograph. We were approaching the highest sheep pasture as the day waned. The sheep, seventeen hundred in number, saw us from the surrounding slopes, and urged by a longing for salt, rushed down upon us from all sides, with one united "Baa!" in a wild, converging ava­ lanche. We beat off the leaders, but they could not retreat, for those behind pressed them forward. Finding that Carrel was the Salter morsel, the whole flock surged upon him. They lifted him off his feet, carried him forward, cast him to the ground and poured over him. Fortunately the ground was flat. When the shepherd saw what had hap­ pened he whistled shrilly thrice, where­ upon the sheep dispersed in terror, flee­ ing up the mountainside in all direc-, tions till no two remained together. i§M:< raplij dow,into the garden. "This time we've got lifm!" he cried. The men seized guns and knive^ison a hunting rack in the vestibule ahi f tar ted across the garden, and park in pursuit of the fugitive, while the wom­ en barricaded themselves in the salon and anxiously awaited the result of the chase. It was about an hour later, in the un certain light which precedes the rising of the sun, that a servant discovered the mysterious stranger ensconced among the branches of a large oak. At his call the Marquis and his guests hastened to the spot. "Come down!" commanded M. De Kerdall, but the bandit only settled himself deeper among the foliage and made no response. "Come down, or I will shoot!" And, as there was no reply, he lifted his gun and already had his finger upon the trigger when the domestic hurried ly pulled his arm, and said: "Do not fire, monsieur. It Is Dr. Corn abuc!" And, sure enough, the blonde wig and longredingote could now be seen among the leaves. But at this inoment the first ray of sunlight gleamed in from the east and the Oak was illuminated. The Marquis suddenly broke into a fit of explosiv laughter, and, as his guests gazed up into the tree, they could not keep from following his example. "The ape!" Oysters Becoming Bare. "Oysters will be a very rare delicacy in a few years," said C. C. Hunt, an oyster man >of New Yoi-k. "For manji years the beds were preserved to a large extent by having an oyster sea­ son and keeping alive the popular idea that oysters were not good except from September to April. This gave foua months during which the oysters wera let alone and allowed to increase. Aa a matter of fact, I think they are a lit­ tle better during those four months than at any other time. This was firs! discovered by the seaside hotel men, and oysters were served during the summer months. The guests demand­ ed bivalves when they returned to their homes, and now in all Eastern cities the signs of 'Fresh Oysters' are as numerous in July and August as in January and February. The new de. rnand is being supplied, and at no tinifl are the beds left undisturbed. It ij now only a question of a few years be fore the oysters are gone, and all be- cause the summer resort hotel men di& abused the minds of the people as t<; their not being good to eat from Aprfi to September." Thrifty Old Age. Besides doing the butter making, cooking, washing, and housework oi her family, an 80-year-old woman ol Whltneyville, Me., walks a mile oj two daily to pick blueberries, for whiclj she gets about eight cents a quart. Tlie Corn Shredder. Last season's experience with corn shredders and huskers has developed several objectionable features, the most serious being that they are too expensive, and that the fodder too fre­ quently molds when baled or stored in mows. The first will gradually dis­ appear, predicts the "Orange Judd Farmer." As the machines become mote generally introduced and used, the first cost will be less, and compe­ tition among owners will necessitate reduction of charges for work by the acre. The matter of knowing how to keep the fodder properly is more se­ rious, and experience alone can deter­ mine the best method of storing. That it can be kept hardly admits of doubt. The problem is certainly not more dif­ ficult than that of determining just how dry hay must be before it can be put into the stack or barn. A lit­ tle patience and a few trials will clear up the lack of knowledge on this point. It certainly will be unwise to discour­ age the use of the shredder because a few farmers have not been entirely successful w:^h it. While some have failed, many have been pleased with results, and find the shredded fodder excellent feed for horses, cattle and sheep. Second-Growth Clover. The late growth of clover is not us­ ually large in bulk or heavj in weight, but it makes up in quality for what it lacks in quantity. Old farmers have long known it as an especially good feed for young lambs and young calves in spring. But there is a still better use for it, and that is as foed for hens in winter so as to dilute their grain feed. Clover grown after midsummer is much richer in nitrogen than are most of the grasses and vegetables that fowls pick on their ranges during the summer. Clover is also a lime plant, and it thus furnishes material for both egg and shell production. It is not concentrated enough to be a perfect ration unmixed with grain, but is just what is needed when wheat rye or corn are fed to fowls in winter. If only the grain is fed the fowls get too fat to pro­ duce eggs and then cease laying. A certain amount of cut clover with their grain will cause the fowls to keep in laying condition. Quality of Vegetables. There is great difference in quality of vegetables aside from their fresh­ ness. It is due to their method of growing. All roots heed to be grown quickly, which require that the soil be rich and moist. If the soil is poor or dry, the roots will be stringy and unfit either for human use or feeding. At the same time, it is not best that roots of any kind should be grown in con­ tact with manure, which breeds worms, and makes the roots unsalable in an­ other way. If turnips are grown very rapidly they will dry out as quickly and become dry and pithy, not good even for stock feeding. Rutabagas, which are planted early, have more substance iu them, and will keep till spring, long after the quickly grown fall turnips have become worthless for feeding. Give a boy a piece of work to do, an<| he spends half of the time in inventing some contrivance to make his work easier. : -- -- w A New Jersey Band. A horse in a little New Jersey town dropped dead when it heard the local band play. .._ • A good corn country is never a sum­ mer resort Making Squashes Productive. All growers of squashes or other vines of this character have' not<?d the fact that the first blossoms are barren. Iu other words, they are all male blossoms If this is examined a little farther it will be found that these male blossoms are on the main vine, which accounts For their being earlier than the female or bearing blossoms which appear on the side branches. To keep the main stem pinched back will force more growth into the side branches and con­ sequently more fruit. There should be pinchln- back of new growth all around^ as tlife squash vine will set more fruit than it can carry to profita­ ble majketlng size. er than hay, and weight for weight, are little higher .than the cost .of hay when bpth are brought to Eastern markets., This will doubtless lead to a larger use' of both corn ahd oats as feed, supple­ menting the deficiency of hay which, has" now existed on most Eastern -farms two or more.years. It is really, better for all stock to have a part' grain ration as it is better digested than the same nutrition in the larger bulk which would be needed to give it the form of hay. When grain in mod­ erate quantities is fed to breeding ani­ mals it means improvement in their progeny, thus increasing the gain from improved breeding.--American Cultivator. ^ Yo0ums Trees Best for Planting.. It Is very natural for purchasers in choosing trees for planting to select the largest, thinking that these are nearest the bearing age and will soon­ est become fruitful. In almost every case the smaller, if quickly grown, will have the most roots in proportion to its top and will make the best growth. The size at planting time makes but little difference. The growth and vigor of tlie tree after planting Is what tells most. We once saw an old grape vine carefully removed when the fam­ ily was removing to another place. It had considerable top, and though this was cut back very severely, there wer& at least forty shoots grow'ng the next spring. The result was that it took fully two years to get that vine estab­ lished in its new home. If left where it grew it wa^ more Valuable than a new vine would have boon,' but 1 if transplanted it was no better, though much more cumbrous and troublesome than a well-rooted yearling vihe with but a single bud left td'giow.r Some like two-year-old grape vines, but a yearling that has made a vigorous root will be quite as good after three or five years growth. Draining Pasture Lands. Many fields are used for pasture only because they are full of sold springs of water which make them too wet and cold for profitable cultivation. Such land will not produce a goocl quality of grass. It will be coarse and lacking in nutrition. In such cases there is no way to get the land in good grass except to underdrain it. The NORA AND BILL WERE WED. Bride Comments oa the Lonely Lot pf the Judge. "Bring in Nora Reeves and Bill Drake," said Judge Berry of the Second division of the city court, and a look of. solemnity settled upon the face of the young judicial officer as he prepar­ ed to perform his first marriage cere­ mony. "Your honor," aald Mr. D. R. Keith, one of the lawyers^ present, "I think this occasion should be made as bril­ liant as possible, and I hope your honor will appoint the attendants." "You are right, Mr. Keith," replied the judge, "and I think it would be nothing but proper for the sheriff to act as best man and for the clerk and Mr. Walker to act as attendants." These preliminary arrangements hav­ ing been completed, the door was open­ ed and Bill Drake, a simple-looking negro, who wore drab-colored pants and a" faded jacket of blue much too short for him, came snickering into the room, followed by Nora Reeves, a great mountain of black flesh that loomed formidably above the little negro In front of her. "Have you ever been married?" aaked the judge, turning to-the man. "Yesser, I wuz married one time," replied the negro. "Well, where's your wife?" "She wuz daid, jedge, de las' time I heered fum her." "And you haven't heard from' her since?" "• "No, sah; nair wurd." "Have you ever been married, Nora?" asked the judge, turning to the woman, She snickered, shook her head and laughed to herself.' "Nora, take the arm of Bill," said the judge. : "Oh, g'way, jedge; I (loan wan'ter tek de arm er dat ole nigger," said the woman. There was much laughter at this throughout the court room, but Judge Berry repeated his command: "Take the arm of Bill." "Have you got a license, Bill?" aBked the judge, and Bill, from the inside pocket of his vest, pulled out a license. "Bill," said Judge Berry, in his most ministerial tone, "do you recognize the wise dictates of Providence that it is quality of its grass shows that the soil is full of humic acid from decaying \ not good for man to live alone, and also vegetatlor in contact with cold water This liumic acid is rank poisou to the roots of all but the poorest and mean­ est kind of vegetation. Drain it, ad­ mitting warm surface air, and hasten­ ing the decomposition of vegetable matter, and such soil Is often found very valuable, producing cny kind of crop luxuriantly, though usually some­ what deficient in mineral plant food, as its vegetable matter has always been lacking in this respect. that it is the duty of man to multiply and replenish the earth?" "Yasser, jedge," said Bill, fervently. "Do you?" continued the judge, "take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to protect and cherish, to care for her in sickness and in health until death you doth part?" "Yasser, jedge." "Nora," said the judge, turning to the woman, "do you agree to take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband for better or for worse, to care for him in sickness and in health, to love, honor and obey un^l de^th you doth part?" "I now pronounce^Vou man and wife," said the judge, and some irreverent by­ stander said, in a low tone of voice: Osier Willow for Bands. There is no more useful piece of ground on any farm than a small plot devoted to growing the osier willow. It is particularly convenient for making bands to tie securely stooks of porn and buii.dles-ot'Jstalk.s,-mostofwhich-wben;-|--5j:i(^~may--t-heLor(3_jjaTe bound, as they usually are with corn stalks, are liable at any time to eome unbound and open to wind and rain. The loss from this source in feeding value of stalks amounts to a good many dollars a year on any farm where com is grown and fodder saved in the old- fashioned way. The excess of willow not wanted lor this purpose can be pro­ fitably sold to the basket makers, or if the labor can be procured cheaply enough, may be made up into baskets and sold in that form. tansy weed is disliked much by insects that worry stock. It has long been a practice with farmers to gather some tansy leaves, and rub them well over horses at work, giving especial care to the places which cannot be reached by the animal's tail. It is an old saying that the flies bite more sliarply after the first frosts give them warning of the approaching winter, during which they must remain dormant. There is probably no time when they are more troublesome than during the last of September and fore part of October. They are also most numerous then, having had all the summer in which to increase. your souls.' The woman puckered up her mouth and poohed as she went out, and reach­ ing the door, said: "I dunno why in de namer goodness dat jedge doan' tak an git married hissef, das wat I dunno, an' him a talkin' '"Bout de wise dictates er Providence."--Atlanta Journal. Divorce and Insanity. Edgar Saltus, a writer of novels who wants to- be called a "generator," and not a "degenerate^" has discovered that statistics compiled by the Germans show that insanity is ten times as fre-alue of Tansy. The sharp, bitter taste and smell o^quent among divorced people of either Sheep Not^a. What breed of sheep have you found best for the general farmer? It is important that each lot of lambs have plenty of pure, fresh water, acces­ sible at will. ' Of the 565,137 sheep reported in Iowa on Jan. 1, 1S96, a little over 100,000 are classed as Shropshires. . Sheep should habitually rest on sod, or on soil covered with straw; the soil, coming directly in contact with the wool, absorbs the oil and-leaves the ends of the fiber dry and harsh; also, the earth works Into the wool, giving it a frowsy appearance. On any good farm, and under good management, a flock of sheep will pay their winter feeding in the manure they make. Give them lots of straw, and they will convert it into the richest kind of food for crops. No farmer is so poor that be cannot afford to keep sheep, and none so rich that he can afford to ignore them. They fertilize the fields, furnish food aud clothing, and help subdue the fields so as to fit them to raise crops. The sheep is the farmer's best friend, under any and all circumstances. sex, as among either those who have remained in a state of single blessed­ ness or have acquired the state of mar­ ital happiness. From this, Mr. Saltus argues, that "divorces not only wreck the home, but sometimes wreck the in­ tellect. Human affections are pro­ foundly mysterious; the ties that asso­ ciation weaves are enigmatic realities; and when, through caprice, folly or sin, they are trampled on. it is nature that punishes and the killing of love becomes the killing of reason." Mr. Saltus' phrases sound pretty, but they are the veriest nonsense, written for the purpose of making copy. It is a deliberate putting of the cart before fche horse. The German statistics only prove that it is people who are not perfectly sound mentally who marry people they cannot live with happily ever afterward. Sane people have sense enough to marry a compatible companion, and grit enough to "grin and bear it" if they make a mistake. The Dairy. A quart of good cream should maks a pound and a half of butter. " The butter product of all cows is in­ fluenced more or less by the feeding and care given to the animals. Liberal feeding of the dairy cow means that she must have as much wholesome, nutritious food as she can eat, digest and assimilate, and the more fully this is done the better will be the results. If the dairyman is" to raise his own cows lie ought to be reasonably certaio that they are good ones. One of the best plans for doing this is to use only a thoroughbred bull from a good dairy breed, and to save the best.of the heifer calves. ~ Some people boast that they keep the cow's udder clean, and perhaps they do; but all the rest of the animal is left in a filthy condition. This dirt dries Hirsch's Hoodoo. Baron Hirsch, shortly before his death, sold his very beautiful estate at St. Jean, because it was too damp to be healthy. He purchased another through an agent and started to erect a magnificent chateau upon it. After he had expended about £35,0C0 on the new property, which he intended to en­ dow as a children's hospital after his death, he was informed that it was even damper than St. Jean. He went in per­ son to see, and hniing the report'true, and that the property was of no use whatever for his benevolent purpose, added to tlie thought that he had been swindled, caused him to fly Into a vio­ lent rage, which was the direct cause of his death. , - / ' .„..., •. It has been clearly proven tliat the increase in the price of farm lands more than pays for the cost of rpaking good country highways. Dr. Mendenhall on Boads. Dr. Mendenhall, chairman of the State highway commission,. summar­ izes the argument for goo<f roads In a nutshell by an Illustration drawn from his experience in Japan. He found that the city of Tokio was built of wood, and-fires were so frequent and! destructive that he calculated that by sections the city was entirely destroyed once in seven years. When he asked- why stone and brick were not used in building, the people replied that It was cheaper to replace burned sections withj wood than with more substantial ma-j terial. "That's the way the old-fash­ ioned road builder looks at the question of permanent work," says Dr. Menden­ hall. k* * Permanent road-building will be1 a; feature of public enterprise for the nexti twenty years, both municipal and( State.--Worcester (Mass.) Gazette. They, Know Better. O this is what the farmers call "A road," but when the horses haul A very heavy load that way They shake their knowing heads, "neigh, neigh!" Keeping Roads Good, Most everyone has heard of the man who gave it out that he always took ^ bath every year whether he needed- it! or not. A great many roads are "work­ ed" on the same principle. Once a year they are given what is known as a "fixing up," and the rest of the time ley'inust-sliiftrfor tliemselves. As i& consequence tl»ey "shift" from one side* to the other, just as the lay of the land and the lack of proper drainage may demand. And, be it remembered^ there is some­ times a piece of road that Nature has kindly cared for--which really does not require fixing. Often this is plowed up,, along with defective sections, and is made soft and susceptible to ruts and washouts. It is 'also then in a good con­ dition to produce the largest quantity of dust. 1 ^-y A good road should never be thus "re­ paired." A defective road should be repaired at any and all times. It is cheaper, and certainly much better. Europe's good roads are the result of proper building and constant care. They do not have to be repaired. They are fixed before they need repairing--in the sense of being partly rebuilt. The one great lesson the people of our land must learn is that the time to re­ pair a road is when it needs it These once-a-year reformations are too few: and far between. Fix the roads now. < Not Affected by, the Weather. The seamless boat, for which there is a growing demand, seems to be able^ to stand any amount of rough work. This boat is pressed out of an ingot of steel and;-shaped by hydraulic power, and it fulfills all the requirements ofj an ordinary boat in a remarkably In­ genious mdnner. It is claimed for these boats that they will last twice as long as wooden ones, and that there is less danger of their capsizing, and that they1 are less liable to be affected by changes of climate. The method by which the, seamless b®at Is constructed is a larger application of the method which has long been used in this country for man­ ufacturing cooking utensils and other articles Of small dimensions. Naturalized atfNinety. Ned Riordan, 90 years of age, was granted his first naturalization papers by United States Commissioner Nu- chols at Kansas City. Riordan has lived in this country seventy years, having come from Ireland when 20 J years old. In the civil war he served In j the Seventh Missouri Volunteers under | Col. John F. Phillips, now United States district jud^e. He is over six feet tall and is remarkably well pre­ served for one of his advanced ag£. At present he is living at the' soldiers' home In Leavenworth. Grain Cheaper than Hay. , -In ali tinr ^'esteru citiee the coarse" In the 'hair, and the act of milking^ son, my lord shakes it. Into the pail Unabashed. When president of the court of ap­ peal, Lord Esher, who used to keep up a running fire of "chaff", on learned counsel, sometimes got a Roland for his Oliver--as when a young barrister, in the course of argument, stated that no reasonable person could doubt one particular proposition. "But I doubt It very much," said the judge. The youthful advocate, not one whit abash- ed. replied: "I saidjjo reasonable pejfe grains, both command oats, are now very cheap. They are relatively cheap- j unfit for human food. Such milJrj»Ycould only gasp: x jceed." The Master of the Rolls t «k Proceed, sir, pro- His Worldly Effects. A New York firm applied to Abraham Lincoln some years before he became President for information as to the financial standing of one of his neigh- bo re. Mr. Lincoln replied: "Yours of the 10th received. I am well acquaint­ ed with Mr. ---, and know his circum­ stances. First of all, he has a wife and baby; together they ought to be worth $50,000 to any man. Secondly, he has an office in which there is a table worth $1.50 and three chairs worth, say §1. Last of all, there is in one: oftrner a large rat hole, which wrill bear looking into. Respectfully, "A. LINCOLN." » A Business Woman. The Duchess Le Dino, who is a' American by birth, Is a remarkably,, bright business woman, personally su­ pervising her large estate herself. Sho recently ordered a thirteen-story build-, ing to be erected in New York, and before completion she has rented eight floors, the contract for the rental of the fourth floor for a term of years having now been completed for $50,000. Some time ago the duchess purchased a valuable business site for $300,000, and it was there she had the above mentioned building erected. Keep the Crown{in the^Tower. The crown of England is kept in the Tower of London and not in the Queen's dressing-room. It Is never brought out excepting on grand state occasions, but whenever a ceremony, 6uch as a drawlug-room or levee, takes place the Queen wears a circlet of dia­ monds!^ the form of a crown on* her: liiead. affairs finally give the victim ? , . Do lo ^rr „_Ji •