The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

n2: many an engagement for others shé had to renouncei in the months which fqdowed. and all :begause- of that order it its wonder of a price-mark. And the mi “linery marvel was so much more of :1 marvel now that the girl who was. of Cruise not any girl that you know or that I know, saw at once that there was nothing among her posses- sions that could :bear comparison with it. And before she could use it she must order gowns and gloves and wraps and many; other things worthy to appear with it. And how many a genuine pleasure for herself. how She became a haunted creature. Lcoi; tit what she wou;d. that millinery wonder intervened to shut out aél other sights; think of what she would, un- der and over, around and among her other thoughts was the thought of that go where she would, it drew her always back to it. She went to give it n farewell look. and because it was a farewell look. and the thing she coveted was never .to be hers. and was to be worn; by another and more for- tunate woman, her sorrow for losing it was deeper than before. -A.nd so that night she wrote an order for it. -:n order which she thought would make it hers. And then. because she had a stamp a: hand. she mailed the order before she siept, the order with which she signed away her own free- dom for a year and a day. In prompt 0b? '31.”!1'38 to the nrflor mkink .1... “an“..- â€"â€" :- v“rv ob: {irnce to the order which the stamp had carried all too surely, there came next morning the wonder, and with it its won'der of a price-mark. And Once upon a 'time there was a girlâ€" not any girl that I know or that you.‘ know, of course. She wentâ€"this girl didâ€"to the establishment of a certain miiliner whose fame had gone out both near and far. \Vith various other girls and various other women of vari- ous ages and degrees, she spent there two blissful hours, or three, or four, it may be. Won'lerful to relate. she went out without having paid or promised one cent of her. percentage of the price of the fame of the establishment of the miiliner, I do not: know how it hap- pened. but it did, it really and truly came to pass that that girl got safely out and safely, home. But then it al- so came to pass that wherever she went. whomever she saw, whatever she did, before; her mental eyes there was ever present, standing out apart from all its fellow-marvels. a certain :nztrvel in the shop of the famous mil- .En~:~r from which she had so wonder- l‘u 13' escaped. Suppose, now, that when you wrote that letter, you hadn’t had a stamp, that you couldn’t have butlght or beg- ged or borrowed oneâ€"say for twenty- four hours. Do you' think that letter would ever have been mailed? And if that letter had never been malled. why then, wouldn’t that wrong or slight, real or fancied, have receded and receded as. the days went by, un- til when you looked back at it. it w uld have seemed the speck that it ready was? And at last when you looked again to find it, wouldn’t it have faded away into the invisible and forget- table and forgiveable? And then. why then, a certain chapter of your life would have read how differently. and how differently, too, the whole book. Ah, me! Ah, me! I wouldn’t gixe you a stamp box. You didn’t stop to read that letter over when it was finished. No, in- deed. Yon sealed it, you stamped it, you dropped it into the very nearest mail box. And then you went home to await the answer. ,But those pois- oned arrows of yours went too surely into their mark. And you are waiting for that answer yet, Yes, whatever you may seem to others, whatever you may say to yourself, you are waiting yet. Now, aren’t you? And aren't there times, when you have thrown aside the mask you wear for men to see, and the other mask you wear for yourself to see, and at those times, those rare times, when you look your- self squarely in the face. when you, read your life correctly, wouldn’t you: give years and years of this life to un- write that letter? You have only to think a moment in order to recall the fact of acertain letter that you once wrote yourself. )ou have tried and tried to forget that letter. You have said over and over to yourself that what was to be is, that it is all better as it is You bear the reputation among your ac- quaintances, and sometimes with your- self, of being, very stoical, very much of a philosopher. And yet, somehow, you don’t forget that letter. It was written to somebody that you loved, and yet every syllable of that letter was a dart sent sure and sharp into a human heart. and you‘ meant that it should be so. If you could, you would. have made those ar- rows sharper. you would have aimed them straighter, you, would have sent them deeper. Because, when you erte that letter. you were chafing under a wrong or a slight, of 'a fancied wrong or slight; your pride, for- sooth, was wounded, and you told yourself your wrath was righteous. You have heard. of course, that a stamp box is a. dangerous present to receive. You haven’t? But you know. of course. why“ it is a dangerous piece of property. You don’t? W'hy. yes you do. if you will but think amo- ment. stallâ€"1p VIENNA POLICE A policeman. in Vienna m to swim. to row a boat and stand telegraphy. VACCINA'EION IN JAPAN. 'In Japan vaccination is compulsory, and the Government makes its own lymph. and issues it free of charge. Revaccination at stated periods is also rigidly enforced. Only ~,a1f lymph is hunt] across and visionary, "If I only had the wings of. an eagle and the neart of a hon. \Vhat did he do? Why, as it hap- pened, he was a wise man, who had learned to read’ his fellow-man. ’And if he could not read so readily a more difficult and uncertain volume, his fel- low-woman. he had been taught of a teacher, said to be blind himself, much of one chapter. a certain young wo- man‘s heart and mind. And because he did not think it quite worth while to wreck his happiness and hers for a foolish maiden s freak, he reached out for his stamp box. He put the ring back then in its box, and readdressed it, and this is what he wrote for his stamps to carry back with the ring to its rightful owner: “This ring is yours. [Nothing can alter the fact that it was given to you for all time by me, who loved you. And you are mine. Nothing can alter that, for you gave yourself to. me for all time, be- cause you loved me. And because I love you, and you love me, I restore to you what is yours. and refuse to give up what is mine.” And the stamps! The stamps carried the ring and the letter to the foolish maiden, who, because she lived in the days of stamps, had broken her own heart- the stamps carried to her the ring and the letter and a lesson in wisdom which she will never forget. And you may safely give that man a stamp box. He will do to crust with stamps. And this young woman, who.thought herself so wise and so superior. was I one of the foolish maidens, because she kept too wide; open the eyes and ears which had been given her to use. And ’with those too-wide-Openv eyes of hers she saw some things which were not and which had never been. And With IthOSB too-wide-open ears of hers she 3 listened. when she shbuldn’t, and when She Pretended not to, to a certain mali- Cious and confidental’ whisper or two. And then she gathered together in that wise and superion head of hers the things which she had seen with her tooâ€" wide-open eyes, and the malicious and confidential whispers which, if she had not been of the foolish maidens, she would have treated with the scorn they merited. And when she got them all toB‘ether sheâ€"wrote a letter? No. not she. For all the world she would not have written a word. She was far too wise and superior for that. She wrote never a word of what she had seen, of what she had heard, but she took from her hand a ring, and because she had plenty of stamps in her box. she sent that ring posting back to its 1 original owner. And then, why, then, ; she sat and wept alone, this foolishest of foolish maidens, who, because she lived in the~days of stamps, had broken I her own heart. rAnd. those stamps! those stamps which have so many sins ! and mistakes to answer for, what did they do? ,They flew fast and straight to their destination. They carried back the ring to its original owner. dAngd its original ownerâ€"what did he 0 There is yet another woman. a young one, and I use the present tense advisedly, for she is living yet, and moving among us daily. She is one of the foolish maidens who thinks herself very wise and very superior. and the tense of that last verb Ihave used unadvisedly, for I should speak more correctly if I said she thought herself very Wise and very superior. She doesn’t think so now. -â€"no, her good angel, her guardian spiritâ€"whispered to her next day to burn that letter. every word, to take the ashes 'of that serpent-like sen- tence. beginning with the little words, the dangerous little words, “they say,” to bury those ashes deep away in a lonesome spot where foot of man would never tread, where she herself would never go again. And that she heeded the whisper of her ministering angel she is more fortunate than she perhaps will ever know this side of heaven. So the writer of that letter was a lucky, lucky woman to have lived be- fore the days of stamps. And she was more lucky still when her good falry Once upon another time. centuries and centuries ago, and in another part of the world from any that we have seen, and of another race and kind, there was a woman. And this wo- man wrote a letter, but because it was ; before the days of stamps, behold! her 'stamp box was empty. And because her stamp-box was. empty she did not mail her letter at once. And she was a lucky. lucky woman not to have done so, for, let me tell you what it is said that letter would have done if it had been stamped and mailed. Because of one sentence in it. one tiny sentence, which contained the merest innuendo about anather woman, that letter, if stamped and mailed and delivered, would have blasted the reputation and the earthly happiness of that other woman. That little innuendo. as most innuendos do began With the words "they say," and it was founded upon the truth, and thus was, of all its kind, the most deadly, for you knowâ€"“a lie which is half a truth is ever theé blackest of lies.” 13', she could never bear to think, and I would never dare to tell. If only her stamp box had been empty. Just that once. ; must be able andv to under- “ran m. unrlst begin on' earth." The . pte-mber, 1896, as the L‘:m-: when the great “coup.” as he called it, would take place,| but he ad- ded that, if it did not take , ' 'ainly occur before the . and, least some of his readers may fancy him to be the ir- responsible victim of ' imagination» he takes earn ha nah-L COME TO AN END. IN 1887. Thou-sands believed in him, and: great was their surprise when they dis- covered that he was mistaken. Yet V‘ “U 0 V â€"cv- u. Equally bold. though doubtless not as popuiar as Baxter, is the Abbe Dupin, cure of the village of Dion in France, and author of a. book with the toilowtng extraordinary title :â€"-“Th«e 'â€" or universal cataclyjsm will ravage the world between the 19th compare thh those of the Fathers and with .the secrets of La Salette. great war and. his reign, after which{ the Church will triumph T812511 0i Christ begin on‘ earth." .The author fixed Sentemhpr 1520‘: m. u- th in him remained un- shaken, and, no matter what year he selected as the final one "of the world's egnstence, they accepted his predlc- â€".vâ€"-v\‘ In“ Stofler, however, is only one in a long list of prophets whose predictions in regard to the end of the world have proved utterly false. (As far back as the year 1000 many communities in Europe were driven half distracted by rumors that the day 011 judgment was close at hand, and again in 1186 whole cities were paralyzed with fright for the same reason. ‘Now and again dur- ing the latter part of' the Middle'Ages the same extraordinary phenomenon was witnessed. though in a lesser de- gree, and ever since the modern re- vival of occult-ism there have. not been wanting erratic prophets of the Jean Stofler type. A few years ago a Mr. Baxter creat- ed a sensation in England by his pre- diction that the world would certain- 1y a haven of refuge. There was no need of such excitement. No flood came. 0n the contrary, the season was even calmer and drier ithan usual. Stofiler ‘had, indeed, made a serious blunder. and one for Which many of his fellow astrologers. including Car- datu', never pardoned him. German, terrified Europe by pre- dicting a universal deluge in 1524 “owing to the conjunction of several planets in a watery sign”â€"the wat- ery signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, At his ominous words thou- sands fled to the mountains-and others took refuge in boats. ‘Awinol, a. doc- J.___ -1 I ‘ Now, senseless as this panic may seem. there is some cause for it, though this cause 'will undoubtedly appear altogether insufficient to intelligent persons. .And this cause is the ap- Pecaranoe at the close of this year of several planets in ,a single sign of {the Zodiac. Not for centuries has |there been such a planetary. combina- tion as this, and it is no wonder that for the last few. years star readers and other soothsayers have been drawing attention to it, and ’have been predicting more or less universal ill luck as a consequence . Indian as- trologers maintain that their country is bound to suffer some unparalleled idisasters within the next six months. and certain French and English pro- phets claim that the United ‘States will also surely be scourged in‘ some man-i ner during the same time, apparent- ly because the planets, when cluster- ed together in Sagittarius, will at the i same time be opposed by Neptune in] Gemini, and according to all the text} books Gerani is the sign: which rules the United States. i l JEAN STOFLER’S BLUNDER. Now, it is worth noting that there, was a similar panic nearly four hund~ l red years ago and for precisely thei same reason. In 1521 Jean Stofler, a? Story From Russia or the Peasants Ex- PCCIHI: Gabriel's Trumpet Many limes Repealed In Historyâ€"Some of the Rex» sons for the Prediction. It was bound to come. Not a quarter of a century passes that some part of some country is not affected by :the wild rumor that the end of the world is near at hand, and for this reason there is little cause for surprise at the news that at rumor of this kind is at present causing a panic among the uneducated classes in SOIlth'PJ‘n Russia. At the city of Kharkov, it is said, the dread of the impending catastrophe is epecially great, the re- sult being that workmen are leaving the city in large numbers; wishing to spend What they believe will be their last days at their village! homes. and; the factory owners have askedl'the P0- 1 lice to stop the emigration on the ground that otherwise their business will be ruined. IT HAS BEEN PREDICTED TIME AND AGAIN BUT IN VAIN- THE END [IF THE WORLD. _-v wvv“ ouuuw 'VLLD of the Church authorities, Which many are inclin- cumgrano salis. as it is {Want 1" ‘ univeréal catacly;s-’1‘1‘)' world between the 19th September. 1896, ac- Scriptu'res._ The proâ€" ”.1 _ to point mad with Prinoess Czartoryski has had 3. won- derful dress made in Paris, on which her coat- ab $75,000. The opal is no longer considered of evil omen by those who are the best informed. It has become popular to believe that instead of ill luck the opal carries with it the best of luck and happiness in its highest form. In- deed, it is now considered the token in constant and fiery flashes of beau- tiful color. . To emphasize this romantic idea the opal is now out in the form of a heart, and the sentiment of a heart on fire with love is one which appeals to all lovers. This heart, when small enough, is set in a ring, but Astura- lian Opals have recently been imported of sufficient size to permit of their beâ€"i mg used in a simple gold frame as a pendant for the lorgnette chain. These opal hearts are also used for the cen- ters of brooches. no reason for supposing that thosoec: tacle in 1899 will be more glorious or more ominous than it was, in 1833 and 1866. l l In his entertaining book “ .La Fin id‘u Monde ' M. ’Flammarion gives a graphic description of a collision be- tween the earth and a comet which is to take place some time in the twenty- lfifth century. “These two heavenly bodies, the earth and the comet," he writes. “will meet like two trains rushâ€" ing headlong upon each other with re- sistless momentum, as if impelled to mutual destruction by an insatiable rage. ,But in the present instance the velocity of (shock will be 865 times greater than that of two express trains having each a speed of 100 kilo- metres per hour.” , PROFESSOR FALB'S PROPHECY. The most extraordinary prediction In regard to the end of the world that has been made in recent years comes from Professor Falb, the eminent Austrian meteorologist. According to him a comet will strike the earth on November 13, 1899, and universal chaos and dissolution will be the in- evitable res u-lt. To this bold statement equally emnent scientists reply that. the chance of the earth being destroy-l ed by a comet is only about one in [if- teen millions. Il‘hey admit, that the night of November 13, 1899, will be remarkable for the reason that the heavens will then be ablaze with a magnificent shower of stars, but they point out that a similar display of celestial fireworks regularly occurs every thirty-three years, and there is M. Camille Flammarion, the distin- guished French astronomer, says on the same subject :â€"“In this century predictions concerning the end of the world have several times been as- sociated with comets. It was announc- ed that the comet of B eta, for example, would intersect the worlds orbit on October 29, 1832, which it did as pre- dicted. There was great excitement. Once more the end of things was de- clared at hand. Humanity was threat- ened What was going to happen? The orbitâ€"that is to say. the path of the earthâ€"had been conf'mmded with the earth itself. The latter was not to reach that point of its orbit tra- versed by the comet until November 30, ; more than a month after the comet s; passage, and the latter was at no time ' to be within 20,030,000 leagwes of us.‘ Once more we got off with a goodl fight." I “We have a comet of enormous size; its tail is the most beautiflul object conceivable. Every person of note 18 alarmed and believes that Heaven; in- terested in their fate. sends them a warning in this comet. 'They say 'that the courtiers of Cardinal Mazarin, who is despaireld of by his physicians, believe this prodigy is in‘ honor of his passing away, and tell him of the ter- ror with which it has inspired them. He had the sense to laugh at them and to reply faceticusly that the comet did him too much honor.” The appearance of comets has fre- quently given rise to similar predic- tions. This was the case when the Ifamous comet of 1680 appeared. Whiston ascribed the deluge to its former appearance, and such an ex- citement did it cause among all clas- ses of the people that Bayle wrote a treatise to prove the absurdity fo beiief founded on these portents. Mme. de Levigne, writing at the same time, said: 01115 but which nevertheless are not likely to convince sensible people that the end of the world is near at hand. means of which he had been enabled to make his wonderfiu'l predictions. He also dwells at length on certain coincidences, which are certainly curi- A TERRIBLE INCATACLYSM which will leave few human: beings alive; and m the second he sets before us ‘the elaborate calculations by The book, of which it is extremely difficult to obtain a copy, is divided into two parts. In the first the author predicts the devastation of the world by wars, earthquakes and piagues, the birth of Antichrist, whose mother, he says, is already here, and WHAT FLAMMARION SAYS. OPALS BRING LUCK. He insuited ' an old #001 ~ “7941.me 71 noticed you didn t speak to D_ YJO‘u passed h’m 1*hi s morn- trou‘bie '17 me yesterdayâ€"- LSD I. neg -)_ke.5 SO fill Oh. I don' t know; h9 m monev that peopie exnec his debts paid up.” Dusty Rhndes. : 0r wood-shed, iady Housekeeperâ€"Poor want scmething to a chop suit you? When Henry goes aw he always write: me Uhing. ‘V‘hat' S that? He. says it is the last intends to take a txip “ artistically. France is the home of said the young man. bulu‘ w” Julius Luau. W911. answered the Who“ had been. reading of the DIES!“ case, ‘maybe they can paim ar ' ' ‘ 89.116. Slag artistically and dance aw?“ txcally. But I’m blast if they can 116 ten during theseâ€"vmonths lhave as many as two brides a day to dress, several times I could have had 89 many as four, but was obliged t? re; 0 £939 many éng'agements for wan time." “While they pay me well for my services, they do not feel that the! can afford to keep expensive servants of course, I am compelled ‘30 keepkug “Of course, a well-trained, compet' ent maid could give her mistress much assistance on such an occasion, but my customers as a rule are not the very wealthy girls who can afford 10 keep such an attendant. Many unique ideas have been adOpn ed by both men and women to earn living, but among the oddest occupa- tions followed is that of a professional bride dresser. This idea originated with a western woman, who, during the busy season, is kept busy. Upon reading carefully the society pages of the newspapers, she learns ol 'the engagements in town and then calls on the bride-to-be. She eXplains 1 her business, and if engaged she calls and on the morning of the wedding the bride is ,turned: over to her. She first investigates the wedding outfit and sees that everything is as itshould be. She insists on the brides remain- ing quietly in bed until 10 o’clock, the wedding not being until afternoon. About noon she tries on the wedding dress, gloves and slippers. Some alter- ations, only a few Stitches, being ne- cessary. she takes them. Next she turns her attention to packing the trunks, and in less than two hours the task is accomplished, and a little book. containing a complete inventory is put in the bride’s travelling bag. This inventory gives not only the list of articles, but tells exactly where they could be found. By this time the bride has finished her luncheon, and is persuaded to take a nap and remain in bed until called. . At 3.30 o’clock a tepid bath is pre- pared; ‘the bride awakened, and, while she is taking it, they straighten up the room and lay out the bridal. cos- tume. The dressing of the bride 18 ac- complished without the slightest hurt}' and in ample time. S‘P'eakingâ€"of her occupation, the wo- mag _recently said:â€" ACCLI'ULS, 111011138 5. Clark, who is say. ing a five-year sentence in Trenton, N J ., for {bank robbery, has been makinl lots of money by selling canned goods fruits, liquors and various articles tr his fellow convicts. An acquaintanc' betrayed him. Were it not for Lht friend’s treachery, the prison official say, he might soon be running an in dependent store within the prisoi walls. entomologist, con. fined one in a tin box, where it Wax forgotten for Six months. When he Opened the box the bug se. The Whale are caught off the coast of Corea, 1h. flesh and {blubber are cut up and salt for food. Two babies were in a child‘ carriage onto the track‘ befo ing train, and the babies w By collusion with expre keepers, Thomas S. C re a pass ere killed Trenton,N J ., for floank robbery, has been makinl lots of money by selling canned goods fruits, liquors and various articles tr his fellow convicts. An acquaintanc' betrayed him. Were it not for th friend’s treachery, the prison official BRIDE DRESSER BY PROFESSION HIS DIFFICULT POSITON â€"â€"â€"â€"â€" SUSPICIOUS CORDIALITY. DISTAN T REMCRSE .me A DEFICIENCY. away sufcesst‘ mcdern aft. YOL' would keeP {ion v.1" 9V8; W,Mossm3n. and throws much Ugh r handling of milk {‘ or glass jars. If on“ aerator. he shou'd (‘hmw which water is run for poses. CORN drafts. You need no do weil if they must {on - m 1 in; buildiu I consider essential feed-lot, protected in as mu"h as possible en” ar about hava n' 1' an"). I like 10 let the-1'1 to good water dubng day. 0f the common grax_n~' gm (arm I have nad 1h? ban >u corn and catsâ€"abui two-13 and one-third can. '5th mzai with their grain raLlux I consider it too expensi “£51 in giving a gud {301:}; itnhlh. Clover certainly ‘ hast hay that is gruwn in I:. L!â€" it. is not mixed. with 01. won {1 rathzz‘ have. an 01 mm: other kznd. I like to give them: an“ {ct cut fodder. .Th-s {udder c:: the grain boxes if they are enough for it. Then. if 1 three feeds of gmin I (1'? feed of it on mpg of 1110 {wit 'â€"â€" v v - " feed 0i it on Its-p of The £00.. like to have m: sheep and- re‘gu'arly, a‘; has: Yaw $4113 {or the grain zmd' mm for the hay. or three. of ha of fodder would do wry \‘ I believe as math depends a and faithfuéness of z c fw-(Zt‘. rations given. 311961) u-H 1y Oneâ€"fpurth mun: grain 1 fl'O‘fty day than th2*y will warm one. 83 1.0 feed the} care for and still have than fresh for the next feed re Q“13' eXperience but :1 k6: business. \Do not. feed 0111 i They will keep their feed Will give them a fair chzm # POULT RY PROF I Mr. Hunter says that it stant source of surprise t 80 m'lny beginners in p011! {TC-3m to th'n“: eggs 2110118 th to profit. 'Why cannot L stand that with “meat” ad: salable products they have inn-eased their sales? E: fight 80 £11“ us they. go. bu“ and maat we have a lan and better profit. xnh I L ch 13 not sub} me it has beep ge .t milk while still udder waa less 3 ban after it had 13 L. Russell, the ex has shown this v Mr. Jess: S ir wa‘