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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1896-10-7, Page 2CEYLON.. Oh. this beautiful island of Ceylon. Witt: the cocoanut trees on the shore. Itis shaped like a pear with the peel on. And Kandy lies in at the core.. And Kandy is sweet you ask Gertief] Even when it is spelt with a K, And the people are cheerful and dirty And dress in a comical way. Hero comes a particular dandy, With two earrings and half of a shirt. He's considered the swell of all Kandy,. And the rest of him's covered with dirt.. And here comes the belle of the city, With rings on her delicate toes, And eyes that are painted and pretty. And a jewel that shakes in her nose. And the dear little girls, and the brothers. And the babies so Jolly and fat, Astride on the hips of their mothers, And as black as a gentleman's hat. And the queer little heaps of old women, And the shaven Buddhistiaal priests, And the lake which the worshipers swim in. And the wagons with curious beasts. The tongue they talk mostly is Tamil, Which sounds you can hardly tell how:. It ishalf like the scream of a camel, And half like the grunt of a sow. —Phillips Brooks. LOVE TRIUMPHS. Without his red necktie Mr, Solomon Boggs would have been insignificant, ifnot an absolute nonentity, but with it he be- came at once pompous, bold and aggres- sive. Involuntarily his chest expanded be- neath it; until et stuck out like a drum majors, and the whole splendid aggrega- tion of necktie, shirt front and bosom rose and fell with deep self satisfied undulations. Decidedly Mr. Solomon Boggs, with his toilet duly performed by his valet and his commission as first functionary to the lord mayor reposing snugly in his coat pocket, was a person upon whom the awestruck looks of ordinary people were- bestowed with the more reason as none of them ever saw him in the privacy of his chamber exist- ingwithout his teeth, and his hair, and his left eye, and his red necktie. Another fact that went a long way with the ordinary people was that Mr. Solomon Boggs, besides his honorable position and the emoluments incidental thereto, was the possessor of a vast. amount of property. He had so many houses that he had to em- ploy three agents to collect the rents and look after the repairs and abuse the ten- ants, enants, an his own spare time being consumed in his efforts to have his taxes reduced to about half what they should have been in the regular order of thiuns. The house which he himself inhabited was a very wonderful structure of iron and stone and brass, altogether suitable as a place of residence for a man of his exalted station and means, being finished inside most exquisitely and equipped with every modern contrivance for making exxistence endurable and giving employment to plumbers and beilhaugers. But there was, in spite of all this mag- nificence, a thorn in the flesh of Mr. Solo- mon Boggs, He had a daughter. This fact, considered in the abstract, should be regarded rather as a blessing than otherwise. But when it is taken into consideration that this young lady was as homely as a baldheaded pheasant and had lived, in spite of her money, to the mature age of seven and thirty without asuitorfor her hand the chagrin of Mr. Solomon Boggs can be understood. Beautifying compounds of every descrip- tion had been applied to the unresponsive countenance of Miss Elizabeth Boggs with- out ithout the faintest shadow of success. The venders of the compounds, fearing that some harm might be done to the reputa- tion of their wares, sought to defend them by saying that they couldn't be expected to turn a witch into a Venus and went about with theair of persons whohad been deeply injured and whose confidence had been abused. Therefore when lir. Solomon. Boggs went down to his office to pick his teeth in his capacity of first functionary he generally bores heavy heart along with him. Dur- ing the day he was frequently occupied with schemes for the disposal of his daugh- ter in marriage and saw in every man he met a possible son-in-law who would lift from his soul the burden that oppressed it. .But up to the thirty-seventh year of his daughter's existence the only man who had wooed her was a gentleman from Mex- ico, exico, who, just in the nick of time, was found to possess three other wives. So tormented and irritated did Mr. Boggs become that little by little his subordinates became filled with fear and uneasiness and scarcely ventured to raise their eyes before him lest they should call down upon them- selves some ebullition of temper and a dis- charge from their situations. Pennyboy, the chief clerk, whose duty it was to do all the work that should have been done by Mr. Boggs himself and to scatter over his desk every morning a huge mass of papers to make it look as though the first func- tionary unctionary was a terrific man of business, be- gan to think seriously of resigning volun- tarily, to save himself the pain of a dis- missal, and of establishing with his savings a small cigar stand on the corner. Pennyboy and Mr. Boggs had at onetime got along capitally together, but the for- mer having let out in an unguarded mo- ment that he was already a married man and the father of twins their intimacy had drifted into coolness with the greatest ra- pidity. In a secluded street where lodgings were to be obtained at a ridiculously low figure, and where the principal features of the landscape consisted of washed clothes hung out to dry and clouds of soot emanating from the chimneys, lived Jamas Peruke. Right across the court from James Pe- ruke lived Margaret Muffins, and between them there existed a romantic feeling that belonged to sylvan groves and babbling brooks and was entirely out of place in such a locality. James Peruke belonged to that unfor- tunate class nfor-tunateclass of persons who are poor, but proud. T -Te held a very inferior position in the office of the honorable the secretary of the coastwise trade, where he conscientious- ly performed the tasks of 19 high officials who spa their parts lent a tone of dignity to the once. But. the love that existed between .lames and Margaret was not a bread and butter sentiment, the lack of those elements in- need nx'leed being the only drawback to its happy .consummation, It was an affection that had been cemented by years of close com- panionship and toil, and which bade fair to live on forever in spite of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Often and often had impossible schemes for getting along in the world been proposed by James, and others equally impossible by Margaret, but their very impossibility ren- dered them fruitless. It was while affairs were in this state, in the 'widely different spbei es of James Pe - rake and Mn Solomon Boggs, that chance ' brought them into contact with each other. Mr. Boggs, baying attended a meeting of the committee on pros and cons, was walk Ing home in a very bad humor when he chanced to get his foot wedged in between two paving stones so tightly that he could not draw it out again. James Peruke, happening along and See- ing the predicament, hastened to lendhis assistance and soon succeeded in setting the foot free again, for which act of kind- ness Mr. Boggs bestowed a smile tlponhim, and then, acting upon the constant impulse which possessed bine, invited him to his house to take dinner and meet his daugh- ter. .Tames being a gentleman, albeit poor, bowed with much grace and accepted. The acquaintance thus formed grew apace, and it was not 'Tung before he was a regular visitor at the house of the filet functionary and was thoroughly posted about everything therein, including Miss Elizabeth Boggs. As the frequency of his visits increased the heart of Mr. Solomon Boggs beat high with hope. His demeanor was no longer fierce, Slowly but surely the fish was nibbling at the hook, and it was only a natter of care, prudence and time when it should be successfully landed. But all this time the heads of James Peruke and Margaret Muffins were filled with a wild and desperate scheme. James, when he visited Miss Boggs, as- sumed a loverlike familiarity. He uttered tender nothings. He allowed his hand to stray idly over the back of her chair and sighed dismally as he spoke of the tremen- dous remendous distance that separated him from her. All tbis was duly imparted by Miss Eliza- beth to her father, and he agreed with her that the only thing that prevented an ' avowal ort the part of James Peruke was his delicate recognition of his poor estate. Decidedly that obstacle must be removed. A. word. to the honorable the secretary of the coastwise trade from bis friend, the first functionary of the lord mayor, would. set everything to rights. "Your ear, my lord," said Mr. Solomon Boggs at the first opportunity, and as a re- sult of what he whispered into it the as- sistant secretary banded a bulky document to the custodians of seals and impressions, who put a stamp on it and handed it in his turn to tbe chief of the sixty -fust division. The chief of the sixty-first division imme- diately welted upon James Peruke, who sat at his desk copying a report submitted by the commander of the Ninth brigade to the first lord of the shot tower and in - for seed him that be had been created sev- enteenth inspector of the royal inkstand.. He imparted tbis information with a mag- nificent bow, and drawing forth the com- mission, duly sealed and inscribed, present- ed it, Seventeenth inspector of the royal ink- stand! For a moment James Peruke's head swam, and he was entirely unable to grasp the situation. It was so immeasurably above his highest expectations. The chief of the sixty-first division himself was a veritable pygmy in comparison. As soon as he could collect his senses James started to ask the chief if he might absent himself for the day, but remember- ing the station he now held he looked bored instead and remarked: el think—aw—I think I will go home. Please convey my regards to the honorable the secretary of the coastwise trade and tell him I shall call to pay my respects to- morrow." The c ref of the sixty-first division bowed obsequiusly. Then James Peruke went out into the street and hailed a hansom. "Drive me to 111 Mud court," said he to the driver, and away rattled the cab to its destination. All this time Margaret Din mnswasquiets ly pursuing her household vocations un- conscious of the great events that were transpiring. Suddenly the door was flung violently open and in came James, the seventeenth inspector of the royal inkstand, breath- less, exultant, happy. In a trice the situa- tion was explained and the necessity for prompt action plainly seen. The cab was waiting outside, and Margaret ran up stairs to put on her bonnet and came back look- ing so sweet and blushing so prettily that James Peruke felt a tremulous thrill run down his spinal column and come out at the tips of bis fingers and toes. And now a cloud began to settle over the household and person of Mr. Solomon Boggs. Day afterday went by, yet James —James who was to marry Elizabeth—did not come. The old gloom and melancholy settled over everything. Pennyboyrenewed his purpose of going into the tobacco busi- ness and began to make inquiries for a suitable shop. Again and again did Mr. Boggs go up to the office of the seventeenth inspector of the royal inkstand, but an inflexible at- tendant said Mr. Peruke was engaged and could not be interrupted under any circum- stances. The first functionary was in de- spair. Finally The Daily Termagant came out with a graphic account of a gorgeous re- ception given bythe wife.of the Hon. James Perukeat which noble persons were pres- ent in great numbers. Mr. SolomonBoggs read it while he was at breakfast and swooned. As soon as he came to his senses he hastened to the honorable the secretary of the coastwise trade and demanded that James Peruke's commission be revoked. The honorable secretary looked grave. He was afraid it couldn't be done. The ap pointment had been made and confirmed, and the occupant of such a high office as that of seventeenth inspector of the royal inkstand could not be tampered with. It would be too dangerous. Then he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper and spoke of the peril of unpopular acts. Real- ly it was a matter in which he must decline to interfere. With an aching heart Mr. Solomon Boggs withdrew and turned his steps in the direction of his own place of business. "What are you doing, sir?" he demanded fiercely of Pennyboy on his arrival. "Nothing in particular, sir," said Penny- boy in much trepidation. Mr. Boggs glared at him savagely. "Nothing in particular!" he howled, smiting his desk with his fist. "You are always doing nothing in particular. Do you suppose that you are going to draw your salary for doing nothing in particular? Get out of here, sir!" Pennyboy ruefully retired. It had come. at last, but the shock was greater than he had. anticipated. • When he bad gone, Mr. Boggs sat down in his chair and groaned. As for the seventeenth inspector of the royal inkstand, lie remained in the enjoy merit of his high office and generous sal- ary, the actual inspection' of the inkstand: being attended .to` by an intelligent boy of 9 years who washed it out and refilled it every morning, and .was paid sixpence a week for doing so:—Cincinnati Times -Star: One Storm at a Time. Greene Gates -Did you hear the howling of the wind during that awful storm the other night? Macon . McDonough-Xo. I had just come in from the lodge at the time and was getting a blowing up from my wife.— Brooklyn Eagle. , ' AGRI C U LTU RE PROTECTION FOR' NAY. A Good Structure, Although There Is Not Very Much to It. A good was even If it is somewhat old, of cheaply protecting hay and inn. der is to make an open structure with a roof that can be raised or lowered, as necessary to receive and: best protect the hay or fodder beueatb. As usually built, it is a four -post affair, one post (strongly set in the ground) at each corner; but if the shed is one of oonsiderable length six posts are used, as shown in the ac- companying out (Fig. 1). What in an ordinary building constitutes the plates here becomes a frame, which at each corner embraces the post in manner shown at A in Fig. 2. If any posts ad- ditional to those at the corners are put down, an iron stirrrup is used, as de- picted at B. The oover, or roof, over the frame should be made of the lightest obtainable material that will turn rain. When raised or low- ered it is secured in place by iron pins stuck into holes bored in the posts for that purpose. A jaok screw, (if to be bad two jackscrews would be better) will be a great help in raising the adjustable roof. There Is a jackscrew made that clamps to an up- right post, which wonld here be just the thing. Thi:+ is the cheapest possible hay protector, as there is hardly anytbing to it but the roof.—G. W. Waters, in Jour- nal of Agriculture. CLOVER WITH WHEAT. Top Dressing With Yard Afanure—Ferti- lizersBetter If Drilled In. A Pennsylvania wheat -grower says in the Cultivator that long before phosphate was used for wheat, observing farmers had learned the great advantage of top dressing with finely rotted manure the land they were seeding with wheat. The effect of this was not merely to secure needed fertility for the growth of the plant, but to keep this fertility near the surface, so as to induce the horizontal growth of roots, and thus prevent it from winter killing. But this surface manuring never seoured all the gain made by drilling the fertilizer in contact with the seed wheat. That promoted the wheat growth as quickly as the seed germinated, and in just the place to do the wheat plant the most good. But the praotice of top -dressing wheat with sta- ble manure is a good one, and with the .advantage that it can be applied in winter when tbe ground is frozen or covered with snow, so that teams can go on it without poaohing the surface. This winter top - dressing is of especial value for the clover seeding. It will secure a good catch when, without It, neither clover nor grass would live through the dry weather of spring and summer. It Is mainly as a crop to seed with that Eastern farmers now grow winter wheat. The price for several years has been too low for the grain to be grown with profit. Bus the increased growth of clover with wheat as compared with what it will make with any spring grain, gives a compensa- tion that makes winter wheat still worth growing for this purpose if for no other. It is a fortunate fact that the pre- paration of the soil which secures the best wheat crop is best for the clover also. Broilers and Hard Work. All who have attempted to batch chicks and raise broilers with incubators and brooders admit that the work is tedious and laborious and that constant Dare—day and night—is necessary. In the winter, however, when a large number are seeking work, it is as profitable to apply labor in broiler raising as in any other direction. It is the work that makes• the business pay, and it is be- cause so many have endeavored to save labor that they have not succeeded. Why do broilers sometimes sell for 50 cents per pound? Because it requires so much hard work and risk to raise them, and because over one half of the young chicks die before they are six weeks old. 'It is the heavy loss of yonng chicks that en- tails the cost, and this loss can only be averted by constant care. The high prides for broilers compensate for the labor, for if there was but little labor required the supply would be much greater than the demand. Broiler raising in winter, therefore, is a means of employment, and it will pay any farmer to endeavor to learn how to hatch and raise chinks by artificial modes, determining, how- ever, not to spare labor in the enterprise. Compact Birds. By carefully observing . the chicks that were hatched this year it will be found that the late ones are more compact in appearance,, and have shorter legs than those hatched early, even when both the early and late ones are from the same' parents. The early cbicks; will get their height before filling nut, but the late ones will not grow in height any longer than the appearanoe of frost, but they thicken in body and appear compact, In reality they :re not as heavy or as large as the taller early ohieks, their shorter. legs simply giving them the appearance of strong, heavy chicks; They will never become any larger, as the winter usually ends their growth, Useful in ilia f3oasehold. Every well regulated house should con- tain a•place •-where boxes are kept. Then every one that comes -to the house,assoon . as its: contents are used, should be put in this closet along with the string and; wrapping paper, so that if a parcel le to be done up in a hurry the materialg: are at hand. LEANER PORK. ' Carcasses et Clear Lard Not Wanted N.w The Food Decides the Quality. The demand for leaner pork, which was referred to in a previous issne, is widespread and the person whn is pro- ducing pork, for the market must prepare to meet it. By leaner pork is not meant the sending to market of the former type of hog in a half -fattened condition, but a distinct type bred and fed with the prominent idea of mingling the lean and fat in such a manner as to meet the de- mand of the market. Formerly the lard was the chief element sought in the mar- ket hog, but now the other characteristio has entirely overshadowed that, and the bacon hog is the one in demand, Thomas Shaw, in the Prairie Farmer, advocates crossing the large breeds upon the "com- mon dumpy shaped" sows of the smaller breeds, and the following method of feeding: "But the food exercises a power- ful influenee on the character of the heat, since it affects the character of the development all along the line. When pigs are fed nitrogenous foods prior to the fattening period they grow muscle; that is to say, they grow lean meat with some fat in it. Then when the fattening period comes, the `streaking' of the meat is perfected through enlarging the size of the seams of fat. Of nitrogenous foods we have many. They include shorts, bran. oats, skim -milk, peas, squashes, pumpkins, field roots, clover and a great variety of grasses which may and ought to be used in pasturing. But bran and oats should not be given to young swine, since they are not stilted to their digestion. And the more exercise the pigs get the more perfect will be the blending in the meat. In other words, pigs that pasture during all the season of growth will make a better quality of pork than those not so pastured. For pas- tures we may use clover in all its varie- ties, winter rye, barley, peas, sorghum and rape. Where clover will not grow, rape will succeed and it will make an excellent substitute for clover, If pigs are bred as indicated, if they are fed nitrogenous foods up to the fattening period, if they are given exercise during the pasturage season and if they are then fattened on corn or barley, or both, they will furnish pork of as good apquality as can be found in the world. Of course, some barley, Dorn or rye may be fed dur- ing the growing period and with advant- age, but the quantity should not be large.. We niay lose a little in easy keeping qualities by the modifications recom- mended, but we will get more than com- pensation in the vigor, the proliflioaey and the general well doing of our pigs." Will it Pay the Farmer? "Will it pay a farmer to buther with chickens?" asks an Inquirer. Will it pay a farmer not to bother with chickens? , We would like to know. What are the legitimate productions of a farm? To our notion, says the Wisconsin Farmer, it means growing grain, growing vege- tables, growing fruits, wool; keeping hogs for meat and lard; keeping bees for honey; keeping poultry for eggs and carcasses. In foot, everything that is grown or prnduced on a farm is a legiti- mate produot. A farm without poultry is like a home without a mother. No one oan appreciate either unless once deprived of them. If farmers will conduct their farms un the same line that the large department* stores of the city are run, they will have less cause to complain of the 'uncer- tainties" of agricultural pursuits. Those stores try every branch thoroughly, and hold on to that which is good. The en- terprising farmer does the same, and in every case where eaoh branch is properly tried, poultry culture is the first to be retained. Isn't it funny that nearly every farmer who tells us that poultry doesn't pay continues to keep them? We have seen farmers give up one branch after another because they found it unprofit- able and declare poultry was a losing game; yet, nevertheless, they continued keeping fowls right along. As we have repeatedly said in these. columns, none is better fitted for mak- ing poultry pay than the farmer. He can find no better market for cheap grain than poultry affords. Bnt poultry on the farm must be commanded better. The farmer is indifferent, and the hens become lazy—and lazy hens are as un- profitable as a lazy farm hand. While there Is always plenty of work on a farm during the winter, the income is nothing else but what has been earned' during the summer. Why not increase` the winter earnings by building snug houses, studying up the question of win- ter eggs and winter poultry, and devote your time to gradually building up an industry that eaoh year will enable you to gradually drop the harder work of farming, and that. too,with an increased income? Farmers should think well over these things, for to there, more than to any one else, it means dollars in their pockets. 011 Stains on Wood or Stone. To remove oil stains from boards or stone mix fuller's earth into a paste with water, lay it over the stain, and when dry brush it off. If this does not take out the oil with one application it must be repeated two or three times. A very good scouring liquid may be kept ready for the same purpose. -Make strong lye of pearlash and rain water, and add as much unslaoked lime as it will take up. Bottle the liquid and keep it corked tightly ready for,use. When required take one part of liquid and three of water, and scour the stained part with it, If is is allowed to lie on the hoards .it will. take the color out of them: so it must always be used with care end expedition. Ground Bone in Dozes.. The cut green bone should always be preferred, but the hard, dry bones may be ground and utilized also. The bone should not he too fine—about the size of peas Is correct= -and may be placed in a cigar box and located where the fowls can help themselves. If the pieces; are sharp they will serve as grit and also provide lime for the shells because they are animal foods and digestible, wltlle oyster shells, being useful as grit, are not digestible, their action ' being me- chanical. Batter for Fritters. . Put four ounces of flour in a basin, make a hole in . the center of the flour, drop in the yolks of two eggs. Stir four tablespoonful's of stale beer into one tablespoonful of salad oil: Pour this on to the yolks and stir gentlyin, taking, care not to get it lumpy. Put white of one egg on a plate, beat it to a stiff froth, and stir lightly into the hatter. Use directly; when once the 'white is added on, the froth sinks. Christ's Christianity Christianity as Christ taught is the truest: philosophy of life ever: spoken. But let us be quite sure,' when we speak of Christianity, that we mean Christ's Christianity.—Philips Brooks. POINTS IN TOMATO CULTURE. Treatment of. the Seedlings When an Earl, Crop is Desired. Late tomatoes may be a fairly paying crop for the farmer who grows them for canning factories by aores, but they are not profltslble any more for the market gaedener, The money for the latter and. the satisfaction for the amateur is in the ripe fruit he can secure before the rusb. The knowing ones therefore lose no time in starting plants and take such early varieties as the Ruby, Fordhook, New Imperial or the older King of the Barites, Earliest Advance and others of that glass to give ripe specimens an 120 or 125 days from sowing the seed. The seed is sown early in a good seed bed in sunny window, greenhouse or hotbed. For the first transplanting of these SEEDLING FOR FIRST TRANSPLANTING. seedlings the soil need not be of more than medium richness. As T. Greiner says in American Gardening: We don't want forced. sappy growth. Seedlings that are, short and stocky and stiff can go through the transplanting prooess without receiving much of a check, even without wilting. The tomato plants, about -three or four weeks after sowing seed, are pulled up from the seed bed, having then the general appearance represented in the first illustration. This shows a plant of the potato leaf type in natural size. The soil is well moistened. and the plants are then care- fully lifted nut by prying under them with a small trowel or other tool. Thus, with all the fano roots intact and perhaps a little soil still adhering to them, they aro set firmly in other lints, or directly on the benches or in hotbeds, about three inches apart each way. Moist soil should always be firmly pressed against the roots of the little plant, and if this is done the latter will hardlyfeel the trans- fer, Concerning the second transplanting Mr. Gronior says: In some cases we set the plants,,t► first shifting far enough apart (four inches or more) so they can get their full development and be taken directly to open ground without another transplanting. For earliest crop, how- ever, we want very large, very stocky and well advanced plants, and we pre - f er to set them first three inches apart, and then, when they have reached the size as shown in nncdmpanying Illustra- tion, to a larger distance, say, not less than five inohes, if we oan possibly spare the roots. Thus they are left to grow, SEEDLING FOP SECOND TRANSPLANTING. and by the time that they can go into the openground, scone time in May. earlier or later awarding to season and locality, they will be in bloom, and per- haps with fruit already set. In the final transfer to open ground large chunks of soil are removed with the plant and great care is taken to dis- turb the roote as little as possible. Bngagin i' Servants. Don't engage a servant who tells you with an air of frankness that ebe walks in her sleep, so that if you bear her moving about in the night you need not feel alarmed, A friend of mine, in an unthinking moment, engaged one of these mildly afflicted treasures. Ere long the ,maid fulfilled her threat and walked in her sleep. But,the worst of it was that it was found in the morning that she had walked off altogether, and, in her condition of somnolent irrosponsi- hility, had taken with her a quantity of table silver, her faculties not being too numbed by sleep to prevent her from distinguishing between sterling silver and electroplate, This; domestic version of "La Sritrittnm ala" may be remember- ed with advantage by ladles who are engaging new treasures—as who is not? Stene emir Intik. Never throw away sour miik, for - it Drakes exoollent xconcs one onkcs, and if there be a good deal of if, and it al- lowed to stand for a few days it will be- come quite solid. Tako this curd and hang itupin a damp cloth and you will have a very goal sweet little cheese, If the surd be used directly it isset,s ueezed dry, e lemon- el hntter, and o sput p OM to lb in the ordinary gnantitlos far a cheese - Cake and you have a further use for the often rejected stale mil k. Cream Sono of Li Beaus. Soak one cupful of beaus and cook till soft and rub through a strainer, .there should be about one pint of the pulp. Scald ono pint of milk, thicken with one teaspoonful of butter, and ole half tea- spoonful of flour cooked together. Add the bean pulp and season to taste. with salt, pepper and onion juice. THE ZULU BIBLE. It is One of Many Printed by the American Bible Society. ' The Zulu Bible is one of the interest-' ing forms of the Scriptures among the vast number of Bibles printed in the . Bible House in New York, by the' American Bible Society. The statistics. of the society are interesting and stir prising to any one unfamiliar with them. The society's twenty -Dent 13ible end five -cent Testament are probably the cheapest books in the world. The Testa trent for five cents is marvelous. It is a a small book. but the type is clear and • plain, and the cover, a soft one of cloth, is neat and attractive. Tilofigures on the inside of the 1896 edition show that 12,- 442,000 copies of tate book have been printed. The Bible is in the 1895 edition, ` and the figures show that at the time of its issue 2,300,000 bad been printed. That num Der has now been largely in- creased. It has been estimated that in. busy times au average of one Bible, and three or four Testaments are turned out every minute by the plant in the house for every day in the year. About two- thirds of all the Bibles printed are given' away, and the others are sold at costes Last year the society issued 1,750,283 Bibles and Testaments. The English editions and editions in the common European languages are all printed at the Bible House. Some of the languages of tho extreme East, like the Chinese, can be priuted more cheaply by native workmen in the country to which they belong. The Canton Bible, which is in the colloquial tongue spoken by most of the Chinese in this vioinity, is printed at the Bible House. In the past eighty years of its existence, the society has issued 61, 705,841 volumes of the Holy :ioriptnres, in nearly 100 languages and dialects. In the first twenty-five years of its existence itprinted nearly 3,000,000: books, in the second nearly 19,000, 000, 1 and the total issue of the third twenty- five years was 32, 448,180. An old gentle.; man interested in the work has estimated that there have been Bibles enough , printed to supply every person in the: world with one. A DEAD -AND -ALIVE CITY. I Cordova Has LIttle of 'its Old-TIino wealth and l'o'wer. From the station we drove through a staring white suburb, past the well- whitewashoti walls of the bull -ring, to the Fonda de. Oriente. It was still early in the afternoon, the sun fierce, the light ' blinding—the hour when all summer we had been sleeping and dreaming in the Alhambra's halls and the Gener:infant gardens. Remembering their loveliness, and hoping for new beauty like it, we could not stay in the dull hotel bed- room, though with its tiled floor it was fairly cool and clean, and we went out into the town. Silence hung over it like a pall. Every winding street in the labyrinth beyond the Paseo was empty; not a living creature iu sight, only once in a while a beggar, who rushed from some spot Of shade to assail us; all the low, white houses, with their iron -barred windows. were tight shut; the place was abandoned and desolate, its silence un- broken by sound of toll or traffic, Was this really the Cordova of Musa and Abdorrahman, the Cordova once called the Bagdad or Damascus of the West, whose streets were ever alive with the clang of arms, the pomp of proces- sions, the clatter of students going to and from the sohonls, whose name was it synonym for wealth and power; for culture and industry—the world-famous town with its scientists and merchants and women doctors? It was as if aplague had fallen suddenly upon the town, and left not ono loan, woman, or child to tell the tale.—"Midsummer in Southern Spain," by Elizabeth R. Pennell, in the tieptember Century. World's Increasing Population. The astonishing growth of European cities in the Inst twenty years is but part of a movement in population which is general throughout civilized coun- tries. It is certainly unprecedented in history. In this country the increase from 50,- 000,000 to 70,000,000 in less than two de- cades is paralleled by Germany, which has increased from 30,000,000 to 52,000,- 000 since the Franco-Prussian war: Eng- land shows a like increase, confined chiefly to the pities. While Ireland, Italy and Spain are not so responsive to the movement, it is for causes too well un- derstood to make their oases seem excep- tional to the rule that the great scientific' and mechanical improvements of the century are making it possible for the world to produce and support a larger population than was dreamed of even by the most pronounced opponents of Man tbusianism in their controversies with the ignorant theorists who believed that the limit of population had been or was about to be reached. According to Mulhall the total popu- lation of the earth in the time of Augus- tus Caesar did not exceed 54,000,000, so. that in the United States we now have more people than the earth contained when the empire of the Caesars was at its greatest. According to the same authority the population of Europe was only 50,000,000 in the fifteenth century, while now it is estimated at over 357,000,000 people, whose average of living is far higher than that of the age of Augustus or than that of the fifteenth century. It is beuoming a more and more self- evident proposition that the increase of civilization is not only accompanied by, but is dependent on enincrease in popu- lation. And no fact in economic history . is of more far-reaching importance. Gentleness. Gentleness is love in society. It is love holdingintercourse with those around it. It is that cordiality of .aspect and that soul of speech which assures that kind and earnest hearts may still be met with bore below. It is that quiet influence which, like the ecentod flame ' of an ala- baster lamp,fills many a borne .with light and warmth and fragrance altogether. It is the carpet, soft and deep, which, while it diffuses a look of ample; comfort, deadens many a creaking sound. It is the curtain which, from . many a beloved form, wards off at once the summer's' glow and the winter's wind. It is the pillow on whioll sickness lays its head and forgets half its misery, and to which death comes in a balmier dream. 'It is considerateness, It, is tenderness of feel- ing. It is warmth of affection. It is promptitude of sympathy. It is love in all its depths and all its delicacy. It is everything : included in that matchless grace, the gentleness of Christ. His Time Hud Como. "Hal hal" sardonically cried the heavy villian in the fourth act; "now my time has come," And then the supe came on and ,handed him the property Watch.