HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1887-4-7, Page 6EOYEOID,
Thivi Weatil XIIOVaing.
Variety le the beet euliklanY aPiae,
Noma eat until yea are real hengry.
Vinegamsatereted sugar will ()ere hie.
omegia.
It he wild 010 4 need here° la never a beet
eolor.
To preveet lockjew, apply turpentine to
th.0 eint,
A little vinegar in water will clean lime
off of paint.
,hot, stroug lemonade, t&ke vt bech
time, will break up a bad cold.
Medieinal herbe slaould be dried, put ia
paper begs aud labeled,
If the oven is to hot when bandug, place
a smell dish of cold witter tu
When eponge eeke becomes dry it is nice
to cut iu thin shoes and toast.
Hemorrhage front the lungs can be eas-
ily stopped by eating a little salt.
To remove ink spots, dip the spotted part
in pure melted tallow, then wash.
Wipe hot flet -irons ou a cloth wet with
keresene, to prevent them from scorching.
Soda water is very effective in washing
the smoke of kerosene lamps from the ceiling.
Whitewashed walls can be prepared by
first washing with vinegar to "hill" the
lune.
Iron rust can be removed front clothes by
rubbing with lemon Once and layingin. the
sun.
When there is a crack in the stove, it can
•
e nlenctecl y inixing ashes
water.
Sunshine on mirrors will injure their
lustre, therefore do not hang opposite a
door or window.
Red ants will never be found in closets or
•drawers if a. small bag of sulphur is kept in
these places.
Rub the bottom of your sauce -pan, in
which you boil milk, with a little butter
to prevent the milk from sticking.
To remove the glossy appearance from
coat collars and elbows, rub with a cloth
dipped in warm water and borax.
Clothes that have turned yellow through
bad washing, or from being long laid by,
may be whitened by soaking in buttermilk.
As a ride Lima beans are not cooked long
enough. A lady of our acquaintance cooks
them slowly for four hours. Try her plan.
A good cement to tasten on lamp tops is
melted alum; use as soon as melted, and
the lamp is ready for use as soon as the ce-
ment is cold.
If matting, counterpanes or bedspreads
have oil spots on them, wet with alcohol,
rub with hard soap, and then rinse with
clear, cold water.
The following is a good remedy for burns:
Mix four ounces of the rake of eggs with
five ounces of pure glycerine. This forms
a. kind of varnish.
It seems to be the mission of the average
Canadian house -wife to educate the cooks
for the people who are able to pay a dollar
in wages more thin she does.
To harden cast iron,, mix one-half pint
of oil of vitriol and two ounces of saltpetre
in three gallons of clean water. Heat the
iron to a cherry red, and dip as usual.
If a closet or cupboard is damp and likely'
to cause mildew, place in it a saucer of
quick -lime, whichshould be removed once a
fortnight. This will absorb the dampness
and purify -dee place.
Hot alum is the best insect destroyer
known. Pat it in hot water, and let it boil
until all the alum is dissolved. Apply hot,
with a brush, and all creeping things are in-
stantly destroyed.
When larger flower pots are used, there
will be more leaves than flowers. Often
plants do not bloom because, having so much
space, their strength is expended in forming
roots and leaves.
Discolored tea and coffee pots may be
elea.ned by filling them with water in which
two or three tablespoonfuls of wood ashes
have been placed, and letting it boil up,
then wash it thoroughly with hot soap -suds,
and rinse.
One may utilize old matting which is no
longer fresh enough to look well, by putting
it under carpets. It can be cleaned perfect-
ly by washing it on both sides with hot
water and salt; hang it on a line out -doors
to dry.
It has been discovered by a Chicago
physician that suburban life is a powerful
provocative of dyspepsia. Men are like ani -
mats, and must eat their meals quietly and
eisurely to secure a perfect flow of the gas.
trio juice.
It is said that watercress destroys the
toxic principles of tobai ca without destroy-
ing its other qualities. If this information
can be relied on, smokers have only to
moistest their tobacco with the juice of
watereresses and they can enjoy a harmless
smoke.
Receipts.
MOTH PREVENTIVE.—The following re-
cipe for keeping moths out of clothing is a
favorite in some families: Mix half a pint of
alcohol, the same quantity of spirits of tur-
pentine, and two ounces of camphor. Keep
in. a stone bottle, and shake before using.
The clothes or furs are to be e rapped in lin-
en, and crumpled -up pieces of blotting paperdipped in the liquid are to be placed in the
box with them, so that it smells strong.
This requires renewing about once a year.
StroAn GINGERBREAD.—One cup of sugar
•and one-half eup of butter rubbed together,
one cup of sour milk, one-half teaspoonful
of saleratus, a little salt, and flour enough so
that you can roll it out, place it in the pan,
indent with a teaspoon, put a little speck of
Matter in the cavity, and so on through the
dough, making these dents an inch apart,
then sprinkle on cinnamon all over the top,
and over that sprinkle granulated sugar,
taking care always to have the sugar last.
If you do not have sour milk, take instead
two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar with one
of saleratus.
BEEFSTEAK.—The best proceed for cooking
beefsteak is to place it on a gridiron over
hat coals until the ounside is properly
browned, not scorched ; then remove it to a
hot platter and season with butter, pepper
arid ealt after which place it in a hot oven
Where it should remain frotn three to five
minutes. At the end of that time it will be
found cooked through, and. of a delicate
TO8011te hue, tieither dried nor burned in any
part. Some prefer to season the steak just
before Serving.
STEAME'll Cirmuctee—IYrepare the chicken
as fez. roasting. Make 0, stuffing of bread
crumbs, seasoned with pepper, melt ancl but-
ter, to Which is added one dozen oysters,
each out into three pieces. Fill the chicken,
bind the legs &Id wings to the body and put
it into a eteamee with a closely fitting lid,
If the fowl be 1 all grow, stearei gelidity for
,
twe hinges ()pea the knower at the end of
the Aciona hour for .the Amt. three and try
the beast with a ferk, I teader, remove
the ehieken te a hob weter dish etud keep it
covered while yoe melte the grevy. Strain
the grevy frent the :steamer or pail into 4
eaneepau ; etir in two tabblespoons of better
leer of oyster lemur Oleo streamed, e teble.
Spoon of flour wet uplik three tablespoons of
(imam and te tablespoon of ohoppeel parsley.
Bram to a 'boil, Stir i quielily a beztten egg,
• seasou to taste and pour some of it ever the
fowl, artd the ret Mt° 4 boat.
NATURE'S GREAT FIREWORKS.
The anoearanee or the itawatten VOICan0
11.011I the eta,
We copy the following graplue descrlption
of an eye -witness from the Hawaiian Ga-
zette, February 15 ;
On uearing the scene of the lava flow about
o'elookin the afternmenouSeturday Jen.i'29,
our attention was about equally dividedbe-
tween the volumes of smoke issuing from the
mountain side near the source and. the 0011-
stant jets of steam shooting into the air along
the margin of the see for perhaps a couple
of miles where the fiery element seemed to
be consuming even
Toe MIGIATZ PACIFIC
in its hitherto irresistible march. Upoa
close examination with my glass I could dis-
tinguish large masses of dark ashen -colored
lava, slowly forced by the pressure exerted
from behind, meet the heavy swell of the
heaving ocean, and with a rolling plunge bury
itself forever amid a seething mass of steam
and foam, the product of the two greatest
forces the earth conteins. At three different
places small streams of lurid molten lava could
be seen pouring theirliving fire into the break-
ers as they dashed themselves into foam and
mingled with the steam that shot many feet
into the air above.
But the growing darkness gradually
changed the scene, and all eyes were now
intently turned to the grand display
on the mountain side. At first the eye
could not wander from the cone which ap-
peared to bathe source, at an elevation of
about 6,000 feet and tbout twenty miles dis-
tant from where we lay which sent up a con-
stant solid
VOLUME OF MOLTEN LAVA
which seemed larger than the steamer on
which we floated, and variously es-
timated by the passengers at from 50 to 200
feet in height. Clouds of smoke filled the
air around and above it, and at intervals of
about a minute or so it would belch forth
flashes of lightning to illuminate the sky, so
that thevery smoke itself seemed a lurid glare
of sulphurous fire.
As the darkness of night closed around the
rest of the mountain, the course of the lava
became more and more distinct; now you
trace its course until a few miles further
do vn the mountain side -you see it tumbling
and pairing over a precipice, as a cascade
that might easily be mistaken for another
fountain connected with, and playing from,
the regions of fire beneath. Then you follow
it along' a sweeping, but not tortuous chan-
nel, down the mountain side for miles th-
out a break.
Now it is hid for a short interval by forc-
ing for itself a passage under the lava that
has already cooled and formed a black crust
above; but, as if determined to brook norm
straint, it again bursts in full view, a
MAGNIFICENT RIVER OF FIRE
for a few miles more, and then again hides
and reappears in the same way, until it is
finally lost in the cracks and chasms of the
hundreds of acres of smoldering lava piled
along the flat bordering the sea below, and
rolling large quantities of the latter into the
sea, but itself only reaching the ocean in
its molten state at three plsees, as stated be-
fore. The coal -black lava for a mile on each
side, the belabing fountain of lava above,
the nery river of lava coursing its sulphur.
ous way to the sea, and the lurid glare of
the smoky heavens closing around, formed a
scene of sublime fiery grandeur, the like of
which few on earth ever witnessed, and once
seen can never be effaced from memory.
Canadian Barley.
The barley grown in this country is ac-
knowledged to be much superior to that
grown over the border, and although an ex-
port duty of lOcts per bushel is levied
against our grain, we have hitherto been able
to successfully compete against American
growers. The Toronto Board of Trade at a,
recent meeting passed a resolution urging
our farmers to maintain this high standard
of excellence. It seems that of late years
new varieties of barley have been introduc-
ed here, none of which bring as high a price
in American markets. The resolution
states that it is essentially necessary in order
to maintain our present reputation of grow-
ing, in Canada, the best barley on this con-
tinent, that only the most desirable matured
seed, properly cleaned, should be sown, and
the Board therefore urges upon dealers
throughout the country, and farmers gener-
ally, to discontinue the growth of Mensury,
Russian or Imperial varieties of barley.
Another clause of the resolution refers to
the necessity of more caro being exercised
in the selection of the red winter wheat
seed used, that it will be well matured, and
not mixed with white winter wheat, as
the mixture, although producing a sound
healthy grain, makes it unfit for grading as
red winter wheat, and consequently de-
teriorates its value.
A Rhetorician.
Schoolmaster, to his wife: "My dear I
wish you would speak more carefully. You
say that Henry Jones came to this town
from Sunderland ?' " Wife : "Yes." School-
master : "Well, now, wouldn't it be bet-
ter to say that he came from Sunderland to
this town?'" Wife: "1 don't see any
difference in the two expressions." School-
master : "But there is a difference—a the-
oretical difference. You don't hear me use
sach awkward expressions. By the way, I
have a letter from your father in my
pocket." Wife: "But my father is not in
your pocket. You mean you have in your
pocket a letter from my father," School-
master : "There you go with your little
quibbles! You tene a delight in harassing
me. You are always taking up a thread,
and representing it as a rope' Wife " 'Re-
presenting it to be a rope,' you mean."
Schoolmaater "For goodness sake be
quiet 1 Never saw such a quarrelsoine wo-
mait in mv 11 1"
A Domestic Treasure.
A lawyer lately, boasting of the fleetness
and regularity of his wife, said, "11 I get
tip in the night, however pitch dark, I cart
find my clothes, clown to my gloves, all in
their proper places, 1 was up this morning
before dayliglie," he continued, putting his
hand into his pocket for his handkerchief,
"and—"}fere he pulled out, not his
hmadkorchiel but his wife's nightcap 1
gogg qapit,41A NEWs,
The Terenie police-Fo-rce be been 'edema),
etted, lin the zielditioa et 28 new Men. •
Beet= .importers are seekiett te introduce
in Canada free of duty fish teken out of
werebouses there and eepreseoted as the
eitteh of Newfoonillemil,
A trial made on the New York Centre).
creadrLs"ffy '$fteaatt, 4(fellrofuttarattf4 tihleelfrgaor-
of the scheme,
ability
The Omuta/el Pacific and Grand Trunk
railways are almost at loggerheads over
their rivalry to secure the immigratiou
Maio arriving at Quebec.
Two huudrod mid thirty five members of
the len erns' Parliaineut have eigned a
meniorial in fey= of preventing the publica-
tion of offensive deteils in divorce caees.
Work on the Seult Ste. Maxie breach of
the Canadian Pacific railway, which was
commenced in January, and on which about
fifteen hundred men are employed, will be
completed by next November.
The consolidated debt of the Province of
Quebec is $18,155,018, whieln with the
floating debt Maimed by Mr. Mercier to
amount to $3,693,000, makes it total provin.
Mal indebtedness of $21,848,018.
It is said that the steamer Lansdowne
will not he commissioned for the fisheries
protective service this season. The purchase
of the new steamer Triumph has been con-
cluded. She will carry the usual armament
and a crew of about 23 inen.
The Dominion Government have received
a requisition for the extraditiou of the Ital-
ian, Francesco Trinario, who murdered a
fellow -countrymen in Chicago about a month
ago. Lenart.° escaped to Manitoba, but
was arrested in Winnipeg a short thne ago.
There is a growing impression the; the
Anarchists are not dangerous as long as
they are only armed. with firearms. They
only hit one crowned head out of fifty they
shoot at,and they seem to have received
their training as sharpshooters in the United
States militia.
The fifth annual report of the Canada
North West Laud Company says the sides
of farm lands and town sites were satisfac-
tory last year, that settlement is increasing,
free homesteads are being rapidly taken up,
and that a material increase of sales is ex-
pected in the near future.
It is expected that the Dominion Artillery
Association, at its annual meeting to be
held in Ottawa on May 5th, will arrange for
holding a monster competition on the Isle
of Orleans, in July or August, in place of
the annual trip to Shoeburyness, which will
b.e abandoned this year.
Stewart Bros., of St. John, N. B., and
London, England, have entered action in
Montreal against the Bank of British North
America. for $500,000 damages aud ageinst
the Star for $100,000, the former for refus-
ing payment of the firm's cheque and the
latter for alleged libel in connection with the
Maritime Bank failure.
Halifax is greatly excited over the en-
forcement of the new Provincial license
law, which forbids the selling of liquor in
hotels to other than guests, and in case of
guests to be drank only in private rooms or
at meals. At shops liquor cannot be sold
in lent quantities than a pint, and this must
be carried away a,nci. drank. Hotelkeepers
say their receipts have fallen off fully one-
half.
A young man calling himself H. C. Logan,
of Chicago, but who is alleged to be V. E.
Vanzandt, of Markham, is in gaol at Farm-
ington, Missouri, on the charge of attempt-
ing to pass bogus cheques. A cheque on
the Ontario Bank for one thousand dollars
was found in his possession, and also a let-
ter from his mother in Markham stating
that detectives were searching for him for
passing a cheque for a large amount on the
Dominion Bank.
Last week the Indians moved up out of
the bottoms at the Blood Reserve, saying
that they expected the chinook in three
days, and that it would flood them out. It
did start pretty early Friday morning, and
began in earnest at about ten o'clock on
Saturday night. It blew with terrific force
all night, and all day Sunday and Monday.
Sunday morning thd snow was nearly all
gone but the drifts, and by last night only
the larger drifts remained. There was from
eighteen inches to two feet of snow when
the ehinook ettme.—Fort McLeod Gazette.
QUEER THINGS ABOUT MONEY.
A Toronto gambler who had been playing
in hard luck, borrowed a counterfeit silver
dollar from a friend and made straight for
the nearest saloon. He met with phen-
omenal success, and on quitting the game
was $121 ahead, As he was leaving the
place he boasted of his trick, and was at
once ignominiously kicked into the street.
John Monroe, a young man living with
his widowed sister in the northern part of
Georgia, was digging a. hole for a potato bin
in his cellar the other day, when his spade
broke open an earthen pot containing $1,480
in gold. The coin had been buried by his
sister's husband during the war, and subse-
quently forgotten.
Some months ago a lady living in Butler,
through fear of the depredation of tramps
put $110 in bank notes in a pasteboard box
and buried it in the yard near the wood -pile
Last week she went, out to get it and found
that box and bills had been badly mutilated
by lice. The has sent the notes to the banks
which issued them for redemption.
Self -Inflicted Misery.
Many of us fritter our lives away. In-
deed La Bruyere says that most men spend
most of their time in making the rest miser-
able. On the other hand, "if the heart be
right," says the Imitatio Christi, "then
would every creature be to thee a mirror of
life, a book of holy doctrine." Most of us
San be rendered very unhappy by unkind-
ness, the lose, the faults, even the coldness
of those we love; but it is eirtainly true
that no one was ever yet made utterly mis-
erable except by himeelf. Marcus Aurelius
wisely tells us to "remember on every oc-
casion which leads thee to vexation to ap-
ply this principle —that this ia not a mis-
fortune, but that to bear it nobly is good
fortune ;" and he elsewhere observes that
"we suffer much more from the anger and
vexation which we allow acts to rouse in us
than we do from the ads themselves at
which we are angry and vexed."
A French Judge's Call to Or.
Scene—A French court of assizes. Judge:
" Prisoner you home beaten this poor man
80 cruelly ilia, he ie dead."
Pristmer, vehemently : "He attacked me I
first. Besides, he was a rascal, and gave ue
much trouble on the foam. It is not my
fault if ho wag an idiot,"
Judge, with severity "ou should re -1
member that idiots are men like you anti
me 1
' Major Stewart, of the Caseade men mines,
is now in Winnipeg. He says the output Of ell mental gifts the earest is intellee-
will soon reach 500 tone Melly, anct that the tual pa,tience; and the'litat lemon el etiltureis
intention is to supply Sam Freacieco and the to believe fit diffieulties vvhich are invisible
Pacific 'tweet. oarselvos,
WONT= UP T1l4 ROM W011tIP
MT 1. nnatdinn.
The eommonest objets -Os ot nature have
beim invested by the tight of modern act
eines, With eheame unknown to, pr appre
elated by, tae great meaa of humanity, Itt
their struggle for wealth or power few meii
realize the foot that these objeets are being
governed by e system of law's, vast, grand
and h annontous, mintrolling the earth, the
sun, the stars, the universe'from the upper
-
meet height, to the lowest depth, yet omit-
ting not the =attest iota, the tinieet atom,
from under their sway,
No department of natural 801011C0 40 fully
illustretes these marvellous laws as the Mass
Ineecta. (in the estiniation of earnest sto.
dents Of nature, this ohms occupies a very
prominent position in that wonderful book
of nature which is, as the great Lord Bacon
said, "Vox Dei in rebus reveata," the word
of God revealed in fasts, because none SQ
abounds in usefelness and injury to man or
SO clearly shows the working of that God to
whom all that live and move and home
their being" owe their existence )
It is time that our people in general, and
especially the younger portion, were being
made acgeitintell with a class of beings sur-
rounding us day and night, furnishing us
witn 4inusernent,Tood, clothing, coloring sob -
stances, and medicines, that they may be
able to distineuish the useful Motu the injur-
ious, the harmless from the noxious, and to
discover those which may famish new ar-
ticles for manufactures, commerce and do-
mestic industry.
Their real benefit or iujury has been dis-
covered, after indefatigable researches and
observation, by the Entomologist, who has
protected man against them, or them againet
man. It was the Entomologist who discov-
ered their abodes, character, and duration
of life. It was he who taught mankind the
use that cart be made of those which are ben-
eficial, and the only certain methods of pre-
venting the baleful ravages of those which
are noxious. It is for this purpose that even
the smallest insects that live are collected,
preserved with unwearied patience and care.
The immortal Reaumere established upon
his estates nurseries for insects which he
not only paid servants for attending, but
watched himself night and day. The result
of his observations is a work published in
Paris called " Memoires des Insectes," which
abounds in useful and curious information.
General Count Dejeau, an aide-de-camp to
Napoleon Bonaparte, was an enthusiastic
entomologist, who even availed himself of ,
military cempaigns as expeditions for " bug -1
hunting." He was oontbaually collecting
and fastening them with pins to his hat which
was constantly covered with them. Na-
poleon and all his army at last grew accus-
tomed to seeing his hat thus singular-
ly ornamented, even in battle. But the
spirits of these departed insects had their
revenge at last, for at the battle of Wag -
ram, 1809, he was precipitated senseless
from his saddle by a cannon shot. Upon
recovering a little, and being asked by Na-
poleon if he were dead, he exclaimed, "No,
no 1 I am alive, but alas 1 alas my insects
are gone," and indeed they were, for his hat
was literally torn to pieces.
.Another lover of nature was Madame Maria
Sibille de Merlon, who at the age of fifty-
four set out for equatorial America, where
she proved her passionate devotion to the
study of insects by hazarding her life, with-
out a guide, among the swampy plains and
burning valleys of Guiana. As she was an
artist and an experienced engraver, she pub-
lished several works, filled with plates repre-
senting insect life, which were destined to
inaugurate the introduction of art into natu-
ral history. Each plate is a drama
in it-
aelf; near the insect, is seen the greedy lizard
opening its dreadful mouth, or the ferocious
spider waiting for it. The short life of In-
sects is here shown in its entirety, with its
continual struggles, infinite artifices, its
rapid end, and all the episodes of an exist-
ence for which life, as in the case of man, is
but a long and painful struggle. This he-
roic and industrious female naturalist, who
contributed so much to the advancement of
natural history of insects died at the ripe
old age of seventy-two in 1707.
Let women, let young girls who are martyrs
to the emmi of a life devoid of occupation
peruse her beautiful books, rend learn from
them how much a woman may do with the
time which is now either unoccupied or de-
voted to useless employments. To study
nature in any of its phases, ought, it seems
to me, to give more satisfaction to the soul,
more strength to the mind, and cause more
admiration of, and gratitude to the Author
of nature than doing a little crazy -patch-
work orIndulging in that intellectual pursuit
of gossiping. Insects are divided, accord -
mg to the classification of the old authors,
into nine distinct orders; of these we shall
havenime to take but two, viz., Coleoptera,
or Beetles ; and Lepidoptera, or Butterflies
and Moths.
We shall commence by examining the
COLEOPTERA.
Ihene a Wonderfni 60fmk-1-IWO a Perfa0
rural constabulary, day and night, without
holidays or repose, protecting our golds,
They never tetIell the smallest thing) then
ore oecepied eutirely be arresting thieves,
and they desire no salary but the body of
the thief.
Among these beetlea of prey we might
mentioa the handsome caterpillenhuoten
whielt may be seen maiming. A n d eveuitig
running elong the branches, seeking „for
their prey.
The Dystici or elaarks, as they are often
called, are large water -beetles, feeding al-
together upon aquatint luseete.
almonzem, Oat.
-------mete—weeesseemem----
DIAMOND .1.111:1GCFLERS.
Some Trines or the Trade—metatiettes or the
Justness.
Chambers' journai gives some interesting
stories of smugglers and their methods,
"Please to hold my baby whilst my hus-
band helps me to open my trunk ; he will be
quite good 11 you shake hie rattle," said 4
lady passenger to the officer who was wait-
ing to look over her travelling gear. And
that officer good humoredly did as he was
requested, shaking the rattle to the great
delight of the little one. The rattle in clues -
ion winch, fastened to a ribbon, was ted to
the child'waist, was filled with gems of
great value, a mode of sneuggliug that et the
time was too simple for detection. A elm
ma female, attired in the costume of a Sister
of Mercy, was passed over by the officer be-
cause she had no luggage worth examining.
She possessed, however, a fine string of
beads, which, with downcast eyes, she kept
telling. Safe on laud, she was affectionately
welcomed by two persona dressed in cos-
tumes similar to her own. Need it be tOld
that she was a smuggler, and that her
beads were so constructed that each held a
diamond weighing seven or eight carats?
Another ingenious person Mt upon the plan
of placing a few precious stones in a toy
kaleidoscope, which had been given to a
child, who carried it ashore in safety. A
!number of horning pigeons kept in cages,
and purchased at a village in Belgium and
brought to the United States by the way of
Paris and Havre, also played a profitable
part, each of the pigeons being freighted
Iwith a cargo of exquisite gems concealed in
quills, and carefully 'fastened to the mes-
sage -bearing dove. An: extensive system of
diamond smuggling was at one time carried
ou from Canadian ground by the aid of
homing pigeons. The discovery of this
illicit trade was made accidentally by a
farmer, who happened to shoot one of the
irds, and on examining it found that there
vas fastened to its leg a quill °maiming a
- umber of diamonds! A clue being obtained,
he local habitation of the pigeon propri-
tors was discovered and their mode of busi-
twee put an end to. The scheme, stated
imply, was to fly every week or ten days a
flock of a dozen or fifteen pigeons, each
carrying about half -a dozen gems. As the
duty on diamonds amounts to ten per cent.
the trouble taken to smuggle these gems
into the United States does not seem so
very remarkable. The value of ths precious
stones honestly importedinto the States is
between $800,000,000 and $900,000,000 per
annum, and it has been calculated that
gems to half that sum escape payment of
duty.
ea In most collections of insects the Coleop-
tera seem nearly always to occupy the first
place, because of their bright colors, their
solidity and the facility with which they
can be preserved. Beetlee undergo a per-
fect transformation or metamorphosis. From
the egg proceeds a soft -bodied grub or mitg-
got (larva) whose only occupation seems to
be like that of children in eating and grow-
ing, which it does to perfection ; but after
a time (ba some cases three years) this ceases,
and it changes into a cocoon covered with a
thin transparent skin, where, during a long
sleep, it changes, and bursts forth at last
with glistening wings to appear a respect-
able object in the the fashionable world of
insects. They are divided into three dis-
tinct clases, the Carnivorous, Scaven-
ger and Herbiverous. The Carnivorous
Beetles are thotie which prey upon
other insects. They are of the greatest
possible use to man, and afford a constant
evidence of Nature's gracious law of corn.
pensation, the one undoing what tie) other
4008, the injuries which one species would
inflict upon man are checked by the carniv-
erous species, which prevent their super-
abundauce and keep an even balance in
the scale of being.
Carniverous insectpar excellence—those
which are most formidable on aoeount of
their voracity—are the Carabidea This
family, which is the most numerous of land
Coleoptera, consists of beetles provided with
long legs, and armed with powerful mandi-
bles euitable for the purpose of tearing their
victiree to pieces. They are the lions
and tigers among insects!. It is a for -
Mutate cireumstattee that these Carabidte
are very numerous as they destroy an irn-
maitre nuitther of small noxious oreeturee,
such as, weevile, caterpillars, etc., which
are the pests of aviculture. The preaddiee
that leads ignorant learners to exterminate
them is much to be regretted. They should
be protested and introdueed in the same
rnenner as toads In our gardene, or sate in
our grattaries. The experiinerit has been
very suceessfully tried in France and there
is no reason whyii should not be as euecess-
fel here as theme
M. Michelet says thet "the Caeabidte,—
immenee tribes of wartiore, anion to the
teeth, whittle under their heavy suirasaes
*mend
Treatment of the Insane.
after the drunks, the disorilerlies and the
vagrants had been disposed of by the police
, magistrate the other morning, a neatly -
dressed, pleasant -looking, young woman
was ushered into the docks. She hung her
, head and cowered in the corner furthest
from the officer who stood. guard at the
entrance to the little box where the prisoners
sit when in court. All eyes were upon her
as the magistrate said, " Mary , you
are charzed with being insane ; what have
you to say ?" The poor girl raised her eyes
to the bench and, then dropping them,
replied in a clear, silvery tone : "1 am not
insane." Another question, however, show-
ed but too plainly that her mind was de-
ranged and she was remanded for medical
examination. As she left the dock and
passed from the court room to the "cage"
to give place to another prisoner, her ease
was forgotten by the court room loungers
and the afternoon papers dismissed the
affair with two lines, "Many —, charged
with being insane, was remanded for medi-
cal examination." This was all. But of
those who read these lines how many thought
what that "remanded for medical examina-
tion" meant? It meant simply that this
poor, but evidently respectable, girl had
been arrested, locked up all night in a
noisome cell, surrounded by some of the
most degraded vagabonds of the city, car-
ried to the police court in a prison van,
locked up in a cage alone with other prison-
ers and then taken before the magistrate
and a gaping crowd of police court loafers.
But this is not all. When remanded for
medical examination, she was taken back to
the cage and conveyed to the gaol along
with other prisoners. There she was put in
one of the corridors with a number of de-
praved women who were told to "keep an
eye on her. To a sensitive girl what ter-
rible torture this must be, and when to this
is added the fact that the insane are usual-
ly hyper -sensitive, is not such treatment
enough to render their recovery next to im-
possible? But this is not all. The gaol
surgeon examines into her mental condition,
another medical man, nominated by the
Sheriff, also makes a report on her ease and
in due time the prisoner is arraigned before
I the runty judge and commttted as a
lunatic. An application is then made to
the provincial lunatic asylum for the ad -
'mission of. the prisoner, but only too often
the reply 18, "no room." All this time this
poor girl is the associate of depraved wo-
men, some of whom, at least, are only too
glad to "have some fun with her." How
long she wilI have to remain in the gaol no
one San tell; perhaps a week, a month or
three months, unless death steps in and re.
!ears her. This picture is not overdrawn,
it is a simple statement of what has been
and of what will be until the present state
of affairs is altered, It may be argued that
a serious case can always secure admittance
to the asylum. This is true enough, pro-
vided the patient's friends can afford to pay
from five to eight dollars per week. But to
those who C8,11/10t do so the routine, as al-
ready detailed, has to be followed and the
patient kept in gaol until his or her turn for
admiamion conies.
It is terrible to think that these poor
creattiree are faceted thus. The only ex.
Intimation is that in the multiplicity of char -
Mien thie has been forgotten. Something,
however, should be done at once, even 11
tome al the other charities should !stiffer in
consequence.—Forest and ?arm.
Hard to Please.
Clothier'e Selesman.—" You come here
end get a complete mit for ten dollars.* you
take it horneg you keep it for two woolen
you brhig it book, and. you get yonr mousy
again What more do you want '?"
Custornor,—"My car fare."
Fun mr4cruD.
Tie sinenderrue Inefettettnennsterithin
*Maori.
One of the most luteresting persons lei
England is Mr. Inglis, an expert in hand,
writing. Heviug &pea hineeelf•to hie burin
ness for more than forty yeas, hie Aka m
detesting fraud is ,80 greet that there le
scarcely a single contested will cane, turn-
ing repou the handwriting,of testator or wit-
nesses, in wineh he is pot Palled upon, tet
beatify. Ito is a quiee gentlemen, not he
has a fund of stories et lite coannatid which
noveliet would prise—stories of mysterious
disappearances, murders, forgeries and con-
cealmente, which home been unravelled or
detested by the study of a few strokes of
the pen. One of these curioes foots will
show the nature of this expert's profession.
A miser by the wane of Whalley died
few yore ago, teaming his property, worth
seventy thousand pounds, to two niers who
had nursed hen during his last illness. As
these 11100 beano especial Mann on.' ()miser,
his relatives contested the will ant the
ground of forgery.
Tho document was shown to M Inglis,
who declared the signature to be genuine,
but the will itself to be a forgery. By the
use of it powerful microscope, he discovered
marks in the paper of previous writing, and
after long and patient study, he told the
court and jury in the case his opinion.
"I find," he said, "that the deceased
probably wrote this will with a lead pencil,
Now a lead pencil will always leave a fur-
row in the paper, which will remain, no
matter how carefully the lead pencil marks
may be removed, When he had written
the body of the will, and was ready to sign
his name, I think the lead pencil broke.
.And this is my reason for thinking so.
"The signature by Mr. Whalley is un-
doubtedly his own. 'When the lead pencil
broke, it is my opinion that another person
supplied Mr. Whalley with:pen and ink. He
signed his name, Then the two nurses
rubbed out the will which was written with
the lead pencil, and re -wrote this present
will in ink, substituting tbeir own names in
the place of those originally writen by Mr.
Whalley.
"Twhole thing was very skilfully
done, but, gentleznen, the marks of that lead
pencil are to be seen on the paper, and this
will is undoubtedly a forgery, although
the testator's own signature is attached
to it."
The facts of the case actually peeved to be
exactly as Mr. Inglis stated them. One of
the two forgers is now in prison; the other
confessed the forgery.
Mr. Inglis says : "Experts in this work
are the growth of years; but I do not think
you ma make an expert, though you may
train him up to a certain point.
" Suppose I have two documents to com-
pare, to find out whether they were "written
by one and the same person, 1 study tbe
most minute particulars of each paper in
turn, the junction of the lettere, the slopes
the size of the letter and of the lines, the
loops and the points.
"1 then make out a report on sheets of
tracing paper, fastened to a white surfaee
on which are shown loop for loop, letter for
letter, habit for habit, in onn.,colilinn the
.false writing, in the other the r al hand-
writing, of the person suspected. 'To each
of these is attached in red ink, for facility
of recognition, the letter, two numbers in
the form of a fraction, say a a, the 2 show-
ing the line to the document from which it
is taken, the 3 indicating the word where
'a' is, in which I detect similarity. And in
this way the whole problem is worked out.
"There are some peculiarities about
handwriting which an expert must take into
consideration, or he will blunder in coming
to a decision. A servant, for example, is
very apt to imitate the writing of his mas-
ter. Aprivate secretary wilkolt .„ fall, un-
consciously, into the style of 11 dhief. If
twenty young ladies are educated .at the same
school, and taught writing by the same
master, their handwriting will have much
in connnon.
"Then, again, the fact that a signature is
seen under the microscope to be cramped or
tremulous is no indication of a forgery, be-
cause thousands of genuine signatures are
signed every day by men who are excited,
or nervous, or even drunk at the time. The
expert must remember all this, and a hun-
dred details besides.
"In the famous Tichborne trial, the com-
parison of different letters played a large
part in deciding who was the rightful claim-
ant to the English property. It may be said
that the final disposition of thousands of
pounds turned upon the writing of certain
letter l's, which are made with too sharp a
turn of the top."
The First Ruler of Japan.
The Chinese have an older civilization
than the Japanese, but there is no doubt in
the minds of statisticians at large that the
latter people have the superior system of
Government. They are endeavouring, at
any rate, to keep abreast of the times and
the advancement of the age. The history
of Japan goes back about 2,600 years, and
dates from the period when the orb of day
proclaimed his dominion over the country.
It is a very pretty tradition, which is be-
lieved by all loyal Japs, that the sun was
the first Emperor in the land, Slime that
time no ruler has been arrayed in such splen-
dour, not even the notoriously gorgeous
Solomon of Eastern pride, nor the lilies of
the field—even they present a comparatively
modest appearance beside the effulgence of
the first great, shining Emperor. But the
sun lost his grip in some way and was de-
posed, and on the throne was placed Jimmu
Tenno. No record exists af the sun having
become angry at the proceedings or interpos-
, ing objections. On the contrary, it is o e
I of the greatest examples of returninf od
for evil that is on record. Instead o oin
off on a strike and, by, "dousing the im,
' cutting off the illumination of the world,
1 Old Sol went right along shedding his beams
liv3veilohrethe iiiceelhainsrhenanodf gatusintnouswahpoireavase
from time to thne sat upon the ancient
' throne have, according to native historians,
got along about as well as the rulers of other
Illations, although it is alleged that the Mik-
ado has always been a mere figurehead, and
that the business and policy of the Govern-
ment were conducted by the Ministers of
State.
Female Beauty.
There is nothing so unfavourable to female
beauty than tete hours. Women who spend
tnost part of the day in bed and the night at
work or in diesipation have always a, pale,
faded complexiori and derk-rimmed, weari-
ed eyrie. Too much sleep is almost as hurt -
el as too little, and is sore to blotte the per -
8018 with a pallid and unwholesome fat, A
gross and SECOSSiVO indulgetice eeting and
drinking is fatal to female eharme. The ap-
petite !should tever bo wasted durifig the
intervals beeween mettle on pastry, confec
bionary, or any other tickler of the appetite
which gratifies the'teete but does not support
the system, Exemiiees is of worse OSS011.
tie' to female beauty.
'et
