HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1891-4-30, Page 6WORLD'SNAVIDS,
Interesiinn Gossip :about godern war
shies.
At a ureeting of a uaval a,ud military so-
viety held in Dublin recently, Major De
Villamil spoke 013, the subject of balloons for
army and nevy use. The machine invented
thus far, he said, might be divided into three
heads—first, those whose propellbsg power
was gas ; seeond, where the belle= was
made to aseend by gas and worked, by the
gas stored to make the burden lighter, and,
third, Ble,khaan's aerial vessel, which was
worked principally or almost entirely by
stone the lecturer then gave au account
of the •developnteat of ballooning in the
Frenele Anew and, Navy and of the use of
pigeons as a means of despatch from, them.
One of the latest ideas in France, he said,
was the employment of sparrows as messen-
gers, as Hwy had beep proved to be possessed
• of more endurance than pigeons.
The French first-class battleship Marceau,
building since 1881, has just completed her
contraet trials at Toulon. The Marceau has
a tonnage of 10,600 and carries a principal
armament of four 34.centimeMr (13.4.inch)
guns iu barbette turret; and seventeen 14.
centimeter (5e -inch) guns. Her subsidiary
armament includes twelve quick -firing guns,
eight initraillencte; and four torpedo -launch-
ing tubes. Her speed on trial came up to 10.4
knots. Tbe 34 -centimeter gime are so ar-
ranged as to allow three of theta to be
brought to bear sizmiltaneoudy in any
directiore
The British Admiralty reports that in
order eo test the accuracy of the statement
so freeuently made, that the heavy breech.
leatling guns can be trireq1 only once in a.
'tarter of an hour, four rounds were tired
from one of the sixteeeevemeem. guns iu the
Trafalgar's turret as rapidly as possible. The
time on:Tied was nin e aud oue-lialf minutes.
This rapidity would, be exceedett in a ship
which had been a long time in commiesioe.
for the gun's crew would then have gained
more experience. Eight muds could !MVO
Item fired in the same time had both guns
'teed worked, together.
The British war ship Orontes, which ar-
rived at Jamtaiea in last week, had a very
tough time en her passage from Portsmouth,
Wang passed through weather that would
liaeol sent a less seaworthy craft to the bot-
tom. :el trch 15 a tidal wave of immense
heighe broke with fury over the bows, send.
iug a column a water up to the croestrees.
Tim Ship plunged headlong into the wave,
and ler a time she seemed to be standiug o
entl. The gangways, parts of the ship's sides,
and all the hatches were burst open, and
twenty.ifine persons werjtired.
NQW8 from the South Pacidc Lai it that
the Britielt flagship Warspite has developed
very serious straetural defects that will
necessitate the vessel being under repairs
for upward a six months. This is the rea-
son why the Warspite hat been ordered to
Esquire*, and not because of the Behring
Sea dispute. The grave nature of the Mr'
spite's defects le eater in tbe fatzt that she
has been, ordered away from Chile at a time
when her presence there is greatly needed,
The Warspite is one of the la.test of the Bri-
tish tirsnelass cruisers, and WAS COInmission-
ee only a year ago.
Japan may lte said to beat, the world in the
ectual power of her heavy (tenet gnus. They
have recently been subjected to the severest
tests at Hamm au 1 no expense has been
spared to render thent sure and effective.
Each rotted tired cost et:0)00, and $40,000 in
all was speat for the purpose. These guns
weigh 06 tons ; they are lese inches bore, 41
feet 8 inches long, and they throw a project
tile whose maxim= weight is 1,034 pounds,
The powder charge is ,102,2 pounds ; mode
velocity, 2,262 feet per seeond ; penetration
of wrought iron, 45.10 inehes ; maximum
rauge, Vie miles.
The number of Lieutenants in the
Navy will be increased to the authorized
strength of 1,000 by the end of 1895. It
has been shown to the satisfaction of the
Admiralty that the prospects of executive
officers as regards promotion have distinctly
improved in the last twenty y•cars, the pro.
portion of promotions, which was formerly
only one to fifteen, having since increased
to two to seven. There is no possibility of
increasing the, proportion except by adding
unnecessarily to the commander's list,
The Amite and Aram atel.ttk of Loudon
lays "ID the Royal Sovereign we have
fightingmachine which is emphatically the
expression of the vombined thoughts of the
most experienced naval architects and naval
officers upon what should comprise the best
features of a battleship. She will be a tn.
nmpb of engineering art, but she is more
than this, for her design fills not only the
ideas of the architect but also the matured
sspirations of the seamen as to the vessels in
which he is to figlit his country's battles."
The British ordnance officers are loth to
abandon their 110 -ten gun. Last lam.,g. at
Shoebure•ness the gun was tried„emm
totted. plate of seven inches_ .,r gun. and thir-
teen mches of iron, behked by eight inches
of wrought iredemedenty feet of oak, and
twenty meed of masonry. The projectile
event clean through the combinedplate,
smashing it to pieces; through the iron
plate, through the oak, and into the ma-
onry.
retie Ration Minister of Marine has decid-
ed on beginning the construction this year
of four first-class iron-cladscosting S6,000,000
each, andtheampropriation has been definite -
promised.
After a Match.
The average person notices the arrange-
ment of a room surprisingly little, says the
Albany Argus. Its dimensions and the re-
lative positions of the furniture may seem
to be familiar to him, but in reality they
:Odom are. The way to become convinced
3f. this is to hunt for something, a match for
mstarneeiin the dark.
You have the mantel, and make a grab
where you imagine the match safe stands.
Down goes a piece of bric-a-brac to the floor.
More care in esed. You find the end of
the mantel, and ran your hand along the
marble slab. Off goes a vase or two. You
strike the clock; you've got it. No, it's on
the other side. Not there; Ah, then it's
on the table.
After running against the stoveand trip-
ping over the chair, you find—the sofa.
Ieeep. cool and take your bearings. The
table is north of the sofa, and the sofa runs
east and west; north, therefore is in front
of you. Now you have it. That article that
dropped to the floor sounded like the match -
safe. But it's the ink -well, and your fingers
are dyed with a eater warranted not to fade.
A bright idea—the stove ! You burn
your fingers, and warp your patience, bat
you secure a light. And the match.safe ?
it is on the mantel -piece in front of the elock
—the only place you didn't search.
Lottie—” Gun do shipsbave yardarms ?"
Gus—" I believe they do, Lottie." Lottie—
" Hose perfectly lovely 1"
Mrs. Wickwire—' Let, a crowd of men
got together awl they will talk every Ide, as
much as that many women. Won't • thev
eow ?" Mr. Wickwire -re." Well, it depeees
en how full tee. are."
The Sleep of Plantehand 'What it Mem,
In tbe quiet, still hour of night, wheal:nett
is resting from his labors and gathering
strength for the work of toenorrow„. any one
whose business obliged him to be out in the
fields mignt, if he watched their oftea droop -
hag leaves and eloaely folded blossoms, easily
be led to think that the plants and their
flowers were weary, too.
True, he would lind exceptions here and
there, for the evening primrose (Rnotherce
biennie4 and the night -flowering catebfly
(Sileae neetilloral would be wide open ; but
then he would remember Oat these flowein
had had their sleep in the daytime,' and
were night -watchers like himself, while, on
theother hand, the daisies and the donde.
lions, the pimpernels, the convolvulus and
their companions, would have their blossoms
folded together As if in sleep,
• And yet he would be inistakeu in suppost
ingthat suck peeets as dosed their flowers
or drooped their leaves did so because they,
were tired, as men are, although the ancients
thought this, while poets have sung it, and
many people still believe it.
The plant has indeed good reason for:fold-
ing both itt leaves and ite Omer; yet it LS
not guided by weariness or want of rest,
and, what is still more curious, the folding
of its leaves has quite e different- meaning
from the closing of its flowers.
Look at the little wood -sorrel (-Oxalis
acetoselia), whielt is sottered over the
ground in many parts of the deep weed; its
threefolhl leaves widely spread, with its
pretty white flowers streaked with reddish
reins looking oetfrean arnoug them In the
daytime these leaflets are spread ant net,
with their limo to the sky; but when night
comes, they sink down, and are folded to-
gether close egeinst the stalk, with under
surfaces pressed agaiust cult other, and the
broad ends of the leat downward.
” The common clover, an the contrary
(Trifoliem repens), does just the opposite.
It raises its leaves up, aud folds one over
the other so that the upper edges are cover-
ed, and then the whole leaf droops so that
the orrow paint is toward the sky, and
the broad ends downward.
hihw why do these plants fold. their
leaves? And why should nasturtium
(Trepnoluni) turn, its leaf flat to the sky in
the daytime, and at night turn it edgewise,
or the chickweed (Stolen:), media) fold its
opposite leaves together as a child folds its
bands to pray
It was to find an answer to these questions
that Mr, Darwin made a. long series of min-
ute experimeuts, fastening leaves clown so
thatthey couldnotturu, and findingthet they
actually died when preventeO from followin
their own devices, while the other leaves at
the plants folded themselves orturned aside,
and thus lived and flourished. And by these
eneriments he proved that it is to mend
givibg up their lwat to the chill night air
that the plants fold or turn their leaves,
For after the sun goes down, the WaTIni
leners of ;dr near the earth ens continually
rising, while the colder ones above fall to
take their place, auil thee when the tomes
.3 y eontinuaflygi p
heat to be mulled off into the space above.
Now the wood•sorrel, when it droops ite
leaflets, having the narrowest point upper.
most; the elover, when it folds them over,
each other and lets them hang ; the nastur-
tium turning its leaves edgewise, and the
chickweed pressing thein together, all either ,
cover up some snrfaces, or turn them so as
to expose them less to the chill night atm
°etil thus the "sleep of lenves " turns out to
be a wise preeaution against losing heat,and
therefore strength.
If we only knew the whole history,—end •
every one eau help to learn it,—we should
probably find many hidden reasons for
changes like these, for while many plants
never fold their leaves at all, others lave
theirs moving up and down slightly all day
long, and they do not rise by exaetly the
same path as they fall, so that they make sev-
eral ellipses in the air before their great
taight.ehange comes.
If this is the case with leaves, we should
at tint sight sappose that the ii0WOrS, too,
doe at eight to escape the cold, No
doubt they do so ,pertly for tide mason, but
when we begin to Inquire into their times
of sleep, we find that there is something,
muok more than this, and the true secret of
their closing introduces us to thee weeder-
ful history of the frieteiship Of flowers aiia
insect%
First, let us see for it moment what the
causes are which make both leaves and
blossoms fold. They are twofold. First,
the moving sap, which is always ettrging
through the tiny vessels of elle plant
stretches them wherever 'nney will yield,
and, secondly, warrteen, which helps to
make the surfaee ee the leaves expand and
be elastic_ and so generally decides where
Itte'.1 yield to the swelling vessels with -
Let us try to picture this to ourselves.
It is early morning, and the tulip flowers
haee been asleep all night, with closely
folded petals; but soon the warmth of the
morning sun sets the sap more vigorously
to work, and the stream of life is flowing
rapidly through the tiny vessels of stem
and leaf and flower.
Now within the tulip flower all has been
kept warm during the night, and the soft,
elastic inner surface of the petals is ready
to stretch and yield, while the skin of the
outer surface, which has been chilled and
stiffened during the night, yield much less
readily.
Therefore it is the inside skin of the petals
which will gradually expand in answer to
theswelling vessels within encllittle by little
the, flower will open, tilethe tension of the
surfaees is equal, and the petals move no
longer.
Two things, however, will make it, close
again: first, too much beat, for if the hot
sun draws all the moisture out, the skin
will grow hard and contract, and the flower
closes and fades; or, secondly, the chill
night air coining on will also harden the
surfece, and. the flower will sleep.
Now, if this be so, then even a chill com-
ing on in the day ou,ght to make a, flower
close, and so it does. Look at the little pim-
pernel (Anagallis arvensis), how tightly it
shuts when clouds hang heavily in the sky,
folding im so quickly that it has, been called
"the shepherd's weather glass. '
This sensitive little plant feels the chill
at once, and. by drawing together its petals
protects the pollen in its stamens from the
coming rain.
Ah1 In those last words we arrive at an-
other secret; namely, the use of this dosing
power to the blossoms. We knowetellhow
important the visits of insects are to plants,
In oarrying their e3ollen from flower to
flowee. Now, if either this pollen be wash-
ed away, or the honey spoiled by which the
insects are attracted, then the plants must
suffer, and just that very chill which comes
before a fall of rain or the formation of dew
acts as a means of closing the blossom, and
preserving the precious material within.
But perhaps the reacler may exclaim that
there are many flowers which never close at
all, and this is true; probably, hecause in
their case the swelting of the sap to .the
• elasticity of the skin of the petals is not
greet enough, to cause the movement. But
• ,wtien more oleservetions have been made oil
flowers, we shall almost certainly find that
they all have some other proteetion which
makes opening and closing unnecessary.
The dead -nettle, the sweet pea, the wild
broom, the down -hanging violet or the well -
shielded orchids, are all so well protected
by their fettled petals that they Aced fear
no weather changes. The berebell and the
iteathst which hang their heads, need 4ot
fear the rain, whieh will runoff their curved
bell, while they are not uearly to sensitive
to cold as though they looked upward.
But the • dandelion and the dais, with
their tiny tube florets gathered thickly'water, in
The Three Railroads from Londono Soot-
land,
emenote AND NORTIL.WESTERN.
The London and Northdi'Vesterte has the
best road running out of Loudon to the
Nortb. And yet, between Euston and Crewe,
the NortloWesternbas only 14 miles of level
line out of the 158, though, curiously enough,
on the 141 miles between Crewe and Cutest°
there are 18 miles absolutely level, but of
course these miles are not continuous,
Throughout the distance from Euston to
oue head, would soon bfilled with
Carlisle there is rather more than a mile of
e
curve to each mile of straight, the percent.
the tender anemone would be quickly wasto
ed to pieces, while the sweet honey
which age of straight being 49. South of Crewe
lies at the base of the steanens of the field
tife steepest .s have to climb is 1 in 177, but up which the North-
.
convolvulus would be quite spoiled, if the estern tram
sudden chill -which often come ou before a through Cumberland they bave to toil up 1
ie 75 at Shap ; and go over a summit of 915
heavy shower did not cause these plants to
close their flowers. feet, after several minor ups and amens; and
130 there is still ar.other explanation a yob through 50 miles; lulls of their average
flowers folding their petals which is extreme-
speed is 48,e miles an hour, every ton of
ly interesting, because it eccounts for the
eragine finding a sufficient load in two and a
different hours at erbich they close. There ball tens of passenger train, North of the
Border the Caledonian, which continues the
is another eovolvulus, the large bindweed
North-Western route in Scotland, ' rises 'to
sepium), which may be fouud in *nest,
any hedge in England or North America, It over a thousend feet of Beattock, aud drop-
ping to 250, rises again over 880 before it
reaches Edinburgh.
aurao nommen:to
epee. Its rival in the Scotch traffic, the Great
Wity? Suety becaus. ,e being a flower Northern, has a worse road in the South and
which has na scent, the tusects would not a better one in the North, Its ruling
find! it in the dark, but when the moon gra.dieut is 1 in 200, and its summit is at
shines its pure white face glistens and at- Stoke, just a hundred miles from Loudon,
tracts, aid it will not sleep while there is where it attains a height of 427 feet. From
work to be done. Shaftholme to Berwick its trains run on
This biuclweed has several other well. North.meteen inetaie ; bete.= teeetelee
known comleanions, tWo of which, the even- and Edinburgh they run over the eastern
ing primrose end the nightdlowerinecatch- brae& of the North British, the summit of
fly, we have already mentioned, tend with which, .at Grant's House, is only 307 feet,
these, toward semen, wane the white even- being 048 feet lower that the Caledonian.
ing lychnis (Lychnis vespertine) and the
MIDLANP.
dame's violet (Hesperis matroudis), and
The third road from Loudon to the North
semi forth their sweet fragrence into the
is the hlidlend. Being the last center it has
night
bed to take the best route that was left, and
It is about six ceded; in the evening thee
all these flowers except the dame's violet, ourtdoenadfoelriturreiseefsIttos hicatturerr ;gittioureusnse. frOotntit
which has epoxied, earlier, arouse front their
day's sieep to the wait demos ee the night, thence down awl up frone Leagrave, 307 foot;
drops dawn to Bedford ; crosses the Ouse
and why t
seven times In seven miles ; and rises 50 feet
Because it is the niglitonoths which do
the work they require, which sip their honey ' in a mile, and runs through cuttings 50 feet
and eon teem paten. Any insects coming deep and over embadernents 50 feet high till
at Desborough it has climed 435 feet. But
to them by day would have trunlsstoo short
to be able to reach the honey and press into' thin is nothing to what it accomplishes in
the flower, and consequently they would the Lake country. There it elimbs 1 in 100
only feed on the pollen and destroy it, for 14 miles,. PaSSCS throngh Blear hloor
tunnel at a height of 1150 feet, drops with a
Therefore the blossoms were tightly dosed
by, day, only to be unfurled at night when artituun rnaintdievreir of 101g6er fellenttilto AiturgeNheTe itt
the long.trunked moths ere abroad,
than this en is 252 feet higher than the Great ld'ortheru,
hls
But a, more curium history
inches to one of them, the eatehily pitmen and is the greatest height attained by any
We know thatthis floweris so called because; railway in England, except the Tebay branch
its stem is so sticky teat hneeeees of man of the North-It:astern, winch goes over 1n0
feet at Staiumoor. The hiellaud reaches
day insects are glued to it, and die when
Edinburgh by means of the Waverley Israneh
they try to steal up to the flower.
Now during the day this flower is tightly 6,1 North British, which runs by Ricco.r.
petals and hton and fdelrose, and varied by a most,
r difficult combination of hills and curves,
closed but at niorht it unfurls its
puts forward five of its ten stamens, which,
growing very rapidly, hang out their anal -Irises to 1000 feet, at Hawielt, and to 000
again north of Galashiels.
ers covered with pollen dust to be carried .
off by their visitor; the moths.
It is then that the flower puts forth he
full scent, and opens out its pure white:
The Tornado Seam.
petals that all may be inviting for the pas.;
sing insects. The night wears on, the pollen / Bering the last thirteen years the weather
is earned oile and as the sun rises the! bureau at Washington bas paid pertieular
stamens, shrivelled and dry, hang clown, and; attention in cyclones and tornadoes, with a
the petals of the flower curl inward aline view to ascertaining their nature, force,
elose. - 3 3' e direction and the best means of escaping
broweittlegreen oneside, so that the blossom from ther'n.
leeks withered and dead. it is keeping aunt! Lieutenant Finley-, of the United States
It is not so, however; y, gave lea ors o e Com-
ningly out of sight till evening cantos again. i
you an admirably clear idea of
As eoon as twilight begins, or rather before !Van" last
the birth *1 0. blizzard," has been for vitally
thist between five and sex o'clock, the flower!
teolyears in 'charge of this subject, and has
quite clut-nges its appearance ; the p-et"'"!elieted several facte important for all people
unfurl, the sweet scent is perceptible, mut to know and remember—among them the
the other five stamens grow forward to play , following :
the same night game as their predecessors.
1. Tornadoes occur in the United. States
When this is over, and the day breaks
once more, the flower again curls up for its, during every month of the year but
day's sleep, till, when the evening „Dame it are most frequent in April, May, June
when the air nearest the
spreads out again fresh and bright, Unman 3',
stigmas earth may, be exceedingly hot while
time with three long -twisted silky
the upper air is cold. They may and do oc.
hanging from it. These are traps to catch
pollen from another flower, which sem be cur in every part of the country, but are
, more common in the great central plain than
brought on the breast of a moth.
Close by, some other catcletly, opening for elsewhere; and are least frequent—indeed
they are extremely uncommon—in the
its first night, offers the dusty stamens to
its visitor ; the moth presses against them mountain regions.
and passes on, and now coming to our friene 2. Tornadoes almost ahvays occur in the
:eon for his third night, he leaves upon the afternoon, between half -past three and five
diken stigmes the pollen -duet he has just o'clock.
gathered. , 3. The avaag,c number of these storms in
. The three eats of the play are o'er; this
the United States is one huidrecl and forty -
has it lovely, pure: white flower, and remoans
open all day, but closes at night, except
when there is a moon, and the it remains
Spring Dressmaking.
"Old clothes in welter are uot as nice
as new ones," sighs Rosabella ; "but
they are eaten effiliction. It is old clothes in
summer that, are the worst Simmer is
dffierent. You want everything new. You
wanteverything fresh and dainty. You don't
want to have to think and plan and worry
about letting things out aud taking thiugs
in and mending things up. You hate the
idea of a made -over dress,
"It is all oat of harinony with the season
to stew in a close room, ripping and hem.
ming and ruuning a tiresonte owing-ma-
ehine; and then go and steam in the kitchen,
pressing out seams 'with as 'torrid., hot, neamy
flatiron; and then very littely have shabby
spots in your gown, Butt can't be iteldenafter
all. How can anybody ever feel cool orfully
satisged in suet e dress when it's •done ?
only clothes grew ready-made without a
price -tag, what a blessing it would be!"
Most ladies have at one time or another
shared poet Rosabella's mood of despair.
Nevertheless, there are coinpensations to be
found for the toil and wear of temper con-
sequent ore spring-dressinalciog, even when
it Is done In thehouse and by the hoesehold,
Perhaps when the dresses are finished
they are less stylish than if a profeesioual
dressmetter had produced them, but there is
an equal chance that they are better adapted.
to the individual tastes and peceliarities at
the wearers.
Perbaps some of them cannot by any de-
gree of skill and careful pia:ming be so made
that a keen eye may not discover a shabby
spot, or geese at one from. the arramgement
of the trimming which conceals it. But how
great the Weil -kph if the effect if so tastefel
and becoming that none mind the shabby
spot, even when they know it is there
Somepeople naa.y recognize the reappear-
ence of longtendurieg fabric for another
season's wean Ponape a indictees one
among them 'will really say,—though it is
infieitely lees likely than the WW1' of the
goaxtriseanmt same
nozgpi noeuss, —e e' gDarne mte: t einc sreee s
is this the fourth eurnmer ahe has warn it ?"
But then how homy she foie when a
friend rernerles admiringly, "My dear, I do
hope that pongee of yours will never wear
out. You will never have anything else
quite so becoming."
Variety has its charm in costume, but it is
far less important than suitable, taste, be-
comingness, and in fact any of the other
attraetive qualities which dothes may pos-
sess, It is hardly possible for e dress that
is truly beautiful and becoming to weary the
eye, and the less it is changed to accord
with the whim of fashion the better.
Indeed, to the persons who ore mot for
the wearer, and whose opinion she could
most value, time often lends an adden obarm,
making it seem almost, a part of herself, like
her ham or the color of her eyes. They hate
to have it finally discarded, and require time
and coaxin to become reconciled to a new
garment, NV Ilehafterwardsthey nw.y perhaps
like better thee the first.
Besides, after the homy fabrics and
soberer lutes of winter, any summer dreas 18
a variety, and needs uo other charm than
grace of outline and pleasing velem We do
not say when the violets and roses come,
"There are those same old purple flowers
meant And the roses pink another year 1
Why nut% they blossom_ blue or scarlet, for
a change?"
How Animals reed.
Man is the only animal that has Meth—
incisors, eamnes and molars—of an equal
height. Man, the ape, and nearly all rumin-
ants, have thirty-two teeth. The hog, how-
ever, is better oft than this, and has forty-
four. So have the oppossurn and mole. The
river dolphin of South America has far be. ,
yond this, however, having no less than 222
teeth. Teeth are not part of the skeleton,
but belong to the append ages, like skin
hair.and an
draws in its food by sot; but the shark
has hundredi of teeth set in rows thee some-
times number ton. Lobsters and crabs
masticate their food with their horny jaAVS
but they have a set of teeth in their stom.acli
where they complete the work of chewing.
Bat there is one peculiar hind of crab, called
the king or horsesoe crab, which chews its
food with its legs. This is an actual fact,
the it e animal gun mg its morsels
between its thighs before it passes the mover
to its mouth ; the jelly fish absorbs its food ,
by wrapping itself around the object eenteti
. .
time merlin% ut le mom n --elh six a year. e star fish is
4. The signs of an approaching tornado even mite actilientelating. Fastening itself
are similar to those which incited:ea coming to the body it wishes to feed on, it turns its
but withered and dead t but in Re centre
the ovary or seed.vessel bears the tender
ovules which have been fed tut pc en, and
will soon be ripe and fertile seeds.
So much for the night -flowers ; but the
day -flowers, too, have their times of open-
ing and closing. The dandelion and the
daisyawake with sunrise and close at early,
evening. Now we know that the ilies which
so often visit theseare early risen, whereas
the bees, which do so much work for larger
flowez s, seldom go to peeler honey when
dew is on the ground, but make this their
pollen -seeking hour, ween they. are far less
useful to the flowers.
And then, later in the dam, when the
warmsunshine comes, hew wide- the gentians
and buttercups, the crocuses and anemones,
the wild strawberry blossoms and the pim-
pernels, open their cups and starry crowns
and are surrounded by bees and humble -
bees, flies and butterflies.
They have all remained half-closed in the
cold, dewy morning, nor will they open
quickly in rough, windy weather, nor in
rain, for these would spoil their pollen and
their honey; nor -would the nectar -seeking
insects venture abroad, so that they would
have no visitors to attract
So in such weather the crocus will only
open its three outer leaves, leaving the
inner ones as a shelter; the daisy will not,
lift fax its crown of strap -like white florets,
but will keep them i•aised as a shelter over
the eup-like florets of the centre, and the
pimpernels will remain tightly closed as
though it were night.
--•
Verbal Vices.
Indulgence in verbal vice soon encourages
corresponding vices in conduct. ' Let any
one of you. come to talk about any mean or
vile practice with a familiar tone, and do
you suppose, when the opporturity occurs
for committing the mean or vile act, he will
be as stroug against it a,s before? It is by
no lateens an unknown thing that men of
correct lives talkthemselves into sensuality,
crime, and perdition. Bad language runs
into bad deeds. Select any iniquity you
please; suffer yourself to converse in its dia-
lect, to use its slang, to speak in the charac-
ter of one who relishes it, and 1 need not tell
how soon your moral tense will lower down
to its level. Becoming intimate with it,
you lose your horror of it. To be too much
with bad men and in bad places, is not only
unwholesome to a name's morality, but un-
favorable to his faith and trust in God. It
is not every num who could live as Lot did
in Sodom, and then be fit to go out of it
ender God's couvoy. This obvious princi-
ple, of itself, furnishes it reason, not only
for matching the tongne, ht for keeping
ourselves as much as possible out of tee com-
pany of bad associates,
•
thutderstorm, namely, ti. low and falling
barometer, an intense, oppressive heat, an
absence of wind and accermilation of threat-
ening clouds.
5. The clouds which indicate it tornado ,
gather in the west or southwest, and move
towerd the east or northeast. If there is
danger in them, there is soon observed a
violent commotion in the mass of black
clouds, a rushing toward the centre, while
at the point where the observer stands the
air is hot and motionless. Soon there is
heard a greatroaring noise, and then is seen
the onward rush of the funnel -shaped cloud.
6. The line of safety at such a moment is
toward the northwest. If the observer
faces the storm, let him turn directly to the
right, and make the best time he can.
strength of the tornado is near its southern
edge. The thing to do is get out of its pith
or to seek some refuge below the surface of
7. Lieuten Bait Finley remarks th at sufficient
time is usually afforded for escape if people
will keep cool and make no false steps.
If they run to the east they must soon be
overtaken by a tornado moving from fifty to
a hundred miles an hour. If they run Into
the Woods they grotty hicreeee their clanger.
If withima house or cellar, they shonld avoid
the easterly side,' because if the building is
destroyed it is that side which receives the
mass of crushing material.
8. In a wboden house the cellar is the saf-
est place ; in a house of brick or stone the
cellar is the most dangerous. The best pre-
paration in a country much devastated by
tornadoes is to make an excavaeion in the
west side of the cellar, and make it sof:anent.
ly large to provide room for every member
of the &idly. But even this is not safe nu -
less the the overhanging earth is sepported
by heavy thnbers and well -constructed ma-
sonry. •
the ground.
stomach inside out aed enwraps its prey,
with this useful organ. Dogs seize their
deed with • their jaws, cats with their
feet. and so do monkeys, some of
some of them pressing their prehensible
tails into service. The squirrel uses its paws
to carry its food to its mouth, and the
elephant its trunk; the giraffe, ant eater
and toad their tongues. Spiders chew their
food with horny jaws, which are sharp
enough to give quite it nip. Grasshoppers
and locusts are vent* well provided with the
necessary machinery for eatings much and
often. They have saw -like jaws and gizzards,
too, the latter being fitted out with horny
teeth, The caterpillar feeds with twe saw.
edged jaws, working transversely, and mos
them to such advantage that he eats three
or four times his own weight every
day. Toade, tortoise, turtles, and most
lizards have no teeth. • Frogs have
teeth in their upper jaws only. Ant-
eaters, sloths, and armadilloes have no
teeth. The lion and tiger, and, indeed,
most of the earnivora, do not grind their
food, using the jaws only up and down, the
molar acting like chopping knives, or rather
se ssors. Their mouths, in fact, are a ver-
itable hash mill. Strange and. carious as
some of these modes are, however, they
none of them compare in simplicity and
effectiveness with that practiced by the
tapeworm. This creature has neither
mouth nor stomach, but just lays along and
absorbs the already digested food through
ts skin.
Exaggerated.
Itis fashionable just now to say that wo-
men are wanting in politeness in public
places, and true also. Mr. Jones was discuss-
ing this subject the other day, says the
Washington Steyr.
" You may talk as much as you please
about theimpoliteness of women in street
oars," he declared, "bat I've been riding on
this line for ten years now, twice a day,
and I've never given up my seat yet that I
haven't been thanked for it."
"How many times have yon given it up,
cite you •suppose ?" inquired his • interested
auditor,
" Once."
How eh:. Lost Her Lover.
'Two a summer ago when he left me neve
A summer ce, mace with never a tenet
• Title said to him with a sob, My Deer t
Good-bye, my lover; good-bye
ror loved him, oh, as the stars love night
And glieeks for him flashed yed and
!Whenvhilflrst called me his heart's delight r
; Good-bye, my lover ; good-bye !
, The touch of his hand was a thing dtvine,
As he sat with me in the soft moonshine
And drank of my love as men drink wxne
Good-bye my lover ; good-bye
And never a night as I knelt in prayer,
In a gown as white as our own souls were,
But in cliaolloeciY-bye,
loavnederldissgeododuloyehlore
But oow, 0 God! what an empty place
Aly who:0 heart is ! Of the old embrace
And the kiss I loved, there is not a trace
Good-bye, my lover; good-bye!
He sailed not over the stormy sea,
And he went not down in the waves, not hal,
But oh, Ile is lost, for he married me:
(lood-bye my lover; good-bye!
,YANES Wrinneces Runts.
QUEEN THINGS IN 00117NS.
Eccentricities That Mahe elven the Ender,
takers Laugh.
" What is the last curlew thing youdave
inet mem lugubrious. business 1' 4,4%1 a
reporter of a Toronto undertaker the other
day.
The uuderta.ker opened the lid of a, coffin
near Ins elbow, and replied: Do you see
that satin lining 1"
"Yes, What's odd about, that?"
"Yellow," •
" Yellow is a common enough colon"
" Not for coffin litriegs, my boy. They're
generally white. But this coffin was made
for a woman wiles° mein ambition in life
was to look well, and, her last dying request
was Oat her coffin be lined with old gold
attire as time color best set ofr her complex-
ion, le/licit was rather sallow and dark.
Promise me,' she said. I don't want
all those womee to come in and see me in
my coffin looking like a friglie" So they
promised and she died contented.
• "Only a, woman would bother her head
with such thouglits on her dying bed,"
moralized the reporter.
" not so sure of that," said the
undertaker. " onee buried an old. chap,
seloonAreeper, whose income \Atilt) he
lived was unevenly divided between the
support of bis family and the decoration of
bit person. The family got t he smaller half.
He wore the most expensive clothes at all
times, mud the glitter of A-1 diamonds from
his shirt.front, necktie, watch-g,uard, aud his
big, red, chubby hands, actually dueled the
beholder. Well, when his thee came, he
bad very little property but his jewels to
leave behind ben, but be made a, will be.
queathing the little he bed to hie wife, on
conditiou that she dressed hie body in his
best mut of clothes, decked it with all his
diamonds and buried them, every one, with
birn. Otherwise his whole estate, including
the dianionds, was to go to charity.
"Thepoorwornan declared she would obey
his every with, but it was with a beavyheart
that she brought out the suit I was to dross
the corpse in. It was of the loudest, biggest,
most glaring plaid you oversaw; enough to
frighten Old Nick himself away. Tho shirt
was all covered over with e pattern compos-
ed of purple ballet dancers and scarlet bull-
dogs, and. these, with hie big diaanonds gilt -
tering all over him, made a etertling sight
for the mourners who looked into his coffin.
Many wore the lamentationa that the poor
widow should be obliged to bury all those
diamonds, mid much admiration was express-
ed for the wifely devotion which kept her
from murmuring.
"Bali the widew was no fool. Shetburied
the jewels sure enough, but hardly was the
grave filled up before she ordered the sexton
to empty it again. The coffin was opened,
and the -widow took the diamonds from the
old curmudgeon's shirt -front with her own
hand. Then they buried him a second
time."
"1 heard of another strangecontinu-
ed the undertaker, "which, though; it did
not come under my own observation, yet I
believe to be true. It was that of a men
who always had a horror of being buried
alive. He left a provision in his will that a
big bottle of chloroform was Lobe put in the
coffin with him. It was to be laid by hia
side, and a. tack -hammer was to be put in his.
hand so that if he came to life under ground
he could smash the bottle at a blow and fill
he coffin with fumes that would kill him in-
stantly and painlessly."
Well Satisfied.
When the late Archbishop Tait was pass-
' ing some time in alittle village of Perthshire,
he received an unexpected and no doubt a
pleasing expression of appreciate-tn. As far
as it, went, the tribute to hie ability as a
preacher was sincere. He had given instruc-
! tions for his letterseo be sent to the local
. post -office, to be called for.
I The day that he arrived in the village he
i walked down to the general shop, -which also
did duty for the post -office, and asked, "Are
there any letters for the Archbishop of
, Carl erbyy 1,i'' .
Joie fluortadeper had something to say
I before he answered the question. • ' Maybe
' you'll be that purrsen yersel' ?" " Well,"
said the Archbishop, " as a matter of fact,
I am."
• " W 11' " the - ostma,ster coueinued orn
1. t
estly, " have a son, and lie is tit a i=lop in,
London, and he told me ibat he duce gaed
to St. Paul's Cethedral to hear ye preach,,
and he was verra wed satisfied wi' ye."
Privacy in Great Cities.
Nowhere, save in the wilderness beyond
the frontiers of oivilizetion, cat, such perfect.
privacy be enjoyed ite in a large city. The:
denizens of a busy metropolis have enough,
to do in attending to their own rendre. They
have no time to bestow on the doings of
; their neighbors and take no interest in them.
1 The curiosity of villages end small towns is
insatiable. Espionage is the main empioyment.
of at least one-third of their inhabitants. On
the other hand, if a stranger trews ntie hia
abode among them, he becomes a center of
observation—a target for conjeetur at
standing topic of conversation.
Respecting His Dying Wish.
• Strolling through a well known cemetery
in a melancholy, ,.nmod, not long since, 1 ob. ,
served a lady, dressed in the deepest mourn- /
big, sitting by a newly -made grave, which !
she was fanning with a large palm -leaf fan,
says it writer. I approached, and with an
air of the greatest sympathy, asked the lady ,
why she was thus emplemed. " Alas " re-
plied the mourner, her eyes bathed in tears.
"How can 1 live when my husband—the
dearest and best of men—lies buried in this
grave? With his expiring breath he told
me not to marry again untie the earth over
his grave should be dry; he was buried on
Monday, and I have spent two whole days
in carrying out his wishes, by trying to dry
his grave with my fan ; for I am determined
not to marry till the earth over his beloved
remains is dry, even though it should take ,
a week 1" _
Mrs. Bingo—" There! I knew it. Those
moths have got at your dress suit and eaten
a, hole right through your pocket." Mr.
Bingo—"I'll bet they were female moths."
She (carefully questionine: "Are yoti it,
married man?" He (carefully answering)—
"1 don't know. My latent telegram from.
Chicago says that the jure is still out."
Influenza is raging in London and othent
English cities. •
The fishing vessel owners of Yarmouth.
have telegraphed the Ministee of Fisheriete
protesting against the outrageous action
of Newfoundland in refusing bait to
Canadian vessels, and pointing out that
half of Newfoundland's catch of codfish
is taken in Canadian waters ct Lab-,
radon and that the Canadian cooet them is,
used as a base of supply by thousands of
Newfoundlanders. Minister of Fisheriea
Telmer has telegraphed back that the Gov,
eminent is urging Newfoueelated to with,
draw its prohibition, has sent a delegate to
confer with Premier Whitetvam and has also
placed the case in the fiends of the Imperial
Government