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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1899-6-9, Page 3,TuN'A 9) 1909, TIE ,,.,...._,..,,,,,,... [rd%fW Diamond Cut Diamond_—... R, THE ROUT OF THE ENEMY. • CHAPTER XXIL—Continued, i Geoffrey whispers this to his wife and lie found ample time to regret his Angel only nods. Ror heart is wife, almost audibly, but it has ,nothing .11eoislon between the first of January to do with the love aher girlhood and the thirteenth of Februwy, of a who is in the crowd bebind her, Angel The hunting in Ili llsh re has for the moment forgotten him, kind which is dear only to the most and is only filled with that Intense ex - .thorough -going and persevering 0f citement — that tension of every nerve sportsmen. The distances were great, —in the pause before action that thrills the country diffioult, in pieces even, through all true lovers of the sport of almost impraotieabie, , and the fields kings as they stand thus immovable at were small, There was no coffee" the covert side which the hounds are housing, and nobody ever thought of throwing. bringing out a second horse. Compared to Khat passion of expecte- As to.sooieLy, iu the neighbourhood tion ell other pleasures fade into no - of Lilmiuster there was, as Florence thinguees, and love itself becomes a Dano bad said, very little of it, and to thing of naught. Captain Lassiter that little was un- Rush! a faint, eager whimper is heard congenialil'wo or three country at lust. Rapidly it deepens into a vague murmuring chorus, as the rest. of the paols take up the signal whioh old "Forester" has given. The cry in- creases every second, for the bounds aro driving through the covert close upon the fox, and there is °. rare soent. Backwards and forwards, now near, now,far, come those confused cries and sounds—ever louder and wilder as they gentlemen made his acquaintance ttud invited him to dinner parties, solemn and dreary funotions wlioros.l )o stifled his yawns and spent the evening in furtively looking at his watch and counting the lagging footsteps of time. TA/gentlemen of Hillshire weremost- ly middle-aged and pompous, great at County Sessions and local politics, their spouse were fat and placid, their press upon him closer. '1`ben, all at daughters plain and dowdy, Even the onoe, silence. younger married women, for of course Then a wild human shout rends the there were a few of them to be met still air. with, were no better than their elders, "Tally -ho! Forrard, away, ay, ayel" being for the most part domesticated as out flies a fine old fox, with a white in dispositions, and very much the re- tag to his brush. In a second ha is verse of smart in appearance. Lessiter well across, the field to the far side, and the whole pack comes pouring out of the wood straight upon the line in hot pursuit. And now every man and horse is off too, with an eager rusb to the first fence. Often• duringthese weeks he cursed They are a rough lot in llillshire, but they know what they come out for, the shilling that had sent him to Rill- and they do the work before them{ in a shire instead of to the shires, often he manner that many a smarter field said to himself that if things went on might envy. They come out, not to ride jealous of each other, to hustle one another at the gates, or to over- ride the hounds for the sake of getting a place; they come out to hunt and to live with the bounds through the run in the beat way they can. For the most part they are farmers, who are, after all. the very bone and sinew of an Eugusn hunting field, there are also half -a -dozen country squires, and n stray stranger or two, a country dootor, and last, but not least, a hunting parson, one of the las( of that now—more the pity of it— fast dying -out race of men, who were not ashamed Id prove, by the force of example, that it is possible to be a God-fearing Christian and yet to ride was forced into the unflattering con- clusion that his advent amongst them had oreated no excitement whatever, and that not ono of them ever made the faintest effort to attract bis at - much longer in this fashion, he would cut it and be off to Melton and lay aside for ever the momentary inelina- ti.on which had induced him to Dome down to suoh an uncongenial dinner of the world. But on the thirteenth day of Febru- ary, when, as he reached the corner of a stony little lane along which the hounds were trotting up, ho no longer repented him of being in Hillshire, for there, not ten yards from him, by the wayside, under the shelter of the fence, stood a bay mare pawing im- patiently at the ground, and upon her, a little flushed with the wind and the exercise, sal Mrs. Geoffrey Dane by the side of her husband. At a glance he could see that from to hounds as straightly and as keen- s pretty girl she bad become a lovely ly as any one of his parishioners. woman, that subtle change had pass- As to the horses, they are good stout beasts, not specially remarkable for breeding or beauty, but admirably well suited to their work. They un- derstand how to creep up their banks and through their fences, and adapt themselves to the country they are re- quired to go in, in a thoroughly busi- ness -like manner. Will. the first rush Geoffrey's big chestnut flies to the foremost place, and Angel's mare sails easily after him. ed over her which perfects, one knows not how or why, the maiden into the matron, so that she becomes all et once a fulfiiled and completed being. The sight of her gave him a great and intense pleasure. Re rode up to her quickly, lifting his hat as he came, and his pleasure was in no way dimin- ished by the swift changes that flashed across her faoe at the unexpected sight of him. For first she turned deadly pale, and then she coloured up furious- ly, a flood of crimson sweeping sud- denly and tumultuously from her brow to her chin, Be shook bands with them both, and by the time he had exchanged a taw words with Geoffrey and given a brief explanation of his return to England and his position at Lilminster, Angel had recovered her composure, and was able to Lalk to him In her usual quiet and gentle manner. Geoffrey having ridden away a few paces to exahango greetings with a neighbour, Lessiter drew his animal close to hers, and lowered his voice: "You are surprised to see me here, Mrs. Dane?" "Come on 1" he cries baok to her. "Go for the timber in the corner, fol- low me and sit Light." The next moment he is flying over some new rails that fill up the gap in a blackthorn hedge. They are stiff and forbidding, but the chestnut clears them easily, and proclaims at the out- set how well deserved is the charac- ter he has earned. Angel follows him at perhaps a trifle too fast a pane, and the little mare breaks the top bar, and lands on her nose and knees in the field beyond. Here her firm seat and ready hands stand her in good stead, and she picks "You got Dulcie's letter about my her up quickly, without parting aom- 'marriage?" she queried back, speak- pony, and is soon in the wake of her big, too, in a lower Lone. husband again. He nodded assent, although he was Thal her a nasty pleas," said' a quite in. the dark as to rho letter she voice at her side, hardly fit for a lady Co take. You. meant, and then he threw at her a u might have had a look of concentrated misery and re- bad fall." preach which bewildered her. "Genco Lessiter was at her side. "Ravo you seen Duloie?" she asked "Geoffrey told me to follow him," she rather confusedly. answered somewhat breathlessly. "No, I have not seen your sister," Ah, but Dane is such a bold rider. and he looked down and sighed deeply, I don't suppose be has ever given a playing abstractedly with his horse's thought to the piloting of -a lady bo - mane. , faro. "'You have not yet seen her? and These was nothing to take offence at you came back six, weeks agol" she el the remarg, and Angel only answer - exclaimed in surprise. • "Why aid "11 ed by a laugh. But when, as Lhal eome back then?" neared the kext fence, Geoffrey half "I could not keep away longer, he beckon back and made her aa sign, cried, with emotion, "Oh, Angel—Mrs. bent, the her too to follow where he Dane—how can you ask why I am weal, than Captain Lessiter said very back again?" seriously: There was something to her so ut- Pray do not go for that place, Mrs. terly incomprehensible in this reply, Dane, it is realty not practicable. 1 and in the agitation of his manner and know this country a little you know, and Dane has nothunted h the ardour of the glances which ho . hero before. flung at her, that she could find no There is t gap lower down. You had words in which Lo answer him. No mush batter followema." suspicion of his meaning had as yet shaPerhaps Angel was atilt a little d dawned upon her. Rack he not told bed overv by the narrowst umescape r perhaps the her eight months ago that he loved acknowledged her lathe trui or f ha gn- Duloie? t What else, then, save his love acknowledged the trn ill of his urgu- for Delete, could he bo alluding; to? mane -that he knew the fences better And yet, surely his manner of speak- then her was 11 did. For Geoffrey, ing was strange in the extremel Re a'lt'hough it was his nativeli in, heel had even galled her by her ohristian seldom hada =Mat given him in IIil1- netme—but that must have been a slip shire, and had never had the means or of the Longue. In the old days he the time to know it intimately from had sometimes done so by nocideat. the sportsman's point of view before. That could be no' hing, But what Was Anyway, her companion's words lead the meaning of those burning, malting their effect. t of her, Lassiter 1 folsho- looks he east upon her? lowed in front of her, and up Angel. And Angel trembled turning hot towed hLo and in thehedge, wasa band and cold with a vague disquietude. through wled the hedge, wasfoasea Then name a sudden movement, Lind to acknowledge selected neat the place a her husband hurried 'back again to her better sbaedted ono than the utfor welch side. Somehow Angel had never felt her husband bad at in h her. And so it was that in their first run so glad to sew him, before. with the Hilisbirs hounds they were "We are off, now. Keep close' to me, divided from e,1011 ocher, for a place is and follow me as .well as you can; soon lost in the hunting field, and a said Geoffrey to Mor; and.' then the position once abandoned, is rarely re - whole field filed through an open gate- covered during the remainder of the way into a ploughed field, in the three- .day. For a foto .fields Geoffrey looked tion of a small copse beyond it,. which day. in vain for his wife—then a vague the hounds were about to draw, anxiety crept over him lest she might For, the present, at feast, Captain have come to grief, and then again he Lessiter faded out of Mrs. Geoffrey espied her far away to the right, be - Dana's memory. bind him, going well, and with Lessit- er three or four lengths before her, at Width howas no longer anxious con- cer'ning her safety, and told 'himself thar it was all right. In spite of whioh he found himself presently exclaiming aloud: Confound the fellow why couldn't he mind his own business 1" Which did not in the least mean that Geoffrey was jealous, or angry, or hurt ered still 1n0re so from the fact that In itn3 wey; but only that a vague at - the front is hardly out of the ground ncyenec, he could not tell exactly yet, and lies like an enemy in ambush wherefore, crept lobo his 511114, Iiow L1 •tli id 1 11 b 1 can n Haul ho jealous about a woman he does not love) and yet be thought lie would have liked her to fellow him 00 this first day, in preference to a strang- er, under whose guidance she had eun- trived to lose the excellent place she had been lucky enough to be in at the beginning of the run, All this flashed through his mi1111 quicker than it has taken to write IL, and in a vague and clouded manner, and then the passing thought was gone and forgotten, for there were other things to be attended to, All at onoe, after they had been running well for nearly three-quarters of an hour, a slight check occurred, These is a alight confusion on the brow of a small green hill on ahead, a ho1la from the huntsman, who waves his sap frantically, The master, old Squire Butterfield, who has kept the hounds in Wilshire from, youth to old age, and is hale and hearty and rubicund now, at his sixty and odd years, hurries for- ward with a grave and anxious face. The bounds are seen no longer run- ning straight and compact, but fly- ing hither and thither, some one way, some another, with their noses to the ground, and their waving sterns slant- ing in every direction. They have lost the scent. One by one the riders name ,galloping up, the effects of the pace beginning to tell upon most of their horses as they stand with heav- ing sides, not sorry for the brief re- spite. Geoffrey, too, comes with the rest; he takes off his hat, and has a pull at his flask, and then he looks about for his wife, butt she is nowhere to be seen; neither is Lessiter. Either they have been thrown out, or else she is tired -and has gone home. A man cannot for ever be looking after a lady in the hunting -field. If she can, she must follow; but if she be not able to follow, she must remain behind, and he had better leave off troubling himself about her. "If she had come with me she would have been all right," thinks Geoffrey, and he is a little bit out of temper with her. Meanwhile the secret of the check is divulged, the fox has gone to ground in a dram, and the hounds are blown off, whilst a terrier is sent for with all haste Prom a neighbouring farm. In due time the tittle beast arrives yelping and struggl'ng with excitement in the arms of the man who carries him. A varmint wire-haired animal, who is as keen upon the business be- fore him as though he were endowed with human, instead of canine intel- ligence. Arrived upon the scene of action, he gives one wild cry that is Diamond cut Diamond. almost a scream, and dashes down in- to the drain, Soon a smothered rush is heard and inarticulate yappings from the pursuer and the pursued, and out bolts the fox with the little terrier bolding fast on to his brush. In a moment, however, Reynard has shaken .himself free from his torment- or's grip and flies on again across the meadows, and in a very few minutes the hounds are on the line again and the chase is once more fast and furious. In all the annals of Hillshire there never had been such a day as that. It was the run of the season, and the men who followed up that grey old fox to his death were never tired of retailing their wondrous experiences and adventures ere the closing scene was (readied. IBut Geoffrey Dane was not one of those who were present at the Finish. At the very first fence he took after the oheck, he became aware of the fact that the chestnut was pumped. He scarcely lifted, and only managed to scramble through the great straggling hedgerow with considerable difficulty. Cramming in his spurs, Geoffrey pulled him together determinedly, and set him at the further fence with despera- tion. It was a stiff, thickset thorn hedge, not very high but of an im- pregnable solidity, and an ugly yawn- ing ditch, wherein trickled a muddy streamlet, lay on the further side of it. The chestnut made a gallant effort, rose well, and would have clear- ed it; had it not been for the ditch; but the double width was beyond his stride; his bind legs dropped into the stream, and in a moment: both man and horse were rolling over and over in the soft clayey ooze. (iTo be Continued.) CHAPTER XXX. Per the next few minutes there lean t tems+ and breathless silence by the coppioo side. It le a likely place to find in, but a nasty one to get, away from, as is well knovt to the members of the Rillshire Hunt, The fences In Hillshire are un- deniably trappy, and to -day are rend - On the Farm. len badly attaekod by the fungue, gym- nosporanglum Muoropus, which spoils A mach of its attractions, Scotch Pine, Virtue sylvestris, is of more mien spreading growth than the t•91vi✓404 — Austrian pine. The brooches and fol - PEAR ANI,) APPLE BLIGHT, lege are not so heavy, and the leaves are of a lighter green. The $notch pine This species of blight le due to a grows quite rapidly, and if carefully handled can be reared with gaud sue - 00a9, Dwarf Pine, Pinus Montana, This tree forms a law, broad, dense growth. The trunk is divided al the base into very minute germ which finds acmes to the tender cells and plows inside the Protecting bark of the tree, There It multiplies into untold billions, turn. ing the healthy sap into a poisonous several ascending, smo0111 branches. fluid, and causing serious Injury or The leaves are dark green. This tree dttth l0 apart of the trop and in grows quite readily when Iransplant- oed, and it is eunsidered one of the beet for hot and dry iodations, White Spruce, Pines Alba, is a very good overgrew for this section of the country. LLB growth is slow, but neat and symmelrioal. It eom511mes attempts to grow two leaders, but this can be easily prevented by prun- ing. The foliage is light green. It thrives on a variety of soils. Colorado Blue Spruce, ?'Lees pun - gens, This tree Is fully as hardy, and even more beautiful than the white spruce. It Is noted for its handsome blue green foliage. The tree is of mod- erate growth, of rather a regular and extreme cases to the entire tree. What will stop it? When the blight is ram- pant in the orchard, very little, if anything, can bo done to stop it. The dead and dying leaves and branches are but the natural result of the dis- ease that has long been ravaging the vital parts within, IL is the sickly Portion of a blighted leaf or branch that contains the elements of danger. Fighting fire blightoan only he done effectively by preventive measures. Nothing will cure it, so far as is known eompaet form. It needs butlittle short of fire. Nor will spraying even pruning, and retains its pleasing color cheek it, The disease is too deeply during the entire year. It is com- paratively easy to transplant. seated to be reached by outside treat- ment. It will go from apple to pear or quince trees, or from them to the apple. The wild red haw and some oth- er pomaceous trees ere slightly af- fected by it. The germs will not mul- tiply when the temperature is cool. They lie dormant during the winter time, and under the warming lathe - ABOUT SPRING DRESS. Spring, and a young man's fancy, and love. Nobody denies theoonjuno- tion of that trio. But there is an- other one, which comes a little earlier, and which the poets have not yet cele- brated in song. In the late winter a woman's fancy eagerly turns to thoughts of dress. There are wo- men who buy winter clothes in a per- functory way. One must keep warm. To this end one must have certain garments. Raving shivered through the greater part of November. the in- different woman goes drearily about the task of buying this necessary rai- ment, Her expression is one which says, "Well, ie 1 must, I musts" But even suobl a woman is not in- sensible to the fascination of spring clothes, The annual J'andary "white sales" do not warm her interest. It is only those phenomenal women who live a000rding to a schedule of the most forehanded description whoele Jan- uary set about tho preparation of their spring wardrobes. But when March draws to a close and April comes on, Lhen truly there are fere women—and there should be none—witb souls so dead that they are not touched with the' wish to be in harmony with the beauty of the spring. The duty of a woman to be always as well dressed as she can fairly be is ono which has been often preached. Sometimes in vain, but not often so in. the spring. Then every instinct of the universe, from the very (sleds of dirt to the hearts of men and of women, is toward fresbness and light. It would be a time -saving arrangement, of course, if men and women had to take no more thought about a spring ward - rode than the clod takes about its naw coat of grass; but, leaving aside ithe probable objections of tailors and dressmakers to such a state of affairs, there are compensations for the met of humanity. The counters in the shops aro all aglow with exquisite 'colors and fabrics, mid if ono can bring one's atilt to a certain point of view, it ought to bo. as much of a delight Lo look at end handle ell ihls loveliness as it will be, a little later, to walk on the grass and count :the colors of the flowers. - encs of spring they begin to grow. A liquid oozes out of the diseased, branches, which contains millions oto these deadly germs. This is carried on I the feet of insects and in other ways to neighboring trees, where the germs i find lodgment. They are often intro -1 dueed through the delicate floral or- gans, where they find easy access to the circulating sap. From there the disease soon spreads into the twigs and then into the larger branches. They also enter through the tender growth of the new wood. Ie is there that the disease most commonly appears, espe- cially on apple and quince trees, dur- ing the warm, sultry weather in June and Tu1y, when the shoots are very tender. Where thunder showers are very frequent In mid -summer, the con- ditions are just right for the intro- duction and propagation of the dis- ease, which has paused some to think that electricity did the damage. , Ashas already been said, preventive measures are the only kind to use. The sources of infection must be de- stroyed. If the sickly, half -matured twigs are out off below where any disease exists there can be little op- portunity for its spread. The great dif- ficulty is, to know when we are below the disease. No one can tell absolute- ly how far down it may extend, ex- cept the most skillful scientist, and with a compound misroscope. It is usually safe however, to out a foot or a little more below where there is the least outward sign of any affec- tion. If the out is not made below the diseased part there is great dan- ger, if not certainty of carrying the germson the knife. or saw to healthy wood in cutting off other branches. The trees should be carefully gone over in late fall or early winter, but anytime before the trees bloom will do. CURING ROOM FOR CHEESE. The above ground outing room with a sub -earth duct to provide cool air is desirable. Provide proper insula- tion of the room by means of double walls, floor and ceiling with a0 air cell between them. The other one should be properly covered with three- ply to make the structure aid -tight. When properly insulated a room with a sub -earth air duct can be kept con- tinually at from 00 to 65 degrees. The general plan of the sub -earth duet is this: There ought to be a stack to ad- mit air. It ought to be about 50 to 70 ft high with a hood so arranged as to turn an opening toward the wind and cause a draft down the chimney. The stack ought to lead into a pas- sage about 12 ft. underground, where the ground is 000lest for a distance of about 100 ft. and then up into the curing room. The curing room must of course have a ventilation, The sub - earth duct may be divided into sever- al cool passages by means of drain pipe. This same principle has been applied by running the air into a well and then into the ouring room, The average cast of such an air apparatus is about $70. Practically it has been demonstrated that a During room, even in summer may kept in the neigh- borhood of 04 degrees, EVERGREI.'N TREES. Evergreen ,teas are valuable for screens, for wind -breaks, for a back- ground against which to group trees with highly colored leaves or branches, and for winter decoration, Too many should not be used together near the buildings, as they give a dark effect and often present an unhealthy ap- pearance. The best Lime to plant evergreen trees is in the spring, during April or May, just when the buds aro ready to push; or if fall planting is preferred, it should be done in October or Novem- ber. Great care must be taken that the roots do not become dry by ex- posure to sun and wind. It is best to select, for their removal, a moist day. Austrian Pine, Pinus Austriaca, is oe a compact growth; it is sone shap- ed, with a broad baso. The leaves aro dark green and nearly six inches long. The branches are equal around the tree, and web distributed. They need plenty of room for good dwvol- Mmeent, This tree San be most safe- ly removed when not more than three feet high. Red Cedar, Tuniperus Virgininna, is 0013 of the hardiest and most easily al ob,jeotio0vtogrethis tree rown ens ; iis that t the ILlislof- OCEAN MINERS. Tiny Creatures met sinks Deep Shells— San,e of Them ('tarry Lights. Some remarkable miners are found in the ocean delving into the hardest rock. Some of them work in limestone coral; others penetrate the muddy bottom and incase the shaft in which they work with lime. So far as its resemblance to a miner of the land is concerned the shell known as pholas is the most remark- able, as it is not only a wonderful miner, but also carries a light, bright and vivid, that seems to serve as a miner's lamp, and that has some inter- esting properties, one of which is that it shows iu the water and in a vacuum, and, while clear and distinct, emits not the slightest heat. The pholas is a richly chased shell about two inches in length, and has the power of boring holes in the hard- est. rock as well as in clay, but, un- like other miners, the pholas never comes out of the mine. 13y some means possibly by its rasping foot, possibly by some secretion, that dissulves the stone, it gradually wears Lha stone away and slowly and Imperceptibly en- ters, not in a straight line, but In an undulating course, for a few inches. Having reached a place of safety, .the miner begins to enlarge its lead or TRAITS QF THE XNAIAN TIGER. Moro Ihn•Inilltiblo Thou 1110 Lion audit:our. agoutis and Carnr(llr OY '0,u55, " Speaking of the tiger, he is easily the king of all the feline femlly," says Sidney Castron. " Ile can whip a lion, hands down, as bas been shown in ev- ery ease reported where the twollave come together on fair terms. The tig- er is as strong and heavy us the lien, is swifter, more ferocious and more dangerous. He is le thorough Asiatic in his traits, being subtle, crafty and. recklessly brave and cowardly by turns, with the trouble for tee hunt- er that he never can tell when he flushes a tiger which way the brute will run, whether from him or for him. In a fighting temper a tiger will turn upon the bunters beating the jungle on elephante, leap upon the head or shoulder of the nearest els- pliant and maks things very unplea- santly lively fur the man upun his baok. A tiger lute been known to Outage straight upon a full battalion of soldiers and come near to breaking its formation before he could be dis- posed of. Gen. Wolseley, in a publish- ed account of his march, with a detach- ment to the relief of Gen. Havelock in the Indian mutiny, tells how, dur- ing a night march, a tiger sprang into the midst of his column upon a bul- lock attached to an ammunition wa- gon and attempted to carry it away. The outcry and FLASHING OF TORCHES drove 'the tiger from the bullock, but he did not quit the field, but re- mained standing under a tree in full OW, glaring at the procession until it had marched by. As every cartridge and every minute was precious, the order was given that no shot be fir- ed at the tiger. " Nine tlmay out of ton, on the oth- er hand, the tiger when hunted will ruu straight away, or sneak and dou- ble in the thick jungle in the effort to escape. In a bit et cover he will lie as close to the ground as a rabbit, and all tee outcry and throwing of stones by the line of beaters will not start him unless be is actually hit. In hunting the tiger on root it is usu- al to station the lookouts m trees to watch for the first appearance of the beast. If one of them sees the tiger trying to steal puss turn he has only to break a dry stick sharply in two and the cracking sound will turn the tiger back. In short, when the brute once gets scared and suspicious be is one of the biggest cowards alive, who will stand wounds without coming to a fight, though none the less he al- ways is dangerous wheu driven to bay with no show of escape. " The tiger at all limes is very li- able to panics when ouulronted sudden ly by anything which be does nut un- derstand. The upening of a parasol by a lady has been known 10 stampede a charging tiger, and an experience somewhat similar occurred with a mis- sionary whom I know, who, told me the story. He was crossing a patch of open country on foot when he saw a tiger stealing toward him from tbo jungle on one side. He had no show to run or fight, and so he did the only thing that matured to him to do, and, dropping on his knees, prayed loudly. It was a performance evident- ly new to the tiger, whioh roused his suspicions, for he stopped, sheered away and at last went back to the jungle. Another 'instance was that of a civil official owning suddenly upon a tiger in the jungle. Doth were taken equally by surprise, and when the mum yelled out ' Scat 1' the big cat turned tail and SNEAKED AWAY. As is generally known, a man-eating tiger is usually an old beast whioh has got past his time for catching game and so seeks an easier prey in human beings. But tigers born of a man- eating tigress, are always man-eaters, for they get their first lessons in hunting for their matter. A tigress Leaches her whelps to hunt as a oat does her kittens, by bringing them live prey to practice upon. .fen years ago, in one of the hill districts of India, a tigress was killed, whose tak- ing off caused much rejoicing among the natives and was told at once in many of the Indian and English news- papers. She was known all aver India as the mum -eater who mice had giv- en her whelps a live men to play with, She carried off the man from an open but in the forest where some woodcut- ters were sleeping. His companions took refuge in trees, and from their place of safety saw her take the man alive to where the whelps were waiting close by, and lay him down before them. As the man attempted to crawl away the whelps would cling to his logs with teeth and claws, the tigress looking on end purring with pleasure. Whenever the man got too far away from the tigress, site would bound after him and bring him back, \When the whelps had had enough of their sport, the tigress sprang upon the man, and holding him down with her forepaws, begin her meal from his living body." tube. This continues as the shell grows until finally, if the pholas was capable of appreciating its surroundings, it would realize that it was a prisoner for life;; that it had bored into the rock and there grown larger than the tunnel through which it entered. The object of this miner is not to obtain riebea, but to find protection and se- curity in its granite sell, and with its light gleaming at night 00 better imitation of a human miner can be imagined. Almost as remarkable is the mug- gellus. The pholas is increased in a shall almost flint, but the mygellus is very delicate and in all probability forms its tunnels with the aid of some dissolving secretion. IL penetrates the rook or object which it selects and gradually throws out a tiny tube which is merely an extension of the shell. In some instances this tube is a foot in length, and a marvelous example of the tubemaker's art. It is said that a distinguished engineer obtained his idea of a tunnel from this shell. These shelf miners are not especially destructive. They bore very slowly and usually attack stone; but there are other miners whioh are inveterate ene- mies of man in their efforts to destroy wharves, piers and vessels, chief am- ong which is a little erablike creature —Limnoria—that affects piers and bores into the hardest lumber, pene- trating It in every direction, until it presents t11e appearance of u honey- comb. So persistent are these miner's on the California coast Lhat it is ne- cessary to repair dooks and piers once or twice a year.. In tropical waters an equally de- structive oocan miner is found in the teredo, that penetrates the hulas •,f vessels and woodwork of all kinds, As it proceeds it incases its tube with a line -like secretion, and, in soma in- stanees the entire framework is eat- en away and replaced by Lhe pearly deposit of this miner, that uoustruats a Lube as carefully devised as the arch of Lbs human miner. A wreck strand- ed on a coral reef, so high and dry that one could walk around it at low tide, showed the beams and planks in- tact in many instances, but the hand could.be thrust through the apparent- ly solid planking in any direction, the structure crushing in like pasteboard. The interior wood .had beau eaten away and replaced by the lime -like tubes of this remarkable miner. Among the worms are many singu- lar miners that construct elaborate tubes ten or fifteen feet in length, and lutvo lights upon their bodies with welch to illumine the tunnel. Nearly all the orabs are miners and of a very skilful class, especially the spirit crabs, whioh mine in soft sand and by their careful manipulation, prove their wonderful skill in mining. • HE COULDN'T AND SHE COULD. Mrs. Tollyboy—Whore on earth have you been? Mr. 1 1 cannot tell a lie; I've been at m' offish. Mrs, .1—That's where we differ. I can tell a lis—when I hear one. A MAN WITH A PAST. Edgar, tell me the truth 1 Is there any blank spot in your life before you know me? Letitia, S will reveal all; when twee 10 years old I used to pioao quilts, Some women love to make bread be- cause it °house their Bands so beauti- fully. DEATH OF THIS LAST HI SCIENTISTS SAY. THAT EXTERMINA- TION THREATENS US, And They 'Even Tell. 11OW 1110 End 11311 4P415011551100051i— ytoilhlliessna,nrt n14gaibuhu:oft CIoOa,141(103'0 Astronomers say that the day must Dome when this earth will, like the moon, wheel through the heavens a dead and barren ball of matter—air• less, waterless, lifeless, But long, long before that time man will be extinct, will have disappeared s0 utterly that not so much aa the bleached skeleton of a human being will be visible on all the millions of square miles of the surface of this planet. Unless by some huge and universal cataclysm the wbole race le swept at onoe lute eternity, it is but reasonable to suppose that men, like any other race of animate, will disappear slow- ly, and that eventually there will be but a single human being left -some old, old mar, gray -headed and beard- ed, and left to wander alone Ina soli- tude that may be imagined, but not de- soribed. WHAT WILL BE HIS END? How will he die, this last relic of the teeming millions that once trans- formed the face of the globe and rul- ed undisputed masters of every otb- ' er living thing? There are many fates that may befall him. Ile may go mad with the horror of loneliness, and him- self end his own miserable existence. He may be eaten by the vast reptiles or giant insects, which will then prob- ably infest the aoli Ludes. But his fate may be far weirder and more dreadful. Scientists say that as we burn the coal and timber we are still so richly supplied with we let loose into the atmosphere an ever-in- creasing volume of carbonic acid gas. Much of this is taken up by plants, but not all. 1t must increase and eventu- ally poison the breathable air, filling the valleys and mounting slowly to the hilltops, where the last remnants of animal life are striving for exist- ence. The last man will climb high- er and higher, but eventually thesuf- focating, invisible flood will reach and arown mm. TELE .EARTH DRYING UP, Again, it is said that Ibe earth, as it gets older, is oraaking like dry mud. These cracks will increase until at last they 'will let the waters of the ocean and rivers sink into the fiery center df the globe. Then will occur an explosion so terrible as may star- tle the inhabitants of neighboring worlds. The last man in this case will probably be some Arctic explorer or Esquimaux whom the vast plains of Lee around him will save from instant death, and leave to grill a few mo- ments till the ice continents are swal- lowed by red-hot gases and steam. Supposing these earth cracks devel- op more slowly, they may sunk away the water without devastating explo- sions. Then the lust man's fate will be the worst describable. He will die of thirst. The scene of his death will probably be the great valley in the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, off the Bra- zilian Coast, half way between Rio Janeiro and the Cape, where now six miles of green water lie between the steamer's keel and the abyssmal slime beneath. There. hopelessly digging in the ever drying mud, he must perish, and leave his bones to parch on awa- terless planet. THE POLAR ICECAP. The Antarctic polar icecap has been growing thicker and heavier for un- counted ages. The distance from the South Pole to the edge of this icecap is 1,400 miles. The toe rises steadily from the edge to the center. At that canter it cannot be lass than 12 miles in thiokness, Southern latitudes are growing warmer, and this icecap is known to be cracking. Suppose it splits. Imagine the gigontic mass of water and ice that will come sweep- ing up north over the oceans And con- tinents of the earth! Where then will the last man breathe his final gasp? H'gh up in the snows of some great range he will perish miserably of cold and starvation, looking down on a hugs, shallow sea, beneath whose toss- ing waters will lie the whole of the races of the world. Or, last, and perhaps dearest fats of all, the human race may outlive oth- er mammals, and last until the sun, as some duty it must, grows dull and mid, and vegetation dies from the chilled earth. The miserable remnant of earth's people must then slowly die out after ages of an sxistenee to which that of the Eskimo oe to -day is a paradise, 1. CZAR 'A HUMANITARIAN. Czar Nicholas II,, is said to have an Aversion to the needless •lauhter al animals of any kind. He has recently foresworn the pleasure of the chase, and the shooting of game, and the birds and beasts in the Imperial pre- serves live in undisturbed quiet. • CONDITIONAL SUPERSTITION. Would you be willing to eat at a table where there wore thirteen peo- ple? \ 'e11, u good deal would depend up- on whether I was goih' to git the meal far nothin' or not. NOT A TREE; RECREATION. It doesn't cost anything to con- template. Doesn't it? 1 noticed Mrs, Dash- away's tailor -mode suit ones day, Arid it Desi: me ,$101 my wife had to have one just like It. • • MUSCULAR POWERS OF A BEETLE. An Insect That WOO ,A1110 to Dive 112 Times 818 Own Weight About n Table. The following anecdote of a three - horned beetle will give some idea of . its vast strength of body. A beetle was brought in, and there being no box at hand, in which to put it, it was'. Mapped under a quart bottle of milk, which happened to be upon the table, the hollow at the bottom of the bottle: allowing the insect to stand uptight, Presently the bottle began to move slowly, and glide along the smooth, table, propelled by tea muscular power of the imprisoned beetle, and bon- tinued lis travels fol' soma time to gewilsbmsnt of all who wituessod it. The weight of ono bottle ancl. its coli- tents could not have been loss than three pounds and a half, while that of the beetle was about half an cameo; so that it readily moved a weight 112 limes greater than its OWO,. A better notion than figures can con, vey will be obtained of t cis feat by stipposiug a lad. of 15 to be imprisoned under a .great bell weighing 12,0111, nfounds, and to move it to and fro up n a smooth pavement by pushing it from within.